As it turned out Mark had a lot to say and actually answered my first 3-4 questions straight away. It was one of those chats where I pretty much sat back and listened occasionally making a comment or two.

MD: Yeah not bad still there. A bit tired we played a show last night and it took until 7AM to get home.

PW: Firstly I wanted to go back in time a bit to 2000. According to your website the band took a bit of a break rather than actually breaking up. What happened at that point exactly and was the break a bit longer than you really anticipated?

MD: Yeah at the time we all felt a bit weary. We had toured quite a bit and made some CD’s and recorded songs and then done it all again and especially Dirk (de Vries) who was the other long time member apart from myself, we felt that we just needed to get away from it for a while. We decided to take a break and see how long it would last and if the spirit would come back again. It took a bit longer than we expected and after a couple of years we had to conclude that it was pretty permanent. We realised that we were not going to get back together with the same line up, especially with Dirk as he had no desire or plans to start doing something again with a band. I felt without him there would be no Kong anymore, so I just accepted that and thought, oh great so it’s over and I will try and do something else.

Music wise I have been doing totally different things, some stuff for theatre and for television documentaries and stuff like that, which was nice also. About three years ago I just felt that I wanted to do something with a band again and it was time for me first to check again with Dirk and see if he had the spirit to do something again, but this was not the case so I started to look for other people. Not with the intention to restart Kong actually but to form a new band I only used the reference to Kong when I was looking for other people to give an idea that I was looking for people for that sort of musical direction as it was always clear to me that if I started a band again it would be in the same direction. Then after a while when we were busy with the new music it was obvious that there was so much of a connection with the old stuff we were gradually more and more convinced that it would be ok to call it Kong again.

PW: What exactly was it that spurred you into putting the group back into action in 2007, why did you specifically feel that the time was right then?

MD: I think I needed a lot of time to actually realise that it was actually possible to work with a band again without Dirk and also without the concept of what Kong used to be. I had to realise that stopping playing with Kong did not necessarily mean that I had to stop playing with a band! Also in between I had two kids. Kong were a band who did play a lot and we did everything pretty seriously but it didn’t really make any money. It always had to be next to having a job and a family etc. It was as it is for any band, kind of exhausting in the scene we play. I think we were just tired and needed to recover and as I said we just started doing gigs again and have to find a way and a new form of doing this again. Touring is of course totally different than just being in the studio.

PW: Apart from yourself it is a completely new group. I was wondering what the situation was with the previous band members. Dirk engineered the new album but were there any specific reasons for them not rejoining the band properly?

MD: Dirk was the only one that I really approached again as the last drummer we played with is living in Spain. The last guitarist Marieke, she is just not into making music anymore. I did check with one other drummer we played with who was pretty interested but he had started in a new band, the one with the former singer of The Gathering (Agua de Annique); he is actually married to her so that was logical that he would be in the band, so that was not an option. So it was a case of looking for new members, which is also a good thing I think as it provides the opportunity to make a completely new start.

PW: It must have been quite a task finding three completely new players. How did you find them; were they from other bands and how easy did you find it to collaborate with them?

MD: They were from other bands but nobody I knew as such. I just put out an ad on a Dutch musicians website and I mentioned something like Kong was looking for new members due to a possible restart. I got quite a bit of a response from totally different people. I tried a couple of different drummers and one other guitarist but of course how people play is one thing but also how they talk about music in general is pretty important as well. So it was slightly difficult to find the right people again but up to now I think I have made the right choices. They know about the whole concept of what Kong used to be but they also bring new elements and ideas to the band.

PW: Compared to Kong of the past what qualities would you say the new members have brought to the band and have they collaborated on the writing of the music?

MD: In the end yes but I had started before I had any people and then I worked with one of the guitarists Tijs for about half a year before the drummer Mandy joined us and then it was still another half a year before the next guitarist David joined in. So they all had some contributions but some more than the others. They all brought good musical ideas and skills new elements into the music. It’s all about not just that but how they think about being in a band and what they want to do with it and how they see the future. They are also not quite my age but are a bit older in general so it might have been different having really young people but on the other hand it is good to have people with some experience in different bands and different styles.

PW: Tell us a bit about the recording of the new album, did it differ from your way of working in the past and what was it like getting back into the swing of things after all this time?

MD: The recording itself was not that different apart from the technical side of things. For the first time we recorded everything right into the computer something we had never done until we had a master CD for the factory. We used to work with, not so much analogue stuff, but a lot more old fashioned equipment. We also used to work a lot as a band in the rehearsal room creating songs. We jammed until we had some ideas and then the four of us together finished the song with a lot of work and experimenting. Now when I have an idea it was mostly recorded on my computer with the bass and guitar and the drum computer and then we edit in the studio working together. We edit guitar, then record it and rehearse the songs to get the drum parts, then we do the drums with only two mics to get a guide to it. So we have in the computer things pretty complete with all parts and instruments and then we have to re-record it all in a really good way for the final CD.

So with the technical developments since I last recorded it is really cool to work like this. It gives you freedom to work wherever and whenever you have time

PW: You have your own Kong Studio and you have also released this on your own label. I take it this means you have the advantage of complete artistic freedom without any label interference. What would you say are the other advantages and disadvantages of working this way?

MD: Up to now I think I can only see advantages. In the old days the recordings were almost always done in our own rehearsal rooms and sometimes mixed elsewhere. We only did one album in a real studio which was ok but right after we decided not to do that again because of the time pressure and it was in another part of the country so not really practical.

Up to now I think not working without a record company has been a good decision. You cannot expect too much from a record company these days because of the collapse of the CD market and I do not think they are prepared or able to invest a lot of money in things.

PW: You have been on both Peaceville and Roadrunner in the past, what were relationships like with these labels. Being instrumental I can imagine the band are slightly difficult to market?

MD: To start with things were really good with Peaceville. We were the first, let’s say, non-death metal or thrash metal band on the label. Actually it was a sub label which released the album Dreamtime which was a way for the owner of the label to do different kinds of music which he liked. He really wanted to do that even though he knew it would not make much money, I guess he did this with money that he made from the bigger bands on the Peaceville label. Of course Peaceville had a good name at the time and that helped us as a completely unknown band get in the magazines and get a lot of response although of course it was not the kind of music which people expected from a Peaceville release. We ended up in the metal sections of record stores which in some respects was not correct but it was difficult to work out where to put it. After the first couple of records I think it was a case of Peaceville being taken over by Music For Nations and that didn’t really work as they were a big company who didn’t really know what to do with us. So that was the reason to basically split up with them.

Roadrunner had one guy there who really liked us and managed to get us taken on. It was also very clear there that after two albums and he had left there was no way there to release another record and they had also completely changed their policy of what bands they had and pretty much kicked out all bands that were not selling well. You are completely right it is terrible music to try and market, even if you look on it as metal it’s without vocals.

PW: Is the self released status something you are looking to change in the future now that your comeback album is out?

MD: I don’t know yet. My concern now is to get distribution in other countries and to see if that works out. With Peaceville it was automatically released in the United States and although it did not sell too much at least it was available there. This is not the case yet but if it works out I think it would be possible, it’s just a case of finding the right people. I think we will carry on like this also money wise its better for us. It’s really easy with the internet to promote your album now so there is not a reason to not do things this way anymore. Every CD that is sold you get some money and that wasn’t the case with the record companies. Although the CD market is terrible of course it’s a good time to release an album on your own label.

PW: We have already touched on this but Kong are a band that are completely original, you are also really difficult to categorise but for those that are lost without a defining tag, how would you describe your music and where does inspiration stem from?

MD: I think it is tricky as when I speak for myself I am not just a heavy metal or a stoner rock fan, or only an electronic techno fan. When we started with Kong we had no idea to be a ‘heavy metal’ band at all, I really don’t know how it happened but without any intention it was more afterwards that we discovered that it fitted in with part of the metal or industrial scene but we did not come from there at all. Three of us actually were into typical 80s new wave bands, which had some references to Talking Heads at the time. There was also a Belgian band TC Matic who we were and I still am into and a German band Kowalski who were proto industrial who were brilliant. There were a couple of those that we felt a connection with even if they didn’t sound like we did. Coming back to the question though I feel as though we are something like metal, electronic, ambient, alternative rock band. It is rock rather than metal with an industrial edge it’s kind of heavy rock!

PW: One thing that always amuses me about instrumental bands and I would also mention Ozric Tentacles in the same manner, is the somewhat random and strange song titles you can come up with. Sometimes I can see them matching with the music in a strange sort of way. Are things random on the whole or do you like leaving things open to interpretation or just perhaps enjoy a bit of a play on words?

MD: Well yes most of the titles are really plays on words, some of the time there is a feeling of the song itself but mainly the songs do not have an idea. Sometimes things remind us of another band or another song and we try to match a title partly with that. For this album we had about 25-30 titles and picked the ones we liked most, sometimes we changed them around afterwards. It’s a bit like the artwork of the CD’s, it doesn’t really have a connection it’s more like we don’t know why but we think it fits.

PW: I was looking at the back cover of the promo it has an image that is very futuristic, sort of some sort of electrical apparatus which at times had me thinking it fitted with the music. Guess this is partly coincidental though and there is no overall concept?

MD: No, it’s like making a collage, you have a bunch of material lying around and you pick just a few elements that you think are right and fits even if you don’t know why. Also that is how we make the actual music itself; there is no reason why say on a certain song on the album there is a bit of a classical sample in the middle, which only happened once in the song. There is no reason why, it was just a matter of working with the song having the idea of putting in a sound-bite. There are about 45 samples passing by, at some point you think that this particular one seems to fit so fine!

PW: OK one that I really noticed was that little snatch of music at the end of ‘The Imposter Syndrome’ where did that come from?

MD: Yes I know the one. I am not sure which composer exactly but the whole sample is used in the song but this is the beginning of the sample. How I work with samples is that I often have something recorded like a guitar riff, bass riff or whatever and I try with the keyboard to see if any samples fit with it. Normally you only hear say the first two seconds of a sample but here I let it go longer as I thought it was a beautiful sample so decided to try it at the end of the song.

A song for me has to have two sides, it really has to be a song, not so much in the traditional way but I really listen to songs with choruses and verses and also listen to our songs like that too. So it has to have this very logical structure which makes it possible to just sit back and relax and let it flow and the other thing is that it has to have unexpected elements in, so that it doesn’t get too predictable. Using samples like this sometimes gives you that strange twist and that’s what I like about making music like this. You don’t have to stick to a certain formula; basically you can do anything as long as it somehow seems logical. Also it is very personal so I’m sure for some people it is not so logical and perhaps not so nice to listen to but at least for me and I hope there are others who do recognise the logic of it.

PW: You mentioned that you played live the other night, are you still doing so where each member has their own section of the stage, playing in your own corners as such?

MD: Yes up to now we did those first three gigs like that and we plan to do so with the others that are still to come. As far as playing further abroad is concerned we have to see what is possible and find the right agencies. We did play a lot in Europe back then but of course many of those agencies are gone or doing different things so. I am still looking for a German booker and for France but we have to see how it works out.

The UK we toured there as you mentioned in your review in London. I think also in 93-4 we did a small tour in the UK organised by Peaceville, we were support for Fear Factory and there was also another band called GGFH. We did about 6 gigs then and played properly on the four stages then. We still plan on doing it but as far as the UK is concerned I think it is really difficult to find gigs there compared to other parts of Europe so I just have to start looking for agencies who might be interested. It’s weird now that we are getting reviews for the new album, almost everyone mentions something about the live set up and the idea behind it so it must be something that sticks in people’s minds and that helps bring people to the gigs.

PW: Peaceville are a label that like rereleasing stuff I am surprised they have not coughed up Phlegm again. In the meantime are the old CD’s available, could not see them for sale on your website?

MD: No they have been out of print for a really long time. As far as I understand it Peaceville themselves do not own the rights anymore and they were sold to Snapper Music who our distributor in Holland and Europe has been in touch with to see if they were interested but nothing has come of it up to now. It is something that I hope we can arrange in the future again. As they own the rights at the moment we cannot do anything about it.

PW: Anything you would like to add?

MD: Well nothing apart from the fact that I really enjoyed reading the review and am glad that people think this fits into the history of the band so far. That was actually the first UK review we have had so it’s a good start.

For more on the band check out http://www.kong.nl
http://www.myspace.com/kongnl

Interviewed by Pete Woods

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