MESRINE Interview.

1.Greetings, Dan. What are you up to?
DAN: Hi Pavlos, how are you? Just working, rehearsing and answering this interview!
2. Mesrine is a band that exists for a long time. You have chosen the old school way, concerning not only your music but your style in general. Why is that?
DAN: Basically because that's the kind of stuff that appeals most to us. It is a conscious desision to keep the style like that, because we are not much into technical stuff with 3 million time changes and 357 riffs per song. We prefer the feeling that the old school sound provides, it is simple but effective and straight to the point. It's what we want to play, simple as that. All my personal favorite bands are pretty much in the same way as well, for any style of music i like.
3. It’s a fact that the recent years more and more people turn to extreme sound. What is your opinion about that?
DAN: I don't know, maybe i never noticed...? Myself i have been into this since the late 80's so i have seen many trends come and go. But i guess it's true that there are more extreme grindcore bands than there ever was. I really couldn't explain this, maybe there's an honesty in this music that you don't find in others. It's really a no compromise style of music that does not appeal to the average person on the street. But the guys who play in the bands are really passionate about it and love this kind of music. To me this music is just like a huge 'fuck you' to all the shit that pisses me off, it's very satisfying music to play!
4. What do you think about those people that use the grind scene in order to make money? I am not talking about labels only but also about people that will do everything in order to achieve that.
DAN: Well i say good luck to them, because you can't really make any serious money with this. They should just fuck with another scene. Grindcore does not rhyme with money, so why waste your time? Just don't buy records from people who sell them at too high prices. I think it's ok to make a minimum of profit if you play shows, sell records or have a record label, it's just normal. But to use the scene just for that then you're in the wrong place and you will basically dissapear soon enough because people will not support you.
5. I know that there is political grind and hard core in your location. Many “big” bands like insect warfare, split because they cannot face the commercialism. Do you think that commercialism helps the scene?
DAN: No not at all. I don't know if that band in particular is commercial or not, but if you talk about commercialism it's more very big bands. It would be hard for me to name you one single grindcore band that i think is 'commercial'. Back in the early 90's when labels like Earache got distribution with a major label then that was Earache's fault to try to make his label more commercial. Then bands started making cheesy videos and shit. But the music was too brutal to have a wider appeal so it all fell through. It's not as it used to be when the 'big' bands like Carcass, Napalm Death and alot of the death metal bands changed their style to become more popular. Now the bands keep playing the brutal shit, even going back to their roots so i don't think 'commercialism' in the scene is a real existing problem anymore. There are so many small DIY bands and labels that you always have many alternative choices.
6. Tell me some things about your memories from the second European tour you did last year.
DAN: Well actually it was this year in july 2008. It was a relatively mshort tour, only two weeks, but it was great. The first gig was OEF and it was the biggest gig we have ever done, really good. Lots of good reactions. We met tons of people from all over the world, really awesome. The rest of the tour was around Germany with our friends Who's My Savior and Holland, Belgium and one week in France with Roger Moore. It was a great experience it's always very nice in Europe, better than in Canada. People are more open to this style of music.
7. Do you know any “small” bands that can offer something to the scene?
DAN: Of course any small band can have something to offer, as long as they play from the heart and are not concerned with trends, popularity, money and all that stuff, then its all good. I prefer smaller bands in general as P.L.F., Suckcess, Roger Moore, Abortion etc etc there are too many...
8. Here in Greece is difficult to have Grind core bands from abroad to perform live, thought many people try to change this fact. Is there a plan from your side to perform live in my country?
DAN: Well i sure hope we can play in Greece some day. The problem i guess is the distance and not many contacts. If we tour Europe again it's definately a place we would love to play as well as Italy, Switzerland, Spain etc...
9. What are your future plans?
DAN: Right now we are preparing for a few gigs for the end of 2008, then we will start writing new songs for our next studio album which we hope to record by spring/summer of 2009 for a possible late 2009 release. We are also preparing some new split 7.... releases with bands like WHO'S MY SAVIOR (Germany), SAKATAT (Turkey) and F.A.T.O. (Canada). We have recently received our copies of the split EP's with ABORTION and P.L.F. We are also working on the LP release of our last album 'Unidentified' and are waiting for a bunch of other releases to see light of day. Also our first album 'Going To The Morgue' will be released on LP soon and the split cd with BADTRIPPE will also come out on LP. We like to keep ourselves busy and keep the releases coming...!
10. Thanx a lot for the interview. The final words belong to you.
DAN: Thanx a lot Pavlos for the interview (and sorry for the delay...!) and cheers to all the grindcore fans in Greece + those reading this. Get in touch with us through our my space at www. myspace. com/mesrine and check our website at www. mesrine. org Cheers!

(Interview done at 27/10/2008).