Интервю с ROB FRANSSEN от BORN FROM PAIN!

The Dutch hardcore band Born From Pain‘s next visit in Bulgaria is only a week away. In the meantime, we managed to catch up with vocalist Rob Franssen in the middle of the „Dance With The Devil“ (their last year’s record) tour and to steal a moment from his precious time, just before he and his bandmates throw three shows in a row in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, within (as we were told) only 24 hours!

Hey there, Rob! As you have already guessed, the main reason we contact you is your gig in Sofia, coming up next week. How’s the tour going on so far?

Hey, how are you? Yeah, the shows are going really well and the new songs seem to get the crowd off really well. We are very pleased with the reactions to the new stuff live! We just finished doing a short run in the Baltic states we had never been before and that was great!

We’ve lost the count of your visits in Bulgaria ourselves. Five? Six? You seem to love getting back here. What were your previous impressions and what do you expect now?

Haha, yeah, we’ve been back several times. That’s because the shows have never been bad and still seem to get better every time we come back to Bulgaria. We got a lot of friends in Bulgaria, we got to know over the years and it’s always a great time on and off stage. Sofia is always amongst the best shows we do down in the Balkans and it’s an honour that we still get invited back to play Bulgaria (and the whole area) time after time. I expect nothing less than a great show, as always. The bill looks great! Vendetta!

Three Bulgarian bands will be part of the show on the 14th March. The co-headliner Vendetta is already an established name, Last Remains and Scum Line are part of our hopefuls. What’s your opinion on them?

First off, we love playing with the young guns. New and young bands are the future in every scene. They keep the scene alive, so support is essential! I don’t know Last Remains and Scum Line, but I will check them online next week when I get home! I don’t think anything needs to be said about Vendetta. Cool guys, great music. I’m really stoked for the show!

If you had to introduce the band to a person, who has never been in touch with your music, which one of your records you would recommend him/her to start with? Would “Dance With The Devil” be a good choice and why?

Yeah, I actually think so. DWTD is a record that might be the best round up of what we’ve been doing throughout the years as a band. I think anyone who has followed BFP over the last 1,5 decade finds that they can hear something  of almost all records we did in there. Of course we’ve progressed as a band but I think this is BFP‘s record that sums it all up. It has melody, groove, heavyness, metal riffs, pure hardcore and hard breakdowns, That’s all BFP is!

Born From Pain is a well-known name, but is there a band you admire as fans and never shared stage with? Or if you already had such experiences, which one was the greatest of them?

I can just talk for me personally when I say that a band I admire a lot is Iron Maiden. We never shared the stage with them. Band in our genre I admire (for whatever reason) we’ve all done shows or tours with. Merauder, Madball, Terror, Hatebreed, Slayer, Stigmata, All Out War, etc. I’m thankful for that, but on the other hand, I think in a scene like ours, it’s easier to be able to do that than say, in the metal scene, where it is harder to play a show with Ozzy when you’re just an underground band coming up. There’s more business there. Not judging it, but it’s a fact I think.

Your records are all proving your full devotion to hardcore. But you probably enjoy other genres of music, too. Do you have time to discover new music and what’s the most surprising thing the Born From Pain frontman listens to?

I enjoy all kinds of music. Ok, I’m gonna ruin my image now, but at home or in the car I also listen to some Amy Whinehouse, Lana Del Rey, old soul music, Katie Melua, old jazz, hiphop, witch house, all kinds of stuff. I can’t listen to just hard music all the time. I guess I’m getting old. 😉

And what would you say about the hardcore scene all over the world and in Holland particularly? Is there any young bands you would recommend us to hear?

I think hardcore is alive and kicking. Too much posing and trend shit going on and trying to do what is coolest at the moment though. Too much thinking instead of feeling with the heart. But hey, that’s another phase in the scene that we’ll have to go through. Holland is not different. Cool bands from Holland are Better Off, Bloodtrial, Manu Armata, ManLiftingBanner, Cornered and a whole bunch I’m forgetting right now.

What do you think about bands such as While She Sleeps which are also labeled as hardcore, but if we compare them to you, it is obviously a completely different type of music. Is there such thing as “melodic hardcore”?

Well, ofcourse there can be melodic hardcore. Hardcore can be a lot of things, but I am not sure if a whole lot of bands that are labeled hardore or metalcore actually have something to do or are connected to the hardcore scene. I always think that is important cos that means they are interested in the underground and what the scene is built on. If you don’t care about the attitude , you are not hardcore. I can’t speak for a band like While She Sleeps cos I dont know them well enough to judge.

What does it take to be part of a full-time hardcore band? Is this all you do for a living?

I wish, my man! We’re doing a lot of shows and put in a lot of effort and time into BFP but it’s no one’s job. We all work part-time or are self-employed. Hardcore doesn’t usually earn you a living, unfortunately.

Well, I think this pretty much sums it up. Thank you for this interview. Anything in conclusion?

Thanks a lot for the questions! I hope to see everyone at the Mixtape 5 on the 14th of March. Come say hello at merch! Also, check out or new record Dance With The Devil and watch our new video for the song Dance With The Devil on YouTube. Thanks for your ongoing support, Bulgaria, and keep the hc and metal underground strong!