Torsten: Congratulations! The Great Rebellious makes an impact! It rains damned good critics everywhere I see, not only in our mag ;-)
Martijn: Thanks! We’re very satisfied ourselves. The reviews are indeed very good, so less to complain for us.
Michiel: Thanks! Yeah the critics are very good so far! It’s nice to hear a lot of people like the album

Torsten: The critics have a positive effect on the band? I think The Great Rebellious should push you…
Martijn: Of course it is nice to hear that our music is appreciated, but it is not like we’re pushed in a direction or whatever, we keep on making music as we always do and what we like. The only difference is that we are getting better and better since our foundation, and that can be heard in the songs and the way we build them up.
Michiel: Well, it’s very positive to hear the album is doing well but it doesn’t change anything in the band itself. We’ll keep on going the way we always do, pushing ourselves to go forward.

Torsten: What definitely has changed: Anne, your bass lady, has left TOXOCARA after the recordings. You say that musical and personal conflicts existed. Could you tell us the story behind? And are there still any conflicts?
Martijn: In the first place; there are no conflicts anymore. The relationship is good as it is. We had some difference of opinions, and musically seen we wanted something else than Anne. So sometimes it is better to split ways. In the meantime Anne has her own band so she keeps on rocking.
Michiel: Exactly, we don’t have any conflicts with Anne; we went separate ways because we have different opinions in stuff.

Torsten: Anne was replaced by Sanne van Dijk. How did you found him?
Martijn: He is the guitar player for Erebus, and Erebus is the band from our vocalist Kevin. So 1 + 1 = Sanne. He is an excellent bass player and a real addition to TOXOCARA live on stage!
Michiel: We asked him to fill in for some gigs when Anne left because we didn’t want to play without a bass player. He did a great job so we asked him to join as a permanent bass player.

Torsten: How does he manage the integration into TOXOCARA? He solved the first gigs already… What is the difference between Anne and Sanne (except the difference between male and female of course ;-))
Martijn: He integrates very well, and that was also one of the requirements, since we play a lot and see each other often, a new bass player had to fit in TOXOCARA. He (or she) also needs to understand the language we speak. Even if there was a bass player as good as hell, but he didn’t personally fit into TOXOCARA we would never accept him as a full member. But most of us knew Sanne from Erebus, and after a short probation which he successfully endured, we incorporated him. He kicks ass and plays the bass as a young god ;-)
Michiel: Well they have different styles. I think the difference will be heard in new material. Until now Sanne plays the songs how we wrote them without him.

Torsten: Let’s stay talking about the line-up for a moment: there is a big roar coming out of the Netherlands at present. Next to The Great Rebellious The Monolith Deathcult just has released their Trivmvirate (check out our review). Interesting to mention is the fact that you, Martijn, are part of TMD and playing guitar and writing most of the lyrics in TOXOCARA. How is the relationship between the bands? Is there a common foretime?
Martijn: Well, all of TOXOCARA’s members except our 2nd guitarist Vince have two or more bands, so it’s nothing new that I had two bands at the same time. The relationship is good, we also played together before, went with both bands to the UK (London Deathfest) so that’s no problem. Michiel has also Prostitute Disfigurement and two other bands, Kevin and Sanne have Erebus, I have TMDC so it’s one big family hehehe.
Michiel: It’s going fine, like Martijn said; most of the band members have more bands. They don’t really have anything to do with each other except we have to manage the gigs so we don’t get any double bookings but it always goes without problems.

Torsten: It is eye-catching, that your deal with a lot of themes in your lyrics. The surviving people of the Second World War are as mentioned in Maendic Mausoleum as a poem by Jan Campert in Fusillade The Coalescent. It seems that you are interested in a lot of critical topics.
Martijn: Yep that’s true, interested in true happened stories. We don’t want to write about fantasy stories or political influences. Although the red line of the lyrics is war, it is told from the position of the “good” and the “evil”. Kevin tries to accentuate that with his voice. As you may listen again, you’ll for example hear that Kevin’s high screaming represents the casualties of war, the rebels, the people, the nation that is suppressed, when the lower vocals are from the dictator, the rulers. The debate with each other, within the lyrics.
Michiel: Same, I think it’s a good thing writing about real stuff instead of something made up. Martijn and Kevin do the lyrics; I think they’re the perfect lyric team for us.

Torsten: Hidde Halbertsma is praised in your credits. Who is the one behind this name and how does he influence you?
Martijn: Hidde is a teacher in History and he writes poems. “Like a fist, Fiery in the Sky, than it’s when the sun finds it’s equal” comes from his hand. It means, when a nuclear bomb explodes, the sun will find its equal, an even strong force. He is genius in writing poems, especially war related. That’s why I asked him to write a piece for The Great Rebellious. The above mentioned text is from Wake Of The Controversy.
Michiel: What Martijn says…

Torsten: You don't take prisoners musically. Your way of celebrating Death Metal is intense enough. How are the songs generated? Is there something like a creative mind in TOXOCARA or is the Death Metal forged in the rehearsal room in common? I think of the U-48 samples for example.
Martijn: Mostly Vince and I write the guitar riffs, and than we work it out in the rehearsal room with Michiel and than a song is born. Vocals are done in a later stadium, but not the lyrics, because the music must fit the lyrics. The samples I create, sometimes before, and sometimes after a song is finished.
Michiel: Yeah Martijn and Vince come up with riffs, I come up with my ideas, we work it out to a new song together. We do it that way because everyone has new ideas so you’ll get a more interesting structure

Torsten: It isn’t difficult to hear what your influences are… Though, you have established yourself a good level of autonomy in your songs. To what extent do your idols inspire you in songwriting?
Martijn: If it isn’t difficult, why don’t you mention the influences? (check out the review – Torsten) I don’t have any influences for TOXOCARA, so I can’t mention one. It is just the way I write songs. And if people think it sounds like other bands, than that is just coincidence. As I somewhere read that we sound like Nile, well thanks for the compliment, but we definitely do not sound like Nile. I don’t even like Nile’s music a lot, so why the hell would I like to sound like Nile? What I’m trying to say is that people should less compare bands with each other.
Michiel: None. We play stuff we create and are not trying to sound as someone else. Every time people say they can hear what influences you have it are mostly bands I don’t even listen too.

Torsten: You inked the Twilight deal right in the middle of the last year. Imminent Repulsion was released by Sevared Records. Why did you change the label? With the benefit of hindsight, how was the cooperation with Sevared Records?
Martijn: Well, Twilight-Vertrieb had more to offer than Sevared Records could offer us; we always wanted a label with a bigger scope, as in distribution and promotion so we could also grow as a band. Sevared Records is a great label, they supported us all the way (still) and we always had great contact. But for TOXOCARA it was better to release The Great Rebellious through Twilight-Vertrieb, so we made that choice. The switch went without problems so that’s great.
Michiel: We have a good experience with Sevared records but we needed a bigger label in Europe. Twilight has more to offer for us.

Torsten: What does Twilight plan with you guys? Are there any options for further releases?
Martijn: Our next album will also be released through Twilight, and after that we’ll see what happens!

Torsten: You shared the stage with acts like Pungent Stench, Krisiun, Grave und Immolation. Last year you stomped over London. When will you travel across boarders again?
Martijn: We’re busy setting up a European tour, more info on that later. For now we are confirmed at the Barther Open Air fest in Germany, August 15.
Michiel: Yeah we didn’t play a lot in other countries with TOXOCARA yet, hopefully the tour will go on, and we’ll be there someday.

Torsten: What is planned in the next months?
Martijn: Well, we started writing for the new album, we will be playing a lot of shows, so we’re busy the next months ;-)
Michiel: Yeah we keep writing non stop. We don’t like to hurry about songs, sometimes they have to “growth”.

Torsten: A question at last: Why the hell you name yourself after a tapeworm? I hope that no one of you was attacked by one in the past!!
Martijn: Hehehe, yeah, a TOXOCARA is a parasite, mainly found by dogs. The name TOXOCARA was made up by Niels, the founder of TOXOCARA. A few years ago we decided to split ways, and we went on with TOXOCARA. We considered another band name, but that was too much effort and in the meantime we more and more built up our name, so changing the name would bring more damage to the band than not changing it.
Michiel: Yeah we didn’t want to start all over so we kept the name. We give a new meaning to the word since we don’t have anything to do with dog parasites.

Torsten: Thank you for this interview! The last words are yours:
Martijn: Thanks a lot for the questions! Keep checking www.toxocara.com or http://myspace.com/toxocara for tour- and news updates!
Michiel: Thanks, horns up!