The Spirit That Guides Us (abbreviated TSTGU) is an international screamo-emocore collectively with the Netherlands as base. TSTGU has been around for more than ten years. However in the past years we never did an interview with them, so it was about time. Lets have a chat with one of the original members Erik van Winkelhoff [Screams].
TMR: Hey Erik how are things going there ?
Erik: We’re hanging in there, thanx!
TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the the band members please ? (name and instrument) Is this the same line up as in the early years?
Erik: My name is Erik and i’m the vocalist since we started this band, actually only the drummer (Minco) and i are in the band since the early days. The others have joined over the years. Though the last two records are with the current line-up, so pretty much one of the best and stable line-ups we’ve had so far (this includes Bas on clean vocals, Jeroen and Stefan on guitars and Wouter on bass).
TMR: For the readers amongst us who never heard of ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’. Can you tell us
something about the origin of ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’ please?
Erik: The origin of tstgu, well we go back more than 10 years and could be best described as passionate people who create intense music and try to reflect life as it is in our music: stormy, dark, and at the same time uplifting and hopeful.
TMR: Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or school do you do beside the
band ?
Erik: Minco, Bas and Jeroen are full time mucisians, doing music in different bands and projects. I’m a family therapist, Stefan’s nursing and Wouter has his own booking office and builds websites.
TMR: Is this your first band ? [for everyone personal]
Erik: Oh no, every one of us has done bands before, to many to mention…..
TMR: For the people that dont know anything about ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’. Why the name ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’? Is there a story behind it ?
Erik: At first, we thought (and still think) it was a cool name, it’s long and mysterious yet powerfull. First, it’s the spirit of God who guides us, secondly it’s also the spirit of the hardcore/indie scene who drives us, the spirit of live shows, the spirit of DIY scenes and so on…. We had chosen this name because it includes all: the band, the fans, the moments of live gigs….
TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’? .. how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?
Erik: On the last album pretty much every one wrote the music, the arrangements and the lyrics. It’s not just one person in the band. On most of the earlier albums mostly Minco, Axel and Arjen (old guitarist and sold singer) wrote the stuff as i did some lyrics everyone and then too. Now it’s more like us meeting each other in weekends to hang out and write new stuff.
Our new album INNOCENT BLOOD is dealing with global injustice we literally get sick of what’s happening in this world. When we wrote the songs we would watch a lot of documentary’s on slavery, human trafficking, child soldiers, etc. We would forward them to each other and that’s how we got fired up to write these new songs and scream and give voice to kids that have been silenced because of all the shit that happened to them.
Bands who influenced us on this album were: Selfmindead, Mastodon, the Blood Brothers, Sereena Maneesh, Norma Jean, Lionheart brothers, My bloody valentine. Last but not least also music from Arvo Part as we listen to quiet music a lot too.
TMR: How do you describe the music of ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’ the best ?
Erik: It’s like Mickey Mouse getting mad! Haha, no we love to creat edgy and loud stuff but still keep that clear verse-chorus structure (called it pop) as we want kids to be able to sing a-long to choruses that stick inside their heads!
TMR: How does ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?
Erik: All members in the band have different backgrounds and political views on what’s going on in this world, actually from rightwing to leftwing ideas, kinda all over. Though we are all christians, which gives us a common frame to exhale our ideas. But there is certainly one thing that we are all agreed on and that’s to end slavery anno 2011, whether it’s (child) labours in sweat shops or trafficking in the sex industry!
TMR: For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’?
Erik: All our songs have a deeper meaning towards the existentialism of life, yet for us it’s the mixture of our music and our lyrics. We try to communicate with how we express in music, lyrics, live shows, our shirts, artwork, it’s not only the words in our songs, although they carry a strong message.
TMR: Is there a message you want to bring with ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’?
Erik: Like i said before, kids have to get off their lazy butts and stand up against injustice!
TMR: ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’ existed for many years, perhaps the longest existing Christian heavy band from Netherlands? Is there a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning of ‘TSTGU’?
Erik: I think that all the fuzz that was going around with our first release ‘the sand, the barrier’ was a highlight for us in many ways. We got hyped, got signed to sony, where all over the media. Mostly because ‘the sand the barrier’ was a freaking good album with urgent melodic songs with a totally new sound. There was no big american emocore scene yet, hardly any screaming vs. singing to be found. I guess we brought something new. Personaly i will never forget our show at Pukkelpop, with Guns and Roses headlining and bands like Thursday playing after us and Cave in playing before us.
TMR: And the worst thing were, if there is one ?
Erik: You know, situations like having Van problems, or getting ill on the road, stuff like that. People who don’t play in touring bands, think that touring is like heaven on earth. But that isn’t! Most of the time, touring is hard working, sitting in your van for like 7 hours, carrying your gear and stuff, etc. You live out of your travelling bag.
TMR: Name some of your favorite bands to play with live [past and future] and tell us why ?
Erik: We are good friends with Face Tomorrow and played many shows with them since 2001 but we also toured with Norma Jean from the USA for instance. There aren’t any favorite bands as most guys in cool bands are great to hang out with. Oh and although we are a heavy band, we prefer playing with good quiet bands…haha.
TMR: What is your favorite food and drink? [no idea why people always want to know that]
Erik: Pretty much every one in the band loves indian food: chicken curry, lassi drinks and Nan bread.
TMR: First record you bought?
Erik: For me that was 2 vinyl albums: Iron Maiden – Somewehere in time and Anthrax (with all the faces and a pastor with devilish look on it, but i can’t remember the album title.) My first cd was one from Phil Collins’ Genesis.
TMR: What makes you laugh?
Erik: I love the jackass humor, not sure if everyone in the band does.
TMR: How do you prepare for a show?
Erik: As a band we always stretch our necks and bags, after that we pray, and then stagetime where we like to get mad as hell….
TMR: Favorite movie(s)?
Erik: David Lynch’ movies are something we almost all appreciate and also get influenced by, i think we have that same atmosphere in our songs aswell. Oh and me, Bas and Minco love 2 russian movies too a lot: ‘The Return’ and ‘The Banishment’.
TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked?
Erik: I don’t know, personally i believe that even the worst questions can be asked with a honest heart.
TMR: What is your favorite ‘The Spirit That Guides Us’ song ?
Erik: Bail us out.
TMR: Do you have a life philosophy?
Erik: Dude, this is too much to answer. But i do love the views of people like: Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela, Shane Clayborne, Ad Verbrugge, Tim Keller, and philosophers like: Soren Kierkegaard, Blaise Pascal, Jacques Ellul. Well, there you go….
TMR: Are you visiting many gigs, and what do you listen to these days?
Erik: I used to visit shows often, now i like to read books at night. Lately i listen a lot to the new Mastodon album, and i listen a lot to classical music: Arvo Part, Gorecki, Shostakovich, Mahler, Mendelssohn.
TMR: Tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?
Erik: There is hardly any scene. The best metalbands in Holland worth mentioning are probably: Textures and Slechtvalk. What’s going on in the singer/songwriter/indie scene, is probably more interesting.
TMR: How do you think about downloading music from the Internet ?
Erik: Illegal unpayed downloading is stealing! No discussion about that!
TMR: Can you tell us anything about the upcoming album ‘Innocent Blood’? Such as the recording-proces / the songs ?
Erik: INNOCENT BLOOD will be released in the beginning of October. It’s a killer album for sure. It’s hardgazer, cause we mix hardcore and shoegazer into one fine thick wall of sound. If you love the sound of the sand, the barrier and the catchiness of north and south and the aggression of don’t shoot let us burn then this is your album. It has best of all. Lyrically it deals with the injustice that goes around in this world, a lot of ‘heavy’ stuff to be found in these lyrics.
TMR: The new album will be released by ‘Sally Forth Records’, how did you get signed by them ?
Erik: They have ever loved what we do since our first recordings and we sticked with them every since.
TMR: And what about the [near] future, any plans ? [maybe a new DVD?]
Erik: After the coming release, we are gonna tour Germany and Holland to promote the album. Will tour again early 2012 and after that some summer festivals. The rest we will take from there.
TMR: Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘The Spirit That Guides Us all the best ……Is there anything you wanna say at last? [any final statement ?]
Erik: Come and hang out at our shows, we love to meet you and share thoughts with you. Buy our album and please support and donate the human rights organisations that we support with this album. Godspeed!
