-- Sulfeet gets shredded --
20/06/2018
Stijn Daneels
While
scouting for bands to include on my special Easter Fool’s Day edition of
Shredder Sunday I came across Sulfeet, a metal act founded by former Exoto
guitarist Filip “Phil Beans” Boonen! Phil was very grateful for the inclusion
and he and fellow Sulfeet vocalist Pascale asked me to meet up at
Metalworksfest 2018 (April 14, 2018). At the event they requested an interview
so I decided to go for a little improvisation and Phil, Pascale and I ended up
talking about the origins of Sulfeet and their mascot Teefus, their recently
released second EP Dark Ages and the band’s sense of light-heartedness and
originality.
BMS: Hey
there! Since you’re a young band I wish to know how Sulfeet came to be?
Pascale: In
fact, Sulfeet has been around since the 1980s as a tribute band and was
originally named after the American crossover thrash metal band S.O.D. (Stormtroopers
Of Death), an act which featured Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Charlie Benante. Phil here
is the only remaining original member of Sulfeet. He restarted the band in 2015
as a way to celebrate his 50th birthday and then he went looking for
new people to reinvigorate his band. And that’s how we all ended up here
together!
BMS: Phil, how did you came up with the name Sulfeet and your mascot Teefus?
Phil: When
I first heard of the band S.O.D. I misheard their name and thought they were
called SO3, which is the formula for the chemical compound sulfur trioxide. Of
course, that’s not that great of a band name so I decided to name my tribute
project Sulfeet. A short name that’s easy to remember and isn’t yet another cheesy,
overly aggressive sounding band name. And I also provided the inspiration for
our mascot, Teefus, who is always bare-footed. When designing Teefus I wanted
to create a character that looked realistic but a slight bit on the cartoon
side (hence the huge feet) and not some satanic or monstrous creature as so
many other metal mascots are (like Iron Maiden’s Eddie or Megadeth’s Vic
Rattlehead).
BMS: I see and now Sulfeet only plays solo material, right?
Lucas: That’s
correct! Our own songs are inspired by classic acts like Black Sabbath, Slayer
as well as my former band Exoto, but we do try to add an original spin to the
concept. One of our signature traits is to combine male with female lead vocals
and by writing songs about serious themes but with a little tongue-in-cheek.
Take the song Sole Survivor, for instance. The song’s about a guy being
stranded on an island after a plane crash and rather than asking for help he
enjoys his freedom and spends his time sunbathing while his wife sits at home!
In other words, as Sulfeet we aim for fun and light-hearted music but serious
enough to not be a parody.
BMS: I’ve got to say that when I first saw the music video for Sole Survivor I instantly knew I had to put this one into the special April Fool’s Day edition of Shredder Sunday! It was like a short film and very funny! Especially the ending scene with Lucas joyfully jumping around in his swim trunks on that beach!
Phil: Ha,
ha, ha! Looking back, it is a hilarious song. Smart move of you to include it
as an April Fool’s song!
BMS: Oh yeah, that music video was simply begging to be part of that episode! Hopefully you’re going to make some more of those fun videos!
Pascale: Hell
yeah we will! Currently we have over a full hour of own material written so we
can certainly pick a few of those out to create a video for. And the cool thing
about our discography is that we have songs that are more classic heavy metal
oriented and songs that are better suited for thrash metal audiences.
Laurens: Indeed, so we’re well worth booking for a variety of rock
and metal events! And speaking of material, we’ve got many more stuff waiting
on the writing table!
BMS: Great! Say, you’re about to release a new EP, Dark Ages, tell me something about it.
Pascale: It’s
a concept EP that deals with personal and psychological issues. Like the
opening track Battle Within which is about a man’s inner struggle between his
morals and his personal desires. Another track on the EP is called Trouble and
is about the issues people face when confronted with drug or alcohol abuse.
It’s all very down-to-earth stuff but as always we don’t let our songs to be
overly dark. There always is a sense of hope for things to turn around.
BMS: I see! Well, I’ve asked everything I wanted to ask. Is there anything else you guys wish to say?
Phil: I’m
very thankful that you included Sulfeet on Shredder Sunday! We’re also going to
send our Dark Ages EP to you, I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Pascale:
Thanks a lot for doing this improvised interview! It was great to finally meet
you in person!
BMS: And I look forward to seeing Sulfeet in live action in the near future! Time for a picture!
Sulfeet - Sole Survivor