Assembling a completely new line-up for a band of over 20 years’ provenance—and with eight albums under their belt—must be a daunting and depressing task. But last year, that became the reality for Dew-Scented vocalist and mastermind Leif Jensen. He sat down for an extensive and thoughtful discussion with Ghost Cult, reflecting on his two-decade career, and explaining how an influx of new blood has motivated him to take his music further than ever before.
Hi there. Your latest release, Insurgent, celebrates more than 20 years of premium thrash/death metal. How do you look back on those years?
Hey! Oh wow, that’s a tough one to start out with, hahaha! Well, it’s been a long, tough but also very entertaining ride for sure. It’s incredible to see how time flies… I mean, the band started as a teenage fun thing for me, and 21 years later I am still enjoying what we do, which leads me to spend a lot of time and energy on the band. I just recently saw some ex-members of the band at a show as well as people that I’ve known since the early 90s because of the band. That’s a great feeling and it makes me proud to see what we have achieved and managed to go through without losing our interest and dedication for this style of music. One might tend to casually forget that it all started because of the love for the music and it’s the same feeling that continues to push us forwards, even though so much has happened in the course of the last two decades. Still having that hunger and bite is a great re-assurance…
Can you take us through the process of putting Insurgent together?
Well, that’s a bit strange because we didn’t have this big plan from the very beginning. We knew we had a 20th anniversary coming up for the band in 2012, but because we had just released our latest studio album Icarus and also only recently debuted a brand-new line-up, we didn’t think it was the right timing for any further ‘celebration of the past’. Then we realized we had some new songs done quickly after the album and also wanted to try a new recording facility, so we worked towards recording two or three new tracks for that, maybe as an EP or so. Then at the same time we did a homecoming type of show for the 10th anniversary of a local heavy metal club in the village the band originally comes from. We decided to record it multi-track and when we realised that the material came out pretty good, we ended up using the same studio mix session of the new songs to polish the live tracks, as they would show how the new line-up and also the older songs sounds on stage these days. So all of a sudden we already had 10 tracks. And then we decided to max out the playing time of the CD by adding all of the rare or unreleased studio bonus-tracks from the album sessions for Invocation (2010) and Icarus (2012), to give collectors a full overview of our vaults. So yeah, there you have it: 76 minutes with 19 songs, celebrating 20 years of the band’s existence, 21 years after we started out, hahaha. Insurgent is a limited edition release and also available for a special price (lower than a standard album), so hopefully people will appreciate the full package we are presenting here.
The album contains a couple of covers, including some more left field choices like Incubus and Prong. Why did you choose those songs and what do you find interesting about Incubus and Prong?
Actually it’s not the Incubus you might be thinking of but instead the death/thrash metal band from Louisiana, which later on went to call themselves Opprobrium. I always loved their Serpent Temptation debut (in its original version with Scott Latour on vocals!) for its extremely untamed level of raw aggression and when I found out that our guitarist Marvin (Vriesde) digs it too, it was an easy decision. Prong is a similar story… I really, really love the band and especially their Beg To Differ album. Prong are not only a highly original and pretty ground-breaking band but also masters of riffing! Beg To Differ still kicks my ass after all these years! So when we were recording Icarus and started discussing possible options for cover versions as bonus tracks, I brought this one up again. I tried in the past, but it didn’t come through with the previous line-up, so it was about time to make it work, haha.You can also find covers of Inside Out, Wasted Youth, Judge, Powermad and Genocide Superstars on Insurgent. It’s all tracks or bands that one of us enjoyed enough to suggest to cover as tribute and I feel it came out as quite an entertaining overview of sometimes a bit obscure but always intense songs. We enjoy doing cover versions, so hopefully the fun we had doing the songs will shine through for the listener to appreciate our choices…
In late 2011 the band had a complete overhaul in the line-up. How was the band progressed from there?
It’s always a hard thing to judge by yourself, but I have the feeling we are making giant steps forwards in a very brief amount of time. I mean, we only played together for some months when we did Icarus and then another couple of months later we started playing shows. Things went pretty fast to start with but I feel we have managed to become a very tight and balanced unit, both on a musical and also on a personal level in this timeframe. It was a rough time for me and the band before we hooked up with the current line-up, so I am amazed to see that Marvin helped turn things around for the better so effortlessly. The level of musicianship with the new line-up is awesome and we have had great shows lately, so that we are totally psyched about the coming challenges. It seems the songwriting flow is going quite well too, because we are already working on a bunch of songs for an upcoming studio album. We are not at all in a hurry but we are trying to take advantage of the good momentum and smooth flow with things. So yeah, I am truly happy about the situation with Dew-Scented right now.
Dew-Scented has had its fair share of adversity over the years. What motivates you to defy the odds and keep on going?
Not sure, maybe the fact that I didn’t see a legitimate reason to stop so far. I mean, it’s still fun to compose and perform and I still have the feeling the band can progress and keep moving forwards, so that’s what matters really. We learned to be quite tough from the very beginning, because we weren’t really ‘en vogue’ with our style of music in the early 90s. But that didn’t matter to us, because we were doing things from the bottom of our hearts more, and not so much from the head. I guess a lot of the unfortunate events and negative happenings throughout the years that didn’t manage to kill us only made us stronger?! I always liked to think that giving up was waaaay too easy and left that move up to others.
The band’s musical style is pretty set in stone. How do you manage to find new ways to keep the music interesting for yourself and to keep the fans happy?
Oh it’s probably only small details for the untrained listener, but I in fact find a ton of ways to keep our style diverse and entertaining. Several people commented on Icarus being quite different from our previous efforts. I agree in a certain way, but then again also see it as a next and quite logical step forwards again. I think there is enough room to grow in many directions without having to abandon our trademark style. I mean, we will probably always be an extreme thrash metal act, bordering on death metal heaviness, with a modern approach and incorporating some hardcore elements. I guess that’s simply what we like to listen to ourselves at the end of the day, so there is no reason to change this chosen path. I actually think it’s more interesting to progress by becoming better at what you do best than by trying to reinvent the wheel in vain. To each his own, I guess, but I think we have made clear in the turn of the last 20 years and ten long-player releases what our destination is…
Recently I did an interview with with Tom Angelripper from Sodom and he said that many new generation thrash metal bands are too preoccupied with recycling music and ideas from the older bands, instead of finding an identity of their own. How do you see things?
Yeah, he might be right about that, but there is also a cool vibe with some of those retro acts he was probably thinking about when he mentioned that. Then again, that’s not our goal nor what we are after with Dew-Scented. We aren’t claiming to be super original, but we definitely do not wish to be old-fashioned either. We try and play as extreme and up to date as we can without betraying our roots or leaving behind our trademark sound. I understand when some people don’t really like what we are doing and instead prefer to stick to more ‘traditional’ acts. But having said that, I would always choose go back and listen to the originators of the 80s style instead of praising some current bands who just copy their idols. I like Sodom… they are one of the originators, and they are also from this area of Germany, so that we see them casually and have also shared stages several times. Generally, I admire how bands like Testament, Overkill, Voivod or Kreator are still kicking ass both on stage as well as on new album efforts, staying on top of their game after so many years of being around. I also like new bands like Vektor, Havok, Warbringer or Enforcer, so I am not trying to say that the new generation hasn’t also brought some interesting new blood to the scene. It’s always an interesting development and a scene in constant movement.
Raymond Westland