The Difference is a Doom Metal Heavy Rock band with progressive influences (to keep things simple) from East Flanders(Belgium) and we all live around a town called Eeklo. The Difference consists out of 5 members who really like to play Metal music. The current Difference line-up looks like this:
*Hanssens Gerd Voice
*Timmerman Edward Drums
*Van Hyfte Steven Lead guitar
*De Bock Christophe Rhythm guitar
*Mervielde Steven Bass
The Difference exists since 1996, and has developed its own unique style throughout the years. Metal-zines have compared The Difference a lot with bands like: Paradise Lost, Anathema, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Manilla Road,...
A lot of magazines have tried to label us but in the end they all have to draw the same conclusion that's it's very hard to catalogue the music of The Difference.
Our music is passionate and very intense but most of all very honest. On stage we try to perform in an energetic way. Wetry to transfer what we feel on stage to the audience while we are playing. Especially our singer Gerd really succeeds in keeping the audience focused. He loses himself in the music and on stege he al - ways sings in a very passionate way. We belive that our live performances are one of the strenghts of the band.
How looks The Difference' biography so far, any line-up changings through the years?
The Difference exists about seven years now. We recorded three demo CD's. The last two demo CD's were recorded at the Midas Studio's in Lokeren, located somewhere in Belgium. The last demo(Into A Distant Past) was recorded with a new line-up. The bass player and drummer left the band for personal reasons and Steven Mervielde and Edward Timmerman joined the band. It turned out to be a good decision. The Difference is since 1.5 years at full strength again and we really hope we can perform a lot with this new line-up!
Since how many years are you involved with that major big fucking thing called HEAVY METAL?
Everyone of us is addicted to Metal music! Our singer Gerd is the oldest band - member, so you can say he's involved into Metal music for about 30 years. He's a big Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple fan. Our two guitar players(Steven Van Hyfte and Christophe De Block) are playing together for about 13 years. before The Differnce they already played in a Punk band. Their first conatct with the Metal scene must be 11 or 12 years ago. The two youngest bandmembers
(Edward and Steven.M.) are into Metal music for about 8 or 9 years. They grew up with bands like Pantera(Vulgar Display Of Power), Sepultura(Arise) and also
Bolt Thrower.
What about the lyrics, the influences and who's the songwriter in the band?
All lyrics are written by our singer Gerd. A lot of lyrics are based on movies , books or impressions of life. Most of the time, the lyrics are about the dark and evil nature of mankind. We don't have one songwriter in the band. Most of the music is composed with all the bandmembers together. Everyone adds his own ideas to the songs. This in a way makes the music much more interesting for everyone.
Can we recognize your favorite bands while listening to The Difference and what are your faves at the moment?
Well, propably you can. we all like different kinds of music and we all have a very braod taste considering music. If you listen well to the music you propably will find some influences by bands like Paradise Lost(the older stuff) or Anathema, in the newer songs you will even here a bit of My Dying Bride. Our favorite bands at the moment are: Opeth, Artch Enemy, Anathema, Pain Of Salvation....
Our drummer Edward is really into the more Death Metal stuff, he listens a lot at bands like Malevolent Creation, Bolt Thrower, Sinister,...Our singer (he's the oldest member in the band) is influenced by bands like Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Led Zeppelin. As you can see we all listen to a lot of different stuff and we try to put all those influences in our music to create a new unique sound.
Any deal so far with some record companies for a debut album?
No, until now we don't have any record deal with a label. We are planning to bring out a new record next year. We hope to find a record company to bring out our first album, but if we don't find a record company, we propably will bring it out ourselves.
What's your opinion bout the Belgian Metal scene? Is it still growing stronger and stronger?
Well, we believe there are a lot of upcoming young Metal bands. Unknown bands like Starcast, Solifugia, Bataklan,...should get the chance to play more often. But sadly(or luckily)enough still most people don't really like Metal!
A couple of years ago there wasn't a Metal scene at all in our town, but now we see that Metal music is becoming more and more popular. A lot of young people are getting interested in Metal. We also see a lot of young people attending our shows.
The biggest problem in Belgium is that the young talented bands don't get the chance to play. If you compare this to Holland, where they have excellent places to play and a strong Metal scene, there's still a lot of work to do for the Belgian scene. But a lot of people are trying hard to keep the Metal alive in Belgium. Hopefully in the future we will hear more and more about Belgian Metal bands!
What is your greatest live performance so far?
I think the greatest performance for The Difference was playing in Ghent at a
place called " De Vooruit " and playing as a support for Lacuna Coil in another
great Belgian venue called " Biebob " in Vosselaar!
Plans for the future?
Hopefully we will record a full-CD! Making a video is another idea we have. It probably will appear only on our website. We also want to play as much as pos- sible. There are some great events coming up in the future. We will be playing on Suikerrock(Talented Stage) and on Midliferock in Lichtervelde. In the future we propably will go play some shows in Holland.
To end up this interview, maybe a last word to our readers and other Metal maniacs out there?
First of all thanx for the interview ! We really appreciate this interview because it's a way to become a bit more known by other people. And as a little band it's not that easy. We hope to see you all at one of our gigs. Keep checking our web- site and don't hesitate to contact us.
Also keep checking the Metal To Infinity website. It's because of them that a band like THE DIFFERENCE stay motivated to play. And most of all..KEEP LISTENING TO METAL!!
HOMEPAGE THE DIFFERENCE
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