This band started in 1997 by an idea of drummer Aad (now still plays in SINISTER) and guitarist Michel (ex-SINISTER). After they have written a bunch of songs, they completed the line-up with singer Mike (ex-SINISTER) and bass-player Theo from JUDGEMENT DAY. The first material that HOUWITSER recorded was mainly ment for interested labels. Last year HOUWITSER signed with Displeased Records and went to a studio to record their debut CD. The title of the album is "Death but not buried" and it contains a piece of grinding death metal ment for the true supporters of brutal aggressive and fast music.

Our attention to the band was first of all drawn by the fact that HOUWITSER was founded by SINISTER members, including Mike who, with a scandal, left the band a few years ago. Thus we are having a sort of return match with "judging" Theo.

Could you introduce our readers the main idea of the band's creation? We know the band was formed by the drummer Aad. Was he unsatisfied with what he had to do in SINISTER? We might be wrong, but the music of your band does not differ a lot from the one of SINISTER...

Aad was absolutely not unsatisfied with SINISTER. He simply wanted to play in another band which could play a different, more grinding music as SINISTER did. So he formed HOUWITSER together with Michael.

How did other members get in the band? Why did Mike, the ex-SINISTER vocalist, split with SINISTER?

He split with SINISTER because of some problems contra the other members. I don't want to say more of it because it's not my problem and it has nothing to do with HOUWITSER . Me and Aad became good friends after a show of SINISTER and JUDGEMENT DAY (my other band) years ago. So he knew that I was totally into death metal and asked me to play bass in HOUWITSER. And I did. Concerning Mike, he was not involved in any other band after his split with SINISTER so we asked him for HOUWITSER.

What is the concept behind the band's name?

The concept of the name HOUWITSER is a cannon, a war tool to kill with!

I know you used a 4-track recorder to record your first demo. Sounds like a real undergound?

We recorded a promo CD ment for labels not a demo. Anyway, we recorded the promo on our own 4-track recorder because we didn't want to spend any money for the recordings. We finished everything after one night so it was very easy.

How and why did you choose Displeased Records?

I sent one of our promos to Displeased Records. They liked our music very much and offered us a good deal. Another reason why we signed with them is that they are a Dutch company so when we want to discuss something, it's no problem to reach them or we can drop in personally. This is not easy with labels from other countries.

I guess you did not have to record your full-length album on a 4-track recorder?

We recorded our CD in the Q.S.A. studio with Vincent Dijkers. Everything went very easy and there were no big problems. Vincent gave us the sound we wanted, brutal and fucking heavy. The title "Death... but not buried"... Well, a lot of people say that death metal is dead and buried. This is absolutely not true and we made a sort of fun of it. We want to prove with this disc that death metal is still alive!

Well, after having listened to it, it is obvious! In your promo bio the fact that you have very sick lyrics was mentioned several times. Are you guys that sick by nature or is it the music that "requires" a certain kind of lyrics?

Mike is responsible for lyrics. He is a sick motherfucker so that's why we write such lyrics and of course the music requires this kind of lyrics.There are fifteen tracks on the CD with several kinds of lyrics. I think it's better to take the lyrics together rather than dwell upon each song title, otherwise I need your whole magazine to explain them. The most lyrics are about porn and woman ("Sixtynineher" and "Fistfull of Vixen"). Also some gore lyrics ("Shredded to pieces", "Slices and diced" and "I shape the suffering") and about people like Jerry Springer and other "hypocrisy" people ("Monkey in control" and "World parasites"), about death metal ("Terror legion"), our parties with the fights ("D.P.W."). Against extremist religious people ("Support Satan"), disasters ("Raveshing chaos"). Well I think that I've had the most now.

Well, the whole "gentelman's" set! How do the present members of SINISTER react on your band? It goes without saying, people can associate you with SINISTER in many ways.

For other SINISTER members HOUWITSER is absolutely not a problem. They all like our music very much. They are true death metal fans and support HOUWITSER in every way. About associating us with SINISTER, for us HOUWITSER has nothing to do with SINISTER. It is different and I hope that all other death metal fans see it the same way as we do.

What are your ambitions for the future as a band? What do you feel about the fact that many people pay interest to you due to your SINISTER background? Would you like to become even better than SINISTER and prove your own right for existence?

Again about that SINISTER shit: with HOUWITSER we make our own music, our own CDs, do our own gigs, sell our own T-shirts. We do our best for that and we'll see what will happen in the future. HOUWITSER is not SINISTER.