XENO – The interview with Ruben Willemsen (vocal & bass)

“…We don’t really try to write in a specific genre (…) and leave the labeling to our fans (…) We try to establish a certain base on which we can go wild (…) One time we went home with a toilet seat! (…) But in the older generations it is still looked down on by some… – XENO

Livius Pilavi: Hello! “Xeno” in Greek language means “alien / stranger”. Does the name of the band somehow refer to Albert Camus’s novel entitled “The Stranger”?

Ruben: Hey! I myself am not familiar with the novel but I’m going to check it out, it looks very interesting! We chose the name “Xeno” in the meaning of “strange”. We thought that name fitted us perfectly. A couple of years later the word xeno became more popular because of trending words like xenophobia.

Pavel: Progressive Death Metal is often controversial, but on the other hand it reveals the musicians’ inclinations towards other, often different musical genres. This is proof that often these “brutal death-metalers” like melody, harmony, mood…

Ruben: We don’t really try to write in a specific genre, as more progressive metal bands do. But because we use grunts and heavy parts in our songs we could get the label “death metal” on some of our songs. I think it is hard to place our music in one specific genre, and we don’t know it either haha! So any genre is fine with us, we’ll just keep writing the music we like and leave the labeling to our fans!

Pavel: Your latest album “Sojourn” is an excellent combination of the brutality of modern Death Metal with broadly understood Progressive Rock. So bloodthirsty Metalers have souls! And they can also experience other emotions, apart from aggression, anger, hate, hahahaha…

Ruben: Yes haha! Although aggression and anger are definitely covered on the album there is also a lot of room for other emotions. People’s minds are not that simple. And this album tells the story of someone that goes through an array of different emotions.

Livius Pilavi: Well, your work is very ambitious. What are your musical inspirations? Do you also listen to classical music, jazz?

Ruben: Every member of the band listens to different genres and subgenres. We’re super interested in what bands/musicians do in other genres and often get inspiration from them. If we think a certain style could be an addition in a song we try it out!

Pavel: I also hear Brazilian rhythms on “Sojourn” 🙂 and I didn’t take anything 🙂

Ruben: You are completely right haha!

Pavel: … and Post Rock!

Ruben: Yes! Post rock is also a big inspiration on some of our songs. The sound design of post rock is really amazing.

Pavel: XENO proves that Metal music is alive, constantly evolving and can be eclectic… What pushes you to create such rich and varied compositions?

Ruben: That is a really big compliment, thanks! I think it comes down to that we all like ‘weird’ music, get inspiration from all kinds of different genres and maybe most importantly get inspiration from each other. We challenge each other harshly, which makes us step out of our comfort zones and improve daily. But in the end it is most important to us to put the song first, and to not get lost in the intricacies of writing.

Livius Pilavi: You surely like to listen to Progressive Rock. Do you know any prog-rock artists from Poland?

Ruben: Most of us are huge fans of Riverside! I’m getting a lot of inspiration from Mariusz Duda because he is also a frontman and bassist. We also listen to other Polish bands like Behemoth, Decapitated, Disperse and Blindead. A lot of really good music comes from Poland!

Livius Pilavi: On the cover of Sojourn, we see a person looking at a portal to another world. What is this other world, which is there? Is this world better or worse than ours?

Ruben: The cover of “Sojourn” shows the beginning of the story. Someone who is stuck in his abode. This person gets a calling, an urge, to get out of there. The portal is symbolic for the great unknown. On his journey he encounters the hardships of traveling, battling the elements, all alone. When he treads the empty plains for a long time and is about to give up he suddenly gets new strength to continue. But alas, all his hope was in vain. Just before his inevitable end he relives all of his past memories before he fades away. So to answer your question: we don’t know. The person never reached what he intended to find.

Livius Pilavi: Are the lyrics on this album important?

Ruben: We believe lyrics can be important. We think it can be the difference between a good song and a great song. If the songs have a relatable meaning behind them due to the lyrics it’s so much more interesting. But most of the time you’ll only look up the lyrics if you think the song is already good.

Livius Pilavi: How is the composition of the songs in your band going? The songs are dense in musical qualities, and are very changeable. I guess it’s hard to arrange so many sounds and bring together so many musicians with strong personalities?

Ruben: Most songs start with an idea of one or a couple of us. We try to establish a certain base on which we can go wild. We write our own parts on the song, which all of us criticize. We try our best to put our ego’s to the side for the greater good, the song must stay central. Because it’s easy to stare yourself blind on your own product we often ask the opinions of those around us. Our writing process has always been a living thing. It grows, shrinks and takes on it’s own form at times, which keeps it very interesting.

Pavel: Why did you release the instrumental version of “Sojourn”?

Ruben: We believe strongly in the power of instrumental music. The vocals often get most of the attention, which is a shame because instruments are just as interesting, if not more in some cases. When listening to the instrumental version we force the listener to a whole other listening experience. Probably discovering a lot of new aspects in the songs.

Livius Pilavi: Do you have any ideas or tracks for the next album?

Ruben: A lot actually! Because we couldn’t do any shows due to the pandemic we begun writing new songs. The biggest problem for our next release is money, we invested a lot of our own money in Sojourn. The music industry took an enormous hit in the pandemic and so did we. We first need to earn some of it back before we can realistically begin planning our next release(s).

Livius Pilavi: Are there any bands you would like to play with at one concert?

Ruben: A lot! We all have personal heroes, and there are also bands who would match great with our music. You could think about bands like Periphery, Tesseract, Persefone or Opeth.

Pavel: And which concert do you remember the most? I am also interested in some anecdotes…

Ruben: For me personally it is definitely our gig in 2016 at our local metal bar. The crowd went completely berserk and even the beer was sold out! It is a sight I will never forget, although the stage was tiny haha! In the past we were a lot wilder than we are now. We had the tradition of taking a trophy from each gig. One time we went home with a toilet seat!

Livius Pilavi: How are concert opportunities in the Netherlands at the time of the COVID pandemic?

Ruben: At this moment it is very hard to book any shows. There are severe restrictions on live shows. It seems like shows are slowly coming back, but nothing is certain at this point. There is a movement going on in The Netherlands we support called UnMuteUs. They contend against the unfair restrictions on the event industry.

Livius Pilavi: Has the pandemic affected any of you personally?

Ruben: Yes, a couple of us got pretty sick with Covid-19. Luckily we all recovered without any long-lasting effects, but were out of the running for a couple of weeks to a few months. Also most of us have had a period in which we were struggling mentally due to the restrictions. So yeah the pandemic has hit us both mentally and physically.

Pavel: A lot of Europeans visit the Netherlands just to take marijuana legally. Of course, there are supporters and opponents of the legalization of marijuana. I am curious what the matter of the legally use of marijuana looks after many years of introducing this legalization?

Ruben: That depends on the generation I think. For our generation smoking weed is socially accepted, like drinking beer. But in the older generations it is still looked down on by some. Although most people think marijuana is legal here that is not completely true. It falls under a toleration policy. You can buy it when you’re 18+ in what we call coffeeshops. But it is forbidden to carry it with you for instance. Also there are no official farms, so it is a big gray area on how the coffeeshops buy it. Politically there is a growing voice for a clearer law, but that could be some time before something is happening on that area.

Pavel: Do you have any problem with tourists because of this?

Ruben: Not really. Marijuana is not an extreme drug, most people get really chill when they use it haha. Although there are some instances in the bigger cities where drug tourism is very problematic: littering, driving under influence, hanging around the coffeeshops and generally being a nuisance to the tenants. But that is more of a problem caused by people than the drug/coffeeshops. However I think other (hard)drugs or even alcohol are a much bigger problem.

Livius Pilavi: Are immigrants a problem in your country? I’m Polish. The media reported that in the Netherlands there had been – admittedly few – cases of aggression against Polish immigrants.

Ruben: I think that is a really hard question to answer. It is clear that the Netherlands took a turn to the right wing in the last elections. Personally I think there is not a lot of discrimination against Polish people, or at least not in my direct surroundings. The Polish people are known here to be incredibly hard workers for low wages, maybe some people find it hard to compete with that? I don’t know, I do however know there are some slices of society who have a problem with immigrants in general. Specifically I think the discrimination against Islamic people is a bigger and growing problem. But hey, I’m a musician, not a politician. What do I know?

Pavel: After all, there is a saying that “Music soothes customs”! And that’s the truth!

Ruben: Indeed! I think it is important to find things that brings us together, and music is one of the biggest powers in the universe in that aspect. It is the one universal language we can all understand.

Pavel: What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Ruben: For now we try to do as many live shows as we can! In the background we continue writing new songs and growing as group. We are very excited for the future and can’t wait for the world to turn to ‘normal’ again.

Pavel: Thank you for the interview! Does XENO have a message to humanity?

Ruben: Thank you for having us! It’s time to enjoy life again. Support your favorite musicians and enjoy life. The time is now!