Brecht De Rooms adds his own definitive voice to DORRE's intense Instrumental sounds that make them feel like a totally different band compared to their previous records.
I caught up with the band to discuss the making of the album, the concept behind the album and how adding a vocalist came about. Read for on for a great interview.
Hi guys. Thanks for doing the interview. How are things with you today?
Very well, thanks Steve, and thanks for having us! We're thrilled to finally be releasing our new album, and with the prospect of our upcoming shows, we couldn't be happier.
For folks not in the know, can you give a brief history of how the band came together and where it is today?
Sure, we've been around for over 15 years now so there is quite a bit of history, but we'll boil it down a bit. Dorre was founded, if you can call it that, at the bar of the Rock Café in Leuven, Belgium. We're close friends with the owner and he had a special beer on tap, called Dorre. After a couple of these 10,5% beers, Adriaan and Wolf headed off to jam in the attic of the bar where Adriaan used to rehearse with his old band.
There were yearly shows with free kegs of Dorre to celebrate Adriaan and Wolf's birthday. Long jam sessions of nearly 3 hours without actual songs. Basically a big piss-up with loud music in a sweaty dark pub.
After Erik joined on lead guitars we started working towards a more structured approach and actually writing songs, and of course playing more shows. We released some early demo's that are still up on our Bandcamp, as well as our half hour long EP "One Collapsed at the Altar". This led to us releasing a split LP with our Danish friends of Bethmoora. We started touring through mainland Europe and the UK with Andrew as our sound guy, who later became our bass player and joined us on our previous album, Fall River.
When Andrew decided to move back to the UK, we onboarded our buddy Jan to take on bass duties and he's been with us since, writing and joining us on Fortress. While writing the album we felt we needed to evolve even further as a band and went looking for a vocalist. Our main criteria was that we needed someone that we actually like and can get along with. Fortunately we found Brecht, who is a great match for the vibe of the band and an excellent vocalist.
We were also very fortunate to be able to talk to Désirée, who runs Lay Bare Recordings. We met up at Sonic Whip to talk shop and her trust and belief in Fortress was a great motivator to us, so we're super happy that she's on board and releasing this album on her label.
How would you describe your own sound?
We only recently really landed on describing it as psychedelic post-metal, because there's just too many boxes in the underground scene that you can tick. We make heavy music and there's always going to be more than one genre in it, you know? The new album has a bunch of jazz and funk influences in there as well as neo-classical rock, but it's also got really sludgy, crunchy bits.
Congrats on your excellent new album Fortress. Loved it from the very first listen. What can people expect to hear from this album?
Something new! We were a bit apprehensive that people would just think of it as "Dorre but with vocals", and I think we managed to steer clear of that. It's still very much Dorre, but I think that's because every release we've had so far has been a departure from our previous work while still retaining our own signature.
This is quite a different record compared to your previous albums. Firstly, the record has vocals and secondly it's way more experimental especially in the Jazz and Progressive aspects. Was that your plan to create something different to your great records?
Yeah definitely, we've always joked that we actually want to play jazz but we're just not good enough, ha ha, but yeah the intention was definitely there to experiment more with jazz and funk in heavy music and create a different vibe. It's also a challenge for ourselves to keep innovating and keeping things interesting to play around with. There were definitely moments during the writing process where we cursed our own decision making, but in the end it was a very fulfilling process.
When did you decide to add a vocalist (Brecht De Rooms) to the album. Were you a bit tired of being labelled an instrumental band.
About halfway through writing the album, probably. While we were going in this new direction we really felt we needed that extra layer to take it to the next level. I don't think we could have released this album as an instrumental work. And it's not so much that we were tired of being labelled as such, but more that we were ready to take the band in a new direction. We've always been proud of our instrumental work, but it was time for a big change.
How did Brecht De Rooms join the band. Did you try out over vocalists and what did Brecht had that the other vocalists didn't.
We basically put an ad out with an instrumental scratch track to write and sing over, and had a bunch of people send in a track. There were definitely a few contenders but Brecht just stood out. Not only that but Brecht is also just a genuinely nice guy and really matches the vibe of the rest of the band. I think that's at least as important as being "the best" vocalist to send in a track.
After a couple of months, it just felt as if he'd been in the band for years, which is the best feeling you can have, you know? Being in a band is not just about making music, but also hanging with your buddies and having a good time. If you're not comfortable with each other and if you're not having fun, then you shouldn't be doing it, in my opinion. We all have way too busy lives for it to not be that way.
What does Brecht bring to the overall DORRE sound.
There's definitely a depth to our music that we didn't have yet, an extra layer of emotion and raw feeling that's just not possible to bring in a purely instrumental environment. I also think that, because most of our music is heavily concept-based, just having lyrics that convey our story is a massive win.
And of course having vocals just makes our music more accessible. Even though we love instrumental music, it's definitely difficult to reach a wider audience.
What is the album about and did your real-life experiences help make this record.
The concept of the album was initially built around Star Wars, believe it or not. A lot of that is still in place but it's grown more in the direction of how we as humans communicate, how we keep building these constructions of belief to validate our existence and how technology is disrupting these core human beliefs.
This all sounds very heavy and metaphysical and you really don't need to be super invested in the background to enjoy the album, but we like theory crafting around these sorts of themes.
Where did the name for the album come from and what does this mean to the band.
We had a long, friendly, of course, discussion about this because while we wanted to reference the starting point of our inspiration with Star Wars, we really didn't want to be too much on the nose. So we gravitated towards The Hidden Fortress, which was the inspiration for Star Wars. From there we went with Fortress, which also embodies a feeling we had while listening back to our tracks.
It might be an odd decision to have an album title that doesn't match with any of the track titles, but we see it more as the core to which everything is connected.
What bands and artists influenced you when recording this album.
We all listen to very different music, if we're looking at bands from our "sphere" we're probably thinking ISIS, The Ocean, The Necromancers, that kind of line, but I also listen to a lot of jazz and funk, Erik listens to a wide range of music from classical to fusion to psychedelic rock, Jan listens to a lot of punk, rock and pop, Wolf is into all kinds of drum and bass among other things, Brecht listens to lots of stoner and metal, you know it's a big melting pot of influences.
What formats is the album being released upon?
Right now we're releasing on vinyl through Lay Bare Recordings and on digital streaming as well as of course Bandcamp. If there's demand for it, we'd consider releasing on CD as well.
You've teamed up with the awesome record label Lay Bare Recordings for Fortress. How did that come about.
I was talking to Jon (Davis, of Conan) about taking Dorre a step further and how a label could support us in that. We had a good discussion on it and he suggested a couple of labels that might be interesting, labels that think with a band and actually do it out of a passion for the music.
He put me in touch with Désirée, for which I'm still very grateful, and we met up at Sonic Whip to discuss. We unfortunately missed a couple bands at the festival because we had such a long discussion but it was definitely worth it. Désirée is great and incredibly passionate about her label and the bands she signs, we couldn't have asked for a better match.
What is the creative process or setup within the band? Do you all write the music together or do certain people within the band do that?
While everything is a collaborative effort, there's always an instigator that takes responsibility for their track to get worked on and fleshed out. Everybody takes part and tries to lift up a track, but the bones are laid out by one person usually.
How did you get involved with music? Was it a particular album, group or artist that made you want to write and play your own music?
Pfooo, I think we're all too old for this question now, ha ha, it's been a while and I can't speak for everyone but I just thought guitars were cool and I wanted to play loud music. I don't really think there was one album or band that made me want to play, you know, I started out like pretty much anyone I think just playing Nirvana riffs and going from there.
Who designed the excellent album cover. Really brings to light what the whole album is about.
The artist is Giliam Schroyen, a close friend of mine. He's poured blood, sweat and tears into that artwork and it shows. I think he worked on it for over a year, honestly. Everything on the cover is fully 3D-modelled and textured, painstakingly tweaked lighting, it's definitely a work of love. We're very lucky to have had Giliam working on this and we're extremely pleased with how it turned out.
Can you advise if you’ve played or currently playing in other bands so folks can check out your other musical projects?
For sure, Wolf and myself aren't currently in any other projects. Erik plays in Wheel of Smoke, Rivercrest, Cave Inn, The Moondig, Kut and his solo project Etherik. Jan recently started a punk band, Kut. Brecht plays guitar and does some vocals in Ethereal Darkness.
What is the current state of the Belgian Rock/Metal scene? Do you perform gigs on a regular basis and do you have a local scene that you're actively involved with?
There's a pretty good scene here, Belgium has some amazing bands and a host of great bookers and venues. We're very lucky to have organizers such as Orange Factory in our hometown of Leuven and things like No Name Collective in Gent. There's also a ton of great festivals here like Desertfest in Antwerp and Dunk! Festival in Gent. We've only recently started booking more shows again but we plan on playing quite a bit throughout 2025 and 2026.
Will you be performing any gigs to promote this album locally or further afield.
Yeah we have our release show on the 22nd of February on home turf in the Sojo in Leuven and we're playing a couple of shows in the coming weeks in Tilburg and Charleroi, with plans for more soon. We'd love to come back the the UK and tried to get a little tour going but didn't really manage to get that arranged just yet.
Before you go, do you have any words of wisdom for your new and potential fans out there.
It might sound like a holiday card but, be kind to each other. We're living in strange times and we could all use a little less drama and a bit more wholesome, no? That, and go to local shows, support local bands and organizers, show some love to your scene! Thanks for having us, Steve!
Words by Steve Howe and DORRE
Fortress will be available to buy on DD/Vinyl via Lay Bare Recordings from Saturday 22nd February 2025.
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