Interview: Jord Otto

Recently Anneke van Giersbergen announced her new band, entitled of VUUR.
‘Head up High‘ had the opportunity to interview the guitar player very known by us, Jord Otto.

L’Oreal Paris: Because You’re Worth It! 😉

Thank you, Jord!

1. Besides joining ‘The Blackest Grey’ and ‘My Propane’, what have you been doing during the past 2 years after the Wild Card tour ended?

Jord: I didn’t join The Blackest Grey in these 2 years. It’s actually the first band I got in that became a bit more serious as we had a lot of shows compared to what I did before that. But we already exist in this formation from 2006. We just never released an album as it was more of a “hobby” band. Now we’re trying to be mature and drink less beer during practice and actually record some new stuff 😉 What I’ve been doing: Mostly writing for the new My Propane album and just playing a lot of guitar as you can never be good enough! 🙂

2. How were you invited to join VUUR?

Jord: I got asked by Johan van Stratum if I was interested in playing with Anneke’s new band VUUR. And well… you can guess what my response was!

3. Vuur is formed by excellent musicians and, somehow, all of you have directly or indirectly worked together before. How is your relationship with the other band members? And have you ever worked with any of them before that?

Jord: Hell yessss! I’m so glad I get to play music with every single one of the VUUR members. Next to the fact that they are all a bunch of sweet people the quality of musicianship is outstanding. We actually didn’t know each other that well. I once did a little ReVamp tour with Stream of Passion in Russia so I already knew Johan and Marcela. I have seen the others at gigs or on Facebook but didn’t know them in person. But once the first rehearsal kicked off I felt at home immediately.

4. There are many female-fronted bands nowadays. What’s VUUR’s proposal so it can stand out in the current metal scene?

Jord: We got Anneke AND Marcela. :p But hey fuck the “female-fronted” label right? Floor also had a grudge against it and I totally agree on that.

You’ll just have to wait and listen once something gets out! 😉

5. Besides VUUR, you are also part of ‘My Propane’ and play alongside Henk in ‘The Blackest Grey’. How do you see your growth and your evolution as a guitar player?
Jord: Well I think my growth kinda lies in the fact that I am realizing that there’s so much more then my typical goto metal music. I listen to loadddddsss of different styles of music and try to get more inspiration out of that. It definitely reflects in my writing altough I keep things metal of course.

6. How did the idea on The Blackest Grey come up? And what kind of inspiration was necessary to create the melody and lyrics for the song ‘Escapist’?

Jord: Like I said before, it’s not really an idea of the present 🙂 Escapist is actually one of the first songs we wrote together. We just transformed it to fuck and re released it on our new album.

7. What can we musically expect from Vuur and what are your expectations for the future with it?

Jord: The album is gonna be something else, something new, something beautiful yet heavy and bombastic at times. I think you’ll be pleased 😉 Expectations for the future… Loads of gigs, tours and fun!

8. Since you are a known artist, it becomes inevitable for fans to come up, and, for some reason, bands to end or even some musicians to leave some their projects. How does it feel, for you, to continue in a totally different project and have the support from fans that you follow you from your past projects?

Jord: It feels really good, obviously. It’s hard to earn a reasonable income in the music business and I have to keep working besides music. So all of my free time goes into writing music and playing. Getting some recognition and getting all your support just makes up for so much! It’s a bit of a cliché but without fans we can’t do it 😉

So thank you all! 🙂

9. Basically, all the bands and projects created by Anneke come to Brazil, so you’re probably coming over in a (not so) distant future. Do you remember something special from when you came here that you would like to tell your Brazilian fans? And we’re not talking about hair care (hahaha)

Jord: How I wish to go there again! The crowd over there is just unbelievable and KICKS fucking ass! That was pretty damn special already. But next to that I just really need to drink caipirinhas again… :):):):)

10. Apparently L’Oreal Paris has a new focus: men’s beard. Does your hair feel jealous for sharing its attention now? Hahaha

Jord: It does get stuck in my beard sometimes but I like to believe it’s love, not jealousy.

Português aqui

Jord → Page | Instagram | Website

My Propane → Waves | The Blackest Grey → Escapist

VUUR → Facebook | Website | Instagram

Try-out: June, 9

Venue: Neushoorn, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Tickets | Event

VUUR Brasil

Members:

Anneke Van Giersbergen – lead vocals
Ed Warby – drums
Johan Van Stratum – bass
Ferry Duijsens – guitars
Marcela Bovio – vocals
Jord Otto – guitars