Scavenger (BEL) interview

Astra Wally · Post by **Astra Wally** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:21 pm

I've just found a very short intie of the belgian band SCAVENGER I did a few years back. I don't know what to do with it so I thought some members of this forum may be interested to read it...I must say it is not very interesting (and there are probably some grammatical errors) but well...here it is

Sorry it took us so long to answer but we had some trouble putting the pieces together. The authors are: Roger on Bass and Jan on Vocals

Do you remember your first approach with hard rocking and heavy music? What were your favorite bands?
We have always been interested in Hard rock from the beginning: Free, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen.

It seems that the Scavenger story started back in 1982, how the band came together, did you play in other bands before you joined Scavenger?
What kind of music did Deep Throat (pre-Scavenger) band play? Was it in the vein of Scavenger or totally different?
What were the band musical influences back then?
As a band we started in +/- 1978. We called ourselves "Deep Throat" with Peter Pront on guitar and Luc Ebinger on drums, we mainly played rock covers from the Stones, Free, Sammy Hager and Saxon.
After a while, a young guitar player, called Marc Herremans, joined in and our style changed more and more into metal. Marc was very creative and ambitious but could not work with Peter, so Peter had to leave the band. He was replaced by another ambitious metal man, Patrick Van Schooren. We now concentrated on writing our own songs. After a year of rehearsing, we went into the studio to record a demo. We presented it to Mausoleum Records. They were very enthusiastic and signed us on. The name "Deep Throat" had to be changed, and Roger called it "Scavenger".

Do you know how many copies Battlefields have been sold?
How was the general response for this album? I personally think it's a great underrrated one
In the summer of 1984 we went into the studio: Harry's Hest op den berg. After 2 months our product was ready, and at the beginning of 1985 "Battlefields" was released. The band knows of at least 5000 copies have been sold, Mausolem gave us no further information.

How was a typical Scavenger live show? Did you play many?
The response of the public was great, lots of airplay and interviews but too few venues. The shows were spectacular: fireworks, lot of noise, headbanging public. We must say, our fans were very devoted.

Scavenger broke up after the release of Battlefields if I'm right…for which reasons? There wasn't another stuff intended to see the light of day?
Due to complete wrong management and no support from the record company, we got stuck! On top of this, Mausolem went bankrupt and let 42 Belgian bands in despair. We tried to carry on ourselves, but Marc left the band, we could not overcome the loss of this promising guitar player, and we had to quit!

Do you think a Scavenger reunion is possible? Are you still in contact with other members or fans? Are you still involved in music today?
Reunion is impossible as we lost track of them.
After a while, Roger and Jan decided to start a new band, we took Peter in again together with Chris Brion on lead guitar and Frans van de Voorde on drums. We called ourselves the "Roscam Band" and specialised in Blues, Rock, Covers but playing it LOUD! Our set-list is ZZ Top, Guns 'n Roses, Rolling Stones and Black Crows.

All in all, it was a beautiful time with many wonderful memories!

It is the end. I'd like to thank you for your time and patience, it was a pleasure! Please finish this intie in the way you wish, if you have something to add or a special message to say…let it us here. Cheers!
Julien, thank you for your interest, we feel honoured and do not forget..........................

METAL RUUUULES!!

Roger & Jan
Scavenger

With thanks to the writer, Solveig (bitch) Laupsa!!

Avenger · Post by **Avenger** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:18 am

Thanks for the read.

I've always thought that "Battlefields" was a gem of the Mausoleum catalogue.

Cheers.

great_knuthulhu · Post by **great_knuthulhu** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:35 am

I need to get that album - agree that it's one of the better Mausoleum releases. Thanks for sharing the interview.

pzman · Post by **pzman** » Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:10 pm

Surely one of my fav early 80s euro releases. Thx for the interview.

Sammi Curr · Post by **Sammi Curr** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 6:03 pm

Interesting read! I love this album, it has a very unique sound and the songs stick well.

Astra Wally · Post by **Astra Wally** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:08 pm

Glad you like it. Great album indeed....one of my fave belgian record