BATTLEHEART Interview

Genre: Heavy Metal/Power Metal

Country: Netherlands

Questions by: Nick Parastatidis

Answers by: Mario van der Heyden (Vocals)

Site: Metal Archives

1.Hello Mario. How are you? How do you feel about having a small chat about BATTLEHEART?

Hello Nick. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.

I was surprised you asked me to do this interview, because it has been 20 years since we released our mini cd. In the meantime a lot has happened. Nowadays Thijs (drummer) plays in an ALTER BRIDGE cover band. Roel (guitar player) plays in THE UNFORGIVEN, a Metallica cover band. Ron (bass player) quit playing in bands after BATTLEHEART. And Mark (guitar player) is still active in several bands, HELLDRIVER and KLONT! And I only sing in the shower and while running

Rock Lion mailorder, www.rock-lion.nl.

2. At what age did you decide to form BATTLEHEART? Who had the idea of forming the band?

After Ron and I left SACRAMENTAL SACHEM we decided to form a thrash band, 5 B HATED. At that time I was at the age of 21. Thijs, Roel and Berry joined us. After recording a demo and doing many concerts in Holland, Belgium and Germany we began writing new songs. But the music turned into heavy/ power metal. Many people thought we were making hardcore/punk, so we decided to change the name into BATTLEHEART. We thought it matched more with the music we played at that time.

3. How difficult was it for you to find members? Which were the main difficulties that you had to confront back then?

Not difficult at all, except the second guitar player. There were a lot of them.

But the four of us were playing in BATTLEHEART from the beginning. After a while we also found Geert to play on keyboards.  But only on stage.

4. Mario did you have in mind right from the start to create an epic metal band or was it something that happened while you were composing the songs?

We didn’t want to become rockstars, hahaha! But we wanted to play our own music, the kind we listened to ourselves. When Roel, Thijs and Berry joined us they listened to bands like SEPULTURA, GRIP INC., SLAYER, KREATOR and some melodic death metal, but Ron, Mark and I where more into WARLORD, MANILLA ROAD, CRIMSON GLORY, AGENT STEEL, CIRITH UNGOL and such bands from the 80ies!

5. Before BATTLEHEART you were a member of bands like 5 B HATED and SACRAMENTAL SACHEM which belong to the extreme metal sound. How did you decide to move into a band of traditional metal and how easy or difficult was this passage for you?

Same as the answer on question 2. Before I joined SACRAMENTAL SACHEM I played in bands like EMBODYMENT and STIJF LIJK.

6. How long did the process of composing the songs that are included on your EP “Return of the Ancient Knight” take you? Which was the first one to write and which one was the most difficult to complete and why?

It took almost a year to compose them. The first one was “Hail the Sword”. The most difficult was “Wardance”, for sure. Because it contains thrash, hard rock and heavy metal. “Return of the Ancient Knight” was composed within 2 days.

7. Do you have any favorite song or songs from the EP and can you explain to us the reason why?

“Return of the Ancient Knight” because it fits my own taste of music.

8. Who was responsible for the lyrics? It is obvious they are inspired by an epic thematology. So I would like to know if you had in mind any specific books or historical events while you were composing the album.

Roel and I wrote the lyrics. Every Saturday we wrote lyrics and music.

Roel on acoustic guitar and me on keys. We were inspired by fantasy movies and books like Tolkiën. “Hail the Sword”, “Wardance” and “Return of the Ancient Knight” were inspired by the movie Braveheart.

9. I read some reviews back then and I remember people comparing you with BLIND GUARDIAN. Do you agree with that description? Which were your influences according to you?

Yes I agree. Especially the guitar riffs. We also were influenced by bands like ICED EARTH, MANOWAR, JUDAS PRIEST and HELLOWEEN.

10. The EP was released in 1999 which was an era when traditional metal and heavy/power metal returned stronger. So, what do you think happened and BATTLEHEART never succeeded to get the attention that they deserved?

That’s right.

Our guitar player Eddy left the band and then Roel and Thijs formed THE UNFORGIVEN.

11. Which were the reasons that eventually led to the disbandment of BATTLEHEART? Are there any chances to see the band resurrected?

You’ll never know!

12. By the way do you have any unreleased tracks from that era?

Yes I do have some unreleased tracks.

13. Do you have plans to re – release the EP maybe with some bonus material?

No, not at this moment.

14. What happened after the disbandment of BATTLEHEART? Did you continue to play in other bands?

I played in 2 bands after BATTLEHEART but it didn’t work out for me. I was busy with rock lion mailorder and my regular job.

15. Are there still people that show interest in the band? I mean especially younger metal fans?

I sometimes sell a CD or T-shirt of ours. I still have some left.

16. Thank you for your time answering my questions Mario. I would like you to end this interview by sharing with us, if you want, your best memories from the BATTLEHEART era and also what you learned or made you wiser during your time with the band.

Best memory is that we played a show with HELLOISE, my Dutch heroes from the 80’s. Since the 80ies my favorite band, saw them in 1985 live in the Kuip (football Stadium) in Holland! Listen to their first album!!!

Thank you Nick for this interview. I didn’t expect this after 20 years.

I hope that people will take a look at my website, the biggest second hand metal mailorder in Europe, since 1995!