We are thrilled to present an interview with Hanne Terweduwe, the powerhouse lead vocalist of For I Am, the Belgian pop-punk band. In our conversation today, we delved into their electrifying new track, their highly anticipated upcoming album, gigs, and other fun stuff. Enjoy!
Power Behind The Throne” is described as a track with unapologetic energy, drawing inspiration from turbulent political landscapes globally. Can you delve into the creative process behind this track and the message you aim to convey to listeners?
Well, with the new record we wanted to convey a broader message than we did with all of our previous work. In a sense, we still aim to do the same as we’ve always done, namely put smiles on people’s faces and make sure they have a good time, but we feel that with each record we’ve put out, we’ve matured as human beings and that also shows in our music and the lyrical topics.
As we’re reaching a wider audience than we ever could’ve dreamed of – and we’re tremendously grateful for that – we also kind of feel a responsibility to speak out against injustices in today’s world. Punk rock is the perfect platform to do so. Giving everyone a voice and helping them understand one another is so immensely important in a world where the “tower of Babel”-amount of information and miscommunication is preventing us from fully understanding each other.
The track is a call for people to be the catalyst for change. How important is it for For I Am to use your platform to address social and political issues through your music, and how do you approach balancing the musical and lyrical aspects of such impactful songs?
So, we wouldn’t consider ourselves to be a purely political band, but we do feel like it’s important we address these issues as today’s world seems to be one of extremes. We seem to be less empathic, we often can’t find a middle ground or we simply don’t know how to deal with the vast amount of black and white opinions that circulate on social media, literally every second. We want to try to make people aware of the fact that being mindful of these things can be a first step in finding peace, in all aspects of the word. Respect and empathy are such core values, so let’s not forget about them.
Balancing out the music and lyrics is something that occurs quite naturally throughout our writing process. Usually the guys come up with riffs or base chords, then the drums step in and eventually I try to match the way the notes make me feel by adding vocal melodies and lyrics to the tracks. It might not be your conventional way of writing songs, but it works like a charm for us and it also makes it so that everyone gets a say and takes part in the creative process in their own right.
“The Righteous & The Wicked” is your upcoming third full album, set to release in 2024. How has the band evolved creatively since your previous albums, and what can fans expect from this new musical chapter?
As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve definitely matured and I think you can sense that when you listen to each record consecutively. We started out as being this fun and smiley band and we were mainly concerned with how “fast” a track had to be and tried not to use any minor keys, as that would make the songs sound sad, haha.
Nowadays, however, we try to vary as much as we can between all kinds of sounds. There’s fast songs, slower songs, songs with key changes, songs that make you smile, songs that make you want to step up and help, songs that might move you or songs that may surprise you…
The Righteous & The Wicked – at least I think so – is hard to put a label on, style wise. Power Behind The Throne, our first single, could be labeled ‘political skate punk’, but there’ll still be tracks that could be considered pop punk, melodic punk, melancholic punk, super-fast punk, technical punk… So, overall I’d say: it’s a punk rock album! Hah! Hopefully our listeners will agree that it’s the variation on it that keeps it interesting. We do ourselves anyways. We’re very proud of it!
Over the years, For I Am has been known for upbeat, powerful punk rock songs with catchy hooks. How do you maintain the essence of your sound while also pushing boundaries and experimenting with new elements on “The Righteous & The Wicked”?
I personally think we’ve done a great job at remaining who we are in essence, but pushing our boundaries with new sounds. You will definitely recognize old For I Am vibes in the fast rhythms and powerful, catchy melodies, but there’s also a bunch of stuff that we’ve never done before. Can’t spoil too much just yet, but there’s even some metal and alt-rock influences hidden in there somewhere… Well, I’ll leave it up to you to find out what I mean by that… 😉
The album is said to further professionalize the band and widen audiences both nationally and internationally. How do you perceive the evolution of For I Am’s sound contributing to this goal, and what specific steps have you taken to achieve a broader reach?
Since releasing our previous album Late Bloomers in 2019, we’ve tried to get our music out into the world as best we could by heading out onto the road, first and foremost. We’ve been on some amazing tours, like our run in Japan, the tour we’ve just been on with our buddies in The Penske File, etc. We played some amazing festivals last year, like MPF, Brakrock, PRH, Xtreme Fest and KNRD to name just a few and we’ve been able to work together with Gröli Music for a number of very cool bookings and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.
We were beyond the moon when we heard that SBÄM wanted to be involved in releasing the new record, as we love the label and we’re super honored to be included in their roster full of amazingly talented bands and musicians. To be able to add BPR, PEE Records and Double Helix Records to that list is just incredible. We can hardly believe it ourselves and we’re eternally grateful for the chances we’re getting with this new record.
“Late Bloomers” marked a significant evolution for For I Am, showcasing a more professional sound. How has this evolution influenced the creative direction of “The Righteous & The Wicked,” and what lessons did you learn from the previous album?
Three words: Tim Van Doorn. Tim’s our producer/recording/mixing master over at Big Dog Recordings. He’s done an astounding job in helping us find our sound and perfecting the tracks. We’ve been working closely together with him for years, so he knows exactly where we’re headed and helps us reach our goals every time. He was involved in Late Bloomers and he – of course – was also our main man to work with on The Righteous & The Wicked. We have a beyond great collaboration and we would never be where we are if it hadn’t been for him and his crazy ass skills!
The band has played numerous national and international shows, opening for notable acts like The Bombpops, Propagandhi, Lagwagon, and more. How has sharing the stage with such established bands influenced For I Am’s live performance and overall musical approach?
Our performance has definitely evolved since first setting foot on stage about 10 years ago. We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to perform on smaller stages in packed little punk rock venues, which we still love doing very much to this day, ánd we’ve been able to take on bigger stages at festivals, so I feel like all of those experiences have helped us grow in their own way.
Being able to share the stages with some of our heroes is just another thing that makes this punk rock scene so great. I mean, a Taylor Swift fan is not very likely to ever be able to say this, but I on the other hand have shared a stage with the likes of Joey Cape (we share a birthday, did you know? 😉). Mind-blowing!
In 2019, For I Am played at prominent Belgian punk festivals like GROEZROCK and Brakrock Ecofest, along with international shows at Punk Rock Holiday in Slovenia. How do these festival experiences shape your connection with fans, and what are the band’s most memorable moments from these events?
Groezrock has always been the festival we all wanted to play ever since we were kids. It’s super close to where we all grew up and it’s always been this “dream goal”. Like, if we’d ever make it to the Groezrock stage, we’d never need anything else. So, once we were actually asked to play, we were unbelievably psyched, but, also a bit afraid it wouldn’t live up our expectations. But it did. Oh boy, it did. The tent was packed, everyone in the audience was giving us their A-game and we had the time of our lives. We were so lucky, as it turned out to be the last ever edition of Groezrock. Couldn’t have asked for more, really! We’re very happy Brakrock has filled the gap Groezrock left behind. We love everyone there, know most people at the festival and it’s honestly one big happy family gathering we look forward to every year.
Punk Rock Holiday was actually the first bigger international festival to believe in For I Am, as we got to play there as early as 2016. Another mind-blowing moment for us was when we got the mail saying we were invited to play the beach stage. As much as I love the Belgian festivals, Punk Rock Holiday is my personal heaven on earth. I’ve never felt as home anywhere in the world as I do there. We’ve played the beach stage 3 times now and it never gets old. I personally have also been fortunate enough to sing at PRH main stage no less than 4 times. First time was with F.O.D. in 2015, then with Masked Intruder in 2019, with our friends in CF98 in 2021 and with Pigs Parlament for the Main Stage Karaoke when Bad Religion had to cancel their set. That was just the most unreal experience I’ve ever had. No doubt!
All of those festivals have been thé best way of reaching new audiences, making new friends, all with a similar mindset. They are just so important to our little scene and community.
The pandemic posed challenges for the music industry, but For I Am adapted by participating in online shows and collaborations. How did these experiences influence your connection with fans and your approach to creating music during a challenging time?
As it probably was for many bands, the pandemic came at the worst possible time. We had just released Late Bloomers and were planning on touring as much as we could to promote the album. The online shows did help us a lot in that regard. We were lucky enough to be able to sell quite a few records online and to continue playing the songs, even if the audience had to watch us goof around on their little computer screens.
Unfortunately, we’ve noticed it took a toll on many bands and our Belgian scene specifically seemed to have taken quite a few blows due to the pandemic. I’m happy we survived it, both in health and in music and it made us even stronger as a band than we were before. It’s in times like these you need your family the most and For I Am is definitely one tight-knit family unit.
You received requests for collaborations with various bands and musicians during the pandemic. How do these collaborations contribute to the band’s creative growth, and are there any particular collaborations that stand out as significant moments for For I Am?
We always love working together with friends. I’ve done a collab with CF98, for example, working together on a Disney cover song, haha. That was a lot of fun! The cover I did with Hans from F.O.D. of No Use For A Name’s version of This Is A Rebel Song was special to me as well, as we recorded it during the pandemic and it made me reminisce about all of the great times we had with our friends and how much I missed them when we couldn’t go outside.
Another very cool collab was the one I did with Belgian punk rockers Janez Detd. We covered the ALL song She’s My Ex and it actually got broadcasted on national radio here. Crazy experience!
Then I also did the Tilt “Libel” cover with Émilie Plamondon, who’s an amazing podcaster and musician from Canada, and Tim Van Doorn, whose skills I’ve already told you about. That was a great one too, got a lot of lovely responses to it online.
And another definitely worth mentioning was the cover I did of No Use’s International You Day with Chris Mason, another super talented musician from the UK. We did the cover and posted it on our socials, like we would every other cover song, but this one really blew the Internet wide open. It got shared hundreds of times and we even got responses from Tony’s family. Fiona replied her father “would be so proud”. I think I cried when I read that. Haha…
So, yeah, all of those collabs definitely have opened doors to new listeners for For I Am too, I imagine. Hopefully they like our own music as much as they like the cover songs, though 😉.
“The Righteous & The Wicked” was recorded with producer Tim Van Doorn at Big Dog Recordings. How does the choice of producer impact the sound and direction of the album, and what made Tim Van Doorn the right fit for this project?
Ever since moving to Belgium, Tim – who was born in The Netherlands – instantly became part of the For I Am family. We kind of just knew. His vibe matched ours perfectly and he’s impacted our sound a great deal. And all for the better, I might add, haha! He’s just so incredibly good at what he does. I’d recommend everyone to record with him if ever they get the chance to! And on top of that, he’ll be your best friend before you know it 😉!
The album cover was painted by Mark Desalvo. Can you share the significance of the cover art and how it complements the themes or mood of “The Righteous & The Wicked”?
We’ve always been proud of the cover arts we’ve chosen for our records, but once again I feel like you can see the maturity of the style of the cover arts evolve along with the music. But don’t get me wrong, we’re still very happy with the work the talented ZU, Mark Bell and Daggers Design did on our first albums. And they matched our sound perfectly at each respective time.
That said, we’d always been a huge fan of the work Mark Desalvo did for the Fat Wreck bands we listened to growing up (and we still listen to, to this day, haha). Then we heard from our friends in You Nervous? he was a pretty reachable guy and he was a very honest and a good communicator. That’s when we decided we definitely wanted to work with him for The Righteous & The Wicked. And our friends were right! Mark’s the best dude and we’d love to meet him in person one day! He really understood what we were looking for in painting this incredible work of art for us. We’re in awe of his artistic abilities!
The new record – as the title somewhat reveals – is pivotal for us as a band in terms of maturity and theme. We’ve mostly dabbled in the realm of The Righteous, but this time we wanted to balance that out by also tuning into The Wicked side of the world in discussing topics that, quite frankly, nééd to be discussed in today’s unbalanced world. That’s why we opted to use an image of Lady Justice, who’s blindfolded and fights injustices. But Mark’s made her punk AF, haha! His painting, we feel, perfectly reflects the ideas we wanted to put forward with the album.
With a mix by Tim Van Doorn and mastering by Troy Glessner, both experienced professionals, how did their contributions shape the final sound of the album, and what insights did they bring to the recording process?
Both men have been involved in the creation of Late Bloomers ánd The Righteous & The Wicked and with good reason. We were very happy with everything they had done to help us out with the first record, so why change a winning team, right? 😉
I think it also helped improve our sound as they already know us and our music well enough to spot any weaknesses or shortcomings on our end.
Besides Bearded Punk Records, record labels like SBÄM, Pee Records, Double Helix Records have joined co-production. How did these collaborations come about, and how do you envision these partnerships contributing to the success of “The Righteous & The Wicked”?
We are thrilled to be a part of all of these phenomenal punk rock families, that are spread out over the world. It’s just humbling to know that a fast-growing and in our eyes super successful EU label like SBÄM, but also labels all the way across the world like Double Helix Records and PEE Records would even be remotely interested in our little ol’ record, so to have them release it is just a dream come true. I’d like to add, though, that we did find it quite important to also remain a part of the Bearded Punk Records family and are happy to continue working with all of them on the best of terms!
As a band, we think it’s very important not to solely rely on labels to do the work. We’re the band, we do the work. So in regards as to what we’d ‘expect’ from a label… Probably spreading the message and the music is the most important thing. We don’t expect them to make superstars out of us overnight or anything, but if they can in any way help get our music out there for more ears to hear, we can be nothing but grateful to them!
Looking ahead, how does For I Am plan to reintegrate into the live music scene and what are your aspirations for touring and connecting with fans in support of “The Righteous & The Wicked”?
To promote the album we will definitely be making a few appearances in different countries! We’re starting off on April 19, the record’s release date, with a hometown show here in Geel, Belgium. Then we’re also off to France for Le Gros Tonneau Festival at the end of April, we’ll be playing in Breda in the Netherlands in May and are heading over to Wiesbaden, Germany in June where our good friend Martin Immik is hosting our German release party. We’ll be back in Germany a couple times after that too. But we definitely would like to get out and play as much as we can, so if any bookers interested are reading this… Give us a call! Haha…
Maybe one more spoiler alert… Talks about an upcoming international tour have started too… So, who knows, more news on that later 😉. And I’ll leave you with that information… 😉
Thanks for the questions! Hopefully see you in the pit some day! 😊
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