Interview with guitarist Joey Wessels of Traversus // All Time Metal \\

Traversus is a young and promising metal band from the Netherlands. Following the release of their debut EP "The Only Way Is Through", which got me excited and wanting to know more about the band, I asked guitarist Joey Wessels for an interview.

— When and by whom was the band formed?

J: The band was formed by Madelief, Liam and our previous bass player at a music school. The played together for a couple of years but in December 2018 I joined the band and that is the moment the band really started. That’s also the moment that we refer to if someone asks when we formed the band.

— Does the band name mean anything or did you just choose it because it's a catchy name?

J: Well, we wanted a name that sounded not necessarily catchy but that’s easy to remember. Our first band name was Insane Delirium, and we just thought it sounded cool but everything you told anyone the name they would look at us with a confused face. So we decided we should get rid of that name and choose something shorter and easier to remember. And it was Madelief or Liam who stumbled upon to traverse. And we liked the way it sounded but there was already a different band with that name. So we decided to ad sus after traverse. So it is a combination of to traverse and versus, Traversus.

— You are all young, however, your live stage performance, shows experience and maturity, do you have previous experiences in other bands or is it the first time you are in a band?

J: For Liam and Madelief this is their first band. I have played in some other bands and projects and our new bass player Diko has some experience in other bands as well. But the experience we build up thru out the years is basically all from Traversus. Playing shows, seeing how people react to it, what works and what doesn’t. How can get we interact with the crowd and stuff like that. It’s all just experimenting.

— Do all of you contribute to the composition of the music and the writing of the lyrics, or has one of you taken over this work?

J: I have the biggest share in writing the music. I will come up with a riff, chorus idea and built it into a skeleton of a song. And then we will start jamming with those ideas during the rehearsal and that’s how every songs starts to take shape. And we will throw ideas at each other. What if we go here, maybe this songs needs a bridge, maybe the song has to be shorter or longer. The songs really start to get that Traversus sound once everyones ideas are incorporated in the songs. And for the lyrics, that’s basically all Madelief. She has quite an outspoken opinion about a lot of different things, so she has enough to write about.

— Your subject matter speaks of harsh reality and criticizes human behavior, why have you chosen this subject for the lyrics and not something pleasant?

J: It just happened naturally. When we started writing more songs Madelief explained what she wrote about and we embraced it as a part of our personality as a band. It doesn’t mean that everyone agrees with everything for 100% but we like the idea of the songs having a real meaning. The music isn’t standard so why should the music be?

— Is the rock and metal music industry easier at present with all this social media that helps bands and the music they make get recognized by listeners, or do you think that the game is lost in the image without (the listener) having a special interest for the music?

J: Well yes, it is easier for us to find people that like our music. That way we can aim our advertisements directly at our target audience. And that is very useful. But on the other hand, you can also find bands close by that are doing the same thing as you are and become competitors. Which isn’t very useful. And once you start with social media there are a lot of different approaches to how you should use it. People will say you need Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. You have to post every day, once in two days, once a week. And because of this it’s hard to find what works for you.

— A year ago you released a successful debut EP called "The Only Way Is Through" , is there material ready for the release of an album?

J: Yes! In fact, we will be entering the studio in November!

— You have taken part in many well-known festivals, in which famous festival would you like to perform and in which famous band would you like to be the opening act?

J: For the festivals we would love to play at Graspop Metal Meeting, Wacken Open Air and Download Festival. For us, they are these like holy festivals for metalhead. If we can play those festivals then we know we are up to something good! And for bands, there are a lot of different bands we would like to be the opening act for. Leprous, Karnivool, Alter Bridge. If we get to dream really big Gojira maybe, or even Muse. That would be cool!

— Send your message to rock and metal music listeners.

J: Hey everyone! Thanks for taking your time for reading this interview and we hope that you have learned something new about us. Go stream our EP "The Only Way Is Through" and come hang out at our shows, we love to meet people who enjoy our music!

— Thanks for this interesting interview!

Traversus - Orange Skyline | Live bij Djammen