Welcome Back Killed, The Family Oriented Rockers Return To The Scene with “Arsenic” EP
Rockers are often identified with their fierce, bold, and often mean image, but you might shed away that stereotype with Killed. Formerly known as Killed By Butterfly, the band that is comprised of Roma Sophiaan (guitar), Ade Patria (drum), Aditya ‘Gogo’ Pulukadang (bass), and Harry Mulya (vocal) want to show a family loving rocker as they decided to return in 2017 with a new EP titled “Arsenic”. Having been on hiatus for five solid years without performing or making any new music, Killed finally find their way back with music. Upon their upcoming performance with Turnover in Jakarta with Indigo Moiré, Fernie Sue and Eleventwelfth, we sat down with these metal rockers to talk about their growing family, their love of Deftones and their plan after this EP. Buckle up metalheads, because Killed are here to stay.
- Hello Killed, after taking a break for a long time without new music, finally you decided to do a comeback with an EP called “Arsenic”. Why did it take so long to make this album?
We were lazy and had too many plans. We are a music group who chooses family over band, haha! The process did take so long, there was a plan to just wrap it up, opted for vacuum or ended the project entirely and created a new band. In the accumulation of five years, we did nothing at all, not even doing live performances. Then, in each year, there was always someone among us who got married, had kids, had a new job and many more. The initial plan was to release our full length sophomore album, but the hard-disk which was filled with some new recorded songs was broken and could not be saved. We had to push back the schedule. When we recorded our free EP demo in 2005, the recording studio got flooded and the hard-disk was submerged, in 2007 for Sanity/Insanity, we had to re-mixing the whole album because there were many mistakes. It seems like we’re cursed, hahaha!
- The name changing from Killed By Butterfly to Killed is interpreted as a maturing process. Is there any awkward experience after using the new name or is it more practical?
Yes, it could be said as a maturing process and for practical reason, it is meant to avoid mistype in an event’s poster, lol! But this change is nothing new. From the beginning, each personnel or friends often use the word “Killed” or “KBB” for us. As well as the username in our social media (MySpace, Purevolume, Reverbnation, etc) only use Killed, so we got used to it by now.
- There is also a shift in terms of music from the album “Sanity/Insanity” to the new album, in which part of it has the most significant change?
The most obvious are the vocals and lyrics, the characteristic of Harry, our new vocalist and Rid, the old one is different. The songwriting method of Harry is wider and more poetic while our old one was more personal and close to the surrounding. At that time of our “Sanity/Insanity” era, Killed have two guitarists (Rid & Vicky) who also wrote songs, so the process of creating music was different. Now, Roma who used to be a bassist, has to be able to fit in and change the concept of two guitars from the old band.
- Are you planning to rearrange the old materials with new music?
Yeah we still bring our old songs, without new arrangement, the only change is in the guitar department which fuses two guitars concept used in our old format.
- Your music can be said as hardcore and it must take extra energy to rock the stage. Is there any special preparation for your live performance with Turnover in Jakarta?
Big or small stage will be treated the same with equal and maximum effort, there is no difference at all.
- The music of Killed is mostly inspired by which musician or band?
It’s very wide because each member has different taste, but Deftones are the ones who unify us. For example in the song called “Darkwater”, the inspiration is to combine the harshness of Mastodon from their “Leviathan” era with the melodious side of Deftones and the essence of melodic hardcore a la Comeback Kid.
- The promotion strategy for “Arsenic” EP is a free download on your official website. Why did you choose to share your music freely, in the age when most musicians want to gain profit from their music?
We are an unproductive band, the main reason (red: to do this) is many of our listeners often ask about new releases, so why not being nice to them. Besides, we had no time or budget, and too impatient.
- After this EP, are Killed planning to enter the recording studio to work on your full lenght album? Or is there any other plans like tour, music video, or something else?
The plan is as followed: new music video, tour across Java that we’ve been working on (fingers crossed), a split EP with a secret band, and of course writing materials for our new LP. Hopefully we don’t get lazy again, because Gogo is waiting for his second child, and Ade is waiting for his firstborn, hahaha!
It is finally proven that even the most hardcore metal band is soft-hearted if it’s ll about their family. Watch out Killed rock the stage with Turnover on 15 July 2017!
