Just like the chameleon is able to adapt the color of its environment to its skin, so are some musicians capable of changing the music they play to fit in with the latest trends. A musician who has tried almost the entire spectrum of hard music, is bassist Fred Berghuis of Dr. Bigfoot. Once upon a time he graced the line-up of metal band Redeemer and in recent years he went with his band Dr. Bigfoot from funky rock via punk rock to rapcore. Let's say what he has to say about this!

Could you first tell what kind of band Dr. Bigfoot is and how you got started?

We started with four guys, late 1995. Right now the band consists of five guys. Recently two former members of Beyond Infiniteeh joined the line-up. One of them is our drummer and the other is the second vocalist. Further, we mainly play in the rapcore vein now. One of the songs is called Blasphemy which is also on the demo and we go in that direction. This originates also from our joint interests from the current members together with the new members of the band and this works perfectly.

On the internet I read that you, before you started Dr. Bigfoot, was part of the early nineties metal band Redeemer. Dr. Bigfoot is a different band, musically. What led to this musical change in you?

We discovered with the band Redeemer, which was more in the thrash metal vein, that the crowd we normally played for, was a selected crowd and that the band bled to death. This happened because our singer then, Leo van Gilst (also known for Tefilla), left the band followed by the drummer later on. Then we decided at some point to start a new project that would attract a greater audience.

Also Dr. Bigfoot is going through musical changes. You started with a mix of funk, rap and rock music that was penetrated by punk rock later on. Now you've opted for rapcore. In how far is Dr. Bigfoot following trends?

Personally I don't think we're following trends. It's more that we changed our interests a bit through the bands we listen to a lot. Also because of the new members of the band Dr. Bigfoot changed as the source of inspiration changed. Rapcore, what we wanted to make for years, is now coming to the surface.

But of course you are following the trends by following the developments of the bands you're listening to. And that also has to do with the fact that these bands are popular as they are part of the trend.

Right.

So, in how far isn't there some kind of influence as it happens to be a trend. Rapcore is, of course, popular lately. Doesn't that play some kind of role on the background?

It's likely it plays some role as there are more bands coming out playing this style and if that appeals to you then you start picking it up as it comes to the style and the feeling of the music. The guys in the band especially listen a lot to Project 86 and The Spirit That Guides Us which is quite breaking through in The Netherlands. Our newest songs have double vocals and are going more into that direction as it comes to double vocals. This also goes along with rapcore and hardcore like passages musically.

You mention The Spirit That Guides Us but that's quite a different band compared to the songs on your latest demo.

Yeah, certainly. That's true.

Does that mean you're going more into that direction of is it just an influence that plays a role in the back of your head?

I think it plays a role in the back of the head. As it comes to the music we choose the hardcore direction more. And in the rehearsal room we discover that we constantly come up with such parts. It comes up in us. Not the emocore.

You released the demo Through These Eyes. There's no title song. So, what's the idea behind the title?

The idea behind the title is that we look at different subjects and to the world through these eyes and that we describe subjects through these eyes. I think that's the best way to explain it.

So, they are the glasses through which you look to reality.

That's how we look to reality. Other people may be looking with different glasses but we look through these eyes to the world and these subjects.

And take for instance a current issue such as the death of Pim Fortuyn (a Dutch politician who was murdered shortly before the elections and who was in the race for prime-minister). Do you look at this in a certain way?

Personally I think it's a very regrettable event. I think that regardless of how someone is, you never have the right to kill someone. Also when you picture this through the Bible. It can't be justified.

So, the glasses through which you are watching things, are Christian inspired glasses. Okay, what do you think of the demo?

The demo gives, I think, some indication of how we really are like, especially live on stage. We tried to give some indication of it. That was quite hard as we didn't have the opportunity to go into the studio. So, everything that was recorded, we recorded with our own gear in the rehearsal room.

So, if you could do it all over again under better circumstances, what would you prefer to change?

First of all we would put different songs on it. Because in between the release of the demo and now the band grew further and the quality is much better. Furthermore, there's only one song on the demo, and that's Blasphemy, from the current line-up. The rest comes from the old line-up. What we would do, is to record the songs of the current line-up which are more in the rapcore vein.

So, this demo isn't quite representative of what the band now does?

Well, it all happened quickly so it's quite alright if you want to put it like that as we made quite big steps in a short time and we've got the feeling of what we really want to achieve with this quintet.

So, you feel better as a band now?

Yeah! It's just like we've discovered the formula through which we can work best.

What do you want to achieve then with a demo that's not representative?

At this point it's the only thing we can offer people, music wise. So, we would prefer to record our new songs that represent us better, but so long we will continue sending around this one to give people at least some idea of us.

And it's mainly to arrange gigs?

Yes, we are busy again arranging gigs. Right now we have six coming up and we hope to play a bit more in the secular scene. We are a normal band. We don't even say we're a gospel band. We are a band with certain statements. These are founded in our Christian beliefs. But we also want to play more in the secular scene besides playing in the Christian scene.

How is the feedback on the demo from fans and club owners?

Through the demo we got some concerts. So, it's become fruitful, though I think the feedback would be more positive if we released the new songs. What they especially say after seeing us live, is that the performance was above their expectations.

With the response from the demo in mind, what are your expectations of the future of the band? What would you like to achieve?

What we would love to achieve, is that we could play live more often. Once or twice every month at least. And that we can have a great time with the crowd, both Christian as non-Christian. And that we can forward our statements so people start thinking about them. Look, there will be a huge percentage of people who go crazy on our music and we think that's great. We go crazy as well and it's also one of our big hobbies. Personally I think it would be great if people are starting to think about things because of certain lyrics. Some lyrics are written for non-Christians, others are written for Christians.

And what in particular can we expect from the band in the future as it comes to gigs and CD's?

You can expect in particular from us that we try as much as we can to do shows throughout the Netherlands. And as it comes to demo's we just have to wait for what comes across our way, money and sponsor wise. Now we have written enough songs for a demo. Next time we'll do it really well.

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