ENFORCER

Enforcer came to being in 2001, by pure coincidence. Chris (Liar of Golgotha, vocals) had a delirious nightmare about his thrash metal roots. He suddenly remembered his old drummer and friend Jeroen (drums) with whom he had played in Funeral Winds a legendary black metal band from the early 90s.



They hadn’t met for years because of a fight they had back then of course under alcoholic influence! It was a total coincidence that Jeroen was driving through the neighbourhood and saw Chris standing there, and decided to give it a go and start a conversation with him. Soon they discovered they still shared their love for black- and thrash metal en of course alcohol.



After this initial meeting they decided the time was right to form a new band, something original. But they needed appropriate musicians and fellow drinkers the latter of course of higher importance! What to do? Place an ad in the Dutch metal mag 1 the “Aardschok” magazine.



Soon reactions started flowing in, many had the required musical skill but few could keep up with the alcoholics! Brothers Tarek (bass) and Ammar (rhythm guitar) were the only ones to meet the requirements, and they were hired on the spot! After a first rehearsal session it was decided to set out as an old school thrash/black coverband since there seemed to be a total absence of thrash metal bands in The Netherlands.



Soon after Hans (lead guitar) read the ad in the Aardschok magazine too and decided to give it a try. After some years of absence as a practising musician he wanted to mosh again! The band decided they could use a second guitar player and gave him a chance. It soon became clear the guys had the same goal, total sonic and alcoholic destruction and Hans was also hired.



Slightly emphasising the thrash metal influence ENFORCER started out playing a cover version of Over Kills “Rotten to the core”. The ENFORCER name was, by the way, chosen by Chris as one of his favourite 80’s speed metal albums by WARRANT (Germany) was called that way plus the whole band agreed it was a cool name that represented the band well.



After a killer gig from ENFORCER’s major influence TANKARD from Germany (the Kings of BEER!) in the BAROEG club which the entire band attended, ENFORCER decided to start using their already built up image of alcohol fanatics! Under the banner of “Beer Metal” ENFORCER continued their mayhemic metallic onslaught adding to their set songs by SODOM, KREATOR, S.O.D., ANTHRAX, TANKARD and their now trademark version of NORMAAL’s “Mamma, Woar Is Mien Pils” a song in Dutch language which freely translated means “Mum, where is my beer”.



Due the great graphical talent of guitarist Ammar a killer shirt was released. This shirt, which initial pressing soon sold out, features ENFORCERs mascot “Duke John” and was inspired by the bands regular beer Hertog Jan. This shirt with the “Alcoholic Invasion” slogan on the back has become a genuine cult shirt among metal insiders.



Quickly ENFORCERs reputation of being total lunatics rose and thus creating a cult around the band. For the first performance they got on the killer bill with two of Rotterdams most prominent Black Metal acts LIAR OF GOLGOTHA and TIRANILOR under the banner of “Rotterdam Extreme Metal”. The venue was club “Het elfde gebod” in Rotterdam, a small club that only recently decided to program metal bands. This gig has now become legendary because of the sheer intensity of the gig as well as the enormous alcohol consumption of all bands: during the soundcheck alone 256 pints were devoured!



ENFORCER continued this alcoholic crusade on through 2003, 2004 and 2005, but failed to to take it further than just the “fun” image. The band never recorded any serious demo's despite planning it over and over again. This and a certain lack of interest by the bandmembers led to the demise of ENFORCER in August 2005. The saddest part was that ENFORCER had to cancel their highly anticipated appearance at Tilburg’s Hall Of Fame metalfest with FLESH MADE SIN headlining.



While the bandmembers’ split was harmonious without any bad feelings towards each other, guitar player Hans and vocalist Chris decided to continue with another new project. After discussing their future it was very clear that the musical style would be pure old school thrash, simply because to them that was the only way. Since Chris came up with the name ENFORCER in the first place and which the musical heritage would live up to ENFORCER’s legacy they decided to keep the name.



Now the hunt for new accomplished musicians was on, sadly this was no easy quest! But after a while the solution appeared to be closer to home than ever expected. Ex-Liar Of Golgotha guitar/bass player Mous joined on the rhythm guitars and Ex-Onheil drummer Joost joined on drums. ENFORCER abandoned its fun and beer image (well, not entirely) and went straight on to write originals instead of cover material.



Just a few days ago as I write these words we got word of the addition of bassplayer Willem (also in VIOLENT ASSAULT) to ENFORCER. Willem is another dedicated thrasher that finally rounds up the band’s line up. As for now 4 originals are written for the first demo which will be recorded in the coming 4 weeks. Prepare for another ENFORCER onslaught in 2006!



UPDATE 2009: Sadly due to several circumstances ENFORCER disbanded early 2008. Bassplayer Willem quit due to a handinjury and shortly after it seemed like the spirit was gone. Rehearsals took place very irregularly and somehow I (Hans) didn't feel like continuing anymore so I also quit. The remaining members didn't continue the band so I guess ENFORCER is gone. It's a sad fact since it seems that thrash is stronger than ever before and we certainly felt we had the potential to compete with the new wave of young thrash acts. I however continued with T.C.F. (www.myspace.com/thrashcorefanatics), a new thrashcore/crossover/hardcore project focussing on old school crossover like S.O.D./M.O.D./D.R.I./EXCEL/GANG GREEN/CRO MAGS etc. Please check us out!