You Never Walk Alone

I recently had the pleasure to speak with two members of 10Rogue, a collaborative band that has literally crossed continents to work together, with members of the Johannesburg-based Alternative Rock band hailing from both South Africa and Belgium. The gentlemen that make up the Rock band are Jon Buckley, Christophe DeCombe, Peter Evrard, Vincent Weynen, and Stan Verfillie. All five members have been involved with music most of their lives and played with other groups prior to joining together to form the new band. Even though we encountered a few technical difficulties (thank you laptop!), we shared some laughs and I enjoyed learning some interesting facts about the two members that I was able to chat with. Vince and Peter sat down with me via Skype to talk about how they met, where the name of the band came from, plans for the future and share a personal message to the members of Metalheads Forever.

Members Vince and John were in South America and after years reconnected with Peter through Facebook. They decided that they wanted to give a collaboration a shot and so 10Rogue was born. They worked together through technology, putting together music and sharing with one another via e-mail, Facebook, Skype, and other mediums. After the success of their first single, “Know Better”, the guys came to the conclusion that a physical band was necessary and are already booked for some gigs in the near future. When I asked about possible tours, Peter and Vince say that they are looking to 2017 as perhaps a more landmark year, maybe start opening up for some bands and playing larger gigs. There is no rush, the band just wants to enjoy themselves and write good music. They are also looking into festivals in their area to perhaps take part in them after a while.

Vince and Peter confess that they have broad musical influences that range for Peter from Pantera and Metallica to British metal bands. Vince states his major influences are Megadeth, Van Halen, and Whitesnake. When I asked them who they would love to tour with, their answers were: Metallica, Tool, and Bruce Springstein, among others. They also said they would enjoy being a part of a mixed-genre festival. Their sound is definitely a Hard Rock, verging on Alternative Metal, and with Peter’s award-winning voice (he won “Belgian Idol!”), the music is currently #1 on Belgium’s ‘Reverbnation’.

I asked the guys about the origin of the name 10Rogue and was pleasantly surprised to find that it comes from an 1980’s computer game with the same name that Peter used to love to play. It is a sort of dungeon-crawler game that the guys said we can still possibly find at 10rogue.exe [if any readers are interested, a free and legal copy can be obtained here, both for download and playing in-browser—Ed.] We joked about video games from then to now and enjoyed some laughs over the fact that we still enjoy the old computer-based games. It is always interesting to see where the name of a group comes from and this was definitely one of my favorite origin stories.

Down to the music! “Know Better” was written by Jon; it is raw and very direct about a domestic argument. With the video though, they wanted to go in a different direction visually, and create a global feel of “protect yourself.” The idea was to spread awareness of the world around us, not just internally, but to get people to look outside themselves as well. We will most likely be seeing something in the near future once all the guys are settled in, so watch this space! Since Peter owns the label (he bought it with his “Belgian Idol” winnings) they are able to make music their own way without having to get approval from others about what to release and what not to. The band is able to really put their own spin on things and we are in for a treat when new songs are released. Another interesting fact shared by the gentleman is that Christophe, their drummer, has been hailed as the third fastest drummer in Belgium. I personally am looking forward to one day seeing them play live so that I can witness how fast that is!

The most recent single released on January 4th, “Dark Angel Princess”, is about passion, the metaphysical world and an escape from the monotony around us. Peter and Vince say that the lyrics beg the question “Is this what life is all about?” and gives the encouragement to those listening that “there is more to me than this.”

The biggest thing for Peter and Vince, as well as the other members of 10Rogue, is that there be a collaborative, fun, and relaxing atmosphere for them to create music and follow their passion. When I asked them what they do in their down time, I enjoyed some chuckles with them talking about our kids and pets. Vince has three children, aged 16, 18, and 5, while Vince has two that are 18 and 20. Their hobbies are interesting as well: Vince plays tennis, sometimes participating in competitions. He also enjoys medieval sword fighting with German longswords. Peter relaxes by playing soccer with his kids, horseback riding with his youngest daughter, and working on his software development company.

Finally, a message to our readers and the members of Metalheads Forever:

Vince: “I think it is a great group and this is an awesome opportunity; very glad to be a part of the family.”

Peter: “You never walk alone once you are a metalhead. It is about the connection, not necessarily the people.”

Thank you, Peter and Vince, for taking the time to speak with me! I really enjoyed getting to know you, your musical aspirations and cannot wait to see what you will be doing in the future. Metal on loud!

The band can be found on Facebook, Reverbnation and Bandcamp, and the band’s webpage.