Hi Stijn, thank you for being gracious enough to do the interview, we really appreciate it...

My pleasure, it's cool to hear a new site has risen to promote extreme funeral music.

First off, tell us about what prompted you to start your own label and how do you see it evolving in the future?

The are 2 main reasons why I founded the label. I needed something that should make it easier for my material to be distributed by others, most distros are only interested in albums that are released by labels. In the meanwhile I did some trades with a few distros already so it's working. Next to that it's also easier when it comes to promotion : now I can promote all my projects at once under the name 'NULLL Records'.
The other reason has to do with the fact that most bands i'm into are not signed to a label and I figured I could promote these bands and hopefully help them a bit if I were to release their material on my label.

How has the response been to NULLL from the doom community at large?

Well, most people still have to be convinced or haven't even heard about NULLL, but some people have been very supportive so far. This should improve in the future, there's still a lot of work that I need to do...
On the other hand, quite a number of bands have shown interest and trust in NULLL, and I have now agreements with Hierophant, Zaraza, Il Sangue and Through The Valley for licensing their material. I didn't expect this to happen this soon, and it's promising that such bands think that NULLL is capable enough to release the material...

You've released several of your own projects on NULLL, have you found that easier than releasing your work on a label other than your own?

I feel that I have to be in total control of every aspect of my music, I sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable about the fact that some-one else is releasing my music, as with 'Prelude To Monolith'.
But if another label can offer me a better deal than I could myself, then i'd probably release the material on another label - but that depends if I want the material to be released by a big label where it obviously will receive more and better promotion than I can offer, i'm not really interested in lots of promotion.
Recently, The Ethereal have signed a 2-album deal with Totentroll Records (new sub label from Rage Of Achilles) since I felt this deal is positive for The Ethereal...

You are working on several active doom projects such as 'The Ethereal', 'Beyond Black Void', 'Fall of the Grey-Winged One' and 'Until Death Overtakes Me' just to name a few. Why so many bands and why not focus on just one?

Perhaps a few of my projects sounds very similar, but most of them are too different (not just musical-wise) and releasing so many and very different albums just for one project is not the right thing to do. If I really wanted I could do it that way, but now I find it easier to just divide everything that I write into certain 'styles' and release each of those under another name...this has nothing to do with me now being able to show off with the fact that i'm involved in 15 different projects, all of my solo projects have a reason to be here, at least to me they have, and that's what matters.

Your work on 'Until Death Overtakes Me' and 'Fall of the Grey-Winged One' has been very well received by the doom community. What do you think sets these two bands apart from your other projects?

I always thought (without sounding pretentious) that UDOM's sounds is quite unique, lots of people seem to hate it, while on the other hand, I got some very positive comments, even from people who are not into extreme doom at all. I think of all my projects, UDOM is the most original, all other projects were more or less founded out of ideas that didn't fit in UDOM.
As for FOTGWO, I have no idea why people like it, I've heard people saying that this music gives them headaches, but at the same time they keep on listening to it. Perhaps it has to do with it's mesmerizing or even trance-inducing capabilities.

Much of your music is very atmospheric. What's your philosophy on creating atmosphere and why do you think it's such an important part of Funeral doom music in general?

When I created the first UDOM tracks, I didn't pay attention to how much atmosphere there was, to me, it was the 'right' amount of atmosphere, although I don't see atmosphere as a separate thing, it's just another (natural) part of my music, perhaps the ambient elements that are -in one way or another- present in all my music has a lot to do with this.
When I look at the kind of music I enjoy most, they all seem to be very atmospheric. For some reason, I seem to be drawn towards this kind of music...I think that the opposite (to me) of atmospheric is empty or 'dry', boring even...most music that I totally loathe doesn't have any atmosphere at all...

‘The Ethereal’ is a particularly crushing project that you’re working on, and seems a little more heavy and aggressive than some of your other work. Do you see this project as sort of an outlet for expressing those types of emotions?

Yeah, I think each of my projects represents certain emotions or atmospheres. The Ethereal is certainly the most hateful (and until recently the ugliest) of my projects when it comes to the concepts or ideas behind the music.
I don't think it's heavier than most of my other stuff, but the heaviness is different, maybe because this music doesn't have as much keyboards or ambient elements in it as my other music.

What's your perception of the doom scene today, and in particular, the Funeral doom scene which your label is helping to cultivate?

Well I don't see my label as a support towards the 'usual' funeral doom, but rather the more uncommon (sub)genres of funeral music.
Since several years, I stopped caring about most scenes except for doom and ambient, right now i'm not even interested in most doom-metal anymore, but only the most extreme, most original and unconventional funeral music bands, of which there are only very few.

Well Stijn, that's it for now. Thank you for your time and We look forward to more quality doom from NULLL Records and all of the projects that you're working on. Stay DOOMED!