“The most important thing in a band like ours is the fun”- interview with Whatever It Takes

We met the Belgian band Whatever It Takes at Alcatraz festival, and we talked about their performance, their upcoming plans and some advice for the younger people.

Hey guys, how are you doing today?

Hans Teirlinck: I didn’t expect this. Because I actually didn’t have a lot of expectations. I tried to promote it a little bit here and there. So a lot of local kids came over. But I was surprised that so many new faces were in the crowd. And so many good interactions were present at our set. It was really nice. It gives us extra energy. So we gave it all 101%. It’s nice.

Tim Vanglabeke: Well, there were a lot of local kids. Even people that didn’t know I’m a musician. Because everybody knows me in the nightlife. I’m a bouncer and that stuff. And they know I’ve been working the disco for 30 years almost. And then they found out I’m a musician. I’m like, I’ve been playing since the 90s.

Hans Teirlinck: That’s also a door that opens when you play at Alcatraz. You play for a lot of metal guys. And we have that stamp of being a more hardcore band. Because when you see us on stage, we don’t have long hair. We don’t wear shirts of fucking Slayer. And then…

Tim Vanglabeke: Sometimes they still have the Metallica shock. When they cut the hair, everybody was like, fuck off. And it’s not about that.

Hans Teirlinck: So people often put us in… It’s only for hardcore guys. And I want to get rid of that stamp, but it’s very hard. Because actually we’re playing more like… 8-beat riffs with Dying Fetus drums. So it’s more trash than it’s actually hardcore.

Tim Vanglabeke: If you ask me, I always say it’s punk. Because we don’t like the government, we don’t like nobody.

Hans Teirlinck:  But that’s more lyrical-wise, then. The lyrics are more punk.

Tim Vanglabeke: The first lyrics were more like a joke. If you know bands like Mucky Pup with the jokes… I started writing lyrics. I guess the first five songs were written in two hours. When I was so high, you cannot imagine. And now, 20 years later, I’m fucked. Because I still need to sing that shit. But now we take it a little more seriously. But don’t take it too seriously. When you start to think about it too much, it’s going down with your band. So you have to be like… Spontaneity is very important.

Hans Teirlinck: They exist now for 20 years, and it actually started as more like a project. Because his guitarist and his drummer, his brother, they play in a death metal band, Outcast, from Belgium. And I was playing in a more New York hardcore band. It’s called The Boss. And then they recorded a demo, and it was more like Hatebreed-influenced. And they said, yeah, it’s cool. But they didn’t find a good direction. And they said, do you want to try something in the studio? I said, yeah, let’s do it. And it turned out to be a good demo. We sent it out to some labels. And then the week after, we got an offer from a German label. And they said, “I have the perfect solution for you guys, because it’s a five-track demo. And I have a five-track demo, also very good, from a US band.” It was called King of Clubs back in the days. And they said, “When we put them together as a split CD, then you guys have a lot of interaction in the States. And they, as a US band, have a lot of interaction in Europe.” And that ended up in two European tours with those guys. And that was actually the start, which went really, really fast. It went from nothing as a joke to something like, OK, what are we doing today? So it was really nice.

Tim Vanglabeke: Yeah, the tours ruined our lives. It was going to cost me 10 years of my life every time. Because it’s always like, we will not say in detail, but let us say, we’re not like the typical hardcore people. We love to party till the morning. We only live once. That’s what we do.

Hans Teirlinck: Because the most important thing in a band, like Whatever It Takes, is the fun. Because we will never be like a band like Machine Head. We will never be about asking so much money for a gig or something. It’s more about the fun, the interaction.

Tim Vanglabeke: We want to play for the people.

Hans Teirlinck: We play for the working class, for the real people. Because a lot of those people have those daily frustrations of going to their shitty job they don’t like. And then they see all the social media that’s coming in and all the news they have to absorb about the wars. And everybody has to absorb it and put it in a certain place in your brain. Plus all the personal shit you have to deal with, like family, health problems, financial shit. And then you need an outlet of aggression during the weekends. Yeah, and in a positive way. Because people often say it’s fucking violent when they play shows. But it’s positive violence because it’s like one community and everybody understands it and has respect for it. When you get a punch, it’s not like you give a punch back. No, you understand it. You say, yeah, I understand your frustrations and go for it. And then after the show everybody’s back at level zero and they’re back to their normal life and they have new energy.

So what is your favorite thing of performing?

Hans Teirlinck: The favorite thing is starting. Because I don’t like it when everything has to be put in cars and we have to load out. Soundcheck, I hate that shit. I also hate it when the show is finished, it’s the most hateful part, it’s packing up everything. Because then you have that energy and you have a positive vibe and the first thing you have to do is pack all your shit. When I pack, I pack in one minute.

Tim Vanglabeke: Yeah, but mostly he disappears. Because he’s a singer. Yeah, and then I’m like, yeah, I’m talking to the people, I’m doing the merch. He was definitely not at the merch. Yeah, he was not at the bar.

Hans Teirlinck: That’s how it mostly goes. It’s more intensive, that’s true, for a drummer and a guitarist. Because it’s all expensive material. It has to be put like that in cases and cars and by the time it’s all finished, it’s one hour later.

Tim Vanglabeke: These days we have to take less gear with us because it’s so professional. Good stages, good setup. 20 years ago, I’m playing on two full stacks because you need it to have the power. And of course, you can imagine if you go on tour, you have so much stuff with you. But in the end, you want to give the people a good show. And if it’s necessary to do that, yeah, I will do that. I don’t want to play with a shitty sound, I don’t care.

Hans Teirlinck: I’m already here doing two hours of interview and he just offloaded his material. The drummer just packed his material, took a shower.

Tim Vanglabeke: Because I’m living here in the neighborhood, so it’s what it is. I took a shower like half an hour ago, so this is unbelievable.

Hans Teirlinck:  But you know, it’s all fun.

Do you prefer to play indoors or outdoors?

Hans Teirlinck:  Indoors, because I don’t want people to get out. When you play outdoor stages, like all those big, huge, more mainstream bands that play on the big stage, the problem is that when you have an intense vibe…

Tim Vanglabeke:  You lose it.

Hans Teirlinck: It’s too big because people just get inside and they always have a place to go further away. Because they can’t escape. But when you are between two, three walls, then it’s like…

Tim Vanglabeke: You have to search. You always have to search where is the best sound. You have to search by yourself. Like, oh, here is great. Oh, I need more guitar. We go a little bit more up front. Also like when normally you smell people’s sweat in front. They jump to the mic and they do something with us. In the bigger festivals, it’s simply not possible.

Hans Teirlinck: That’s one of the main reasons why you actually play live shows. You don’t play live shows just to stand still and see a band play.

Tim Vanglabeke:  No, we are definitely a real old school band that brings it live. You can invest in the best material in the studio, but some bands, when they play live, they suck. We are more like in the past, we did some stuff. We never took it too serious, but of course there is a new standard these days. So you need to bring better records, better sound. But we never did it for that. We always did it for the live gigs. We love to play for people. Because that live interaction is actually…

Hans Teirlinck:  That’s the best feeling.

Tim Vanglabeke: You don’t need to explain to every musician here. Playing live for the audience.

Hans Teirlinck:  People often say whatever takes place is often violent. But it’s like positive aggression.

Tim Vanglabeke: Like you said before.

What are the next plans for the rest of 2025?

Hans Teirlinck: Well, the next plan is playing a show now in Germany with Agnostic Front on Tuesday. And then afterwards we’re going back into the studio because our first three tracks are already recorded. But we still have to finish the other seven. And then we have a new full album. It’s gonna be called “Slagveld”. You’re not gonna know it, because it’s a Dutch word. Because that’s what we wanna bring live, like a battlefield. I just wanna see a positive war going on and I see our normal stage and I say yeah, those guys are going wild. That’s cool. That’s the coolest thing.

Tim Vanglabeke: Hey, today was great. They started to play very early and everybody was going wild from the first minute. That’s what I love. We didn’t need to push too much. They were like…

What advice would you give to someone that is just starting and wants to be a heavy metal singer?

Tim Vanglabeke:  Easy. Be yourself. Don’t try to act. Don’t be an actor. Don’t try to be a tough guy if you never have a beating. If you say you’re a punk or if you say… You know what I mean? It’s not a costume. It’s not an act. Be yourself. If Make it lyrical, interesting… Just be yourself.

Hans Teirlinck: You don’t have to make it too hard for yourself. Just be comfortable in your own thing. What you do is cool. Because everything you think is cool, that’s true. Everything he thinks is cool, that’s also true. Because it’s all very personal. The thing I hope the most is that by next week there are a lot of people that went to this festival. There are three categories. There are people who say like, “Yeah, it was fucking bomb, Whatever It Takes. I will never forget that show.” There are people, other category, who say, “Whatever It Takes, I didn’t like it, but they brought so many energy and that was pretty cool.” And then there was a third category and they say like, “Whatever It Takes, those guys exist for 20 years. I never heard of them before. How is this possible?” And then they check us deeper. Those are the three categories. That’s what I’m hoping. That was the main goal. Because playing for the local kids is cool, but they support us since 20 years, for which we are very grateful. From the underground.

Tim Vanglabeke: In some areas we’re famous, everybody knows us.

Hans Teirlinck: There are still so many metal guys who don’t even know our name. And that’s just because we have that stamp of hardcore. Because a metal guy, if he’s thrash metal, power metal, black metal, death metal, he’s not gonna go to a hardcore show.

Tim Vanglabeke: In our band, Hans is more into black metal. He travels all over Europe to see all black metal concerts and stuff. I’m more into punk. Like The Exploited and stuff.

Hans Teirlinck: I met Dimmu Borgir last year at Beyond the Gates in Norway. Beyond the Gates Festival. They were very cool guys. Very down to earth. And they played a very cool show in one of the most beautiful venues in Norway, the Grieghallen. That was very awesome. So the problem is, I don’t think I will see them better than there. They were so fantastic there. 

Tim Vanglabeke: Even my mom was crazy about Dimmu Borgir. I guess she saw them one time together on a bill together with Motörhead. She loved their corpse painting and was all into their music, vibe and presence. Crazy right? To get back to our taste of music.. Nick is definitely more into Death Metal like Deicide and Dying Fetus. I’m more into punk music like The Exploited, GBH, Lions Law and Skindred. During all the years, I got to know them personally and now we’re all close friends which is an awesome thing. This natural connection was created 100% by and through mutual music taste worldwide! Mong, our bass player, is totally into Hiphop. He has his own recording studio and like producing his own music, creating beats and spreading rhymes.

Hans Teirlinck: That’s the thing. In every genre, or sub-genre of music, it’s quality. The only thing you can say, it’s not my thing. That’s true. But there is good house music. There is very good hip hop. There is very good black metal, thrash metal, hell hardcore.

Tim Vanglabeke: With my work, I was always like techno DJs. I work with them. I was bodyguard for them. Oh, the best one, the most gentle one, was Jeff Mills. Definitely. Fucking sweet guy.

Do you think it’s harder to be a woman in the metal industry?

Hans Teirlinck: Well, I think when you go back 20 years ago, yes, it’s 2025, still, but less hard than 20 years ago. Because I think there is an evolution. I also noticed on a festival like Alcatraz, a lot of more females are attending metal festivals. And that’s very cool. Because they are also welcome. And I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t belong here. I also see a lot of open-mindedness. Because also, Alcatraz festival, I saw a band that was really, really cool. And it was not even metal. It’s a band called Messa. But that would never happen that this band stood on this festival 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Because people were more into their, you know.

Tim Vanglabeke: Actually, I really love bands in the 90s, even if it was grunge like L7. They were so fucking awesome. Awesome. It was lovely to see four girls angry all around the world. There were also girls moshing at our set, by the way. It’s always difficult. They have some standards. They have the culture. It’s something that goes step by step. If you look to 50 years ago here in Belgium, there’s more respect.

Hans Teirlinck: Yeah, there’s more respect. For other cultures. For other genders.

Tim Vanglabeke: Also girls and women are more independent. They don’t need the men anymore. They have their own job. In Belgium it was not like that. Even 20 years ago. They are paid the same and stuff. It goes the good way. If you ask me, it goes the good way. So I hope here also that you feel comfortable.

I wanted to play a little game with you if that’s alright. On a ship there’s a pirate and a ninja fighting. Who wins the duel? 

Hans Teirlinck: Must be the pirate, I think. The pirate because he’s more used to living on a boat.

Tim Vanglabeke: I think, yeah. And also, he knows to disappear. He is never caught. A ninja can be stabbed or whatever.

Hans Teirlinck: The pirate is also more old school. There were pirates before there were ninjas. He don’t like the rules.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me! Is there anything else that you want to add to our readers?

Hans Teirlinck:  Well, what I actually hope is since you’re from Italy that we have like a cool festival in Italy and we get the chance there that would be really awesome.

Tim Vanglabeke: And they must book us when there’s like a fucking nice football game. So we really need to get there. We buy tickets.

Hans Teirlinck:  But first we play. We play the music and then we go to the football game.