SUICIDE COMMANDO I was at the 22nd edition of BIMFEST. The 'Belgian Independent Music'festival that saw the light of day in 2002. One of the acts who was there from the beginning is anno 2024 present again. And, let there be no doubt, we find that blood-dripping awesome! Perfect time to have a head-to-head talk with the man behind this project. Allright Night Beings. Let’s just cut right to it; Peek-ABoo presents to you: Johan Van Roy aka Suicide Commando. Hello Johan, A real pleasure meeting you again! 22 years BIMFEST, which you, with Suicide Commando, were also an important a part of. How many editions have you performed there? Can you recall them all? I do not doubt that BIMFEST must be special to you. Well, to be honest I lost the count. but I guess this must be our 6th appearance at BIMFEST, even though not all of them were announced. I remember us replacing Die Krupps on one of the latest editions. I must admit that I don't recall all of them, but I sure remember our very first appearance at the first BIMFEST when it still took place at Hof Ter Lo in Antwerp. Of course our appearances at BIMFEST always been special to me, being a Belgian band on probably the most legendary Belgian Festival supporting the Belgian Underground scene. Not many festivals can top that. 1986 was the year it all started for you. Present-time that’s 38 years of Suicide Commando. 38 years of overwhelming your fans with dark, dystopian and often unsettling music. How do you look back on all those years? On everything that you have achieved? It's been one hell of a ride, 38 years! It's been a real rollercoaster with so many highlights (from releasing my very first demo tape in 1988 to charting at position 9 in the official German album charts with my last album "goddestruktor", from my very first live show in the basement of a club in St.-Niklaas (OJC Clichee) as support act for Plastic Noise Experience to playing the biggest festivals across the world...) but also a few www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be setbacks (tearing my ligaments and meniscus on stage during our 2014 US tour, being on tour when my dad suddenly died...). But to be honest, I never ever expected that Suicide Commando would become one of the leading acts in the electronic scene. I'm so grateful for all the things we achieved, I'm so grateful for all the support we got from fans from all over the world, I'm so grateful that I could make my music, my passion to a (part time) job. It also costed me a lot of sacrifices, but nonetheless I'm so thankful for all the things it brought me in life. This year you celebrate 30 years of‘Critical Stage’, your debut album. For BIMFEST XXII there will be an exclusive old-school set with only material from that era. What can you tell us about that? Yes, 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of my very first ‘Critical Stage’ album, so I thought it was a good moment to put that album in the spotlight again for one more time, as it surely set a milestone in the career of Suicide Commando. “Another murder. Another war. Living in pain. Living insane.” Unfortunately some family matters disrupted the preparations for this special show, but expect a throwback into the deepest parts of my soul. I guess some people never even heard those old songs, I guess some people were not even born when I released these songs, so basically I've been making music for 2 generations... Today I often see and meet parents coming to our shows with their daughter or son, which is a great thing, but it also means that I'm getting f***ing old *smiles*. Suicide Commando shows are always on a high - 20 - ‘energy-packed’ level. How do you stay in shape? Any healthy advice for your fans? I’m basically the best example of how NOT to stay in
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