(As part of her continuing interview series with metal drummers, Karina Noctum has brought us the following excellent discussion with Dutch drummer and vocalist Seth van de Loo, who was a member of Severe Torture for 20 years and is currently active in a diverse group of bands consisting of Cthuluminati, Voodoo Gods, Extreme Cold Winter, and Caligari.)

Many thanks for granting me the interview. I have been following the dramatic situation when it comes to the surgery you had. What happened? How are you feeling nowadays?

I feel great actually, thank you. Two years ago I had an accident when coming home from work on my bicycle. A guy was right in front of me on the wrong side of the track and we crashed at full speed. It was a head against head crash so I broke my skull and there were fragments of bone they had to peel off my brain. I got lucky ’cause normally these fragments puncture the brain and do lots of damage. I had two surgeries and they were 100% — well there are a few titanium plates in there but that’s it. I had and have no pain at all ’cause the nerve was cut in half. More luck for me there. It took a long time for the second operation so I had to struggle through a year with only about 30% of my energy. Things could have been a lot worse. Continue reading »