Villainous was founded in August 2008 - under the temporary alias Dragonfarce - by Ward Vandenabeele and Arno Callens, in a desperate attempt to bring some power metal to the Flemish underground metal scene. During that same month principal songwriting took place, after which singer Tijmerd Balcaen was approached to lend his ear-shattering voice to this risky project. After much threatening and blackmail Tijmerd agreed to join the band and the first rehearsals took place. In search for a bass player, Ward - during one of his drunken escapades - asked all 5 customers of The Steeple (a local hard rock café/temple of worship) to see if one of them could play bass, until to his surprise a certain Jasmien Vervaeke said "yes". Because Arno and Ward thought it would be pretty cool to have a girl in the band, Jasmien was asked and agreed to join the ranks (we're regretting it ever since). Further rehearsals took place, while the quest for a drummer went on. Eventually we found Emanuel Deconinck in a ditch somewhere and in exchange for food and shelter (which were never actually provided) he joined the band. This remains our line-up until today while the tension mounts to see who of us will go first. In four months time - thank you very much - we learned 7 songs and in the beginning of February 2009 our first demo "Surfing Icarus" was recorded. Now - the end of February 2009 - our first gigs are planned and the demo is being mixed, while songwriting still continues. Final mixes of the demo will be uploaded soon, until then enjoy the rough ones and don't be too hard on us. Musical influences: No specific bands were ripped off, but these bands somehow left their mark on the music through frequent listening by the songwriters: Avantasia, Dark Moor, Dio, Dragonland, Edguy, Firewind, Gamma Ray, Heavenly, Helloween, Iron Maiden, Kamelot, Masterplan, Nocturnal Rites, Pyramaze, Running Wild, Theocracy; NOT: Dragonforce. And if you don't hear any of those in our music, then this is just a list of awesome bands. Lyrical subjects: Greek mythology, Twin Peaks, personal desires, basically every story we think is worth being told and can be wrapped in a cloud of vague symbolism. Plans for the future: Conquer the world, release 23 albums, tour with Iron Maiden as our support band, split up once or twice, reunite, play Wacken, Graspop Metal Meeting, Bang Your Head, Erps-Kwerps and be the first metal band to play in Lourdes or on the moon. Aside from that, we're pretty modest.