Can you introduce us the band and tell us the latest news?

M:  It's like a long bio to introduce the band. Please look at my website marceljacob.com where there will be a bio & links to other sites that will be informational. Or I can recommend "the Encyclopedia of Swedish hard rock and heavy metal". The latest news is that Pontus Norgren suddenly decided it was no fun to be with us, and that we were suddenly free to do what we want with Talisman, so Jeff Soto & I are at the moment busy with preparing to record a new Talisman album which should be out in early next year.

Is Humanimal Jeff’s project or a full-time band? Are there any plans for a tour, or are you just only a studio-band? Do you play as a session musician in Humanimal?

M: Humanimal is my project. It started in Pontus Norgren's kitchen when I was there to have a cup of coffee, and Mark Algers from Z records called. I asked him if he wanted to do an album with me and Pontus to which he agreed. We settled a deal without any name, songs, or who was going to be in the band. At first we were going to use several different singers, but chose to do the whole thing with Jeff in the end. 

Well Humanimal comes out from Human and animal… Who’s idea been? Can you tell us how did you get your name?

M: Again I'm the creator. I used it to name the albums with Talisman that came out -94. Recently I looked the name up on the Internet and found that it's been in use for many things earlier than when I thought of it, totally unbeknownst to me at the time. The main idea was to describe the fact that while we may be human, we are still animals. 

Do you believe that humans are so different from animals or sometimes are even worse than them?!

M: No, we are most definitely not very different from animals. What separates us is less than what is similar. Culture, consciousness, technology, bla bla, all that may be good but too often not. Sometimes we are much worse than animals, because moral obligations puts us under scrutiny and shows how little we can live up to our possibilities. For example, racism, bigotry, terrorism not just of the Arabian kind but the state terrorism of Israel and the US, the little Pakistanian girl who was recently raped by four members of her community in punishment for her brothers crime of speaking to a girl above his class. 

What can we expect from Humanimal in the future? Many albums and tours maybe?

M: At the moment there will be that one album. The next thing will be a Talisman album. 

This is your debut album if I’m right…can you tell us some things about the lyrics?

M: Well, as Humanimal. Lyrically, there is a difference between Jeff and I. His lyrics mostly deal with relations; on this album they seem to be much about the themes of either ending a relationship or reconciliation. My contributions are about inflated self images, the ambivalence of meeting and leaving (or possibly the difficulty of being suddenly less alone), or simply the thoughts of someone who's lost his map of the world.

Do you play in any other band? This is the band that you spent all your time.

M: I have played for Yngwie Malmsteen, Europe, John Norum, and my own band Talisman. 

Who are your favorite bassists and from whom you have been influenced most?

M: Ritchie Blackmore has always been my main influence (check out my guitar work on the Human Clay albums...). As far as bassists go, Bob Daisley's work with Ozzy ( I recently heard that Ozzy was going to recut the first 2 albums with the guys playing bass and drums for him now- that would be SACRILEGE!!!!), Billy Sheehans work with Talas, to name a few

Well have you heard Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “The Other Side”? I believe that the beginning of “Find My Way Home” was “borrowed” by the song that I foretold you. Was that something that happened on purpose or it was just a consequence?

M: I guess that I must have heard the song in question, and it got installed on my hardware like a datavirus...I don't like the RHCP all that much and don't have their albums. 

And now we go on with the “Weird Questions”!!!… If your wife/girlfriend were selling your whole album-collection just to buy for her a good and expensive ring how would you react?

M: I would sell hers, go to the bars and buy drinks for all the good-looking girls I could find. 

If you wanted to make someone to totally freak out and stop dealing with rock and metal music no more, which 3 albums would you choose to give him and why?

M: Albums by Poison, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Sigue Sigue Sputnik should do it.

You're sitting in a time machine, to which time zone would you travel? And for what reason?

M: I would go back to -75 or -76 and try to steal the gig in Rainbow from Jimmy Bain! 

Ok Marcel, I wish you the best for that album. The last words of this interview belong to you.

M: Thanks, this is the first time I had the pleasure of being in contact with anybody from Greece. I have no idea if any of you have heard what I do, but I hope that you will check it out and that you will enjoy! 

by Thanos Aggelakis