ICT teacher brings the metal era to a close: ‘Dreams come true’

During the week he teaches in the classroom; at the weekend, he’s growling on stage. IT teacher Sebastiaan Lefèvre is the lead singer of MagnaCult, a metal band that’s calling it a day this summer after 21 years.

Sebastiaan Lefèvre’s involvement in the metal scene dates back further than his career at Fontys, where he began as a lecturer at the Rockacademie in 2010. He is now a lecturer in Interactive Media Design at ICT. Lefèvre was about seventeen when he joined his first band. A few years later, he was asked to take on the vocals for MagnaCult, where he is still the lead singer 21 years on. With the emphasis on ‘still’, because in a few weeks’ time the band will be performing for the last time. After that, the five members will be calling it a day.

More on the reason behind this later. First, let’s go back to the origins of MagnaCult, some twenty years ago, the place where Lefèvre’s love of metal began. He had already taught himself to growl – to sing in a raw style – by experimenting with his voice and producing high and low sounds. “At one point, I was just standing in my room screaming,” he says.

Boyhood dreams
In the years that followed, all his boyhood dreams came true. Lefèvre went on various tours throughout Europe. He travelled by nightliner (double-decker coach) from city to city and by boat from Helsinki to Stockholm. He and his bandmates released a total of four albums and put on a memorable show in Luxembourg in front of an audience of 1,500. “But we also did a really great tour with 5 Finger Death Punch, a band that’s huge in America. And during a gig in London, the singer and drummer from Iron Maiden were watching us. That was really cool.”

Sebastiaan Lefèvre, photo: Elvira Visser

Even so, Lefèvre can’t say that MagnaCult is a particularly well-known name in the metal world. According to him, their heyday was between 2007 and 2012. After that, things slowed down a bit, with a significant dip during the pandemic. “Our social media following and Spotify streams aren’t particularly high, but the fans we do have are very loyal. They’re spread across England, Germany and Scandinavia, with a small number in the Netherlands too. Actually, we’re simply one of the best undiscovered Dutch bands.”

According to him, this isn’t down to the quality of the music, but to the algorithms on the World Wide Web. “We’ve never gone viral thanks to the algorithms of streaming and social media platforms. There’s an overwhelming number of bands out there anyway, and it’s a challenge to stand out from the crowd. At the same time, MagnaCult is at its most powerful on stage; that’s where the energy and charisma come from that have enabled us to build up an international fanbase over the years.”

End of an era
But that fanbase will soon have to say goodbye to MagnaCult, because after 21 years, the band will be playing their very last gig on 11 July. The five members have decided to call it a day because, according to Lefèvre, the input was becoming completely out of proportion to the output. “By that I mean that the amount of energy, money and time we put into it was no longer yielding enough in return. It was becoming increasingly difficult and demanding to keep giving.”

The teacher doesn’t yet know what he’ll be doing after the MagnaCult era. But he’ll always carry on making music. “Whether that’ll be as a solo artist or with another band? No idea. We’ll see. In any case, I’m going to spend a lot of time with my two little boys, my little works of art. It sounds lovely to just go away for a weekend with the family instead of performing.”

And his students? He continues to inspire them with his passion for metal during his lessons. “I try to build a bridge to the music in the classroom. How do you make a music video? What concept do you come up with? How do you approach storytelling? How do you bring that to life visually, and what message do you want to convey? I’ve made quite a few music videos and pieces of artwork myself, of course, and I can use all of them as case studies. The students think that’s really cool.”

Photo credit (top): Studiomamma

MagnaCult - Winds of Creation [Official Music Video]