BILE OF MAN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EUGENE MAARTENS
WEBSITE: www.bileofman.com
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Death Metal

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT OUT OF ALL THE MUSIC STYLES IN THE WORLD, DEATH METAL HAS CREATED SUCH A BIG CREATIVE DRIVE IN ALL OF THE BAND MEMBERS TO CREATE THE MUSIC YOU DO?

CHOROZ: As individual band members we're influenced by so many genres it is funny. We're all totally consumed by death metal when it comes to power and expression in music though. We have had so many members and changed so many positions in the band, mostly guitarists. Hopefully with Nicolas, ex-Witchazel, joining we can slough off the burden of interviewing and retraining guitarists. Luckily every line-up change inspires us to up our game.

THE BAND HAS RELEASED TWO NEW TRACKS ONLINE TITLED “WRATH OF THE STILLBORN” AND “DESCENDANT OF DESECRATION”. DO THEY DIFFER MUCH MUSICALLY COMPARED TO OLDER MATERIAL?

CHOROZ: Wrath of the stillborn is our newest complete track and shows our new direction in song writing. Descendant was one of our very first songs that we've played for over 3 years now. It felt good to finally get the material out. Thanks to Mathew Palmer from The Denn.

ARE THESE SONGS PART OF A BIGGER RELEASE COMING OUT AT A LATER STAGE, OR ARE YOU GUYS STICKING TO RELEASING ONE OR TWO SONGS AT REGULAR INTERVALS AND THEN RELEASING EVERYTHING AS ONE PACKAGE?

CHOROZ: We have 9 original songs currently, yet we'll most probably work on another 2 tracks and some multimedia material and then release that as a four song EP at some stage, hopefully before year end. Death metal and deadlines, really eldritch.

WHERE DOES THE BAND DO MOST OF ITS RECORDING, AND DID IT TAKE LONG FOR THE BAND TO DECIDE ON THE SOUND OF THE GUITARS AND THAT SORT OF THING?

CHOROZ: The Denn. Very happy how it turned out.

BENNIE: Because we were working with a great engineer, who understands and has a passion for the music we play, it was fairly easy to get the sound that we have now.

THE PRODUCTION OF THE NEW SONGS ARE VERY GOOD AND IT SEEMS LIKE LOCAL BANDS ARE FINALLY GETTING RID OF THAT “GARAGE” SOUND, BECAUSE IF ONE LISTENS TO THE STUFF THAT HAS BEEN COMING OUT LATELY LOCALLY, THE FUTURE LOOKS REALLY BRIGHT. DO YOU AGREE?

CHOROZ: Very much so, the local scene is insanely vibrant currently.

WHAT GUITAR TUNINGS AND GEAR DOES THE BAND CURRENTLY USE, AND HAVE YOU SEEN ANY GEAR LATELY THAT MADE YOU RUN IN CIRCLES AND SCREAM, “I WANT THAT!”?

BENNIE: We play in Standard B. I guess we always ask ourselves the question: "Is it heavy enough?", but going even lower to lets say A standard, would be foolish, because a lot of the riffs we play would just get muddy and plain ugly if you ask me. But B helps a lot with crunchy, driving riffs for heaviness. We play LTD (Jeff Hanneman signature) and Jackson Roads V, Randall and Crate half stacks and both guitars through the almighty Boss MT-2 distortion pedal.

Guitar wise, I was looking at the Ibanez XPT-700 which pretty much got me sold on it and also the BC Rich BEAST.

BY PLAYING BRUTAL DEATH METAL, I GUESS THE BAND’S MAIN FOCUS IS TO MAKE MUSIC THAT IS AS HEAVY AS POSSIBLE OR IS THERE MORE TO IT THAN SOUNDING HEAVY?

CHOROZ: Well, naturally we'll end up sounding heavy. None of this would be worth it if we didn't have fun times playing it. It's all about the process, enjoying heavy music and also feeding back into that loop. A recent set of gigs to Durban with Contrast the Water, Day Turns Night, and others, were so much fun.

BENNIE: It's not Death Metal if it's not heavy as hell, but we try to keep focus on things also that might be of a "catchy" nature, repeating parts that are recognizable and perhaps parts in the song where you can just go all out and headbang your ass off. Hence, in some of our songs we would name the riff, "The Headbang Riff".

I’VE INTERVIEWED A FEW LOCAL DEATH METAL BANDS THAT SAID THAT THEY WANTED TO MAKE DEATH METAL MUSIC WITH AN “AFRICAN EDGE”. ARE YOU AIMING FOR THE SAME THING AND IF SO, HOW DOES A BAND GO ABOUT DOING THAT WHEN DEATH METAL HAS THE SAME “CORE” SOUND WORLDWIDE?

CHOROZ: Unfortunately I cannot subscribe to the African Renaissance idea. I don't really know what 'African Edge' would mean in this context.

BENNIE: We do not exactly think that xilophones, keyboards or a vuvuzela would fit in with Death Metal. Imagine a Death Metal vuvuzela solo with insane double bass behind it.

DO YOU THINK THAT THE REASON SO MANY DEATH METAL BANDS, (LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL) ARE INCORPORATING OTHER “INFLUENCES” INTO THEIR MUSIC IS BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT IS POSSIBLE IN THE GENRE HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE?

BENNIE: I think there are many bands out there that get caught in the perception of "Thats already been done and we need something different", that they explore so many different "other influences" like you say, that they don't really have a backbone to work from and then things start sounding like ideas thrown in a basket and randomly drawn and put into the mix. When you have 5 members all contributing to the writing of a song, you are bound to come up with a product that will stick with people and ultimately that's what you want.

I SEE YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE IS FULL OF GREAT COMMENTS ABOUT YOUR LIVE SHOWS. HAS THAT TYPE OF FEEDBACK GIVEN THE BAND CONFIDENCE TO JUST KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND AIM TO GIVE FANS “BIGGER AND BETTER” SHOWS?

CHOROZ: Fan interaction at live shows are absolutely required. Live symbiosis absolutely. Bring us your energy and we'll amplify it and feed it back to you. We're always striving for better live shows, that's where you sell your concepts to a crowd and where you get the most word of mouth going. 'Can you deliver on-stage?' is a very important question.

We have a good energy in the band, especially since Rehan, the new vocalist, joined. We're energy drink junkies, through and through. Hyper-caffeinated. Keyword there. Coming to think of it, would still like to taste the Vader drink...

DO YOU HAVE CERTAIN SONGS THAT ALWAYS SEEM TO GET A CROWD “FIRED UP” NO MATTER WHERE YOU PERFORM?

CHOROZ: Definitely, 'Tortured till death' always seems to get the pits moving at insane speeds and Seduced to Disembowelment with super slow repetitive riffs (bangable), we often end our shows with this song.

I SEE THE BAND HAS A SHOW COMING UP IN OCTOBER. ARE THERE ANY OTHERS PEOPLE SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

BENNIE: We are playing at the Rocktober '09 Fest in Hendrina on the 10th of October, "Devils Night" at Full Moon Lounge on the 30th of October and also Thornfest The Camp 2010 which is an all ages, 4 day camp over event which will be held from 28th -31st January 2010. You can check all these details out on Facebook.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD KNOW OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

CHOROZ: Vegetarians are made of meat.

BENNIE: Bile of Man will clean out your fridge, pantry and secret cookie stash.

A great thanks to some people who have helped us massively in some of our past endeavors:

Barry and Delia Drewett for your hospitality and for being such avid supporters of Metal in South Africa, Shay (Elegy) and the Equinox Crew in Secunda, Mutt from The Denn for making us sound so brutal and Brad Hitchin, our manager. And then big ups to these bands we have always had lots of fun with at shows: Architecture of Aggression, All Forlorn, Contrast the Water, Where Martyrs Dare, Tranquil (RIP), Sathern, Haggis and Bong, Erebus, Day Turns Night and Pledge Defiance. Stay Brutal!

IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM BARNES
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/ignominiousincarceration
COUNTRY: United Kingdom STYLE: Death Metal

DON’T GET ME WRONG; I THINK YOU GUYS HAVE A COOL BAND NAME BUT YOU MUST LAUGH ON THE INSIDE WHEN PEOPLE PRONOUNCE IT WRONG SOMETIMES?

It is Pretty funny but I mean it’s not your ordinary band name, 2 massive words that hardly get used anymore just isn’t fair on the public. But when we started we didn’t think we’d get this far as we were out to have fun then it got more serious and the name stuck as everyone knew who we were simply by the name!

THE “MARKET” SEEMS TO BE VERY COMPETITIVE IN THE UK WITH A LOT OF THE WORLD’S BEST KNOWN BANDS COMING FROM THE COUNTRY. SEEING HOW THE SCENE HAS GROWN IN EUROPE OVER THE YEARS; WAS IT SOMETHING YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE PART OF GROWING UP?

Hell yeah! We all love metal and to see it grow and become more than just popular is amazing as it is a genre which used to be looked down upon, but if you really get down to some of the music it’s mind blowing how it’s been written and how it’s played! Some of the best musicians out there do write metal!

THE BAND SIGNED TO A RECORD LABEL IN JUST TWO YEARS AFTER STARTING OUT. DID YOU HAVE A SPECIFIC GOAL OF GETTING SIGNED IN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME AND IF NOTHING HAPPENED, JUST LEAVE EVERYTHING OR WERE YOU ALWAYS SET ON MAKING THIS BAND A SUCCESS NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED?

Well again we did start the band for some fun and give us something to do in our small hometowns then as we played bigger and better shows we took it a more serious and are now doing it for a living. Signing to the label is a dream come true and we aren’t going to waste our time with this.

YOUR DEBUT ALBUM “OF WINTER BORN” IS AVAILABLE “EVERYWHERE”. DID IT FEEL LIKE HOLDING AN OSCAR THE FIRST TIME YOU HAD THE FINISHED ALBUM IN YOUR HANDS?

Ha, it wasn’t as weird as that but holding it was amazing! We’ve all thought about how cool it’d be having our very own CD and now that we do we love it and as it came out exactly how we wanted we! Hopefully everyone out there is enjoying it as much as we are!

IT IS RARE THAT YOU STILL GET BANDS THAT RELEASE MUSIC THROUGH ANY TYPE OF LABEL THAT IS BADLY PRODUCED; EVEN BANDS WITH BAD MUSIC HAVE THESE “POLISHED” RECORDS TODAY. DO YOU THINK METAL HAS BECOME TO “POLISHED” OR IS IT JUST A CASE OF USING THE TECHNOLOGY THAT IS AVAILABLE TO MAKE AN ALBUM THAT SOUNDS AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE?

Albums from all bands have come out with very polished and it is due to the technology at hand as we don’t use tape to record anymore and you don’t have to get everything correct in one take. It isn’t a bad thing as people can enjoy all metal with the comfort of knowing that the sound quality is there and won’t make them judge it on just that. It also lets bands with not much money get a good sounding CD out and have it close to the standards they wanted for it!

DO YOU ALWAYS FIND YOURSELVES WORKING ON NEW MATERIAL AT HOME OR ON TOUR, AND WHO ARE THE BIGGEST SONG WRITERS IN THE BAND?

Yeah we all love to write and have fun in doing so, we were already writing the 2nd album when we went in to do the first one, which is kind of confusing, and as time progresses you can polish up those riffs and make them greater. As the writing is concerned in the band we all do the right amounts and hence why the 1st album came out how it is, awesome!

I SEE THE BAND IS ENDORSED BY WARWICK AND IBANEZ BUT DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELVES TO BE “GEARHEADS” OR DO YOU JUST FOR EXAMPLE PLAY ON ANY GUITAR THAT IS AVAILABLE AND FINALLY; WHAT TUNINGS AND GEAR DO YOU GUYS USE?

We’re not so “gearheads” we will play pretty much anything but playing something that’s good is another thing, and with Ibanez the guitars let us play all our stuff with a lot of ease as they are light and smooth to play. We’re in drop C# but may change for the 2nd album and gear well Chris (the Bassist) uses a SR705 and warwick 611 cab and profet 5.2 head, Steve uses an S series with a mesa boogie cab and Krank head, and Sam the drummer uses a mapex Saturn Series.

I DON’T KNOW IF YOU GUYS ARE INTERESTED IN TALKING ABOUT THE REASONS WHY BOBBY (GUITAR) HAS LEFT THE BAND. BUT WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS NOW, KNOWING YOU HAVE TO WRITE AND RECORD A NEW ALBUM?

He wanted to follow other ventures, we’re not too fazed by it as getting new guitarists is a regular occurrence for us unfortunately but we are trying out new ones as we speak! And as for the new album you’ll have a chance to hear it in May/June of next year and it will not disappoint!

WATCHING THE VIDEOS OF YOU GUYS ON TOUR IT SEEMS THAT YOU GET TO MEET SOME REALLY “INTERESTING” PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY. IS THAT ONE OF THE GOOD THINGS ABOUT BEING IN A BAND (WITHOUT TRYING TO SOUND SOPPY) YOU KNOW; THE “MEMORIES”?

Ha, without sounding soppy yeah we do get great memories from everywhere we go and we have such a blast, the best bit about going to these places is the people you meet and having a good time. I mean if we didn’t there wouldn’t be much point in going anywhere! Apart from playing the show obviously haha!

THE WORST THING ABOUT TRAVELLING IS…?

Worst thing about travelling well I could say that there isn’t any but you do on the off chance miss home and maybe have a bad show which can dishearten you but then you think of all the other shows you’ve played/ going to play and you forget and the bad points.

YOU HAVE PERFORMED WITH SOME REALLY COOL BANDS. IN A SCENE THAT HAS SO MANY BANDS THAT PLAY “METAL” DO YOU CONSIDER SOME BANDS TO KIND OF BE YOUR “BROTHERS IN ARMS” THAT YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE TO PERFORM WITH MORE AND SEE SUCCEED AND BUILD THE SCENE FOR THE BETTER?

Hell yeah! We want to see all of our friends make it and we always try and stick tours on that are with our best mates bands. What’s more fun than doing what you love with the people you love? Like the Masters of Metal tour we did back in July with all our friends that was amazing! And we’ll definitely be doing it again next year bigger and longer we promise you that!

I KNOW GETTING A TATTOO ON THE SIDE OF YOUR “RIBS” IS PAINFUL BUT I MUST ASK STEVE (GUITAR) HOW IT FEELS TO GET ONE ON THE FRONT OF YOUR NECK, BECAUSE I’VE SEEN A FEW PEOPLE WITH TATTOOS IN THAT “AREA” OF THE BODY LATELY?

Well of course it hurt but Steve is odd he has a high threshold to pain for some reason and he will just sit there and get tattooed for hours on end. It does seem that tattoos are becoming more socially acceptable these days which is a good thing, but today it seems like you’re an individual if you don’t have tattoos haha.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

Well keep checking back to our myspace page for shows and news www.myspace.com/ignominiousincarceration and add us on twitter and Facebook too www.twitter.com/Official_II and www.facebook.com/ignominiousincarceration and our new album will be awesome so don’t worry!

We’d like to thank again Earache, Scott Atkins, our families and fans.

CHEERS

STARRING JANET LEIGH

PHOTO COURTESY OF METALBLADE.COM
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/starringjanetleigh
COUNTRY: Canada STYLE: Metal / Hardcore / Progressive

THE ONE COMPLAINT ONE GETS ABOUT “TECHNICAL METAL” IS THAT IT IS A TYPE OF MUSIC THAT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO FOLLOW AND HEADBANG TO EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS REALLY GOOD, AND THAT PEOPLE EVENTUALLY CAN’T STAND TO LISTEN TO AN ENTIRE ALBUM OF PURE TECHNICAL MAYHEM, DO YOU AGREE SOMETIMES?

From my experience, technical metal stylistically seems to lean in one or two direction: chaotic angular structure, or groovy syncopated structure. Our debut album tends to lean more towards the chaotic side. It’s definitely an acquired taste, but we know that going into it. As of late, our newer writing has been leaning towards the side of the groovier syncopated feel, but in general there will always be an aspect of angular structure.

I think it adds something to the music where you can step out of the norm of bobbing your head along to have something throw you off balance. That way when you come back to a tune again you can hear something new each time. It is an album that takes time to take it all in, but that’s what we prefer as listeners so naturally that’s how we would write.

THE BAND ALSO INCORPORATES SOME REALLY COOL JAZZ ELEMENTS INTO ITS MUSIC. DID YOU GUYS STUDY THE GENRE OR WAS IT A “SOUND” THAT YOU HAVE JUST ALWAYS LIKED AND BEEN INSPIRED BY?

All of us come from very different musical backgrounds. I had some classical and jazz training in my younger years, and I know that no matter what kind of music I’m writing, that style of harmony will always find its way into my writing. Most of us like the colour and textures that jazz adds to music. I find what we do similar to what the fusion guys did in the 70’s, just instead of blending jazz and rock, we blend jazz and death metal.

HAS THE LINE UP OF THE BAND ALWAYS STAYED THE SAME FROM THE START AND LOOKING BACK, ARE YOU GRATEFUL THAT EACH MUSICIAN IN THE BAND IS VERY SKILLED AT THEIR INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS BECAUSE GOOD MUSICIANS AREN’T ALWAYS EASY TO FIND?

SJL has had an ever evolving line up since our inception in 2003. Aside from myself (only original member), we are on 2nd and 3rd of everything else. Sometimes the guys you start out with are not the ones you end up with. The line up changes we’ve had over the years have very much shaped the sound of the band as it is today, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

While it is always a struggle to find guys who are both committed to the cause and able to pull off music of a technical nature, you basically gotta do the best you can with what you have and keep pressing forward. With any kind of music there will always be obstacles in your way of achieving what you want. Member changes are never easy but the guys we have all share a passion for what we do and see the value in it. I’ve had the privilege of this line up since 2005, and we’re doing better now than ever before.

THE BAND HAS BEEN GOING FOR HALF A DECADE ALREADY YET YOU ONLY RELEASED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM IN MAY THIS YEAR. WAS IT A CASE OF FINDING THE RIGHT RECORD LABEL LIKE IRONCLAD RECORDINGS (TREVOR PHIPPS OF UNEARTH’S LABEL) WHICH THE BAND HAS SINGED TO?

In our early days we went through some pretty drastic member changes which inhibited our ability to release an album. We’d get another guy and someone would drop out, etc. Through that process we were shopping our demos to different labels and weren’t satisfied with what we found, so we decided to record the album ourselves in 2007. After releasing some of the album tracks online, we started getting a lot more label attention.

We were not in a rush to release the album because wanted to make it as big a release as possible. We talked to Ironclad for a long time prior to signing, but I feel we signed something we are both satisfied with. I gave myself a deadline that if we didn’t have a deal by, we would self release it. We signed with Ironclad almost to the day of that deadline.

ALMOST THE SAME QUESTION BUT IF THE INFO ON YOUR WEBSITE IS CORRECT “SPECTRUM” WAS ALREADY RECORDED IN JUNE AND SEPTEMBER 2007 WITH PRODUCER/ENGINEER GREG DAWSON. YOU GUYS MUST HAVE REALLY PUT IN SOME HARD WORK TO MAKE THIS RELEASE AS GOOD AS POSSIBLE IF YOU CONSIDER THAT IT WAS ONLY RELEASED THIS YEAR?

Yes it is correct, we recorded in June, July and September 2007, having a fully mastered final product in November 2007. It was shortly after that we were in negotiations with 3 labels prior to signing with Ironclad in late 2008. It was a matter of best possible quality album we could on the budget we had, along with making it as big a release as we could. I’m quite proud of the album and that it was released through Ironclad, it made it feel like all the work and struggle along the way was worth it.

PLAYING THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU DO; HOW DO YOU GUYS EVEN START TO WORK OUT HOW A SONG WILL GO AND HOW DO YOU USUALLY ARRANGE IT TILL IT ENDS UP INTO THE FINAL “PRODUCT” THAT PEOPLE FINALLY HEAR?

The song writing process varies with us. A lot of the time one member comes with a series of ideas what we work with and make into the final structure of the song. Over time the feel because more developed and the changes reflect that. Originally with all the member changes a lot of the songs were what I had structured while replacing different members, but they certainly evolved structurally and musically in general as the line up changed.

These days we make the writing as much a collaborative effort as possible. Obviously we want everyone in the band to be happy with the songs, and for the most part we’re all pretty easy going about it. It’s not about egos; it’s about making the best music we can, so we work with the parts until everyone is happy with it.

BEFORE YOU HEADED INTO THE STUDIO YOU MUST HAVE HAD A “PRECONCEIVED” IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANTED THE ALBUM TO SOUND LIKE; HOW CLOSE WOULD YOU SAY THE FINISHED ALBUM CAME TO THAT OR DID YOU ALWAYS KNOW IT WOULD SOUND COOL BASED ON THE PREPRODUCTION THE BAND DID?

More than anything we wanted to be sure we worked with a producer would be able to help us get the songs across so that everything that was going on could be heard, and that the album had more than just a whole lot going on, that it had a feel to it. We worked with Greg Dawson of BWC Studios in Brampton, Ontario. He had worked with some great metal bands from Ontario (Mare – Hydrahead, The End – Relapse) so I was quite confident he would be able to help us make something that stood out.

We had done some pre-production for the album so we had a general idea of what we wanted but I will give a lot of credit to Greg for his input in the direction some of the tunes went. He had a lot of great ideas that helped to shape the album, and I couldn’t be happier with it. There were times that were gravy, and times that were gruelling, but overall it was probably the best experience we have ever had as a band.

I MUST ASK WHAT GEAR AND GUITAR TUNINGS YOU USE BECAUSE YOU GUYS SEEMS TO SWITCH A LOT BETWEEN YOUR CLEAN AND DISTORTION CHANNELS AS WELL WHEN IT COMES TO THE “JAZZ” PARTS OF YOUR SONGS?

We are tuned to Drop D Standard, everything string down a whole tone: D, G, C, F, A, D. We use this tuning for all the songs. As far as gear, for guitar I am currently running:

AMP: Engl Powerball

GUITAR: Ibanez RG (I currently use a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge slot, on the album I used an RG with an EMG 81 & 85.).

PEDALS: Boss (Chromatic tuner, compressor, reverb, noise suppressor), Voodoo Soundlab Proctavia pedal (used a handful of times on the album to create some very doomy tones), Line 6 delay pedal

Chris Sokoloski (2nd SJL guitarist):

AMP: Peavey XXX

GUITAR: LTD w/ EMG 81 & 85

PEDALS: Boss (Flanger, chromatic tuner, compressor, delay), Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Pedal

We also used a fair amount of gear that Greg had in the studio, which really helped to give the album some interesting colours. We had to upgrade some of our gear in order to recreate the sounds live, but well worth it based on the outcome.

WITH THE VIDEOS FOR THE SONGS “EX YOU” AND “SPECTRUM” BOTH BEING “LIVE VIDEOS” IT IS PROBABLY SAFE TO SAY THE BAND IS MORE AT HOME ON STAGE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE?

You hit the nail on the head. There’s a feeling I get on stage, when all things seem to fall into place between the band, the audience, there is nothing like it. I would rather do this than anything else.

HAS MUSIC AND THIS BAND BECOME A FULL TIME “JOB” FOR YOU OVER THE YEARS, AND HOW DO YOU KEEP THINGS FUN WHILE STILL SERIOUSLY TRYING TO TAKE THIS BAND TO NEW HEIGHTS?

There are always things about being in a band and running a band that can become tiresome or mundane. Yeah we’ve played a lot of shows in the same places again and again, there is the business side of things that a lot of people (especially) musicians hate about the industry, but it is all part and parcel to being in a band that is more than a hobby. I’m fortunate enough enjoy many aspects of the business end of things, but it’s the passion for the music and truly the love for what we do that keeps us going through the less fun parts of the process.

This band has always moved in stages for us, nothing was overnight. We’re still fighting to take it to the next level, to make this something we can hopefully make a living at. My philosophy with this is that if you throw enough mud at the wall, eventually it’s gonna stick. You have to care about it enough that press on despite having a shitty show, or things not going the way you planned. It’s the bands that are both talented and the most persistent that are the ones that survive the pitfalls to enjoy the fruits of their art.

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE FAN BASE THAT THE BAND HAS BUILT UP IN CANADA SO FAR AND READING THE LAST LINE OF YOUR BAND BIO “EXPECT TO SEE STARRING JANET LEIGH ACROSS CANADA, THE USA AND EUROPE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.” DO YOU HAVE ANY TOURS IN THE “WORKS”?

Our fan base in Canada has been loyal to us over the years and is growing thankfully. We are working on a fair amount of Canadian dates for this year, and will be heading back to the US next year. Financially speaking, the future you press outward the harder it is, and we’re not kids living in our parents’ basements.

We’re basically doing the best we can with what we have, but you will most certainly see us across Canada again, and through the US within the next 6 months. We have been talks about a European tour for 2010, but North America gets conquered first!

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE VENUE THAT YOU ALWAYS LIKE TO PERFORM AT OR REMEMBER FOR SOME REASON?

There are a handful of venues in Toronto that have always been a great time for us. My faves are: Sneaky Dees (which also has some of the best Mexican food), The El Mocombo, and the Opera House. There are a few others we’ve played at close to home that are worth mentioning: The Chubby Pickle in Windsor is a great time, Call the Office in London, and Marcello’s in Mississauga (small bar, but oh man what a great time/intimate atmosphere). A lot of the time it’s as much the crowd that makes a show great, but these have been my favourites thus far.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

We are putting in as much road time as we can over the next year, so expect to see us across the US, Canada, and hopefully Europe within a year’s time. We will also be launching a music video for “Ex You” in the very near future. A special thanks goes out to our families, friends, and anyone who has helped us out over the years, be it giving us a place to stay, some food to eat, putting on a show, and picking up some merch. We are eternally grateful.

SESLING

PHOTOGRAPHY BY WeLovePictures
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/seslingsa
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Rock / Hardcore / Screamo

I RECOGNISE SOME OF THE BAND MEMBERS FROM OTHER BANDS. HOW DID THE PROJECT EVOLVE INTO WHAT WE SEE TODAY AS “SESLING”?

We've all been friends for years and we've played together a bunch of times in our previous bands. This was just the logical step after Andre vd Walt & Chaos Theory split up. Werner was also interested to start another project with a different style of music to Wrestlerish. We've also known Dawie for long and being an amazing guitarist we couldn't think of anyone better to join us on bass.

YOU ARE THE FIRST AFRIKAANS BAND I’VE HEARD GOING FOR THAT UNDEROATH, NORMA JEAN VIBE IN YOUR MUSIC. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MAJOR INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS BANDS MUSIC AND SOUND?

We are very much influenced by the Southern Hardcore sound, bands like He Is Legend & Every Time I Die. It's very much an unexplored sound in our country. We are really enjoying pushing our writing style in new directions.

NO MATTER HOW NEW AND ORIGINAL A FEW AFRIKAANS ROCK ‘N ROLL BANDS SOUND THEY STILL SEEM TO STRUGGLE TO GET AWAY FROM FOKOFPOLISIEKAR’S SHADOW. HOW DO YOU HOPE TO GET PEOPLE’S ATTENTION AND NOT FALL INTO THE SAME TRAP?

There is no escaping that shadow. They are the standard. They set it. To the untrained or non musical ear, if it’s kinda rock ‘n roll and Afrikaans, it's a Fokof copy. Those guys deserve all they have; they are some of the hardest working dudes we know.

Musically it's two different sounds. We are sonically heavier. Our vocals are completely different tones. Andre's screaming range is something that is now only shining through and reaching its full potential. Only time will tell how it works out. We still have a lot of growing to do in our own sound. Ask us again next year this time.

THE BAND HAS RELEASED ONE SONG ONLINE SO FAR TITLED “WOLWE”. TELL US MORE ABOUT IT AND WHAT YOU WERE “AIMING” FOR MUSICALLY WITH THE SONG?

Wolwe is the perfect example of the sound we are working towards right now. It's got that dirty Southern feel. It's definitely very much inspired by Every Time I Die's Big Dirty album.

IS “WOLWE” A GOOD INDICATION OF THE DIRECTION YOU ARE TAKING WITH YOUR OTHER MATERIAL?

Wolwe was a good starting point for us. Obviously some of the other tracks are slower or even faster but the Rock 'n Roll vibe is there. We're still growing together as a unit. There's allot of different tastes within the band and we're going to start exploring them after the EP.

YOUR BAND BIO ALSO MENTIONS THAT THERE WILL BE A VIDEO FOR “WOLWE”. ANY IDEA YET WHAT THE CONCEPT FOR THE VIDEO WILL BE AND WHEN IT WILL BE RELEASED?

We actually have two videos in development right now. Wolwe is being done by a company called Etiket and will combine live performance with animation. The other is a video for a song called "Dans Alleen"; it's a live performance video and just captures the bands live vibe.

THE BAND IS CURRENTLY WRITING AND RECORDING ITS FIRST EP TITLED "VROT VAN VERGIFNIS”. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE TITLE FOR THE EP?

It's a cool title. There's no deeper meaning. We liked the alliteration. That's it really.

WHERE IS MOST OF THE RECORDING TAKING PLACE AND WHO IS PRODUCING THE EP?

Everything is being put together at Anti Motion Studios with Jacques du Plessis (Wrestlerish, The Jumper) & David Grevler (Wrestlerish, We Shall Embrace) We also have PH van Pletzen (Yesterday's Pupil) mastering the EP for us.

WITH ALL THE BAND MEMBERS COMING FROM WELL KNOWN LOCAL BANDS LIKE ANDRE VAN DER WALT, WRESTLERISH AND CHAOS THEORY. HOW DO YOU BALANCE ALL THE CREATIVE IDEAS SO THAT EVERYONE HAS AN EQUAL PART IN THE WRITING PROCESS?

We have a pretty good idea of the sound that we are going for and as time progresses it's getting clearer. Werner and Tjaardt will usually come up with a riff and then everyone else will react to it or make suggestions to build up the final product.

WOULD YOU SAY THIS PROJECT IS THE BEST CHANCE ALL OF YOU HAVE HAD SO FAR TO MAKE THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE, OR IS IT JUST SOMETHING YOU REALLY FEEL STRONG ABOUT DOING AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME?

All of us are interested in a lot of different music but this would probably be closest to what we mostly listen to. Werner is playing a totally different type of music in Wrestelerish, so he gets to express that part of his music interest, but for the most part we all into heavier music, so that’s what we play.

MANY LOCAL BANDS ARE MAKING EP’S AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD THESE DAYS. ALTHOUGH DOING THAT HAS IT’S ADVANTAGES DO YOU THINK THE MAJORITY OF LOCAL MUSIC FANS WILL EVER STOP BEING CHEAP AND JUST BUY AS MUCH LOCAL ALTERNATIVE ARTISTS MUSIC AND SUPPORT THEM SO THAT THEY DON’T HAVE TO GIVE THEIR MUSIC AWAY FOR FREE TO GET NOTICED?

The South African music scene doesn't really cater for smaller bands starting out; getting the cash to record anything is already a problem, not to mention releasing a printed disc. But on the other side, if a band puts a lot of effort and money into their product, it seems unfair to release it for free. It's just an easy and cheap way to get yourself noticed.

The local public is getting more interested and more keen to buy local albums, but unfortunately there are only a few professionally recorded, well produced albums to pick from. Once again because of a lack of funding or sponsorship. But the local scene is growing by leaps and bounds; we only see good things ahead for us and the other hard working artist out there.

DO YOU HAVE LIVE PERFORMANCES IN MIND YET OR ARE YOU TAKING THINGS ONE STEP AT A TIME?

We plan on doing our launch show in October or early November, we still have a few things to sort out. More details to follow VERY soon.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

Go listen to our first single on http://www.sesling.co.za and watch out for the launch show in the next month or two!

MOMENT OF CLARITY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSS ALLCHORN
WEBSITE: www.momentofclarity.co.za
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Melodic Metal

YOU GUYS HAVE SOME REALLY COOL “DEMOS” (IF I CAN CALL IT THAT) ONLINE. WHO ARE THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE BAND AND IS IT GREAT LOOKING TO SEE HOW YOUR “VISION” HAS COME TO LIFE?

MOC: Thanks Neil. After forming MOC around July 2007 the original line up comprised Neil Bezuidenhout (lead guitar) Dale Walker (rhythm guitar), Andrew Potter (drums), Mike Cubic (bass) and Lindsey Roussouw (Vocals). After playing numerous gigs for approximately 8 months as a fully fledged band, personal circumstances resulted in Mike no longer being able to fulfil his role as bassist in the band. We were very fortunate to recruit friend Mark Pote as our new bassist and we haven’t looked back since Pote has brought an element of “PH” fat and tightness to the rhythm section which we value.

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE SONGS YOU HAVE POSTED ONLINE AND WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU SEE YOUR FUTURE MATERIAL TAKING?

MOC: Lyrically the songs have re-occurring themes that can be related to everyday life and the challenges that we face as a society and as human beings. These could be anything from commentary on spirituality/faith and its place in a modern world that is governed by power, money, status, and technology, etc. Other lyrical themes dwell on interpersonal relationships, pain, greed, hope, new beginnings and so forth.

As an example; “Warchild” addresses the scenario of soldiers being trained up to fight in wars initiated by political turmoil between ruling governments only to end up in bloodshed and killing innocent people in ploy for power. In terms of future material, it’s not that clear cut. What we produce musically today as MOC is a result of two years’ worth of development, experimentation and growth.

THE PRODUCTION FOR THOSE SONGS IS REALLY GOOD. IS IT COOL TO KNOW THAT YOU GUYS CAN BASICALLY RECORD A GOOD QUALITY SONG WITHOUT SPENDING TONS OF MONEY WHENEVER YOU WANT TO?

MOC: When we originally started the recording process, we wanted to move away from that ’cheap’ South African sound and try and deliver something on more of an international level. We’re definitely looking forward to start tracking for the new album as I think our overall recording/playing skills have been refined allowing us to deliver a tighter sounding overall package.

IF YOU HAD TO PUT YOUR MUSIC INTO A CERTAIN CATEGORY, WHERE WOULD YOU SAY THE BAND FITS INTO ALL THE VARIOUS METAL GENRES THAT ARE OUT THERE TODAY; AND IF “SOMEONE” SAID THAT AFTER TOMORROW THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE TYPE OF METAL LEFT IN THE WORLD WHAT TYPE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE STAY AND FALL AWAY?

MOC: This is something we’ve definitely put some thought into and after almost 2 years since the first MOC gig we’re still not sure what sub genre of metal we fit into. It’s a tough question for us since all our songs are so different to each other. We incorporate melodic, death, power, groove, thrash and progressive metal elements into our music, so we’re not sure what type of metal that makes us. We seem to have been classed into the more ‘extreme metal’ genre which suits us fine. Some of the new material we’re working on even has a slight black metal influence.

We’d like to see melodic death metal stay, because we love our heavy stuff, but enjoy some melody and clever musicianship. Choosing a genre to fall away would be difficult however if we had to choose we would like to see music along the nu metal genre fall away (thankfully, its almost completely died out already) in addition perhaps deathcore – it's popular right now but only a handful of bands are actually pulling it off in a live environment without it sounding like a mess.

DOES THE BAND HAVE A CERTAIN WAY THAT IT LIKES TO WRITE SONGS?

MOC: Neil normally presents the main guitar idea to the band and we all add our individual input to achieve the final product over a period of time. Sometimes we find the end result differs slightly from the original idea, but we regard this as positive and indicative of a song writing process that is working well for us. It’s also nice to see a lot of the musical ideas that we come up with during our free jam sessions.

YOU GUYS HAVE SHOWED SOME SERIOUS SKILL ON YOUR INSTRUMENTS. HOW DID YOU FIST GET INTO PLAYING YOUR INSTRUMENTS (AND SINGING) AND WHAT TECHNIQUES WOULD YOU STILL LIKE TO MASTER?

MOC: A friend introduced Andrew to drumming back during his teenage years in Durban and went about scrimping and saving for his own kit since that day. He says he's still learning as much as he can and he looks up to a lot of drummers in the local and national scene.

ANDREW: I'm not a solo drummer by far. I play what our music requires of me and I keep it to-the-point and simple instead of over-the-top and flashy, but I think that is one skill I would like to master and bust out an insane drum solo at one of our shows! Lindsey studied classical piano from an early age. After high school the idea of experimenting with electronic keyboards and synthesisers resulted in him fronting a few bands over the years.

LINDSEY: With regards to mastering a technique, how to not break out into a sweat during the first song. Dale started playing guitar just over 10 years ago when he was 16 back then spending most of his spare time thrashing out old Metallica\Pantera tracks.

DALE: As a guitarist, I always try and put as much attention into my playing style and technique, specifically where tidiness / neatness is concerned. There’s nothing worse than listening to someone play with a ‘messy’ guitar style, it’s like… Hey, that riff you playing… it may be fast or technically challenging but it sounds shit. In terms of mastering a technique, Im currently putting a lot of effort into improving my lead playing, you may see me pull out a solo live in the near future.

MARK: “Neil started teaching me guitar when I was 14 and after a few years I realised I wasn’t very good so I switched to bass and im glad I did.”

THE BAND HAS A VERY GOOD VOCALIST WHICH IS A HARD FIND THESE DAYS. DOES IT MAKE THE WRITING PROCESS A BIT EASIER KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE A VOCALIST THAT IS VERY “VERSATILE”?

MOC: Most definitely! Lindsey always comes to the table. It’s always comforting to know that the vocal lines will be adequately taken care of and besides Lindsey being strong vocally; he also brings a huge amount of energy to our live performances which is a huge must for any live act and a big factor in ours.

WHAT GUITAR TUNINGS AND GEAR DOES THE BAND CURRENTLY USE?

MOC: All of our current material and new tracks are being played in dropped C tuning. With regards to gear, we are, without a doubt, gear fanatics. By the time this interview is published things may have changed however presently Neil plays on a Cort X Custom through a VOX Tonelabs effects processor, Dale plays on a Cort VX-4V guitar through a Line 6 POD XT Live. Mark plays a Cort EVL Z4 through an Ashdown MAG C210T EVO II combo. Andrew plays an all-Zildjian cymbal set-up, Tama Iron Cobra power-glide double-kick pedal; Vic Firth sticks and is a huge fan off Mapex snares.

DO YOU USE THE SAME GEAR FOR RECORDING AND LIVE PERFORMANCES?

MOC: Since us still struggling independent band… yeah, all our current equipment is used for recording purposes.

DOES THE BAND AIM TO COME AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE SOUND OF THE RECORDINGS LIVE OR IS IT AN ENTIRE NEW BALLGAME WHEN IT COMES TO THE SOUND AT SHOWS COMPARED TO THE SOUND YOU CAN CREATE WHEN RECORDING?

MOC: It’s kind of the other way round, the one thing we’re really critical about our EP is that it doesn’t fully capture the energy of our live shows. We’ll be working on this when recording our full length album! There’s a lot of work that goes into our guitar tone during the recording process especially where EQ shelving \ mastering \ guitar overlays \ etc are concerned… there is only so much you can do live. I think we quite fortunate to have some really jacked up sound engineers at most of the major Cape Town venues and thus far we have never really had a problem with live sound.

THE BAND HAS PERFORMED AT ALL THE MAJOR “METAL VENUES” IN CAPE TOWN SO FAR. WHICH SHOWS STAND OUT AS HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE BAND AND ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO HIT THE ROAD AND PLAY ANY OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY?

MOC: The highlights would be Metal4Africa Summerfest 2009, Whiplash 2008 and Animals Rock 2008 is some of the bigger shows we have played in the last 12 months. We are very proud and grateful to have been afforded those opportunities. In addition, almost every gig we play at corner bar seems to go down awesomely well.

We are exploring the possibility of doing a mini tour to JHB and/or DBN but would want synchronise it with a fully recorded album that we can promote while on tour. So there is a lot of work ahead for the remainder of the year and the best part of 2010.

THE ENTIRE LOCAL METAL SCENE IS STILL BASICALLY INDEPENDENT. WHAT DO YOU THINK NEEDS TO CHANGE IN THE SCENE TO GIVE AN INDEPENDENT BAND LIKE YOURSELVES BETTER OPPORTUNITIES TO REACH A CERTAIN LEVEL OF SUCCESS?

MOC: Availability of radio stations willing to play and promote the underground scene. More cash injection from promotional companies / event organisers / sponsorships to fund bigger, high-quality shows. Furthermore a scene is only as big as the members’ of the scene. So basically the same folk supporting their favourite international artists/bands by downloading/buying the music should ideally show the same support and energy for bands/ artists closer to home.

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

MOC: Keep it real; support local SA Metal because you want to, not because it appears to be cool…that’s where the longevity of SA Metal will and must remain.

Also big thanks to Luke at Sanctuary studios, Gavin at Its Music, Patrick and the crew at Metal4Africa for their support and all the work they continue to do in the local Metal scene as well as Dino from Corner Bar and all our fans that pull through to the live shows and support MOC!

TATUM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANÉ MATTHYSEN
WEBSITE: www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Tatum/45257688488?ref=ts
COUNTRY: South Africa STYLE: Rock

FROM AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE THERE WAS TAKE 2 (LELANI & LEANDI) AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS A NEW SONG TITLED “THE PARADE” ON THE BELLVILLE ROCK CITY COMPILATION BY A BAND CALLED TATUM. WHY THE DECISION TO MOVE ON TO A NEW SOUND AND HOW DID EVERYONE GET INVOLVED WITH THE PROJECT?

While performing as a duet the back-up band was current members, Werner von Waltsleben (Drummer) and Christiaan Blom (Guitarist). We started writing new material as a team and as musicians we evolved a lot since Take2 and with a new sound came a new band name and image. Albert from Rhythm Records approached us to do the track for the Bellville Rock City compilation. They saw it as a great opportunity and platform to introduce TATUM to the local music scene.

YOUR FIRST SINGLE “THE PARADE” HAS A “HARD ROCK” VIBE BUT IT IS STILL “COMMERCIAL” ENOUGH TO ATTRACT A WIDE AUDIENCE. IS THAT THE KIND OF DIRECTION THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE WITH MUSICALLY OR ARE YOU PLANNING TO EXPERIMENT WITH OTHER INFLUENCES AS WELL?

We wrote "The Parade" specifically for the album. It was meant to have that Hard Rock kick in the balls kinda vibe. As a band we are experimenting a lot! Since we all have different taste in music there’s a wide variety of influences in our music.

BEING SIGNED TO RHYTHM RECORDS MUST HAVE ITS ADVANTAGES BUT I MUST KNOW HOW MUCH SAY THEY HAVE WHEN IT COMES TO THE MUSIC THAT THE BAND WRITES. ARE YOU REALLY “FREE” TO WRITE “ANYTHING” WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING NEW SONGS?

At the moment were not signed to any label, we have a good relationship with Rhythm Records and everyone there but we'd like to stay independent for now. We can't elaborate too much yet but we have plans on how we are going to release an EP and what TATUM'S next steps are.

HOW DOES THE BAND USUALLY WRITE SONGS?

It depends, one of us would have an idea for a song, either we'd have a riff or a vocal melody and from there everything just comes naturally. We would get together for a full rehearsal or a little writing session at a member's house and so on. It's always a team effort and it works great.

WITH TWO VOCALISTS IN THE BAND THAT HAVE THE SAME VOCAL CAPABILITIES HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO SINGS WHAT BECAUSE IT IS NOT LIKE METAL WHERE YOU USUALLY HAVE THE ONE GUY JUST DOING SCREAMS AND THE OTHER PERSON DOING ALL THE SINGING?

We have different ranges. We've been singing together for more than 10 years so it just comes naturally if that makes sense haha. Mostly one would sing the main vocal and the other the harmony and then it just falls into place.

A RECENT POST ON FACEBOOK SAYING “TATUM HAS SOME AWESOME NEW UPDATES ON THE WAY! NEW TRACKS COMING SOON!” ARE YOU GUYS PLANNING TO RELEASE A FEW MORE SINGLES AND THEN AN EP OR ALBUM?

There are definitely some new tracks on the way. People can expect a whole different vibe from what they've heard before. Some new songs have a dance feel to it but you can rock out to it at the same time! Everything feels great and we can't wait to share it with our fans. We’re really excited to get into the studio again and to release the EP.

I WON’T ATTEMPT TO GET AN ANSWER OUT OF THE BAND ABOUT THE PART OF THE NEW UPDATES BUT IT CERTAINLY SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE A LOT OF GOALS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS BAND?

The main focus now is getting into the studio and lining up some big shows which we're really amped about. We'd really like to make our mark on the local scene but were definitely thinking bigger :)

THE BAND HAS PERFORMED IN AND AROUND CAPE TOWN FOR A WHILE, ANY PLANS TO PERFORM IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY ANY TIME SOON; OR IS IT NOT JUST AS EASY AS LOADING YOUR GEAR AND HITTING THE ROAD?

We got a lot of requests to come play in Johannesburg. We're planning a BIG tour after the EP release. Much more bigger than David Hasselhoff is in Germany. We wanna play everywhere from Cape Town right through to Namibia, Johannesburg, Potchefstroom etc.

HAVING ONLY ONE GUITARIST, HOW DOES THE BAND MANAGE TO KEEP THAT “ENERGY” IN YOUR SONGS GOING IN A LIVE ENVIRONMENT OR IS THAT WHERE A GOOD BASS GUITARIST COMES IN?

We're busy experimenting with new sounds. The twins will also be playing instruments on stage from now on. We are going to use a much bigger variety of instruments. People can expect something totally different from us! ;)

IF I REMEMBER RIGHT THE BAND DID A FEW ACOUSTIC SHOWS AS WELL A WHILE BACK. WERE THEY FUN TO DO OR DOES NOTHING BEAT PLAYING A “NORMAL” SHOW WITH THE LOUD AMPS AND ALL THAT?

We love playing acoustic shows. It's a totally different vibe from our electric set. No shit haha. It's nice to slow things down a bit. We definitely want to do a lot of acoustic shows all over and to make it a regular thing.

HOW MUCH PREPARATION GOES INTO YOUR LIVE SHOWS, AND ARE THERE CERTAIN ASPECTS OF YOUR LIVE PERFORMANCE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO “IMPROVE”?

We're heavy into the live element of being a band. We are all live music kinda people. We can't explain how it feels to be up on stage and playing music. That 40 minutes or hour is the best thing ever. It's important for us to always put everything we have into our live performances and give the fans what they want.

I KNOW WERNER (DRUMS) GIVES DRUM LESSONS; DO YOU THINK YOU’LL ALWAYS BE INVOLVED WITH MUSIC IN SOME WAY AS TIME GOES ON?

Music is definitely a huge part of our lives. There's nothing stopping us...maybe individual projects in the future, who knows. We'll always be involved with music!

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

We would like to thank all our fans, families and friends for all the support!
We also want to thank Matt Stone and Trey Parker for creating South Park! Hell yeah!

Keep a look out for gig dates and an EP on the way!

Thanx everyone.
Be safe!

ERYN NON DAE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDRA KEO
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/end1freefr
COUNTRY: France STYLE: Metal / Progressive / Ambient

EACH BAND MEMBER MUST HAVE HAD AN IDEA OF HOW THEY WANTED THE BAND TO SOUND “MUSICALLY” WHEN YOU STARTED OUT. HOW CLOSE DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE COME TO THAT SOUND IN YOUR OPINION AND IS IT A BIT DIFFICULT WHEN YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER FOUR OTHER BAND MEMBERS IDEAS AS WELL?

MIKA (BASS): I guess there were a few ideas in common like sounding intense and a kind of sincerity in darkness if I can talk like that. With time and work we manage to all go in the same way, I mean at a time even if some of us doesn’t understand where the song is going he manage to catch the thing since we’re not anymore in trying to make the band sounds like this or like that according to one’s will, it’s quite common and focused now, the band was formed in 2001 so I think we know where we want to go when it comes to composition. But to go further with your question, each of us have really different musical tastes!

I’VE COME ACROSS A FEW FRENCH BANDS LIKE ERYN NON DAE THAT MAKE ALL KINDS OF HEAVY MUSIC I’VE NEVER HEARD BEFORE, IS IT A CASE OF FRENCH BANDS BEING MORE OPEN TO EXPERIMENTATION?

I guess that bands who sound more experimental are emerging now because a lot of Metalheads are tired of hearing always the same clichés but it doesn’t mean that every French band is inventing something of course. But you’re right when you talk about this open minded attitude that can be found in French bands like Hacride or Scarve, but it’s also about digging the underground scene I mean it’s not always possible for a big band to go as far as they could have go without the audience pression for making an album that must sounds the way everybody is waiting for, In France the only exception actually is Gojira but all the other emerging bands can carry on experimenting since there are new bands for most of the audience. But if it’s something particular to the French scene, I feel at ease with it!

LISTENING TO YOUR SONGS ON MYSPACE, YOU HAVE SOME INSANE SONG STRUCTURES AND ARRANGEMENTS GOING ON THERE, HOW DO YOU GUYS USUALLY APPROACH THE SONG WRITING PROCESS?

This process has been evolving with time, at the beginning Yann or Franck (the guitars players) were coming with a few guitar riffs or some drum patterns that were close to a song, and then we were working on it in rehearsal but for Hydra Lernaïa, it became more collective and more natural, songs like Existence Asleep or Through Dark Skies have been built in rehearsal from a strong idea with everyone involved. But it’s always about trying to express a feeling or creating an atmosphere.

I ONLY HAVE THE SONGS ON YOUR MYSPACE TO GO BY BUT DO MOST OF YOUR SONGS GO PAST THE FIVE MINUTE MARK AND IF SO DO YOU THINK SONGS SHOULD SOMETIMES BE LIMITED TO A CERTAIN TIME IN SOME CASES OR SHOULD A SONG BE LEFT TO EVOLVE TILL IT’S DONE (I HOPE I MAKE SENSE)?

First thing is go buy the album if you want us to have a chance to record another one! More seriously I think it goes with this need to set an atmosphere, it takes time if you want the listener to go into the song, for this album each song was pretty epic so I think that there’s only one track that lasts 2 minutes but it’s a kind of intro to another song!

But the question is interesting; I often wonder when can we consider that a song is over? Things are not definitive in music but an Origin song just can’t last 10 minutes if you know what I mean and It must be quite hard for Cult Of Luna to express what they want in a 3 minutes song but who knows...About Eryn Non Dae we’re not blocked on the 8 minutes song format but it just happened like that until know, but since it’s something we’re pretty aware of… and some of our most brutal new songs seems to be more straight forward so shorter, one more time it’s a question of intensity I think...

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR LATEST RELEASE “HYDRA LERNAÏA”. HOW MANY TRACKS, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO COMPLETE AND IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU SAY THE BAND HAS PROGRESSED MUSICALLY?

Hydra Lernaïa is a nine songs album since this concept turns around the nine heads hydra thing. We have written it during two years since we were also playing gigs at the same time, so we always have to rehearse for the live thing while composing the album so it took time.

As I said upper the composition process is a bit more collective now and maybe a bit quicker, I think we are now more conscious about what we want to do and also with what we don’t want to do anymore, I can feel it when we’re on rehearsal the music seems to come from somewhere deep inside each of us, it’s something pretty comfortable but hard to explain, I hope this feeling to last for a long time!!

ONE CAN REALLY HEAR THE ANGER AND FURY IN THE TONE OF YOUR VOCALS AND CRUSHING GUITAR DISTORTION. WHAT “EMOTION” IS THE MAIN DRIVING FORCE BEHIND YOUR MUSIC?

More than a precise emotion it’s about intensity, there’s intensity in hate of course but also in love or in so many...Mathieu our singer wrote about nine human feelings that can all be very intense, it’s an important aspect of these nine songs, you’ll have to figure it out with the lyrics !!haha !!

THE BAND ALSO DID A COOL VIDEO FOR THE SONG “THE DECLINE AND THE FALL”, IT ALL STARTS OUT WITH MOVING PAINT TEXTURES MIXED WITH CLOSE-UPS OF YOUR INSTRUMENTS, BUT YOU CAN PROBABLY GIVE US AN BETTER IDEA OF WHAT THE CONCEPT WAS FOR THE VIDEO?

The interesting thing is that there was no real concept given to the director, it was more “we don’t want to see ourselves in it, or be playing in a hangar blababla” we just told him make what you want with knowing that the song is about decline and fall. And to be honest us playing our instruments is the thing I see the less! Another interesting thing is that he’s a friend of us but he doesn’t listen to Metal music so it was really exciting for us to have something unusual and fresher! All is about falling, fading and reducing everything to its purest form. When he came with the video we’ve been totally blown away!!! It was ten levels up from our expectations, we are very thankful to him for his amazing work.

It’s one of the most pleasant things when making music, waiting for someone to come out with his interpretation of your work, a video or an artwork or a design, it’s a great moment for me when I discover someone else’s contribution and this video was a killer time !

THIS IS ONE OF MY STANDARD QUESTIONS NOW BUT I MUST ASK WHAT GUITAR TUNINGS AND GEAR THE BAND USES TO CREATE THAT “MASSIVE” SOUND?

Since now we didn’t speak a lot about this to be honest, the guitar tuning is B flat, nobody in the band is really a gear geek except me! Haha and since I also play guitar in a few bands I’m totally into gear! For Hydra Lernaïa Franck used a Rivera Knucklehead 100, Yann a Mesa Boogie Dual rectifier, both on mesa boogie cab about guitar they used the Yamaha’s drop 6 AES, which isn’t an incredible guitar but these are of the rare guitar that can keep clear and in tune the B flat correctly!

For the bass we used a shitty Ibanez BTB, an Ampeg SVT 3 with an Ampeg cab and some tricks with a POD, I hate to say it but it’s true...but especially a lot of great microphones and something that we’ll keep secret! The drum is an old Pearl that sounds quite good to us...but we can’t speak about the sound without mentioning our particular wizard Mobo and his Conkrete Studio! We know that we can improve our sound again and again, so since this recording we changed a few things, Franck buy two Les Paul for instance, a lot of details have their importance in the way a band sounds...

DO YOU THINK YOU’LL EVER INCORPORATE ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS INTO YOUR MUSIC?

As an intervention on an album why not, and it’s something that we could do with the next album , we would like to invite a band that we really love but we don’t know yet if we will manage to find the time to do it... but we hope! But as a permanent member I don’t think, it should have a particular interest, I mean not just adding something to add something, we don’t feel that something is missing in our sound actually but who knows in the future...

NOW THAT “HYDRA LERNAÏA” IS OUT YOU SHOULD PROBABLY BE PLAYING A WHOLE BUNCH OF SHOWS TO PROMOTE IT BUT I DO NOT SEE ANY GIGS LISTED ON YOUR MYSPACE?

It’s our actual matter, we never spend so many time without playing but we just found someone that’s going to help us booking shows, and pulling out a record before the summer isn’t the best thing to do! But Hydra Lernaïa was ready since a few months and we couldn’t wait any longer so we have to wait until the summer ends to take the road again! Don’t worry and feel free to contact us if you’re interested!

WHAT ARE STILL SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO TO MAKE YOUR LIVE SHOW “BETTER” (IF THAT IS POSSIBLE)?

I think we can improve the visual aspect, work more on the light thing and have some elements remembering the album artwork could be good ideas but it’s always about money! An important thing when you play extreme music is to be careful with how long you play, More than an hour diminish the impact I think and we know that our music is hard to apprehend with a too long set, we have to build a coherent set... But as every band the more you rehearse the more you kick ass live so we will do our best to bring on stage all the album intensity, it’s the main thing for me...

WHERE WOULD THE BAND LIKE TO TOUR MORE IF GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY?

I think we have to start with Europe, we played a lot in France and the next thing is Europe but personally I would be very happy with visiting Italy and Sweden, I know that eastern Europe is a great place for Extreme Metal with a dedicated audience who knows what music is about...We had an opportunity to tour the US but finally it failed...next time I hope!

ANY COMMENTS; THINGS FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

We have to thanks everybody who still buys albums because it’s the only way for a band like us to carry on with making what we love! Thanks! We hope to come and play for all of you as soon as possible! And for fans looking for sensations what about the latest Sunn o))) album?? Haha !

Thanks to you for your questions!!

Cheers
Mika

HER SILENT WISH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY NAREN
WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/hersilentwish
COUNTRY: Singapore STYLE: Metal / Healing & Easy Listening / Hardcore

YOU HAD YOUR EP LAUNCH RECENTLY. HOW DID IT GO?

The EP launch was great. We really enjoyed ourselves during the launch. It was nice time to catch up with our friends and fans.

HOW MANY SHOWS ARE YOU PLANNING TO PLAY IN SUPPORT OF THE EP AND WHERE WILL IT BE AVAILABLE?

We had our EP launch just on 1st August in Singapore and we will be going down to Malaysia for another launch which we will bring Blindfold Hero and I Killed Kenny with us and also playing along with other great bands in Malaysia.

HOW MUCH PREPARATION DO YOU GUYS USUALLY PUT INTO YOUR LIVE SHOWS?

We have regular jamming session; we try to have at least a jamming session every week. We are prepared for anything :D

TELL US MORE ABOUT THE SONGS ON THE EP AND WHY YOU CHOSE THE EP TITLE “THE ALCHEMIST”?

We were busy recording and preparing for the launch and we realise we forgot about naming our EP and everyone just coincidentally came up with the idea of using our very first original name as our EP’s name. 2nd Track on the EP; Fairytales where coffins are regarded as castles.

A “LOOSE” DEFINITION OF AN ALCHEMIST IS SOMEONE THAT TURNS ORDINARY THINGS INTO GOLD. ARE YOU HOPING THAT THE RELEASE OF THIS EP WILL LEAD TO MORE “GOLDEN” OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE BAND?

Definitely this is a milestone for us.

WOULD YOU SAY THE BAND HAS HAD AN “EASY” ROAD TO TRAVEL UP TO THIS POINT AND IF NOT WHAT HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE HAD TO OVERCOME TO GET THIS FAR?

It was never easy for us to come this far. We were formed a year ago and this is definitely an achievement for us. I don’t believe bands do not encounter any challenges; there were certain times that we can’t compromise.

BASED ON THE RECORDING EXPERIENCE YOU HAD WHILE MAKING “THE ALCHEMIST”, ARE THERE PLANS FOR A FULL LENGTH ALBUM IN THE NEAR FUTURE?

Yes , most probably next year.

DO YOU GUYS HAVE A CERTAIN WAY THAT YOU LIKE TO WRITE YOUR MUSIC, AND WHAT INSPIRED MOST OF THE SONGS ON THE EP?

OK basically how we write our music is that we put in all our ideas into one song , and we would really like our music to be very special so that it could standout from other bands ; ) And DEVIL WEARS PRADA inspired most of the songs in our EP!

CAN MOST OF YOUR LYRICS BE COMPARED TO PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN YOUR OWN LIVES?

Yeah most of the lyrics can be compared to personal experience in our lives, like example the song, it’s our silent wish; the lyrics show what are the difficulties that we have face throughout the journey as a band.

I SEE ONE OF THE DESCRIPTIONS OF YOUR MUSIC ON YOUR MYSPACE IS “HEALING & EASY LISTENING”. IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU SAY MUSIC HAS MADE YOU A BETTER PERSON AND WHAT WOULD YOUR LIFE BE LIKE WITHOUT MUSIC?

Music has definitely made us know a lot of friends, and it makes us closer to each other more than just a band. Our life would be boring if there is no music. haha

WHAT GEAR DO YOU CURRENTLY USE AND WHAT GEAR WOULD YOU BUY IF YOU HAD MILLIONS IN THE BANK?

AMEER: I’m currently using Samick Precision Bass. I would buy Epiphone EB-3 SG, Gibson, Fender Precision Jazz Bass or anything got to do with Fender.

BRUCE: I’m currently using PDP drums and pedals. I would buy Truth custom drums or DW 9000 pedals if I have the money haha.

IF MUSIC WAS NOT SUCH AN EXPENSIVE “HOBBY” WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKELY SPEND YOUR MONEY ON?

AMEER: I’ll spend my money on DSLR Cameras!! Hahaha!

BRUCE: I’ll buy pc games, I guess ; )

ANY LAST COMMENTS OR PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO THANK?

We would like to thank Cedric for doing the recording of our EP, all the bands that we’ve shared the stage with & most importantly people who have been supporting us right from the beginning. Thank you so much for your support guys!