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!