Tuesday, June 30, 2015

WRTX Interview

Answers by Juhana and Tuomo

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?



- To be honest, nothing much really. Every one of us is busy with day jobs or studies. The last remarkable thing we have done is a music video of the song With Love, which can be found in YouTube. However, we have bunch of new ideas and thoughts but so far nothing has happened. Almost every one of us lives in different cities so regular practice is challenging.



2. A couple of years back you had released your first full length album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?



- The first album combines pretty well, what the band has been since the beginning to the moment of releasing the album. There are songs that have riffs and influences from 2002 and also songs that have had their final forms during the recording. Despite that, it is a solid set of pretty good songs.



3.The band has been around since 2002 and while there was a decent amount of demo's in the early years, between 2007 and now there has only been one full length album, can you tell us a little bit more about the gap in between releases?



- In the beginning we all lived near each other so we practiced almost daily and of course new material came up quite quickly. Between years 2002 and 2007 we have five recorded demos, of which one has never released (but that one can be found from our website wrtxband.com, hint hint). After that, most of us moved to other side of Finland so everything got more slow. After the latest demo in 2007, we tried to market the band to labels but since nothing ever happened, we decided to do the full lenght album by ourselves. Unfortunately, that took us few years.



4. The band members come from different metal backgrounds, do you feel this makes the songs you write stand out a bit more?



- Of course. We feel that everyone gives their own touch to our songs and that makes our music quite hard to describe. Our songs include textures from different styles of metal and rock but also something softer, and we think that just makes the music very rich.



5. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with their music?



- At first lyrics were just something that had to be done and they were full of teenage anger and clichés. For the album A Message Left Behind. Niilo wrote the whole story for the album and new lyrics were also fitted into some older songs. This album tells about all the greediness and wickedness of the world and it is combined with a twisted and cunning way to the climate change and population growth.



6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?



- Our stage performance is definitely very energetic and very amusing. We also at least try to play our songs decently. We have done ashamedly little amount of shows and probably the most memorable ones are in a little bar full of friends and crazy metal heads, and one time that the juke box actually started playing during our show. We are not sure if it sensed how bad we are.



7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?



- Not at the moment. Nevertheless, of course we are interested in doing some shows in the future.



8. Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?



- We have not had any contacts from labels even though we have sent our music around the world to dozens of different companies. If we can ever find a good partner for a deal, no need to say, we are very interested.



9. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?



- Actually some of the best feedback during the album A Message Left Behind we have had from Australia. All feedback gathered, it feels like the reviewer either liked the album very much or not, or they even did not review it at all. In Finland, the feedback for the album has mostly been average. Back in the days, our demos received very good feedback and two of our demos were selected as a demo of the month in Finnish metal magazine Inferno.



10. Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?



- Our bass player Niilo plays in a bunch of different groups, mostly rock or something more mellow music, soft shit and so on. Joni, the drummer, basically just beats the steering wheel of his taxi and us, Juhana and Tuomo, we do nothing. Despite of that we are dreaming of a new rehearsal room.



11. When can we expect a new album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?



- We have been thinking about making some musical changes, not too radical though. Maybe a bit more melodies and maybe something a bit easier to listen and play. Hopefully things go well and we have chance to make our next full-lenght album soon.



12. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?



- The biggest influences come from different thrash metal and death metal bands from the 80’s and the 90’s. Of course the bands from the present that have given the biggest influence come mostly from Sweden and Scandinavia. However, it is quite impossible to describe it very precisely because everyone has so wide taste of music.



13. What are some of your non musical interests?



- Fishing, sports, relaxing, flowers, photo/video graphing and other quite normal things.



14. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?



- Just listen to our music, watch the new video, and whether you like it or not, tell about it to your friends. And when the time is right and we have some shows to do, please be there and check us out.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Continuum Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?- continuum is a progressive technical death metal band from Northern California with members of a bunch of other Bay Area death metal bands who love to write record and perform forward thinking death metal tunes.

2.You had your first album come out in April, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?- when writing songs for the hypothesis I tried to not set any rules or boundaries and just write anything I thought pushed my creative and technical limits. Writing riffs is one of the funnest things in the world for me so we had alot of fun putting the album together.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?- "the hypothesis" record is a concept album based on the continuum hypothesis which is basically a theory that involves different sizes of infinity that could potentially tell us alot about how the universe works. It's really interesting stuff I recommend looking it up online and checking out the lyrics to the album if that kind of thing interests you.

4.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?- my favorite show with continuum was probably when we played with obscura, abysmal dawn and Fallujah at the DNA lounge in San Francisco. It was awesome playing with obscura especially when Christian and Hans were in the band. And it's always great playing with our good friends in abysmal dawn and Fallujah. The lineup was killer, the crowd was great, the sound was good, definitely a cool night for continuum.


5.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a a part off?- son of Aurelius came out with an incredible new album that I'm a huge fan of called "under a western sun" that I really recommend to anyone that likes epic metal, decrepit birth is in the process of recording a new album this summer, Arkaik is gearing up for the bloodletting tour this summer with psycroptic, the Kennedy veil, and ovids withering, our drummer spencer Edwards recorded drums for an awesome project called attic arcade that you can check out on bandcamp, and our singer Riley Mcshane just recorded vocals for a really cool genre blending electronic/live project called stereo stereo so there's a bunch of stuff going on this summer.

6.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?- honestly I just see us going the same direction we've been going in which is trying to push ourselves musically and trying to make riffs that we enjoy playing for years to come. That's really the most rewarding part of the whole thing anyway.

7.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?- I listen to a wide range of genres but I definitely have to say as far as bands that have really influenced continuum I would definitely say epitaph by necrophagist is one of my favorite albums, as well as scepter of the ancients by psycroptic, both very influential to me I can't help but be inspired when I listen to those albums. As far as new records I love all the soreption albums and really admire their songwriting and the amount of talent in that band. Also alkaloid is a very cool new band with members of obscura necrophagist aborted and other bands and I've been really into their new album lately, awesome mix of classic death metal with boundary pushing guitar acrobatics and an overall atmosphere denser than a black hole.

8.What are some of your non musical interests?- I love traveling almost as much as I love music which is a great perk of being in a touring band. meeting new people and seeing different cultures is a really cool thing to get to do.

9.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?- not much just thanks so much for the interview and your interest in the band! Check out "the hypothesis" on unique leader records available online and in stores now, also check out a brand new unreleased song guitar playthrough at: Facebook.com/ContinuumDm
Seeya next time!

Monday, June 8, 2015

Voron Interview

VORON
Style: Death-Industrial-World
France - Paris
Line up:
Voron – vocals, guitars
Yannoux – bass
Pierre - drums
Links
Website: http://www.voronstudio.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voronmusicstudio
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ArgentumMori
Official videos:
VORON - "Kill This Day" feat. Mus - "Arkan" [OFFICIAL VIDEO]:
https://youtu.be/BFnC2QFk5EY

VORON - “Propaganda” feat. Nils Courbaron [OFFICIAL VIDEO]: 
https://youtu.be/J-Nt2xXtFTs



1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

VORON was created in late 2013 as a solo project but it quickly became a real band. It’s some kind of an extreme metal power trio with additional ethnic instruments. I’m doing all vocals and guitar parts, Yannoux plays the bass and Pierre is on drums and percussion.

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

We simply blended all our influences and ended with a mix of death, industrial and world music. We all play different instruments so we added any instrument we thought was necessary. And it works extremely well. With this album, “Propaganda”, we want to show that all cultures can coexist with no problems. The use of different ethnic instruments like Mandole, Darbuka, Duduk, Erhu and Guzheng reinforces this idea of different styles and cultures mixed in one album with no limits in music.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The whole album is a story about a guy who realizes that his mind is being controlled, that he is being manipulated into thinking the same things as everybody else. He decides to fight against it, starts thinking himself and understands that he has been lied to for his entire life.
I think we live in dark times and it’s important that everybody understands what is at stake but the mass media keeps distorting reality and hiding facts. Nowadays if you are curious you can find enough different sources of information to forge your own opinion.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Voron'?

Voron is my nickname and it has been for a very long time. It means raven in Russian. Since it started as a solo project it had my name and some of the music and lyrics were very personal, plus it sounded good and had a powerful meaning. When we were looking for a band name with Pierre and Yann we decided to keep it, which is cool because it is kind of a pain to find a name for a band.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We have yet to play a show as VORON. All three of us are professional musicians and we have played many many shows with different bands. Pierre and I have played live together already but as Argentum-Mori. We have been rehearsing a lot before and after the recording and we are now eager to play the album in front of our fans. We are pumped up and ready to give you all one hell of a show.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Booking has started and we will be touring shortly. France and Europe at first but we have surprise plans. We will keep you posted of course.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Nowadays you don’t necessarily need to be signed to publish music and reach your fans. By using all the power of social networks like Facebook and YouTube and worldwide digital distribution via iTunes, Spotify and Deezer you can do the same and stay independent.
If a label can propose something really interesting for us it may be the way to go, but being signed just to be a part of  some label’s roster is not for us.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of industrial and metal?

Just great! We released our first video “Kill This Day” on YouTube about a year ago and it worked quite well so we had fans and medias waiting for the album. Since its release it has already been reviewed a few times and critics are positive. We’ve also released our second video “Propaganda” recently. You should go check it out!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We have an instrumental album coming out soon. It will be a series of short but very imaged songs and an introduction to our second album that we already started composing. Now that we have gained people’s attention we will continue in our direction, keep our minds open and continue to blend different influences and cultures.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We listen to any good music from classical and world to modern extreme metal. We aren’t focused on a particular style and I think it reflects on our music.

11.What are some of your non-musical interests?

For me it’s video production and martial arts.  Pierre travels a lot. And I know Yannoux is a pretty solid gamer and reads a lot of graphic novels.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Just want to say to your readers: “Be open to new experiences, listen to good music and support the bands you like!”

Thanks a lot for your support and this interview!