|
 EMETH
(Belgium)
Questions by: Sufian
Answers by: Matty
Hello. Please introduce briefly about
Emeth? What's new inside and around the band?
Things are going great with the band! We
certainly can’t complain with all those nice things we’ve done this last
summer. It’s sure is nice to see people getting interested in our music
after nearly 7 years of hard work. First of all our first full length CD
“INSIDIOUS” was released June 30th. After that we had a lot of gigs
scheduled in the summer. We started the INSIDIOUS promo tour in Europe
with playing at some Fests in Belgium (Brame fest, Deathmetal.be), Czech
Republic (Obscene Fest), The Netherlands (The Mezz). After these European
dates we went to the USA where the Brutal Domination Tour kicked off at
the end of July till mid August.
At the moment we just got back from the BDTour, we’re gonna take a few
moments of rest. But in a short while we’ll be hitting the road again as a
lot of (European) gigs are coming up. We are still searching for possible
concerts and small tours throughout Europe to promote the INSIDIOUS cd, so
if people want to help us with that; feel free to contact us and we’ll
work something out.
How was the response you get back for "Insidious" CD? Please describe
about your musical presentation - a technical brutal death metal?
The album was released about 3 months ago. The responses we’ve got so far
are really amazing! Belgian and foreign reviewers are really surprised
that a Belgian band could deliver such an album. We’re getting great
compliments not only about musically but also on the production, the
artwork,… in short the album as a whole. It pays off well, each week more
and more people are getting interested in Emeth. Some of the nicest
feedback we got so far is people who by mistake think we are a brutal US
death metal band.
The band recently involved in Brutal Domination Tour. How did the tour
go and how the audience react to your live performance?
It was an amazing adventure! It was an experience we will never forget.
You never know what to expect when you put 17 people on a bus for nearly
2.5 week. I can assure you there are nicer things in the morning than the
odour of 17 3-days smelly asses, haha!! Anyway, all in all it was a good
tour. There's always things that could be done better, but everything
worked out OK.
The audience really digged Emeth big time. It didn’t matter if there was a
huge crowd or just a small bunch of headbangers… we played each show if
our lives depended on it paid off very well! Each show we did we get
incredible reactions, each time we sold a huge amount of merchandise.
During the tour Emeth has started some negotations with several promoters
to return to the US next year, to play another 2-3 weeks tour which will
be hitting fests like ‘The gathering of the Sick’ in Albequerqe NM, Texas,
Arizona, the Westcoast some and some fests in Mexico!!. Check out our
website www.emeth.be to
stay informed on this as soon as there is more information available on
this subject.
There is possibly going to be a DVD release for the Brutal Domination
Tour. Tell us more about it please?
Yeah there is possibly going to be a DVD release for the Brutal Domination
Tour, it will be released on the Brutal Bands label. I don’t have much
information on it yet, only that the shooting are being edited at the very
moment. Also we are now looking for anyone that has any video or photos
taken at one of the shows. Please get in touch right away at
[email protected] if you'd like to see your video or
photos included in this DVD release.
What led you to change from metalcore orientated music to devastating
complex brutal death?
Well the first four years of the bands
existence it was more metal - death core orientated music. We released
some demo stuff and a 7” which were all sold out in no time. We started
out as a project of some friends playing in different bands, but not being
satisfied in these bands. After a few years some people in the band wanted
to evolve in to a more technical and faster metal band. Due to these
musical differences the band parted with most of it’s original members,
leaving matty & tom K with the task of finding new bandmembers. Both hath
a good idea of where they wanted to take the music and kept working on new
ideas. After a non active period of nearly 2 years they met Tom A. who
formerly played drums in a local band called ‘Necrodocion’. He was looking
for a band and we started jamming and his drumming capabilities matched
perfectly with what emeth was looking for: fast and technical.
So his joining matty & tom K really met a
new start for the band. His kind of playing does have a major impact on
the bands direction cause the band was now able to play a musical style
that was always intended but could never be played due band members who
didn’t have the technical skills
Why did you sign under Brutal Bands label? Are they good enough in
working for Emeth?
Well being an unknown band from little Belgium isn’t the best position to
get yourself a deal. At some point when we were talking about the bands
future plans we decided to record a half hour of music in a pro-studio and
then try to get some deal with those recordings. So we did. We started
writing the music, started looking for a studio, a lay-out designer, and
all the other things needed in our opinion. After the recordings we put 2
songs on our website and mailed out some promocd’s to labels. And now
we’ve got a great deal with BRUTAL BANDS (www.brutalbands.net),
Scott - the guy behind this label - really believes in emeth’s music and
supports the band 100%. He really puts in a lot of effort to get our band
around and our music out there. For example the Brutal Domination Tour was
completely organised by this guy. He really knows how to run a label, he
knows a lot of promotion is required. It might be a small label but he
does do a lot of work to get us promoted and distributed all over the
surface. He sure is doing a hell of a job. And we can’t say that it
doesn’t work cause we are getting more and more interviews and reviews.
Our webvisitors (www.emeth.be)
are from all over the planet and they keep checking back and people from
all different parts of the world are ordering all kinds of merchandise.
Can you please explain something about the writing-process for the
"Insidious" album? How did the recording sessions for this effort go?
We wrote the INSIDIOUS cd in nearly one year and half. After Tom A joined
us we tried a lot of ways to write songs until we found the way that works
for us. This process hasn’t been an easy one, as none in the band wanted
to play music that doesn’t arouse the feelings we want to have playing
music. All music is written by Matty (gtr) & Tom A (drums). There's a lot
of trail and error involved in our writing-process. There are many ways to
approach a new musical idea we start with. We just try do try as many
variations on it until we have that "YES" moment and we'll go with that.
But often there will pass several rehearsels until we get it like that.
Why we play the music we do? For two reasons; first, we like to listen to
this kind of extreme music as persons. Secondly as musicians it gives us
the opportunity to develop ourselves and combine all our influences. Our
playing and musical approach is heavily influenced by jazz & fusion. If
you would hear it with a different drums- and guitarsound you would be
able to hear a lot of these jazz/fusion licks. We know this jazzy/fusion
feeling gets lost at this speed. So we can understand that most people
will experience our music as just a bunch of riffs & rhythms thrown
together.
Our main goal has always been trying to
create some intense music. Music that we like to play and like to listen
ourselves. We wanted to get a heavy but yet defined sound, that would have
enough balls and drive without sacrificing the bands intricate detailed
music. That sound and quality we found at the Excess studio’s in Rotterdam
Holland.
What are the lyrics of the album all about? Why did you choose that
kind of themes?
Most of the lyrics are written by Matty
although Tom K & Tom A. also wrote some for the Insidious album. There is
a very different approach about writing song-lyrics. Each of us writes
about different subjects but none of us writes the usual gore or hate
everything kinda... There is in each of the lyrics some main concept or
theme that is been written about. But it’s up to the reader to determine
that subject. So some people will find a message in it and some others
not. It’s not that we want to make a statement by saying some things are
wrong and some things are bad. I think it’s more important that people who
read the lyrics think about it. Perhaps they find something in our lyrics
which connects to something within them or with something in their
situation which might help to interpret the lyrics. But I guess it’s very
personal in both way’s; the meaning we give to the lyrics while writing
them, but also for the one’s who make an interpretation of the lyrics…
How does the metal underground scene in Belgium look like at the
moment?
There isn’t much to tell about the Belgian scene actually, cause it’s not
such a big scene. There are only a few bands in Belgium that really stand
apart from the mediocre: Aborted, Leng ‘tche, In-quest… and maybe some
more but that’s about it. Most other bands are in my opinion just
copycatting their examples… An other example that there isn’t a real scene
over here are the appearances on gigs. From time to time gigs take place
and mostly there are more musicians (from the bands that play) than
visitors who come to see the bands. Of course we would like to have a
massive crowd coming to every show, but what can you do?? People are just
to lazy to get out of their chairs… Because of this lack of interest in
extreme music in our own country, we are always more focused on finding
gigs in other country’s like Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Switserland...
,… It’s is always fun to play in these countries, people really go crazy.
There’s always some pit going on, headbanging,… Hell they enjoy this
extreme form of music to the fullest. One positive thing in Belgium is a
new portal-site about death metal in Belgium, called:
www.deathmetal.be.
Here you can find a lot of information about bands, gigs, all (death)
metal related topics mainly focused on Belgian bands.
Well, I'm out of questions here. Anythingelse to add?
First of all thank you very much for your
interest in our band, giving us the opportunity to do this intie. And we
wish you all the best with the zine.
If you’re interested in hearing Emeth
certainly check out our website. You can hear a couple of songs in our
media section. We would like to see you guys on one of our gigs soon!!
Stay brutal and don’t hesitate to contact us by mail or by post. Check out
our website for some latest updates and make sure you buy our merch ...
o;)
Contact:
Emeth
Thibautstraat 36
3545 Zelem Halen
belgium
[email protected] |