Another
Messiah
Another Messiah has recently
released an album full of meanings, icons and emotions, a real piece of
dark art that will get you thinking, but above all will make you experience
the gloomy and melancholic part of our existence...
If you think you can
handle that, here we have Chris and Robbie answering our questions. So,
after you are done reading this very interesting interview you can proceed
with ordering "Dark Dreams, My Child" and supporting them!
1. HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? SO, WHICH ARE YOUR
EXPECTATIONS FROM YOUR NEW ALBUM “DARK DREAMS, MY CHILD”?
Chris (C): Hi there. Well, apart from my daily
struggle to meet trivial expectations of contemporary society, I’m just
ok, thanks for asking. I hope you are doing not too bad either.
We actually expect a lot from this album.
We released it to promote ourselves worldwide. We wanted to make a stand,
and at this moment we’re successful at it. Currently we’re working on our
distribution, because our record is not yet available everywhere, although
we ship it ourselves worldwide of course.
Robbie (R): HI I’m just fine, I leave the troublesome
mind to Chris at this moment. Normally I’m a tall guy with a foul mood
but today I’m basically alright.
2. WE CAN’T SAY THAT YOU ARE A NEW BAND SINCE
YOU HAVE FORMED BACK IN 1994, HOWEVER “DARK DREAMS, MY CHILD” IS YOUR FIRST
FULL-LENGTH AND YOU HAVEN’T STILL SIGNED WITH A LABEL. CAN YOU EXPLAIN
US THE REASONS THAT LED YOU TO RELEASE YOUR FIRST ALBUM IN 2005 AND YOU
STILL REMAIN UNSIGNED?
C: We first started playing together in 1994.
That’s true. Nevertheless Another Messiah is formed in 2003. There have
been some line up changes, the music changed and basically our whole destiny.
We decided to release the CD ourselves, because we wanted maximum independence.
We decided to make this album, whether or not a label would be interested.
Many bands don’t have the guts to do it, but we did, and it’s working for
us. Of course we need a label to promote us and distribute our CDs. Well,
currently we’re working on that and we hope to inform you soon about who
we’re going to work with in this field.
3. WHICH ARE THE NEW ELEMENTS THAT A FAN OF YOURS
WILL LISTEN TO YOUR NEW ALBUM? HAVE YOU INCLUDED SONGS FROM YOUR PREVIOUS
RELEASES? IF YES HAVE YOU CHANGED THEM A BIT?
R: It’s all brand new. We have talked about
including some old songs as bonus material but throughout the writing process
we came to think that we’d go with these nine songs. The nine songs we
have recorded belong together. Putting any other songs on it would just
ruin the album in my point of view.
4. MOST OF THE PEOPLE LABEL YOU AS A DOOM METAL
BAND. HOWEVER, I HAVE FOUND IN YOUR MUSIC INFLUENCES FROM OTHER GENRES
AS WELL LIKE CLASSIC METAL, MELODIC DEATH AND GOTHIC. DO YOU AGREE? HOW
WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND TO A PERSON THAT HASN’T LISTENED TO YOU YET?
C: One of the toughest questions you can ask
a band is to describe their own music. Well, if it is anything broader
than brutal grind death metalcore obviously.... We like to stick to the
three elements that continue to characterize our music: energetic, atmospheric,
innovative. With oboe of course... These elements don’t cover everything
obviously. Melancholy, despair and aggression are the main emotions in
our music, but unfortunately you can’t describe your music in more than
four words or so, because then it becomes meaningless. The reason why people
label us as a doom band is because we label ourselves as one. Actually,
we label ourselves as a post-doom band. Doom metal in our opinion stands
for melancholy in metal. This is the atmosphere or emotion we portray very
often in our music. We’re done with the stigmas that real doom metal should
only be slow as tectonic plates (although I love bands like Shape of Despair,
Earth, Skepticism and Pantheist), badly produced and underground.
5. ONE THING THAT I FOUND EXTREMELY INTERESTING
IS THAT YOU ALSO USE AN OBOE EXCEPT FOR THE CLASSIC HEAVY METAL INSTRUMENTS.
WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO DO SO? HOW EASY OR DIFFICULT IS IT TO MAKE THE SOUND
OF OBOE FIT WITH METAL MUSIC? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE SOUND OF OBOE MAKES
YOU DISTINGUISH FROM OTHER BANDS THAT PLAY THE SAME STYLE WITH YOU?
R: Yeah thanks. Well I remember some cold
Sunday afternoon in the small attic where we used to have rehearsals. I
think it was Martijn who mentioned the idea to bring my oboe. I think it
had something to do with my singing hahaha… But nevertheless I brought
the thing with me and well, we just hit it off immediately. It was magic
right from the start so we never stopped using it. There are a few more
bands that incorporate some classical instrument in their music. What strikes
me is the variety in the way you can do that. For example if we write something
it’s often quite gloomy. I heard Penumbra recently and that sounds like
folk. Although I like that you don’t want to hear me try it. The way we
use the oboe is natural for us so I don’t think it’s difficult no. People
often say that we are that band with the oboe. Some have even said that
we ‘misused’ the oboe to get attention. If you listen more closely you’ll
notice that it’s not the oboe that makes us stand out.
6. OK, I WANT TO STAND A BIT ON THE BAND’S NAME
ANOTHER MESSIAH. I BELIEVE THAT IT HIDES A BIT OF IRONY IN IT. DON’T YOU
THINK THAT BECAUSE OF THE APPEARANCE OF SO MANY MESSIAHS OUR WORLD HAS
BECOME SUCH A BAD PLACE TO LIVE IN?
C: I’m glad you recognize the irony in it,
some people really don’t see this. I’ll try to answer your question without
starting a quasi philosophical discussion. The meaning of our name is ambiguous.
It contains both hope and despair. Hope, because there are enough ‘Messiah’s’
that bring us hope, and there always will be (I don’t need to explain that
the term ‘Messiah’ should not be taken too literally). Despair, because
there have been so many Messiah’s but nothing ever really changes. You
actually have an interesting point, would the world be better without any
Messiah’s at all? I wish I knew... Hmm, actually, I’m happy I don’t know
it, and probably never will know since the answer could be very disappointing
indeed...
R: You can see why we could only come up with
this name after a long night with a lot of beer. But it’s true. People
are so easy in putting their trust in one person, or even something as
vague as an appearance. Don’t get your hopes up.
7. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE SEARCH FOR A MESSIAH
TO SAVE THEM AND DON’T HAVE FAITH IN THEMSELVES?
C: Face the facts, there is only so much you
can do yourself. Unfortunately your personal circumstances are only for
a small part determined by factors you actually can influence. On the other
hand, what do you really need in order to be happy? Ok, Schultenbrau (beer)
would do just fine, but what else, or what if I was too lazy to go hunting
for it before night sets in? Ok, I’m just realising I am not answering
your question at all.
R: People are afraid that when they die there
will be nothing anymore, it just stops. I wouldn’t know by the way. Perhaps
we die and go to some Indian god of the sun, whatever. Besides that there
are many Messiahs in politics. Everyone thinks their life is tough and
so they are very easy to cling on to somebody who comes around and says
“I’m going to help you. You are a big pile of shit but I’m going to make
sure that mountains of gold are heading your way”. Fuck that, although
it’s tempting to believe, it’s all a lie. Well, without getting to much
into politics, our name shows the ambiguity of the concept Messiah.
8. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TALK A BIT ABOUT THE LYRICS.
WHAT KIND OF THEMES GIVE YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE? CAN YOU EXPLAIN US IN
A FEW WORDS THE THEME OF EACH SONG THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED ON YOUR NEW ALBUM?
R: When we started out writing music it all
felt kind of eerie. You constantly felt like you were in some horror film
and something could come right round the corner. Well we wanted the lyrics
to match that feeling. So we wrote a neat storyline about a young woman
who is abducted and locked up in a damp basement. Although she doesn’t
know she’s somehow related to the person that abducted her. It all becomes
clear in the end. It’s all kind of unhealthy. However, if you listen closely
we incorporated some deeper layers. It’s about being stuck in life. You
know that feeling when you want to get out and you can’t because you don’t
control the situation? It’s one of my biggest fears.
9. IMAGINE THAT YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO DO
AN EXPENSIVE VIDEO-CLIP. WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO VISUALIZE
AND WHY? HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THE CLIP TO BE?
C: Difficult question. Very realistic though.
The first problem is that our songs are too long for a video to be played
on TV. We could shorten a song, but would it be the same song? There is
a reason why our songs are that long: we need this time to express ourselves.
I must say my personal favorites are 'These lonely eyes', 'Dead man walking'
and 'Left to die'. How to visualise them? I really don't know, but wait
and see for yourself.....
R: I think the best song to do a video would
be is ‘And now I will’. It’s a catchy song and it’s short enough to be
on TV. Best of all, I like it very much. I like those videos where you
don’t see the band at all like Tool, The Prodigy and so on.
10. I BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE DONE QUITE A MANY
INTERVIEWS TILL NOW, SO I WANT TO KNOW WHICH WAS THE WEIRDEST QUESTION
THEY’VE EVER ASKED YOU AND HOW DID YOU REPLY?
R: Yeah well, there was this one guy from
Brunei who wanted to know what we thought of Glen Benton’s new haircut.
I don’t know man, I may not have the most busy life there is but that guy
needs to get a hobby. And I believe there was some Greek who asked what
the weirdest question was… hehehe
11. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PLANS ON LIVE SHOWS. WILL
YOU DO A TOUR IN THE CENTRAL EUROPE IN ORDER TO PROMOTE YOUR NEW ALBUM?
IS IT POSSIBLE TO COME FOR A LIVE HERE IN GREECE OR DOES IT COST A LOT?
DO YOU HAVE CONTACT WITH GREEK METAL FANS?
R: We’re arranging matters to do a European
tour somewhere end of the year. Right now plans are to go to France, Germany,
Poland, Hungary and some other countries. If it’s somehow possible to come
to Greece we certainly will. We have sold a few dozen albums in Greece
and we would like to get our music heard in Greece. It’s a great country
for metal.
12. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME! GOOD LUCK
WITH “DARK DREAMS, MY CHILD” WHICH IS A VERY GOOD ALBUM! THE LAST LINES
BELONG TO YOU…
R: Thanks a million for the interview and
all the support we get from Greece. You guys are awesome. I think it’s
time for a few beers now. Cheers!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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