Bal
Sagoth
After the release of a
magnificent album that might also be their best work to date, we were very
much looking forward to having a nice discussion with Bal Sagoth's mastermind,
the mighty Byron! During this short but very informative interview, we've
talked about some very interesting things, which you can find out below.
Enjoy!
1.ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR NEW WORK?
Yes, we are rather satisfied with it! It turned
out as we wanted it. We got some real good orchestral parts and we got
the mix and the production pretty much as we wanted. Maybe we would like
to expand a little bit layer in the final mix, but we had a dead line to
catch. Yes, generally we're quite satisfied with the new album.
2.PERSONALLY, I THINK IT'S THE BEST EVER BAL SAGOTH
ALBUM...
-AND IT'S REALLY HEAVIER AND SOUNDS MORE AGGRESSIVE
THAN YOUR PREVIOUS WORKS.
Yes, that's definitely true. It's really important
for me for this album to get a more aggressive sound and make the album
dark and more sinister. That's the direction I gave to the other guys when
we were writing the album. We got elements of the earlier albums into the
overall sound of the new album. We got the guitar higher in the mix, so
as to make it more aggressive, heavier.
3.IN YOUR WORK I SEE YOU HAVE MANY EPIC SOUNDTRACK
MUSIC ELEMENTS AND CLASSICAL MUSIC INFLUENCES.
Yes, that's absolutely right! Film soundtracks
are big influence for us, stuff as Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, Conan
and composers like John Williams, Basil Polydouris, James Horner, Dany
Elfman, Hans Rimmer... The way we write and record the keyboards is very
symphonic. First we write the string parts, then the brass parts and then
the wood wind and the timpani, all seperately and then we pyt it together.
You know our keyboard player, Johny is also a classical trained pianist.
4.HOW LONG DID THE RECORDINGS LAST?
We really started recording the music for
this album in 2003. We were really writing and recording in the same time.
We finished in September 2005.
5.I GUESS THAT FOR A VERY SERIOUS WORK LIKE YOURS,
YOU NEED TO DEVOTE THOUSANDS OF HOURS...
Exactly, our previous album was in 2001, you
see five years ago. It took us so long because we wanted to wait until
the digital technology to be in the standard we needed to.
6.AS A BAND DO YOU ECONOMICALLY SURVIVE, JUST
WORKING AS BAL SAGOTH?
No, no unfortunately no! Some of the guys
have day jobs. We don't sell so many albums so as to live from Bal Sagoth.
8.NOWADAYS, PIRACY IN MUSIC IS GETTING STRONGER.
DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING SPECIFIC TO SUGGEST IN ORDER TO FIGHT THIS SITUATION?
Definitely piracy is a problem. For instance
for the new album as soon as the promo gets out is on the internet. For
illegal pirate downloading. I guess the music industry should find ways
to combat the phenomenon of piracy. And I somehow wotk with things like
MP3 because otherwise people aren't going to buy albums anymore, when they
can get them for free. The only thing is that some people like to buy the
album for the package, the booklet, but piracy is a grat problem of our
days.
9.HOW MANY ALBUMS DO YOU THINK AN EXTREME METAL
BAND CAN SELL IN EUROPE? TEN OR TWENTY THOUSAND THE MOST?
10.HOW IS YOUR CONCERT PROGRAM? IS THERE ANY CHANCE
TO SEE YOU HERE IN GREECE?
Greece is definitely one of the countries
we would like to get over to play some shows. In the past there were no
dates included. We know we have a lot of fans there and it would be very
cool to get over to Greece maybe this year and play possibly in Athens.
We really hope something like that finally to be arranged.
11.EVERYDAY THOUSANDS OF BANDS MAKE THEIR APPEARANCE
IN THE DEATH/BLACK META SCENE. DO YOU THINK THERE IS STILL QUALITY IN THE
SCENE?
Yes, there are a lot of bands and many of
them try to follow familiar paths and have similar sound to each other,
but there are also bands that are doing something original, they have new
ideas, unique ways of working. I think that really there're still bands
that sound genuine and are original and have a lot to offer. Generally,
I think the death black metal scene will continue to be more diverse and
wide spread.
12.DO YOU THINK BAL SAGOTH'S MUSIC CAN APPROACH
OTHER PEOPLE BESIDES THE METAL FANS?
I guess parts of our music probably can. People
who are not in black/death metal, enjoy a lot of parts in our music, because
of the keyboards we use and the orchestral arrangements we do. People who
are in classical music find a lot of interest in Bal Sagoth's music!
13.WELL, BYRON THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME!
IT WAS VERY INTERESTING TALKING WITH YOU AND I WISH YOU THE BEST FOR BAL
SAGOTH AND YOUR PERSONAL LIFE. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU HERE IN
THESSALONIKI, GREECE.
Thank you my friend! I appreciate it and we
will definitely try to get over there!
George "Death Dealer
- Echoes From Erebus" Kefalas
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