Everwood
Everwood, a Hungarian
based band, have quite recently released their sophomore album titled
"The Raven's Nest" showcasing a talented progressive metal band with much
professionalism and a need to spread their name in all four corners of
the world. Would you like to meet with their music and give them a chance
to win your support? Then start by reading this interesting interview...
1. Give us in brief an Everwoord bio by
pointing out the most important moments and achievements of the band. Please
also present the current line up.
Attila: The band was formed in 1997 under
the name of Neverwood. The first demo was finished in February of 2001
and the second one in September of 2002. In April of 2004 we played with
Devon Graves – frontman of Deadsoul Tribe, ex – Psychotic Waltz. At the
end of June we finished our first full lenght album entitled "Mind Games".
In December the name was changed to EVERWOOD and we signed a record contract
with the Greek Burning Star Records. The debut "Mind Games" was released
in digipack format in February of 2005 in Greece and a couple of weeks
later in Japan and in the U.S.A. The feedback from home and abroad were
very positive. In some reviews the band was considered as "the progressive
metal's hope of the year". In September we performed as the guests of the
British progressive legend Arena on the Hungarian concert of their European
tour. "Mind Games" was released in Hungary in July of 2006 by the distribution
of the CLS Records. With this our debut album is in stores of 20 countries
including Germany, Canada, Italy, Holland and Finland. The band was nominated
for "The best debut album of 2005" on the Hungarian Metal Awards. In August
we had a very successful concert on the Sziget Festival which is the biggest
festival of the Middle-East Europe and is attended by thousands of people
every year. In October we started to record our second album. Aborting
the recordings we played some gigs in Italy one of them took place in the
Stazione Birra which is one of the biggest and most famous venues of Rome.
In the beginning of 2007 the second album entitled "The Raven's Nest" was
finished. In April the album was released in Hungary and the band had a
great album release party before the Norwegian vocal-phenomenon Jorn Lande
which was a great success. The official release date of the album was June
for worldwide.
The current line-up is:
Balazs Koncz – vocals
Ferenc Farkas – guitars
Attila Tanczer – keyboards
Viktor Erdos – bass
Tamas Szabo - drums
2. You are a new band that plays progressive
metal, a demanding music, which means that you have to “compete” with some
top quality bands. How does this make you feel? Is it a source of anxiety?
Ferenc: I think, we don’t really care about
competition when we write music. The only point is to make what we’d like
as good as we imagined in the first place. Of course after the song writing
period, when we follow the reviews of album it is interesting, when we
are compared to the ‘big names’, but it is too late then. :) To be honest,
somewhere deeper within ourselves, we’d like to become famous/top quality
band. But it depends on too many things besides the music. By the way,
the only situation, when this kind of comparison is really annoying is
when they don’t talk about the peculiar elements of our music, when it’s
not possible to show our originality.
3. What’s the highlight of “The Raven’s Nest”
and what part or element do you think needs further improvement? In which
ways have you evolved? How has your music changed all these years?
Attila: It’s hard to choose any part or song
of the album as the highlight of it. But maybe the three short stories,
and the way they are becoming a movie as you close your eyes and listen
to the music. At the time when we wrote this album, we did everything in
the best way we possibly could, and needless to say, that we always want
to write the best damn songs that we are able to. Every band, and especially
in the metal genre, needs to have a lots of improvement constantly. That
is the way of music. Over the years of songwriting, our music has always
changed a bit, just like we have changed through the years. I think we
are getting to be better musicians, better performers, and we write better
songs than 3 or 5 years ago. It’s a natural change.
4. If you were asked to write a review for
“The Raven’s Nest”, what would you say trying to be as objective as possible?
Ferenc: It’s a great studio work with quality
modern sound. (No, it does not sound like Dream Theater or other predecessors.
We’ve got our own sound and we like it.) Melodic vocals, hard riffs and
it’s not so progressive. It’s recommended to every metal fan who loves
variety of songs and feelings. One thing to keep in mind: more listening
should be necessary for complete understanding. :)
5. Which are the main similarities and differences
between “The Raven’s Nest” and your debut album “Mind Games”?
Attila: Well, the running time is almost the
same :) The main difference between the two is, that "The Raven’s Nest"
is a concept album. In a musical way: in my opinion, this time the guitars
had more role, and ‘cause of that, the album is harder, and more riff oriented
than the first one. But at the same time, thanks to the more ballads and
instrumental parts, it’s breezier, and more receptible. But in the other
hand, we were able to keep the typical Everwood sound, that we discovered
in the "Mind Games" album.
6. Give us reasons why the metal heads should
check you out. What do you think you have to offer to the contemporary
metal scene?
Ferenc: First of all: within style, we’ve
got our unique style. It’s not a real prog. metal, not symphonic, but something
around there. Of course, you can find influences from other bands, but
the originality is still there in our music. On the second place: there
are hidden treasures on the album. If you listen to it after a few weeks
besides the first impressions, you’ll discover new exciting parts in the
music.
7. What kind of procedure do you follow whilst
composing the songs? Is it a one man job or do you all have a say on the
end result?
Attila: I can say that it’s a team work. Most
of the times, myself or Feri, our guitar player shows something to the
band. It could be just a theme or a whole song, and if everybody likes
it, we start to work on it. Sometimes, it turns out to be a totally different
song, and only a few parts remind us of the original one. Sometimes, the
entire song goes like the way I wrote it back at home. But it’s a team
work, that’s for sure. Even Viktor the bass player, or lead singer Balu
have great ideas, or complete songs. And I like the way Toi, our drummer
sees an actual part in a song, and gives a crazy new rhythm to the song,
and takes it to a new dimension.
8. Which are your sources of inspiration? Which
are those topics or situations that “force” you into putting them down
to paper? Tell us a few things about the lyrics.
Ferenc: The real world is the main impression
I think. It’s a cliché, but we can’t be independent from it. We
have to live here and do our best here. Of course we should have dreams
and ideas. Some films, news also have put their fingerprint to the imaginations.
All of these things were summarized by Atesz, when he created the concept
of the album.
9. Can you please describe the cover artwork
and underline its connection with the album title? Is this a raven? I’m
asking cause we usually depict ravens using black colours. And why is there
a female face on the moon? What do you mean by that?
Attila: Wow :) The title “The Raven’s Nest”
is also the title of the main story of the album. You have to read it to
know why, but let me asure you, that it has nothing to do with an actual
raven :) It’s just a symbolic raven in the cover, that is actually black,
but because of the moonlight, it looks like a white raven, but it’s not.
The face on the moon is a male face, but a very handsome one :) and he
is one of the main characters of the story.
10. Have you got any plans for live shows or
for a possible tour? How do you plan to promote your new album?
Ferenc: Yes, we have! Our second home is the
stage. :) Actually, we had a smaller break because of personal reasons
(more details on the band’s website), but from September we’d like to compensate
the fans all around Hungary and abroad as well. A smaller European tour
easily imaginable. :)
11. How did you get in touch with the Greek
label Burning Star Records? What’s this that made you trust them?
Attila: We had our record ("Mind Games") in
our hands, and we were looking for a label, and Burning Star was the one
that showed the most interest in our music, so we made a deal with them.
We trusted them, because they were just as motivated as we were, and it
was a promising start to our relationship.
12. If you had a huge budget to shoot a video
clip, which song of yours would you choose and how do you imagine it to
be?
Ferenc: Like a Miracle is the shoo-in. This
is a sentimental piece of the album. It’d be completely MTV compatible!
:) Atesz hasn’t seen the ‘The Constant Gardener’ titled film, but that
kind of direction would be fine I think.
13. What kind of emotions do you think your
music creates to your listeners?
Attila: If our music creates any emotions,
it’s a good sign. I think if somebody really goes behind this new album,
reads all of the stories while listening to the music, it could be a great
musical and emotional journey. This album needs some time but it’s worth
it.
14. What thoughts or ideas pass through your
mind whilst playing or listening to your songs?
Ferenc: While playing I spend most of my time
to concentrate on the performance. We’ve got a strong album and if I want
to give back the professionalism of that, I have to be quite good. While
listening, I always wonder whether the songs were written by us and ask
me how we can write better ones for the next album? :)
15. What do you expect to achieve with this
album and which are your goals as a band in general?
Attila: You know, these days it’s hard to
achieve real success without the help of a big label or the media. As always,
we try to do our best, take our chances, and work real hard. Well, the
album sales are good, our fan base is getting bigger each day. We have
fans from all over Europe, and in Hungary as well. So I think, all we need
is little push, and then anything can happen… Our goal is to make more
records, play live, and let the world know that Everwood is here to stay.
16. You come from Hungary, a not so well known
for its metal scene country. How are things over there? Have you got a
strong underground scene? Are there any bands you think deserve our attention?
Ferenc: The fans, unfortunately aren't many
and there are lot of metal bands for them. Most of the bands have a few
dozen visitors on the concerts, so that’s quite tight for good and frequent
gigs. I understand that underground is not mainstream, but it’s very hard
to become a known band even if you play lot of concerts, there are articles,
adds in the most important newspapers and even you’ve got a little name
on abroad.
Ektomorf (@ Nuclear Blast) would be an obvious
choice if you search for known Hungarian metal band. But I think we’d like
to offer Age Of Nemesis to your attention, because their style is not so
far from ours and they make quality music.
17. Thank you! Is there anything else you’d
like to mention?
Attila: Thank you very much! A big hello to
our Greek fans, and thanks for the support!
Christine Parastatidou
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