Inner
Surge
Inner Surge is a
Canadian act. What does this mean? Well unconventional and original music
on the one hand and a true love for what they do on the other. The Canadian
scene has offered us some of the most intellectual and unique metal bands
and Inner Surge are here to claim a place amongst the elite of the scene.
Read this interview and you'll find plenty of reasons to support this rising
band...
1. FIRST OF ALL GIVE US A BAND BIO BY INDICATING
YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS UP TO NOW. PLEASE ALSO PRESENT THE CURRENT
LINE UP.
Inner Surge started in 2001 when I recorded
the demo CD “Solus Verum”. The next album to be released was 2004’s “Matrika”,
which was recorded at Organic Sounds Studios. By the time “Signals Screaming”
was being written, I was the original member but it was also the first
time Inner Surge was a true collective, as everyone was writing. We got
some attention after the album was released, and were able to have the
music featured on a few film soundtracks and complete music videos for
“Retribution Song” and “Wolves”. The album received a lot of good reviews
from magazines and websites we respected. We felt soon after the CD that
we had so much new material that sounded far stronger so we went back into
Echo Base Studios in June 2007 to record “An Offering”. We also launched
the “Wolves” music video at www.freezen.ca/Wolves.
We are finishing the mastering of “An Offering” in September and will release
the album soon after that. The current lineup is Steve Moore, Bryan Sandau
and Scott Taylor.
2. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU WERE ASKED TO WRITE
A REVIEW FOR “SIGNALS SCREAMING” FOR ALL THOSE WHO’VE NEVER HEARD OF INNER
SURGE. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
I would describe some of it as unconventional,
and hopefully hear some Dead Can Dance influence at times. There are mistakes,
but it is a focused album, a band growing into themselves and showing some
strength.
3. YOU ARE PREPARING SOME NEW SONGS FOR YOUR UPCOMING
CD ENTITLED “AN OFFERING”. WHEN WILL IT BE RELEASED? CAN YOU GIVE US ANY
FURTHER INFO?
We are hoping to release it by the end of
the year. We’ll be doing some remastering and “special treatment” in September
to make it as good as it can be. There will definitely be 12 or 13 tracks
and a lot more music than the last CD.
4. WHICH ARE THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN “SIGNALS SCREAMING” AND “AN OFFERING”?
The similarity is that we put all of our effort
into making the best music that we could at the time. That’s about where
the similarities end. I think that even if I said “An Offering” is much
of a continuation of “Signals Screaming” it would be a bit misleading,
though I know a lot of people enjoyed the last album. I suppose it’s a
continuation of songs like “No Profit in the Cure” in some ways. The production
is much better and the songs are more progressive and aggressive. “An Offering”
is finding inspiration in disgusting things. It’s foaming at the mouth.
There is no equivalent to “Wolves” on this album. We basically wanted to
make an album that we felt couldn’t be put on the shelf and left there.
It had to be controversial, whatever that means, but I’m sure we’ll achieve
it.
5. WHAT’S, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHAT’S
THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC?
The best part is the sense of unison you feel
when you hear ideas from 3 or 4 different people mesh and turn into something
forceful. The worst part is when everyone focuses only on their own musicianship
and exactly the opposite happens.
6. ARE THERE ANY ELEMENTS YOU’D LIKE TO EXPERIMENT
WITH OR ADD IN THE FUTURE?
Yes, I’d like to cover a lot of ground with
Inner Surge. I’d like to incorporate more electronics in our sound and
bring in some of the Skinny Puppy influence. Also, I’d like to explore
a Dead can Dance direction mixed with what we do. We’re not going to be
afraid to evolve and change. That’s the exciting thing about creating.
7. CAN YOU NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS
AND ALBUMS? WHO ARE THOSE MUSICIANS OR PERSONALITIES IN GENERAL THAT MADE
YOU REALIZE THIS IS THE ROAD YOU WANT TO FOLLOW?
Some of my favorite albums are “Within the
Realm of a Dying Sun” by Dead Can Dance, “Aenima” by Tool, “Last Rights”
by Skinny Puppy, “Angel Dust” by Faith No More, “Fear of a Black Planet”
by Public Enemy, “The Shape of Punk to Come” by Refused, and “In Utero”
by Nirvana, among many others. I’ve always been inspired by bands and individuals
who not only blazed their own path and did something different than what
the scenes were producing, but ones that showed a complete disgust and
contempt for what the mainstream had to offer at the time.
8. YOU COME FROM CANADA, A COUNTRY THAT OFFERS
US SOME OF THE BEST AND MOST UNCONVENTIONAL METAL BANDS. WHY DO YOU THINK
THIS HAPPENS? IS THERE ANYTHING IN THE WATER OVER THERE? ? ARE THERE ANY
OTHER BANDS YOU THINK DESERVE OUR ATTENTION?
I think that isolation breeds good music in
some cases. When you’re part of a scene and you’re all hyped up and always
knowing that the same token people and token bands will support you, you
have a greater chance of slipping, and far less of a chance at making something
truly great and original. When you’re looking in from the outside, and
then you start ignoring what’s happening all together, that’s when you
have potential to do something great.
There’s some strong Canadian metal bands out
there today like Into Eternity, Strapping Young Lad, Divinity, and Ion
Dissonance among many others.
9. INNER SURGE IS A POLITICALLY DRIVEN BAND AND
BASED ON THIS FACT I COULD ASK YOU A MILLION QUESTIONS, BUT ONE THAT KEEPS
COMING TO MY MIND AND I THINK I’LL NEVER FIND AN ANSWER TO IT IS: WHY DON’T
HUMANS LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES? WHY DO WE KEEP WAGING WARS?
I’ve been reading a book called “The Lucifer
Principle” by Howard Bloom that attempts to answer that very question.
Its theory is basically that what we call “evil” is a quality ingrained
into us by nature, and instead of using ration and dealing with it or confronting
it maturely, it seems we are keen to follow ideologies that encourage violence
and exacerbate the problem. However intelligent, compassionate or benign
you might be, there is someone with the opposite qualities whose family
would be proud if they decapitated you and fed you to wild animals. We
all seem to be playing with the same forces – some with disastrous results.
I think it’s also naïve to assume that war would be obliterated if
every man, woman and child was fed and given medical attention, but it
couldn’t hurt. It would be the start of a better experiment I would think.
10. I MEAN WHY DO CERTAIN POWERFUL COUNTRIES HAVE
TO INTERFERE IN OTHER COUNTRIES’ AFFAIRS? AND WHY THE BEST WAY TO DO SO
IS BOMB EVERYTHING AND KILL ANYONE, INCLUDING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND KIDS?
Well, the more powerful you get, the more
interests you have. You can play with people and places and ideas. How
do you control populations? There’s different ways, one of the main ones
being ideology/religion. That’s worked well for parts of the United States.
But if you’re dealing with an outside country that has a previously imposed
belief system that is immovable, you have to use other methods. The theory
is, if you bomb a place enough then whoever’s left is going to accept it.
They accept your subcontractors and your puppet government and your lack
of clean water. Of course, this is not always the case, as we see in Iraq
and Afghanistan. It could be perpetual. Our governments know the history
of empire and it’s either a fearful or ignorant (or both) decision making
process when you’re talking about military action. We’ve been shown clearly
that there’s not enough police work going into these cases.
11. THERE ARE SOME LYRICS TAKEN FROM A METALLICA
SONG WHICH HAVE BEEN CARVED IN MY BRAIN EVER SINCE I’VE READ THEM… “TO
SECURE PEACE IS TO PREPARE FOR WAR”… HOW TRUE DO YOU THINK THIS IS?
I think it’s unfortunately very true looking
at history. Why should peace need to be “secured”? Peace is often forced.
When people think of peace they usually think of peace for their country,
or their state, or their race. That to me is a problem, because all too
often our peace is toxic waste on indigenous land, dumping our garbage
somewhere else. When peace is not thought of in a universal sense, there
is residual animosity that will carry the cycle on.
12. WHAT SEEMS REALLY PATHETIC AND INFURIATES
ME IS THE FACT THAT CERTAIN COUNTRIES, LIKE THE U.S. AND THE U.K. WAGE
WARS, KILL PEOPLE AND THEN THEY SEND HELP, FOOD, MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND SO
ON… DO THEY FEEL THIS WAY THEIR SINS ARE BEING ABSOLVED?
I can’t comment on the government’s motivations
for this, but it is something I intend to study in more detail. Keep in
mind it’s financial, so it’s not fully benign in any case. I think you
could say that pretty safely. The individuals involved in the scenario
however, the aid organizations/etc definitely have good intentions and
are worthy of a lot of respect.
13. I HAVE THE FEELING THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T
UNDERSTAND THE REAL DIMENSIONS OF MASSACRES, GENOCIDES AND WARS. THEY MAKE
ME THINK THEY FEEL AS IF WATCHING A VIDEO GAME OR A MOVIE… WHY DO YOU THINK
WE ARE SO SENTIMENTALLY DETACHED FROM SUCH SERIOUS ISSUES?
In our society, we never spend an average
day genuinely fearing for our lives or the lives of our families. We do
not have to feel terror, to avoid death or have the urge to kill. We are
detached because we simply don’t know what it’s like, and it’s more fun
to watch Shrek than Hotel Rwanda to most people.
14. DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE LYRICS INNER
SURGE DEAL WITH? WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
The lyrics take on a variety of topics of
a personal, philosophical and political nature. They are approached in
either a cryptic, poetic, sarcastic or direct way to get the desired effect.
For example, there’s a song that will be on the next album I’m sure will
be controversial. It’s called “Interahamwe”, which were one of the main
groups that perpetuated the Rwandan genocide. The lyrics are written from
their perspective, and they thank the United States, France and the general
public for allowing them safe passage in escaping the country, sending
them weapons and supplies, and millions of dollars of donations. You put
all those factors together and that’s why they are alive and well today
– killing. This is not any kind of conspiracy theory either. It’s documented
in Martin Meredith’s recent book on African history.
15. YOU’VE ALSO SHOT A FEW VIDEO CLIPS. WOULD
YOU LIKE TO DESCRIBE THEM FOR US AND GIVE US SOME FURTHER INFO?
“Retribution Song” was our first music video
shot with Fredy Polania, the director of the movie “Cabras”. It was filmed
in a few different locations and contains footage of the Zapatistas. “Wolves”
was directed by Shaun Friesen of Freezen Design. It was based on the 1994
Rwandan genocide. The band takes a backseat and the video mostly features
graphic design and art to subtly get the message of the song across. It
is available at www.freezen.ca/Wolves.
16. I’VE READ THAT SOME OF YOUR SONGS WILL BE
FEATURED IN SOME MOVIES… WHICH WILL THEY BE AND WHAT’S THE MAIN PLOT OF
EACH MOVIE?
Some of our music will be on the 2008 “Cabras”
movie soundtrack. The film has been described as a philosophical thriller
but the plot is under wraps until the previews come out. “Rebellion of
Thought” is a documentary that is just coming out on DVD at the moment.
It features our track “AzurA”. “Amok!” is a thriller movie about a man
descending into madness and it was put out by Macabro Films.
17. WHAT KIND OF FEEDBACK HAVE YOU RECEIVED SO
FAR? WHAT WAS THE MOST FLATTERING AND WHAT THE WORST COMMENT YOU’VE READ
ABOUT YOUR MUSIC? HAS ANYONE EVER CRITICIZED YOU BECAUSE OF YOUR POLITICALLY
DRIVEN LYRICS?
Most of the feedback was very positive. There
are a lot of comments that were great to hear. The funniest negative line
was something along the lines of “It’s appropriate these guys work with
Cyclone Records because it sounds like they had a few good ideas and a
cyclone tore them all apart”. Something like that. Anyways, some of those
reviews are funny because you can tell the person is getting a kick out
of it and they’re thinking “Yeah! What a jab!”. Of course, we’ve taken
a lot of negative feedback into consideration and it’s helped improve our
sound on the new album.
18. HAVE YOU GOT ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? HOW
ARE YOU THINKING TO PROMOTE YOUR WORKS?
We’re going to get the new album out to the
appropriate labels, management companies and individuals and look out for
the best route to where we want to be. We feel the music is strong enough
now to help us along in that regard. We will tour as soon as possible.
19. IS THERE A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO BE ASKED
AND NO ONE HAS EVER ASKED YOU? IF YES, HERE’S YOUR CHANCE…
How do you feel about exclusive religious
teachings being abolished for children under the age of 16?
20. IF YOU HAD TO “TRANSLATE” YOUR MUSIC INTO
EMOTIONS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
There’s a lot of rage in our music, but its
aim is to create something positive. The image would change depending on
the song and the moment, but I would often picture fire.
21. IS THERE AN IDEAL TITLE THAT COULD SUM UP
THE WHOLE INNER SURGE ESSENCE?
I think it’s unspeakable. That’s why we have
to express it in other ways. Kurt Cobain once said “It’s all in the music,
man. It’s all in the meat”.
22. THANK YOU! IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE
TO ADD? LEAVE A MESSAGE TO OUR READERS…
Thanks for listening, and get in touch. See
you soon!
Christine Parastatidou
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