MorOn
MorOn is a hard working
and dedicated to their music band that has been unlucky in the music business.
Unfortunately this is a problem that many bands get confronted with, but
on the other hand I really hope this is ancient history for them and that
from now on their career will only be upwards! Read this interesting and
friendly interview and find out about many things that have never occurred
to you for the music industry and not only...
1. HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? I SAW IN YOUR BIO THAT
YOU EXIST SINCE 1994, BUT HERE IN GREECE YOUR ARE NOT SO KNOWN. CAN YOU
GIVE US A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE BAND AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE-UP?
MorOn formed back in 1994. As years passed
by, the band had some experimental phases and some changes in its line-up.
But in 1996 childhood ended and the band was about to start into a more
serious way of working. This, of course, had its effect on the musical
style. Accompanied by the sad truth of the musical business, the band was
able to establish an own musical identity. Though it might still sound
like the good old metal from the late 80s till the early 90s, we're proud
to say that this is our own style and exactly the music we will bring forth
in the future! Truly the band was able to sign a contract with a German
metal label. But as mentioned above, the business isn't all that fair and
true...
2. I UNDERSTOOD FROM YOUR BIO THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY
RELEASED SOME WORKS BEFORE THE NEW ALBUM THAT BEARS THE TITLE “QUINTA ESSENTIA”.
CAN YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES? WERE THEY DEMOS
OR FULL LENGTH ALBUMS? IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THE METAL FANS TO FIND THEM EASILY
OR NOT? DO YOU PLAN TO RE-RELEASE THEM?
The band put out a full length, self-produced
album in 2002. It's called "Speaker" and this one is still available at
www.moron-music.de.
Though the sound isn't comparable to our new product, it contains some
pearls a music fan might not miss. Before that one, we had an EP called
"EP 2000" which was released, who might have thought it, in 2000. Another
EP called "Dreamscape" was released in 1994. Those two are rather difficult
to get a hand on.
3. CAN YOU MAKE A COMPARISON AND TELL US WHICH
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN “QUINTA ESSENTIA” AND YOUR PREVIOUS WORKS ARE?
The most important difference is the sound
of course, for this time the band was given the opportunity to record the
album in a professional way in studio in the northern part of Germany.
Apart from this difference which actually can't be overheard, we were able
to make a good step forward as far as our musical skills and the variety
of our style is concerned. The sound even made us, who recorded this thing
and who could play the songs backwards if we had to, say "WOW, what a kick
in the butt, man!"
4. I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WELL... HAVE YOU RELEASED
“QUINTA ESSENTIA” OR WILL YOU RELEASE IT ONLY IF YOU FIND A DECENT DEAL
WITH A METAL LABEL?
Well, that's a difficult question, actually.
Ehm, do I know?! We're desperately looking for a new metal label, or any
label, to put the record out. It's completely finished and only waiting
to be released. Our label ran out of money, out of interest or out of whatever.
Fact is that they're not going to release the product. But I daresay, that
it won't take much long until you can get a copy. We're pretty busy talking
to new possible and reliable partners. And we're still confident that we
will come out with "Quinta". Despite the fact, that music biz fucked us
up once again. With true, honest handmade music, a strong will, and, hopefully,
a growing number of fans we will demonstrate that metal is NOT dead and
thus kick the biz's ass!
5. SINCE WE TALK ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM, CAN YOU
TELL US WHAT EXACTLY ITS TITLE MEANS AND HOW IS IT CONNECTED WITH THE MUSIC
AND THE LYRICS?
Well, we had to rename the album for distributing
purposes. "Liquid", the original title didn't work out with a new cover
artwork. Another bitter pill we had to swallow. But anyway, we quickly
decided to call it Quinta Essentia. The name is supposed to mirror the
strong binding of the band and its five members. A second meaning would
be that this wonderful piece of metal art is the quintessence of our musical
development so far. Our lead guitarist came up with a cover artwork which
will additionally stress the title. Let yourself be surprised by figuring
out what you see in the picture if you haven't got a glimpse at it yet.
6. ALTHOUGH YOU ARE FROM GERMANY, YOUR SOUND IS
CLOSER TO THE U.S. HEAVY/POWER METAL GENRE. DO YOU AGREE? CAN YOU NAME
SOME OF THE BANDS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED YOU?
YES! This is very important to us. Though
we have really great bands here, we don't want to sound typically German.
Well, at least I won't. The American scene surely had a great influence
on our sound. Apart from the heroes from the 80s Thrash- Scene, we're very
much into NWOBHM. Well, who isn't?! In fact each band member has his own
favourite band and preferable style of music. The band is, oho, the quintessence
of the various inputs of the members. Bands who had an influence on our
music are Metallica of course (people might say what they want, clichee
or not - they kick butt), further to mention the early Iron Maiden, Dream
Theater, Guns'n'Roses and weird stuff like Primus.
7. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE THE NAME “MORON” TO “BAPTIZE”
YOUR BAND? AREN’T YOU AFRAID THAT PEOPLE MIGHT NOT TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY WITH
THAT NAME?
Hm, MorOn... Yeah, we're pretty much aware
of its meaning. The name was picked, because it let's people know that
we don't take ourselves too seriously, as we all act like true morons sometimes.
Our music in contrast we DO take very serious. Another reason for this
name is that it's an easy name to remember. As simple as that. We are not
very concerned of the possibility that people might make fun out of the
name. Funny enough "Moron" is a family- name here in Germany. So, I rather
play in a metal band which call themselves MorOn than to have this surname
and when on a visit to England I had to say "Hello, I'm Mr. Moron..."
8. IN YOUR BIO YOU SAY THAT AS A BAND YOU HAVE
ATTRACTED THE INTEREST OF MANY LABELS FROM THE FIRST YEARS OF THE BAND,
BUT YOU FELT THAT MOST OF THEM HAVE BETRAYED YOU. CAN YOU TELL US WHY?
DID YOU EVER THING OF SPLITTING UP?
Well, this is only the truth. Last episode
of constantly being fucked up is our last contact to the professional business.
This is sad, but we cannot change the facts. But we will keep playing our
music. The idea of splitting up never came across our minds. This will
only happen when each of us has his own Ferrari and an arrogance-level
higher than the mount Everest;-)
9. YOU STARTED IN 1994 WHEN THINGS WEREN’T SO
GOOD FOR THE CLASSIC HEAVY METAL. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER OF THOSE YEARS?
DO YOU THINK THAT IN OUR DAYS THINGS AND OPPORTUNITIES ARE BETTER FOR A
HEAVY METAL BAND?
When looking back I have the impression that
the times for metal are getting better. I can't explain why, but I truly
believe in a renaissance for metal which is played without too much pathos,
too much show. Down to Earth stuff, pure and simple, authentically played
by honest bands will have a foot in the doorstep in the music biz in the
future I think. We like it pure and simple. Don't call us a Heavy Metal
band, nor a Speed, Fantasy, Thrash, Melodic or whatever-style-band. That
wouldn't be accepted in each case by four fifth of the band. We're five
individuals playing metal music. One is more into Heavy Metal, the other
more into Thrash, another is a Progressive freak, and so on. But what keeps
us together is Metal in all its varieties. And knowing this we go to our
rehearsals. And what comes out we call MorOn.
10. AS A BAND YOU HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE SINCE
YOU EXIST MORE THAN DECADE NOW. HOW COME AND YOU STARTED A COOPERATION
WITH A NEW MANAGEMENT LIKE KBM INTERNATIONAL? IN WHICH WAYS DO YOU BELIEVE
THEY ARE GOING TO HELP YOU?
After more than ten years of MorOn we thought
it might help to have a decent management. Why now, you might ask. Well,
managements usually don't keep knocking on the doors of metal bands, I
guess. But now we had the luck to find us a management which seems to have
the same plans like we have for the future. And we're confident that it
might help us. After so many disappointments in our, ehm, career we have
a rather good feeling about our relationship to KBM International. Let's
knock on wood, I would say... But coming back to your question: we hope
that we will be able to get more into live activities having the management
as support. Plus we hope to get better known or even known at all in Europe
and the rest of the world.
11. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LYRICS AND FOR
WHAT KIND OF THEMES DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT? CAN YOU TELL US IN A FEW
WORDS, WHICH THE THEME OF EACH SONG THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED IN YOUR NEW
ALBUM IS?
The lyrical part of composing is mostly part
of our singer Tobias. Though sometimes another member comes up with an
idea. It's not fixed to the singer, so. But as singing is his job, he writes
most of the stuff by himself. And what the topic of each song is I can't
say actually. It's not that the lyrics wouldn't have a meaning, but I think
the listener should listen carefully and make his own guess. The lyrics
are, roughly spoken, about anything that concerns us, fictional or non-fictional.
Well, the fictional stuff isn't to be taken too seriously, but the other
lyrics leave some room for interpretation by the listener. We think we
should leave them as personal for the fans as they are for our singer or
the other MorOn who wrote them.
12. DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO SHOOT ANY VIDEO-CLIP?
LET’S SAY THAT YOU HAVE A LOT OF MONEY... WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU
CHOOSE TO VISUALIZE AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
Yeah, loads of money! We're gonna be rich
and gonna do a video which is on heavy rotation on mtv... No, seriously,
we already have a video clip which you can download from our homepage.
We chose to visualize "Fragile". The clip was arranged and produced by
our lead guitarist Uwe. Take a look if you like. It's for free, hell yes!
Further plans for another video-clip are surely somewhere in the back of
our minds. Maybe when the money arrives we will be able to put some hot
chicks into the clip. This is supposed to help selling the stuff, I heard.
Not that we would be keen on half naked girls in our videos, no...
13. IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO CORRECT A PROBLEM
THAT TROUBLES THE MODERN WORLD, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
An obligatory question, sure. But when we
thought about it we came to the conclusion that we're only musicians and
no politicians or flower-power-hippies with utopic dreams. Each one of
us would probably try to change a problem that troubles his mind and the
world in his personal way. There are too many problems to pick one to help
save the planet.
14. THAT’S IT FOR NOW. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW ALBUM! THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU AND LEAVE A
MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF BEHIND THE VEIL WEBZINE…
We would like to thank you and the readers
of the Behind The Veil Webzine for their interest in our music. Anyone
who believes in us and our work is very important for us. Though we do
the music for ourselves, we surely want to reach the people out there.
It's always overwhelming for us to get good support!
Finally I want to say that your tasty Mythos
rules!!! Cheers!!!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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