Nemesis
Nemesis come from Ireland
and their intentions are really wild and crazy! Having an 80s heavy metal
sound with a lot of roughness and melody, they call themselves celtic epic
metal and we cound't agree more!!!
1. HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? BEFORE WE ENTER THE
MAIN CHAT ABOUT YOUR DEMO, I WOULD LIKE YOU TO TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT
WHO NEMESIS ARE AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE-UP.
In short, Nemesis are a 5 piece Celtic Metal
band from Northern Ireland, formed in Summer 2005. The current line up
consists of Dwayne “Krum” Maguire on vocals, Ade Mulgrew and Sarah Wieghell
on guitars and David Lindsay on bass. We recently parted ways with our
drummer, so we’re currently auditioning to fill this position.
2. BEFORE YOU FORMED NEMESIS HAD YOU PLAYED WITH
ANY OTHER BANDS? HAD YOU RELEASED ANYTHING WITH THEM?
Yes, Ade and Dwayne had played together in
a rock covers band, which released a CD of 3 original recordings. It wasn’t
exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it was a good experience! Aside from
this, we have all played with various musicians in small projects etc.
3. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO RECORD AND RELEASE
THIS DEMO? WHICH WAS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE THAT YOU HAD TO CONFRONT DURING
THE RECORDING SESSIONS?
The recording took about 4-5 months, with
3 main recording sessions spaced out within this period. We encountered
the usual obstacles, for example we found that some things which worked
live simply didn’t work in the studio. Probably the biggest obstacle however
was the fact that the time between writing a song and then recording it
was shorter than desirable. We first entered the studio about 6 months
after we formed, so songs were being written and then recorded quite soon
after. This isn’t to say that the process was rushed, just that we had
to be very well rehearsed!
4. WHICH SONG THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED IN YOUR DEMO
TOOK YOU MORE TIME TO COMPOSE AND WHICH ONE CAME OUT VERY EASY AND WHY?
“Children of the Gods” probably took the most
time to compose. It’s the most complex song on the demo, there’s quite
a lot of dynamics and mood changes in comparison with the other 4 tracks,
so making sure that the song flowed well took a little bit longer, but
I think it paid off in the end. The first song we wrote was “Battle of
Cul Dreimne” and this came together faster than any of the other tracks.
We were sitting in the living room with our guitars unplugged, and we just
started idly jamming the riffs. Once we went into the practice room we
had most of the song finished in under an hour! This was probably because
the nature and energy of the riffs made it a very easy song to put together,
plus it was the starting point of developing two main aspects of our sound,
celtic rhythms and guitar harmonies, so there was a lot of enthusiasm and
excitement!
5. HAVE YOU NOTICED UNDER WHICH CIRCUMSTANCES
YOU BECOME MORE PRODUCTIVE AS MUSICIANS?
When we are all together and focused on the
song we are writing, and ideas and suggestions are coming from everyone,
or when we are pushing ourselves as a band and as musicians. Also we find
we’re more productive when we have a gig coming up which we really want
to be on top form for. We’ve been lucky enough to play with some of our
favourite bands, and this has always encouraged us to raise our game.
6. YOU USED THE NAME NEMESIS FOR YOUR BAND WHICH
IS THE NAME OF AN ANCIENT GREEK GODDESS. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT? DO YOU
KNOW THAT IT IS USED BY MANY OTHER METAL BANDS? DID YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS
WITH THEM?
It was actually chosen from a Warhammer book,
haha! We knew it was the name of a Greek Goddess, and when we read further
into Greek mythology, this probably helped increase our interest in our
own mythology, which is now of course an important aspect of our material.
We realize there are many bands using this name, however we chose it before
we had developed our sound, and we didn’t expect to generate interest outside
our own country so soon. We haven’t heard anything from other bands, but
we will probably change our name before our next release.
7. LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR LYRICS WHICH ARE INSPIRED
BY THE CELTIC MYTHOLOGY. DO YOU PLAN TO WRITE LYRICS ONLY FOR A SUBJECT
LIKE THIS OR ARE YOU INTERESTED IN OTHER MATTERS AS WELL?
Celtic mythology is indeed a large inspiration
for our lyrics, it’s something we are interested in and find it quite a
natural aspect to bring into our songwriting. However we do not limit ourselves
to this subject. For example, “The Curse” was inspired by Lord of the Rings.
Mythology will continue to inspire us no doubt, but not every song will
be based on a myth. We have a certain way of writing lyrics, and we want
to use this style to tell our own stories and convey certain experiences,
as well as bring to life the tales of ancient Ireland! I suppose its similar
to folk singers who sing old folk songs, but also use the folk style to
sing about their own experiences.
8. TELL US IN A FEW WORDS WHICH THE THEME OF EACH
SONG INCLUDED IN THIS ALBUM IS…
“Battle of Cul Dreimne” is an adaptation based
upon an actual battle which occurred around the time of Colm Cille in Ireland
in 560. Colm Cille was responsible for the battle, but escaped bloodshed
after fleeing to foreign lands.
“Blood of the Hound” tells the tale of the
legendary warrior “Cu Chulain” and his role in the famous “Ulster Cycle”
“The Curse” is inspired by LOTR, and is about
the Ring Wraiths or Nazgul.
“An Dagda Awakens” is about the Celtic War
God, An Dagda. He fought as High King of the Tuatha De Dannan against Balor
of the Evil Eye and the Formorians, and was slain by the poisonous dart
of Cethlinn, Balor’s wife.
“Children of the Gods” is about the return
of the Tuatha De Dannan, the original people of Ireland before the arrival
of the Celts. They returned from Europe and Scandinavia to reclaim their
land from the Formorians.
9. I CAN’T SAY THAT I KNOW MUCH ABOUT IRISH HISTORY,
BUT ONE THING THAT I KNOW FOR SURE IS THAT FOR LONG PERIODS IN THEIR HISTORY
IRISH PEOPLE WEREN’T UNITED AND THEY WERE FIGHTING EACH OTHER. WHY DO YOU
THINK THIS HAPPENED?
The relatively recent troubles are a political
issue, which as a band we are not interested in at all. Why did it happen?
Not enough metal!!! The Irish history we are interested in is pagan Ireland,
as this is the time when most mythology is derived from. Clans fought each
other for honour, land, vengeance and gain.
10. APART FROM THE SONGS THAT YOU HAVE INCLUDED
IN YOU DEMO, HAVE YOU GOT ANY NEW SONGS READY? WILL THE NEXT STEP OF NEMESIS
BE A DEMO RELEASE OR A FULL – LENGTH ALBUM?
Yes we have some new material ready which
we are very excited about. It is definitely a step up from what we have
written so far, not a departure but a development on our sound. There is
much more maturity in the songwriting, and we can’t wait to let people
hear our new songs. As far as the next release goes, it really depends.
Unless we acquire funding from a label, it will most likely be another
demo, however a full length album is something we are really interested
in, so if the opportunity came up we would gratefully take it. So we’ll
just see what the future holds really!
11. CAN YOU REMEMBER WHICH THE WEIRDEST DESCRIPTION
THAT YOU READ OR HEARD ABOUT YOUR MUSIC WAS?
We’ve been labeled everything from “NWOBHM-style”
to “Symphonic Destiny Metal”!!! We were called “Thrash” once, which was
irritating as we don’t see ourselves as thrash, and it’s quite a lazy description
of Nemesis. We are often described as True Metal, Epic Metal, or Traditional
Heavy Metal. The most accurate description is probably one we give ourselves,
which is Celtic laced, twin guitar, epic heavy metal. We don’t worry much
about genres, haha!
12. IS THERE A QUESTION THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO
BE ASKED IN AN INTERVIEW BUT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN ASKED? IF YES, NOW IT’S
YOUR CHANCE…
Well I suppose we like to support out local
scene at home as much as possible, so any questions about that are always
welcome! Our favourite Irish bands at the moment are probably Old Season,
Waylander, Primordial, Sinocence, The Watch. They’ve all helped us in some
way.
13. THE COVER ARTWORK IS VERY GOOD AND I APPRECIATE
IT MOSTLY BECAUSE IT IS NOT COMPUTERIZED. WHO IS THE PAINTER? DID HE LISTEN
TO YOUR MUSIC BEFORE HE DID THE COVER?
The artwork is something we have received
a lot of positive feedback over, which we’re really pleased about! It was
painted by our very own guitarist Sarah Wieghell. She is also an up and
coming artist, a very capable painter. To have our artwork computerized
was never really an option as we felt a painting would work best. The concept
of the cover is based on the song “Children of the Gods”. It depicts the
burning ships of the Tuatha De Dannan on the shoreline. According to legend,
when the Tuatha De Dannan returned to the shores, they burnt their ships
as a sign to the people that they were not leaving again, and journeyed
to the hills to prepare for battle.
14. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW!
THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU AND LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE READERS OF BEHIND
THE VEIL WEBZINE…
Well we’d just like to say thanks for the
review and this interview, and to the readers of Behind the Veil we would
ask them to check us out if you have not already done so, at www.nemesismusic.co.uk
or http://myspace.com/nemesismetal.
There are still a limited number of copies of our CD available also, at
www.midhirrecords.com
And hopefully we’ll see you at a gig someday!
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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