PTB
PTB is a band whose music
stands for drama and power with weird structures and sounds that are there
only to serve the songs and nothing more... No showing offs, no exaggerations,
just pure and honest love for heavy metal. So find below what Chris, the
band's keyboardist told us about PTB and heavy metal industry.
1. HELLO! “HARVEST” IS A VERY INTERESTING
AND QUITE ORIGINAL ALBUM. CAN YOU TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT? HOW LONG
DID IT TAKE YOU TO COMPOSE THE SONGS AND WHERE HAVE YOU RECORDED IT? IS
THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE OR NOT?
It was really interesting to make. It
was all recorded in a home studio and we think we were able to pull a really
good sound for what we had. We recorded and mixed and produced over
a period of about 8 months. Of course we are all our worst critics
so every time we listen to it we have more criticism... but we are just
using that info for our next project. We sort of changed our order around...
released an album first and are now releasing an EP, haha. But everyone
is so excited about where we are going... we still have a strong PTB sound
like found in “Harvest” but our sound has matured and modernized too..
it's really hard to describe without everything sounding like a typical
rock cliché. But you definitely won't be disappointed.
2. OK! SINCE YOU ARE A NEW BAND CAN YOU GIVE US
SOME INFO ABOUT THE BAND STORY SO FAR AND PRESENT THE CURRENT LINE-UP?
HAVE YOU PLAYED IN OTHER BANDS BEFORE YOU FORMED PTB?
Well Feris started the band a couple of years
ago.. it was a project thing that started off slowly but gained more and
more momentum. We've had a couple line changes.. it started off as a 4
man band.. then the guitarist was actually deported and Brett joined.
A couple weeks later Chris joined on keyboards and then another guitarist
joined our line up. But that didn't work out and we found we pulled
a stronger, better sound with just Brett on guitar. Our drummer left
too and Christian joined and my goodness... it was such a blessing.
It was just like this new wave of passion pumped in us when this kid hit
the drums and PTB is sounding better than ever! Everyone has been into
music for a very long time... from cover bands to side projects to school
bands. You name it, and musically some one in the band has done it.
The current line up is:
Feris D'Nasti- Lead Vocals
Brett Bartlet- Guitar
Chris McLean- Keyboards/samples
Christian Nativo- Drums
3. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH I AM INTERESTED IN LEARNING
MORE ABOUT YOUR NAME. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE IT AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN? DO YOU
THINK THAT SOMEONE THAT WILL LISTEN TO YOUR NAME CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND
OF MUSIC YOU PLAY?
The original name of the band was Phantombola.
From that name came the initials PTB.. and PTB means a lot of things to
us. The official meaning is Powers That Be... it deals with everything
around us. How there is just some things we can't control, and some
greater power dictates what's going to happen. So there's no need
fussing over it and dwelling over what you can't change.. just go on..
rock on.. write music.. play what you want to how you want to because everything
happens for a reason. It isn't necessarily meant in a religious way
but we believe it's pretty powerful... and from that you can gather what
type of music you'll be listening to. Something with power and substance.
4. YOU ARE FROM AUSTRALIA, WHICH IS FAR FROM EUROPE
AND AMERICA, WHICH ARE THE CENTRES OF HEAVY METAL MUSIC. IS THAT A PROBLEM
TO YOU?
It really is because the Australian music
industry is really small.. and that's expected as the Australian population
and market is so small. So to be able to get heard and be able to
tour and live off of playing and writing music is so damn hard. Because
of that we are just packing up and going on our own tour around possibly
Japan and parts of the US, but definitely around Europe. We have to live
the dream.. if no one is going to help us then we'll have to do it ourselves.
It's a true rock and roll story.. going to film it and everything. We predict
lots of drama and entertaining moments... especially with Feris around.
hahaha
6. WHICH ARE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES THAT A METAL
BAND FROM AUSTRALIA HAS TO SURPASS IN ORDER TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL AND FIND
A CONTRACT WITH A LABEL?
Metal has got a good following.. fans of the
genre are such great fans.. devoted and passionate about their music.
The Australian 'metal heads' seem like a huge family to us.. a great
group of people. But like we said before, the industry as a whole is so
small that it's just hard. Hard with everything, from support to shows
to especially getting a label to invest in you. But there is so much
talent in Australia, I wish European and American labels would look 'down
under' for their next big thing.. they'd definitely find it in PTB!
7. NOW LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR MUSIC
STYLE... AS I SAID IN MY REVIEW YOUR MUSIC IS QUITE CLASSIC FOR THE NU-METAL
FANS AND VERY MODERN FOR THE CLASSIC METAL FANS. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT
IT? AREN’T YOU AFRAID THAT THIS MIGHT BE A BIG PROBLEM FOR YOU?
We just sat and wrote what we wanted to. The
album's songs styles change a bit.. and that came with when they were written.
The songs that Brett and Feris wrote sound a lot more modern... but with
classic elements as you perfectly put it. We didn't set out to try to mix
genres and styles.. it naturally happens when you have a group of diverse
musicians with very diverse music tastes. This band has so many ideas and
everything is always fairly put down. We always say 'whats best for the
song'.. attachment to songs get checked at the door... if Brett writes
a guitar riff but Feris changes the riff slightly, of course we are going
to decide on what's best for the song. Same goes with every part of the
song. But just wait till you hear our new stuff.. we've grown musically
and we've gotten better at turning our ideas and emotions into music. We've
never been so excited about anything. And after every band rehearsal we
get more and more pumped!
8. IS THE “HARVEST” CD THAT YOU HAVE RELEASED
ONLY FOR THE LABELS AND THE MAGAZINES OR WILL YOU RELEASE IT ALSO FOR THE
FANS?
Harvest was very much an experimental thing.
We are using it right now primarily in press packets and as a demo, but
we sell it at gigs and it is available online and at shops in Melbourne.
Check out our website at www.ptbonline.org
for more details.
9. DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW SONGS FOR A NEW ALBUM?
WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO RELEASE IT? WILL YOU RELEASE IT ONLY IF YOU FIND A
CONTRACT WITH A LABEL?
We are recording for our new project (actually
an EP not a full length album). We should be done some time early
next year. Songs are all written and as we said before, its sounding
amazing. We'll be sending that out to labels and selling it at shows..
when we get picked up then we'll go in and rerecord these songs as well
as some favorites from Harvest and some new songs that we already have
the ground work done for but won't make it on the EP.
10. TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR COOPERATION
WITH KBM INTERNATIONAL… ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THEM SO FAR?
KBM are awesome.. they are so passionate and
so dedicated. They really are the soldiers for Metal. Kimmy
is really helpful and we are always in correspondence with her. We
are more than happy with them... lets see what the future can bring for
the both of us!
11. I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE
A VIDEO-CLIP FOR A SONG OF YOURS. CAN YOU TELL US WHICH ONE IT IS? WHAT
DOES IT SHOW?
There was a clip that Feris did for Disremember.
It is posted on the website. Feris did everything himself with just
live footage and footage that he filmed of himself. Sort of like
a self project that he did. We are planning on doing a film
clip for one of our new songs, but we haven't decided which one yet.
12. LET’S SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAD THE SOURCES TO
DO A BIG BUDGET VIDEO-CLIP. WHICH SONG OF YOURS WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND HOW
DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
Ooh that's a hard one. We all think
about that every day... haha. From Harvest it would probably be Filter.
It'd be pretty dark, and have lots of protest shots and we'd be playing
on stage as they all march by.. as the song is against the American war
in Iraq. Feris actually did the lyrics as a tribute to Micheal Moore. If
from the new EP, we'd have to say either Psycho or Possession. (Those
names are very tentative and will most definitely change by release).
Both would be very dramatic and powerful... because that's how we see the
music.
13. I THINK IT’S TIME TO TELL US A FEW THINGS
ABOUT THE LYRICS. WHO IS THE MAIN RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM AND WHAT KIND OF
THEMES INTRIGUE YOU TO TALK ABOUT? CAN YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS WHICH
THE MEANING OF EACH SONG YOU HAVE INCLUDED IN THE “HARVEST” ALBUM, IS?
The main person responsible for lyrics is
Feris. He pulls from personal experiences and themes that inspire
him. It all depends on what he feels and what he is going through
that time.. writing music, from instruments to lyrics to vocal lines..
everything.. is just so personal and it really is a great escape and release.
Some of the themes are about breaking out the REAL person you are.. as
we are all trying to better ourselves in all ways. There are songs about
love and family but also even a song dedicated to Michael Moore from the
awful truth and his work on uncovering the control government has on everyone...
and there's even a song (Lean) about a brothel! Haha. It really is hard
to sum up our themes and lyrics in such short space.. especially since
from song to song things can change quite drastically. But if we had to
sum up the most common theme it would be about personal involvement in
everything.
14. LET’S SAY THAT TERMS LIKE HEAVY METAL, NU-METAL,
ETC. DON’T EXIST TO DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC. WHICH WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO MAKE
PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND OF MUSIC YOU PLAY?
Hard Rock/ with a classic melodic metal influence.
15. YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE SOME LIVE SHOWS WITH
SOME VERY GOOD METAL BANDS. CAN YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE
WITH THEM? WHICH WAS THE BEST BAND YOU HAVE PLAYED LIVE WITH? IS IT POSSIBLE
TO DO ANY LIVE SHOWS HERE IN EUROPE?
Edguy was amazing.. those guys are unreal.
They came down to Australia just because they love it so much.. they didn't
have a super massive following but they didn't care, they just came to
play music. That was really admirable. It really pumps you up when you
are playing with really good bands.. it also just makes you sound better
and people will give your music a chance because you have to be doing something
right to play with these bands. And with Europe, we will definitely be
doing live shows. We hope over next year, playing our own shows, support
for hopefully big bands, and who knows...
16. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND HOPE THAT YOU WILL
SOON FIND A CONTRACT WITH A LABEL! THE LAST WORDS BELONG TO YOU AND SEND
A HAIL TO THE READERS OF BEHIND THE VEIL WEBZINE…
Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity,
we truly are grateful. Thanks to every single one of our fans and for everyone
that supports us. We have a lot of things planned for the future, so definitely
stay tuned. Check out our website at http://www.ptbonline.org
for updates.. it's constantly being updated and there's a mailing list
and forum there too. This is just the beginning of things... you will not
be disappointed.
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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