Suidakra
Suidakra is one of the
bands I really like cause they manage to compose interesting catchy music
with great hooks and melodies. Furthermore they are able to combine death
metal with folk music and create a really homogeneous and epic sound! So,
here we have Arkadius the band's mainman talking about their new release
"Caledonia" and not only...
1.HELLO ARKADIUS! HOW ARE YOU MY FRIEND? NOW
THAT “CALEDONIA” IS FINISHED, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT? WHICH ARE YOUR
EXPECTATIONS FROM THIS ALBUM?
Hi Nikos, thanx I’m fine. I have to admit
that I don’t have special expectations. Of course we hope that the fans
will like it but we don’t expect it. My personal expectations are fullfilled,
with leaving the studio with a 100% satisfying album.
2.WITH THIS ALBUM I SEE THAT YOU MAKE A TURN TOWARDS
YOUR EPIC/FOLK METAL ROOTS. HOW COME AND YOU DECIDED TO DO ANOTHER EPIC
ALBUM?
It was a natural process that “Caledonia”
turned into that kind of folk melodic death. There was a fresh breeze present
when we sat together with our guitars and started to write the songs for
"Caledonia". It simply made "click" and everything worked fantastic - the
melodies were fresh again, the parts suited like never before and we took
part of this inspiration, that sometimes makes you think that the music
is already there and you are just the one who gives it a shape.
3.PERSONALLY I THINK THAT IT IS CLOSE TO “THE
ARCANUM” AND “EMPRISE TO AVALON” ALBUMS. SOMETHING LIKE A CONTINUATION
OF THE 2 ABOVE MENTIONED ALBUMS. DO YOU AGREE?
Yeah, we did with "Lays from afar" our first
concept album where we had a fantasy story that was much inspired by Celtic
myths and on "Emprise to Avalon" and "The Arcanum" we had a story which
has a real tradition that we mixed up with fantasy to get a good story.
Of course we combined on your mentioned albums
the lyrics and music so all the SuidAkrA concept albums have a special
similar atmoshpehe.
4.“CALEDONIA” IS A CONCEPT STORY. CAN YOU TELL
US A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE CONCEPT? WHICH IS THE ELEMENT THAT FASCINATES
YOU IN THE STORY OF THE CELTS?
"Caledonia" is a lyrical concept album about
the picts (the ancient Scottish) and their battle against the Roman Empire.
The idea is to figure out the mystical aspect of the old tribe of the picts.
There’s a lot of space for interpretation and fantasy, because there is
not that much historical tradition known about them. So the theme we want
to focus on, is the coincidence of two completely different worlds... On
the one side people who live very close to nature only with oral tradition,
and a rich of folklore - on the other side an empire, that is heading out
to conquer the world with a very effective method, because they used to
overwhelm their enemies and then they gave them back some authority and
started to mix up their culture with their modern way of life. Well Marcel
brought that Celtic lyrics into our music. He had, and still has, great
interest in Celtic history and mythology and when we started to mix our
music with folk elements it was just clear that our lyrical way also had
to pick up this theme.
5.“SIGNS FOR THE FALLEN” AND “COMMAND TO CHARGE”
ARE 2 CDS THAT HAVE A MORE MODERN SOUND. FOR A MOMENT I THOUGHT THAT YOU
WOULDN’T COMPOSE AGAIN EPIC MUSIC. CAN WE SAY THAT WITH THOSE 2 ALBUMS
YOU WANTED TO EXPERIMENT A BIT?
Yes I agree with you because when we started
to write new songs for the “Command To Charge” album, we had the feeling
to do something new after six releases. The riffs and melodies sounded
not fresh enough and we didn’t want to copy ourselves. We also had this
feeling on the “Signs for the fallen” album. During the songwriting for
"Caledonia" we realized that we had the necessary distance to get new inspirations
and really fresh ideas.
6.HAVE YOU DONE ANY VIDEO-CLIPS FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM?
IF YES, WHICH SONG DID YOU CHOOSE TO VISUALIZE? WILL YOU DO ANY OTHERS
FROM THE “CALEDONIA” RELEASE?
Yeah we did 2 video clips. We chose "The IXth
Legion" & "Forth Clyde" because these 2 songs represent the new album
very well. You can see the clips on www.myspace.com/suidakra
or on www.suidakra.com.
It was really something new for us to be in front of the camera and to
play one song over and over again with a lot of changes on the set. I think
the most difficult part was to make some action without having a crowd
hahaha. But after a few tests we concentrated ourselves on the work. It
was funny to do the forest filming because from time to time there were
some joggers. We thought it looked strange to the normal people seeing
four painted metal guys standing round in the forest and banging around.
But they were cool and fascinated.
7.THIS TIME “A BLACKENED SHIELD” CONTAINS BIG
PARTS WITH CLEAR VOCALS. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THAT? DO YOU PLAN TO
CONTINUE USING CLEAN VOCALS TO YOUR NEXT ALBUM AS WELL?
During Marcel’s break he started a new project,
but without any ambitions for success, just for fun - it sounds like "Black
Label Society" or "Clutch" and he did only the vocals. This turned out
very positive for Suidakra, because he focused himself on improving his
singing and surprised us all when we did the first recordings in the rehearsal
room. Clean vocals were always part of the SuidAkrA sound, so if there’s
gonna be another SuidAkrA album, you will also hear some clean vocals ;-)
8.IT’S A TOUGH THING TO CREATE EPIC EMOTIONS THROUGH
YOUR MUSIC. HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED WHICH CIRCUMSTANCES OR STIMULANTS
HELP YOU CREATE EPIC MUSIC?
For me personally it’s music. I listen during
the songwriting to a lot of classic and folk influenced music. I love movie
soundtracks by Hans Zimmer and everytime I listen to his work I get many
ideas for bombastic and epic stuff. When we enter the rehearsal room there
is a different atmosphere and this is the point where the epic parts are
combined with Death Metal Riffs.
9.DO YOU HAVE A CONTACT WITH GREEK METAL FANS?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME AND PLAY A LIVE SHOW HERE?
The only way we communicate with Greek metal
fans is via myspace. We answer every message & comment. Of course we
would like to come over to play live, because we never did before. But
unfortunately it depends on promoters to invite SuidAkrA, so the only thing
we can do now is wait & hope ;-)
10.WHICH WAS THE WORST AND WHICH THE BEST COMMENT
THAT YOU READ SO FAR ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM?
A few weeks ago I read a comment of a girl,
who wrote that our music changed her life. Such personal comments are really
great, because they prove that music is a universal language no matter
in which country, religion etc.
11.IS THERE A QUESTION THAT YOU’D LIKE TO BE ASKED
BUT PEOPLE NEVER ASKED YOU? HERE IS YOUR CHANCE…
What is the meaning of the name SuidAkrA hahahaha…
Just kidding… No there is no special question… Maybe: Are you gay? Answer:
No. Hahaha
12.THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND WISH
YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS! THE LAST LINES BELONG TO YOU…
A big thanx to you for the interview and to
all the metal fans who support SuidAkrA in any way. We'll see you on the
road this year! Cheers
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
|