Torian
Torian is the new force
from Germany and recently they released their debut album through Underground
Symphony. Read the interview that we did with them in order to find out
things about their thoughts and the future.
1. First of all please tell us in short
the history of Torian. If I am not mistaken the decision to form the band
was taken in a past Wacken festival?
We founded the band in 2002. Sorry, we never
played in Wacken so far :-) I see that our band info can be misunderstood.
Our former drummer and me were drunk on the camping place fixing the first
session. That´s anything what´s got to do with Wacken. In November
of the same year we started to practice regular with Alex (lead guitar)
and Tobias (bass). In February 2004 we started to search for a singer.
Para (v.), an old friend of mine, whose voice I have known before from
other regional bands, signalized interest. We had a rehearsal together
with our present cover song "Eye of the tiger", he,he. We were convinced
by his powerful voice, which can transport the emotions of our songs like
no one else! So Torian really was born at this point of time. In June 2003
we had our first live gig in our hometown, which was absolutely fantastic.
After our second gig on a regional Open Air, we started to record our first
Demo EP called "Into the Winter" incl. three songs. With that we were able
to fix gigs in other places. In October 2004 we had our first line up change.
For Manuel Will now David Hambach destroys the drums...
2. You released a demo last year. How were
the reactions for this?
The release of the demo was in 2003. The reactions
were surprisingly very good.
3. Did you sign the deal with Underground Symphony
with this demo?
Yes, we sent the demo to US Records. Maurizio,
the label chief, answered immediately. He made the best offer of all, so
we signed soon.
4. Tell me some details about your debut album.
The album has 10 songs, which include everything
that has got to do with Power Metal: There are epic songs, but also fast
Thrash and Speed stuff. The first 2000 pieces are available in a noble
digipack. We recorded the album in a local studio called Westwood Recordings,
which is in our hometown.
5. So far are you satisfied with the help from
your label?
Well, that´s a good question. We have
known from the beginning that US are a quite small label with limited possibilities.
I think they do the best they can. Through the label our CD is available
in shops all over the world. But they share the problem of the majority
of the labels: they haven´t seemed to recognize yet that in these
times live gigs are the best promotion for a band, not even good reviews
in the first line. There are many bands with good reviews. But in the Power
Metal scene not many good live bands, in my opinion. They should more actively
organize gigs, but ´till now they haven´t done this...
6. Have you played any live shows so far?
Oh yes, I said, live gigs are the best promotion
for a band like us. Live gigs belong to the main reasons why we play our
music. We try to play as much as we can live. So far we already have played
in nearly all parts of Germany, and sometimes with well known bands, for
example Overkill, Mob Rules and Stormwarrior. This year we will rock with
Zed Yago, and next year with Rebellion! I told you that this is the best
promotion for a Metal band. Concerning the selling of CDs after the shows,
we can see that we rock. This is the reason why we are the best CD-sellers
of the Underground Symphony Signings of 2005. We haven´t made our
name and CD selling because of good reviews, we did it by playing live!!!
Although we are happy about every good review ;-)
7. Have you already written any new songs?
Yes, we already started the songwriting process.
We recorded our first new song and want to make a video. More or less all
songs for the new album are written in their raw version. We start to practice
the songs and work on them.
8. Can you describe your music to someone that
hasn’t ever listened to you?
That´s always quite difficult. I think
we play powerful Heavy Metal with Thrash und Epic influences, performed
by an emotional singer with balls. That means there is no cheesy Helloween
copy. We try to make our own Heavy Metal stuff. Maybe, if you like Iced
Earth, Blind Guardian or Rage, you may like our sound. Don´t know...
9. Your wildest dream about Torian?
Oh, I do not think anymore that we can live
one day by the music. I play it now for many years in a lot of bands, and
you lose many illusions, especially concerning the biz. With every step
our dreams more and more come true. In these days we have a quite big name
in the live scene of Northern Germany´s Underground, which means
that the gigs in these regions come to us from themselves. Maybe tomorrow
we get a bigger label, have regular gigs on bigger festivals with bigger
bands, and after tomorrow we are able to play a little tour. That´s
it, who knows what comes or not comes. Now we are able to play many live
gigs out of our home region, and we get paid for all fixcosts and more
often now higher gages. That´s great and more what the majority of
other little German bands have...
10. What is the meaning of your band name?
"Torian" is the protagonist of the book "The
Saga of Garth and Torian", written by Wolfgang Hohlbein. Hohlbein is the
most famous German fantasy writer, in my opinion, the German Tolkien. I
am a big fan of his books. One of our new songs will also deal with one
of his great stories. People from foreign countries may know the books
"Azrael" or "The Sorcerer of Salem" (?)
11. Can you tell us some words about the lyrics?
Our lyrics deal with many themes. Sometimes
you find fantasy stuff, like our band hymn "Torian" which deals with a
mentioned Hohlbein theme, or typical True Metal stuff ("Born to win") or
social critics like "History Falls" and "Mind the Danger" (Fuck Nazis!!!).
But the lyrics aren´t that important like the emotions of the music.
The main thing is that they have a meaning at all.
12. Thanks for your time and close the interview
as you want.
Thank you for the interview! And to all your
readers: Give us a chance, surf www.torian-legion.de
and listen to our music! A big hail to the fantastic scene of Greece! I
was one day in Athens. I´ll never forget the metal party I had!!!
Hope to see you on stage one day! METAL FOREVER!!!!
Antonis Maglaras
|