Interview Pavillion666 (French Metal Magazine)
Pavillion666: Through your EP “Confess”, I can hear a lot of different influences, between progressive metal such as Tool & Mastodon (which are band I know you admire) and extreme modern metal... Which and who are your favourite influences to create you music? Are there any important names to you that I did not mention?
TSC: Because we listen to a lot of metal bands in different genres, it is hard to pick a few as favourite influences. We listen a lot to Mastodon and Tool so those bands are definitely a big inspiration and surely there are many more bands that left a few marks on us whilst writing songs. A few that come to mind are Opeth, Gojira, Chimaira and Strapping Young Lad. It is difficult to say to what extent those bands can be heard in our music though. We’ve also heard some people say that some parts reminds them of System of a Down, although that is not a band we listen to ourselves.
Pavillion666: Listening to “Confess”, I definitely heard your influences stepping into your own music... “Mastodoniac” tunes, “Toolian” rythms... Would you say that your influences are such decisive for you that you can not escape from them yet?
TSC: As said we do listen a lot to Mastodon and Tool but we do not feel they are the only inspiration for our music. In fact, we very much also try to incorporate elements in our songs that are not present in any one of the above mentioned bands. As a result, our music is not that easy to pinpoint. We’ve noticed, for example, that reviewers find it quite difficult to put a label on us.
Pavillion666: I guess that you're truly satisfied of your sound on the EP, aren't you? Even if not perfect, it is merely impressive for a non-signed band...
TSC: Thank you! Yeah, we are quite happy with the sound! We knew that we wanted a professional sound this time because the first demo was more or less recorded at home. After a long search we finally found producer Erwin Hermsen (Toneshed Recording Studio). He already had a lot of experience with producing metal bands and really helped us out a lot. We also took our time to determine the right guitar and bass sound and already look forward to record the next album with him which hopefully will be a full length.
Pavillion666: By the way, what did « Confess » convey to you? Any label in sight? … Are you thinking about touring outside massively? Any gig in France, for example?
TSC: At this moment we are primarily concentrating on promoting Confess and arranging gigs in the Netherlands. However, we are planning a small tour at the end of this year outside the Netherlands (Germany-Belgium-France). Of course we hope to play more outside the
Netherlands in the future. We are making plans to contact different labels in and outside the
Netherlands but we haven’t been contacted by any label yet. It would be great if we could sign a deal for the recording of a full length album..
Pavillion666: So in fact, do you think you're playing « the right style of metal at the right time? Even if you're not perfectly similar to those bands, some Textures in Netherlands, Gojira and Hacride in France and many others bring back progressive metal adding into it some modern sounds... And the result works on the public (even if we are talking about metal, so not much money, haha...). Do you feel close to this scene of metal?
TSC: The metal bands which we listen to are rather popular in today’s metal scene and such bands often mix a couple of different metal styles to create a modern sound. This definitely is something we are doing as well so in that sense maybe we are making the right style at the right time. So yes, we do feel close to this scene of metal. For us Textures is a great example of a Dutch metal band that has become very popular in the international metal scene, so I guess you might say they are a good example for us. Even though their style is different than ours, they also mix different metal styles and make their own modern sound. As for Gojira, to us that is one of the best metal bands at the moment. Very original song arrangements and kick ass sound! We lookforward to see them live in July when they play in our town for free!! You should come too!!
Pavillion666: Now let's talk about the artwork (which is, by the way, really good, in my opinion...) Apparently your guitarist made it... What do this tree and this strange landscape represent to you and your music?
TSC: The tree you refer to is actually a giant squid/fish-thing…haha. Our guitarist made something that kind of portrays the feeling we’ve got with the music in an abstract sense. Besides this we’ve tried to pinpoint the core subject of our lyrics so our guitarist could elaborate on that in his artwork. The lyrics discuss the subject of people blindly following authorities (as further explained below). Clearly, we feel very cynical about that. So the album cover shows the authorities attempt to control everyone and everything (in an abstract way of course). The front cover purposely does not refer to any specific religion or government in a literal sense, because we also wanted people to enjoy the artwork just for what it looks like. In terms of design, our guitarist wanted to do something cartoon like, but in a semi-realistic, authentic way. We would like people to remember the cover as something that stands out next to our fellow contemporaries.
Pavillion666: Duality, culpability, violence, fear (wow!)... Are there any real stakes or ideals in your text? Can you bring the light on it? Or is it just a bunch of lyrics just put on it to sing some words?
TSC: So yes, we definitely try to put some meaning into the lyrics, although we don’t want to be a band primarily renowned for its lyrics or ‘message’ in the music. To bring some light on the lyrics; they primarily refer to the negative impact of modern authorities, whether religion, politics, or otherwise, on our true freedom and the inability or indifference of us humans to withdraw ourselves from such negative impact. You could argue that anybody who blindly follows such authorities is guilty in one way or another. As such, there is much to “Confess”.
Pavillion666: The Sin Committee, Let me thank you sincerely, the interview is about to finish... I really hope you'll have a deal with a label... If it happens, bring us some news! I let you conclude...
TSC: Thank you very much, the pleasure was all ours. We will keep you informed if we make a deal, which is hopefully in the near future. Maybe it is also nice to mention that we are currently shooting a video for the title song Confess. In a few weeks we’ll post it our website, so be sure to check it out! Best regards and we are looking forward to read the review!