While the music is always in focus for me, I have to admit that I find it incredibly interesting when the artists behind the music discuss their music (or when they discuss other artist’s music), which is one of the reasons why I enjoy reading, hearing, and watching interviews, which take us behind the music and behind the artist in question.
Here is a list of interviews that I and other collabs at the Metal Music Archives have made with various heavy metal artists this year, all of which are – of course – well worth reading if you are fans of the respective artists, and also if you have heard about them and want to know more. And, hell, even if you have never heard about them, have a look at the interviews anyway… who knows, you might want to check out their music having read about them.
The Reptilians (USA)
- Interview posted January 8, 2012
- Genre: Post-metal
- Topics discussed: the band’s style, humor in metal, the band’s writing process, typical lyrical content, the advantages of running your own label, Internet social media as promotion vehicles, cheeseburgers
- The Reptilians on their style of music: “The only was that we’ve accurately been able to describe our music is Applecore Metal. There are definitely elements from many different influences, we tend to utilize a lot of weird structures and about half of our songs are really long compositions. The names that seem to get dropped a lot when comparing our sound to well-known artists are bands like Isis, Mastodon, Tool and Opeth, though I think we do a good job of creating a unique sound that is our own.”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
X-Panda (Estonia)
- Interview posted January 8, 2012 (originally November 7 on the ProgArchives)
- Genre: progressive metal
- Topics discussed: the band’s history, the band’s name, the band’s style of music, the Estonian rock scene, the band’s Flight of Fancy album
- X-Panda on their style of music: “The style of X-Panda is progressive metal and fusion. The music of X-Panda moves both experienced musicians and just music lovers: the creations are full of surprises and changes of mood, sounds, complex rhythmical characters, rhythmic illusions, jazz-fusion chord progressions, mean and evil guitar riffs and in all this, one can also find heroic film music melodies that you can sing along to.”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
Spit Rusty (Denmark)
- Interview posted January 12, 2012.
- Genre: hard rock
- Topics discussed: the band’s name, the history of the band, hard rock as a genre, the Underwhelmed-EP track-by-track, the title of said EP, the making of the EP, Jew’s harps and banjos, Spit Rusty’s place in the local and international metal/rock scene
- Spit Rusty on their place in the hard rock scene: “I admire a lot of the metal/hard rock bands from the 80ies onwards – especially those who are still playing. We are just the new breed. We try to carry on a music tradition and at the same time we a very aware of being an original band. You have to bring something new to the table! In our case it’s fairly simple ‘cause we draw on so many inspirations, it’s really not a pitfall for us to become too generic.”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
Oceans of Night (USA)
- Interview posted: February 1, 2012
- Genre: progressive metal
- Topics discussed: the name of the band, the history of the band, the band’s style of music, multi-instrumentalism, the band’s two releases The Shadowheart Mirror and Domain, lyrics and vocals, the role of social media in music promotion
- Oceans of Night on their band name: “The name “Oceans of Night” implies the terms that can be used to describe the music: vast (big atmosphere, a large airiness, majestic) and enigmatic (mysterious, spacey, experimental).”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
Vielikan (Tunisia)
- Interview posted February 1, 2012
- Genre: progressive death metal
- Topics discussed: the history behind the band’s name, Vielikan and the death metal scene, the Tunisian metal and rock scene, lyrics, their album A Trapped Way for Wisdom.
- Vielikan on their music: “We bring the right inspiration, from brutal death, to extreme doom, to groovy, to traditional russian music, most of all Gitan folklore, and when you listen to Vielikan, you’ll might be referred to some other bands (as any band you listen to), but the combination we’re doing makes our music unique.”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
Liberteer (USA)
- Interview posted February 19m 2012
- Genre: Gtindcore
- Topics discussed: the name ‘Liberteer’, genres, one-man projects, politics, chapter breaks on albums, symphonic elements in grindcore
- Liberteer on the Libeteer style of music: “It has a lot of hybrid genres that switch back and forth and sometimes blend together. That’s why I called it anarcho-grind and called it a day. I’ve heard people call it symphonic grind or operatic grind, but I’m not sure that aptly describes it. I’m stumped!”
- Want to read the interview? Access it here.
Stay tuned for more!