CALLENISH
CIRCLE
Callenish
Circle could be surely described as the new rising force for The Netherlands.
I wasn't familiar with their previous releases so the listening of "My
Passion // Your Pain" came like a thunder in a bright blue sky to me. Amazing,
incredible and the list of praising words goes on and on...but let's see
what their drummer Gavin has to tell us...
1.CONGRATULATIONS FOR "MY PASSION//YOUR
PAIN"! EXCELLENT PIECE OF WORK!
Thank you very much! I must say
that we're very satisfied with the final result. This is definetely the
best piece of art we've ever delivered.
2.POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS
OF THE BAND'S CAREER AND INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE READERS.
I'm Gavin, drummer of Callenish
Circle since 1994. In 1995 we recorded our first demo tape. I can say that
that was one of the most memorable moments because the reviews of that
tape were simply awesome. In a lot of reviews people called us the
next big thing from The Netherlands next to acts as Gorefest, Pestilence
and The Gathering. Well... during the years we had worked hard to record
some albums but in 2000 we came up to a point where we were asking ourselves
if it would make sense to invest as much time and money in the band because
all efforts we did we didn't really manage to bring the band any further.
Well... at that moment we were pretty pissed and angry because of all the
label bullshit we went through. In 2001 we put all our anger into the recordings
of 'Flesh_Power_Dominion' and suddenly it happened. Metal Blade offered
us a worldwide 4-album-deal contract! So since the deal with Metal Blade
we only saw highlights like the European Tour, a spot on the Ozzfest and
our new album 'My Passion // Your Pain'.
3.TO BE HONEST I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH
YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES, SO COULD YOU FILL ME IN AND DESCRIBE ON WHICH FIELD
OR ELEMENT YOU'VE PROGRESSED FROM ALBUM TO ALBUM?
Well... I can be pretty short in
this. Our first own compositions are more Death / Doom-oriented. We always
had those typical staccato guitar rifs and guitar melodies. If you listen
to all the albums you'll notice that Callenish Circle gained more and more
speed and the music became more aggressive and intense. Although... we
kept on using the typical guitar sound.
4.YOU HAVE A NEW ALBUM OUT "MY PASSION//YOUR
PAIN". COULD YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT IT (WHERE IT WAS RECORDED,
WHO WAS THE PRODUCER, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU, ETC.)? ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED
WITH IT OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
The recordings took place in January
/ February 2003 at Stage One Studio in Germany. The producer was Andy Classen.
It took us about 5 weeks to finish the recordings and another week for
the final mix. I can say that these are the recordings I'm the most satisfied
with of all recordings we've done so far. The sound is absolutely killer.
The whole record sounds fuckin' tight. When you go to a studio for the
second time as we did, you better know how the producer is working and
how you can make best advantage of the studio equipment. For those recordings,
there is absolutely nothing I'd like to change. 100% satisfied!!!
5.THE PRODUCTION IS VERY GOOD, CLEAR
AND HEAVY AND I AM REALLY GLAD YOU RECORDED IT IN A NOT SO FAMOUS STUDIO
LIKE MOST BANDS DO. I THINK THAT THIS SHOWS PERSONALITY AND YOU KNOW HOW
YOU WANT TO SOUND. SO, AFTER ALL DO YOU BELIEVE BANDS THAT RECORD THEIR
ALBUMS IN THOSE SPECIFIC 3-4 FAMOUS STUDIOS HAVE A LACK OR PERSONALITY
OR IDEAS AND TRY TO "HIDE" THEIR WEAKNESS BEHIND A FAMOUS PRODUCER AND
STUDIO?
Well.. the reason that we chose
the Stage One Studio was simply because we were convinced that he could
give us the sound that we wanted. Another thing that's also pretty important
is the budget. We can't afford to hire a studio for 6 months with a producer
like Andy Sneap.
6.I THINK THAT YOU'VE MANAGED TO ACHIEVE
THE RIGHT ANALOGY BETWEEN ANGER AND MELODY. THERE IS A CONSTANT PROGRESS
BETWEEN HEAVY AND MELODIC RIFFS. WAS IT DONE ON PURPOSE? I MEAN THE ALBUM'S
TITLE CONTAINS 2 DIFFERENT AND YET SO BONDED IDEAS. SO, DID YOU COMPOSE
HEAVY, FAST, SHARP RIFFS TO EXPRESS PASSION AND MELODIC ONES TO EXPRESS
THE PAIN? HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT FOR YOU TO ACHIEVE THIS BALANCE?
As long as we're composing music,
we always had this balance between melody and anger. I think it's in our
nature to write music like this. When we are composing we're not really
thinking about how many melodies a song contains. The music comes out of
our soul and we feel if a song is finished. When we've finished the basics
of a song it can take months before a song is finally finished. One thing
we try to achieve is to create songs that have their own identity but still
sound like Callenish Circle.
7.WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO?
IS THE WHOLE ALBUM A CONCEPT PERHAPS AROUND THE IDEA OF PASSION AND PAIN?
WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE FIND PLEASURE IN VIOLATING AND INTRUDING OTHER
PEOPLE'S LIVES? THERE ARE ALWAYS PEOPLE THAT WANT TO BE THE PREDATOR BUT
AT THE SAME TIME THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO BE THE VICTIMS. YOU'LL ALWAYS
FIND PEOPLE VIOLATED, MOLESTED, HARASSED, ETC. WHO ACCEPT THIS SITUATION
AND IN A WAY CAUSE SUCH THINGS TO HAPPEN TO THEM WITH THEIR ACTIONS. CAN
YOU GIVE AN EXPLANATION? I SURELY CAN'T...!
All lyrics handle about human emotions
like anger, grief and of course passion and pain. It's not a concept album,
but the idea of passion and pain is in a few songs, like 'My Hate Unfolds'
and the trilogy 'My Passion // Conflicts // Your Pain'. The thought of
people finding pleasure in intruding other people's life isn't that strange.
There are lots of examples where you can project this concept on, like
Sadam Hussein and the people of Iraq or a childmolester Vs. the child.
Why people want this... I don't know... in some situations it surely is
pretty bizzare.
8.THE LAST 3 SONGS OF THE ALBUM ARE
SOMETHING LIKE A TRILOGY, BUT NOT AN ORDINARY TRILOGY WITH IDEAS REPEATED
FROM ONE SONG TO ANOTHER, BUT THE SONGS CAN ALSO STAND ON THEIR OWN AND
THEIR ATMOSPHERE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF THE SONGS, THEY ARE DARKER.
WHAT MADE YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT? IS THERE A CHANCE TO USE MORE
MELODIC AND ACOUSTIC GUITARS IN THE FUTURE? WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER OF
ADDING CLEAN VOCALS?
I had the idea for a long concept
song for quite a while now. When we're composing the songs Ronny came up
with the riffs and we had pretty quick the idea to put those together as
a long concept song. To make sure everyone understood the trilogy we decided
to devide the long song into three seperate songs. I agree that these tracks
have a different atmosphere. I personally think they have kind of the same
dark atmosphere as our music back in 1995-1998. If we think some different
sounds of instruments fit into a particular song we won't hesitate to use
it. We are open for every kind of influence and sound but we keep one thing
in mind and that's keeping our music heavy, dark and aggressive. We don't
want to end up as an electronic sounding semi rock-band.
9.I KNOW THAT YOU WILL SOON START A
BIG TOUR AND ANOTHER BIGGER ONE AT FALL. TELL US ABOUT IT. DO YOU HAVE
THE SCHEDULE? IS THERE A CHANCE TO COME FROM GREECE? THIS SOUND YOU KNOW
IS POPULAR OVER HERE.
Well.. last week we ended a mini
tour with Dismember and Dutch Thrashers Flesh Made Sin. In the summer we
will play some summer festivals o.a. the Wacken Open Air and Summerbreeze
fest in Germany. In the fall we will hit the European road again with a.o.
Exodus, Nuclear Assault and Behemoth. Unfortunately there are no shows
planned in Greece, but if we ever have the chance of doing some, we won't
hesitate.
10.COULD YOU NAME SOME NEW ALBUMS YOU'VE
LISTENED TO AND YOU FOUND REALLY INTERESTING? HAVE YOU NOTICED ANY PROMISING
NEWCOMERS?
Well.. I must say that there aren't
many cd's that I'm really impressed with. I like the new albums from Masterplan
and Circle II Circle. Further the new God Dethroned album is really a killer.
11.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
If I have to choose an emotion
I would say 'Dilemma'.. Why? I don't know... it's just the first word that
crosses my mind. A painting isn't really hard. I would choose the front
cover of the new album. Modern touch and the paining represents a
certain contradiction, something that's also to be heard in the music:
the contradiction between the aggressive and the melodic parts.
12.WHICH IS THE STRANGEST/FUNNIEST
QUESTION SOMEONE'S EVER ASKED YOU?
"May I have your towel?!", well...
a few weeks ago we had a minitour with Dismember and a couple of 45 years
old seemed to be big fans of Callenish Circle. They wanted everything from
the band even my sweaty towel. Pretty bizzare I think...
13.WHICH IS THE WORST NIGHTMARE YOU'VE
EVER SEEN?
Worst nightmare... I don't have
much nightmares but one of the less pleasant dreams I had was the well
known 'being chased'-dream.
14.IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE
CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASK HIM?
Mmm.. somthing like 'Why did you
create mankind?' or maybe 'Where is your beard and your grey hair?' hahaha
15.YOU ARE GRANTED ONE WISH. WHAT WOULD
YOU DO WITH IT?
Your asking pretty deep questions...
I have to think about this pretty long... Well... give everyone on this
planet a common sense. I think this saves the world from a lot of trouble.
If this isn't possible I'd like a new BMW :)
16.IF YOU COULD MEET A HISTORICAL FIGURE
OR AN IMPORTANT PERSON, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE HIM TO BE AND IS THERE ANYTHING
YOU'D LIKE TO ASK HIM?
I would like to meet my grandfather;
my dad's dad. I never knew him because he died before my birth. But people
say that I look a lot like him I think it would be really interesting to
talk to him.
17.IF YOU HAD TO GIVE A TITLE TO YOUR
MUSIC AND TO YOUR MUSIC CAREER IN GENERAL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Jeezzzz... mmmmmmm.... 'My Passion
// My Pain'.
18.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
Nope... I wouldn't dare to ask
you to ask me something else. Normally I don't have to think this hard
to find some sensible answers. Thank you for the interview!!!!
Christine Parastatidou
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