DEBASE
Expect The Unexpected. Well
I believe that this phrase matchs perfectly with DEBASE. Why? Well, when
I was reading the bio their label sent me and in specific where it mentions
the band's influences (referring to bands like RAMMSTEIN, MACHINE HEAD
etc.) I thought that I had to do with a NU - Metal band. Few secs later
and after pushing the play button on my stereo, I was shocked, simply cause
this band's music had nothing to do with the above mentioned bands. DEBASE's
music can be described as DOOM metal full of inspiration and imagination.
An album that I listen to everyday since I got it. Here you will read the
interview with the main man of the group, Micko Twedberg, (bass), who is
responsible for this great album...
1.FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS FOR
"UNLEASHED"! IT BLEW MY HEAD OFF!!! IT'S ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS I'VE HEARD
LATELY!
2.SO, WHAT HAPPENED TO DEBASE FROM
THE RELEASE OF "DOMINATION" TILL "UNLEASHED"?
-
We have been working on the songs for
“Unleashed” and after the tour with Judas Priest we got an offer to join
Annihilator and Seven witches on a tour in Europe, when we found out that
our label wasn’t interested to help us out with the finances to go, we
decided to brake up with them and go on the tour by our own means, we invited
some labels to come during the tour and Sanctuary/Noise was one of them.
3.I BELIEVE THAT MUSIC'S MAIN ESSENCE
IS THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE FEELINGS IT CREATES TO THE LISTENERS AND ABOVE
ALL "UNLEASHED" IS A GATHERING OF EMOTIONS WRAPPED UP IN A DARK, MELANCHOLIC
AND A BIT AGGRESSIVE ATMOSPHERE. HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT FOR YOU TO CHANNEL
ALL THOSE ELEMENTS INTO YOUR MUSIC? "UNLEASHED" MAKES ME FEEL LIKE IT'S
YOUR THOUGHTS TURNED INTO NOTES. IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED TO ACHIEVE AFTER
ALL?
-
Since we recorded and produced the
album ourselves there was nothing complicated about getting it the way
we wanted, it’s just extremely honest and as close to a live experience
as I’ve ever heard on a studio album.
4.WHERE WAS THE ALBUM RECORDED? WHO
WAS THE PRODUCER? DID IT TAKE YOU A LONG TIME TO COMPOSE AND RECORD THE
SONGS? ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT? IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING
NOW, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
-
The album is recorded by me in our
own studio here in Malmoe, we produced it ourselves, mainly by me, Johan
and Jonas. We mixed it at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg to get Fredrik Nordströms
expertise and an outside opinion on the sound. There’s nothing we would
like to change, not a thing.
5.COULD YOU TELL US IN A FEW WORDS
THE MAIN SUBJECTS THIS ALBUM DEALS WITH? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE LYRICS?
COULD YOU SPEAK SHORTLY FOR EACH SONG PLEASE?
-
It deals mostly with the chaos and
all the wrongs that are going on in the world today, but there's also pure
fiction, short stories.
6.I'D LIKE ESPECIALLY TO KNOW ABOUT
"SCHIZOFRENIA", "SYMPHONY FOR THE UNHOLY" AND "HELLRAISER". IS THE LAST
ONE A TRIBUTE TO CLIVE BARKER'S BOOK? AS FOR "SCHIZOFRENIA" IT MADE ME
FEEL LIKE YOU REALLY KNOW ABOUT IT. YOU MUST HAVE SEARCHED THE SUBJECT
A LOT. RIGHT? WHAT ABOUT "SYMPHONY FOR THE UNHOLY"? IS IT A LOVE STORY,
A VAMPIRE STORY OR BOTH?
-
Well I don't know if there are any
voices in Michaels head, Hellraiser is about the face of evil that can
be seen everywhere these days, the Symphony is probably both a love story
and about the passion that’s always a part of the vampire stories.
7.WHAT IMPRESSED ME A LOT IS THE PASSION
OF THE VOCALIST. HIS PERFORMANCE IS SIMPLY STUNNING!!! I AM NOT EXAGGERATING
TO SAY THAT THE WAY HE INTERPRETS THE SONGS BROUGHT SHIVERS TO MY SPINAL
CHORD... WHICH IS HIS SECRET WHEN HE SINGS? DOES HE FOCUS ON A SPECIFIC
EVENT OR FEELING?
-
He’s very theatrical and he goes very
deep into the characters or the stories in the songs, when we play live
it’s impossible to contact him, he’s somewhere else.
8.WELL, I READ YOUR BIO AND I DON'T
AGREE WITH THE INFLUENCES THAT ARE WRITTEN IN IT. I MEAN OK YOU HAVE SOME
NU METAL TINGES, BUT ACCORDING TO ME, THEY ARE NOT SO MANY TO BE MENTIONED.
I CAN'T HEAR ANY RAMMSTEIN OR MACHINE HEAD ELEMENTS AND I THINK THE BIO
IS LIKE DESCRIBING THE SOUND OF A TOTALLY DIFFERENT BAND. I DON'T THINK
YOU ADDRESS TO A NU-METAL AUDIENCE ONLY. SO, COULD YOU NAME SOME OF YOUR
INFLUENCES AND SOME OF YOUR MOST BELOVED BANDS?
-
The only band that all of us like is
Black Sabbath, but who doesn´t?? Apart from that our favorites ranges
all the way from Elvis, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and early punkbands thru
Iron Maiden to f.x. Korn and Machinehead, this is probably one of the reasons
that our sound and musical style is pretty unique.
9.ON THE SAME TOPIC, IF YOU ASK ME,
I'D SAY THAT YOU ARE A DARK DOOM-THRASH BAND WITH A MELANCHOLIC ATMOSPHERE
AND A MODERN TOUCH. AS FOR BANDS I'D NAME METALLICA, CANDLEMASS AND NEVERMORE
MAINLY IN THE ATMOSPHERE. IN THE NU-METAL TOUCHES YOU HAVE, YOU SOUNDED
TO ME A BIT LIKE WHITE ZOMBIE, SINCE THEIR MUSIC IS DOOMY AND VOLUMINOUS
TOO. DO YOU AGREE?
10.NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE ARTWORK.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IT? CAN YOU DESCRIBE IT FOR THE READERS?
-
I made the artwork and I have always
done that kind of work for the band, probably because I was the only one
that had a computer when we started playing together, since then it has
developed to be a hobby of mine, artworks, websites, as I mentioned earlier
- recordings and now when the album is finisshed, there will probably come
a self produced music video. The artwork for Unleashed is just some things
combined that I feel describes the raw sound of the music.
11.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR TOURING?
WITH WHICH BANDS WILL YOU GO ON TOUR?
-
No plans yet, we are playing a show
here in Malmoe in March and then we’ll play on Sweden Rock Festival 10-12
June, after that we’ll see. My personal favorites has always been Iron
Maiden, so that would be cool, also the size of their gig would suit us
fine, DEBASE is best viewed in arena size venues.
12.YOU HAVE BEEN THE OPENING ACT FOR
SOME HUGE BANDS LIKE ALICE COOPER, JUDAS PRIEST AND ANNIHILATOR. HOW DID
YOU MANAGE BEING A NEW BAND TO SUPPORT THEM? WHAT DID YOU EARN FROM EACH
EXPERIENCE? WHO WAS THE MOST HELPFUL AND FRIENDLY WITH YOU?
-
We believe that going on tour with
legends like Cooper and Priest is the best way to do it because the crowd
already knows what the headlines will give them so they are more open to
connect with the opening act.
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
-
The emotion would probably be anger
and the painting would probably show some kind of big dirty heavy machinery.
14.WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE
BEST AND WHICH THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH IS YOUR TRADEMARK?
-
The best about Debase-metal is the
dynamics and the honest and straight forward sound. There is nothing, according
to me, that is bad. Debase trademark is the full-frontal-in-your-face-power.
15. WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK COULD
BEST DESCRIBE YOUR NEW ALBUM AND YOUR MUSIC IN GENERAL?
-
Same as Debase trademark above.
16.ARE YOU SATISFIED BY THE FEEDBACK
YOU GOT THIS FAR? IS THERE A COMMON ELEMENT YOU GET TO READ IN ALMOST ALL
THE REVIEWS YOU RECEIVE?
-
Yeah we’re really satisfied so far,
hmm… everyone wonders howcome they’ve never heard of us before and almost
everyone complements the sound.
17.WHICH IS THE WEIRDEST/FUNNIEST QUESTION
SOMEONE'S EVER ASKED YOU?
-
I recently got the question, what I
would do if I found our music in a pornmovie……??
18.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION? LEAVE A MESSAGE...
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Go buy “DEBASE-Unleashed” and see for
yourself!!!
Christine Parastatidou
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