Folkearth
Folkearth is a band consisted
of 14 members from various countries all over Europe. A very original and
special band, don't you think? Ruslanas is the band's mastermind, the guy
who had the original idea, so we thought it would be interesting to ask
him some questions about the band and their debut release.
1.HELLO, FIRST OF ALL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW
IF FOLKEARTH IS A PROJECT OR A NORMAL METAL BAND THAT WILL RELEASE ALBUMS
PERIODICALLY?
Hello! FOLKEARTH are going to release a lot
of albums (I hope) if we find musicians who are interested in working with
us. At the moment we work on our second album!
2.WHO HAD THE IDEA TO CREATE A BAND THAT WILL
UNITE 15 MUSICIANS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE? WHICH WERE THE PROBLEMS YOU HAD
TO SURPASS IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS PROJECT A REALITY?
I had this idea some years ago and I'm really
happy that till now we haverelased our first album and that people really
like our band. A little mistake in yours question: On the first album we
were 14 members and not 15... Problems? The biggest problem was that we
lost some music sent by some musicians... And of course MARKUS from SWEDEN
did a big job with the mastering of our album and he recorded a lot of
music... But each member is very important for us.
3.I AM INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHAT KIND OF PROCEDURE
YOU FOLLOWED IN ORDER TO COMPOSE THE SONGS. HAVE ALL THE MUSICIANS CONTRIBUTED
TO THE COMPOSITIONS OR THE MAIN RIFFS ARE WORK OF ONE PERSON ONLY?
The idea is that different musicians record
different tracks, some melodies, etc.. And later we recorded the rest of
the instruments, the vocals, the drums on that music... Maybe except for
some tracks which were recorded by musicians from Sweden...
4.I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT YOU HAD RECORDED 60
MINUTES OF MUSIC BUT THE ALBUM HAS A DURATION OF ONLY 40 MINUTES. WHY DID
THIS HAPPEN? IS IT POSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO SOME OF THE MUSIC THAT YOU DIDN'T
INCLUDE IN YOUR DEBUT ALBUM ON AN UPCOMING RELEASE?
The problem was that the musicians sent about
20 minutes of recording time...But they sent the master CD without copying
it... The package was lost and we lost that music... I hope that we haven't
got the same problem with the second CD!
5.YOU PLAY FOLK METAL MAINLY INFLUENCED FROM THE
CELTIC MUSIC... IS IT POSSIBLE IN THE FUTURE TO ADD TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM
OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AS WELL?
I think that on the first album we weren't
influenced only by the celtic music... But fans will be surprised with
our second album! We have many new musicians and many new ideas!
6.RUSLANAS, YOU SEND ME AN EMAIL AND TOLD ME THAT
ON YOUR NEW RELEASE NOT ALL THE MUSICIANS THAT HELPED IN THE DEBUT ALBUM
ARE GOING TO PARTICIPATE. SO WHO LEFT THE BAND AND FOR WHICH REASONS? IS
IT POSSIBLE IN THE FUTURE TO ACCEPT ALSO NEW MEMBERS IN THE BAND?
I mentioned that only, because I didn't get
answers to my emails... I don't know why he didn't answer.. But I hope
that he will do something for us again! And about the new members...Of
course! I don't have anything 100% sure to tell you now, before I get the
music in my hands, but possibly there will be new members from UKRAINE,
IRELAND, SPAIN, USA, GERMANY, HOLLAND, RUSSIA and maybe some new from Sweden
and Greece!
7.WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO RELEASE YOUR SECOND ALBUM?
CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INFO ABOUT IT (TITLE, SONGS ETC) OR IS IT TOO SOON?
WILL YOU RELEASE IT FROM STYGIAN CRYPT OR WILL YOU SEARCH FOR ANOTHER LABEL?
No we don't search for another label at this
moment. Because Andrew from STYGIAN CRYPT is a very friendly person...
We like his promotion and what he did for us... The second album will be
titled:"BY THE SWORD OF MY FATHER". I can't say anything before the album
is released... Maybe in autumn-winter...But many musicians work now...
8.NOW I THINK IT'S TIME TO PRESENT THE MUSICIANS
THAT PARTICIPATE ON THE ALBUM AND TELL US THE OTHER BANDS THEY PLAY IN...
On the first album participated musicians
from bands like YGGDRASIL, ELUVEITIE, FOREFATHER, HROSSHARSGRANI, DOL AMROTH
and some other! I can't speak for our second album, before having the music
in my hands and listening to it... But believe me there will be many interesting
and good musicians! Possible we will have 20-30 members on our second album!
9.WHO WRITES THE LYRICS IN THE BAND? WHAT KIND
OF THINGS DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT?
All lyrics (except for "GRYNINGSSAN") of our
debut album were written by my good friend and member of our band MARIOS
KOUTSOUKOS from Greece! He wrote some lyrics for the second album too!
But there will also be lyrics from other musicians too!
10."GRYNINGSSANG" IS WRITTEN IN THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE
AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE STORY BEHIND THAT SONG. IS IT POSSIBLE IN
THE FUTURE TO WRITE SONGS IN OTHER EUROPEAN LANGUAGES APART FROM ENGLISH
AND SWEDISH?
Magnus wrote those lyrics... And he wrote
them because he had recorded the music and couldn't find lyrics suitable
for his music. So, he wrote the lyrics in Swedish! Yes on the second album
there will be lyrics in Russian and possibly one track in the Ancient Greek
language...
11.IS FOLKEARTH ONLY A STUDIO BAND OR DO YOU HAVE
PLANS TO DO ALSO A LIVE APPEARENCE AND HOW EASY OR DIFFICULT IS TO ACHIEVE
THAT?
You can see that we live in many different
countries... And at the moment it's really impossible for us to play live
shows... But never say never:)
12.HOW DID THE PRESS AND FANS RECEIVE YOUR NEW
RELEASE? WHAT WAS THE BEST REVIEW THAT YOU READ AND WHAT THE WORST? ARE
YOU SATISFIED WITH THE FEEDBACK AND THE ALBUM'S SALES TILL NOW?
At the moment we have spread about 80% copies
of the first album... We are really surprised, because we got very positive
reactions from many countries... Perhaps the only negative point is the
quality of sound... But everything was done in a home studio...And MAGNUS
did the best he could do with the mastering.. And maybe we will re-release
this album with a better mastering... We will see!
13.WHAT KIND OF EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS DO YOU WANT
TO CREATE TO THE LISTENER WITH YOUR MUSIC?
I think that our band will be appreciated
by fans of folk metal music... The main idea of our band is that there
are so many musicians from different countries playing in one band...
14.THIS IS THE END OF OUR INTERVIEW. GOOD LUCK
WITH THE BAND AND PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE THAT READ BEHIND
THE VEIL WEBZINE...
Thank you a lot for yours support! Everyone
can visit our webpage www.folkearth.cjb.net
And we send our regards to all yours webzine readers!!! We know there are
many metal fans in Greece...We hope they like our band too! Thanks again
for this great interview and for your support!
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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