Intense
I am absolutely enthralled
at this band! I don't have anything to say... I suppose my review speaks
for itself!!! Intense is an intriguing, amazing power metal band from the
UK that has everything required in order to pursue a worldwide career.
You should definitely check them out, cause they surely have everything!
Undoubtedly one of the best power metal releases of this year!!!!! So,
read what Sean, the band's singer, told us in this huge interview and enjoy
yourselves!
1. CONGRATULATIONS FOR “SECOND SIGHT”! IT’S
AN ASTONISHING ALBUM!!! YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF IT!!!
SH: Thanks Christine, we’re really pleased
with the album and it was worth all the hard work.
2. WELL, SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE COME
ALONG YOU, I’D LIKE YOU TO POINT OUT SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS
OF INTENSE’S HISTORY. PLEASE INTRODUCE ALL THE BAND MEMBERS TO THE READERS
OF BEHIND THE VEIL…
SH: Okay well the band’s been around for a
little while but got serious when we released an EP called “Dark Season”
in 1997 on my own label Full Volume Records. The EP did very well for us
and we got distribution in quite a few countries (including Greece, though
on a small scale). We got it into over 30 of the larger HMV’s over here
and it sold out which was great. “Dark Season” also got distributed in
Japan through Soundholic. After the band toured “Dark Season” the guys
and I grew apart in our musical tastes and they wanted to go more Machine
Head rather than Power Metal so I told them that was not how I saw INTENSE
going and we split. I rebuilt the band. First in was Nick Palmer on guitar.
Nick had played with the band in the very early days so we knew each other
well. Next in was drummer Neil Ablard who’d played with us on some of the
Dark Season dates. Dave Peak rejoined the band for a show that we had but
had got into Power Metal and liked our new material so much that he wanted
back in on a full time basis (Dave played on Dark Season). The one position
that we had problem filling was the bass player position. Fortunately we
have a number of friends in other bands who play bass and they helped cover
shows... We managed to get a full time bass player in Adrian Lambert who
recorded “Second Sight” with us and played some shows but he was also in
Dragonforce and both they and us are busy so he mutually left the band
to be replaced by Stephen Brine whom we auditioned on the road in Germany
and over here. We told him he was in the band in a German bar drinking
some very cool beer...ha ha. Anyhow, we recorded “Second Sight” at Karl
Groom’s (Threshold) Thin Ice studios, which is about 30mins drive from
my house… Karl has been a good friend to the band and will be recording
our next album too… We signed to Italy’s Underground Symphony and the album
was released this year. The album was also licensed to NTS in France. This
year saw 2 important milestones for INTENSE, we played our first European
shows, 3 in Germany including the METAL BASH Festival near Hamburg which
was fun and our first big Festival date in the UK playing the Bloodstock
Festival. We opened the main stage on the Saturday to over 1000 people,
following us on the bill were bands like Evergrey, Primal Fear, Sonata
Arctica and Children of Bodom… a great line up.
3. I ADORED “SECOND SIGHT” AND I STRONGLY BELIEVE
THAT WITH THE RIGHT PROMOTION AND PERSISTENCE YOU CAN REACH THE TOP AND
TAKE YOUR PLACE AMONG THE HUGE BANDS OF THIS GENRE. HOWEVER, I’M JUST A
REPORTER AND I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO LEARN WHAT YOU THINK
OF YOUR CREATION. ARE YOU COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH IT?
SH: Wow thanks for that…. ? As I mentioned
before we are happy with the album but as an artist you always hear bits
that you think oh we could have done that there or I could have sung something
differently or added a backing vocal part etc etc … I think that’s just
a human thing .. ha ha.. I always want the best we can do … As for getting
the right promotion etc that is exactly what we need, finding it is the
hard part…
4. YOU HAD RELEASED AN EP TITLED “DARK SEASON”
BACK IN 1997. SO, HAS THE BAND BEEN DORMANT IN THE MEANWHILE? WHAT TOOK
YOU SO LONG? I SUPPOSE THERE ARE TRACKS THAT HAVEN’T BEEN INCLUDED IN THIS
ALBUM. WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THEM?
SH: I covered most of this in the 2nd question
(Sorry !! ? ) But I also lost my mother in that time and that took me a
while to get over and get my head straight... (Final Breath is dedicated
to her). We had released a couple of demos during the time but only used
1 track that we were going to have as a bonus for Japan, “The way the rivers
flow”. Unfortunately the Japanese market seems to only want the happy power
metal at the moment so we’ve kept the track for a possible fan club release
in the future.
5. YOU HAVE A VERY SPECIAL SOUND! I THINK THAT
YOUR MUSIC IS EASILY RECOGNIZABLE AND HAS A PERSONAL STAMP! WHY DO YOU
THINK OTHERS CAN AND OTHERS CAN’T CREATE A SOUND OF THEIR OWN?
SH: Wow, that’s a hard question. I think a
lot of bands don’t really want to take a chance by doing something totally
their own in case people don’t get it. We all are influenced by bands but
some take the influence too far and end up sounding like a copy of that
band. There are a few bands out there that quite simply don’t try to do
their own thing and blatantly copy bands... that’s really bad….and sad
too.
6. ANOTHER THING THAT I’VE NOTICED IS THAT ALTHOUGH
YOU COME FROM BRITAIN, YOUR SOUND IS MAINLY INFLUENCED BY THE AMERICAN
EPIC HEAVY/POWER METAL SCHOOL. HOW COME?
SH: I would say a mixture of US/UK. We are
into some cool American bands, Iced Earth, Nevermore, Dream Theatre etc
but also Iron Maiden of course.. and I think vocally I sound very English
.. lol It’s more the emotion of the music side of things, we’re into
the harder, grittier Darker Power metal and a lot of European bands are
doing the “happy” thing. I listen to some of that stuff but I’m not really
into playing it.
7. REMAINING ON THE SAME ISSUE, I THINK THE COMPARISON
AND THE RESEMBLANCE TO ICED EARTH IS MORE THAN OBVIOUS (NEEDLESS TO MENTION
THAT ICED EARTH HAVEN’T RELEASED A DECENT ALBUM SINCE “THE DARK SAGA”).
SO, WHICH OTHER BANDS AND WHICH ALBUMS HAVE BEEN A MAJOR INFLUENCE TO YOU?
SH: Yeah myself and the other guys all
dig Iced Earth but I’m the major fan ? especially of Matt Barlow’s vocals.
Vocally I’m also into Sebastian Bach and Geoff Tate. I’m listening to a
lot of Sonata Arctica at the moment which is about as happy as I get ?
Warrel Dane and Nevermore are cool too. Bands I’m listening to: Dream Evil,
Threshold, Evergrey, Kamelot, Nightwish. That list changes naturally but
I usually get hold of an album and play it to death… then switch to something
else… Albums that have had an effect on me … Seventh Son-Maiden,
Slave to the Grind-Skid Row, Operation Mindcrime- Queensryche and Days
of Purgatory-Iced Earth (the albums that got me into Iced Earth whilst
staying with a German journalist friend of mine).
8. SEAN, YOUR SINGER HAS AN INCREDIBLE VOICE AND
A REALLY PASSIONATE AND EMOTIVE WAY OF INTERPRETING THE SONGS! FURTHERMORE
I THINK THAT HE IS ONE OF THE PARAMETERS THAT MAKE YOU DISTINGUISH. HOW
IMPORTANT IS TO HAVE A TALENTED SINGER? PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS…
SH: Now I’m embarrassed ? ha ha .. I can’t
answer this question can I?? It’s great to be appreciated, I work hard
at my art and I love it when people enjoy my vocals.
9. NOW LET’S TALK A BIT ABOUT THE LYRICS… THE
TRACK TITLES SOUND VERY INTRIGUING TO MY EARS, HOWEVER YOUR PROMO DOESN’T
CONTAIN ANY LYRICS AND I CAN ONLY GET BITS AND PIECES OF THE LYRICS BY
LISTENING TO THE SONGS. SO, PLEASE TELL US IN A FEW WORDS EACH SONG’S TOPIC.
SH: Yeah that’s the unfortunate thing about
promos ? .. we have posted the lyrics on our site so you can check them
out there under the “music” section.
Here’s a rundown on the songs;
One Twenty (lyrics by Nick) About a
friend of ours who is lost to alcohol in a very serious way.
The Winged (lyrics by Me) This is about
the flock of crows from Lord of the Rings that spy on the Fellowship of
the ring.
War of Angels (lyrics Me) is the
second song I’ve written about the Prophecy Films (starring Christopher
Walken) which are very dark and are about Angels coming down to Earth to
try and finish mankind because they are jealous of God’s love for them.
The first song on the subject was Dark Season. Live we get the crowd singing
to this in the last chorus, it gets everyone singing and chanting, very
cool.
Seeds of Betrayal (Lyrics Me) This is
quite a deep song. It’s about the possibility of a false start for Christianity
and is from Judas’s view point. He set the story and it was fabricated
for his own enjoyment then taken on board by millions of people and all
cause of his lies.
The Skull of Sidon (Lyrics Nick) This
is Nick’s interpretation from an old legend, I think you need to read the
lyrics to get pretty much the whole story.
Inside Torment (lyrics Me) About being
persecuted emotionally and physically by another person and using the negative
energies to beat them.
Collision of Destinies (Lyrics
Me) This is about how sometimes our destiny can be pre-determined. The
character in the song is an Egyptian priest who has to follow his destiny
in order to save his people but he is scared of the consequences.
Autumnheart (Lyrics Nick) This is a
very reflective song from Nick, one to read the lyrics to again I think.
Path of the Dark (Lyrics Me) This is
about a girl (Victoria) who is blessed with special powers and she has
come to a time of decision when she is being pursued by forces of both
the light and the dark. She is on the Path of the Dark and must make her
choice…
Your Final Breath (Lyrics Me) This is
a very personal song and is about my mother Theresa who died from Cancer,
I felt this was a fitting tribute to her and it came together very coolly
with Dave and I just playing it acoustically whilst writing it but once
in the studio it grew and grew.
10. BY THE WAY IS THERE A CONNECTION AMONG THE
ALBUM’S TITLE AND THE LYRICS? AT “FIRST SIGHT” I CAN’T SEE THE LINKING…
SH: We felt that none of the songs should
really be a title track on the album so we did the next best thing. From
“Path of the Dark” we took a phrase from the chorus (Though you claim SECOND
SIGHT) and there came the title. The intro title Premonition was chosen
due to the link with Second Sight.
11. THE ARTWORK IS EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL!!! THE
AMAZING J.P. FOURNIER IS BEHIND IT SO WE COULDN’T EXPECT LESS FROM SUCH
A TALENTED ARTIST! WAS IT YOUR IDEA OR IS THIS WHAT HE “RECEIVED” FROM
YOUR MUSIC AND LYRICS?
SH: Yeah J P is a talented man and a great
guy. We sent him the album and Lyrics and I just told him that I wanted
it not to be too typical… so it was his interpretation of our music and
we are really happy with it.
12. CAN YOU PLEASE DESCRIBE IT AND EXPLAIN WHAT
IT SHOWS? DO YOU WANT TO SHOW THE CONNECTION AND AT THE SAME TIME COLLISION
BETWEEN THE NATURE AND TECHNOLOGY? I MEAN WE SEE AN EAGLE AND A MACHINE
SIDE BY SIDE… WHO IS THE MAN AND WHERE DOES THE PATH LEAD HIM?
SH: Okay, J P would probably be best to answer
this but I’ll have a go ..ha ha! The cover shows a warrior on the
path of the dark being observed by a god who is looking to protect him
but also the Eagle who sees him as prey. That’s a basic interpretation
but hopefully you get the idea.
13. WHAT IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHAT’S
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? IN WHAT FIELD DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
SH: Hmm, another hard one. I don’t really
think there are any “worst” moments in our material but I know that the
song writing will improve for the next album. I also think that my vocals
will be better as we have been so busy live this year. I’m also looking
for “bigger” choruses too…
14. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN TO INTENSE AFTER
THE RELEASE OF YOUR DEBUT ALBUM THROUGH UNDERGROUND SYMPHONY?
SH: Okay well the album is already out. Maurizio
at Underground Symphony has done a lot for us, but he’s limited to what
he can do as his label is only a small label. I’ve worked as hard promoting
and getting distribution on this album as I did for “Dark Season” so we
really need a bigger label next time round if possible. If it’s not possible
I’ll put it out on my own label. We’ve made a lot of friends in promoting
this album and that’s enabled us to get the album carried by Century Media
in the States (distro) and also to get representation in Poland through
the Dragonnight Agency.
15. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR TOURING OR FOR LIVE
SHOWS IN YOUR COUNTRY AND ABROAD?
SH: We’ve played a lot this year, doing
the Summer of Metal Tour in the UK with our good friends Powerquest as
well as the 3 shows in Germany, the Bloodstock Festival over here and a
handful of other shows in the UK too. We played more shows this year than
we did in the previous 3 years.. and we’re already taking bookings for
next year. We’re looking at playing more European shows next year that’s
for sure.
16. IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE
IN YOUR ALBUM OR AT LEAST IN ONE OF YOUR LIVE SHOWS, WHO WOULD YOU INVITE
AND WHY?
SH: Christina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil Live
would be great cause her stage presence is superb, other than that I’m
not sure right now. I may have more of an idea once all the material is
written for the next album and then I can visualize certain people performing
parts of our music. We have a good friend of ours Kara Sultan who performed
on “Path of the Dark” returning for some more vocals on the next album,
she’s already volunteered her services lol. She is in the Clandestined
with Martin Walkyier.
17. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
SH: Confident: calm, secure, independent,
brave, loyal, courageous, strong, respected, empowered. I think this emotion
fits our music ? If it were a painting I think J P captured it perfectly...
18. WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK CAN DESCRIBE YOUR
MUSIC AND INTENSE’S ESSENCE THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY?
SH: Wow that would be a summing up of a lot
of the reviews we’ve had, too many people have put it better than I possibly
could, check out the reviews on our site. I’m hoping that INTENSE would
be the perfect description of our music and the emotion within our music.
We are fully into what we do with no compromises in any aspect of our music.
19. WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE ENGLISH METAL SCENE?
NOT MANY THINGS FROM WHAT I SEE… THE ENGLISH SOUND HAS TAKEN A DIFFERENT
DIRECTION. HOWEVER A FEW BANDS LIKE YOU AND POWER QUEST STILL POP OUT.
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO CONTINUE WITHOUT HAVING THE PROPER SUPPORT
AND RESPECT FROM THE MEDIA OF YOUR COUNTRY?
SH: Yeah the big magazines over here don’t
like to cover Power Metal at all, hopefully this will change in 2005 but
to date not one of them have reviewed our album. We have lot of webzines
and fanzine in the UK that are great supporters of the metal scene and
bands such as INTENSE. The scene over here is on an upturn and hopefully
2005 will see that continue. As well as Power Quest there are Mercury Rain,
Dragonforce, Shadow Keep, Conquest of Steel and a whole host of other great
bands. Hopefully the Big UK magazines will catch on soon …
20. IF YOU COULD BE A HISTORICAL PERSONALITY FOR
A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO BE AND WHAT PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE WOULD
YOU LIKE TO HAVE A TASTE OF?
SH: Wow there are many really. I’d choose
King Arthur whether in fact or fiction I think that would have been a cool
time. Also wouldn’t have minded being Robin Hood, fighting for the righteous
and stealing from the rich to give to the poor. I think any time in their
adult lives would have been good apart from when they met their demise.
21. THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE TO THE READERS
AND THE INTENSE FANS ALL AROUND THE WORLD…
SH: Thanks for the great and long interview
Christine (lol). To all the Intense fans, thanks for the support and keep
spreading the word. To those who haven’t heard us yet please head over
to www.intense-uk.com and check our music downloads, you won’t be sorry
? Metal and Peace to you all!!
Christine Parastatidou
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