Mindscape
Mindscape is a hard working
new band from a place far away from the music centres of Greece. What does
this prove? Persistance and love for what they do. It also proves that
if you really want something very much, you will achieve it sooner or latel.
I must admit it was a great honor for me listening and reviewing their
deo and I expect even greater stuff from them in the future. Right now,
let's see what they told us...
1. I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT THE BAND HADN’T
FOUND ITS MUSICAL FIELD BEFORE 2001, WHEN THE DRUMMER JOINED THE LINE UP.
WHAT KIDN FO MUSIC DID YOU USE TO PLAYING BEFORE YOU REACHED THE SOUND
YOU HAVER TODAY? HOW MANY DIFFERENT SOUNDS HAVE MINDSCAPE EXPLORED THIS
FAR?
Mindscape is, in fact, in a constant process
of chasing different ways to express and that’s mainly why we have somehow
ended up in the progressive genre or –dare I say- the genre in us respectively…
Before Mindscape was created, we explored other metal genres like power/heavy
but all have taken a different course since then…
2. YOU ARE A BAND WHOSE MEMBERS ARE DISPERSED
IN VARIOUS PLACES HERE IN GREECE. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO CONTINUE
ON THE SAME PATH BOTH MUSICALLY AND IN THE WAY YOU BEHAVE TO EACH OTHER?
I guess being close friends to each other
contributes so we communicate better in the band and that has its positive
effects on our musical collaboration as well. But being apart, helps us
also to expand ourselves, regarding music, more independently music and
that enriches Mindscape as a whole.
3. THE FACT THAT YOU PLAY DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX
MUSIC IS ONE MORE OBSTACLE, REGARDING THE FACT THAT IT REQUIRES MORE REHEARSALS.
WHAT DO YOU DO ABOUT THAT? HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO GET THROUGH?
That is something we try to pay attention
to and we are in fact, now in the process of creating a home studio so
we can perform together in a free-cost basis and –mainly- whenever we wish.
4. I’D SAY THAT YOUR MAIN IFNLUENCE IS WATCHTOWER
IN THE TECHNICAL PART OF YOUR COMPOSITIONS AND PAIN OF SALVATION IN THE
MORE SENTIMENTAL ONES. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS CAN BE LISTED AMONG
YOUR INFLUENCES?
Every member of Mindscape brings its own influences
in the band. The most obvious influences are indeed Watchtower and Pain
of Salvation but there are many other bands that have offered us inspiration
and ideas. Such bands are related to metal and others not. Bands like Spastic
Ink, King Crimson, Spock's Beard, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, and even
musicians like Mike Oldfield and Jean Michel Jarre are what we enjoy listening
to, and our sound is formed from those as well as the heavier bands we
mentioned above. We consider ourselves lucky enough to get many different
effects from very different bands.
5. I ALSO THINK THAT AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE YOU
HAVE IS CHUCK SCHULDINER AND DEATH’S MUSICAL STATUS. AM I RIGHT?
Yes you’re right. To be more specific, our
main Death influence is the rhythm section of their last albums. We have
to admit though that Chuck’s Control Denied is the band that we are most
fond of.
6. WHAT EXACTLY DO SOME DEATH VOCALS, YOU HAVE
IN YOUR SONGS, SERVE? IS IT BECAUSE YOU FIND THEM FITTING TO YOUR MUSIC
OR IS IT A WAY YOU CAN SHOW THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO DRAW UP INFLUENCES FROM
ALL THE SPECTRE OF HEAVY METAL MUSIC?
It is definitely because we try to feel free
to express ourselves in every way we can regardless of genres and clichés…
In fact, what you describe as death vocals is mostly the perfomer’s attempt
to expand his expressional range, I don’t think it is death vocals though,
I would describe them as aggressive vocals…
7. WHAT I SEE IS THAT YOU HAVE A MORE HEAVY METAL
ORIENTED WAY OF COMPOSING RATHER THAN A PROGRESSIVE (WITH THE TRADITIONAL
USE OF THE TERM) ONE. YOU REMIND ME OF THE WAY WATCHTOWER CONSTRUCT THEIR
SONGS. DO YOU AGREE?
Before 2001, Mindscape was actually a heavy
metal band. All our compositions were closer to Nevermore than to Watchtower.
After Chris joined the band, the style of the band somehow changed, but
we already had very good songs that we wanted to use. We finally decided
to write again our compositions having a more progressive point of view.
Utopia of Balance is the result of this work. Our next demo that we are
working on, at this moment, will be much more technical as far as the music
is concerned and more sentimental on the vocal parts.
8. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO ACHIEVE SUCH A GREAT
PRODUCTION ON THE GUITAR, DRUMS AND BASS? IN SOME PARTS YOU REMINDED ME
OF ENERGETIC DISASSEMBLY!
The drums were recorded in Pro Sound studios
in Heraklion. In fact there was absolutely no production on the drums.
What you hear on the demo is exactly what was recorded including the dynamics,
etc. The guitars, the bass and the vocals were recorded in the home studio
of a good friend of ours, Hercules Horaitis, rather experienced in this
sector. His contribution on the production was huge and we really owe him
a lot! All this process took us about four months. …We feel the production
is fairly good but there is always room for improvement and we are working
on that.
9. YOU SAY THAT A CRYSTAL CLEAR SOUND IS MORE
THAN NECESSARY IN ORDER TO EXPRESS CORRECTLY YOUR MUSICAL VISION. IS THERE
ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT SATISFIED WITH IN THIS SPECIFIC PRODUCTION? IS THERE
ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?
Well…from the beginning of this work we knew
that it would sound like a demo and not like a professional recording.
We are generally satisfied with the production but if we were recording
in a professional studio with professional crew we would do much more experimenting
and many other things that wouldn’t sound good with the actual conditions.
Therefore, we can say that we have expressed our musical vision in the
best possible way regarding the equipment we had…
10. THE GENERAL IDEA BEHIND YOUR LYRICS REFLECTS
ON THE MAN AND HIS ILLUSION OF BALANCE IN OUR SOCIETY. WHAT YOU TELL US
A FEW MORE THINGS ON THE SUBJECT?
We consider ourselves happy that you summarized
the concept so successfully… The idea behind the concept is basically,
in our mind, one of the most crucial problems of modern society…
We never tend to scratch beneath the surface, go against the flow… Modern
society, (in a wider aspect, even globalization), rely on controlling the
masses… Society feeds us with ideals and false truths we never try to question…
It’s a race in which we all run for victory but few question…”what for?”…
Maybe the lyrics is a puzzle of meanings and words that you have to solve
your own way to reach a solution, your solution…
11. YOU COME FROM CRETE. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO
FIND SUCH AN AMAZING DRUMMER FROM SERRES, A PLACE SO FAR AWAY FROM YOU?
Sometimes life has its ways… It was a strike
of luck, I guess… In fact, in 2001, Chris entered the mathematics university
in Heraklion. It was a matter of time to collaborate with him as he is
the kind of drummer we were searching for all these years. The change in
our musical style is mainly a result of his influence on the band.
12. GENERALLY YOU ALL SEEM TO BE EXCELLENT MUSICIANS.
HAVE YOU HAD ANY MUSICAL STUDIES?
Everybody in Mindscape is mainly self-taught.
Generally we believe that being in this band has made us grow vastly as
musicians and and we did take a course we would never have taken if
classical music studies were involved…
13. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD
IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
That’s a difficult question.. Our music derives
of many emotions and what makes it difficult to tell is the constant change
in our way to express those... I would have to refer to the utopia of balance
concept but I will avoid a complex answer by saying that our music is surely
cyclothymic... As for the painting, what painting would best describe our
music than the painting of the cover? The chess board represents both the
flexibility and the relativity regarding both our sound and our lyrical
concept...
14. WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH
THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH IS YOUR TRADEMARK?
It’s really hard for someone who composes
a piece, a musician to really find the "worst" part in our music. Plainly,
that “worst part” wouldn't be included in the demo. If we had to choose
a trademark, even though we believe that each piece has variety, it would
be the repeated closing riff of the demo in "Violence in Silence".
15. WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK COULD BEST DESCRIBE
YOUR MUSIC?
Those last difficult questions… Well,
I would say that it would be: cyclothymic as we said before, (and that’s)
challenging for us, (in a weird way) easy to hear, but demanding to play
(for the musicians)…
16. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING
AND YOU’D LIKE TO MENTION? LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE…
We would like to thank Behind the Veil and
you personally for the opportunity of this interview. I have to say that
we consider your review the most complete one has ever made for our demo
and that attention you gave in a debut demo is definitely showing the standards
you work by and the quality of the web-zine…keep up the excellent work
you do… Anyone who is interested in Mindscape, might want to stop by www.hp/ms.mindscape
for band’s news and further information… Mindscape.
George "Volt"
Tassis
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