WITHIN
ANOTHER
"WithinAnother
find balance between aggression and melody." And they do it in very excellent
way!!!
1.TELL US IN A FEW WORDS THE MOST
IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY. WHICH IS TODAY'S LINE UP?
Dean Sternberg: Mike, Chuck and
I have been together for a little over a year so our important moments
have been things like getting a website going, recording our demo and getting
a 2nd guitarist last month. Getting a 2nd guitarist who can sing was a
big thing for us because our style involves multiple guitars and vocals.
Sebastian Kelly is the latest addition to the band so now it's him on guitars
and backing vocals, Mike Poplees on bass, Chuck Nacaratto on drums and
me (Dean Sternberg) on guitars and lead vocals. I also think that every
time someone else hears about us it is an important moment.
2.WHY HAVE YOU NAMED THE BAND WITHIN
ANOTHER? DOES IT HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING FOR YOU OR IS IT JUST A SIMPLE
BAND NAME? HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IS THE CORRECT CHOICE OF A BAND NAME?
DS: It was something I came up
with a few years back. I don't remember exactly how, but the thought behind
it had to do with seeing yourself from someone else's eyes or just being
able to empathize and see things from someone else's viewpoint, which led
to "Within another we find ourselves." I thought it would make a cool band
name and knew I'd use it once I got another band together. To answer your
question about the importance of band names, I think a name should give
you an idea of what the band is about. If we named ourselves "The Farting
Petunias"or "Accidental Flea Sodomy" you probably wouldn't be talking to
us right now.
3.COULD YOU GIVE US YOUR DEFINITION
ON THE BAND'S MUSIC? WHICH ARE THE BAND INFLUENCES? COULD YOU NAME SOME
OF YOUR MOST BELOVED ALBUMS? YOU SAY IN YOUR BIO THAT YOU SOUND CLOSE TO
NEVERMORE, FATES WARNING AND SOILWORK. HOW CAN IT BE? I MEAN THESE ARE
3 DIFFERENT MUSICAL DIRECTIONS. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR YOU TO ACCOMPLISH
IT?
DS: I'd call us aggressive, progressive
metal. Our influences are pretty wide ranging between the four of us. I
think we were all influenced by prog metal in some way. I learned a lot
of guitar by playing along with early Fates Warning and listening to bands
like Sanctuary, Forbidden, Testament and Forced Entry. Chuck was big into
Mr. Bungle, Zebra, Dream Theater, etc. I think Sebastian comes from the
school of Vai, Satriani, Petrucci, stuff like that. These days I'm primarily
into the newer underground stuff and keep finding great unsigned bands
like Archetype, Kategory V, Pure Sweet Hell, Frail, Lugosi's Needle, Into
Eternity, Prototype...there's so many out there. Some of my favorite albums
would be "Awaken The Guardian" by Fates Warning, "Dreaming Neon Black"
by Nevermore, "Twisted Into Form" by Forbidden, "Rage For Order" by Queensryche,
"Blackwater Park" by Opeth, "The Perfect Element" by Pain Of Salvation,
and everything by Anathema. The description in our bio is just to give
people an idea of what we might sound like. We don't try to sound like
those bands and have our own thing going, but our sound has elements of
the melodicism, mood and arrangements you'd find in Fates Warning and the
aggression and heaviness you'd hear with Nevermore. I threw in Soilwork
because some of our newer stuff is leaning in that direction with the riffing
and some harsh vocals. So we're not trying to sound like those bands but
I think they may be the closest ones to look at for the sake of description,
and people who like those bands seem to find common ground with us.
4.TELL US SOME GENRAL THINGS ON THE
BAND RELEASES. COMPARE THEM. WHAT DO YOU OBSERVE? WHICH ARE THE SIMILARITES
AND WHICH ARE THE DIFFRRENCES? IN WHICH FIELDS HAVE YOU EVOLVED? ARE YOU
STILL SATSFIED WITH THEM OR IS THERE ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO CHANGE?
DS: We've only had one release
so far which is the four-song demo so I can't really compare it to anything
yet. There is a full-length CD in our near future though. It's been held
up because we have some shows coming up and I haven't had much time to
write lately. We have a good amount of older material but I've written
some new stuff and I need time to do enough for an album. As for evolving,
it's hard to say at this point, particularly with a new member. We've gotten
past the 'studio band' stage and have become a decent live band, so that's
evolution in a way. As for our demo, sure, there are a few things I'd like
to change. When we recorded that we'd only been together for a few months.
I mainly hear things with my parts I'd like to change, like, I've become
a better singer since then and I wish I could do the vocals over, but overall
it was a pretty good effort for our first time and the fact that we did
it ourselves in Chuck's basement. I know Mike wasn't happy with his bass
sound, and I've got a heavier guitar sound now. Overall we've grown as
a band and we all know what to expect from each other in terms of playing.
5.WHAT ARE THE LRYICS TALKING ABOUT?
WHICH THEMES INTEREST YOU AND INSPIRE YOU? DO YOU PREFER USING METAPHORES
OR STRAIGHT IN THE FACE LYRICS?
DS: The lyrics are kind of dark
and heady I guess. I tend to write things from an introspective viewpoint
using metaphors and symbolism. I'm not really a straight-ahead writer.
For example, I got the idea for "Written In Water" after reading about
a poet who had "Here lies one who's name was written in water" inscribed
on his tombstone because he believed that his name and work would be forgotten.
I think a lot of artists and musicians want their work to be seen because
they're looking for acceptance and approval on a mass level. That's why
a lot of us aren't content to sit in an office all our lives. So I wrote
the lyrics based on that idea. It's basically about how I dropped out of
music for a few years and came back into it knowing that people might not
care what I have to say and that I might be forgotten. "Dwelling" is about
child abuse, which I wrote when I was writing for a newspaper and had to
do an article about twin brothers who were molesting little kids. The song
talks about the place a victim might go in his/her mind to escape the reality
of abuse. The abused sometimes wind up doing the same thing as adults and
may go to the same place in their minds in denial. "Resolution" stemmed
from my observation of people in my life who always seem to get taken advantage
of, myself included. People always think I write about relationships gone
wrong but that's not what the songs are about.
6.THIS BAND STARTED AS AN ONE MAN BAND.
WHY? IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO FIND MUSICIANS SHARING THE SAME VISION WITH
YOU? HAVE YOU AT LEAST MANAGED TO FIND THEM?
DS: It's hard in the U.S right
now because heavy music to most people means System Of A Down, Slipknot,
Korn, and all that other radio-ready stuff. I don't have a problem with
it, but it makes finding like-minded musicians really hard to find. Not
too many people know about the underground progressive metal scene and
European metal and so-forth. It's either younger kids who can only play
in drop-B tuning or older guys who are stuck in the 80's. All the good
ones are already in bands. I've been writing this kind of music since I
started playing and it's always been like pulling teeth to find the right
people. So yeah, it took a few years but now I have a band. Hopefully everyone
will stick around for awhile because I don't want to have to go to Sweden
to get another band going, haha.
7.WHY HAVE YOU SELECTED TO RECORD YOUR
ALBUM IN CHUCK'S HOME STUDIO AND NOT A FAMOUS STUDIO WITH A FAMOUS SOUND
ENGINEER? WHICH WERE THE PLUS AND WHICH WERE THE NEGATIVE THINGS IN THIS
MOVE YOU MADE?
DS: When you're a new band with
just a few songs you don't want to take the plunge and spend your life
savings in a big studio. I think it's better to wait until you have your
shit together. At the time we hadn't been together long and Chuck had the
means to make us a decent demo. Why spend lots of money on a demo when
you can get the same results for free? It was a pain in the ass because
Chuck's computer crashed a few times and we lept losing tracks and whole
songs, but in the end we have a good sounding, heavy demo. It also gives
Chuck something for his resume because he wants to produce someday. When
we do our full-length we'll demo at Chuck's, then go to a studio to actually
record.
8.METAL HAS STARTED BECOMING MORE AND
MORE FAMOUS THESE PAST FEW YEARS. WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE U.S.A.? ARE YOU
SATISFIED BY THE METAL MOVEMENT THERE?
DS: It's getting better. For awhile
rap-metal was the thing, then everyone started to sound like Creed and
Korn and real metal kind of floundered in the U.S and prospered in Europe.
It was either sound like Korn or sound like Hatebreed. It's starting to
change though because the whole nu-metal thing has played itself out and
bands like Killswitch Engaged and Shadows Fall are starting to get more
exposure, which makes it better for bands like us in the long run. Bands
like Dream Theater have been selling out venues in this country for years,
so there is still such a thing as word of mouth. Blind Guardian and Symphony
X are coming through here soon. We won't hear about it on the radio or
anything, but a lot of people know about it and I know there will be quite
a few sold out shows in the U.S. It's a double-edged sword really--you
want to see the bands you love make it big, but you don't want them to
be gone in a year because of overexposure.
9.WHICH WERE THE REACTIONS OF THE FANS
AND PRESS ON YOUR LATEST RELEASE? WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH WAS THE
WORST REVIEW YOU HAVE RECEIVED?
DS: It's all been really good.
We've had one or two reviews that said the production could be better,
but that was the worst thing anyone's said. We had someone come on our
site and slam me personally because he didn't like what I said in an interview,
but you have to expect stuff like that. Overall it's all been very positive.
I'm sure some people hate us but they seem to be leaving us alone.
10.WHICH IS THE BEST PART IN YOUR MUSIC
AND IN THE BAND IN GENERAL AND WHICH THING DO YOU THINK YOU SHOULD CORRECT?
WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU NEED IMPROVEMENT?
DS: I don't know. It's hard to
find the best things when you're the one doing it. I'm one of those musicians
that does a lot of self-critiquing, so I always see room for improvement.
Sometimes I wish I could play like Michael Romeo or something but in the
end I just try to do what I do as best as I can. As for the rest of the
band, I think I'm fortunate to be playing with real musicians.
11.IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO MAKE A PROPER
EXPENSIVE VIDEO CLIP, HOW WOULD YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE AND FOR WHICH SONG?
DS: That's a tough one. I guess
maybe "Conflict With Reason." I would imagine it as dark and surreal, lots
of blacks and whites and strange film techniques. I'd have to really think
out a concept before I could say.
12.COULD YOU SHARE WITH US YOUR LIVE
EXPERIENCES? HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU GOT ON STAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME?
DS: We're playing our first show
at the end of this month. Sebastian has rounded out our live sound so we
can finally get onstage. It's going to be a 9/11 benefit concert. Then
we have a show the weekend after at LaMours in New York City. We've gotten
a few offers to play and tour, so we're looking at all that now.
13.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T
ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?
DS: God, I can't even comprehend
that. Maybe I'd just be a writer and photographer and rot in obscurity.
14.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS A FEELING WHAT
WOULD IT BE? IF IT WAS A PAINTING WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
DS: It would be that feeling you
get when you have a moment where all your senses and thoughts are acutely
focused. Realization I guess. A painting could be something like seeing
your own reflection in someone else's eye or something more obscure that
would be hard to explain.
15.WHAT MADE YOU FORM A BAND OF YOUR
OWN? WHAT DREAMS DID YOU HAVE IN THE BEGINNING? DO YOU STILL HAVE THE SAME
DREAMS OR HAVE YOUR GOALS ALTERED AFTER YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO WITNESS MUSIC
INDUSTRY FROM SO CLOSE?
DS: The main reason I formed a
band was because I've been writing songs since the day I picked up the
guitar. Some people get into bands because they want to play their instruments
or other reasons, but my motivation was to hear my songs played. I got
into one or two bands where someone else did the writing, but I wasn't
happy. I've always had a certain direction I wanted to go in, which is
aggressive/progressive metal. When I was 17 I thought for sure I'd be some
sort of metal sensation by the time I was 24. Then I grew up and learned
to differentiate between fantasy and reality, especially when I saw how
the music business really works. When you see how everything works and
how complicated it is your goals change and you start thinking smaller.
I still think it's possible to go somewhere with this or I wouldn't be
doing it.
16.HAVE YOU SENT YOUR PROMOS TO ANY
LABELS? WHICH WERE THE REACTIONS?
DS: We haven't done much shopping
with the demo because we wanted to test the waters with it and see how
people reacted. I want to have something better to send to labels, but
we did try Peaceville, Inside Out Records and WWIII. Peaceville sent back
the CD with a hand-written note saying they liked us but we weren't the
type of music they were signing. We haven't heard back from Inside Out
or WWIII. Maybe next time.
17.WHICH IS MAN'S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?
18.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO
MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION
BE?
DS: If I could have lunch with
a higher power I'd want to know if our existance and everything else in
the universe was random or planned. I'd be like an annoying tourist asking
millions of questions.
19.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH
HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU MISS
THE MOST FROM OUR TIME?
DS: I'd go back to the early 80's
and beat Metallica to the punch, lol. I'd probably go back to the time
of Jesus to find out the answers to questions that have been plaguing mankind
for thousands of years. I don't know, I'd probably miss not having to worry
about things like smallpox and getting crucified for eating chicken on
a Friday.
20.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU
LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?
DS: Progressive Metal's New Breed:
"WithinAnother find balance between aggression and melody."
21.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
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