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Knight Rider and Nostalgia Dollars PDF Print Email
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 20 February 2008 06:33

I am so sick of studios, labels and some bands pimping the nostalgia of my youth. Lulling you into purchasing sub standard products and music because it feeds into ancient childhood desires. There are some out there that think that these practices are a brilliant marketingmaneuver. Hooking people by selling the products they wish they had as a kid. Knowing they will buy into it because they're adults and have a few bucks now and relying on the notion that they will bring their children along for the ride. Buying them thelatest and greatest toys from whatever the new film may be. I think its a sad, sorry and cheap move on behalf of the powers that be. Its sad that they would rather spend millions of dollars on somethingthat's already been done because it already has a built in market. Instead of looking for good original stories, because there is no guarantee that they will increase their bottom line. Its a sorry state of affairs and I for one and sick of it.

 

The latest bit of youth to be co-oped by these devious marketing strategies is Knight Rider. I'm sure you all remember the adventures of a young and pretty David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight and the amazing talking car KITT. Many an evening found me and countless other youngsters pining for a car as kick ass as KITT when we grew up and landing a guy as hot ( well hot for 1984 ) Michael Knight. Over the weekend I was floored to see that there was a two hour TV movie, a glorified season opener for a new Knight Rider. My disappointment turned into complete and unabashed horror when I found out that ValKilmer was going to be the voice of the new KITT. I swore to myself I wasn't going to watch this new Knight Rider, this debacle, this bastardization of one of most treasured childhood TV memories. Sadly as the day turned to night and there wasn't anything on TV on this late Sunday evening, I found myself tuning into the new Knight Rider. Waiting to see what kind of train wreck they were about to make of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and hear what may be the downwardspiral of one of my favorite actors.

 

Much to my surprise, the new Knight Rider wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It kept a fairly believable script, that tied both the old and the new character together. It doesn't take itself too seriously and didn't have millions of dollars worth of over done spacial effects. It stayed fairly true to its 80's root, with random bad guys that never really say what they want or who their working for. Lame fightscenes, and keeping KITT on of the sexiest cars ever built. I was even amazed that I enjoyed Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT.

 

Yet despite not being as bad as I thought it would be ( still doubt if I'll watch the show on a regular basis though ) what really made the whole affair endlessly annoying was the entire show being a giant Ford advert! Every single thing driven in the show was a Ford. Every advert in between shots was a Ford. It was insane, it was product placement at a level that Ididn't know was possible. and the message was clear. hey you kid, remember back in the day when you wanted at talking car? now you can have one buy a ford buy a ford! it was disgusting! Sadder still is the knowledge that there are a hand full of folks out there that will fall for this scheme and give ford their money because they tapped into apiece of their past. I for one am sick of it and refuse to give anyone any more of my hard on cash just because they were able to tap into a fond memory!

 

 

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 20 February 2008 06:34 )
 
The Rise of Ekotren PDF Print Email
Written by Administrator   
Saturday, 09 February 2008 05:39

Music that comes from the heart is a truly beautiful thing. Finding the fine line between being true to yourself and making something that your fans will rock to and a label will support is probably one of the harder things about being a workingmusician. With their debut album Light the Fire Ekotren has stuck that balance right out of the gate. Playing full on balls out Metal with catchy melodies and hooks and lyrics can appeal to most anyone. Where some bands seem to write to leave themselvespoised to jump on whatever the next big thing may be its obvious that Ekotren writes from the heart, and its that from the heart style that has won them legions of fans all over the country and a spot on the road with IllNino. I got a bit of net time with John Sheldon before the guys head back on the road. So sit back and enjoy dear readers.

 

 

 

You tend to pay a lot more attention to melody than most Metal bands. Why do you feel having a good melody is so important to your music?

Melody is music. We believe it’s as important an aspect as anything else we put into our songs.

Over the last few years EkoTren has undergone a few lineup changes. Have those changes made you a stronger band on Light the Fire than on your previous Ep's?


We could not have made the Light the Fire without the current lineup.
Every member has played a crucial role in where we are today. If it wasn’t the five of us, it wouldn’t be the same music it is now.


When you first started the band you had Chin on turntables, but he eventually switched over to keys. Why replace turntable with keyboards?


Steve felt the need to progress musically, feeling he was limited with only turntables.

EkoTren is a interesting name. How did you come by it?


It’s an offshoot reference to an obscure headache medicine; one of the previous drummers came up with it and it ended up sticking.

When it comes to writing songs, do you prefer to take a collaborative approach? Or just let one person handle the writing duties?


Every member writes their own part, 100% collaborative.

 

You're one of those bands that seems to be on the road constantly, was it difficult to finish Light the Fire with such a hectic touring schedule?


We finished up the album and literally hopped on tour a day later, touring ever since that point. So technically, one never interfered with the other.


This year you're going to be touring with Ill Nino, how has it been touring with them?


The tour hasn’t started yet, but we’re sure it’s going to be an amazing time.
It’ll be our first time meeting them.


All of the songs on Light the Fire are pretty bad ass, but the one that stands out in my mind the most is Chupacarbra. Why write a song about the mythical goat killer?


We didn’t want that song to be too serious, because of the song’s heaviness, but still something with a gnarly premise.

As a band you guys are definitely pretty fuckin brutal, but when you really sit down and really get into songs like Nothing Left, Become and Falling, they are just as heavy emotionally as they are musically. Do you find it difficult to still write things that come from the heart and still embrace the spirit of Metal? Is there ever the pressure to just stick to the formula of the day and just write chaos and destruction?

We write what we think sounds good, and embrace our own bands’ spirit.
Our formula is writing what you’re good at writing.

Is there anything you want to add before we wrap?


Our new album the Fire” comes out in stores Feb.19th.
We’ll be on the Guerrilla Carnival Tour with Ill Nino, Bobaflex and Droid kicking off January 31st at the Agora Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio..go to myspace.com/ekotren for all of the dates and come out to a show near you!


Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 February 2008 05:41 )
 
it clings -vs- Pneumatic Detach PDF Print Email
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 06 February 2008 05:16

Serial killers, they pre occupy the darkest corners of our minds. They frighten and fascinate us. The knowledge that anyone walking down the street could be one. Watching, waiting, plotting finding new places to hide the bodies. Buying industrial sized bags of lime at the local home depot. The image of the lurking mad man is something that is ingrained into our collective consciousness. Wondering what's going on in those twisted evil minds when they catch another one. So many artists have taken the idea of the lone killer and made it their own. Flooding our thoughts with the ripping and tearing of flesh. Few artists have been able to pull it off better than it-clings Vs Pneumatic Match in their album The All Too Logical Decent into Madness. Its vicious and visceral words making you wonder what the man on the park bench with the lecherous grin is really thinking. Bringing to mind images that are are just as disturbing as anything put on film. Recently I got some net time with it-clings Vs Pneumatic Match. Talking to them about the albums slightly tongue in cheek aspects making it even more delish. So sit back and enjoy dear reader.

 

 

 

From the Mind of it- clings:

When you were writing this album, did you plan to write such dark and scathing observations on society at large or was it just something that just developed?

it-clings: In a way I found this question, the first one, very difficult to answer, and in truth I took way too long to answer these interview questions.

On a basic level, whenever I write anything I don't look to force something into it that I wouldn't feel belonged. I suppose when it comes to music there are many musicians who write great music but don't have anything worthwhile to say and so end up thinking ?We
should put some sort of political message behind our music? To which they forcibly inject a deeper meaning. Usually its very notable, and yet at the same time no one really cares, so they allow themselves to ignore it. However, I'm not a musician, and don't attempt to be one. I just write words, sentences and paragraphs.

The All Too Logical Descent into Madness was actually written to be a concept album, and I think I was wrong in keeping this idea to myself until now. In keeping it to myself I was thinking that people would recognize it and be intrigued with it. However, people are too used to not paying much attention to the content of the music they listen to.

All of the tracks on this album are written as a persons inner monologue. Did you have a particular person or character in mind while writing? Do you find it difficult to write songs in the forms of monologue?

it-clings: What I find sort of amusing is that the original concept of The All Too Logical Descent into Madness was actually to do the unthinkable and to approach the most overused idea in the entire industrial music genre: A concept album based upon the serial killer. It's an idea
that I have personally mocked in others for quite some time. Its so utterly cliché and boring, and yet this is what I decided. I think it was because I was listening to a few albums and I just couldn't believe how tripe the lyrics and the imagery were, and the idea to attempt to counter this with something better intrigued me.

So I matched together some ideas that had been running around in my head with the extreme viewpoint of a psychopath, with the hope of making exaggerated points about things.

on the entire album you manage to keep the vocals pretty intense how did you manage to keep up the intensity level to your voice throughout the album?

it-clings: Simple: Record the lyrics days and weeks apart.

Did your work with Pneumatic Detach on composing the music for the album?

it-clings: Pneumatic Detach was entirely responsible for the music.

How did you come to the idea of using spoons as a torture device? I would have thought the unholy spork would have been more effective in inspiring fear.

it-clings: I've always thought that knives and sharp things are too easy and too simple. The spoon is an infinitely more terrifying item because it really takes effort (both physically and mentally) to be used.

In recent years a lot of Industrial music has made a transition into something that almost strictly for the dance floor, what do you think about the dance trends sweeping the scene now?

it-clings: People want their music heard so it seems natural for them to play music that is easier for people to listen to.

Is it-clings -vs- Pneumatic Detach going to be a one time collaboration or are there plans to work together again in the future?

it-clings: I have already worked with Pneumatic Detach on his previous album Vis.cer.a and there are plans for a new track to appear on his next album, but as for a whole album collaboration with him, at this point in time, I don't think that will happen.

I let someone listen to the album and they said you're lyrics were disturbing, actually they said you sound like a serial killer that hasn't been caught yet lol, how do respond to people who are disturbed by your writing?

it-clings: Well apparently that person was very perceptive.

the combination of the words and music on this album create such powerful images in the minds eye, I cant help but wonder if there are going to be any videos or anything shot for the album?

it-clings: Apparently there are some plans. There is a live video of How Terrible it all is on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBFqlt3uRYw


From the Mind of Pneumatic Detach

How did you come to work with it-clings on this project?

Pneumatic Detach: It-clings had joined in on a few tracks for bands here and there and had been working on a concept for a full-length album. I believe the original idea was to find several artists to take the spoken word pieces and create music to go with the words. Because we had worked on other tracks before, it-clings was talking to me through email about the idea, as he wanted me to be one of the contributors. He sent me a few audio examples to see what I thought of the concept he was working on. Having worked on a track for the Revelation compilation, I felt that having many artists contribute to this would create too varied of a style in the tracks, and that it may not have the full effect that I thought it needed. I had always wanted
to do a soundtrack for a movie or video game and this was my opportunity do just that. So I suggested that for this release I do the audio for the entire CD. Instead of taking the track like a remix and sampling the voice to go with the music, I wanted the words to be
the focal point of the CD. Basically It-Clings is the star of the show here, and I wanted to create the best audio support for the words that I possibly could. So I suggested the idea and he accepted. The writing of the CD, both the words and the audio, went very fast back and forth which was great because it helped the tracks to flow right out naturally.

All of the music on the album is a perfect match for each of the songs, did you compose each track specific to the lyrics? or did you already have something in mind before seeing the lyrics?

Pneumatic Detach: I went into this without any ideas as to what the audio would sound like. To me this wasn't a Pneumatic Detach album so all that went right out the door when I sat down to work on this project. Basically Squid sent me the recordings of the vocals, most of
them several-minute pieces in 1 take, which was impressive considering his going into a drunken state to produce the works. I think that made them feel natural and not contrived. From there I would basically loop the vocals and sit back and see what kind of vibe the words were giving off; most of the time his words would have a pattern to them. I would tap along until I figured out the rough tempo of his piece and then setup my app to that tempo and start creating rhythms and sounds to support the feeling the words were disseminating .

Was the entire album created electronically or did you try to work in some organic instruments?

Pneumatic Detach: Because I wanted to look at this like a soundtrack I wanted to make as many custom sounds as possible. A lot of times the rhythms would be set up with the words and I wanted to get more of a direct connection to the words, so I wrote down a few ideas of what I
needed then put together some field recordings. For example a lot of the background voices were recorded by me walking around with a small tape recorder with a condenser mic while we were out talking to various people. The effect in the track "Maybe These Wounds Won't Heal
Anymore" when Squid is digging at his arm and tears out the bone was created by breaking pasta under a condenser microphone to give that cracking feeling.

You also did work on the photos and design of the album, how did you come up the photos used for the album art?

Pneumatic Detach: Basically the concept for the art was Squids idea to go along with the words. Squid sent me the cover pictures he wanted to use and I created other textures for the inserts and compiled the layout. The printed version came out way darker than expected so a lot of the inside work was hidden.


I asked the same question to it-clings, but how do you feel about a lot of Industrial music being more centered to the dance floor these days?

Pneumatic Detach: Well it's like most things, people look at what's the trendy "formula" and go with that because they want to be liked. I mean, no one wants to do something different, uncool or against the grain, people want to sell Cd's and be liked by everyone right?. I
guess most people want to go out and dance around so, I guess, that's what is the easiest to sell to people. Most people don't want to have to think about anything, they have to think about work and bullshit all day long and just want to get wasted and blur the whole thing so I
guess it makes sense to me as much as it's polluting the system with cookie cutter acts. In that regard I've sort of lost interest in a lot music that's coming out of this genre these days.


Of all of the songs on this album which was the most fun to work on?

Pneumatic Detach: I would have to say the last 4 or 5 ( fact check titles) tracks on the CD were the most fun to write, that's more when things got really dark and fucked up so I more so got into the vibe that was going on there more than previous tracks.

How do you react to people who may find this album un-nerving and disturbing?

Pneumatic Detach: I laugh. I mean going back to the soundtrack scenario look at how many people go to see horror movies. For example let say "Saw", the content of the movie is pretty fucked up and I don't think anyone wants to live in that movie but they still pay to
watch it. This album is along the same lines. I find it funny when people find it disturbing, as if it's an unexpected bad seed in their flow of perfectly predictable electronic music. That right there is exactly why we did this fucking album. To be honest the most fucked up ICvsPD track ever written (sonically my favorite) will be released on the next PD album in 2008, I expect us to get some flack for that: "How could anyone say those things, I'm appalled - thats offensive."


The combination of the words and music on this album create such powerful images in the minds eye, I cant help but wonder if there are going to be any videos or anything shot for the album?

Pneumatic Detach: Actually we have been approached by an Amazing director from Italy (
http://www.pacciani.com) to do videos for this release but I can't comment right now one way or another if there will be a physical release. Alessandro will be doing an audio remix on the
next full length PD release in 2008 if nothing else occurs.





 

Last Updated ( Friday, 22 February 2008 08:01 )
 
The Darkness of Ava Inferi PDF Print Email
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 30 January 2008 05:28

As most of us know there is a beauty to the dark side that most people dint seem to be able to appreciate. From night blooming Jasmine, the seduction of a full moon, the reassurance of the evening cold chill against your skin. When I think of the wonders the night has to offer I cant understand why anyone wouldn't want to spend as much time as possible exploring the late evening hours. When I talk to people about the fabulous things I experience when the sun goes down, you know co workers and other random people, the remarks are almost always met with remarks about looking for ghouls, vampires and the like. When I hear things like that I wonder if sometimes if sometimes the scene is its own worst enemy, I mean sometimes its easier to put out an album based solely on some of the nights more destructive forces and over romanticizing death for the sake of selling albums. To bow to label pressure because they think that's what the kids want and that's whats easy to sell. Its much harder to create something truly appreciative of the dark's seductive qualities without sounding cliche or like they're trying too hard to be more Goth than Thou. One of the things that makes a band like Ava Inferi such a joy to listen to. Their music is heavy, dark and haunting. Exploring the darker side of love and lust without relying on images of monsters and death to convey the story within the songs. Recently I got to share some email time with Ava Inferi's guitarist Rune, to discuss music art and all manners of darkness.

 

2008 will be the first time Ava Inferi has toured together as a band, and you will be supporting Christian Death on your debut tour were you excited to get the news you would be supporting such a massive band?

- I remember even before it was secured that Christian Death was going to sign with Season Of Mist, I had a talk with the label boss whereas he uttered that it would be a perfect mix to have the both bands playing together somewhere, as he belived it to be a great package, hehe. It surely came through...indeed. We are seriously thrilled to have our debut shows with such a legendary act, no doubts about it. And I also believe that its because we all have, especially Carmen and myself, been fans of CD for a long time you know. Its been many years ago since i brought in my 1st copy of Catastrophe Ballet on vinyl home, hehe.

We further hope that our mixed energies can prolong this collaboration so that we can spread our messages on US soil as well. Would be amazing!

How did Ava Inferi come to exist?

- It came to life in Almada, Portugal around October 2004 I'd say, as a direct consequence of my relationship with Carmen. Ever since we decided to move together (im hailing from Oslo, Norway) we´d been playing with the idea of doing something unifying musically, blending our personal references and tastes in an artistically gratifying way. Since Carmen has worked her whole life for achieving a career musically as well(playing in several Portuguese bands and established herself as the most promising and respected vocalist from PT), there was a lot of shared goals that needed attention, if you get my point. Although I myself have been professional musician for several years now, i still lacked something that i could call my own, a band where an honest source for free will and energy could be transmitted. Ava Inferi is that band. No boundaries or limitations, just free will.

Since my background is of more heavy character contra Carmens more Gothic orientated history, we made the perfect blend (we believe) in between us, and thus the foundations for every song created. Its our child if you get my point.

The other members (Jaime and Joao)followed shortly due to common friends. 2 highly important team players I must add. As of now, we have adopted a 2nd guitarist as well, in order to present our music live in its fullest essence.

How would you say the new album Silhouette, is different from your debut album Burdens?

- I believe initially "The Silhouette" its a lot more outgoing than "Burdens", which was, quite frankly, a very introverted and gloomy album, in both sound and musical vision. "The Silhouette" is also of more "metal" character as well id say, more hard sounding, direct and powerful. The reason is partly due to my moods different and partly the inspiration and the energies the others put into the new album as well. "The Silhouette" is a lot more band-orientated, if you know what i mean. Everyone participated in the finalizing creative process this time, to make it even more of a "whole" product. As for "Burdens", it was more of a lonely mans thinking, hehe. Don't get me wrong, i love our debut album to death, but i think its an acquired taste at the same time. Its way more mellow, mystic and ethereal than our newest platter....and surely the eccentrics will complain in some years that, "ah, they will never achieve the heights of Burdens again..." hehe. We, we just move on. Creating what we feel. Free will!

There was only a one year gap in between Burdens and Silhouette did you have a lot of material written for Silhouette while you were working on Burdens?

- No. Not to put out too big words about myself/ourselves but i consider myself/Ava Inferi, as a highly creative person/band. I have made, as in created, and recorded 3 albums in 2 years now, 2 with Ava Inferi and 1 with Mayhem. All whom im very very proud of. But it doesn't stop there; the energy i feel towards Ava Inferi and its mission make me wanna pop out albums each year(similar to when this kind of music was young, in the 70s)..It is possible, surely. Speaking of it: we have several ideas for the 3rd album going on already. We don't waste time, we use it. And I feel that we've only just begun.

Most of the members of Ava Inferi are involved in other projects in addition to the band. Do you guys often find it difficult to juggle such a variety of projects?

- Not really, well, at least not up until now. These days we are getting more and more requests for Ava Inferi as well, so surely there has to be made some compromise in the future. Its really pleasing my heart though, to see the attention we are getting recently (on our side of the Atlantic), with requests etc for doing festivals and one-off shows constantly flowing in. Its really inspiring me, to see the development of the new born. On the other side; I'm the one with the most sessions and shows on the agenda so its a luxury problem for me. But I'm also a hard worker and i hate to let people down, so I'm gonna sacrifice my health to keep up with things, surely, hehe.

Since the tour with Christian Death with is your first big tour as a band what can people expect when they see Ava Inferi live?

- Well, its not really a big tour as its merely a few shows, but it is big in the sense of being able supporting this cult-band. As I already hinted at; we are huge fans and it will be awesome to finally see this legendary band in action as well, not at least to support them. Its going to be a great and rich experience for us. Also, i believe its a good musical and visual package, a great mix between to odd worlds.

For these shows, what people will get is; a very tight band, highly professional and entertaining. I believe we are a very energetic band, and I don't mean that were jumping up and down on stage(we leave that to others) but in the sense of the depths that we present. I believe A-I to be a very dark band with a strong presence, so it will be interesting to see how the people will react to this. A little secret; I've never felt this powerful energy during rehearsals as i do these days. We are certainly building something that's gonna live its own life pretty soon, if you receive the picture I'm trying to paint...

Where did the name Ava Inferi come from?

- The name Ava Inferi means (almost) literally "Up High/Below". Its can be interpreted as our Yin/Yang actually. Ava, represented by Carmen, is the white, the goddess, the pure and untouched spirituality whereas Inferi (perhaps represented by the rest of the band, or just myself) would come to mean something like "those below" and thus represent the darker aspect of all above-mentioned things(and more). Its the duality of everything actually, like life/death, day/night etc.

The origin of the names or words itself is from Greek(Ava) and Latin(Inferi)origin.

There are a lot of great bands that have come from Portugal through the years, how have you seen the Goth/Doom music scene there evolve over the years?

- Its getting better I believe. Although I'm not too familiar with the scene from the past, as i am one their "new" countrymen, hehe. But surely there are many good bands here, and the scene and the self esteem is kind of growing as well I believe. That being said, we in Ava Inferi doesn't really feel like a part of the Portuguese scene though actually, well, at least not myself anyway. I see music as the limitless light(sound?) and therefore without restrictions to or from anything. But it certainly doesn't help that I'm a Norwegian either, hehe. No, seriously, things are happening here, and I wouldn't be surprised that there will be a massive offensive from these shores in close future. There are more things than just Moonspell(cheers!) dwelling in the shadows. Whether it be Gothic music, doomsday news or plain old-school BM.

What sort of messages do you like to impart on your listeners as a band?

- First of all, we as a band don't have any intention of telling people what to do with their lives. We leave that to others. Our ultimate effect is in telling you how we feel! Life is full of darkness and obstacles, and that is exactly what we deliver. In a haunting and beautiful way...

What things can we expect to see from Ava Inferi in the future?

- Lots of work indeed. We are in the preparations of working out the 3rd chapter in the story of Ava Inferi. Hopefully the album will be recorded in September/October this year. Other than that, our main goal is to play as much as possible to spread our name truthfully. We believe in our magic and we aim to convince you about these matters.

Thank you for the interview. A pleasure. A-I


Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 January 2008 05:28 )
 
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