INTO ETERNITY INTERVIEW |
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The Canadian act INTO ETERNITY recently released their second album, the brilliant and rather unorthodox "Dead Or Dreaming" - we decided to do an interview with vocalist and guitarist Tim Roth …
Interview by Claus Jensen |
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Since you almost are a new band on the scene, it would be nice if you could start by telling us a bit about the band formation and all that usual stuff ...
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"Into Eternity started officially in 1997. We are from a city of 200,000 people, but it was really hard to find the perfect line-up. Some members came and went, but it wasn't until after we recorded our debut album that we found Danny. We sent out our first CD to different labels and eventually got signed with D.V.S. Records. So, we got the band happening, and then a label. Everything seems to be snowballing now....we are pretty happy."
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Your self financed debut, which by the way kicked mighty ass (you can find my review of it here http://www.intromental.com/webzine/February01/february01.html#intoeternity , got picked up by DVS Records - how did that happen?
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"Thanks a lot! We had to put our own money into the debut. It was a good first album, but we have come along way since then. It's really tough when you have a limited budget. Scott sent out 40 packages to all sorts of labels and we received interest from all over. It turned out that 80% of the companies wanted us to pick a style of metal. Either progressive metal or death metal. That is the cool thing about our band.....we are a hybrid of BOTH styles. We all enjoy both types of metal, and I would hate to have to choose. Luckily D.V.S. saw our vision, and accepted our style. I think people are really starting to accept us now. There is something for everyone...hopefully."
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The album originally had a different cover - and was later remixed and added a bonus track - what can people expect when listening to that album?
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"The debut had a different cover that we had found ourselves. When we signed our deal D.V.S. introduced us to Mattias who does the companies covers. Mattias is a really wonderful person and is truly gifted with his art. D.V.S. re-released the debut with a cool bonus song, "Silence Through Virtue" and new artwork/inlay. Hopefully people will dig the first album. We still play four songs off it live. We tried to do the best we could with our limited cash. It's like a snapshot in time for us....that's where we were 2 yrs ago."
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The new album is a step forward and in my opinion one of the best releases of the year. Can you tell us the circumstances under which the album was conceived?
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"I completely agree. Our new CD is a big step up from the debut. Danny has contributed a lot with guitar and vocals/harmonies. We took a year and a half to fully write and arrange the new disc. Time was on our side when we were writing. The Europe tour came about when we were in the studio, so we got rushed a little bit. I'm still happy with the end product. The circumstances were actually O.K., we had lots of time and ideas.We were lucky."
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How do you write the music in the band - all together or..?
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"The new album was a group effort...nothing like the debut, therefore I think it has a much better feel. Everyone put in their 2 cents. I would come up with a guitar riff and then Danny would have something to go with it. Then the whole band will arrange the piece of music together. This was the first time that we did it. That way everyone is excited about the album because we all had our say. The songs sure take some time to get together, but it is worth it in the end. A couple of arguments happened in the rehearsal's.Hahahahaha."
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There was a keyboard player on the first album but not on the new one ... ?
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"I love the sound of keyboards in metal. They really add to the music if they aren't overdone. We always kept them to a minimum as it is. Chris decided that he wanted to leave the band after we received our deal. Being in a band is not for everyone and he made that decision. He wanted to continue with his schooling and he didn't want to leave his girlfriend.hahaha. Oh well...we still keep in contact with him, and he recorded a lot of keyboards for us on this new disc."
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How do you compare the two albums, and what is the main differences?
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"The differences in the two albums are like night and day. I am really pleased with how Dead or Dreaming worked out. We had a lot more time to arrange the new songs. Danny does all the background harmony vocals and some lead vocals on it, which will change the sound. Also, he trades off leads with me. It adds a lot more color to the record. So, we have 3 part vocal harmonies AND a little female vocals as well. Over all I think the bands performance has improved as well."
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The artwork was done by Mattias Norén and it is truly beautiful - was it your idea, or just something he came up with?
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"I'll say it again...Mattias Noren is a genius. He is really creative AND a really down to earth type of guy. Mattias gets the album title and creates something to express it. After we saw what he did, there was just a few little changes that we made, but he hit it right away! I just love the work that he does. I really hope that we can keep working with him. Mattias is a class act!!!"
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The use of death metal vocals mixed with clean vocals are very unusual and works very well ... how did you decide to do things like that?
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"THANKS!! I'm a selfish person...hahahaha. I dig singing clean, but I also like the aggression of death vocals. Singing in the death style was the first thing that I attempted in other bands growing up. As I started getting better doing that, the clean vocals came out naturally. Both styles help me to express my lyrics. We can usually sense witch riff will need the clean vocal and which needs the death approach. I think we combine them pretty well. Variety is a GOOD thing. You don't want the listener to get bored."
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You differ a lot from the rest of the metal scene, by having prog elements, heavy metal elements and death metal elements all blended together - where do you think you belong in the scene, and what is your main target audience?
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"I don't know where we belong in the scene. People have been really open minded about our approach, which is very cool, but I guess we are a little tough to market. We are a metal band, plain and simple. The music that we make is what we know how to do. I guess it is progressive/death metal...if that makes any sense. It's impossible to be totally original nowadays, but we are doing our best!"
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You've played at ProgPower Europe this year as well as did a small sized European tour afterwards - can you tell us a bit about that experience?
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"The whole Europe tour was the best thing that EVER happened to us!! Everyone was so cool. We met lots of nice people. Prog Power in Holland was a highlight for us. Just playing with all those killer bands was a trip! Zero Hour was a band that I really wanted to see and meet. They were totally nice guys and a wicked band.Also, we bonded with Wolverine. They joined us on the tour. Silent Edge was killer and Andromeda and Anathema!! I could go on forever. Even the club sized shows when very well. We got to sell a lot of CDs and met up with all the fans and saw all the beautiful scenery and cultures. We HAVE to go back soon!!!"
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What is the future plans for you - and do you think that you will ever end up playing either death metal or progressive metal (or will you stay a "hybrid" of the genres)?
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"That is a good question. Presently we are preparing material for a third release. The response to our hybrid metal has been really positive so we won't stray too far from it. At the same time we have to stretch out with the band and come up with more exciting music. Time will tell I guess. We won't be "selling out" any time soon...hahahaha."
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Any final words?
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"Yeah!! I want to thank all the fans and other bands that have been supporting us. We all have to stick together and keep metal alive! We also have to thank you Claus and other press for taking the time to help support the metal scene! I hope everyone will check out our new album Dead or Dreaming....thanks again!!!!"
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All the best of luck to Into Eternity. Keep rocking!, Claus Jensen
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