MEZARKABUL INTERVIEW

Hailing out of Turkey, Mezarkabul is one of this years very exciting bands. They are however not a newcomer, but the well-known band Pentagram using a new name for the World. The reason for the name change and a lot more is to be read below in my little chat with bass player Tarkan, calling from Berlin:

Interview by Lars F. Larsen

First of all - congratulations on your newest album. It's a very good one!

"Thank you very much."

Listening to your album, it sounds to me as if you're inspired by bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden Black Sabbath and Iced Earth?

"I have been doing interviews for 5 days now, and all journalists have come up with different band names, that they feel they hear in our music. Bands like the ones you mentioned, but also Queensryche…and even some saying Korn!! We are into a lot of music starting from the late seventies and into the early nineties. So we are influenced from all of the bands coming from that period of time."

So it's not any particular bands…you just write from the inspiration in your head?

"Yeah, you know all these bands are the influence from the time of our youth, and we are influenced by all of them."

How old are you guys?

"31, 30, 33 and 35."

So you are only 4 guys in the band? (my info sheet says 5).

"Yeah, we are 4 and we have a friend, who plays with us on stage. We like to promote ourselves as 4 guys who have been together all the time."

Where did you record the album?

"The story of this album is as follows: We went into our rehearsal room and wrote and played every day for 4 months again and again to bring forth the final forms of the songs. After that we decided to record the songs live - recording all the instruments at one time takes, so we had to find a studio where that was possible, and the nearest one was in Greece. It's a studio called SIERRA Studios. They had this big room, and several smaller rooms where we could place the amplifiers, and they have very good equipment. Very good recording console, for doing everything at the same time. But due to some technical problems, we had to do some dubbings on guitars and vocals. So those dubbings, we recorded in Istanbul at our own place. And we mixed it in a studio in Istanbul afterwards. So that's the basic history of the album."

How long time did you spend on the whole thing?

"From the beginning to the end, it took approximately one year, but all this time wasn't only recordings. We had a lot of breaks in between the sessions, because of economy obstacles and all that."

Did you produce and mix the album your selves, or did you have other people to do that?

"Doing the recordings as a live thing, we had to have some technical support, so we know this guy called Charles Turkmen. He lived in Australia, but came to Istanbul in '95. He is a man with very cool knowledge about the whole process of recording and the technical aspects."

Who did the keyboard parts?

"We have a young friend called Argan, who did the keyboards on a couple of songs."

In my opinion, the drums sound a little bit like computer drums. Is that on purpose?

"Actually there is no computer stuff on this album, but I agree with you. As I told you, we worked with that technical guy, and we gave him free hands to work with the songs. I don't know what he had in his mind, when doing it, but maybe if you see us live, you'll be able to hear what our usual sound is all about."

What are your lyrics about?

"Actually we don't print the lyrics on the cover for the album, as we don't want people to get prejudiced or anything, after reading the lyrics, but they will be on our web site. The concept is more of a spiritual side that we have been into lately, like our own individual journey of life."

How come you changed your name from Pentagram to Mezarkabul?

"We really didn't change the name in our own home country. In Turkey we're still Pentagram, but due to another band called Pentagram who are older than us as a band and some copyright problems, we had to change into Mezarkabul. So this is the second name of the same identity as Pentagram."

"That's a reasonable enough explanation. How are the plans of a tour in Europe?"

First of all we'll play some festivals, and according to the feed back from magazines and radio stations, we hope to get something going in Europe, but there are no confirmed dates right now.

"Have you ever played around Europe before?"

"The only time we played in Europe, was in Denmark in 1995. We stayed there for a month. We played a show in a place called Backfish, and one in Stengade 30. But we hope to play some more this time."

Well, I'll definitely catch up with you this time!!!! Do you know any Danish bands?

"First thing that pops into mind is King Diamond, and of course Mercyful Fate. Also Artillery is a great band. I'm really amazed about the way they use this oriental stuff in their songs. They are one of the greatest thrash bands ever, you know."

On my info sheet, it says that you have sold more than 150.000 copies of your last album in Turkey alone!!!!!!! Is that true?

"Well, I don't know if it's 150.000, but it's definitely more than 100.000!"

Can you live of the music then?

"We're trying but it's hard. We're trying to be content with our requirements in our way of life."

Are you guys muslims?

"I really can't call myself a subject to any religious belief. All religious beliefs belong to us. We believe in all of them in their original forms, but we don't believe in the way that people follow these religions!"

It was actually a question leading into my next question…what is your favourite beer - that is, if you drink alcohol?

"We like beer…we like Carlsberg beer from Denmark, and there's also this beer from Turkey called Esef Pilsen."

That should be all for today. I really hope to see you guys in Copenhagen.

"Well, we look forward to coming up there."