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| Cydonia |
| with Dan Keying on Apr 08, 2003 |
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| Your new album is about to be released on April 7th, how would you compare “The Dark Flower” to your debut album “Cydonia”? “The Dark Flower” is a big achievement for me and the band. Anyway we don`t want to do CDs that sound the same. So, maybe the new album sounds like the “Dark side of Cydonia”. | |||
| Cydonia’s music on the one hand has thrash metal influences but on the other hand it’s very melodic. What do you think makes Cydonia stand out from the other bands in the scene and how would you describe your own music? Personally I think the album is perfectly balanced between aggression and melody. The whole atmosphere of the album is much darker than the previous album. The guitar riffs are really heavy and sound pretty modern and you can also find many weird and futuristic keyboard parts. “The Dark Flower” is cyber-thrash… | |||
| What bands have influenced your music? I love a lot of different music: Pink Floyd, Eminem, Rammstein, Frank Zappa, Anthrax, Pantera, Jethro Tull, new wave music from the 80s, Steve Vai, Soilwork and others. Maybe in my music there is something of all of these bands, but maybe I got a strange kind of fantasy… I don‘t know the metal scene very well. | |||
| Can you tell us a bit more about the background of the band and the recent line-up changes? In 1998 I started to write the first songs, I didn’t exactly follow the typical power or trash line but my goal was to create good songs; in 1999 I began to form Cydonia, calling up Trevor on bass (the bass player of my old band and friend of mine), Steve Sguario, and now two new members have come in the band, and so this is the line-up: Pete Daniels on rhythm guitar, Steve Sguario on lead guitar, Trevor O’Neal on bass, Stefan Ray on drums, and Dan Keying vocals. I have different visions of music than the others. We are still friends with the members of the band who played on the first album, they are fully committed to play their music, plus the new guys were what we were looking for. | |||
| The name Cydonia has something to do with Mars if I’m not mistaken. Can you explain the concept behind the name and how it influences your lyrics in general? Cydonia is region on Mars, still existing, where since the 70s NASA SPACE PROBES took some snapshots of these incredible pyramidal structures, and a huge monument resembling a Sphinx; obviously science never admitted the evidence, hiding behind stupid explanations, saying that they are simply shadows. I have loved ufos and other mysteries for many years, and I’ve unified all this with music in Cydonia. About my lyrics; they are always full of real facts that I can’t explain in a few words, sometimes I’m tired of the things I see in the world, I feel like I am imprisoned in an imperfect human body; there are doors closed to us beyond which I would like to see. This is what I tried to transmit to the readers of my lyrics. | |||
| What about the concept of your new album, “The Dark Flower”; would you care to elaborate the story? Dark Flower is the virtual world where you’re living, a deceit for your mind, slaves in a sinful genetic system, controlled by soldiers of light, where you can find the answer only in your dreams. The lyrics are based on different stories connecting one to the other. The fans have to dig in this virtual/real dream. That is truth, no science fiction! My dreams are always full of real facts that I can’t recollect. The possibility to stop time hides the key to the limits of the thoughts. | |||
| Where do you get your inspiration to write your music and lyrics? I don’t know, a kind of passion dragging me in the hole with no return. | |||
| As of now you are the sole songwriter of the band, will this change in the future? Maybe, it depends on our next songs. I don`t want to do CDs that sound the same every time. | |||
| What are your favorite songs on the “The Dark Flower”? One Last Crime, Another Age, and Dark Flower. | |||
| What are your future plans for Cydonia? No plans, for now… | |||
| Finally, has Metal Blade planned a tour for you already? We hope so. I don’t know, it is all to be defined yet. We want to be sure that everything will be well organized. | |||
| Thank you very much for this interview! Is there anything you want to add? Thank you for your kind attention. All the members of the band would like to thank you. Ciao from Cydonia. Dan cydonia@dankeying.com trevoroneal@yahoo.it | |||
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(Frank van de Voorde) |
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