Rockezine.com interview with Neaera on Mar 25, 2005

with Benjamin Donath on Mar 25, 2005

One of many wonderful ways to annoy a metal head is to ask kindly that if his favorite band is so good, then why nobody has heard of them before… Well, every joke is a part of joke. The rest is truth. Yes, this one shows correctly how metal is underground, against all of society clichés, and “never will sell out” and etc. But real talent should be noticed! It should be loud for we can hear about it from the other side of the world and at least for you and me, we could come and enjoy the gig. Cause underground is strange enough and inhabited by so many different personalities: outlaws and gods together… where talented young bands as time goes by turn into legends… On their way to becoming a legend here comes Neaera! Let’s remind them what they say now, in the beginning, when they become gods…
		Greetings and first of all, congratulations! “The Rising Tide Of Oblivion” is a fantastic debut! Neaera is an unusual name. Since it comes from Greek mythology, is anyone into mythology or was it just an intuitive choice? What does it mean to you? Well, I have to say that it wasn’t really an intuitive choice. We thought about many different names for a pretty long time before we finally settled on Neaera. Stefan [Keller, guitar] originally came up with the name after he’d found it in a book that he was reading at the time, namely “Paradise Lost” by John Milton. None of us really were into mythology specifically, we just kind of came across this name and first of all, we thought it sounded quite interesting, we thought it was kind of sticky. Of course, when we “investigated” the whole background of the name, it seemed even more fitting to our overall concept, specifically the content of our lyrics. Neaera is the name of a woman who was a slave and was oppressed for all her life. We just thought the biography of Neaera to be representative of many things that we think are going terribly wrong in this world and the times we live in.
		Do you remember the day you signed the contract with Metal Blade? What did you feel? We signed the contract the day after we had been to the Metal Blade Europe office. We had driven about 1000 km in one day to the office and back to discuss details of the contract with Michael, Andreas and Todde of Metal Blade personally. We had some difficulties understanding the kind of economic, business-like tone that the contract was written in, so we had decided that it would probably be best to talk to the guys at Metal Blade. They basically made it clear to us that we would not have any kind of disadvantage whatsoever if we signed the contract. That was the main point we wanted to make clear, so after the conversation with the Metal Blade dudes, there was basically no reason not to sign the contract. As I said, we went on to sign the contract the next day. Personally I felt relieved because all the stress that we had had in the days before, trying to understand the contract, discussing everything again and again, and of course travelling the 1000km to Eislingen and back, was finally gone. It was just good to know that we signed a contract with people who really seemed to stand behind us and support us. That was a great feeling.
		You have just recorded your debut album “The Rising Tide Of Oblivion”. Was it your first studio experience? No, our first ever studio experience together was recording the demo in February 2001 at the Docma-Sound Studio in Osnabrück. Stefan [Keller, guitar], Tobi [Tobias Buck, guitar] and Sebastian [Heldt, drums] had been to other studios before with other bands they had been playing in, but the recording of the demo was our first studio experience as Neaera.
		Who decided to invite Andy Classenas as a producer? Did he influence or help your recording work? Well, first of all it is important to say that Andy invited us. We had sent him our demo, and if he had not liked it, I don´t think he would have invited us to the Stage One Studio. But yes, he definitely influenced the whole recording process to a great extent. He is just a very experienced guy who works very professionally. At the same time he is really relaxed as a person. He heard our material and he immediately knew where we wanted to go with our sound, he just managed to create the mixture of clarity and brutality that we were looking for sound wise.
We just thought the biography of Neaera to be representative of many things that we think are going terribly wrong in this world and the times we live in.		Tell us what the lyrics on the album are about? What does the title mean? The lyrics on the album are about many different political and personal topics. It´s much better and –strange enough – easier to write lyrics about something that really pisses you off, and that´s what we did in most cases. Our lyrics, in one way or another, deal with things that we think are going wrong in this world. The main topics are war, genocide, religion, rape, such things, global matters, but there are also lyrics that address the listener on a more personal level, trying to stir up their emotions, telling them not to isolate themselves because of all the shit that seems to be happening around them. The title “The Rising Tide of Oblivion” can be interpreted and understood in many different ways, negatively and positively. It can on the one hand be seen as an imagery for something that is about to overwhelm our consciousness, making people unable to develop their own opinions because they are being manipulated by this “rising tide”. So in that sense the title could be understood as a warning. On the other hand you could say that with all the band things that are going on and with the way that mankind is mistreating and torturing this planet, some people might be wishing for such a “rising tide of oblivion” to come and wash away everything. In that sense, it would be a rather apocalyptic image. These are just two ways to interpret the title. We just liked the fact that the title has a certain ambiguity to it.
		You use extra instruments in the instrumental “The Last Silence”? Were there any guest musicians? Yes, there were three guest musicians altogether on the record. Claus Ulka of Misery Speaks helped us with the tenth track on the record, “Save The Drowning Child”. The other two guest musicians were friends of Stefan whose name I don´t know right now, but they are mentioned in the booklet. One of them is a girl who plays the cello, the other one is a guy who plays the violin. They helped us with two tracks, namely “From Grief...” and “The Last Silence”.
		How do you write songs, is this a group effort or is someone at a point entering the rehearsal place with a complete song? It is always a group effort. We just write new songs whenever we feel that we have enough ideas for a new song. The riffs come mostly from Tobi and Stefan, some come from me, but we always arrange them together, everybody is involved in the songwriting process.
		So do you believe in “X-factor” or “chemistry” in a band? Does it work for your band? Yes, I definitely believe that there is something like “chemistry” in a band. I can say for myself that I could not be making music with people that I could not get along with. It’s kind of hard to put it into words, to describe what this “chemistry” is and how it works. I think you can just say that you have to make arrangements and compromises in a band and not try to force your opinion onto others. There are often situations when we disagree about things, but then we pick up our instruments and play, and in the end it will eventually work out. It’s all about getting different personalities to work together and getting to trust and respect each other.
		Do you make any suggestions to each other how to record or to play something during rehearsals, for example a drummer to a vocalist or to a guitarist? Yes, we constantly make suggestions to each other, that´s how every single song comes about. Oftentimes, for example, a drummer hears something or things of playing a song passage in a way that a guitarist probably would not have thought of, and that suddenly changes the whole atmosphere of the song to the better. By constantly making these suggestions to each other, you make sure that the result in the end, namely the song, is something that every band member can identify with.
		Do you separate lead and rhythm guitar parts for a distinct person or do Tobias and Stefan play both rhythm and lead? I don´t think that we distinguish that much between rhythm and lead guitar. It mostly depends on who wrote which riff. I would say that they both play lead as well as rhythm.
		Are there any bands that you would like to credit for how they have inspired you to create a similar type of music? There are many bands that we have to give a lot of credit to for influencing the way we play what we play. I would say we are, of course, influenced mainly by Swedish death metal bands, for example At The Gates, Unanimated, Bloodbath, Edge of Sanity, Dismember, Amon Amarth etc., but also by hardcore bands like Heaven Shall Burn, Born From Pain, Hatebreed, such bands, those are bands we definitely look up to. And of course Unearth and The Black Dahlia Murder.
		What music do you usually listen to at home or in the car? Your favorite album? At the moment I listen mostly to black metal, like Darkthrone and Mayhem. My favorite album is “Vulgar Display Of Power” though. The most uncompromising, most brutal album ever.
		Do you remember your first show? What was it like? If you are talking about Neaera...our first show was back when we were still a four-piece, before Stefan joined the band. It was a small show we played in front of some of our friends. Personally, my first show was on December 28th, 2002, with Malzan, the grind band that Tobi and Stefan also played in at that time. I remember this date because I met my girlfriend there. We´ve been together until now, so I guess the show must have been okay. [laughs].
		What’s your favorite joke about musicians? Q: What do you call the guys that hang around with the musicians? A: Bass players.
		And in the end what would you like to add for REZ readers? Hope to see you soon on stage! Check out our site, www.neaera.com, hope you guys like it. METAL REIGNS!
(Julie Michael)