Rockezine.com interview with Callenish Circle on Nov 03, 2005

with Ronny Tyssen on Nov 03, 2005

Callenish Circle have recorded their new album [Pitch.Black.Effectes]. Let’s ask them some questions about the band, the album, their changing the bassist and other things of their life.
		Hello! For Rock-E-Zine readers, would you tell us how the band started and took their first steps in music? Hi there! Ronny here… Well, CC has been around since the end of 1992, starting with playing covers of bands like Pestilence, Gorefest, Paradise Lost, Death, Cemetary etc.Up till now we released a demo, an EP and 5 full-length albums, of which 3 on Metal Blade Records.
		Is there any special message or ideology behind your music? What is it about? It’s not our intention to ‘spread a word’, although I try to write the lyrics in a way that everybody can recognize himself / herself and certain situations in it. We just want to make the music we like without preaching, telling people what to do or bother listeners with my opinion.
		What bands do you consider to be your main musical influences or inspirations? Could those influences be easily heard in any of your songs? In the beginning of the interview I mentioned that we played covers of bands we liked back then. I think when you listen to our music nowadays, you will still hear our musical taste of the old days, although we sound far more modern now of course. I listen to a lot of very different music styles. As long as it’s well played and well structured I can really listen to almost every kind of music. For instance, I like Keane very much because they write incredible catchy songs full of atmosphere with minimal ingredients (not even a guitar!). I think it’s a very talented band and I listen to their music very much. In fact every sound I hear is kind of an influence, not only music. I can get an idea for a riff or melody by hearing a very simple sound, for instance a train passing by.
		Who writes the music and lyrics in the band? I’m responsible for most of the riffs, melodies and most of the lyrics. Gavin and I begin setting up a song structure. When we have the basic song, the other members join in and tell us what they think. From there on completing the song is a real group process.
		Just a month before the recording of the new album Callenish Circle decided to part their ways with the bass player Rocco Was it difficult to record the new material with the new bassist? Was it a risk? For several reasons Rene couldn’t provide the 100% motivation and dedication which is a must for CC members, so unfortunately we had to ask him to leave the band. Playing in Callenish Circle means you have quite a lot of obligations (rehearsing, playing shows, festivals & tours, recording albums, doing interviews, etc, etc) aside from having a regular fulltime job. So you really have to be 110% into this otherwise it simply doesn’t work. It always sucks when you have to fire someone, especially this short before the recordings of an album, but it was a decision we had to make to continue our path. No hard feelings though. We are still in good contact with Rocco. The risk was minimal, as I played the bass before, so as a final solution I could have played the bass. But I was certain that Maurice could do a better job, and he did!
		How did the decision to hire Maurice Brouwers (Engine Of Pain) for the studio recordings come? We had to find a suitable bass player to do the recordings on a very short notice. After making a few phone calls we came up with Maurice (Engine Of Pain) who was very enthusiastic to take the job, and he recorded some incredible roaring bass parts. Respect for this.
		Has Wim Vossen (ex-Mangled, Stormrider) begun rehearsing with the band? After the recordings we immediately started searching for a new steady member and did a couple of auditions. Wim was indeed one of them. We know Wim personally for many years already and he turned out to be the perfect man for the job. He did a few shows with us and it feels like he’s part of CC for a very long time.
		How does the your slogan “never change a winning team” work for the new release with the new producer Gail Liebling? [Laughs] Never thought someone would actually mention this slogan… After doing 2 albums together with Andy Classen in the Stage 1 studio we wanted to do something different again, get kind of an own sound. In order to reach this goal we decided to record the album together with Gail in a studio in Holland. As we’re big fans of the Antfarm studio we wanted to do the mix there. Gail and I went to Denmark and together with Tue Madsen we were able to establish the heavy, aggressive and clear sound we had in mind. Peter Neuber at Mega Wimp does an excellent job in mastering (he also did MP//YP) and added the cream on the pie.
		About the new album. What do you expect from this new release? In the first place the added digital effects are a pretty big difference. We also used some different, for us new kinds of riffs and drum patterns in order to get another dimension, more variation, groove and catchiness in our sound. I think this way we definitely succeeded in creating a new sound without loosing the typical CC sound we found in our last albums. So in the end music wise [Pitch.Black.Effects] is still in the vein of our 2 former albums Flesh_Power_Dominion and My Passion // Your Pain. Our fans don`t need to be afraid to hear a complete new band on [Pitch.Black.Effects]… it`s still Callenish Circle, no doubt about that! We simply didn`t want to record the same album twice, that`s the main reason why we explored new fields on the new album.
		What are the lyrics on the album about? The general theme of the lyrics is all kinds of extreme human emotions like anger, hate, envy etc. I get my inspiration from different things like personal experiences, reading books, movies and documentaries. So sometimes it’s a concrete situation, but I try to transform all specific topics into general themes to express the emotions you experience so that everybody can recognise himself and situations he experienced in the lyrics.
		How would you like the album to be received by the critics or the fans? I hope the critics and fans are going to recognize that [P.B.E] is again a step further for CC and that this time we are further away from the Swedish sound than on our former albums, because that’s something we kept in mind while writing the songs. I hope people are going to say [P.E.B] still sounds like our former albums, but with more fresh, groovy and catchy elements.
		Your plans for the future. What is the meaning of success for you? In the music industry it’s best to plan not too much, but we sure want to make the best out of the opportunities that are presented to us. As this album is the second one to be released in Japan, we really hope we can do a small tour over there. Furthermore it would be very cool to go on a tour on which we can reach a big and broad audience. Meaning of success? Well, it’s flattering when people like your music and you sell a lot of albums, but in the end I’m making music for myself, so when we sell enough albums to keep our recording budget, do cool tours etc, I’m a happy man.
		What would you consider more important for you: experimenting with new sounds and probably music styles or the loyalty to the certain style of music and its fans? Our challenge is to find the perfect balance between evolving (for instance experimenting with new sounds) and keeping our own sound. Like I said before, I make music for myself in the first place. It sure is very cool when someone calls himself a CC fan, but we want to keep the challenge into writing songs. So that means our sound will change gradually. If that means some fans will not like our music anymore at a certain point, that’s a pity, but we’re willing to pay that price as long as our music gets better.
		Playing live. What was your first gig like? Do you feel different going on stage these days? My first gig playing the guitar was 13 years ago in a small cafe, so certainly I feel different now. Getting older means more physical problems, but I¡¦m willing to make this sacrifice to be on stage ƒº. Of course it¡¦s still exciting to go on stage and present your music to the audience. If you get to the point you don¡¦t care anymore about this, it¡¦s time to quit.
		Thank you for the interview. And in the end what would you add for your Dutch auditory? First of all thanks to you Julie, for your interest in Callenish Circle and the intie! We appreciate it. For the readers: here the PBE’s release dates. Check it out if you’re into some heavy and modern extreme metal and let us know what you think!!! - Germany : 11.11.2005 (label : Metal Blade Europe) - Rest of Europe : 14.11.2005 (label : Metal Blade Europe) - North America : 10.01.2006 (label : Metal Blade USA) - Japan: January / February 2006 (label : Metal Blade Japan).
		(Julie Michael)