Rockezine.com interview with Since Yesterday on Oct 26, 2006

with Burak on Oct 26, 2006


		Could you introduce yourself and the band. Can you try to describe the kind of music that you play? Hi, my name is Burak and I am 26. I live in Ankara (Turkey) just like the other members of Since Yesterday. Since yesterday is a 6-piece post-hardcore/metal band that also uses the fascinating power of progressive music within its heavy but melancholic sound. In the current line-up of our band, we have two vocalists, Mansur and Can, who complete each other using combinations of scream and clean vocals. Cem, being a progressive/metal freak, fills in the blanks of the hardcore-based riffs that fire out of the guitar I play. Yiğit, our bassist is our jack-in-the-box. He uses his creativity to keep the band away from predictable changes in songs and reputation, which aids our originality. Last but not least, Oktay, our drummer who has a past of many different genres including black metal, grindcore and hardcore plays how he wishes and sometimes even we don’t know what he has in mind while doing soJ
		Who would you name as your influences? As I said, we are a band of six and our personal influences do not even meet at any point. We take this as granted and blend our personal taste to the songs we write. This is how the sound of Since Yesterday builds up.
		At this moment you guys are recording a new album. Can you describe the creative process of making this album? (How did the songs get written, arranged, produced, the lyrics. Who does what in the band?) Some time ago, we were trying to create a concept with our lyrics. Every next song had a connection to the one before in terms of lyrics. But this time we tried to extend this connection by not only having lyrics that come together to become a whole but also the music. When people will listen to our new songs, they will find themselves within them and feel the vicious circle of birth, life and death. What we have to say about the making of the album probably won’t be different than most other bands. One member lives and feels something and puts it into some musical form using his instrument then shares it with the others at our home – practice sessions so they can contribute to what he has begun to form the skeleton of the song. As time goes by, the song begins to change and take its final state.
		What’s going be the best part of this album? The best part of this album will be, as I said before, the concept, which will not only be with the lyrics but also the music and melodies. This was a project that we have been planning about since some time now. Maybe it’s a risk we are taking but we are certain that we will succeed. We still are writing new riffs and melodies to keep the continuity.
		How are you going to promote the album and the band? At this time, we are not signed with a label. We are trying to distribute our tunes over the internet with the limited conditions we have. We spend most of our time to accomplish this and we are not complainant about it because it’s really great to be in contact with people from different parts of the world but we still wouldn’t say ‘no’ to a label ready to do it for us. Maybe then, we can use the spare time to write new songs because making music is always the first priority for us.
		Is there a label who signed you guys? We are in contact with some labels but a label willing to represent and distribute our band in a good way helping us to be heard by more people will always be our first choice. Shortly, we would be glad if the labels interested with our music would contact us. We are sure we can find someone whose ideals and thoughts match up with ours.
		What is your most memorable moment being in Since Yesterday? To say the truth even reading this question made us feel the same excitement and feelings that we had back at the day. 4 - 4.5 years ago, we performed at a 2-day festival at an important venue. Attendance and the promotion of the organization was awesome which made us feel excited, stressed and we couldn’t wait to get on stage. After the show, I remember us all being sick for a whole week.
		How is the scene in Turkey? Are there a lot of metal bands and shows? The music scene in Turkey is developing day by day. However, the tendency is towards popular music. Although nowadays, there are different types of musical styles coming out in the country, there is little attention towards metal, punk or post rock. Some private music channels have opened up recently. They give a hand to some up-and-coming bands but the most important problem is the advertisement. Another problem of the scene is that labels are only interested in bands playing songs in Turkish. And when you look at all the new bands coming up, you will see that they prefer the international language of English as their medium. Unfortunately big labels are only interested in marketting popular stuff. They don’t care about rock or metal or pop. As long as you sell a lot of records, they will sign you.
		Do you enjoy playing live? How is a typical Since Yesterday live performance? To say the truth, the main aim of Since Yesterday is to play live. We just love playing to people who listen to music for the sake of it. Meeting new people at shows, having conversations with them, sharing our feelings on stage just makes us feel happy. A typical Since Yesterday performance consists of these three words: Appealing, energetic and sweet moshpit terror.
		Playing which venue or festival would be a dream come true? As that’s the way it is, we have similar aims with every other metal band. We do not compare playing in a small bar or a concert hall because we don’t see much difference between them. The point is sharing the adrenaline with the audience. When talking about a scene, the venue has little importance.
		What’s your personal favorite on the new album and which track didn’t turn out quite as you’d expected it to be? It is truly too early for us to be able to say much about this question because we still have not completed the recording process. Those who support us know that we have one new song on our page. “Episode 1 (The Director’s Cut)” is a song that we love to play on stage and listen to at home. The great comments that we get for that song shows us that we aren’t the only ones that feeling that way. Now we want to keep the fire burning with our other favorite song called “The Fall”. However, there is a song that we are recording which was written two years ago. This song called “Suicide wants an unknown melody” slightly differs from the concept of the other songs in the CD but we still think it has it’s own unique taste. Hope you will dig it too.
		Anything left to say? Thank you and Rockezine for this nice interview and questions. We would be happy if those who would like to contact us or listen to what we sound like would visit our Myspace page www.myspace.com/sinceyesterdaytr or our Purevolume page www.purevolume.com/sinceyesterdaytr. Greetz to Holland!!
(Jeroen Habets)