Rockezine.com interview with Another Messiah on Jun 22, 2007

with Christ and Robbie on Jun 22, 2007


		Please introduce yourself and the band. Christ: Hello Rockezine! Christ here, how is the situation over there? Life is getting worse over here, I am afraid the Martians have finally overcome…. Who can help us? I guess it’s time for Another Messiah!!! Robbie: Hi
		What does Another Messiah stand for? Christ: Metal, despair, scepticism, beer, melancholy, cynicism and sadness. Robbie: Doom…lots of it
		You use a lot of styles in your music, why do you do that? Christ: It just happens. It was never a strategic or rational decision to incorporate various styles in our music. Our music originates rather organically. We are not some prog metal band that sits down and starts to write. No, the music evolves as it is. Sometimes into something extremely heavy, sometimes into something very sad. We play around with atmospheres, not with styles.
		Who`s the main influence for Another Messiah? Christ: the main bands that influence us are Opeth, My Dying Bride, Amorphis, Tiamat, Gojira, Shape of Despair and the like. Our strength is that we also listen to other bands or artists like Lyube, Kate Bush, the ultra gay Duran Duran, Ultravox and many more non-metal bands. It is all about atmosphere. I am very sure that Kate Bush is more metal than most contemporary metal bands, although the music is not half as loud. Robbie: I think we are actually typically Dutch. You can hear influences of After Forever, Gorefest and Orphanage when you listen to our music.
		Could you give some insight in the writing process? Robbie: For “Dark Dreams, My Child” we recorded a lot of jam sessions. Then we went to our old rehearsal studio which is the attic of a shed near a barn in the middle of fucking nowhere. We knew that nobody would create a fuss if we started playing around three o’clock at night so we were free to do however we pleased. We went there twice, drank a lot of beer, hit on the waitress at the local diner and laid the basis for this album. After that we did half a year of fine-tuning and bang! There it was. At this moment we’re writing the second album and after one weekend at our old rehearsal studio we decided we would never go there again. It’s a fucking miracle we didn’t die the first time.
		What´s the best part of Recognition for you and why should people buy this album? Robbie: the best reason for people to buy this album is to make us filthy rich of course. For the rest it’s just a great album. We take our time to create an eerie atmosphere and we build on that. It’s all based on that feeling that makes you nauseous, that feeling which makes you lose your appetite. You know something’s going to hit you…but when. If only you would know. We do our musical thing and you get head-fucked.
		Why did you re-release this album? Christ: We self-released this album by the end of ‘05. The album was never officially released, because it was a self-financed and organised project. We have been in and out of negotiations but since no label was willing to offer us what we asked for, we decided not to sign a deal. And then we met Ido of Restrain Records…. He did have faith in us (he met us via Ivan of Cliteater) and he offered us a good record deal. He was so happy with the recording and artwork we already had, he decided to put it in a digipak and re-release it. The next album (that will be released in 2008) will also be released by Restrain.
		What are the future plans for Another Messiah? Christ: First we’ll release some albums and tour Europe and the US for a couple of times. Because we all have an propensity for depressions, this success will be too much for us. The result is that we will start an argument with each other. We’ll break up and at least one of us will accidentally commit suicide by taking an overdose of Bavaria soon after that. 10 years after the break up, the remaining members will start a reunion tour and will finally be able to pay their bills. Robbie: They always told me I was the one who had to shoot himself after having had way too much beer. I would love to play Moscow before I do that.
		What is the most embarrassing album in your own private album collection. (How/ why did you get it?) Christ: probably ‘Demo-lition’ by ‘No Problem’. Joost van den Broek knows where and how I got it. Let’s say it was worth paying the 5 guilders for. Robbie: I happen to own a copy of the fabulous Alice Deejay album “Who needs guitars anyway”.
		Thanks for answering my questions are there any final, famous last words you want to share with the readers from rockezine.com? Robbie: Stay metal and hell yeah
(Jeroen Habets)