Rockezine.com interview with Callenish Circle on Feb 05, 2002

with Patrick Savelkoul on Feb 05, 2002

With “Flesh_Power_Dominion” Callenish Circle delivers her third and solid melodic death metal release. After several problems with record companies and distributors Callenish Cicle decided not to wait any longer and they entered the Stage One Studio with Andy Classen (former guitarist of Holy Moses). No one less than Metal Blade showed their interest in the band and decided to sign Callenish Circle for four releases. Today I am talking to vocalist Pat about the new record deal the upcoming European tour and of course about music.
		How are the reactions on FPD so far? Although the album comes out next week, the 11th, the reactions have been very positive. Most people are enthusiastic about FPD. We now even got around a hundred requests for interviews, but not all around the world. Most of the interest seems to come from countries in Europe. Not so many from across the European borders. But you also can visit our website www.callenish-circle.com were you can check out some of the reviews of FPD.
		How did Callenish Circle get in contact with Metal Blade? After troubles with previous record companies we decided not to wait and to finance FPD out of our own pocket. But that was quite a rough decision to make. Recording a record on a professional way costs a lot of money and when nobody is interested in the material you are the one with the problem. In the meantime we passed several offers because of the fact that they did not match with our conditions. Eventually after the album was recorded we sent it around to record companies of whom we found that suited us. And surprisingly after a short time we got in contact with Metal Blade, and the contract was signed last October.
		FPD was recorded in the famous Stage One Studio with Andy Classen. What made you decide to choose for Stage One and how was it to work with such a man? Our previous album was recorded in Franky`s Recording Kitchen, but we found that we had reached a certain level there and we could not grow above that here. On the other hand Franky`s Recording Kitchen is the perfect studio for extreme music in Holland but we decided to go and check in some other countries.
		But when I received a copy of the new Die Apokaliptische Reiter I was convinced. I was completely amazed by that production. After that we listened to some more productions from that studio and we decided that we go there. Andy of course is a man with much experience in recording extreme bands and he also knew how to motivate and inspire us. It was great to work with him. And of course his brother Georg who has helped us with the mixing.
		When I met you at the Bolt Thrower concert some time ago I mentioned that the metal on FPD showed some comparison with bands as the Haunted and At the Gates. But you did not agree with me.
		Tell me how you would like to describe the metal on this new album. That is pretty funny cause both our guitarists had never heard of the Haunted before. Coincidentally one of them bought their second release some time ago. No, I think our music has some more to offer than only thrash or death. When you listen carefully enough you can here that there is more to offer like some heavy and even some black metal. But I guess some details got lost in the intensity of the production. And besides that the guitar riffs do not differ that much from what we did earlier.
		But what are the influences of the band members? Most of the band members have a very diverse taste of music. And you can certainly hear that back in our music. Of course, in the early days we were influences by bands as Death, Pestilence and the old Paradise Lost but we are always searching for our own typical sound. Our previous release had to sound refreshing and so is this one. We don not try to copy bands, we only want to play what we like.
		What does “Flesh_Power_Dominion” mean? And is there a deeper thought behind the artwork or the lyrics? There isn’t really a deeper concept behind the title, nor the lyrics. The title sounds very strong and it’s more like a statement. We actually took a sample of the title from a horror movie but people don not really recognize it except for one German reporter (I did not recognize it either, but Patrick would not tell me, TJ). The link concerning the lyrics can only be found in the first song. Guitarist Ronny writes most of the lyrics and they deal about human emotions. When you deal with people there always happens something, good or bad. Everybody experiences this.
		And I can perfectly find myself in these lyrics cause I recognize certain things. The cover artwork is more symbolic. There is a guy that wants to have control and strength in this situation but he is connected to a machine. The deeper thought actually is that you can not always do the things you want.
		Callenish Circle is doing a European tour in a short while, looking forward to that? Yes, of course. Besides that this is Callenish Circle’s first official European tour in almost ten years. We have struggled our way up and things didn’t always go that easy. This kind of is a thing we have always dreamed about, and to play in countries as Spain, France that’s very cool. We have played over a hundred gigs in Holland and Belgium and some in Germany but that’s that. The tour-support from Metal Blade is perfect. Metal Blade takes good care of her bands, and that makes touring a lot more fun. And we really go to a lot of countries like France, Spain and Italy.
		Any further plans for the future? We would have been going on a little tour with Skyfire in the end of March but due to some problems with the booking agency. I had to cancel the shows in benefit for the bands. And in the summer we will be doing some smaller summer festivals like Partizan Open Air (GER) and Stonehenge (HOL). The record was out too late to play on the bigger festivals this year.
		Anything you would like to add to this interview? All the readers should check out “Flesh_Power_Dominion”, take care. And till a next time.
		(Teun Jans)