Rockezine.com interview with Eidolon on Jun 12, 2002

with Shawn Drover on Jun 12, 2002

"Coma Nation" is already the fifth full-length album of this Canadian melodic metal band formed around the Drover brothers. Glen Drover left King Diamond a while ago and invested more time in Eidolon; consequently the expectations of this new album were high. Shawn Drover enlightens us about the relatively unknown Eidolon and their new album "Coma Nation".
		First of all, congratulations with your new record “Coma Nation”, it is a very interesting and powerful record with a lot of variation. Can you tell me a bit about the songwriting process? Thank you, I`m glad you like it!!! For this record, Glen was a bit more involved with the song writing, as he had a lot more free time, since he left King Diamond. Basically, we both just make a tape of guitar riffs and ideas for songs, send them to each other and make songs from the best riffs; we have been doing it this way since we began in 1993. For whatever reason, things just seemed to be easier and we were more focused to make the best record possible, the results speak for themselves!!!!!
		Your album has a strong production and a very powerful sound. Who was responsible for the recording and mixing and are you satisfied with the sound as it is? Glen handles ALL of the studio work, he is the producer, engineer, mixes the record, etc. With every record he gets better and we get more studio equipment for his studio as well. You can actually hear the evolution and progress from our first record, “Zero Hour”, through all of our other records up until now!!!!
		When I listen to your album I hear a myriad of influences but despite all that you guys have managed to keep your own sound. What would you say are your biggest influences? On any given day, we could be listening to anything from Mozart to Marduk!!!! We listen to so many different kinds of music, it is very normal for us to throw on an old Queen record, then jump right into Cradle Of Filth. I think in a way, this shows through in our music, as to us there are no rules to the music we make, this is why we have so many styles in our music. Some people say "play more fast songs"; that would bore me to death, we inject variety in our music and we intend to keep it that way!!!
		What kind of bands do you listen to nowadays? Any favorites? Right now, I really like Arch Enemy!!! To me, again, they inject different forms of metal into their own thing, which is so killer!!!! I am anxiously waiting for the new Cradle Of Filth as well, the orchestrations and riffs they put in their songs really make them stand out from the other bands, I believe. Plus, the whole vampire-horror stuff is fucking cool, man!!!!!!!! On the other end, I really dig Gordian Knot, which is a much more musical jazz-fusion-metal kind of thing. The musicians in this band are some that were previously in both Death and Cynic, these dudes are so good, it scares me!!!!! I totally love this band!!!!!!!!
		“Coma Nation” features your new singer, Pat Mulock, how did you find him and in what way does he add to your music? Pat heard through the metal media that we were looking for a new singer, he sent us some material and he set up an audition. We liked what he has to offer, which is more power and versatility in his voice. We did NOT want to change the sound of the band; we just wanted a better singer. We now have that, so everything is cool now!!!!!!
		I must admit I really like his vocals, at times he reminds me of the old days of Fates Warning. Any comments? I really believe that Pat has his own sound, but of course, he may sound like certain singers at times, which is totally normal, really. I don’t think he sounds like any particular singer, we are just glad he has a good attitude and is a team player. He wants to destroy live, which is what we all want to do, really.
		The name Eidolon is a very interesting name. How did you come up with it and what does it really mean? I found the name Eidolon in a book years ago, and thought it was a cool name. I mentioned it to Glen and we decided to use this name for the band; this was back in 1993. The name Eidolon means a ghost or a shadow.
		In addition to the interesting name, the cover art of your album is awesome! Does the cover have any relation to the lyrics on the album and if so can you tell me a bit more about it? The record concept is based on the song, “Coma Nation”. It is basically the lifeless souls who were killed in the song “Nightmare World” have gathered together to form the ultimate monster of revenge, the Eidolon, who seeks vengeance on those who destroyed the innocent and makes them hang in a coma state; lifelessly dangling.
		On your previous album, “Hallowed Apparition”, you decided to leave out keyboards and keep acoustics to a minimum, why did you decide to increase their role again on this new album? Well, “Hallowed Apparition” was a much more direct metal record, so it really didn’t require much keyboards or acoustic guitars. While this new record, because it is much more diverse in style, required more of them. We use them for dramatic effect really. They don’t dominate our sound at all, like I said before; there are no rules. Whatever we think is cool at the time, we go for it!!!!
		Over the years Eidolon has evolved, are you satisfied with where Eidolon stands at this point? Any future goals? Basically, we want to play more European festivals in the next years!!! Wacken Open Air being our #1 mission!!!! We want to be exposed to as many people as possible, and this is the best way to do it. Other than that, just keep putting out good solid metal records and hoping to gain more fans with each release. What we do is totally 100% for the love we have for this music, so in the end, we know we will succeed!!!!!!
		Has your label, Metal Blade, made any plans for a European tour? That is a good question!!!! We have heard nothing so far. For now, we are playing some shows in Canada this summer, but other than that, I have yet to hear about any tour.
		Finally, is there anything you want to add to this interview, a message to the fans perhaps? To those of you who support EIDOLON - THANK YOU!!!!!!! We hope to see you in Europe soon!!!!!!! Cheers, Shawn - Eidolon www.eidolon-nightmareworld.com
(Frank van de Voorde)