Hello dear Nephente ! It is a real pleasure for me to have this chat with you. Congratulations for the new song ! So, tell me a few things about the album The Grander Voyage you will release next month on 28th. It will be a tour? (hope Romania is included on the list)
Salutations Miruna, the pleasure is all mine! Glad to hear you like our latest offering “Pillars of the Sky”, it is the second single from the album, the first was “Windwards”. So far the response has been very good I must say, so I a pleased so far. The album is new chapter for Netherbird and we are all excited about having it out so we can do some gigs and try the material out live on stage.We were scheduled to return to Romania already in November 2016 to perform at the November to Dismember Metal Fest but since it got cancelled we have not made any decision yet on when we can return to Romania, but we will since it is always great to perform in your country, awesome crowds, good people and fantastic parties. So we will return but it might be in 2017 as it seems right now.
What was the main influence for this album? I guess there is a story behind it
This album is somewhat a reflective journey I guess which actually evolves during the songs, so it starts with the confusion of realizing that the world is a big and strange place and with time we find, or rather take, our place and find perspective and motivations to go out and make our own contributions. So lyric-wise it is a bit introspective but hopefully still something that is open to interpretation so each listener can find his/her own story in it. I see this album as our most diverse yet also the most honest we have made, but we shall see how it is received once it is out.
Which of all songs is your favourite?
This is a hard question, but I really like the last three since they are very dynamic and also quite fun to sing, so “Pillars of the Sky”, “The Silvan Shrine” and “Emerald Crossroads”.
Lets get back in time. Which band was the first you listened to and has a strong influence upon you and who was your “model”?
The band that made me a metal head was W.A.S.P. since I saw the video for “I wanna be somebody” on Swedish television in 1984. They looked cool, seemed to have a lot of hot girls and played brutal music. In time I discovered more extreme metal and what shaped me as a musician are the bands from the early 90:s black and death metal scene. To name a few extremely influential ones Bathory, Unanimated, Vinterland, Marduk and Dissection. I have been an active performer of black and death metal since 1990 so it is hard to say exactly which bands I get influenced by these days, I would say other artforms play an important role, and I find photography and paintings to be very powerful, like our previous album “The Ferocious Tides of Fate” which actually got it’s name when I say the painting we later used as cover art. So I draw my inspiration from a lot of sources like art, movies and people I meet and converse with.
Tell me about the lyrics. Do you write em?
Yes I write all the lyrics, and they are very important to me and Netherbird. We have three pillar that build the band: music, lyrics and artwork. They all play an important role and we take them very seriously. I could of course sing words written by other people, but to really “mean” what I am singing it really helps when it is my own words.
Can you pick something nice that you remember having with Netherbird?
Every time I have a conversation with a person who has somehow been inspired or motivated by the music we make and the words I write. That is the highest honour for me and that I treasure tremendously, so I must say that the best aspect of Netherbird is the chance to tour and to meet people whom I would never had the privilege to meet otherwise. That is also what me and the rest of the band like so much about Romania: all the great people we have meet there on our trips. You guys are amazing!
Thank you for your time! Is there anything you would like to add for your Romanian fans?:)
We are very proud of the great support we have in Romania and we do never take that for granted, we will return and we look forward to it. Support your local scene and see you when we come the next time!
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the lyric video for Pillars of the Sky and the video for Windwards
Noroc!