Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Interview: George Downloved (SADDOLLS)

   SadDoLLs is bound to be love right at first audition for most gothic metal fans! Formed in 2006, they started out as a cover band successfully playing the songs of their favorite artists, but soon released their own material and quickly gained immediate recognition, resulting in exciting collaborations. Today, vocalist George Downloved is here to let us in on some band history and further plans!


pdn: Hello, George! Thank you for accepting this interview! How are you doing, are you handling this quarantine? :P

George: Hello and thank you, nice to be here. Well at first it was bizarre, but when i got used to it, it was fun actually and an opportunity to spent some time with your loved ones and get some rest as well, this was a break that i could use, so no big harm.

pdn: I see you are releasing the single entitled "Call Me Pain" in digital format right

this month! What can you tell us about it?

George: Well yes, about that. The song is complete, it was recorded at Hell's Kitchen studios and
Soundflakes Studios by John Mcris, then it was mixed by Sky Van Hoff (Rammstein) and finally mastered by Mika Jussila (The 69 Eyes, Amorphis, Nightwish, To/Die/For) in Finland. We also shot parts for a music video but sadly because ot the COVID outbreak it was never completed so the new release date will be for September 2020, when those restrictions will be over and we will be back to normality.

pdn: How has this whole chaos caused by the virus affected the band and what do you think will be the first steps SadDoLLs will take once it's over? We can maybe hope for some tours sometimes? Would definitely love to see you guys live!


George: As mentioned before, we will release the new single and video later in September. The plan is to release a brand new single every year accompanied with a music video, we'll see how this will work out. We also had a show scheduled in Greece for this year but i am afraid it will also be silenced by the current measures. Hopefully in 2021 this will be over and we can get some slots again for the rest of Europe and also do one special show in Athens as well for our friends and fans who has not seen us live since 2017. We did 3 shows abroad in 2019 and it was amazing, so we are looking forward for some more.




pdn: As far a I've known, you have collaborated with some renowned artists from the gothic metal scene. Which were your favorite collaborations so far?

George: It was like a dream came true. We were fans of all those bands and artists before even our band was an idea, so it was a great privilege and experience. My personal favorites... Let's see... From studio works i would say Juska Slaminen aka Zoltan Pluto (HIM, New Dawn Foundation, To/Die/For) witch is a great guy, marvelous musician and a dear friend, and Skinny Disco (Deathstars). We also had the privilege to do live shows with those mentioned musicians back in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and an opportunity to shoot a music video with Skinny as well. We had also a great time doing it. Paradise Lost and The 69 Eyes were great as well, we opened for them back in 2009 and 2014 in Athens and Estonia. Looking forward for more shows like those.





pdn: Always a curious questions: what are your own favorite bands? Who influenced you mostly in your music? Also, what else inspires you?

George: We started in 2006 as a cover band mostly, we covered songs from HIM, The 69 Eyes, End Of You, For My Pain etc. We were always fans of the Finnish metal music scene and this was our main infulence all those years, but we wanted to add our own soul into the music, make it a bit darker and more synth driven. This was evolved in the years to come, and ulitimately became our sound (if we have one :P ). My personal favorite bands will always be HIM, The 69 Eyes, Deathstars, Poisonblack and To/Die/For. I Live and grown up in a country that is sunny and green with amazing islands and blue seas. But i always felt some darkness, since i was a child, maybe it came from all those horror movies i've seen all my life. I Think inspiration is a talent that comes and goes, you don't have it every day, you may have it for one week in a row and then lose it for a whole month. So as i always said it depends on the mood.

pdn: If you had to pick three albums and listen to only those for the rest of your life, which would these be? I know it is a cruel question...

George: Ahh easy, no problem at all. It would be HIM – Razorblade Romance, Poisonblack  - Escapextacy and SadDoLLs – Grave Party, those should be enough for me.


pdn: What does the process of writing lyrics, creating the music and even preparing for gigs look like?


George: It is mostly fun, especially the rehersals to get ready for shows. Thing is we all have our lives now and our jobs so we don't have much time to hang out as we used to in the past, so being all five of us together for a rehersal or a music video shoot it's always fun. Music is mostly written by Paul our guitarist, and I only do the lyrics and the vocal lines, so i get an instrumental original piece and then try my best to make it sound right and as catchy as possible. Some times I succeed, some times, not so much :P But it's a fun and warm experience every single time.

pdn: What is one stage/event you aim to play someday and why?

George: We always wanted to be the support band for HIM tried it many many times, and one time we succeded to open them in a Festival in Latvia but the show was ulitimately cancelled by the promoter and it really sucked. We would love to play one day in WGT, Dark Castle, Hexentanz and why not M'Era Luna at some point. But mostly festivals in general, great way to meet new people and see how they react to your music.

pdn: Thank you for your time and your wonderful music once again! Anything you would like to add for your fans and friends here, in closing?

George: Thank you for this great interview and your time. I Would suggest to anyone, during this unprecedented situation with the lock downs and quarantines, it's an opportunity to know your loved ones better and have some quality time with them, now, that there is time to do so, because in a couple of months when everything will be back to normal you will miss it again. Be strong and optimistic and this experience will only make you stronger when its over. Be healthy and safe.


 https://www.saddolls.net/
https://www.facebook.com/saddolls/ 
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/SadDolls/3540307671

Friday, March 20, 2020

KATATONIA - "Behind The Blood" New Video!!

   KATATONIA have released their brand-new music video for "Behind The Blood", from the much awaited album "City Burials", to be released on the 24th of April.  Jonas Renkse says that“’Behind the Blood’ is a celebration of the heavy metal music that we all grew up with, modified to fit the Katatonia universe.


 




WOLFHEART - "Hail Of Steel" New Video Out!!

   Speaking of WOLFHEART, the new video for "Hail Of Steel", track taken from their upcoming album "Wolves Of Karelia" (pre-order here: https://smarturl.it/WolvesOfKarelia ) is now out, as mentioned before! Enjoy!


 




Monday, March 16, 2020

WOLFHEART Virtual Gig - 09.04.2020 !

   As we all know, the unfortunate Coronavirus pandemic has prevented many concerts from taking place in this period of time... While we are all hoping this will not last for much longer, our favorite bands are taking care of diminishing the sadness that the concertgoers are experiencing at the moment, by holding online concerts for us!
   Finnish melodic death metal band WOLFHEART will be hosting an online gig on the 09.04.2020 and you can find every detail below, including a link to pre-order their upcoming album called "Wolves of Karelia"!

MORE INFO AND TICKETS: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/wolfheart-exclusive-virtual-gig?fbclid=IwAR1FIKnfaE56kM0ValnAfWpLO19w_dqycF81LGAY1bmc82WSuk1VNL0K3ZU#/




https://www.facebook.com/WolfheartRealm/
https://wolfheart.bandcamp.com/




Friday, March 13, 2020

LUCIFER - "Leather Demon" New Video!

   LUCIFER have released their brand new video for "Leather Demon", song taken from their upcoming album Lucifer III, about to be released on the 20th of March this year!


 

https://lucifer.lnk.to/III
https://www.facebook.com/luciferofficial/



Friday, March 6, 2020

SOJOURNER - "The Deluge" New Video!

   SOJOURNER have just released a brand new video off their upcoming album Premonitions ! The album will be released on the 8th of May this year, what an exciting day!




PURE WRATH - "The Forlorn Soldier" Full EP out!

   Indonesian atmospheric black metal project PURE WRATH - new EP "The Forlorn Soldier" out!



NAGLFAR - Cerecloth - New Video out today!

   NAGLFAR have released their brand new music video for "Cerecloth", taken from the album with the same name, release date due on the 8th of May this year!







BORGNE - Y (Full Album Premiere!)

   Swiss industrial black metal lords BORGNE have added to their already ample discography and have just released their new full album, "Y" !




Saturday, July 7, 2018

Interview: Kyuho Lee (MADMANS ESPRIT)


    From the realms of experimental post-black, I bring you the mesmerizing, agonizing sound of MADMANS ESPRIT! Straight from Seoul, Kyuho Lee is here to talk about his journey and give us some insight on the new album 무의식의 의식화 (Conscientization of Unconsciousness), that you can pre-order HERE !

pdn: Hello, Kyuho. It is an honor having you here! First, please tell me a bit about how Madmans Esprit was born and respectively, when and how did you start getting into music in general?

Kyuho: Hello, Madmans Esprit was formed in 2010 if my memory is correct, there were a few people who had the same interest in music as me, we’ve been knowing each other for awhile and I had a couple of songs to start a band. Both of my parents have a very deep understanding of music, since I was little I grew up surrounded with classical music, jazz, pop, rock and metal. Like waking up in the morning listening to Beethoven’s string quartet and going to bed listening to Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

pdn: The atmosphere in your music is truly wistful, with a good dose of lethargy. At the same
time, your previous album contains very in-your-face titles, with some sexual innuendo. Is there any way you can explain how you created these connections?

Kyuho: I like to hide meaning in between texts. It might seem very in-your-face, but mostly, all of my texts always lead me to almost the same conclusion through differently written words. Life and death, existence.
I always have this idea that everything is one, and one is everything. Not in political meaning, in almost Buddhistic sense.  

pdn: What are the main themes that drive you when you write music? Please tell me about what inspired you on Nacht, versus what inspires your next release. Judging by the difference in song titles, the theme or just the way of expression will be a bit different maybe?

Kyuho: NACHT is a very dark album. It includes various suicidal emotions, sadness, anger, emptiness... I write music always very impulsively, nothing is in plan most of the time. It’s just how I am, how I exist. It’s still the same.
The next album will include a larger variety of emotions, it shares the certain ‘Madmans Esprit-ish’ atmosphere with NACHT, but the emotions inside are much more specific and even the text can be read just as emotional poetry or even as a very political statement.


pdn: Speaking about your next album: do we know the release date? I want to make sure we excited folks mark it in the calendar. What can we expect, how would you describe it as a teaser for us, in addition to the video sample below?

Kyuho: The new album will be released through the German label ‘Gan-shin’ on 1st of October. But there will be a pre-order for a signed copy soon which you can get shipped earlier than that. I put my entire 4 years since NACHT in the album. Only the very best. All the music I listened, all the emotions I felt throughout those 4 years. I guarantee you a very odd but very satisfying, genre-breaking masterpiece. 
pdn: Being as dedicated as you are, how do you share your time between Madmans Esprit and your other band, Ms. Isohp romatem?
Kyuho: Also with Human Traces, I basically work 24/7. I don’t have any other hobby. I don’t sleep that much. It’s just constant works one after another then it somehow works out. Depending on which band has which activity at the moment, I focus on different things.

 
pdn: I understand you had health problems and were hospitalized some time ago. No need to go into detail more than you feel like, however I am curious: to what degree can you confirm the famous concept of art being born as a result of painful problems?

Kyuho: From the conversation I had with my friend yesterday, people say “they sold their soul to devil”. There is a boundary in art, which you can not cross over unless you cross the boundary of sanity at the same time. If you want to remain a decent, healthy human being, your art will stay in that decent, healthy and harmless safe space. Art should be threatening. Art can be an ultimate weapon that destroys us all, but also can resurrect us all from the ashes. That’s what only art can do. What can not kill you will not make you great.

pdn: Who are your favourite artists, the ones you can relate to best?

Kyuho: Dir en grey, Shining, Radiohead and Sukekiyo.

pdn: I know you went back and forth between Seoul and Berlin for a long time. Which were the most prominent differences between the life you had in each place?

Kyuho: Quality of life. It is a waste of time to say how fucked up  South Korea is as a country in comparison to Germany. In the sense of human rights, labour rights, sexism, racism and so on, South Korea is nothing compared to Germany. No wonder why South Korea has the highest suicide rate from OECD countries.
And well, if I can add, there is almost no music scene. The entire country is devoured by factory pressed K-POP shit.  
pdn: What are your future plans, both musically and personally speaking? Maybe a tour and we can catch you live? ;)

Kyuho: I’m currently planning a tour in Asia. Hopefully in the near future I can go back to Europe and have an European tour, too. As for personal plans I don’t have much to say, I don’t have much else than music.
pdn: Thank you so much for this conversation, I definitely appreciate it. Is there anything you would like to add for our readers, anything at all?

Kyuho: Thank you very much, too.
I would like to thank the people who read it until the end. Please stay excited for the upcoming album, it won’t disappoint you. Hopefully, see you all at some shows, too.

https://www.madmansesprit.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/madmansesprit
https://www.instagram.com/madmansesprit/
https://twitter.com/EspritMadmans