Modern
day thrash metallers Ektomorf release their new album 'What Doesn't Kill
Me' later this month. We catch up with front man, guitarist and
founding member Zoltan Farkas to chat about the album, his life and the
major changes in his life since the band's last release.
MM -
Hi
Zoltan, firstly thanks for taking part in this interview.
Zoltan - Thank you!
MM - Again
you’ve come up with another powerful album in 'What Doesn’t Kill
Me', I noticed a few line-up changes since 2006?
Zoltan -
You're right, the last one to leave was my brother. He loved the
band but with touring and stuff all got a little too much for him and I
appreciated his decision. But then we got Szabolcs Murvai who was
my guitar tech for two years.
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MM
- The album still retains that fundamental Ektomorf sound even
though you've had a few line up changes, was this important to
you to keep that sound?
Zoltan
- It's heavy again and we worked with Tue Madsen who we work
with back in 2004, and that was the decision
to go back to him. I knew he was going to make this real
modern and intense sound and with him it's even heavier. I
tune my guitar even lower on this album. Now I tune
in A, normally I tune in B and |
| B
sharp, but we found I can sing better in A. |
MM - You worked again
with Tue Madsen on this album, how important has he become to the whole
Ektomorf sound and is he like the fifth band member?
Zoltan
- Yes that’s true, because they said I could choose who I wanted to
work with. I said Tue is the best and he knows what I want, I know
that he’s gonna make an album I like. He did more of the
engineering and the mixing I thought he brought complete songs.
Also we are great friends. His son was born on the last day of
recording the 'Destroy' album in 2004. Since then me and my
girlfriend Sarah visit him and he comes to visit us. He’s coming
to Hamburg when we play there on the last day of the tour.
MM - As one of the
premier metal bands to come out of Hungary, how hard have you found it
to developed the band outside of your homeland?
Zoltan - It was
very hard, as it is for every band, its was even harder for me because I
come from a village that is very small near the Rumanian border, and
it's very hard to even get to the capital Budapest. So you can
imagine to break through it was hard, but I still enjoyed it because I
do what I do with passion and love.
MM - The album
is full throttle Thrash from the off but there’s a little rap thrown
in with Sick Of It All how did you get Lloyd Dana Nelson from Stuck Mojo
involved with the track.
Zoltan -
We had this headliner tour last year and they supported us, from the
first day Lloyd became my friend. You know the film Judgment Night?
MM - Yes.
Zoltan - Well I
always wanted to do a soundtrack with that feel. When I heard his
voice I thought ... WOW! This is fucking cool! This is what I have
been looking for! ... So I asked him if he would do a song and he said
that would be great. So backstage somewhere in Germany there was a
piano so I started playing the first riff on the piano, I then went back
to the tour bus and got my laptop out and put the song together in an
hour. He called in to the bus to listen to it and he loved it.
I had some lyrics that I had wrote before we got there and he said give
some time and I’ll write the rest of the lyrics. On the last day
of the tour there was a little place that had a small rehearsal rooms, I
had on my computer Pro-tools and so I recorded his voice and played the
whole song around his voice and that’s how that song was born.
MM - Yes it has
that Body Count feel about it
.
Zoltan -
Yes, I love Body Count
.
MM
- The band are about to undergo a tour shortly with Debauchery, how do
you as a band prepare for a tour with the band being in Hungary and you
in Germany?
Zoltan - The
guys are rehearsing in Hungary without me and then I’m going to
Hungary for a week to rehearse. Otherwise we never really
rehearse, this three-month break is probably the longest we’ve been
apart because were always touring so we really don’t need to rehearse
because we play a lot.
MM
- You now live in Germany while the rest of the band still live
in Hungary. What does Germany offer that Hungary doesn’t
for a musician?
Zoltan - Yes
they do, but in Germany
I met the love of my life, that’s why I moved there. I
returned there with Sarah and we also do the management of the
band together. I found everything with her, I found life.
In Hungary since 1999 I had nothing, so I said fuck this I’m
gonna sing in English! I had never learned English in
school because we had to learn Russian. I asked my friend
who was in University could you write things down phonically and
I sang a whole album like that.
MM -
You're now signed to AFM from Nuclear Blast and you’ve taking
on the management with Sarah your girlfriend, has this given you
more control over who Ektomorf is to you as an artist?
Zoltan - Yes,
since the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 things started
to work out for the band. That I can make a living of what
I’m doing, thank God, and particularly with Sarah and I doing
things together. I’ve worked with other managers before
and things haven’t worked out, but this way we are keeping it
in the family.
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MM - What other
tour plans do the band have lined up for the remainder of the year
?
Zoltan -
Yes after the tour in April, actually you could call this a taster tour.
With the general release of the album in Europe being around these
dates, we have a lot of stuff coming up. In September we're gonna
do a bigger tour of Europe and then finally come to England.
MM - Good
.
Zoltan
- In November / December we're going to the States for the first time,
not as headliner but as support. But the whole of 2009 is fully
planned and booked
.
MM - Back to the
album, do you still use your life experiences for the mainstay of your
songs? Zoltan
- Yes and No. Yes because it’s very powerful and is more
powerful than the album before, but as you can hear the lyrics have
changed. It's not all about me being pissed off and angry, there
are five songs that are about positive changes and even love.
MM - Are these changes
due to Sarah
?
Zoltan - Yes,
that's right, she came into my life and I found love, true love and it
changed me. After the last album I had a hard time in my life which
found me on a destructive path, but now I feel much better. Metal
people don’t talk about love. I wrote songs from that time which
I love, but love is the most powerful emotion in the world and I feel
that Ektomorf plays very powerful music so you can put the two together,
hence the title 'What Doesn’t Kill Me'.
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MM
- The album cover features your face on it. How important
was this to image featured along with the albums name?
Zoltan - The
thing about the album is that I had the title right away and
never thought about the cover. But Sarah said why don’t
put your face on the cover. Who wrote the songs about you?
The album 'Kalyi Jag' we did in 2000 was all about me because
Kalyi Jag is a gypsy word that means 'Like Fire'. It was
about my gypsy roots and that’s my eye on the cover. We
worked on some cover art with this guy, but it didn’t really
work. Then one day we were visiting my parents in Hungary
and Sarah was on the computer working with PhotoShop, she put up
this photo my parents had of me and came up with the graphic.
I said yes that is it and the record company loved it.
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MM - Yes it's a
very strong cover with the black and grey, it definitely says this is a
Metal album
!
Zoltan -
Thank you very much. It’s different on the digi-pack, it’s not
grey and black its in chrome and black and looks killer.
MM - Finally
Zoli where do you see Ektomorf going from here as a band
?
Zoltan - Well
I can say my dream has become true. I can remember back in Hungary
when I was working a nightshift dreaming of the day and it's now come
true. Today I’m sitting here in London doing interviews with you
and that’s great man. You know I come from a place that you
wouldn’t think someone would be playing a guitar.
MM - When I read
your bio I couldn’t even pronounce the town name (Mezökovacsházak)
.
Zoltan - I
remember my parents had this garage in the back of the house where I
played. Then people started coming and asking for my autograph and I was
on TV, the biggest channel in Hungary! They put me on the main
show and people came round and said I saw you on TV! It was so
cool. What can I say, I’m doing what I love to do, nothing is
better!
MM -
That’s it, if you're live your dream then you really can't ask for
anything more.
MM
-
We'd like to thank
Zoltan for taking the time out to chat with us this evening and wish him
and the rest of the band every success with their forthcoming tour plans
and the release of the new album. |