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Satyrian
are one of a new breed of Goth bands
leading the way for a major resurgence around the globe. With the
release of their limited edition digi-pack EP 'The Dark Gift' this
month, we catch up with guitarist Jan Yrlund to find out more.
MM - Hi
Jan,
firstly thanks for
taking the time out of what I'm
sure is a busy
schedule to take part in this interview.
Jan
- No problem, it's a pleasure
and there is always time for an interview or a nice chat.
MM - Who
had the initial idea of remixing the tracks for the new release 'The
Dark Gift'?
Jan
-
It was basically my idea.
I thought that the song 'The Dark Gift' would be a nice one to make some
remixes from. This is also become kind of a tradition since after
the previous album 'Eva' (though back then under our old moniker) we
also released a MCD containing some remixes. Furthermore, though
I'm a metal head I really enjoy listening to other genres as well and
I'm am sure our listeners will be as open minded. And as last,
I've been active in the Gothic club scene in Amsterdam for many years
and really liked that stuff that our DJ's were playing. The remix
of 'No Tears, No Embrace' I dedicated to our own Goth club "The
Cave Of Satyr", which I ran for some seven years in Amsterdam
together with our bass player Milos and some other friends.
Unfortunately we had to close down a few years back, but it sure was a
very nice time we had there ...
So basically I also sometimes make this kind of music in my small
studio. On all of our albums there are some danceable songs,
though mostly disguised under heavy guitars. On this release we
just mixed those guitars a bit less and added more electro and
industrial touches to the songs. Though said that I think Roman's
'Invistuc' might actually even be a heavier song now than on the album
...
MM - How
did you come to hook up with TmV?
Jan
-
I've known Timo (TimV) for a
long time already and he's from the same city of Tampere in Finland as I
am. In fact he played in the band Two witches after I left for the
Netherlands and couldn't therefore continue with the band. So we
share a lot of common friends too. With TimV and Jyrki Witch we
have a project together called 'SinMasters'. Basically we make a
king of fetish/dance/metal crossover with SM/fetish style lyrics.
We've played a couple of MCDs and are busy with the full length album
now. TimV has his own studio where we work and I really like his style
so I asked him to make two remixes for “The Dark Gift” and gladly he
agreed. I’ve work with him for remixes before and I knew what we would
get, so it was a natural choice to pick him up for this. Next to making
remixes he also has his own one man electro project called
“ShadeFactory” and he owns a label called Actcom.
MM
- Of all the tracks off 'Eternitas'
how did you decide which tracks lent themselves more to the remix
treatment than others?
Jan
-
With some
tracks like 'The Dark Gift' and 'Invictus' it was quite obvious since
these songs have a steady constant beat on the album versions already.
But some other songs were not that obvious at all. In fact I like
the remixes the most when they completely change the character of the
song and become actually kind of “new songs” on their own. A
good example of this is the song 'Eternitas' of TimV. I had no
clue how to do anything with this because of the progressive character
of the song. But TimV turned things around, simplified the song to
the essentials, made different rhythms and beats to it and in the end it
sounds very conclusive. Also the Roman version of 'Invictus' is
like a completely new song, except for the chorus parts. As for
the other songs I really wanted to do 'Ewigkeit', because I like the
album version so much. On the album it felt a bit short, so I
added a steady slow beat to it and made it much longer. 'Fall From
Grace' then again was very challenging to make since it is originally
very fast and metal-like song. So I was a long time busy with it
to get it in the right shape. I tried to keep the same grooving
and pushing forward feel to it.
With
'No Tears, No Embrace' I tried to create a kind of haunting and mystical
atmosphere, not really heavy or anything, more easy and poppy approach I
guess.
There
might still have been maybe one or two other songs on the album which
could have been given a complete makeover, but I think this was already
quite enough.
MM
- Of the three tracks you
remixed, what was your favourite and why?
Jan
-
I think 'No
Tears, No Embrace' is my favourite. That one I did first. I
really like the voice of Judith on this one and the song has a very nice
atmosphere with the wood instruments playing on the background.
The song is in the same time very open and wide so you don’t actually
even notice the dance-beat so much. It’s like a kind of punching
train rhythmically, but the singing and the instruments are very dreamy
on the top, so that creates a very special feeling to my taste.
It’s like two opposites combined.
MM
- You have been quoted as
saying that this new release is an add on to 'Eternitas', did you ever
consider the thought of releasing both as one special edition digi pack
or even a limited addition double cd?
Jan
- Maybe one day we will if
there comes another reprinted version of the album, but this time I felt
like that these versions would not have fitted together with the album
versions – they are quite different in the end. Also we didn’t
have these ready a half a year ago, so these are made specially for this
release. We have still a couple of alternative mixes of the album
songs we might release somehow. I call it an “add on” to the
album, because I believe that these will be interesting to hear for the
people who know the album versions already. At the same time this
release is meant for club and airplay, so I think that in this way these
wouldn’t have fitted to the album as such, maybe rather indeed as an
extra CD next to it.
MM
- The three versions of the
title track 'The Dark Gift' are all completely different, do you have a
personal favourite?
Jan
-
Yes
it is amazing how the song completely changes only by changing the order
of the parts, the rhythm and some sounds. I find that very
fascinating. That is also the reason for asking two guys doing
their own versions of the same song. They never heard the other
versions while making these, so it is really cool to notice how
different the remixes became. I like both of them. I like
TimV’s version because he added a lot of new melodies to the song and
made the parts of Kemi really simple: only bass, bass drum and this
haunting melody on the background. You can hardly get any more
simple than that, but it really works and sounds cool. The version
of Roman I like a lot too, it has a steady beat going and is in this way
perhaps more suitable for club playing. He also built it up really
cool, the chorus gets heavier and that is really nicely done.
MM
- It's been some six months
since the release of 'Eternatis', how has the album been received with
both your fans and the media as a whole?
Jan
-
We
are very happy with the response. The reviews actually were more
rewarding that we would have expected. So that is very nice to
notice. Also we get a lot of mail, especially from the USA and
that is something new too. I really can’ t complain. It
took a long time to make and release the album so it feels very good
that people seem to appreciate our hard work.
MM - Do
you think these new versions of the songs will go down well with your
fans?
Jan
-
Ha
ha, that is a very good question. Honestly, I have no clue.
Probably some people will hate these since they are not metal at all,
but hopefully some open minded fans will like them and take them as a
nice alternative or at least as an interesting experiment. And of
course we also hope to find some new listeners, who maybe wouldn’t
like the album versions so much. Actually we are kind of crossing
musical borders here and I think it’s great that we have the chance to
do it. I wouldn’t mind doing acoustic or complete orchestral
versions either. So I really like it when you don’ t have to
limit yourself to certain categories or expectations. You could
hear that already on the album, where we have a lot of different
atmospheres from folk to gothic metal there. Now we took these
experiments a step further, but we are not turning into a dance-act or
anything, no worries about that!
MM - Do
you think that this new release will bring the band a wider audience and
perhaps bring with it a whole new fan base?
Jan
- I
hope we would get some club play and perhaps some new listeners from
that scene, but it’s not like any calculated goal or anything.
We just felt like making alternatives and see how the songs would become
when giving them an alternative spin. It’s like a musical
experiment in that way, and definitely made from the musicians point of
view. It’s nice to experiment with sounds and mixes and luckily
we can do that with Satyrian.
MM - What does
the future hold for Satyrian? Are there any planned live dates or
are you working on the new album?
Jan
-
Yes, I’m
currently busy writing new songs and we have already quite a few ready.
I think Satyrian will take more a shape of a project next time and
perhaps we will invite some interesting guests for the recordings.
It’s all still a little bit in a planning state, but there are already
plenty of ideas. I also hope that the other members will
contribute some song material. Anyway, we are busy with writing
and preparations…
MM - What
for you has been the highlight of 2006 so far and what do you have
planned for 2007?
Jan
-
I think the
release itself was the highlight for us since we had waited for it for
quite a long time. And as for 2007, I’m already looking forward
getting back to the studio and to start recording again.
MM
- Finally do you have any
messages for all your fans out there?
Jan
-
I
hope people will enjoy 'Eternitas' and 'The Dark Gift' as much as we
enjoyed making them. Hopefully we’ll see you on the road one
day, cheers and thanks for the support!
MM
- We'd like to thank Jan for taking the time out of his very busy
schedule to talk to us today and wish him and the rest of the band every
success with the new release.
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