BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE?
I’m redeeming some amazonmp3 credits to download a couple albums by Joy Kills Sorrow and The Wailin Jennys for my wife for her birthday today. BTA is great. New album, new members, new sound, new music video, new hairstyles, new inside jokes…
– First of all, could you please share some history of the band?
We used to not be a band, then in 2004, we were a band. Everyone from that band left over the years except me. I stuck around and am now undisputed grand poo-bah of everything BTA.
– The band’s name is quite intriguing so, do you still remember how did you come up with it?
The name of the band points to our belief that Jesus Christ was the archetype for humanity. His life is the life after which all Christians model their lives. Through a process Christians call sanctification, we are being conformed to that image of Christ and are on our way to becoming like that archetype.
– The band has been renewed completely since 2010. Did all happen naturally or did you feel it was going to be something positive for the band’s evolution? What do all the new members provide to BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE the previous guys couldn’t?
It happened naturally. Guys grow up, move on. It’s been a positive thing for our image, as we now have 4 sexy, young dudes to surround and disguise my jaded old fart personality. I love it!
– You have a new album coming out really soon entitled «I Am». How are the first reactions being? And what are your expectations on this new opus?
Everyone seems to love it. We love it, of course. The music video is rad and I have no worries that our fans will dig it. We’ve been blessed with a very supportive fanbase and they seem to be willing to follow us wherever our creativity takes us.
– Your first three albums were simply superb, and I have to admit «Celestial Completion» didn’t top over your earlier records, but once more you’ve surpassed it with this new effort. In fact it reminds me to albums as «The Physics of Fire». Did you just let things flow or did you want to, in some way, «go back to your roots»?
We don’t see it as a revisiting of older albums. For us, I AM is a natural progression. It’s curious that some fans have seen it as a return to our original sound, as displayed on Terminate Damnation, while others like you have seen it as a reminder of Physics… and still others compare it to Dichotomy.
– It contains all your essence I’d dare say, in fact «I Am» is a really strong album title. Does it mean what we find on this CD is the real BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE? Is what we hear on it your actual personality?
Haha, that could be a way to view it, although that’s not exactly what we intended. The album’s lyrics are all first-person narrative that depict the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s Christ describing himself in mythological proportions.
– «I Am» also shows a higher degree of maturity and a nice blend between complexity, brutality and a subtle straight-forward approach as well, which keeps the listener interested. Could you say this is your most complete effort to date?
I think it’s our most focused effort to date. We discarded everything but heaviness for the most part. So the progressive or experimental element of this record is the plumbing of the depths of intensity and heaviness.
– This time around you haven’t used some instruments you had on your previous «Celestial Completion» to create a more in-your-face CD, so I guess you have a certain vision for the album since the beginning?
Absolutely. We had a wide range of sounds before, but now we’re digging deep into what it means to be an actual Heavy Metal band. So we jumped in head first and powered through riffs and songs and came out the other side gasping for air, haha.
– And due to this, would you mind to tell us how was the songwriting process like?
Mostly it was Daniel writing riffs and sending them to us. He has a knack for heavy music and after writing some on Celestial Completion, he found his BTA groove, as it were, and we were all really stoked. Then I added the keyboard parts and wrote the lyrics. The last step was for Daniel, Chris McCane and me to sit down and figure out vocal patterns and singing melodies and harmonies.
– What are some of the lyrial ideas covered on «I Am»?
Basically the lyrics span several different extreme ways at looking at the character of Jesus Christ. He is sort of explaining who he is and what he’s done by use of mythological terms and extreme metaphor.
– And what did you want to express with the cover artwork? How did you work on it?
Our mascot is Clifton Beardskull, a skull with a beard. He’s been with us since 2008 and I just said to Dan Seagrave, «make a brutal painting of Clifton.» He did that and our album cover is the result.
– All this about «I Am» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Thought-Provoking Intensity
– The Metalcore scene is really strong nowadays and still getting bigger, but I think it wasn’t that huge and successful when you started. How do you think has this scene evolved since you were formed?
It has evolved by growing, you’re right about that. It has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, which is not necessarily a good thing. Lots of veteran bands and good bands are breaking up because they can’t make ends meet anymore. There’s just too many bands touring and competing with each other for a small amount of $ in this market.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
We are playing 11 CD release shows following the release of I AM and then we’re taking the holidays off to be with our families!
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
We want everyone that buys I AM to know that we work hard at making music so that the people who purchase our albums are spending their hard-earned money on a quality product. We work hard and we appreciate those who help us financially so we can continue creating music!
