BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? I guess you are waiting for the album release next October 9th, what are your expectations on it?
We’re out on tour right now in the UK, anxiously awaiting the release of the album. I wish we had them out with us right now, but I guess we have to wait for the release date just like everyone else. The writing of the album far exceeded expectations I might have had, so that’s all that really matters to me. How it’s percieved after the fact is out of my hands.
– On my eyes with this brand new «The Parallax II: Future Sequence» you’ve managed to surpass your previous releases and have created the perfect album. Do you think you have reached your climax with this CD?
No I don’t think it’s our climax. We’re a band that I don’t think will ever have that mentality because we’re always growing and pushing ourselves to become better composers and better players so it’s a process that as long as I’m living and playing music I vow to never be content as a musician.
– I could say this is your thickest opus so far, with over 70 minutes of pure prog. Rock/Metal that keeps the listener interested from start to end. Playing a music style like yours, is something necessary for you trying and do compositions that keep alive the listeners attention and also your own attention? Is something you aim for?
It’s essential for us to simply write music that satisfies ourselves, we’ve never really considered the listener at any point. We’re pretty selfish in that regard, but it’s our art so why wouldn’t we be?!
– Experimentation I’d dare say is another trademark of BTBAM; you’ve played a lot with your influences and the result obtained is an album that is an instant classc, but I would like to know how uses to be like the songwriting process for BTBAM.
We’re all made up of a ton of different influences, and over the years certain ones have come more to the forefront than others. Before even writing this album we knew it was going to be something massive and over the top, so how could we not reference our favorite concept albums from the 70s as influence?! Those albums influence me in most things musically, but being able to really focus on writing this big piece…it really felt like it was a piece of rock opera theater sort of. «The Wall» was a big influence and reference point, the flow of that album and the way they weave characters in and out and how dramatic it is, it was a huge influence.
– Talking about such, is there any musical or creative border BTBAM would never cross?
We just wouldn’t regress or go backwards. There’s no point. We’re writing music now that is most satisfying to us and I’m really excited to see where it goes. There have never been any rules in BTBAM though, just trying to write for the song and whatever fits it best.
– Both «Paralallax II» and «I» feel to me like spacial version for «Colors», the album you released prior this saga so, is the current BTABM the actual BTABM?
Haha I’m not really sure what you’re asking, but yes «Colors» was our first forray into writing in terms of a whole album, and the album was conceptual musically but not lyrically. That album broke down a lot of walls for us (really the idea behind the name «Colors») and gave us a reference point to leap forward from there.
– All your albums are full of emotional soundscapes, really creative. Where do you draw inspiraiton from to create them and what do you think they add to your music?
For me I’m influenced by odd things, sometimes it’s just driving around town not listening to music, reading a magazine at a book store, seeing a good movie, having a conversation with other artists around town. You never quite know when it’s going to hit and I always keep a book of manuscript paper by my side just incase.
– And could you shed some light on the themes behind this release and the overall concept? How does the cover artwork depict it?
The cover shows the two worlds practically colliding. That’s more in a theoretical sense than an actual sense, there planets are light years apart and there’s never a point when they actually collide. But it does allude to the two characters meeting each other. The story deals with each characters trials and tribulations in life, and how they choose to deal with them. You find out in the album how the characters are linked, how they differ, and a bit of side story that adds more color to the story.
– All this about «The Parallax II: Future Sequence» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Progressive rock opera.
– I’ve seen you will soon start touring with PERIPHERY and TRIOSCAPES; what are your expectations on it? And what else is coming for BTBAM after that?
The Trioscapes tour was a blast, that was alot of fun for me to do, especially before heading overseas. The Periphery dates have been fun so far, they’re good dudes and we’ve known them a while. We go all over the world really, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand…then back home for the holidays and then back out on tour in January to play the whole new album live.
– That´s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
I appreciate the interview, thanks!
