Traces
Can you introduce yourselves please?
Our names are Phil (Vocals), Dave (Guitar), Mike (Guitar), Dan (Bass), Sam (Drums) and James (Keys).
Can you give us a quick background to the band? When you formed, any CDs out?
We formed in January 2007. We were originally a tech death band, but we soon realised the scene was growing stale so, after the departure of a few original members, we decided to go for something fresh and different – we chose symphonic blackened death metal! We have a CD out on Siege of Amida Records now called ‘Reflections of a Forlorn Sun’.
Why did you form a band?
It was natural to us, we’ve all been in bands prior to Traces except James. You could say it’s our ‘calling’.
Which band or musicians have had the biggest impact on your life?
Decapitated, Dimmu Borgir, Wintersun and Emperor are bands that all of us love, they definitely inspired us at our conception. Film score composers Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard and Howard Shore too. As for bands that have had big impacts on our lives, for me personally Meshuggah were a massive eye-opener.
Can you describe your sound to our readers?
We are for fans of Behemoth, Dark Funeral, Decapitated, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Koji Kondo, Old Man’s Child, Opeth and Wintersun. Fans of these artists will either enjoy our EP or enjoy material on upcoming albums. We basically try to blend some of the most evil, blistering black metal and the heaviest death metal we can imagine, with some very light, folk-tinged passages. It’s definitely not something that’s being done a lot at the moment.
Describe your live show to us..
Energetic, majestic and punishing. We put our all into our live shows, we believe that if people pay to see us they deserve a good show, and usually if you give everything, you get everything back too.
Tell us about your first gig together?
It was horrible! We played with Dead To Fall, Through The Eyes of The Dead and Ion Dissonance who are coincidentally the tightest band I’ve ever seen live. We were really nervous and played awfully but we had to start somewhere.
Any funny gig stories you can tell us about?
Yes actually! We were asked to play an all-dayer at the Camden Barfly in 2007 and on the day our then-singer pulled out on us, so we got Adam from Viatrophy to come do vocals for us last minute! Then when he turned up, we were told we couldn’t play anymore and would not be receiving a fee! We were really, really pissed off.
What are your goals with the band?
Aside from writing music to the best of our ability, we feel that there’s a hole in the metal scene that needs filling and we feel obliged to try to fill that hole. We worship classical composers who made masterpieces and we want the metal community to know that the art of songwriting has not been forgotten. Hopefully people will feel as passionately about our music as we do!
What do you think about the rock scene at the moment?
It’s the same as any other scene, there’s a lot of shit bands and a couple of diamonds. The whole deathcore thing has always been ridiculous but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t enjoy one or two deathcore bands. Phil Anselmo said something in an interview recently that struck a chord with me, he said: “10 years ago, metal bands were taking their 10 favourite bands, and rippin’ em off to all hell. These days, metal bands are taking their 2 favourite bands and rippin’ em off to all hell. Now that don’t work.
What are your upcoming plans?
Tour, finish off writing the album, head back into the studio and wreak havoc! It’s quite an exciting time for us.
Which member of the band has the most annoying habit?
Dan is probably the most lazy person on Earth!
If you had a question for any musician out there alive or dead, who would it be for and what would the question be?
It would probably be for Mikael Akerfeldt and the question would be: “can I join Opeth?”
What advice would you give someone thinking of forming a band?
Work hard, use your integrity, write the best songs you can and don’t try to sponge off other bands. Get out there and work for the attention you get.
Thanks for your time. Anything else to say, plug, complain about, promote?
Nothing we can talk about right now, thanks for yours!
Interview by Graham Finney
Myspace Page – http://www.myspace.com/tracesmetal
