Ahead of the release with Dream Theater and relocating from Hungary.

Planet Loud – Hi guys, thanks for your time, how are things today?
To-Mera – Everyday is sunshine-and-happiness day in To-Mera land.

Planet Loud – So, you’ve just issued your new album, Delusions, care to plug it a bit?
To-Mera – It combines the best bits of everything we think is cool – brutal heaviness, sublime beauty, bad-ass groove, soulful vocals, epic bombast, heart-rending melodies, and sexy jazzy bits.

Planet Loud – What can To-Mera fans expect from it?
To-Mera – All of the above. It’s basically a significant extrapolation of the ideas laid in place on “Transcendental”. We’ve all improved as musicians, and, whilst the music is more complex, we also think it’s more powerful and direct than before, and, most importantly, has a deeper emotional content.

Planet Loud – What did you want to achieve with it?
To-Mera – I suppose the most an artist can ever hope for is appreciation and recognition from his peers.

Planet Loud – Could you tell us a little bit about what inspired the title?
To-Mera – Well, a lot of the lyrics (although the album wasn’t originally intended as a concept album) deal with the delusional nature of the human state of being, so we thought this would be a fitting title. They touch on subjects like religion, happiness, suicide and so on…

Planet Loud – What inspires you when you’re writing?
To-Mera – The lyrics on this record are, on one side, very personal, inspired by personal and/or close friends’ experiences, but they also take a lot of inspiration from contemporary philosophical works, mainly those of A.C.Grayling. So it’s a kind of mixture of personal stuff and philosophical ideas, discussing concepts like the ones I mentioned before – all pretty delusional subjects…

Planet Loud – Your sound is quite experimental on this record. How does the writing process work? Is it a band effort or do you each write individual parts?
To-Mera – 95% of what you hear is a result of my personal self-indulgence I’m afraid (besides the vocal melodies, which are mainly down to Julie). I spent many a lonely evening fiddling about with Guitar Pro and making MIDI music, but the songs are always jammed out and developed in the rehearsal room. Everyone embellishes their parts to suit.

Planet Loud – There are many different elements to your sound this time around. How would you describe the To-Mera sound in 2008?
To-Mera – It’s stylistically more diverse perhaps. The heavier bits are much heavier (I used a baritone 7 string tuned down to F# on two tracks), but the soft bits are much subtler. Rhythmically it’s more complex as well, since we discovered that Paul is basically a human programmable-drum-machine. Despite all this, we believe the music flows a lot better than our previous work.

Planet Loud – You cite your influences as bands like Opeth and Dream Theater both bands who are top of their respective genres. What is it that inspires you about both bands?
To-Mera – Dream Theater is one of those bands whose musical ideas pervade everything that came after them. No-one who has heard them can fail to be inspired by what they have done for pushing metal forward. Having said that, I think we’d all agree it’s really the very early DT records, from “When Dream and Day Unite” to “Change of Seasons”, that left the biggest impression. As for Opeth, there’s no-one quite like them. No-one does dark and evil yet beautiful and mournful like Opeth.

Planet Loud – Do you think you would appeal to fans of both bands?
To-Mera – Absolutely. I’d say we combine the musical complexity of DT with the darkness and melancholy of Opeth.

Planet Loud – You actually played a gig with Dream Theater last year, what was that experience like?
To-Mera – A dream come true! Between the ages of about 14-18, DT was all I listened to. I was a total obsessive! When we found out we were supporting them I nearly fainted! I’d probably met all the members on an individual basis whilst hanging out round the back of venues after the numerous gigs I went to (James Labrie even gave me the mic to sing the chorus to “Pull Me Under” at the London Hammersmith Apollo show in … when was it, 2000?), but having Mike and Jordan sitting down and having dinner with you backstage is a totally surreal experience. Real gentlemen, and killer musicians of course!

Planet Loud – What did you learn from playing with them live?
To-Mera – To spend more money on our live setup! Their live sound is impeccable, and there we were using jimmy-rigged FX pedals with buzz! Slightly embarrassing.

Planet Loud – Okay, you’ve already been playing a couple of songs in your live set, how have they been going down?
To-Mera – We’ve found it far easier for the crowd to get into the new material, mainly because it’s just more groove oriented and focuses more on fat-riffage than esoteric time-changes.

Planet Loud – Like we’ve discussed the sound is very complex and experimental, how easy is it to replicate live?
To-Mera – Hehe! Well, there are a few sections that are always a bit of a nightmare to negotiate, especially on some of the older songs, what with all the pedal changes etc. Having said that, the new material was deliberately written so as not to cause such headaches live. Whilst the new stuff is indeed more complex overall, the changes are a lot more logical, and just “feel right”.

Planet Loud – What are your touring plans for 2008?
To-Mera – We’re working on it. I think first we’ll try and arrange a UK headline tour, then try to secure a European support slot with a bigger band. Then hopefully play further afield as well. One step at a time I guess.

Planet Loud – I believe Julie was originally in a Hungarian band. What caused her to move to the UK?
To-Mera – A bold decision to give up our old lives with aforementioned Hungarian band Without Face and take the act on the road. We used to be signed to Earache Records in Nottingham, UK, so we basically headed there to get a bit closer to the fire. In actual fact this idea worked really well and we got tour after tour, but off-tour life in England just turned out to be a bit too much to comprehend… That’s when I started To-Mera.

Planet Loud – I also read that Julie was influenced by Egyptology. How did you become interested in the subject and what is it that fascinates you?
To-Mera – The culture, the architecture and the mystery surrounding it mainly I suppose. I like secrets and there’s still so much we have no idea about when it comes to Egypt. Interestingly this Egypt-mania thing sort of seems to run in my family – I remember having this massive, beautiful book about the tomb of Tutankhamen which really fascinated me as a kid. I’m sure I was determined to become an Egyptologist at some point or another. Today, it’s just a vague interest though I occasionally read up on – which is how I found the word ‘To-Mera’ (…apparently how they used to call Ancient Egypt).

Planet Loud – Okay, the album is out now, what else would you like to achieve in 2008?
To-Mera – Personally I’d like to be making more of a living out of music and less from teaching science. In the meantime, I’ll be pursuing the endless quest of musical self-improvement. Would be awesome to play loads more gigs than last year and finally do a proper round around Europe at least. Doing a video would be cool too…and of course we’ll start on the new material soon I’m sure!

Planet Loud – Thanks for your time, good luck with the album, is there anything else you’d like to say?
To-Mera – Thanks for your support and interest in the album. To our fans, we hope we’ll get to play for you this year. To those who haven’t heard us before, try it. You might like it..

Interview by Graham Finney