Brainterviews
INTERVIEW WITH
SEBASTIAN ELLIOTT OF BRAINDANCE
ECLECTIC MAGAZINE, HUNGARY
FALL, 2001
1) Your new album , "Redemption" has just released. Would you speak about it? How does it "Redemption" differ from the previous "Fear itself" album?
A large portion of the pain that we've accumulated since the release of fear itself is represented on redemption — hostility and bitterness have not only granted us limitless suffering, they have contributed to something that I should certainly be proud of... We've taken whatever successful elements there were from Shadows (1994) and Fear Itself (1995), and heightened them. The production, arrangements, melodies, performances, and general songwriting is far superior to anything we're ever done, and the packaging is very, very shiny...
2) 6 years passed between these two albums, what was the reason of it?
As you may already know, Progressive Darkwave Recordings functions as a label and management in name only. Aside from a very talented group of artists, designers, street teams, and fans who help us survive as a self-produced entity, Vora and I are completely responsible for production, promotion, publicity, bookings, management, and financial considerations. Out of necessity, we've had to learn as we went, because I believed that we owed it to ourselves to become recording artists. I feel very fortunate to have had so many people pick up on what we're doing, and purchased our releases, but doing it yourself takes a strong toll, especially financially. We wrote and subsequently tracked the album over the course of 1998, and into 1999. Unfortunately, several tragedies would follow that prevented Redemption from being released as scheduled, including parting ways with long-term drummer Notorious, keyboardist/backing vocalist Robynne Naylor, bassist Andy Calcina, and more than a handful of flaky investors, production houses, and labels for the CD's release. I think we've been extremely fortunate to receive an overwhelmingly positive response to the pre-production material that was sent out over the last year in preparation for the release of Redemption. With a self-produced entity that survives primarily through the underground, there can be quite some time between release and reaction. Perhaps the disasters that have delayed the release were, in part, a small blessing in disguise, as the buzz has increased in the underground.
3) I like your covers very much. Whose work is it and why did you choose this kind of comic style for your album image?
Thanks, Attila. I've always been a tremendous fan of comic art and fantasy imagery.. Kinchi Marc latrique pencilled the cover, pavement k beard and I did the digital coloring and package design, and darko karas took the mask to the next developmental level. The covers of shadows, fear itself and now, redemption, tell a story that could only entertain a family of salamanders. Interpreting the story is much like those 'choose-your-own-adventure' books that you used to read on long family trips to avoid getting smacked...only much, much, much slower...
4) A lot of musical elements are involved in your music. What kind of music do you listen to?
When we first started producing music, we never really knew what it was that we were doing in the sense of categorization – we simply produced tasty nuggets intended to please ourselves and the temperamental amphibians we surround ourselves with. When Vora and I first met, I hadn't even listened to contemporary music for four or five years, and didn't exactly know what genre I would have liked to be associated with. I had been completely removed from current musical trends, listening to absolutely no music whatsoever. It was only after receiving press and response from both the goth/industrial/darkwave community and the progressive community, that we came to be familiar with terms such as gothic, darkwave, ambient, industrial, progressive, death, black, doom metal, etc. In fact, I'm still not clear (and have yet to receive a satisfactory explanation) on what those terms and their respective boundaries are. Perhaps if I had been clear on those terms and how they are supposed to be communicated musically, we'd be doing something completely different than Braindance, something completely identifiable (and non-threatening by industry standards), and probably making more money doing it. On the whole, and not surprisingly, I'm a fan of all of the sub-genres that make up Braindance — goth, industrial, progressive metal, darkwave, classical, progressive trance, and sauerkraut — generally, anything with dense programming, multi-layered composition, distinct melody and/or of a darker nature. Currently I'm listening to a lot of house, progressive trance, and techno, but my tastes have changed over the years, listening to classical, industrial, progressive metal, ambient trance, black metal, and cheese rock...
5) How do you create your songs?
After pre-heating oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees, vora usually comes to me with a song, resplendent with olive & pimento cream cheese. At that point, it is up to me to write child-like melodies and lyrics, and systematically add an anchovie glaze. At that point we send it over to marketing to convince all of the world's children that it is all things tasty...
6) What kind of fans of musical genres visit your concerts?
Those without direction, meaning or obvious taste...
7) What are your songs and lyrics about?
I believe in a good measure of ambiguity when writing lyrics. Naturally, the themes have specific meanings for me, but I try not to assign definitive conceptual values to phrases, because listening should be somewhat interactive. Insofar as everyone's experiences are different, so should their interpretations be. Whereas I might see despair and desolation, someone else might see chicken wings...
8) What is your purpose you want to reach with the Braindance? What would you be satisfied with?
A nice, clean pair of socks.
9) Do you have any other musical projects? Or other hobbies?
What's a hobby?
10) When may we expect a new album? I hope we won't have to wait again another 6 years!
Me too.