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Hold your distance!

av yngve

10606322 870107019674757 1197121882233828425 NSpansk progressiv metal hvor band som Faith No More, Seattlebølgen, Opeth, Massive Attack. Killswitch Engage og Textures florerer på referanselisten, låter det kult? Jeg fikk tilsendt skive fra bandets danske selskap, Mighty Music, for en tid tilbake, siden den falt i smak var veien kort i å hanke inn karene for et intervju. Jeg fikk gitarist Alf som motstander, her er resultatet:

Distance, welcome to Norway! How's life?

Alf: "Hey guys! Glad to be here! It's an honour! Life's good! Could be better though, but always gotta be grateful for what we have! :D."

Just to get it out in the open, I really liked your musical approach. I like the way you blend the extreme (light) with the melodic stuff, and the constant presence of details. Without screaming too loud; you guys have something, something I feel is your own sound - not too common these days :)

"That is probably the best thing anyone could say about our music! Really! Thank you! Our main goal is to define and create our own sound, or at least something that can be recognisable as it is impossible to create something new without having influences kicking in. We're very tired of music that strictly follows a particular formula or style, it becomes boring, predictable and you can't really tell the difference from one band to the next. We try our best to sound different, but there is still a great path to travel. We also know that trying out and mixing a lot of stuff can be confusing for many listeners and sometimes maybe those experiments don't really workout, but that's where we find the joy of making music. We love trying new stuff out and finding an equilibrium between what we love (without getting too weird) and making it easy for as many listeners to at least give us a try."

Why Mighty Music? And did they hassle you or was it the band knocking on the Danish door?

"Well, once we recorded the album we had two choices; We could promote, publish and sell our album by ourselves or try something that we thought was nearly impossible: to find a label interested in marketing our music and help us get to more places. We didn't have nothing to lose, so we tried out writing to different labels that we thought we could fit in. Mighty Music was one of them as they are a prestigious label in Denmark, they specialise in metal and they have an important group backing them up (Target). We also liked that beign based in Denamark, we could have better access to the stronger, more metal oriented music markets like Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, etc. We also loved the quality and variety of their roster, so we tried and wrote them an e-mail featuring links to a few tracks from the album. A few days later we received very positive feedback and we started to talk. We were really excited, we honestly didn't think a label would pick us up during this huge flood of bands from all over the place."

As the vocal is very colored by the Seattle sound, I guess the band is fans of the grunge movement? If so, what bands makes your day?

"Totally! We all grew up during the 90's and if we could define something that made music from the 90s special, it had to be the great vocalists that sprung during that decade. The grunge movement featured giants like Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell and Layne Staley. We all love their very personal and emotive style and timbre, featuring a lot of dynamics: from soft whispers to all out rage. All of that spiced up with an awesome choice of melodies. Personally, my favourite grunge band during those years was Soundgarden, although they've lost a lot of magic with the years. Pearl Jam followed them closely at the top of my list and on the other hand, have still got the goods in my opinion. Although they are not considered grunge, Smashing Pumpkins and Live were really big bands for me during the 90s. Scott Weiland's vocals with Stone Temple Pilot where really awesome too, and we can NEVER forget the impact Mike Patton had on vocalists everywhere!"

And beyond the vocals, what bands are an inspiration? In the press release we get some insight, but as a lot of the press statements are done without the bands knowledge, I thought I'd ask you directly :)

"This is actually very hard to answer. Just in metal we have a million different bands that really inspire us. In the press release there are normally a couple of popular bands to help people define our sound a bit and maybe get them interested in listening to our stuff. Although Textures, Killswitch Engage and Soilwork are obvious influences, we really do listen to a whole lot of other bands: everything from Opeth to Mastodon, from Lamb of God to Nevermore, from Testament to Faith No More, from Karnivool to Massive Attack, from Meshuggah to Tool, from Bohren & der Club of Gore to Fever Ray... we could go on forever and there are many smaller bands in between but if there is something we like talking about and discovering is music and not just in metal based genres."

Have you been getting a lot of good reviews? Or is the metal scene so packed its hard to get recognized?

"Well, thanks to Mighty Music who are doing a great job sending our music to every corner of the world and trying to get us as many reviews as possible, we can say that one step at a time we are gaining recognition compared to other small bands that may work by themselves. It is still very hard for small bands to get attention as the metal scene is totally packed, like you just said. 

So far we are getting mixed reviews, but mainly good ones. Many say that we have a good thing going, but that it needs to be polished and they are totally right. We'll get a lot of stuff better for the next album, that's for sure. Most reviews motivate us a lot as they mention that there is something special in our sound and that they see we have some sort of potential."

Les min anmeldelse HER

A1302799833 10 679x679What kind of ambitions do you have? World domination? Perhaps you all work, and the band is just a hobby?

"Making money off our music is obviously a dream, but it is rather far fetched, not just because of the heavily saturated metal market where there are a lot of "sellers" but not as many "buyers", but also because things have changed. Right now you have to rely on touring and merch sales at shows to actually find some money to, on a really good scenario, breakeven. Unfortunately, unless all of a sudden our music explodes on the internet, having a metal band that works well enough for it to be a proffessional priority is really hard. We all have to make really tough sacrifices, specially moneywise and of course our current financial situation living here in Spain is not the best, but hey, that's how it is, and we have to make the best of what we have. Right now we'll focus on playing interesting shows to introduce the album, perhaps with a little luck getting into a few festivals and writing new material. We'll see how everything works out, you can say that we go with the flow."

How is the local scene? I can't say I receive too many releases from Spain, but when I do I feel there’s far between the really good bands. Without offending anyone ;)

"Spain is just like every other place: there are not-so-good bands but also great ones too. Living in Spain we can tell you that the metal scene has gotten a lot better during these last few years, with bands that really can be compared to great bands from other countries productionwise, technicalwise, songwritingwise, etc. We've got great bands that can play top level gigs in any style and the musicianship has just exponentially increased thanks to the internet and easy access to new stuff from every corner of the world. I am sure that in a few year's time, the spanish metal scene will have a much better international image and presence than it has now."

Six members, any fighting, disagreements etc? :) Or is the internal atmosphere functional despite the amount of members?

"We don't really argue too much, at least in the songwriting department. Since we have a lot of influences and we like listening to a lot of different styles of music, you can say that we're pretty open when it comes to writing new material so normally we agree on the big picture. At the same time, each member introduces their own ideas to the music, so combining all of that is definitely a plus for us. We argue more on the business side of things like promotion, planning, dates, rehearsals, merch, etc. but still not enough for the friendly atsmophere to dissipate."

Do you guys have other bands? Or is Distance your main priority?

"Although we could say that Distance has been and is our main priority, we all have or have had different musical projects. Lucho (drums) currently plays in a ton of bands like Eternal Storm (Melodic Death), Dremenuart (Metalcore) and Sister Jude (Hard Rock) as well as some other projects too! Morgan has his own one-man-band with Icarus Empire Project/Soulless Child, and also composes soundtracks for videogames. Jomer plays bass for Hell's Fire (Southern metal) and I played in Clockwork (Thrash), but sadly that band came to an end recently."

What do you want to say with the band name? What do you want to distance you from?

"The concept of distance for us is not really about separation, but more like a journey, a path to travel. It is an analogy of life and how nature and human beigns go from one point to another, transforming themselves and what surrounds them, completing endless cycles in search of meaning and personal realisation."

Distance@Facebook

I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions! If you have anyone you want to thanks, someone important to the band, or anyone you like to throw of a cliff, here’s the spot :)

"Thank you and the staff at Heavymetal.no for the opportunity you've given us and for listening to our rant! And thanks to the reader (if indeed they've come this far)! You can stream our complete album at dist4nce.bandcamp.com or on spotify! If you like it, please help us by sharing it and spreading the word :D .

By the way, we'll be releasing the first music video (produced by our friends at Firefront Pictures) from the album really soon, so be on the lookout! 

Cheers from Barcelona!"

Her er videoen til 'Seeker Of Truth':