EPHYRA interview online

I interviewed the band EPHYRA. They released their debut album lately.

Hi EPHYRA! You just released your debut album. Can you explain us what means the bandname ?

Matteo: Hi Krissy, yes of course.. If you search on google, you will find a lot of suggestive meanings for the word “Ephyra”.. well, none  of those meanings is the right one.

The name “Ephyra” was born thanks to a videogame of the far 2001, “Severance: Blade of Darkness”. We liked the sound of the word “Ephyra” and we decided to use it as the name of the band and also as the name of the fantasy kingdom where our songs take life. In fact, you can find our band/kingdom name in the lyrics of 2 tracks.

02. Why have you chosen that name for your band ?

Matteo: Because this name is evocative of a far and fantastic world.

03. Back in 2005, EPHYRA was a death metal cover band and then, you’ve got several line-up changes. Nowadays are those fantasy-medieval influences in the band. Can you tell us who is/are the bandmember(s) who could bring those influences to the band ?

Germano: Well.. a lot of us have the passion for fantasy-medieval stories, books, games and films. It started from Matteo and me, then Simone and so on... Now all of us like this fantasy-medieval influences.

04. How did it came exactly ?

Matteo: The passion for the fantasy-medieval world was born mostly by books and games, but the will to play this kind of music came after listening to other bands like Ensiferum and Suidakra.

05. What do you like the most in medieval and fantasy worlds ?

Francesco: Knights, swords, dragons and blood. :D

06. November 9th was released your debut album, is it self-released ?

Paolo: yeah, fully self-released.

07. Why have you called your first album as “Journey” ?

Nadia: Well.. we decided to call it Journey because the project “Ephyra” is an adventure that takes part of our lives for years and now we want to share it with our listeners. For us, this is a new hopeful start and we want to “travel” with all of you In our fantastic dreamy worlds. It’s also an exhortation to go on.. always.. and you will find it into the title-track.

08. Can you tell us shortly on the lyrics content for each song of the new album ?

Francesco: Ok, we can try:

1 – Back… (instrumental).

2 – … to the Realm: a victorious army comes back home after the battle.

3 – No Prisoners: a cruel battle without survivors.

4 – Laws of the Elves: an elvish princess wants to marry a human king, going against elves’ traditional laws. The revenge of her kind will be very violent.

5 – Journey: going away, finding your way and your answers.

6 – Flames of Revenge: the revenge of people against their tyrant.

7 – Cold Pain: this is the reflection of a knight after a battle.

8 – Dark Wolf: a knight named Dark Wolf is searching for revenge against the king who killed his family

9 – Hunter’s Dance (Instrumental).

10 – Heresy: the sad practice of burning people to erase the heresies.

09. What have you tried to create with the instrumental tracks ?

Francesco: well.. "back..." is the intro of "...to the realm" and it sounds as an epic hymn.. With "Hunter's Dance" we decided to create a folk ballad to involve the public (and seems to work well on stage.. it's very appreciated)

10. You shared a preview of the album on the web, have you got good responses from the listeners ?

Paolo: Yes, fortunately.. We published our album preview and the full song Heresy a few weeks ago and now we already have more than 600 and 400 views.. And seems a lot of people like it.

11. Lately, you shared the stage with ELVENKING for the release party of “Journey” album.  Can you tell us that particular moment for EPHYRA ?

Francesco: It was simply great.. an amazing night. We were appreciated also by Elvenking’s fans and this is cool!!! And about Elvenking, we can say they are very kind and disposable.. we hope to share again the stage with them.

12. Do you have other gigs to come ?

Paolo: Yeah, we have 2 gigs here in Italy, December 27 th and January 25th, but we are working for another pair of gigs in Italy and in Paris. And obviously we’ll search for other concerts around the Europe in the next year.

13. Have you shared the stage with some other known bands ?

Nadia: With Ephyra never before our release party.. Some years ago Matteo shared the stage with Macbeth playing in a gothic metal band.

14. Will you make one official video to promote the album ?

Matteo: Yes, we are working on a possible screenplay. Stay tuned to know more ;)

15. What are your next plans ?

Paolo: Well… we are looking for some booking agencies and labels.

We need to play on stage to promote our album, so we’ll try to bring our “Journey tour” around Europe. Cross your fingers for us and, above all, support us :D

Thank you for the interview, EPHYRA! We will!

Ephyra: Thanks to you Krissy, we really appreciate your work.. Good luck for your “Journey”.