NETHERFELL interview online!
Lately, I interviewed Piotr Martuś from the band NETHERFELL regarding their upcoming album "Between East And West" (Między Wschodem a Zachodem) and more.
01. Hi Piotr! First of all, can you explain us the band name? What does it mean for you ?
I found the name in some end-notes of one of Tolkien's books. I remember that it is supposed to mean something like "Underground hill" in some elder english dialect. I have to admit that I have tried to found that fragment of the book later, but I didn't managed. I choose that name only because it sounds cool for me and I think it does not restrict us.
02. NETHERFELL founded in 2008 and met some line-up change, I think. What happened in those times ?
Years from 2008 to 2013 were very hard time for the band. I am the only original member of the band, and it seemed for me, so many times, that it is almost impossible to find the proper musicians for such a project in my city. During these years, we played only one gig in 2010, in completely different line-up then actual one. There were a lot of musicians rehearsed, joining and leaving, including keyboard players, guitarists, violinist and others. I was near to give up with the Netherfell project, when finally I found bagpipes player Wit, and the vocalist Tomasz. So, we could finish the debut release and start playing concerts in 2013, what made me really happy.
03. So, October 30th will be released your debut album “Between East & West”, how do you feel ?
Fact that official premiere of the album is getting closer makes me feel very excited. I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Some emotions are already behind me, because the album is finished for a few months yet, but we still looking forward to see people reactions on our new stuff.
04. Is it a concept album? What is it about ?
The album is not a concept one. Each song tells its own story, so it is hard to say in few words what they are all about. On Between East And West you can find track composed during last four years, so there’s no way to build one general theme or idea on it. On the other hand, the album title could be great representation of the general musical concept, that is connecting the folk elements characteristic for the regions towards the west as well as the east from where we came from.
05. Can you describe this artwork ?
We can see the skull of a horse on the cover. The author of the artwork was looking for some themes with strong symbolical meaning in both, eastern and western cultures. Horse seemed to be a good choice because it appears in all cultures with so many different meanings. Also the ornaments included in artwork refers to different times and cultures like the Celtic knots, Nordic stylized font or the eastern stylized runes on the skull.
06. The record has been a bit delayed, why ?
It is hard to say, firstly we did not have any particular deadline, so we just let the things go, and do not hurry ourselves when working on the album. Then we had the tour booked in April 2015, so we decided to finish the album to that date and then, we could sell some self-made pre-release of the CD's on the tour and search for the label later.
01. Hi Piotr! First of all, can you explain us the band name? What does it mean for you ?
I found the name in some end-notes of one of Tolkien's books. I remember that it is supposed to mean something like "Underground hill" in some elder english dialect. I have to admit that I have tried to found that fragment of the book later, but I didn't managed. I choose that name only because it sounds cool for me and I think it does not restrict us.
02. NETHERFELL founded in 2008 and met some line-up change, I think. What happened in those times ?
Years from 2008 to 2013 were very hard time for the band. I am the only original member of the band, and it seemed for me, so many times, that it is almost impossible to find the proper musicians for such a project in my city. During these years, we played only one gig in 2010, in completely different line-up then actual one. There were a lot of musicians rehearsed, joining and leaving, including keyboard players, guitarists, violinist and others. I was near to give up with the Netherfell project, when finally I found bagpipes player Wit, and the vocalist Tomasz. So, we could finish the debut release and start playing concerts in 2013, what made me really happy.
03. So, October 30th will be released your debut album “Between East & West”, how do you feel ?
Fact that official premiere of the album is getting closer makes me feel very excited. I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Some emotions are already behind me, because the album is finished for a few months yet, but we still looking forward to see people reactions on our new stuff.
04. Is it a concept album? What is it about ?
The album is not a concept one. Each song tells its own story, so it is hard to say in few words what they are all about. On Between East And West you can find track composed during last four years, so there’s no way to build one general theme or idea on it. On the other hand, the album title could be great representation of the general musical concept, that is connecting the folk elements characteristic for the regions towards the west as well as the east from where we came from.
05. Can you describe this artwork ?
06. The record has been a bit delayed, why ?
It is hard to say, firstly we did not have any particular deadline, so we just let the things go, and do not hurry ourselves when working on the album. Then we had the tour booked in April 2015, so we decided to finish the album to that date and then, we could sell some self-made pre-release of the CD's on the tour and search for the label later.
07. How did the recordings for this record happen ?
The recordings last for 8 moths, from august 2014 to the end of march 2015. I am the acoustic engineering student, due to that, all of the acoustic instruments and vocals were recorded in my university studio. All the guitars I record at home. It was very hard but also satisfying process. A lot of things like some guitar and drums arrangements have been changed many times. I personally learnt a lot during these times, as the musician and as the sound engineer as well. Now, I know how to avoid some problems in the future.
08. What are the bands which influenced NETHERFELL ?
The direction and idea for the music I want to play have been changing constantly with my personal music taste and /interest. Firstly, I was influenced mostly by power and symphonic metal bands, like Nightwish or Blind Guardian. Then I started to explore the world of folk metal, starting with Ensiferum or Arkona. Band Eluveitie is still the most important musical authority for me. Lately, I start to look for the inspiration in folk music, movie sountracks and separately in other metal subgenres. Now, we are interested in some modern stuff like djent or deathcore. From folk scene I like very much artists like Omnia, Corvus Corax, Beltaine, Jar. From film composers I can think of names like Patrick Doyle, Hans Zimmer or Howard Shore. Regarding metal music at the moment there are names like Despised Icon, Chelsea Grin, After The Burial, which we find really interesting.
09. You recently shared a new official video. What are the song and video about ?
Kónik Zmók i Jo Zmók is polish traditional song and the intro is quite accurately reconstructed original one. It is based on lyrics and melody found in some old song-book. The rest of the track contains variations on that theme and my own melodies and arrangements too. The lyrics are very simple and tells story of the man standing and shouting under the girl's window while she does not want to let him in.
10. It seems 85 out of 211 votes disliked the video. What do you want to say to these people disappointed ?
When we were making that video we knew that there are some controversial elements, including our appearance and musical content as well, so we prepared ourselves for very different opinions. We know that connecting such different music worlds as folk and "core" sub-genres of metal could be hard to accept for some people, especially more traditional, orthodox metal-heads. But, for us the most important thing is to do the music we personally like the most and enjoy playing. We love exploring new musical regions, and we get so much fun doing this, that we find it worth the prize of being non-accepted by the whole folk metal community.
11. What are your next plans ?
At the moment we are resting after the tour and preparing ourselves to the next show, which would be probably our biggest one, because we will support the Ensiferum. We also consider recording video from that concert. At the same time we start to work on two other videos, one based on materials from tour we just finished and second to be the more feature music video to the song “Światło i Cień” (Light And The Shadow). But we cannot tell when they both will be finished. We do not have precise concert plans for 2016 yet. For sure there will be few summer festivals, maybe some tour as well. We will also start working on the new material, it is hard to tell now, but maybe the next full album will be ready at the end of 2016.
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