Wooaaargh Artist - While Sun Ends Interview is up
1. Tell us a bit about the unique mix of prog showcase and death metal and how the mix of Angelic ethereal female vocals mixed with extreme vocals came to be?
Hi everyone ;) first of all, we really like your description of our sound! It’s hard to answer this question completely, let’s just say that our sound comes from our listenings: we all enjoy that kind of music which layers a melancholic mood with feelings and thoughts. At the same time, we love progressive rock from the Seventies, “long” songs developing through experimentation's, moving from depressive to dreamy, nostalgic and coloured atmospheres.
This said, we have to say that we like how death metal and modern metal impact the listener, for its sound “opens the eyes and ears” of listeners. We don’t think we have ever chosen how a song by While Sun Ends must be from the beginning, and when we were looking for a singer we found Serena first, Stefania later. A female vocal timbre simply helped us in emphasizing the ethereal mood of vocal parts, gratifying our interest in bands such as Giardini di Mirò, Novembre, Klimt 1918 or Katatonia.
From time to time, growls and screams could add heaviness and impact to the sound, moving it to a more extreme level. Words usually suggest what kind of vocals would be better to use in a specific part, so it could be lead cleans or “extreme vocals” by Stefania, sometimes also adding male vocals, really depending on what we are saying in that moment.
2. Italy has had a storied past with some amazing band and labels .. what brings so many avant sounding metal bands from the country. Labels like code666, My kingdom music , AvantgardeMusic, Wounded love just to name a few some of most cutting edge come from them.
This is kind of an interesting question. We like many Italian bands - we talked about Novembre a lot of times, but thinking to Klimt 1918, In Tormentata Quiete, Aborym, Sunpocrisy, Ephel Duath or Thee Maldoror Kollective – who make us really proud to be hailing from Italy! We don’t know what has prompted this “avant-garde” approach: maybe it’s a cultural influence moving from a small country with a great and important history.
Italy, indeed, is a small land where you can find high mountains both woody and foggy, medieval and “ancient” cities spread all over, switching from azure-blue seas to dull lakes and hills ... All these different places are close to each other’s because Italy is relatively small and various. As various are our art and dialects, thanks to the historical influences from abroad, and to the ancient subdivision in districts and reigns. Perhaps the encounter between years and years of such different cultures in such different places could suggest us to “mix” more than an idea, even into music.
3. How did you come to work with Wooaaargh a label new on the radar for my readers?
We knew some bands who worked with Wooaaargh. Since we were looking for a label, we contacted Cris, who seemed to be enthusiastic to help us in releasing “Terminus”! It’s a pleasure to work with him, he’s that kind of nice guy who very supports the underground scene. He is pushing “Terminus”, helping us, not only supporting us on the web, but also by planning what to do in the upcoming months ;)
4. If you were asked in 4 words to describe the sound of While sun ends , how would you do so.
We don’t really like to find a definition for our genre, but we usually say we play “Progressive / Post Death Metal”. It could seem progressive due to our approach in writing the songs: long minutage without refrains, sometimes with “retro” sounds of mellotron and hammonds. Post could mean anything, but this word usually refers to “simple” melodies, and we like to mix few notes in a “groovy-complex” mood. We don’t play “Death Metal”, except for a few riffs, but our roots are to be found in melodic/pure death metal music, and listeners may catch a glimpse of it, though our sound is more “modern-oriented”. We prefer to talk about “death metal” more than “modern” because of our atmospheres, so that we think we can suggest something more melancholic and raw than “heavy” or “kick-ass”!!!
5. When recording Terminus did the music , lyrics come 1st to begin the vision of the album?
First of all, we wanted to write about knowledge, thinking about it as a growing path. From that we started writing songs. We had this idea and in 2012 we released “Knowledge”, a 2 songs EP containing the first versions of “Tritogenia” and “Elevation”. Both of them are actually contained in “Terminus” but they are now part of a wider concept: we completed the “chapters” by thinking what could suit better to the music we were working on in the meanwhile. So, while we were writing riffs, principally Stefania and Carlo took care of the lyrics. When all the instruments knew how to sound, we adjusted the lyrics, moving from ideas to sentences, and sewed them to the vocal parts. It's not about misogyny, but Stefania is the late-comer, she deserves to wait before singing ! ;)
6. I would call the band a more fringe band as you mix so many elements like Messuggah, Opeth, Katatonia ever elements bands like Gathering, Madder Mortem and Atrox .. what has the reaction been live to a more death metal audience?
( Was not answered )
7. What music or bands are inspiring or impressing While Sun Ends currently?
We all like listening to different music genre so every day is a good day to discover something new! Currently, Carlo is listening to a lot of “no-metal” music: James Blake, Yma Sumac, Erik Satie and Arvo Part. At the moment, Stefania is all focused on folk, Italian and French music and on Irish punk, or even music from the 80’s/90’s (pretty puzzling, ah? but she often is through her fanatical intervals!). Who knows if this will inspire us directly, perhaps in future songs you could find some little “recalls” to them!
8. Let's say a major metal label like Century media or Nuclear blast offered a deal is this really a good home for a band like yours or would you really have to think it out?
These majors are like a dream for many metal bands! Anyway we don’t think we deserve them, and anyway, by working for big-named labels, we could run the risk to radically change the idea and sound we have. It’s very hard to sign up with a big label without finding compromises; it sometimes happens, but it isn’t easy at all. We’d like to keep playing “what we want” without limits or pre-defined directions, and who knows, maybe “what we want” could also be liked from major labels…let’s see !
9. What is a live performance like for the band versus the recorded one?
We love to play live and we try to give songs a rougher and more violent sound, pushing on keys and efx to re-create the “ethereal” parts. This, added to the naturally emotional atmosphere of the context, may make the live performance even more enjoyable than the recorded one (in which we may sound colder). Anyway we are working hard to improve our shows, we want create a unique atmosphere !
10. Are you fans of this new digital frontier or do newer bands get lost in shuffle with so many bedroom metal acts these days?
Of course we are, Carlo and Enrico are nerds, they can’t live without the internet! We get what you say with “bands lost in a shuffle”: internet makes everything being more visible and accessible, but on the other hand it’s harder to create a real “contact” with projects; you can find a beautiful project listening to a song on Youtube, and after that you are automatically “re-directed” to another song, so that you don’t have time enough to go deeper in what you had listened before! Some years ago, you could find reviews of albums, links to distros and it took weeks before you could have the chance to open vinyls and CDs. This was not really comfortable, but the relatively long waiting before hearing songs made everything a little bit more magical! We just hope people are conscious and willing enough to get to know projects better, not stopping on a “first impact” idea. If listeners did this, then internet would be a very powerful place !
11. If you could make a pro video for any track on Terminus which would it be and why?
Stefania votes “Cycles”, and due both to the lyrics and sounds (which seems to find the best bond in her opinion). It’s the most heart-felt song, sincere and all-encompassing, for it is about what everyone goes through when any kind of relationship is over. We are swirling spirals which sometimes bond with each other’s, but just for a small, intense, dot: that’s where two people overlay each one’s emotions, feelings, experiences, their same “I”, no matter what kind of relation we are talking about. Then, for any reason, the spirals keep going on, swirling in wider and wider cycles, moving from that encounter but always returning to it somehow. This is, merely, balance; existence is a movement which gets more colored as further we walk and as more encounters we go through.
12. Do the members have other musical projects they would like to tell us about?
Our drummer Enrico is involved in two other Italian “indie rock” bands, called “Le Capre a Sonagli” and “Karenina”; they have released several albums and performed live all across Italy. Our two guitarists Diego and Massimo were also involved in another metal band named “Dejanira” until a few months ago, but now the group has decided to take a break.
Some years ago Carlo played bass in a post/drone band called “The Great Void”, but that project is only a old memory !
13. Where do you see underground extreme music heading in 2016. Is there a true rebirth?
Yes, we can talk about Italian extreme underground and we have noticed it’s going pretty well in latest years! It’s not easy to find places where to play shows, but on the other hand many people are starting to create “collectives”, helping bands organizing shows and festival. For example, bands like Satyricon, Enslaved, At The Gates, Carcass performed at Fosch Fest, and underground bands had a nice chance to play before them! Anyway it’s not all about “the will of creating occasions for bands”, but we think that the underground’s sound today is becoming more and more professional, and that it’s plenty of interesting projects. This is what makes the “rebirth” of underground scene in our opinion!
14. Just wondering were did the name While Sun Ends come from and how does it fit the bands ideal?
It all started from the image of the sunset, a transitional moment of the day which is particularly romantic and inspirational. We think it is linked to some thoughts we spent about the relation between the past, the present and the future: when the sun is about going away, our contemplating minds fill with emotions and questions on what was, is and will be. The words “While Sun Ends” describe that exact moment, the end of the sunlight on earth, and the quest for something beyond that. Indeed, we also enjoy how the words “While Sun Ends” sound, and the idea of thinking of our music as of different colors before the dark!
15. Any closing thoughts place here..
As always, we thank you a lot for this interview, and we thank anyone who has been and will be supporting us in this splendid adventure.
See you on the 9th September at the release live, and if not, see you around ! ;)
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