Sun and Moon Artist Ygfan Interview is up
1.I really only know a few bands from Hungary Sear Bliss and Ektomorf. And of course Attilla of Mayhem is from there. What is the Metal world like in Hungary?
Our metal scene is small, but getting healthier. There is a bunch of open-minded groups like Svoid, Perihelion, Karst etc. There are some older stuff that brings the quality and that can still surprise us, like Thy Catafalque or the new Sear Bliss that is very spot on. There are also many bands that create music within one definite genre in very high quality, like Withcraft, Mörbid Carnage, Gylliath, Age of Agony and so on. There are many small labels, fanzines etc.
2. I like the way your music is called Spiritual Black metal as it comes across the same way artist like Orphaned Land, Katatonia, Fen, Tenhi and Dornenreich. I feel there is a strong Post Black metal meets Ethereal feel. What bands have made Ygfan who they are?
We all have different favourite bands that we think worth following. The ones listed above there are some that I like too but other I don’t, however the other Ygfan members do like. I’d like to mention two bands that are exemplary for me/us. These are Tormentor and VHK. Regarding genres the impact of original black metal kind of scene like In the woods, Ved Buens Ende etc. or even Neurosis is stronger than that of post metal. Beside these from folk music to dark rock we could mention anything.
3. Sun and Moon are newer label to my reader and I how did you come to work with them?
We broke up our previous conract with mutual agreement. Sun and Moon was recommended by a mutual friend, Attila Dudás from Fekete Terror Productions. By the way, he released our materials in cassette. Greetings to him! We liked Sun and Moon’s stuff from earlier – they are working in very high quality. Their attitude towards our new material which was already ready to be released was very flexible, so we only had a couple of months to wait which we are very grateful for. This is a very ambitious label and we are proud that they took us under their wings. They’ve got a great deal of exciting material, check it on their website!
4. Love the mix of Grim, Clean and Chanted vocals how did that come about?
I already knew by the time of the first material that the music needed more than just screaming. We were aware that the vocal won’t be the priority, so we wouldn’t want to hire a vocalist, therefore we tried to manage it by ourselves. As the lyrics are my work, I have no problem identifying with them and interpret them. I am trying to develope my skills, but creating the atmosphere is more important for us.
5. You made a very visually stunning video for Ygfan song off Hamvakból... How did that come about and what do you want the listener to get out of it?
The lyrics of that song is basically the band’s ars poetica. It would be too simple to back it up with some kind of „wandering in the forest” stuff, even if the closeness of the nature gives a base of understanding to our music. When we talked about our concept with Kristóf (director, Váradi-Orosz Kristóf from Karst), we sent the draft of the music and the lyrics to him, and we left him do his job. We gave him a free hand, we only defined a few main principles, like interpreting the duality of the world as sacral-profound, natural-urban. After a long discussion this film was born, which I think we both should be satisfied with. We confided Kristóf with the raw material, we only have a few suggestions with the cut.
6. How Does a live show for Ygfan differ from the album for the Audience?
We have very good experiences in regard to concerts, however it goes quite easily as our audience is an open-minded one. We try to support our show with lights and molinos as far as we can, but this is more like and inner visualization of our music to which our audience has to be prepared for too.
7. In what way would you say Hamvakból... differs from your Debut EP?
It is more mature and more complex. It is more a team work than „Köd” was. We are costantly pushing our bounderies, even they are not very spectacular and they have not much different changes. However, it has a very conscious side of it: we let a great space to the inner, intuitive processes. We are looking forward to seeing where this leads us.
8. Social media and Digital world is it a blessing or curse for underground bands in 2018?
It can help to a small band like us, for example it can lessen our costs which is not negligeable. Also, this way many opportunites can be given by them in order to spread our music. On the other hand, it generates a kind of overproduction which makes it more difficult for a band to stand out from the crowd. The biggest problem with this is that it changes the habits how people are listening to music. That results in fanatics and also, in superficiality.
9. Do the members of Ygfan have other projects they record or play it
tell us about them is so please?
We do not really have projects. László, our bass player has a progrock kind of band, and I have a long dedalian band which is a grumpy stuff, but I think that’s all.
10. In 5 words describe the bands sound to us?
Let that be only four words. „Szent rengeteg, Lélek rejtek” In English: „Holy forest Spirit’s shelter”
11. If you could tour with any band who would it be and why?
As I mentioned, we all have different taste of music, so it would generate quite a big argument among us. But for example an Empyrium or Primordial would be a huge opportunity for us. We try to follow the path in small steps, and we would like to aim at minor festivals, perhaps a mini-tour with friendly bands. These are our plans for the time being.
12. Lets say Hamvakból... because a break through album for you and bigger labels like Century Media and Nuclear Blast come to talk about a release do you feel that would be a good step or is a band like Ygfan at home with smaller personal label with good promotion?
For us, definitely a smaller label would be the answer. We think personal relations are important. Of course, we do not have experiences with huge labels, but I doubt that they could give us what we want, because realistically we would not be on the top of their list. For sure it is a great advantage in a big-label-project that simply because of the name of the brand they spread more widely, but I (as a consumer) prefer smaller labels that only release quality and their pursuit becomes their trade-mark.
13. What artists members of Ygfan currently listening too?
To be honest, I can’t really answer to this question. We listen to completely different types of music, and it is relatively rare to find a junction. One listens to progressive/tech music (which I do not really care about), but I like to discover underground music too, which the others are not very much interested in. Of course we discuss music matters and but it if you ask me who listens to what, I couldn’t be able to tell you. All kinds of metal, folk, mainly Hungarian, classical music, dark rock…
14. Thank you for the time and closing thoughts here.
We thank you the opportunity! Please, check out our new album and join us this journey to meet your inner selves.
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