Interview - BELIEVER

English text

Martín: Hi there! There is a new BELIEVER album after many years. How do you feel with this resurrection of the band? Is there any changes?

Joey: It feels fresh. We have 3 new members, Jeff King-keyboards/programming, Elton Nestler-bass/programming and Kevin Leaman-guitar. They are all long time friends as well as longtime fans of the band.

Kurt: It really feels great to be back in the scene once again. The fans have been very supportive and we are enjoying the writing and recording process.

M: Tell us about the recording sessions and the production of “Gabriel”.

K: We recorded Gabriel at our own studio, Trauma Studios, which allowed us more time for analysis and to do real-time producing. We could record a track and go away for a few days and then come back to listen with fresh ears. We really wanted it to sound different from the majority of heavy bands out today. We wanted to preserve the dynamics of the songs and not have a production that was dominated by only kick drums or guitars.

M: Is there a main concept behind the album? What about the lyrics?

K: There is really not one distinct concept with the title, cover or lyrics. There are concepts though and these were derived from personal experiences or how we were seeing the world at the time. We want our listeners to create their own interpretations as this allows for the development of a more personal experience for them rather than meanings that are ours.

M: How was the process to create that kind of music full of technical stuff and cold dark atmospheres?

J: Kurt and I have developed a style of writing over the years where we tend to know where each other is going. Being fans of progressive music helps us think inside that type of box but wanting to go outside the box is something we have always pushed for too. I think by adding the new element of keyboards helps us to achieve a different feel and allows us to add more dimensions and unique feelings to the songs.

M: Tell us about Gabriel´s artwork.

K: Michael Rosner (Roz) and I pitched ideas back and forth for about a year and wanted to have artwork that complimented the music and vice versa. Roz and the Eyelevel Studio team did a fantastic job putting this together. The CD has a 16 panel booklet that has many images from the Gabriel sessions that are amazing. We will be working with Roz on other elements in the future so make sure you check out myspace.com/believerband and believerband.net often to see what might suddenly appear.



M: BELIEVER plays a kind of Progressive Thrash Metal. What is your opinion about the evolution of this genre and the new waves?

K: This genre has really matured over the years and there are some amazing musicians playing progressive music today. It is really cool to see how this has evolved. There are a lot of bands that do sound very similar to each other though and my hope is that this will evolve also and bands will start striving to create their own sound.

M: What can we expect about BELIEVER´s live on stage?

J: We are currently rehearsing for our live shows and hope to be out playing very soon. Because of the amount of samples and sounds on the new album, we want to make sure it is all there before we step foot on stage. We want to do everything in real time too.

M: What is your opinion about the internet and mp3 downloads?

K: In my opinion, the standard mp3 quality is not that good and causes many sounds to be lost from the recording. Many of those that have only heard the mp3 version are not really getting to hear what we set out to achieve. Several sites are starting to offer higher quality digital recordings, but these are very limited at this time. You also lose the impact of the artwork and CD packaging that often is an important element of the entire experience.

M: Your Top Five albums?

J: That is always tough, so currently I would say Mastodon-Crack the Skye, Steely Dan-Aja, Opeth-Ghost Reveries, Bad Brains-Build a Nation, Sieges Even-A Sense of Change.

K: Rush-Chronicles ( I know this is a comp album, but it covers so many great records!), Sieges Even-A Sense of Change, Tool-Enima, NIN-The Downward Spiral, Destruction-Release From Agony.

M: Thank you very much for your time. Here you have space to write what you want as farewell.

J&K: Thank you for doing this interview with us. We really appreciate your support and the support of our devoted fans. We are stoked to be back and we will stick around for awhile this time. Hope to see you all soon at a Believer show! Cheers!

http://www.myspace.com/believerband
http://www.believerband.net