Interview - THE CLAN DESTINED

English text

Martín: Hello! First of all introduce you and your musical project called THE CLAN DESTINED to our readers.

Martin: Hello Martín! Thanks for the interview. The Clan Destined is far more than just a band. It is a unique collective of Pagan musicians, writers, artists, film-makers, web-designers and lots of other creative people from all around the world. Over the next few years we plan to do lots of interesting and very different things with this TCD project.

M: THE CLAN DESTINED counts with a bunch of renowned musicians. Tell us about them.

M: It is always interesting to get the chance to work together with lots of different musicians and creative people. Because The Clan Destined is a Pagan collective there is no permanent, fixed line-up for the band; it is more like a group of session-musicians all working together to make a unique style of music. Some of the people I am working with are renowned, and some of them are unknown; but they are all very talented people who share our Pagan beliefs.

M: Everything around this project seems to be connected with Pagan feelings. What themes inspire you?

M: I have been a Pagan all my life, and so naturally this has a very big influence on all aspects of the writing and music. I am very interested in themes connected with Mother Nature, and with the terrible damage that mankind is currently doing to the environment. I think it is very important for all people to take an interest in politics and ecology, so that we can hopefully leave behind a beautiful planet for our children and our grandchildren to inherit after we are gone.

M: How was the process to compose the songs?

M: The six songs on “In The Big Ending...” took about one year to write and record. We made demos of the songs firstly, to check that our musical ideas worked. We wanted to make sure that The Clan Destined songs had a unique sound that was nothing like anything that had ever been done before.

M: Tell us about the recording sessions and the production of “In The Big Ending...”.

M: The Clan Destined “In The Big Ending...” c.d. was recorded and produced by the legendary Andy Sneap and James Murphy at the world famous Backstage Studios. The Clan Destined video on the bonus DVD disc was directed, filmed and edited by Blue Dog Films, who are talented and award-winning young film-makers from the U.K.



M: “I Am Because We Are”. What is behind these words?

M: Because The Clan Destined is a Pagan collective, we all try to work together as a team to transform our creative ideas into a reality. “I am because we are!” is our way of saying that by working together we can all achieve much more than we ever could by working alone.

M: The artwork of “In The Big Ending...” is very interesting. Tell us about it.

M: The artwork of “In The Big Ending...” was done by a very talented Irish artist called Paul McCarroll. As you can see, parts of the artwork are based around a U.S. Dollar, as money is one of the main causes for all of the evils in the world. The cover of The Clan Destined c.d. is a photograph taken from the video on the bonus DVD disc which is included in with the c.d.

M: Will THE CLAN DESTINED be continued? What about your other projects?

M: I am currently working on writing some new music for The Clan Destined. I am also busy with several different projects. As well as being the vocalist in Sabbat, I am also working together with Andy Sneap on an album of songs by the 80’s band Hell; who were a big influence on Sabbat in the early days of our career. I have recently returned from Argentina, where I was playing songs from my old band Skyclad together with a great band from Argentina called Skiltron. I hope to be able to bring Skiltron across to Europe next year to play Skyclad songs at a few European concerts and festivals.

M: Can you choose two bands or artists with different styles that influenced you to be a musician?

M: The band Hell was a major influence on my early career with Sabbat. Sadly their singer Dave Halliday died many years ago, which is why I am singing the vocal parts on the Hell recordings that I am currently doing with Andy Sneap. Jethro Tull were also a big influence upon me, and were one of the main reasons that I chose to invent Folk Metal with my previous band Skyclad.

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

M: Thanks for the great interview Martin. Many special thanks also to all my fans and friends over in Spain. Thanks for all your kind support for my music over the last 25 years. I really hope to have the chance to come to play some live shows in your beautiful country very soon indeed. Cheers! Martin Walkyier.

http://www.theclandestined.com
http://www.sabbat-uk.com
http://www.myspace.com/martinwalkyier