| Interview with Mark Jansen
Due to the upcoming release of the new EPICA album next September 7th we had a pleasant talk with former EPICA guitar player Mark Jansen. We reviewed several topics such as the Darwins Theory Of Evolution, some Theology, cycling, talked about movies....and of course also about their new album!! Heres what he told us...
-HoM. Hi Mark, how are you?
Im fine, thanks, and you?
-HoM. Im also fine, thanks. Are you calling from Holland?
Yes, Im in Holland right now.
-HoM. Lets star speaking about the past. After your departure from After Forever you started searching for members to form a new band in the same vein. Was it easy to find the right people?
It was easy to find good musicians but youre right it was hard to find compromised people, musicians that really get involved in the project. To sum up the hardest part was to find nice people. At the beginning ten musicians did the audition and though all of them had great skills if Im honest they werent the kind of people I was looking for. A lot of times it happens you find people with great musicianship but coexistence gets worst each day with them and I really value to find nice people who are also good musicians.
-HoM. I guess the hardest part could be to find the female voice...
Thats true, this was another hard point to achieve. We couldnt find a good female singer so in the last resort we asked Simone to be the singer. We hadnt counted with her before because she was only 16 then and she didnt want to take part in the band. She was my girlfriend at that time so I managed to convince her.
-HoM. Talking about Simone, is it true that she hadnt been involved in the metal scene, that she had never sung metal before?
Its true. She had once done an audition for a metal band, that was all her experience. Anyway what Im sure of is she had never been recording in a studio. EPICA was her first recording test.
-HoM. So do you know whats her opinion of the metal scene now shes part of it?
She feels really comfortable now.
-HoM. EPICA hasnt a drummer nowadays. Who took charge of recording it in the album? And most important, who will play live?
In the the studio we counted with a drummer called Arien, but he has his own band so he cant tour with us. Weve also counted with another studio drummer who also has his own band so we dont have a permanent drummer yet since they both have their own bands so well work with both of them. Each one of them will do half of the shows. So far it works perfect like this. Of course wed like to have any of these guys as a permanent drummer but thats impossible for the moment.
-HoM. When you left After Forever it was said there was a quarrel with your ex-companions, it seems you fell out and you started EPICA to say fuck you, Im still annoying!. Hows the relation between the two bands?
The relation is good again. After a couple of years we said each other, lets stop this bullshit thing, lets help each other, it will be much better this way. Now all things are solved and maybe were going to do some touring in the future together.
-HoM. Lets continue revising the past, your first album The Phantom Agony was released 5 years ago, and you really squeezed it, I mean you put out 3 singles and a DVD, something unlikely in a one record band. It was all the record company advice?
Yes, we were really pressured to release a lot in the shorter time. A lot of promotion, a lot of extra stuff, a lot of touring, a lot of interviews... I think it was good for us anyway but for sure it was kind of soon to release a video DVD with only one album out.
-HoM. Now that were talking about the record company, how did it affect you when Transmision closed down? Did you have time to finish the recording before?
Yes, we were already recording the new album so we had to search for ourselves. We had a deal with the studio that they would wait until we signed another record deal. It was great from this guys because they put a lot of trust in us, and that made possible for us to dont lose any time and just go on with the new album.
-HoM. Why did you choose Nuclear Blast?
Nuclear Blast was our dream label from the beginning even though to be honest it was the only label that didnt show interest. When we were looking for a new label we were just waiting for the labels to show interest in us because I think when you wait and a label show interest is when you see exactly which labels are really interested and which not. I was a little bit disappointed that Nuclear Blast was the only label who didnt show interest but then we started negotiating with other labels and we were quite a long time negotiating with Century Media, it was really taking long.
After a couple of months i got a call from Nuclear Blast. They told me they had heard some good stories about the new record because Tobias Sammet from Avantasia was recording in the same studio as we were recording our album and he told some good stories to his label Nuclear Blast. So the boss of Nuclear Blast called me and he told me: Can you send me some music?, so I did send him some songs, I sent the heaviest song, Menace Of Vanity and the ballad Safeguard To Paradise, and right after he heard the songs he called me again and he said Well, I want EPICA on my label, and I said, Yes, but youve got to be very fast because Im almost signing the Century Media contract, and he answered, No, no, no, no!! Wait, wait!! Im giving you a better offer, if you need to be fast, within a week Ill make sure youll have a new contract and it will be better that the Century Media contract. (we wanted to release the album and we didnt want to wait long anymore).
Within a week he sent the contract and it was better than the Century Media one so we dealed with Nuclear Blast also because it had already been our preference from the beginning to be with them. So thanks to Century Media was slowing in the end we had the opportunity to sign with Nuclear Blast.
-HoM. Now that you share the same company with After Forever, did you say something about touring both bands together?
Yes, weve already talked about it. Both bands have now a very full schedule so it wont be on the short, but Im pretty sure in the future well do a tour together.
-HoM. Tell me something about The Score. I took me by surprise to find it in a store because I had no idea it did exist. If Im not wrong its the soundtrack of a film called Joyride. Did it have not much promotion? How did you have the chance to record such an album?
It had less promotion than any other EPICA album but still we did some press advertisements, also in Spain. I think it sold pretty well, about 15000 records. A normal record sells 40000, but since it didnt cost a lot to record it we were quite happy with this results.
It was indeed the soundtrack of the movie Joyride, but as the makers of the movie changed so much of the music we didnt feel comfortable with it anymore, thats why we did a new design for the album and before the release of the movie we just released it as an EPICA album. Im happy that we did it this way because after the release appeared that the movie became a flop and not many people went to the cinema. I think the guys lost a lot of money. It was meant to be that we made a lot of promotion for each other, the movie for EPICA and EPICA for the movie, but because of this argument we didnt do anything for them anymore and they did also nothing for us.
-HoM. Can we consider it then as the third EPICA album?
Yes, well you can call it the two and a half (laughing).
-HoM. Do you play any The Score song in your shows?
Not a single one. This is music to listen to while you sit back and relax.
-HoM. Ive had the chance to listen to a promo version of your new album The Divine Conspiracy and Id like to say I think its a very mature album attending to its composition, and one observes that Simone feels at ease singing. She has a more powerful and colorful voice, and there are some arrangements that suit the music great. Are you with me in this?
Of course! Im glad you think that way.
-HoM. I think the structures are more complex and there are sections that really sounds like a soundtrack.
Yes, thats indeed also what we acknowledge. The fact that we listened to many soundtracks last years has its influence also when the band records, so specially a song like The Divine Conspiracy is very much soundtrack like, the complexity of the sound are a more soundtrack like experience. I think this kind of things make the music richer. If you use the common structure in songs sometimes gets easily boring. This way you can discover new details with each listening.
-HoM. Can we discuss about de cover?
Sure!
-HoM. Up until now weve got used to the fact that bands with a girl fronting them use them in their covers. Is this any kind of marketing strategy, bearing in mind that the greater part of your fans are boys, even though we know in your shows there are more girls each time?
Well, the fact is that Simone herself came up with the idea because it was her personal wish to be in the cover like she is, and she had to persuade us so we would agree on it. We said its ok, its really artistic, we wanted it to be art, not something cheap. And thats how it happened, the record company didnt ask for it, we didnt ask for it, it was herself who wanted the cover to be like this.
-HoM. Wasnt sure if you were going to bother with this question...
Oh, not at all. Weve had some problems only in America, and I cant understand why. They have violence in the movies, a big porn industry, violence in the news...and they cannot accept a little bit of art. That frustrates me, the American reaction, because the European press is very cool about the cover.
-HoM. Tell us about the title The Divine Conspiracy, does it have any religious meaning for you? There were no lyrics in the promo version of the album so I still havent had the chance to read them, but when I read the title I imagine some kind of plot from the religious institutions to make us believe in the gods they invent for us. If we add the cover in which Simone appears naked and with an apple I cant help but to think in Eve. And then theres that song, Living A Lie with a spoken part like if it was a priest. Am I mi wrong?
It has a religious meaning, The Divine Conspiracy means the gods release their religions to see what happens: if it all will stay like it is now, when people fight each other because of their beliefs and are not openminded to learn from other religions, or if one day we will see all the religions lead to the same source. Thats the big test and is still running. Theres also much more to tell but thats the idea behind the concept.
Personally Im not religious in the way that Im not a follower of a religion but I try to learn from religion. I read about religion and I really think there are a lot of good things in religions. Its just the way people interpret the world what I often cannot understand. For example when the Pope from the Christians tells people not to use condoms, its something I really cannot understand.
-HoM. I think there are a lot of people who cannot understand things like that...
But hes the mightiest person on Earth for Christians, this guy should say wise things instead of the most stupid things he can come up with.
-HoM. Speaking about the record again, is this a conceptual album then?
Thats it, all songs are connected each other and the main character is the nexus through the whole story.
-HoM. By the way, now that I have mentioned Living A Lie, this song is the seventh part of The Embrace That Smothers you included in the first After Forever album, and it continued in The Phantom Agony. Tell us Mark, whats the idea behind this The Embrace That Smothers?
Its not a story I had invented, it tells about the moment when people will see all religions kind the same and lead to the same source they would disappear, they wouldnt be needed anymore. When I heard for the firts time about The Embrace That Smothers I got fascinated and thats why I started writting about it, and thats why it now comes to the big conclusion.
-HoM. So that means we wont have more smothering embraces...
No, this will be the last one.
-HoM. I hope not to bother you with this, but listening to the chorus in Fools Of Damnation I cant avoid thinking in After Forever, mostly beacuse of the way Simone sings this one, in my humble opinion very similar to Floor Jansen.
Yes, I have also thought about it. I think the reason is mainly because we worked with the same vocal coach. In the beginning I was not sure if a vocal coach could have a big influence in the sound but she did. Amanda is also Floors vocal coach and she had given advices for some parts to sound best. So, yes, its possible that sometimes sounds kind of similar. Whats sure is Simone doesnt try to copy Floor, because she likes Floor a lot but theyre different type of singers. Floor is really technical, shes technically perfect and with a great voice, and Simone is more...in the style of Tarja, only to mention a singer that has more to see with the color of Simones voice.
-HoM. Yes, I agree with you, and I thank you for the explanation (joking), I wasnt sure if you were going to be angry with us for this question, I didnt write this one down anyway....
Didnt you? Oh, give me the telephone number of the guy who wrote it!! (laughing)
-HoM. Ok! Well talk about this later...In spite of the good sections and rythm changes throughout the whole album Id like to point up the last song, The Divine Conspiracy. I think its one of the more complete songs EPICA has composed to date. You put there all your characteristic resources and join them as masters. Was it hard to compose this song?
Yes, it was the last song we finished and we were working with a guy we know well from the studio, but he said us This song is even more soundtrack like, it was not his cup of tea, so we had to find an odd solution for the song, we had to find a German guy who also makes a lot of film music, because we really wanted to let the song sound mixed with a lot of great samples of big instruments, so in the end it was the most difficult song to get finished, specially because its a long song. It took us a some pains in the end to get the best result out of this song, but Im happy we put so much effort in it because otherwise Id be now angry with myself that we didnt do it.
I heard a lot of different things. Some people like Fools Of Damnation a lot, other people prefer Chasing The Dragon, as I said Ive heard a lot of different opinions, and I believe thats a good thing.
-HoM. Its already been announced youre touring with Sonata Arctica, and if I remember well, Ride The Sky. Are there any plans for a tour as headliners?
Were doing a headline in the United States in September. Then comes the tour with Sonata Arctica that will happen in Europe, and after well go as headline again to Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. After that it will be 2008 and were going to do a headline tour in Europe ourselves.
-HoM. So you can swear things are going really well...
Yes, we have the South American tour planned, 40 books already but Im happy with it. Some people ask me (laughing): Arent you afraid that your whole life is already scheduled before you realize it?. But I say: No, no, Im very happy that we have the opportunity to play in so many places and travel along the road.
-HoM. Can you give us your opinion about the current gothic-metal scene? Some years ago there were many bands with girls handling the vocals but only a few remain active today. Do you believe this was some kind of fashion?
I think its also like the NWOBHM, sometimes its more popular and sometimes less popular, but I also think there were too many bands at a certain point so then you get some source of Darwins natural selection: the ones who really want to achieve something remain. I think this happens when therere too many bands in the same style.
-HoM. Its maybe what happened years ago with the power metal eclosion...
Yeah, thats what I just meant.
-HoM. Nowadays we can say metalcore is in fashion, mostly due to the youngest bands. Do you like metalcore?
Im sorry, I dont know metalcore...
-HoM. Dont worry! Do you think metal scene needs to be renewed each some years? Where do you believe heavy metal is heading to?
Always. Metal always needs to be renew and its always renewing itself in a continuous natural selection process just like I told you. There are always new parts in metal and also the same remains, like in folk-metal, which is also quite new. All these kind of things refresh the metal scene and I think at the same time therere all the elements that always existed in bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead... Youve got old styles, but new styles make possible that metal keeps alive.
Anyway I have no idea where the metal is heading to right now because in a natural selection process you never know what kind of forms are going to be alive in the next couple of years.
-HoM. Only the strong survives?
Indeed. There are always new life forms and you never know what kind of things come up.
-HoM. Lets change of subject Mark, I didnt know you were a cycling enthusiastic! I mean I didnt know you were in for cycling.
Yeah, I love cycling!!
-HoM. Recently, on the seventh of July you took your bicycle and threw yourself to take part in the Marmotte marathon in France, 174 kilometres of steeply uphill road. Ive been told you climbed up to 2500 metres (Mark starts laughing and says maybe were exaggerating). It was a charity race to raise funds for the WWF (World Wide Fund Of Nature). Ive also been told the more kilometres you covered, the more funds you collected, didnt you? Did you go through all the distance?
Yeah, I made it but I almost died at the last (laughing and joking). I already knew all of the mountains from the past. Ive been cycling for many years, but I never had cycled all of them in one day. I remember that when I was cycling I asked myself a question: What am I doing??? (laughter), and I promised myself not to touch my bike anymore the whole year. Three days after I finished the ride I was cycling again in the mountains...
-HoM. Wow, congratulations! Maybe someday well see you as a professional cyclist!
I wanted to when I was young but thats not meant to be for me. Now were seeing terrible things with dopping in the Tour de France and one hates it off. I think people who cycle really well but never use dopping are the average rider in the peloton and nobody has heard of them while maybe they could had been one of the best when nobody used that shit.
-HoM. Well this is all for my part, Id like to say I wish you the best with this great new album and good luck in the future. Would you like to add something for your fans and Hallofmetal readers?
What I want to say to the Spanish fans is Spain is a really special place for us because we did there some of our earlier shows and even several festivals, and it was a really great experience, both the shows and the aftershows. We did shows in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and other cities. Everywhere the atmosphere was always really good, so we cannot wait to be there in Spain with our own headline shows in early next year. I really look for this.
-HoM. Ok, thanks for all Mark, bye!
Bye!
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