A
few questions – CONCRETE
Ave,
can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded
and what style of music do you play , etc. ?
Kalin:
Hi! Sure. All in all, we started out in August 2011. Right from the
start I wanted to form a band that plays classic death metal stuff,
like back in the day in the 90’s. And it has been that way ever
since. We had a couple of lineup changes but I believe the band is
stronger than ever with the current team – Peter Dimitrov –
guitar, Zhivko Stoyanov – bass, Ivo Ivanov – drums, and myself –
Kalin Kolev on Vocals and guitar.
Where
and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was
in charge of sound, production and mastering?
Kalin:
Well, we recorded our first album in Playground Studio, which is a
property of Marin Marinov of another local band – Abaddon. During
the sessions for „Dawn of Reviva“ the facility was still situated
in our hometown Shumen. We were pleased with the results from the
debut album, so we decided to crash in the same studio for „Chambers
of Afterlife“ as well. And the whole process was a blast once
again. Marin is a super nice guy, very calm and mellow. It’s always
a pleasure to work with him plus he’s a great friend of ours. He
was the one that dealt with all the processing of the material. The
only difference now is that the studio facility is no longer located
in our hometown. It’s been a while now since it moved to Varna,
which is not so bad either. Now we get more reasons to travel back
and forth.
How
many copies were released and which medium was used for this new
edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
Kalin:
The first press of „Chambers of Afterlife“ was in 500 CD units.
Andreas from RTM is an awesome guy and is very cautious at what he
does. Apart from the physical releases he set up a digital version of
the album, which can be found on several web platforms.
Who
is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what
do the lyrics deal with ?
Kalin:
I’ve been writing the lyrics from the start myself. This time
around it was no different. I felt like writing from a slightly
different perspective and dwelling on the more bizarre, macabre and
supernatural rather than the straight carnage-and-gore type of
horror. It’s just something that caught my attention while reading
stuff from Lovecraft and Poe, so I thought it would be cool to have a
couple of songs in that spirit. As far as the writing process goes –
usually I would pick a topic and work from there or have the title of
the song that I have come up beforehand at take it from there.
Who
created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and
the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider
these things important?
Kalin:
Shortly after the band formed I did the logo, which has remained the
same since then. We don’t have a website, because I think social
media does enough for a band these days, since everyone is on
Facebook and whatnot. The artwork and graphic stuff are done by an
awesome artist – Angel Ivanov. Flyers, gig posters, t-shirts etc.
Are easy to create once you have killer artwork to pick details from.
I think that it is very important to have an awesome artwork, cause
you are sure to bring some listeners to your music based on the
graphics themselves.
Which
label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label?
Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takés care
about you?
Kalin:
Sure man! I can’t say anything negative about RTM Productions. As I
mentioned before, Andreas is serious at what he does – very
devoted. He takes care of the bands and takes care of us very nice. I
contacted him on the fact that he released an album from another band
from Bulgaria. But he is wild at promoting the releases, locking
reviews, interviews and trading. Awesome stuff!
Which
bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
Kalin:
I love listening to bands that helped shape death metal and really
build a name for it. You know stuff like Death, Obituary, Cannibal
Corpse. I like a lot of the European stuff too. Sweden has a lot of
bands that I like a lot too. I really enjoy digging up underground
bands. Being a fan of all this is the main drive of my inspiration.
Without pioneer bands to set the path, there wouldn’t be anything
of what we call scene today.
Did
you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was
the response?
Kalin:
If you mean sending it with the idea of getting signed - no. I sent
the stuff to RTM and that was it. However, Andreas has sent copies to
many different zines, labels etc. for reviewing and promotional
purposes. So far the response has been great.
How
many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether
it's (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you
consider as the best?
Kalin:
I can’t say exactly. We’ve played a lot of shows through the
years.But I definitely enjoy venue shows more. They just have that
awesome vibe of connection with the crowd, you know. Open air and
festival shows are good too, since they can offer a wider audience
and whatnot. But venue gigs are sicker in my opinion.
What
about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the
band?
Kalin:
We’ll just keep doing what we do, man. There are a lot of ideas so
there will definitely be more music, more gigs and releases. Maybe we
will do a bigger tour soon, time will tell about that, but all in all
we will continue in the given direction.
How
and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact
information?
Kalin:
Sure! People can catch us on Facebook, ConcreteBGRDM@gmail, Bandcamp,
YouTube. We are all around the places, so stop by and say hi. Cheers!
Thanx
for the interview
Kalin: It was a pleasure!
Thanks for having Concrete!
