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Interview Klokradio - Powerhour |
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Wednesday, 27 December 2000 |
"They must be mental cases themselves" was my first thought when I saw the cover of Non-Divine's first demo-CD "My obsession". A photo of a bath to calm patients down, photos of mental institutions inside and 5 case stories, that's not your standard metal topic. Of course we wanted to know where this specific interest is coming from but for safety reasons we prefer to do the interview by e-mail. Fortunately Non-Divine's guitar player and vocalist happens to be a completely normal person. This is what he has got to say:
"My Obsession" is a self released 5-track demo CD but we are working on a complete concept album. It will be a fiction concept album about a lunatic asylum. In each song a patient tells his or her story. We decided to make a demo CD first with already some of the patients, which is "My Obsession". With a demo CD in hands it is a lot easier to grow as a band. When we would wait till the whole album was completed nobody would be able to hear or see Non-Divine. Making a complete concept album takes a very long time. We are very busy at the moment, writing the other half. So you can see "My Obsession" as a promotional CD. Everything about the CD is handmade. We took care of almost everything including the recording. The reactions all over the world are amazing. We receive a lot of enthusiasm, which is very cool of course.
I understood it's a concept album about mental people. Where does your interest in this topic come from? And the profound lyrics may give the impression that they're autobiographic; is that correct?
It the beginning of the existence of Non-Divine we thought a lot about our sound and things like that.. We came up with the idea of making a concept album because we didn?t feel like writing lyrics apart from each other. We thought creating a lunatic asylum with a lot of different patients would be interesting material to write about. A song called "Neerg" of the Swedish band Mourning Sign gave us some inspiration. So you can say we came up with the subject because we thought a lot. It?s not a subject that suits with us personally. Non of us has ever experienced any mental problems nor our relatives. The lyrics are not autobiographic at all. It?s pure fiction like in a movie or a book. The "I" person in the lyrics is the patient and has nothing to do with the person writing the lyrics. There are a lot of details in the lyrics about the patients because I like making them. Before writing the lyrics I think a lot about the patient and use my fantasy to know everything about them.
What are your main sources of inspiration?
There are many sources of inspiration. There is no music scene that fits with Non-Divine. That?s the reason why people have difficulties reviewing us. There are a lot of harmonies and twins in the guitars. We like melody a lot. A band that could be an inspiration for that part is Carcass. Those guitars are amazing. The most important issue of Non-Divine is groove. It?s almost like dance music. The rhythms go on and on till you will move your ass. The vocals are more in the style of a band like Machine Head.
In Aardschok's review they criticised your vocals a little bit. What's your opinion about this criticism and do you take this kind of criticism into account by taking vocal lessons for example or to use your voice in another way than you used to do?
The criticism in Aardschok Magazine review is not that bad. It says they think the vocals do not fit in the music because it?s to rough. They liked the melodies in the music and expected melodic vocals too. But you can find some sources of our music in extreme metal. That?s why some death metal fans like our music too. I do not have a grunt but like to sing in a bit of a distorted way. I can take the criticism about the vocals because I know I?m no Freddy Mercury or something with a golden voice. But I try to improve the vocals all the time. I have had vocal lessons but do not have the time for it anymore. I still learn more and more about my voice and try to focus on the good parts in my voice.
Have you signed a record contract already? When can we expect the announced concept album?
Non-Divine is an unsigned band at the moment. We will try to get a record deal when the whole concept album is finished. We hope it is finished in the middle of 2001. Some new song titles are "Sleep", "New Die-Hard Vampire" and "Return To Zero". We would like to finish the interview with the news that Non-Divine will join the Aardschok?s Metal Grand Slam Tour 2001 together with Mac-11, After All and Wicked Mystic. The tour begins on the 29th of March and will end 6 May. It hits The Netherlands and Belgium. The first date is on 27 January at the Release Party presented by Aardschok Magazine in Plato, Helmond where Non-Divine will present the CD "My Obsession". You can check out our homepage for tourdates and everything else that you would like to know about Non-Divine. Thanks for the interview and good luck with Power Hour.
http://www.klokradio.nl/powerhour
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