Destaques: A volta do Nightwish ao Brasil; a mágoa de Dio com o Black Sabbath; a evolução do melódico com o Sonata Arctica; exclusivo: tudo sobre o novo DVD do Iron Maiden; E ainda: Girlschool, Dead Fish, Dismember, Leaves' Eyes, Heaven Shall Burn, Asrai, Malefactor, Drearylands, Monster, Liar Symphony, Mortiis, Killswitch Engage. Especial: o equipamento do Cradle Of Filth na turnê brasileira. Poster: Blind Guardian... |
Magazine |
THE FIRST QUESTION COULDN'T BE ANOTHER ONE: WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THE WORD "ASRAI"? The Asrai are small, fragile, female beings that turn to a puddle of water when they are captured or exposed to sunlight. YOUR LATEST ALBUM, "TOUCH IN THE DARK", WAS JUST RELEASED IN BRAZIL. PLEASE, COMPARE IT WITH YOU DEBUT, "AS VOICES SPEAK". When we recorded our first cd As Voices Speak, We had another line-up ( Margriet - Vocals, Serge Guitar, Leah Bass and Karin Drums) and we didn't work with samples and keyboard. (Not that we didn't wanted to, but never found the right person to do so.) We didn't have a very large budget and so we had to record the album within three days. We arranged everything by ourselves (learned a lot from it) But didn't had the chance to deepen our music, as we wanted to. When we recorded the album Touch in the Dark we had a producer (Roman Schoensee), who gave us a new perspective on our songs. We recorded the album with our current line-up : (Margriet Vocals, Rik Guitar, Manon Synth, Martin Bass and Karin Drums). Also working with keyboards and samples gave us other possibilities to gave other and more dimensions into our music. But still the album As Voices Speak is recognizable Asrai, more raw but with a lot of (our) emotions and intensity. HOW WAS THE RESPONSE TO "TOUCH IN THE DARK"? We had very nice reactions and the reactions from our fans are heartwarming. Most of the people who knew us from years ago are very surprised we still exist and are very positive of the new material SASCHA PAETH MIXED THE ALBUM. HOW IT WAS TO WORK WITH HIM? DO YOU THINK THAT THE ALBUM SOUNDS HEAVY AND DENSE BECAUSE OF HIS WORK? It was very nice to work with him. When we finished the recordings the music could be mixed in so many different ways, also because there so much layers in the music. Sascha understood what we wanted with our songs and he brought the production back to our sound. WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THE COVER ARTWORK AND THE BOOKLET'S ART? In our artwork (demo's and As voices Speak) there was always a touch with nature. We wanted that also for the artwork for Touch in the dark. Combined with an eerie and pagan intensity. A ring of roses, as a passageway to another world. Carsten came up with the Angel (For us personally the angel doesn't mean that much, certainly not in a religious way, but it has a certain serenity) the rest of the artwork contains many personal details. Manon made most of the statue-photos inside the booklet. We've all individually chosen parts of our lyrics to accompany our photos. And the animals all have their 'pagan' meaning, like the owl representing inner wisdom, the bat representing demons and spirits in medieval Europe. Ravens represent magic, mystery, and sacred law as well as battle, guardians through the cycles of death and rebirth. ON THE BOOKLET THERE ARE LITTLE STATEMENTS NEXT TO THE MUSICIANS' PHOTOS. WHAT DO THOSE STATEMENTS MEAN? DID THE OWN MUSICIANS WRITE THEM? The "little statements" next to the musicians are lines from our lyrics that had a special and personal meaning to every band member. WHAT WAS THE PARTICIPATION OF AMANDA SOMERVILLE ON THE LYRICS? Many people where thinking when they see Amanda's name on our list that she was also Margriet's vocal coach. But she wasn't. Amanda, was our lyric editor, so she read our lyrics and checked them on English spelling and the rhythm of the words. WHY DID YOU RECORD THE ALBUM ON TWO DIFFERENT STUDIOS, EXCESS STUDIO (HOLLAND) AND BEAUTIFUL LAKE STUDIO (GERMANY). WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WASN'T HARDER TO MIX THE ALBUM BECAUSE OF THAT? We wanted to have Roman as our producer, but we had to keep the cost between the limits of our budget. So we had to compensate some things to lower the cost. So the bass guitar parts and keyboards were recorded at Roman's studio in Aichtal. And the other instruments where recorded at the Excess studio with Hans Pieters. It wasn't the most ideal situation also because it was recorded on two different systems, and sadly enough that gave some difficulties. But all the problems are solved and we're very happy with the result. YOU USED EXOTIC INSTRUMENTS LIKE TANPURA AND SWING PIPES, AND EVEN RECORDED CHILD'S SOUND ON THE ALBUM. HOW HARD WERE TO RECORD ALL OF THIS UNUSUAL INSTRUMENTS/SOUNDS? We hired someone for the exotic instruments and it was very funny to record those instruments, I (Karin) did also do the swing pipes; never knew that I had it in me. The child sounds wasn't very hard to record. These sounds are from Devon, Margriet's son and he really think it's great to be on our cd. And it is. We are very proud of him and for us it gives the record a special meaning. THE BAND WAS CREATED IN 1988. WHAT WAS THE GENRE THAT YOU PLAYED AT THAT TIME? We played the same genre as we're playing now. The music was more sober and raw but we always made it with the same intension and emotion. And of course we have grown in our way of making music. ASRAI STARTED AS A FEMALE BAD. WHY DIDN'T YOU CONTINUE AS A FEMALE BAND? WAS IT HARD TO FIND WOMEN'S MUSICIANS IN YOUR COUNTRY? Yes, it was hard to find women's musician who are into our style. In the beginning we found it very important to be an all over girl band and we didn't care if one of the new band members had to learn making music from the start. But when we where growing as musicians, we wanted with every line-up change more experienced musicians. So when our drummer-girl decided the leave the band, Karin decided to go on drums instead of playing guitar (She always had a cr(u)(a)sh on drums). It wasn't easy to find a new female guitar player and making music was more important than being with only females on stage. So Bert joined the band. IS IT HARDER TO BE IN A BAND, WHICH HAS MEN AND WOMEN THAN IN A TOTALLY FEMALE BAND? No, because there is no leader in the band. We all respect each other and we find that very important. It's harder to play in a female band. Not for playing with other female musicians. But it's more the way that people threat you. In a way they find it more difficult to take you seriously. And as a female you have to work twice so hard for it to get the appreciation. A funny thing is that when your playing in a mixture band, they always are going to the guys for the "difficult" and technical questions. THE BAND IS MORE THAN 15 YEARS OLD BUT ONLY RELEASED TWO ALBUMS. WHY? When we where thinking about recording a new album. Some band members experienced that as a big responsibility, also in a financial way. And decided that they didn't wanted to take the next (musical) step. That cost a lot of time, too find the right musicians, with the same dreams, believes and dedication as we have. ASRAI HAD A LOT OF LINE UP CHANGES. WHY DID IT HAPPEN? When we evolved from Twins No Twins into Asrai, we hade one-line up change.. that was when the drummer girl decided to leave. She didn't enjoyed drumming anymore. But in the line-up after that we played for eight years, and we thought we where steady enough to do more, and record an album. But in eight years a lot happens in someone's personal live and the guitar player wanted to focus more on his work and the bass-player more on having a family. Short after that we found a new guitarist and bass-player and where playing for four years in a steady line-up. When the guitarist could change his carrier, he did. After that it took more time to find the right replacement and for a time we found that in Jos. We wanted to deepen and experiment more with our music. So we where looking for a second guitar player or keyboard player. Jos knew someone and Rik came into the band. But Jos wasn't only playing in Asrai his other band got so successfully that it became difficult to combine those two bands. So he also left. We went on with the four of us and wanted to record our next album. We had an appointment for the studio, and also this time we had bad luck. Our bass player went ill and wasn't able to play the bass part. So we asked Martin (we know him for a very long time and always admired his way of playing the bass guitar) if he could replace her, for the time that it was necessary. We went all (including Leah) together to Aichtal to record the demo for Touch in the Dark. When Manon (a friend of us) heard the demo she was enthusiastic before we all knew it was became our keyboard player. In the meantime we got a record deal and Leah decided to leave the band. So Martin stayed and we recorded Touch in the Dark with our current Line-up: Margriet Vocals, Rik Guitar, Manon Synth, Martin Bass and Karin Drums. HOW'S AN ASRAI SHOW? HAVING THREE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS ON THE LINE UP THERE ARE SOME SENSUALITY ON STAGE? When we all have a good night sleep we just might become sensual on stage, however most of the time we just close our eyes and dream away on our songs BY THE WAY, WHICH WERE THE MOST MEMORABLE SHOWS THAT YOU EVER DID? Almost every gig has something to remember. When we played with The Damned at the Bolwerk was very nice and the first gig we did after releasing Touch in the Dark, at Aalstrockt was also one to remember. Not only the nightmare of being stuck in traffic and being to late, but it was also great after our show. We laughed a lot and spoiled many belly's with our signatures. DO YOU RECEIVE MANY E-MAILS FROM BRAZILIAN FANS? ARE THERE ANY CHANCES FOR AN ASRAI BRAZILIAN TOUR ON A NEAR FUTURE? We received some emails and we hope that we can do a tour in the future to meet our fans. THANKS A LOT FOR THE TIME SPENT ANSWERING OF THIS INTERVIEW. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANY COMMENTS YOU'D LIKE TO. Enjoy your life! We don't, we all have a steady job. So buy our CD and save us from this HELL |
