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I wondered as I looked on the press information that Asrai already exists since 1988, such a long time ago when you founded the band? I mostly wondered because your new release "Touch in the dark" is as recently as your second release. Why did it it took so long to release new material regarding to your 97er debut? There are several reasons for that, but the most important reason is several changes in the line-up. It has cost us a lot of time and energy to get to the current line up. And it's also difficult when you lack the support of a record company. For a long time record companies were not interested in this kind of music, just like all Dutch magazines. When we released our first cd we did everything by ourselves, paid the studio, the artwork and that kind of stuff. The same goes for the release of our 4 tapes. But without the right connections and finance it's difficult to get good distribution and promotion. It's not an easy business, for example; shortly after recording our first album we were given the chance to appear on a compilation-cd with ten other Dutch bands. What would have been very good promotion. But all bands had to pay a lot of money first, and in the end Oliver Kraupa never brought out the compilation cd and did a runner taking the money with him. Soon after that misadventure we got the chance to sign a German label, so we really had to think about that before burning our hands again. We decided to take our chances in the end and signed on Poison Ivy records and a German release of As voices Speak was issued. Sadly enough Poison Ivy went bankrupt ( Bad Luck I guess) and shortly after that our guitarist decided to quit the band for a carrier change. It took more time than we expected to find the right guitarist. But in the end we did..! Your new album will be released through Transmission records. What do you expect of this coordination? Transmission records is a record company that really believes in the artists they sign. So it gives you that change to develop to a higher level as a musician. That's in the process of making the album, but what do we expect.through the years we've learned not to have too high expectations but to just let everything happen and enjoy every part that we encounter on our musical path. Why did you change from Poison Ivy a German label We didn't have a choice because Poison Ivy went bankrupt. How can you describe the development from your first album "As voices speak" to your new one "Touch in the dark" ? I only know the second, and I suppose that the second is more harder than the first, is that right? Perhaps you can give me some detailed impressions! Personally I don't think Touch in the Dark is harder than our first cd As voices Speak. As voices speak is more raw, with more grunts from Margriet (what we have to miss for the purpose of saving her throat) And another big difference is the time we've had to record the album. We recorded our first cd within three days and without a producer. This time we've had a month's time with a producer and one of the best mixers: Sascha Paeth. But our intension of making our music is the same.. Your roots more lie in punk and wave music. When did you discover your passion for some harder sounds? What's the definition of hard?. We've had a passion for music ever since we first went out to see a live-band. We never felt comfortable with the mainstream music of that time and the alternative scene/ music felt like coming home. The angry, raw sound of Punk and the doomy, gloomy emotional sound of Wave was love on first sight/hear. Every scene has it's particular way of expressing their emotions, the same goes for Metal with powerful guitarsand we like that sound. We enjoy watching different types of bands and their music, it influences and inspires us to see different approaches and aspects of music scenes. What can you tell about your work on the new record? I read that the CD was recorded in both Holland (Excess Studio) and Germany (Beautiful Lake Studio). Our demo-cd for Touch in the dark was recorded at the Beautiful lake studios with Roman Schoensee. We wanted him as our producer, and to lower the costs we recorded the bass guitar and keyboard part at his studio. The rest of it was recorded at the Excess studio with Hans Pieters. What can you tell me about the several band members. Who is responsible for what I tried to find something on your homepage, but I only found some pictures. Perhaps this questions is interesting for the people who want to know some details about the musicians in Asrai! Have I gather it right that your line-up grew within the last years? In times of "As voices speak" you were four musicians and today there are five band members To tell something about the musicians.. We all started to make music and playing in bands at an early age. Rik played in different kinds of punk-rock and wave bands for several years, before he ended up with us. We all have the same roots and that's a good basis for knowing each other and making music. Also Martin played in loads of punkrockbands. And he was doing so when we met him , years ago. Karin and Margriet started a girl band in 1985 what later became Asrai in 1988. Martin was playing in a band with Bert, who became our first male guitarist three years later. For many years he played together with our brother Henk. We met Manon through Patrick,(a guy who temporarily replaced our guitarist and did two gigs with us'). Our current line up Margriet Vocals Rik Guitar Manon Synth Martin Bass guitar Karin Drums Everyone of course had their own musical input, and everyone is guilty in the whole process of making a song. Most lyrics are written by Margriet, and some by Rik and Karin . What's more to tell. Karin is also responsible for the website and arranging merchandise and all kinds of business-shit. For years we were a four-somebut we wanted to experiment with our music and were looking for a keyboard player or a second guitarist, so we could experiment and deepen our music. We've been having those plans for a long time, but it was more difficult to find the right people then we expected. When our bass player got ill just before we went to the studio for recording the demo-cd, we asked Martin (we knew him for years and is a brilliant bass-player) to play the bass parts and give her a chance to get betterbut she didn't recover enough to play the bass intensively and decided to leave the band. Luckily Martin wanted to stay and shortly after the recordings we found a keyboard player, who was friend of us. After she heard the demo everything went fastbefore we all knew it there were five of us rocking on stage. In the meantime we sent our demo off to Transmission records, they decided to sign us and gave us the opportunity to record the album with a larger budget and thus the opportunity to get the most out of our songs So we went to the studio with the five of us What Asrai really differs from other bands is the fact that there you have three female band members. Why do you think that just in your band are more women than men? And why do you think that in other bands it is mostly the other way around? Maybe we're just lucky? The music scene is still male dominated. We started as an all-girl band but over the years it became more important to us being a good band with inspiring musicians, instead of sticking to being a girl band. So man came into our musical world. The founders of the band are Karin and Margriet, so that's two women who are the steady basis of the band. It gives another point of view of looking for other band members. In Germany we have the feeling that especially in the Netherlands the enthusiam about Gothic Metal (especially the one which includes female voices) is unbroken, because a lot of bands are in the charts, which a lot of people in Germany not even know. What can you tell me about that theme? In Holland we've always had a strong metal scene. But more and more bands got involved with Gothic influences it seems to be a natural process that more people got interested in this kind of music. The media ignored this kind of music for years but now they had to give ít the right attention. Funny thing is that I've always had the feeling that in Germany there was more interest in this music than in Holland. I think a lot of people describe you with bands like Within Temptation, and that's only because you combine some rocky metal sounds with female voices and WT belong to the most popular bands "of that" genre What do you think yourself about such comparisons? For myself when I heard "Touch of darkness" intensive some parts remind me on songs of Lacuna Coil Please rise to speak :) We think that people always have the need to give a band a place in there musical point of view. That's why they are always trying to compare bands to the ones they know. In the early years we where often compared with Siouxsie and the Banshees. And it seems only logical to compare us with bands that have some rocky metal sounds with female voices. The biggest difference between these bands is still our background and I hope you can still hear that in our music. I think your music is of value because the sound is free of stereotypes, it is just YOU! But approve me one thing why did you choose a cover artwork who let people suppose that (in my opinion) your music could be full of stereotypes? Perhaps it is only because my personal taste, but yeah, it is true that one of the first things which ran through my head when I first heard "touch in the dark" were "Oh, the music is better that I supposed". Strange, isn't it? First thanks for the big compliment about our music, and I understand your confusion about our artwork. When we were first thinking about our artwork there were some elements we really wanted to be in there. In all our artwork of our releases (tapes and cd) there are connections with different elements of nature. In a way that's important to us. We wanted a rosary as a pathway to another world (step into the world called Asrai) something with faeries and pagan elements.. And to make it personal with our pictures with lines which touched us personally. One of Manon's (Keyboard) great passions is photography and all statues inside the booklet and the cover of our single "Pale Light" where taken from her photo's .. Carsten Dresher made our artwork and combined our ideas with what he had to his disposal. And in the end it seems full stereotypes, but it's recognisable for the audience What are your personal wishes about success outside the Netherlands, perhaps in Germany, where the market is very attractive?! Also perhaps to play some gigs Any plans to that effect? We all have our dreams about it, but it's always a good thing to expand you horizon. And enjoy all the gigs we will do to the fullest. We will start with our gigs in October and will do our first shows in England. After that we will see what is going to cross our path. But surely we will come to Germany. I wish you all the best for the future! Thanks! |
