JJM: Okay who's in the band and what does each person play?
Eate: We are two people. I (Eate) do vocals, guitars and percussion, and Egoitz plays bass and keys. I make all the music and the lyrics. Anyway, many friends help us in recordings.
Ainhoa Soraluze: Mezzosoprano
Josu Lopez: Baritone
Haritz Solupe: Txirula
Leire Elizes: Violin
Xabi: Drums
J: How long has the band been together, and how much material have you released so far?
Eate: I created Adhur as my personal project back in 95. I thought that the best idea was to make everything by myself. Anyway, some time After I asked Egoitz to join the band. We recorded our only demo which included three songs and which was called 'Iluntasunaren Itzulera.' Our goal was to release a split k-7 with two other Basque Metal bandas, ILBELTZ and AIUMEEN BASOA. After a while, the Spanish label War is imminent offered us to release this split in a cross format digipack and we agreed. These three songs were included in the split CD called "Triarchy of Vasconia / Iluntasunaren Itzulera". Of course we did some new arrangments and the songs were mixed in a studio again. This happened two years ago, more or less.
J: What exactly does Adhur mean?
Eate: It’s a Basque word and it means magic strength. I choose it because it has many inner meanings.
J: What are your musical influences?
Eate: I consider myself open minded concerning music, so I listen to many different kinds of music. Names? Burzum. Dead can dance, Bathory, Deicide, The 3rd and the mortal, Bal-Sagoth, Emperor, Autumn Tears, Steve Vai, Celtic Music....
Eate: The Basque country is people which are divided between two States, The Spanish and The French ones. We, Basques, have a very different culture from other European peoples, not only for our mythology, but also for our language which is called Euskara. Since other peoples are Indoeuropean, we are preindoeuropean, which means that our cults as well as our cosmology vision are different. And concerning to our language, it comes from Neholitic which means that it's more than 10,000 years old . It's without any doubt, if not the oldest one in Europe.
The Basque metal scene is not a very big one, but I think that there are some really good bands such as ILBELTZ, NUMEN, AIUMEEN BASOA, CONTINUO RENACER, ELFFOR, DEMONLORD,SUFFERING DOWN. The problem is that there are not many opportunities to be known abroad and as no major label has ever signed a Basque band, it's quite difficult to promote your band. Anyway I think in a few years Basque scene will be known as a good and important scene, I hope so.
J: Does the band play live or is this mostly just a studio project?
Eate: Unfortunately due to line up problems we don't play live. The friends who help us in the recordings have their own careers and it's difficult to rehearse with them, so if things don't change a lot, ADHUR is a studio band.
J: How would you describe your guys' music? It seems to be rather diverse, and there's definitely lots of influences within it.
Eate: It's difficult to describe the music I create because they are expressions of my own feelings. But you are right, there are many different influences. I think it's a mix between medieval influenced music, Pagan Metal, and classic music.
Eate: The lyrical concept is very important for me. The main concept of the band is based in my country’s mythology, but I also mix my own feelings/visions with that. Language is the essence of the culture, it's the way the culture takes form. This is why I sing in Euskara or Basque, my mother tongue. Personally, I see no sense to consider you as a pagan person, trying to revive it, and then to sing in a foreign language. We also could sing in English, and I am sure we would sell more CDs, but English has nothing to do with Basque Culture.
J: How much time do you spend in the rehearsal room?
Eate: To be honest it depends if we are going to record something or not. As we are not a typical band with concerts and so on, we don't rehearse regularly.
J: Adhur was part of the 'TRIARCHY OF VASCONIA: Iluntasunaren Itzulera' three way split cd. How did this come about, and what do the other bands on the cd sound like?
Eate: The idea we had was to release the split in K-7 format, and titleed " Iluntasunaren Itzulera". Then, I sent a couple of CD-Rs to some mags and radios, and the guys from Black Light mag offered us a deal for one album. We agreed, and it was finally released under the title of "Triarchy of Vasconia / Iluntasunaren Itzulera."
The other two bands, ILBELTZ and AIUMEEN BASOA have their own personal sound, but we, all the three bands, have many points in common, the lyrics are in Basque and our interest in Basque Culture. ILBELTZ sound a mix between Heavy and folk rooted Pagan Metal, while AIUMEEN BASOA sounds more folk/doom/pagan Metal.
J: What do you think about the internet, mp3's and so on?
Eate: I think internet has some really good things. Small bands have much more possibilities to be known as well as to have an opportunity due to MP3. People can't judge your music just knowing where you are from or whatever, like it was some years ago. That time, people used to think that the only good extreme metal bands were from Scandinavia. The rest of Europe and the world were bad clones of those superior bands. But nowdays, due to the net and MP3, people judge what they listen, if they like it or not, not just reading a review from a mag or zine and you have to trust in the reviewers personal tastes . Obviously, there are also some bad things concerning the MP3. If people download complete albums for free, and then they don't buy albums, they are killing bands.
J: When will we see the first full length Adhur album?
Eate: Well, I hope it's soon,ha,ha,ha, but unfortunately things are going a bit slow with the new promo recording so I have no idea. Some labels have shown interest in the band but nothing is sure yet. Anyway, as soon as we record the new songs, they will be posted in our official web ( www.adhur.com )
J: And finally Eate if there is anything else you would like to add or say please go ahead and say it now.
Eate: Thanks for your support. Anyone interested in the band should check our web address www.adhur.com .
No comments:
Post a Comment