Swiss Metal Band Samael in EventYou!

One Event and Metalfan brought Samael in Romania. They played their best. I imagined the discussion-topics. You'll be glad we all did our jobs...

The large matte glass walls separating the lobby of the hotel went open and the guys from RockXpres came out. They were a bit dazed or so it seemed to me. Short hails from both sides and a handshake before they told me that the two individuals me and my photographer were about to meet are absolutely fantastic. Then I knew that we'll do an extraordinary job...

First of all, this wasn't quite the ordinary interview you might have been used to read...it was more like a chat between friends who haven't seen each other in a long time and they finally met in some sort of work-related environment or situation. As you'll surely notice, even the two discussion partners observed that this interview had nothing to do with the "glamour"; it was more technical and more oriented towards what professionals would like to hear from such a band. So, as promised, an extremely interesting interview with the masterminds of Swiss metal band Samael, Vorph and Xy.

(Note that the following are not an exact transcription of the actual meeting but a slightly optimized version, abridged so it would become more suitable for press release, yet keeping the familiar feeling as much as possible.)

Softpedia: Since we're not the first here (Note: Samael had arrived in Bucharest one day earlier than I and my photographer did) and you've had the time to walk around a bit...what's your impression of Romania so far?
Vorph: Fantastic, I mean I felt like in any other big European city! It' great and we had a night out yesterday, not too long because we're playing today , yet long enough to get the vibe a little bit and we have definitely enjoyed it a lot.

Softpedia: So, do you feel you're in a mood for a very good concert as you usually put up?
Vorph (smiling contented): Yeah, I think so and we're really looking forward to this!

Softpedia: Samael has always been a band with an out of the ordinary style; it was about the black-y albums and now it's about the more techno ones so we have both ends. What do you think about music itself, about musical history: is it going towards digital?
Xy and Vorph: NO!
Xy: I think that music is always also balanced – there are all sorts of periods and during such periods, it may happen that one certain kind of making music may come in front, but there's going to be this balance, so it will surely go back "to the roots".
Vorph: Indeed, even on new albums, one can now hear more "ambient" drum tones that sound more like the old recordings, so everything is cyclic, I guess.

Softpedia: Yes, I see. And this is actually the main idea of our discussion as I wanted to put up an extensive press material for our readers who are rather sick of constantly hearing about the "artist did" or "artist was"-type of info. I want it to be not about the artist himself but about what's going on and how is it going on behind the scene: it's going to be about technology, hardware, software, digital and human performance.
Xy (with a slightly raised eyebrow): Hmm, that's interesting!

Softpedia: In what Samael is concerned, what do you think that the balance between digital and human is? And when I say "digital", it's not about a guitar processor or something like that but about total and complete synthesis of sound so we're talking about human touch and the aid of digital technology.

Vorph: Yeah, guitar IS the human touch, you know...

Xy: In the band (note: in Samael) it's interesting because we're really using programming! (I laugh when saying "I know and this is why I'm asking you this!" and both Vorph and Xy laugh as well). We used a drum machine even when practicing and we've made it to work steady, the way we - guitars, keyboards or vocal – feel and put things into music; it makes a difference, you may not feel it when you think of it, but you can notice it when you play! It really is a balance between us and machine!

Vorph: It's something steady, very stable, which stays yet we can also give it a human cover with the rest of the instruments. In fact, I guess the drum machine is the only really steady thing here and it feels OK - it’s like people playing with the click: they're playing with the headphones on, they're always perfectly in the time and this is simply because of what's actually happening with the drum machine! It doesn't make any mistakes and you have to adapt to that! The first time it was really freaky when we did that because, you know, it's tight.
Xy (smiling): Really TIGHT!
Softpedia: I play the guitar myself and sometimes, I really need the aid of a "very perfect machine"...
Vorph: Yes, but it's a two-way thing: you can adapt wrongly to that as the line around which the music will be coordinated or written can turn in a bad way and you remain "trapped" within the drum machine-rigidity. Take
us, for example: there IS a difference from one show to the other.

Softpedia: Well, again regarding this – do you think you could do Samael once more without the aid of so much digital technology? I am thinking about Samael as a whole and not as a separation between the first albums like "Worship Him" or "Blood Ritual" and the newer ones such as "Reign of Light" or "Era One".
Vorph: I think it is still possible, even if thinking about doing an album like "Reign of Light" without technology...mhm…I guess we would have to use an orchestra then! Technically, all keyboards are playing samples from violins, horn, all sorts of brass and stuff like this so we'd need to have a full orchestra there...and I think it could be possible! (note: Vorph was looking with a questioning yet confident look towards Xy and smiled a bit when he saw the "it's OK, we really could do this!"-like expression). We'd use so many additional scores played by people, of course, but how do you do that? After all, we're just a rock' n' roll band...

Softpedia: Christopher Johnsson (note: mastermind of Swedish symphonic metal band Therion) has managed to do that and as I guess you already know, he's going to play with Therion and the National Radio Philharmonic Orchestra some one week from now on, here, in Bucharest...
Vorph (smiling): Yes, but this is but just one option and it's definitely not the one we'd choose!
Softpedia: Could you ever consider doing this, actually? I mean having a symphonic concert...
Vorph: Funny you mentioned this but it has already been done by other people and I really don't see why we should do it again... There are of course other people – and I'm not saying any names - who have an orchestra with them but it's definitely the band that matters most; too bad that sometimes the people in the orchestra are not actually playing but fake it, especially in live situations: it is simply too hard to manage everything on such a stage: it's the setup, the time to rehearse or play at soundcheck before the gig (note: and in most cases, you don't have enough time whatsoever) and all the problems related to this issue – I guess the band is gonna play and the rest are going to fake it. For me, this doesn't make any sense!
Xy: On the other hand, if you happen to have very good settings on keyboards, it could really mean something: just close your eyes and you couldn't tell for sure any more that there is not an actual orchestra in front of you!

Softpedia: Today's bands tend to neglect the human touch because digital technology is very easy to use and I guess you're agreeing with this...
Vorph: It is, yeah, but still, you have to learn how to use it!
Softpedia: You're so right, but even as I have been playing guitar for almost 14 years now, I am still thinking about those who aren't too much into music – it's way easier to make out a guitar song from samples than to actually move your f*****g fingers!
Vorph: Yes, but in my opinion, it all comes down to creativity and what kind of ideas you've got because you might not need to know how to play the guitar if you’ve really got the "vibe" and something interesting enough. I mean there are bands even in Switzerland that play with samples whatsoever but if they've got good ideas, it's OK, I guess.

Softpedia: Should you mentor some guy or some band from the very beginning of their (future) career, what or how would you advise them: keep them on the digital or electronic side or work on the human-touch approach of music?
Vorph: Hmm, I guess I'd just say "follow your heart" and do whatever you feel like doing: you can play old school rock, Led Zeppelin for example, and re-make all the stuff, if this is what you like.
Xy: I think that digital gets its meaning depending on the way you're gonna use it; it even lets you write your songs using weird things and sound, the kind of sounds you cannot play with analog instruments; yet this technology will never be able to replace the actual sound and play of the instruments.

Softpedia: Little time ago, Native Instruments have released KORE, a revolutionary system which claims to be able to integrate most sound platforms; even more - KORE not only comes as a software solution but also includes a hardware controller with the aid of which NI promises almost unlimited reach within audio creation and editing. The ads make everything look painfully simple and lots of young people I have been speaking to about KORE said "wow, this is a thing I should have, it all seems so simple to make great-sounding music!" Well?
Xy: Yes, NI, Reason, whatever: if you just use such things for actually adding to your music it's one thing, but if you just put loops together, everything becomes more close to a DJ's work. Of course, even a DJ uses his creativity to mix things the right way but I think one should create his/her own stuff and use these programs as a helping hand rather than a proper tool or instrument. It's quite easy indeed when you just need a steady beat to keep you on time while playing your guitar or piano or whatever would you consider playing; basically, it will help you give life to your idea, but I wouldn't go much further and play with this forever – I'd prefer to create my own drums, make them real, as personal as possible!

Softpedia: You mentioned something about the way to use digital technology. I must say that I haven't yet met the person to say to me that he/she didn't like your version of the Passage LP, the Samael album you have re-made with keyboards only. You think that Samael’s fans are the kind of people who are attracted to classical/neo-classical music?
Xy (visibly pleased): Wow, that's really nice to hear! I consider that album as being also a metal approach to classical music rather than vice-versa, meaning that it was all about metal songs in classical arrangements.

Softpedia: Still, it's quite weird having the Samael Passage in one deck and the Xytras Passage in another one next to it, switching between the 2. As far as I have seen, people who have recently begun to listen to Samael have started by listening to "Passage" and "Reign Of Light", the albums which have embedded many classical and tech things; these albums are some sort of turning points in Samael history, true milestones in your lives, or are they?
Xy and Vorph (simultaneously and very decided): Yes!
Softpedia: Is it too much if I say that these are really the albums one person who wants to get to know something about the band should listen to?
Vorph: Ha-ha, yes!
Xy (also laughing): I guess so...!!!

Xy: Now that you mentioned this "Era One", it is something very digital, with vocals as the only "natural" component; it was just computers and I think it was very interesting to experiment with this.
Vorph: Indeed, an experiment, a true experimental thing we've done.

Softpedia: Ha-ha, you have anticipated my next question!
Vorph: Heh, we're getting along so fine...!

Softpedia: I have listened to "Era One" - this "project" as you call it - very briefly but it looked to me as it was some sort of endeavor in search of something. Is Samael looking for something, for something different even? Are YOU?

Vorph: First, I want to get this straight: "Era One" is not a Samael album. It was a name, a project name and it has been released with the Samael label because the record company didn't want to promote a new band; it was rather too hard for them to market this so they have chosen the easy way. With Era One, we try to experiment as much as possible into directions we have never been before.
Xy: That was the main idea: just digital! I think it's interesting – I am glad that we tried that but it's too cold in a way, you know; since it's really only digital...I feel less close to this. It's an interesting thing to see the way between digital and human but this is like...too extreme. It's just the vocals which are "real" on that disc – and you don't make something really living on that album: it has a mix, some melody, some stuff, but it’s too cold!
Softpedia (while Vorph and Xy laughed): So, I'll definitely have to write down "Era One is too cold for Samael!"

Softpedia: Samael isn't the kind of techno band such as Messuggah or Dream Theater but, as far as I and lots of other people see this, it is very-very well connected to technology itself. How important has been the role technology played in Samael's and your career? Is this one thing you could never abandon?
Xy: It has been and it is still important but it was also a thing which simply crossed our way when we decided to have this line of changes and so, we decided to go in that direction.

Softpedia: So this widely and quick spreading of technology is just a simple event that happened in your lives and you just seized the opportunity and took advantage of it such as to be able to create the best music you can?
Vorph (with a broad smile): It is there to be used, though! So, why not? (note: despite the shortness of Vorph's answer, this was one of the most significant and "heavy" answers I have gotten from bands).

Softpedia: Now, some words on the pure sound synthesis and I'm not speaking about guitar or violin sampling...great artists like Jean-Michel Jarre or Jon Vangelis have managed to create and work with these non-natural sounds, which didn't and also couldn't exist in real life. They have put them in real life, what do you think about that?

Xy: J-M Jarre isn't cold, you think... I guess so, even though I am not so sure. It's so synthetic that it sometimes misses the living and the human touch.
Vorph: When he's playing live, he's adding real musicians to make it (note: the music) "alive", but to me this is really cold, actually. Apart from this, what we do, adding just the drum machine, is something different...less "cold" if you want.

Softpedia: Should you start again with Samael, should you live your lives once more...how would you do it? (note: regarding the band)
Vroph: Hmm, if we were to start now...well, it's going to be the next album, you know; we have a feeling that we're starting up again, in a way, with every album.

Softpedia: Are you going to change again the way Samael sounds?
Xy: No, it's more that we're bringing back to life some ideas we have had before; maybe it will be a bit fuller and steadier.
Vorph: I guess it is going to be the best album!

Softpedia: How would the "new first album" be like? To which of the past recordings will it resemble most?
Vorph: The next album, no doubt about that! It is almost finished now, the recordings, everything and we can almost tell how it’s gonna be like. If we were to do our "first album" once more, it will definitely be like the next one.

Softpedia: Again, the battle between binary and nature: how do you think your shows are – more to the digital or more to the human?
Vorph: Hmm, this is why we are making the shows. He (note: Xy) is playing live percussion over the drum machine in different styles, we have bass, guitars, vocals, everything a heavy metal or rock'n'roll band would have. Except for the drum machine...

Softpedia: The organizers, which are my friends, told me that you (note: Xy) have requested for a large amount of DIs (note: Direct Input line) so your "workplace" will be very wiry...
Xy: You see, our drum machine needs some 10 inputs because we use it as a real drum kit: the kick, snare, toms and so on! When we mix the sounds, it's exactly like in a typical situation as the sound is very real and natural thus we have to work with it accordingly, exactly like mixing.
Vorph: The drum machine is not a "band". When we do the soundcheck, it's like setting up a real drum: each part at its time, then all of them to see how they sound – overall balance and mix.

Softpedia: Well, here we are at the end of this interview and I hope you found it as interesting as I have seen talking to you two was. I am sure our readers will devour this exquisite discussion and I must also thank you for the awesome time we spent today. See you at the soundcheck!
Vorph: It's OK, thank you as well! See you.
Xy: It was nice to meet you and answer this unusual but interesting interview.

Yours truly- Softpedia.com Audio Editor, Florin Tibu.
Photos taken by and copyrighted to Lorin Popovici, used with his kind permission.

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