Esoteric Interview anglais
Esoteric (Anglais) (Par
Email) 15/01/05
Interview with Steve Peters (Guitare/Basse) :
1. during a long time, Esoteric have searched for guitarists
ant a drummer. Are those present now permanent member or is the band still
searching for musician ?
Steve : The line up has been stable for nearly two
years but there was a long period where we were looking for a
drummer. The guitar and vocal line up has been the same for over
seven years now.
2.during all the band's career, you have made album with few
songs, but long length songs. Is this an important element of Esoteric’s music
or just the songs that come like that ?
Steve : We have a couple of songs which are two or three minutes long
but the rest are from 8 minutes up to 20 minutes long. There's
no requirement for them to be that long but that's just the way it turned
out. Generally, the slow songs are the longest and the fast songs
are the shortest.
3. is esoteric something just musical or something more
mental, psychological ?
Steve : It's a tricky one to answer. It is just musical but the
music's roots are deep within the psyche. We try to put as much emotional
content into the sounds as possible and this can be heard in the music which
then affects the listeners psychological state so I suppose there's an argument
for both. To me, and probably the other members of the band, ESOTERIC is
more than just music as we've chosen it as a lifestyle and it affects every
decision that we make both personally and professionally.
4. in some selling catalogue or French magazine, I've
read they qualify the band as a "doom British metal" band. but in
which scene do you think Esoteric is better placed ?
Steve : I've never thought of ESOTERIC as being a part of any
scene. We don't really fit in with the more traditional doom metal
scene, nor the death metal scene or hardcore scene or noise scene, but
these are the genres of bands we generally do gigs with and the audience
reaction is similar throughout. I don't know of any bands that play
a similar style so maybe we are the first of a whole new scene ;)
5. well, the fourth cd of esoteric is out since
the end of 2004. have you yet received reviews and how good were they?
Steve : The reviews have been good so far. We've been
sent dozens of reviews from all around the world and, apart from the odd one or
two where we simply weren't understood, all the reviews have been
excellent. I've been particularly surprised by the reaction of the more
arty magazines which generally don't review metal - we seem to have crossed
many genre boundaries for many years and the media have trouble defining and
categorising us.
6. on your website, I’ve seen you have play so much
live. Do you like being on stage in front of your fans ? isn't it hard to have
the same atmospheres as in cd with such a dark music ?
Steve : We like to play live and we try to play as often as
possible, because that is how we've always heard the music when we
play it - the recordings are good but it's no substitute for the real
thing. I think the atmosphere's captured in the recordings are also
present in the live set although, obviously, it's more intense and loud.
We get together regularly and play the music so it feels natural to be gigging
the songs.
7. does every one in the band take part in each album
production ? if not, who write music and the words ?
Steve : When the CD was recorded, there were only three members in
the band - myself (guitar, bass), Greg (vocals/guitar), and Gordon (guitar)
plus a couple of session musicians to help us out where needed. Greg
writes all the lyrics and performs all the vocals and the music is written and
performed by all of us.
Thanks to Steve for having answered these few questions.
Interview by Ronan
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