התרגום
1) Ok, let’s go, It’s now your turn to introduce yourselves
. What’s your path, your musical experience that brings you to create a so innovative music? Some of us have played in other bands before, but for most of us, this has been our first real experience as musicians. We started this band from scratch, only with the initial knowledge acquired from our music teachers. We spent the first two years of our existence learning the basics, from technical principles of equipment and sound, to the concept of band dynamics and showmanship. During the year 2003, we toured the country, playing tribute concerts to Radiohead. Analyzing the music of a substantial band has taught us a lot about arrangement as well as composition, and gave us the tools we needed to in order to create something in par of our own. Naturally, we're always on the lookout for new approaches in music, and every band that we discover reveals another plane for us to work in. 2) One can find different influences in that production but the compositions, and overall the arrangements, give your music a very personal touch. Can you explain your work, your aims and what are your major references? Our path has always been the same, which is to do the best we can. We always challenge each other, and if there's something in the music or lyrics that doesn't appears to be whole, we don't hesitate in stating the obvious, until everything is set right. We try not to think of ourselves as "innovators", because we believe that the time for musical inventions and discoveries has long passed from this work. Today, there are thousands of genres and sub-genres, and every chord progression and harmony in western music has already been undertaken by someone somehow. The only way to be truly original is not to be enslaved by any genre. There are a lot of prog bands that force pseudo sophisticated maneuvers onto their music, just so they could fit in the genre's specifications. By removing this restriction, we are able to diversify our repertoire, and thus we need not justify the "lack of progression" is songs that are simpler, because that's the way they should be. We always try to do what's best for the music, rather than the genre, using our own experience and style, and that gives us the element of surprise, which is one of the more important things in music for us. Our main influences, and our most primal ones, are alternative rock bands such as Radiohead and Muse, as you probably guess from the nature of the vocals and the mood of the music, which usually tends to the melancholic. We expand this equation by adding some basic prog influences of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes, with some more modern bands such as Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation and The Flower Kings. As stated before, we're always looking to expand our horizons, and once in a while it happens that somebody compares us to a band that is unfamiliar to us, which causes us to pay attention to them and absorb their musical knowledge, like what happened with The Mars Volta and Dredg. 3) This debut album was produced by the band. You wrote that choice was to avoid “any outside interference”. Can you explain that choice and the difficulties you eventually encounter with the producers? Producing the album by ourselves was both a choice and a necessity. Our first demo, "Confined", was recorded in a studio by someone from outside the band. Even though the man was talented, we found ourselves somewhat restricted. When Shai decided to step up and man the position of producer, mixer and recorder, a world of opportunities opened up to us. We saw that when we're not limited by the limitations that are set by the cost of studio time, we have the luxury of letting our imaginations run wild. Most of our songs are only 75% complete in the rehearsal room, and it is only in the studio that we manage to complete the work and perfect our ideas, and sometimes those 25% make all the difference. Some of the songs on the album came in one way, and turned out a completely different way. It gives us the opportunity to fully understand our music, something that usually isn't possible in the rehearsal room or in concerts, where each player has to focus on his own role rather than the whole. 4) The saxophones and the vocal melody on “Photosensitivity” sound really Van Der Graaf Generator. It’s the only “old” reference I notice. Is it a coincidence or a kind of “tribute”? Pure coincidence. Surprisingly enough, almost none of our members actually listen to Van Der Graaf. The initial thought to add saxes to the song were actually influenced by The Flower Kings' work on "Unfold the future". The vocals there are actually more influenced by Peter Gabriel rather than Peter Hammil, but that just goes to show you that no one creates in a vacuum. Everything is connected, ultimately. 5) Saxophones and Cello give some titles a very pleasant and different ambience. How the choice of those instruments does appear? After we decided to add saxophones to a certain part on "Photosensitivity", it developed into a full scale arrangement. Then we figured we that if we're bringing a sax player, we might as well add some Crimson-like brass to "Enjoy the Ride". Once again, this results from our liberty to manage our music as we see fit. 6) “Accidents” is a typical Prog construction. “Selling Smoke” have accent of Echolyn and Dream Theater. “Anyone can be” is sung in the style of the debut album of Hamadryad, etc. Is it a style the band prefers? How can we imagine your next opus would sound? There's absolutely no way of knowing. We already have some new songs for the next album, and working on some more, but we can't tell how they will sound until we get to the studio again. I think the next album will be more aggressive in some ways, in accordance to some of our more latent influences, such as Opeth and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Don't worry, we're not plunging into the growling scene just yet!
