So to start with, can you introduce your band, for those who don't know you yet?Neurotech is a cyber metal band from Slovenia that I started out in early 2007, with the help of Sophis on guitar and Naur on the bass for the live shows and some additional livedrummers.
Do you compose all musics and lyrics? I mean, all we know of Neurotech come from you?
Yes, that was the idea from the start. I like to have things in my own hands, bands and group composing didn't work for me. I think I am doing a better job only by myself, not to lose focus with compromising music with other band members and their opinions.
Why did you chose the name "neurotech"? I guess it comes from neurotechnology, right?
The name came totally spontaneous, while I was rearranging my songs in the computer and they needed a folder to have everything organized - out of the top my head I would say. I thought about changing it before the first EP was released, but after I while I realized that it represents the music and I couldn't imagined any other name at the time that was in any way better
And yea, it surely comes from neurotechnology.
Besides, three years ago your released "transhuman", what do you think of this EP now? Was it the beginning of a whole adventure, a whole concept?
It was the best thing I could do at the time. From that view I see it now; there are stuff on Transhuman I can't stand listening now, but as a whole, it is the first step and for that reason it is important in the Neuro-catalog. Beginings are always hard, but they are great teachers. I learned a lot from it and incorporated this knowledge in to the development of Antagonist.
Then you released "Angst Zeit"'s single, kind a new musical direction?
Yes, The Angst Zeit was released one year later, just to show people an upgrade in songcrafting and style.
And to reduce the wait of Antagonist of course.
And this year is the arrival of...Antagonist! now can you introduce it?
Antagonist is first real representation of what Neurotech is. It is something that I always wanted to make, an album filled with energy, atmosphere, different sets of emotions. It is a cyber metal in its core, but at the side there is a lot stuff that strive away from the genre like orchestrations and stuff.
But that's the beauty of this genre of music, cause it has no real boundaries, you can express yourself to the fullest. As oppose to some different metal genres where it has that narrow-mind approach to instrumentations and such.
I agree, this is one of my question, you express yourself well and mix a lot of things, like a kind of symphonic part (in the last tracks of the album especially). It's new in your music, I mean I didn't hear that in "Transhuman" for example
Yeah, you always try to better yourself. Songwise and production wise. What happened after Transhuman I started to learn harmony again (i finished the elementary music school for trumpet when I was younger) and scales and stuff... I wanted to put much more music into Antagonist, so that's why it has a lot more melodic content than Transhuman which was pretty straightforward.
Antagonist is also full of elements, there are more things, more elements
more details and subtilities
And at time too much stuff happening at the same time hehe =) That's my view on it now, but yeah, I think it makes the album much more interesting to listen to. I took the knowledge from Transhuman, constant learning about music & production and writing songs and three years after - we have Antagonist
And what is the concept? the meaning of the cover, the lyrics, the full design...?
Concept of Antagonist is a multi-layered one. I could not pin-point one thing, but it has all this different angles to the
subject. That explains the lyric booklet with changing faces and point of views. But in its core it deals with inner turmoil, depersonalization and stuff like anxiety & other. The songs are about different topics, but in general the storyline of the album is facing enemies, specialy inner ones.
Mechanization?
Well mechanization as it is represented on the album cover is just some sort of symbolism that human is no longer human anymore, but some hybrid machinery without any emotions.
Is it me or in Antagonist there are more electronic stuff?
Indeed, there is a lot more of everything on Antagonist. Electronic stuff is very refined and detailed as oppose to Transhuman. And it took insanely amount of time to make it in way that it does not sounds cheap & generic.
And there are more melodies, you seem to focus more on that though
Yes, without melodies music becomes boring to me. The main thing is the also the music is based on keyboards & harmonies and the guitar serves only as a rhythmical portion. It most other bands that uses keyboards and electronics they serve as a background, but in Antagonist it is the forefront.
And the majority of music that I listen to it's European, and melodies how always been a part of our continent
We can feel some different moods according the tracks, like melancholy, fear or anxiety...
Yes, it gives the album a character. It's not a black metal album which blast beats you from start to finish because too much of one single emotion becomes very boring at the end. I like to have that clash between energy & atmosphere. Different songs for different moods, cause we humans dont have one single mood
How many did time it take to record your album?
I think it took me all in all one year for recording/mixing/mastering for the record. But i didnt work the whole time, because i had a day job at the time and if you are tired by the end day it is hard to focus and be creative. To sum up = 2 years of creating and selecting the right songs and 1 year to refined/record/mix it.
Was it difficult? especially as an autoproduction?
It was difficult because it is so layered album. Every song has around 90 tracks or more, and to make everything defined and listenable takes a lot of time. A lot of compromises and criticial listening.
Especially when you are all alone to do all that stuff
Yeah, but I like it that way. Control freak you could say
And for the vocal parts, how was it?
It was quite enjoyable process, I already had every song recorded completly in demo form, so I knew what works and what does not work. I didnt feel that i had to experiment a lot with vocals
They are a part of music as whole, so I didnt want to emphasize it a lot because there is already so much stuff going on. Or so I felt at the time, today I feel a bit different about it
Is it so different in live, given that you can't play all the instruments?
It is entirely a different environment. I want the music to be heard on concerts like it was mixed, so we use backing tracks for all the synth work, cause otherwise it would took like 6 additional people to play keyboards for all the stuff that is there hehe. You also have to compromise a bit, but in the end of the day shows are just shows, records are forever. I prefer studio than live situation.
According to the concept, have you, personnally, a dark and pessimistic vision of the human'future?
I dont really have an opinion, I can only say that the whole way of thinking and living is getting out of hands cause nowadays we are bombarded with this massive brainwashing media on one side and the other with this Zeitgeist-conspiracy theorist on the other... It is a s
trange time to live in and i guess nobody knows what is gonna happenWhat are your influences? in music, events, literature ...
I think music itself influences me the most at of all things. I listen to a variety of different genres from classical, to techno and new age stuff like jean michelle jarre,vangelis,enigma etc... I try to expand my horizon and incorporate different elements and style into Neurotech music. Beside all that a lot of films influenced me a lot and also their soundtracks.
What kind of films?
Mainly sci-fi ones like Equilibrium, Matrix, Inception and of course the action blockbuster stuff like The dark knight. Mainly the ones with a good story and a good music score of course =) Can't watch a film with bad music inside.
You took self assurance, you've just released a matured album that seems to be liked by lots of indus/cyber metallers, do you think you could become a model as Fear Factory or Sybreed are?
Never say never. It would be nice, but time will tell. I try to write the best music that I can, not so much for commercial success. I mean I gave the entire album as free download hehe.
Yeah that's nice
Yeah people like it, they are passing it around. If you have a first major release nowadays I think it is a thing-to-do if you wanted be a bit known.
If people don't know you, nobody is gonna buy your album.
What do you think about cyber metal scene in general?
It is one of the smallest genres in metal but a very passionate one. People who listen to this stuff are very openminded which is very cool, and the new releases from some of the artists are quite phenomenal.
I think it is still a genre where there are things to be discovored
So that's why it stays interesting, to me at least
What are your favorite bands in cyber metal?
I would say Sybreed & The Kovenant, at least i think I listened to them the most. And they both like Antagonist a lot since we talked a bit on the mighty internetz...it is nice to hear from those people which you admire, that you did a good job.
Who are the cyber metal pioneers for you?
I would say Samael. Passage is one my favourite albums and it was released in 96 if I remember it correctly. I dont know if they themselves categorize as cyber metal, but they definetly have that futuristic atmosphere and style.
To me at least.
Apparently, you are working on new stuff, can you tell me more about that?
Yes, it's in its early stages. I wont say much because it is to early to say but if Antagonist was an upgraded Transhuman, then we you can except nothing less than an upgraded Antagonist. I am already planning a mini release for this autumn, and if everything goes well we could have a new Neuro album out next year. But only time will tell
Have you some shows planned?
Some things were planned, some things were canceled. I try to focus my time more on creating music than playing shows. It would be a cool to play decent packed shows where you can have a bigger production&better sound and stuff, but if you are a small band you have a 50-50 chance to have a bad show.. or 70/30 to say the least ...As i said earlier, shows are just shows. records are forever.
Well, now I think that's it. Nomore questions...anyway, thanks a lot for you time, your music and the interview. Nice to talk to you. Now if you want to add something or to convince people to listen to your album, don't hesitate
Thank your for inviting me, everybody can check out Neurotech and download the new album at www.neurotech.si or join us on facebook www.facebook.com/neurotechband .
Hope you will enjoy it !
/Wulf
This is it
hooray.
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Interview done by Matai
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