Rock Overdose's Antonis "Jey Key" Katsaros had the chance to talk with the band Before the Dawn about their new album "Rise of the Phoenix" and much more... Enjoy the interview below:
Rock Overdose: Hey guys thanks so much for taking the time out to answer these questions for Greece's Rock Overdose readers. How’s everything been going?
Before the Dawn: Been very busy times but in a positive way. Huge amount of interviews and it is very nice to see this big interest towards the new album. Overall has been very good times lately.
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Rock Overdose: Let’s talk about your new album "Rise of the Phoenix" which is going to release at 27th of April. Will be differ from the bands previous releases?
Before the Dawn: Some major changes has been done both in music and also in the line-up. We parted ways with Lars (bass and clean vocals) and Atte (drums) about a year ago. With Lars the problems were mainly personal which started to reflect to the music quite heavily in from of heavy drinking and with Atte it was purely musical decision since he was not into the new musical style of the band.
Rock Overdose: How many songs were written and demoed for this new album?
Before the Dawn: I always write an whole album instead of a big bunch of songs where I pick up the best ones. I just don´t see the point to write songs if I don´t feel 100% that they should be on the album. I have always worked that way. I rather spend more time to work with the pre-production and this time we made 2 different pre-production tapes of the songs so we were well prepared with the material and the arrangements when we entered the studio
Rock Overdose: Is there any friend and/or family member that have heard the finished material? How was the response?
Before the Dawn: I always play all finished songs to my closest friends and family also when ever I am working in the studio with any of my bands. The response has been surprised and very positive.
Rock Overdose: Let’s talk a little about the writing and recording processes. How much time did you spend in the studio for the new album?
Before the Dawn: I started writing the new material in the summer 2011 and we entered the studio in the beginning of october so all the material was written in pretty short time but I write about 30 songs / year for my bands and I like to work very spontaniously. Like i said already we did a lot of work with the pre-production and when we finally entered the studio we were very well prepared and we spend only 14 to all recordings and about 10 days for the mixing.
Rock Overdose: Tell us about the writing process for the new album. Every band has their way of collaborating, how did the process work for you? Did you guys hold writing sessions; was it as easy as a few jam sessions etc?
Before the Dawn: I write all the music on my own and also do the main arrangements but I also want to leave room for each musician to bring their own sound to the music with their own instrument. Usually I do raw demos with demo drums and guitars + bass and then we start to rehearse together from that.
Rock Overdose: What are you hoping the Before the Dawn fans will take away from the new album?
Before the Dawn: I hope that they will be able to sense the positive energy from the music of the new album. After few difficult years it was really enjoyable to work with the new guys in the studio and that overall good mood inside the bans was very inspiring and a lot of that energy is in the music also. There is also a lot of new more aggressive influences so listeners should also have open mind since it is not a basic btd album this time 🙂
Rock Overdose: Looking back over your career, can you recall the hardest time you’ve ever had as an opening act?
Before the Dawn: hmm....we have been very lucky to be able to support very cool bands so never have had any problems in that area. Once we supported meshuggah in Finland before we even had our debut album out and that was very unpleasant since we are way too different musically and was pretty much the wrong audience for us but the band was really cool and easy going and also the audience did not throw any bottles on the stage so it went a lot better than I expected.
Rock Overdose: Besides the obvious of course… what’s the one item you always take on tour with you?
Before the Dawn: Laptop and camera. I like to take pictures and make videos and touring gives a prefect opportunity for getting a lot of material. I am a straight edge so after parties are not really my thing so I always have a lot of movies and tv-series with me on tour to get the time passed on the tour buss.
Rock Overdose: Over the years you’ve shared the stage with many great artists. Whilst on the road who has impressed you the most and why?
Before the Dawn: I was a big fan of Amorphis around the time they released "tales from the thousand lakes" and was really cool to tour with them 2009. They are such a cool guys and how professionals they are. Very big band but also very down to earth guys.
Rock Overdose: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you whilst performing?
Before the Dawn: Nothing really crazy has never happened to me on stage. Sometimes there is technical problems but that is just part of the job. Once we played a gig in Finland almost 10-years ago and in the audience there was one really good looking girl on the front row. almost in the end of our set she turned around and was pointing at her ass and of course I noticed that and was looking at her ass. Then she lowered her pants a bit and I saw that there was 2 words written into her ass. one word for each but cheek and it said" YOU" "SUCK" and then she just walked away. Needles to say I was "a bit" confused 🙂
Rock Overdose: There’s no doubt that recently many rock and metal artists have been releasing some very impressive albums.. are you currently listening to any new albums if so what ones?
Before the Dawn: Lately been listening a lot of the newest Hypochrisy album at the gym but that is not that fresh release. Don´t have much time to seek new album or bands nowdays
Rock Overdose: Thanks again for your time today, it’s been a pleasure. Do you have any last words for our readers?
Before the Dawn: horns up and see you soon !!
For rockoverdose.gr: Antonis "Jey Key" Katsaros
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