We are very honored to present you the interview that the guitarist/vocalist of Epica, Mark Jansen, gave to Rock Overdose and to Sotirelis Konstantinos. Mark talked about the band's new album, "The Holographic Principle", its differences from the previous and their next plans! Enjoy!
Rock Overdose: Hello Mark, welcome to Rock Overdose! How it’s going on the band’s side these days?
Mark: All fine here, at the moment we are rehearsing the new tracks in order to play them live at the Epic Metal Fest.
Rock Overdose: Your upcoming album, "The Holographic Principle", is going to be released on 30th of September. How do you feel?
Mark: I’m very excited about the upcoming release. The closer we get to the release date, then more exciting I get. Especially as the first reviews are coming in and so far they are extremely good so the THP fever keeps rising (laughs).
Rock Overdose: What should the fans expect to hear from this album? Are there any surprises?
Mark: We have a unique guest, the daughter of Coen Janssen singing in the intro. Our fans can expect a step further compared to TQE. More furious, heavy and yet melodic.
Rock Overdose: Is there any concept or a main idea that you talk about into this album?
Mark: The holographic Principle is a theory based in quantum physics and stating that the universe as we know it might be a hologram, an illusion. Virtual reality is developing at a fast rate. Soon our virtual reality masks will be so good that you won’t be able to see a difference between the virtual reality world and our “real” world anymore. That might be the moment that we realize that the universe as we know it is a virtual reality on its own. The theory behind this is called “the Holographic Principle”, it’s not just a wicked far fetched idea by one scientist. It’s a theory that many scientists take very serious. The universe as we know it might be a hologram. It’s an interesting thought and we decided to write our lyrics about it.
Rock Overdose: What are the differences from the previous album?
Mark: The biggest difference is that we recorded all instruments of the orchestra live this time. No samples, so all strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion etc etc. Also we rehearsed even more than before in order to finetune the songs and last details.
Rock Overdose: Simone recently gave an interview in which she says that you had to choose among 27 songs. So, how many months did it take you to write those songs?
Mark: It took about half a year to write those songs but as we have 5 songwriters in the band things go quite smooth and fast regarding songwriting nowadays. The big advantage is that we can select from everyone the strongest tracks.
Rock Overdose: How did you manage to decide which songs will be in this cd?
Mark: We did vote for them. Like this the strongest songs come to the surface. If you discuss them people consciously or unconsciously have a tendency to fight for their own songs, like this the best survive (laughs).
Rock Overdose: Simone also said that you recorded 18 songs. So, the other six songs are ready for the next album? Do you have plans for it?
Mark: No, these songs have the watermark of THP and cannot be used for the next album, otherwise the next album would sound exactly the same as THP. We will probably release them as EP or something. We have to think what’s the best solution for them.
Rock Overdose: Will you tour so as to promote the album?
Mark: Definitely, nowadays there’s no way to not tour to promote an album, it’s the only way to make a living from music as cd sales, like we all know, are not anymore what they used to be. In the 80ies bands got rich from cd sales only, nowadays you can be happy to be able to survive without having any other job. Nevertheless I’m very happy and would not like to do anything else than making music. I am in the fortunate situation that I can make a normal living from being in a band and that’s all I need.
Rock Overdose: Is Greece included on your touring plans?
Mark: We have discussed Greece and we will need to find time to come over, but we will as we always have a great time in Greece. It will just be a matter of time, to our Greek fans, be patient as we will come!
Rock Overdose: What are your memories from your shows in Greece?
Mark: The passion, the noise and the friendly people. I have many friends in Greece and always love to be back.
Rock Overdose: Thank you very much for the interview, Mark. The last words are yours.
Mark: Thank you too and my last words to my special friend Dimitris, hope to see you soon again brother! And to all our fans thank you so much for all your support over all those years. We are still around after 14 years, a big achievement but it would have never be possible without all of you!!!
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