RockOverdose and Zisis Petkanas had a chance to talk with Martin Lopez, drummer of Soen, one of the most influential progressive metal bands of our time.
The discussion revolves around Imperial, the new Soen album, the progression of the band, from the early days and up to today, as well as the bands plans for the future.
Enjoy!
RockOverdose: Tonight on RockOverdose we are talking to Martin Lopez from Soen about their new album, Imperial. Martin, welcome to RockOverdose. How are you?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): I’m fine, how are you?
RockOverdose: As well as I can, with the whole situation of Covid.
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Exactly.
RockOverdose: So, Imperial was announced on December, along with the release of the song “Antagonist”. What was it like producing and recording a new album during quarantine?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): It was fine for us, back then I don’t think we had any restrictions, so the only problem was with our musicians, the guitar player lives in Canada and our bass player lives in Ukraine, so they couldn’t fly over. Otherwise, Joel, Lars and I live very close to each other (about a 5 minute walk), so we could work as we normally do. So, it wasn’t that bad.
RockOverdose: Where there any challenges or any hardships in general?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): During the recording you mean.
RockOverdose: Yes.
Martin Lopez (SOEN): No, not really, it was nice and quiet. Of course, there’s always a lot of small respectful discussions going on, because you can have certain differences sometimes, because in the recording everyone’s really involved in it, so it can be emotional, but we did fine, it was a good recording.
RockOverdose: And I have to admit "Imperial" is such a great album, so I have to give you my congratulations!
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Thank you!
RockOverdose: Would you like to tell us about the concepts and ideas that came to be the Imperial?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Musically, at least, the idea is always the same, to give you heavy music with a certain level of emotion and try to give the listeners more than entertainment, more than just music to headbang to. That’s what we always go for. Lyrically, the songs are about denouncing whatever we think is wrong with society. We’re pretty much fighting against the idea that you should value happiness and success by how much money you have, we’re completely against that. That’s pretty much the main idea behind this album.
RockOverdose: Listening to Imperial, it felt like a sequel to Lotus, in terms of concept and music.
Martin Lopez (SOEN): I think it’s a heavier album. Lotus is an album we really loved and felt comfortable with, I think it’s an area where Soen should be, at least for now, so we wanted to take that idea and push it further, you know, and make more clear message and write clearer songs. It felt like a natural progression for us and we’re really happy with the Imperial.
RockOverdose: What is coming next for the band?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): It’s hard to know these days! We had a tour planned for April, that we had to postpone. But we always had this dream of making our music in a semi acoustic environment with a string quartet and a choir, trying to make our heavy songs arranged differently. Now, because we have to do something, we finally get to work with that project and we’re planning to present that by releasing an album with our songs played differently and it’s turning out really well! So, that might be our next step.
RockOverdose: What do you think about live streaming shows?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): I’m not in love with it, to be honest. We had an opportunity to do it a couple of times, I don’t know why we didn’t do it, but this would be a different thing, doing our songs differently, played with an acoustic way, that is something that fits more a theater and we would still need an audience to still have the magic in the air. We are kind of analysing and seeing if this could be something good for us.
RockOverdose: Would you like to tell us about the first years of Soen?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Well, we were as excited then as we are now, but we were still learning, it was our beginning as songwriters. We feel that we have progressed a lot and that we are more capable now than we were back then.
RockOverdose: What would you say to a fan who has never listened to your songs? What song would you suggest for them to hear and learn the band?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Maybe I would suggest that they hear Imperial, because it has everything that a song needs to have, it’s one of the new ones and it definitely looks like a good album to represent us.
RockOverdose: And are you proud of Soen so far?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Proud? Absolutely.
RockOverdose: I think you are the next big thing, your band is making a lot of “noise” on the metal scene.
Martin Lopez (SOEN): To be honest, I don’t want to be the next big thing. We are very comfortable with where we are and we can only do as much as we can. We can’t do too much (for example too many tours) because we have families and we want to spend with them as much time as we can.
We don’t want the band to turn into a money eating machine, because it’s easy to fall into it and then start hating the music that you make and the musicians that you play with. We are at a very good place right now, we are very good friends and we appreciate what we do, we love going on tours, so we don’t want money to fuck this up for us, it’s not that important.
RockOverdose: What are the reactions for the new album by the press and the fans?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Very good, I would say. There’s very good reviews out there, a lot of appreciation, so we are very happy and confident that we did a good job!
RockOverdose: Are there any other news that you would like to reveal through this interview?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Not really, right now we’re just waiting to go on tour, play our songs and connect with our audience. We would like to go to Greece for example and have another one of these magical nights as last time and that’s what we have, pretty much.
RockOverdose: That would be my next question actually, what are your memories from Greece?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): It’s great, I love this country. Not only the shows are magic, but the whole history of Greece and the civilization, it’s something special and it’s always magical to go there and play. We’re gonna make sure to get there as soon as we can.
RockOverdose: I suppose when everything is ok with the pandemic situation, you will start touring and Greece will be in your plans, right?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Of course, we have been turning to our agents and kind of telling them which cities we need to go to, even if the deal isn’t great for the shows, because at the end of the day, we do this because we love music and those memories of our special shows is what I’ll remember in 30 years, you know? So we are very specific about which cities we want to go back to. Of course, Thessaloniki and Athens are in the plan.
RockOverdose: Thessaloniki, great. Have you tasted mpougatsa?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): No actually, I haven’t.
RockOverdose: Only souvlaki?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Souvlaki yeah, of course, tzatziki and all that. Both in Athens and Thessaloniki, we had a few hours to look at the beauties of this country. Next time, I want to have at least a couple of days in Athens to explore all the historical places that you have. Sounds difficult during a tour, but I hope I’ll get a chance.
RockOverdose: Would you like to leave a message to the fans and readers of RockOverdose?
Martin Lopez (SOEN): Yeah! "Ti kaneis?" (how are you doing in greek), thank you for supporting Soen!
For RockOverdose,
Zisis Petkanas
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