Almost 10 years have passed since Symphony X from New Jersey formed, and they just released their 6th album in 2002. They are well-known among the progressive metal fans all around the world, but this was the first time they got an opportunity to go on tour in their home country, promoting their new album The Odyssey. UM talked with Michael Romeo when the album came out in November.
- The album is out this week, but I`m sure you've already heard opinions on 'The Odyssey'. What are they like?
- Most of the stuff that I've heard, has been pretty positive, pretty good. Of course there are not so many reviews so far, since the album is out just now, but the ones I've read have been good. Even friends of the band, the guys around town here, who have listened to the cd really liked it and thought it's really a strong album for us. Now we're pretty happy with most of the stuff we've seen and I'm sure we will see more as time goes on.
- What is the main difference between the new album and previous ones?
- It's definitely a little more heavier, a little more aggressive. That was a conscious thing. The last album was a concept cd, with lot of long songs, with lot of keyboards, it was very polished. It also had a big story. It worked well for that kind of album. Now we just wanted to have heavy riffs in the music, getting back to our roots. You know, we were growing up on metal. So, it's definitely heavier, a little more raw. The production is raw too, the guitars are pretty loud, pretty mean sounding. Kinda get back to the stuff we were into, kinda make it heavier, more aggressive, in your face album. But at the same time have some of the stuff that we normaly do, like the song 'Accolade II' or 'The Odyssey' track. It's a longer thing with more casual stuff and there are very nice melodies in that. So I think the album is a good combination, but the main difference is that it's a little bit heavier.
- Do the fans get what they expected with this album?
- Yeah, I think so. I mean a lot of ppl were surprised that it was so heavy but it is still what we do. With every album we always tried to do something a little different, just so it doesn't get tiresome for us and even for the fans, for the listeners. We always tried to mix it up a little bit. And this is the same now, we wanted to add a heavier edge to it. So, just like normally we do what we want to do and I think fans will see that.
- Your previous album was very complex. Might it be a reason you wanted to make a simple heavier album now?
- We don't think it was all that complex. I mean it was a big one piece of music, with a lot of twists and turns and stuff. Like I said, it worked good for that kind of thing, it was going for a concept album with a whole big story line. But this time we wanted to have real good riffs, kinda rock more. When we were writing the new songs, obviously we were thinking about things musically, but it was more like 'yeah, it's a good riff, let's just go with it'. And for lot of the songs on the album it isn't like that, maybe some of them are shorter, but that's all. As always with every album we just tried to make it a little different.
- Yes, but you always keep your very own style.
- Yeah, we definitely do our thing, whatever we do. We always just try to add different influences, different styles. Just to keep it interesting for us and for everyone.
- Is it natural, or do you work on it purposely to keep this own style?
- It's definitely natural but maybe the decision which way the album should go is a concusious decision. With this album we said let's make it a little heavier, but it wasn't something that we had really tried to do. We started to write the guitar riffs and the heavy ones were good, it was a natural thing. If this album was a concept album we would steer more into that direction. But everything on 'The Odyssey' is natural, it was not something like we tried too hard, we didn't even bother. It just had to naturally happen as it always does.
- Have your influences both musically and lyricly changed through the years?
- I think musically over the last couple of years, I don't know if my influences really changed, but some more influences have been added. Like on the earlier albums the classical influences were from earlier classical stuff, like Bach and Beethoven. Over the years we started to use more moderns, like Stravinsky, Wagner or even John William and the whole movie soundtrack thing. We introduced some of the stuff too which we always like but didn't get put into the music so much as it does now. You know, with the old influences it's always the same. We all grew up on Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rush and stuff like that and Frank Zappa is also a big influence. So, now it's a combination of all those things. We just try to make our own thing with whatever we can.
- Concerning to the title, your new album seems to be a concept album but you said it's not. So, why did you choose this title?
- We took it from the Greek mythology. On the album we have lot of heavier songs and we also wanted to make more epic songs too where we can get all the big musical sections and that kind of things so we were looking for a topic and actually it was Mike, our bass player, who suggested 'The Odyssey'. We did some reading about it and watched some movies. Visually it's a cool thing to put music to. I mean you can feel these things, like a mental picture in our head. For example their batteling with the cyclops automatically feels like all these old movie kind of things in your mind and you try to put music to that. It gets your imagination going and that's it what is usually important. When we got into it more we came up with ideas like 'this heavy riff would fit to this part' and 'for that part we should do some orchestra thing'. So it was really inspiring as we got more and more into it. That's how we usually go with things like that.
- Which one of you is interested in ancient times so much?
- We all like lots of mythology stuffs or even just old movies, such epic ones like Ben-Hur, or even Lord of the Rings but we also like darker stuffs like Poe and Lovecraft. In some meaning it makes the writing more fun. To find the fitting riffs and musical parts to the lyrics. We always try to find something lyricly that will be inspiring to us.
- Are there songs left out from the album?
- Yes, there is one we didn`t finish and there is an other song we finished but didn`t go on the album because we thought the way the album was set up without that song was fine. But we may use that as a bonus track or something. Usually we have nothing left over but this time we have this song. I think it will be a Japanese bonus track. But I`m sure everyone will getit from the Internet!
- Will you play live that song?
- I don`t know. We have so much stuff from the new album and we always want to play some over songs live - so we already have so many songs.
- How much time did it take to make the album, starting from the writing process till it came out?
- We did all the recording in my house, we have a little studio here. I think it might take 4 months or something like that, I`m not totally sure. Having a studio at home means we can work whenever we want. We totally lose track of time. Once we started, it could be 5 in the morning, that something we've not even known . We just work here and don`t care what month is it.
But I think the recording took 4 or 5 months and the whole album took maybe a year or something.
- Did the others live at your place during the recording time?
- Usually Russel stays over here while we're working on his vocals. You know, having a studio at home is really cool, you can work whenever you want, stop anytime if you want. It was very comfortable to work here. If we need a break, we just go to watch a movie and get back to work later.
- Were you the producer of the album?
- Yes, I was everything. I was the engineer, I was that wiring guy, I was here for everything that needed to be done. But that`s all good, I don`t mind, I love doing these things.
- Sure, you can do everything the way you think is the best.
- Yes and there is nobody to hurry you in the studio, you can do experiement with different stuff.
- Do you work with other bands as producer?
- There are a few bands around town, who are friends of mine and I help them out. But that doesn`t happen too often. We are pretty busy with the things around Symphony-X. But once in a while somebody wants me to come down to the studio and help out. You know, I like doing stuff like that. But usually we are pretty busy with our band.
- Do these bands of your friends play progressive music too?
- Some of them yes but some of them play just rock or metal. Lot of friends do lots of different stuff.
- Do you like when ppl label Symphony X`s music progressive?
- That`s kinda hard. I think it is hard to label us sometimes just because we look at each song as its own thing. If you have a song like `King Of Terrors` that is definitely metal, just metal, just hard. So ppl may say we are a metal band but someone who hears `The Oddyssey` with the symphonic parts may say we are a symphonic power metal band. But with `Accolade II` they may say we are a progressive band. I really don`t like this label thing. We just try to write songs and that`s how songs turn out, whatever is best for the song. I guess we are just a I don`t know, it`s hard. We are a metal band but we have progressive influences, classical influences and symphonic things. I think the label sometimes is difficult.
- Yes, but most of time you are described as a progressive band.
- Yeah, I guess. I mean everyone who listens to our music has an own interpretation. I`m just not crazy about this label thing because it may ppl think something about you that you are not.
- Ok, but pls describe your music with your own words.
- It`s definitely metal, we are a metal band. We have some songs that are more progressive and some others are more symphonic. It`s tough because I really think every song is its own thing. We have so many influences, metal, classical and even jazz influences. We are a metal band pretty much, that`s the bottom line.
- What kind of music do you listen at home?
- Everything. Old metal, like Black Sabbath, Priest, old Scorpions, Rush, old classical and new classical stuff, movie soundtracks, Fran Zappa. I like a lot of different stuff.
- How many instruments do you play?
- I used to play piano before I started to play guitar. And I still play piano from time to time but I`m not a great player. I learnt about music very early and in the elementary school band I played on the piano. Now I`m a guitar player pretty much.
- How did you start to play on any instruments?
- The piano lessons were my parents` idea and to play on guitar was my idea and sure they didn`t like that idea.
- You mentioned your classical influences many times. Have you ever thought about making a classical album or playing with a symphony orchestra?
- It would definitely be cool, I would love do it. There is a lot of stuff written that we didn`t use, like for `The Oddysey` track we used some orchestra stuff but there is a lot more that didn`t get used that I have. And there is a lot of other stuff here just over the years that I`ve written but haven`t done anything with. Maybe there will be a solo album with some of that stuff on or maybe a collection of the different stuff. And maybe one day I will do some real orchestra thing, that would be definitely interesting. But the band is always so busy and Symphony X has the priority.
- Have you ever thought abot writing a rock-opera?
- No, that's really not my thing. But I don't know now, it depends. It's hard to even say what a rock opera is. I'm more into songs like 'The Odussey', that I wouldn't consider as a rock opera song. Good metal riffs combining with some orchestra stuff and the whole song is telling a story.
- Fans would like to know what is gonna happen with your solo projects in the future.
- As I said I have lots of stuff written or unfinished, for example some classical stuffs with guitars. But I have no concrete plan. I'm not sure what to do because I have so many different stuff here I'm working on or we just haven't used for the band. I think I'm gonna end up doing to use a little bit of everything, probably have some songs with singing or some orchestral thing with just a guitar or just instrumental guitar stuff. Probably that would be a good combination. You know, there is always something I find in the studio or find on old tapes we haven't used before.
- How did you get to play on Kotipelto's solo album?
- We've first met Stratovarius a few years ago in Germany. They are really cool and great guys, we talked a lot with them. First it was Jens Johansson working on his solo project when he contacted me if I wanted to play with him and of course I would. Timo started to put his things together last year and he asked me as well. It's always fun to work with other musicians so I'm always opened to that. It's always cool to do something a little different from our own stuffs.
- Did you come to Europe to record your parts?
- No, I did it all here in my studio. He sent me a tape with his ideas and I recorded something I thought to do, sent it back to him 'what do you think?' and so on.
- The Odyssey is your 6th album and the band exist for 8-9 years now. Are you satisfied with the band's position?
- Yes, I think so. I mean, in the beginning it was a bit slow and that usually is the case but now I'm really happy. I think the new album will do pretty well because it is a good combination of the stuffs we've done in the past and also a little different. Hopefully this one keeps moving ahead. We've been just progressing as a band. The touring, recording and everything else we've just tried to make better each time. I think it's working this way. And the popularity of the band is also growing. So, it's good and I'm pretty happy with that.
- Do you think any particular one of your albums was a turning point in the band's life?
- I think The Divine Wings Of Tragedy, our third album was a turning point. Just because at that point we really knew what our style was, we'd had a pretty good idea what we were doing. The first album is almost like a demo becuase we were still so new to each other and tried to figure out what we would do. The second album we were kinda getting there but I think with the third album we had what we wanted to do. And also the last album where we started to really explore some of the more orchestrals stuffs and there is more of the modern classical influence in the band. I think this two albums has a definitely important role in where the band is now.
- You are going on tour in the States for the first time now. What do you expect from this tour?
- It's gonna be interesting, let's say that. The kind of music we play is not so popular here but since this is the first time we are going to play here I think there are a lot of ppl who are fans of the band and will come to see us. I already know that a lot of the shows are sold out and I think that is a really good thing. We are the opening band and maybe we don't have so much time to play all the songs we would like to play, but I think just doing this is really good for us, just to go out there and play. We will probably have 40-45 minutes on stage.
- Will you play mostly the new songs or try to chose from all of your albums?
- We will probably have 40-45 minutes on stage and we are going to play songs from all the albums. Because we've never played here I'm sure ppl want to hear a lot of older stuff too. I think we will choose 2-3 songs from the new album and at least two songs from all the previous albums. It's good beacuse even the ppl who don't know us can listen to the different material we have and maybe they gonna check out those albums too. So, we will try to pick the best songs from our albums.
- Will you have the same setlist for the European shows?
- I don't know yet. We may play more new songs there becuase a lot of ppl have seen us before with other materials. But I'm not sure, we haven't planned it yet.
- You are going to play in the States now, then early next year in Europe. What about the rest of the world?
- I'm sure we will get to Japan and South-America as well. Right now we are just trying to scedule the rest of the year, to put everything together for the next year.
- Have you thought aobut releasing a concert DVD?
- Yes, I think eventually we will. We just have to find a really good show. I mean we are play on the next tours as an opening band and I think we rather wait till we have our own shows where we can play all the songs and videotape several nights so we can pick the best moments and put together something really nice. I think that will come when we start doing our own headlining tour.
- Do you agree with that this kind of music has more fans in Europe?
- Yes, definitely. In America, I'm sure this music have lot of fans too but it is just not as popular. Europe always has a lot of festivals and a lot of different kind of bands. Here it's not like that. If you play a not so popular music, it's a little more difficult here, but fortunately it's getting better. But I think this kind of stuff has fans everywhere. For example we did our first tour in Japan and the first two albums came out there. We kinda started there.
- Do you have, do you think, influence on the music scene, on other bands, etc?
- I don't know. From time to time some bands send me cds of their music where we can feel we influenced them a little but I don't know how much influence is that for real.
- We can read on your homepage you like computer games very much...
- Haha - yeah, once in a while. When Russel stays over while we are doing the recording and we take a little break and start to play for 10 minutes, that turns into something like a 4-hour-long batteling. Russel is the game-guy. He always has the newest games and everytime I see him he is telling me about them and he usually bring the games over and show me how to play them. But I'm a movie fan, I'm a big DVD collector. That's my thing. Playing games is cool but I'd like to build a big DVD collection.
- What kind of movies do you like beside the fantasy movies and the old movie thing?
- I like all kind of movies, everything that is good, like old Hitchkock or any good, well-written movies. I have no real favourites. I just buy as much as I can and see what I like.
- Is there a movie you've seen most often?
- I've seen a lot of movies, but probably Omen. The music is spectacular in that movie. I think it's a great movie anyway. Even 'Star Wars' and 'Empire strikes back' I probably seen a million times. But John Carpenter's movie 'The Thing' is also a favourite of mine.
- Thanks for the interview, finish as you wish.
- I hope everybody will enjoy The Odyssey becuase we had a really good time working on the album and we are really happy about it. I hope the fans can feel that and the energy of the music. And I hope to see everybody out there on the tour having a good time.
InsideOut
Symphony X Official Homepage
To read the UM review on The Odyssey click here.
To read the UM review on Live On The Edge Of Forever click here.
To read the UM review on V: The New Mythology Suite click here.
- The album is out this week, but I`m sure you've already heard opinions on 'The Odyssey'. What are they like?
- Most of the stuff that I've heard, has been pretty positive, pretty good. Of course there are not so many reviews so far, since the album is out just now, but the ones I've read have been good. Even friends of the band, the guys around town here, who have listened to the cd really liked it and thought it's really a strong album for us. Now we're pretty happy with most of the stuff we've seen and I'm sure we will see more as time goes on.
- What is the main difference between the new album and previous ones?
- It's definitely a little more heavier, a little more aggressive. That was a conscious thing. The last album was a concept cd, with lot of long songs, with lot of keyboards, it was very polished. It also had a big story. It worked well for that kind of album. Now we just wanted to have heavy riffs in the music, getting back to our roots. You know, we were growing up on metal. So, it's definitely heavier, a little more raw. The production is raw too, the guitars are pretty loud, pretty mean sounding. Kinda get back to the stuff we were into, kinda make it heavier, more aggressive, in your face album. But at the same time have some of the stuff that we normaly do, like the song 'Accolade II' or 'The Odyssey' track. It's a longer thing with more casual stuff and there are very nice melodies in that. So I think the album is a good combination, but the main difference is that it's a little bit heavier.
- Do the fans get what they expected with this album?
- Yeah, I think so. I mean a lot of ppl were surprised that it was so heavy but it is still what we do. With every album we always tried to do something a little different, just so it doesn't get tiresome for us and even for the fans, for the listeners. We always tried to mix it up a little bit. And this is the same now, we wanted to add a heavier edge to it. So, just like normally we do what we want to do and I think fans will see that.
- Your previous album was very complex. Might it be a reason you wanted to make a simple heavier album now?
- We don't think it was all that complex. I mean it was a big one piece of music, with a lot of twists and turns and stuff. Like I said, it worked good for that kind of thing, it was going for a concept album with a whole big story line. But this time we wanted to have real good riffs, kinda rock more. When we were writing the new songs, obviously we were thinking about things musically, but it was more like 'yeah, it's a good riff, let's just go with it'. And for lot of the songs on the album it isn't like that, maybe some of them are shorter, but that's all. As always with every album we just tried to make it a little different.
- Yes, but you always keep your very own style.
- Yeah, we definitely do our thing, whatever we do. We always just try to add different influences, different styles. Just to keep it interesting for us and for everyone.
- Is it natural, or do you work on it purposely to keep this own style?
- It's definitely natural but maybe the decision which way the album should go is a concusious decision. With this album we said let's make it a little heavier, but it wasn't something that we had really tried to do. We started to write the guitar riffs and the heavy ones were good, it was a natural thing. If this album was a concept album we would steer more into that direction. But everything on 'The Odyssey' is natural, it was not something like we tried too hard, we didn't even bother. It just had to naturally happen as it always does.
- Have your influences both musically and lyricly changed through the years?
- I think musically over the last couple of years, I don't know if my influences really changed, but some more influences have been added. Like on the earlier albums the classical influences were from earlier classical stuff, like Bach and Beethoven. Over the years we started to use more moderns, like Stravinsky, Wagner or even John William and the whole movie soundtrack thing. We introduced some of the stuff too which we always like but didn't get put into the music so much as it does now. You know, with the old influences it's always the same. We all grew up on Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rush and stuff like that and Frank Zappa is also a big influence. So, now it's a combination of all those things. We just try to make our own thing with whatever we can.
- Concerning to the title, your new album seems to be a concept album but you said it's not. So, why did you choose this title?
- We took it from the Greek mythology. On the album we have lot of heavier songs and we also wanted to make more epic songs too where we can get all the big musical sections and that kind of things so we were looking for a topic and actually it was Mike, our bass player, who suggested 'The Odyssey'. We did some reading about it and watched some movies. Visually it's a cool thing to put music to. I mean you can feel these things, like a mental picture in our head. For example their batteling with the cyclops automatically feels like all these old movie kind of things in your mind and you try to put music to that. It gets your imagination going and that's it what is usually important. When we got into it more we came up with ideas like 'this heavy riff would fit to this part' and 'for that part we should do some orchestra thing'. So it was really inspiring as we got more and more into it. That's how we usually go with things like that.
- Which one of you is interested in ancient times so much?
- We all like lots of mythology stuffs or even just old movies, such epic ones like Ben-Hur, or even Lord of the Rings but we also like darker stuffs like Poe and Lovecraft. In some meaning it makes the writing more fun. To find the fitting riffs and musical parts to the lyrics. We always try to find something lyricly that will be inspiring to us.
- Are there songs left out from the album?
- Yes, there is one we didn`t finish and there is an other song we finished but didn`t go on the album because we thought the way the album was set up without that song was fine. But we may use that as a bonus track or something. Usually we have nothing left over but this time we have this song. I think it will be a Japanese bonus track. But I`m sure everyone will getit from the Internet!
- Will you play live that song?
- I don`t know. We have so much stuff from the new album and we always want to play some over songs live - so we already have so many songs.
- How much time did it take to make the album, starting from the writing process till it came out?
- We did all the recording in my house, we have a little studio here. I think it might take 4 months or something like that, I`m not totally sure. Having a studio at home means we can work whenever we want. We totally lose track of time. Once we started, it could be 5 in the morning, that something we've not even known . We just work here and don`t care what month is it.
But I think the recording took 4 or 5 months and the whole album took maybe a year or something.
- Did the others live at your place during the recording time?
- Usually Russel stays over here while we're working on his vocals. You know, having a studio at home is really cool, you can work whenever you want, stop anytime if you want. It was very comfortable to work here. If we need a break, we just go to watch a movie and get back to work later.
- Were you the producer of the album?
- Yes, I was everything. I was the engineer, I was that wiring guy, I was here for everything that needed to be done. But that`s all good, I don`t mind, I love doing these things.
- Sure, you can do everything the way you think is the best.
- Yes and there is nobody to hurry you in the studio, you can do experiement with different stuff.
- Do you work with other bands as producer?
- There are a few bands around town, who are friends of mine and I help them out. But that doesn`t happen too often. We are pretty busy with the things around Symphony-X. But once in a while somebody wants me to come down to the studio and help out. You know, I like doing stuff like that. But usually we are pretty busy with our band.
- Do these bands of your friends play progressive music too?
- Some of them yes but some of them play just rock or metal. Lot of friends do lots of different stuff.
- Do you like when ppl label Symphony X`s music progressive?
- That`s kinda hard. I think it is hard to label us sometimes just because we look at each song as its own thing. If you have a song like `King Of Terrors` that is definitely metal, just metal, just hard. So ppl may say we are a metal band but someone who hears `The Oddyssey` with the symphonic parts may say we are a symphonic power metal band. But with `Accolade II` they may say we are a progressive band. I really don`t like this label thing. We just try to write songs and that`s how songs turn out, whatever is best for the song. I guess we are just a I don`t know, it`s hard. We are a metal band but we have progressive influences, classical influences and symphonic things. I think the label sometimes is difficult.
- Yes, but most of time you are described as a progressive band.
- Yeah, I guess. I mean everyone who listens to our music has an own interpretation. I`m just not crazy about this label thing because it may ppl think something about you that you are not.
- Ok, but pls describe your music with your own words.
- It`s definitely metal, we are a metal band. We have some songs that are more progressive and some others are more symphonic. It`s tough because I really think every song is its own thing. We have so many influences, metal, classical and even jazz influences. We are a metal band pretty much, that`s the bottom line.
- What kind of music do you listen at home?
- Everything. Old metal, like Black Sabbath, Priest, old Scorpions, Rush, old classical and new classical stuff, movie soundtracks, Fran Zappa. I like a lot of different stuff.
- How many instruments do you play?
- I used to play piano before I started to play guitar. And I still play piano from time to time but I`m not a great player. I learnt about music very early and in the elementary school band I played on the piano. Now I`m a guitar player pretty much.
- How did you start to play on any instruments?
- The piano lessons were my parents` idea and to play on guitar was my idea and sure they didn`t like that idea.
- You mentioned your classical influences many times. Have you ever thought about making a classical album or playing with a symphony orchestra?
- It would definitely be cool, I would love do it. There is a lot of stuff written that we didn`t use, like for `The Oddysey` track we used some orchestra stuff but there is a lot more that didn`t get used that I have. And there is a lot of other stuff here just over the years that I`ve written but haven`t done anything with. Maybe there will be a solo album with some of that stuff on or maybe a collection of the different stuff. And maybe one day I will do some real orchestra thing, that would be definitely interesting. But the band is always so busy and Symphony X has the priority.
- Have you ever thought abot writing a rock-opera?
- No, that's really not my thing. But I don't know now, it depends. It's hard to even say what a rock opera is. I'm more into songs like 'The Odussey', that I wouldn't consider as a rock opera song. Good metal riffs combining with some orchestra stuff and the whole song is telling a story.
- Fans would like to know what is gonna happen with your solo projects in the future.
- As I said I have lots of stuff written or unfinished, for example some classical stuffs with guitars. But I have no concrete plan. I'm not sure what to do because I have so many different stuff here I'm working on or we just haven't used for the band. I think I'm gonna end up doing to use a little bit of everything, probably have some songs with singing or some orchestral thing with just a guitar or just instrumental guitar stuff. Probably that would be a good combination. You know, there is always something I find in the studio or find on old tapes we haven't used before.
- How did you get to play on Kotipelto's solo album?
- We've first met Stratovarius a few years ago in Germany. They are really cool and great guys, we talked a lot with them. First it was Jens Johansson working on his solo project when he contacted me if I wanted to play with him and of course I would. Timo started to put his things together last year and he asked me as well. It's always fun to work with other musicians so I'm always opened to that. It's always cool to do something a little different from our own stuffs.
- Did you come to Europe to record your parts?
- No, I did it all here in my studio. He sent me a tape with his ideas and I recorded something I thought to do, sent it back to him 'what do you think?' and so on.
- The Odyssey is your 6th album and the band exist for 8-9 years now. Are you satisfied with the band's position?
- Yes, I think so. I mean, in the beginning it was a bit slow and that usually is the case but now I'm really happy. I think the new album will do pretty well because it is a good combination of the stuffs we've done in the past and also a little different. Hopefully this one keeps moving ahead. We've been just progressing as a band. The touring, recording and everything else we've just tried to make better each time. I think it's working this way. And the popularity of the band is also growing. So, it's good and I'm pretty happy with that.
- Do you think any particular one of your albums was a turning point in the band's life?
- I think The Divine Wings Of Tragedy, our third album was a turning point. Just because at that point we really knew what our style was, we'd had a pretty good idea what we were doing. The first album is almost like a demo becuase we were still so new to each other and tried to figure out what we would do. The second album we were kinda getting there but I think with the third album we had what we wanted to do. And also the last album where we started to really explore some of the more orchestrals stuffs and there is more of the modern classical influence in the band. I think this two albums has a definitely important role in where the band is now.
- You are going on tour in the States for the first time now. What do you expect from this tour?
- It's gonna be interesting, let's say that. The kind of music we play is not so popular here but since this is the first time we are going to play here I think there are a lot of ppl who are fans of the band and will come to see us. I already know that a lot of the shows are sold out and I think that is a really good thing. We are the opening band and maybe we don't have so much time to play all the songs we would like to play, but I think just doing this is really good for us, just to go out there and play. We will probably have 40-45 minutes on stage.
- Will you play mostly the new songs or try to chose from all of your albums?
- We will probably have 40-45 minutes on stage and we are going to play songs from all the albums. Because we've never played here I'm sure ppl want to hear a lot of older stuff too. I think we will choose 2-3 songs from the new album and at least two songs from all the previous albums. It's good beacuse even the ppl who don't know us can listen to the different material we have and maybe they gonna check out those albums too. So, we will try to pick the best songs from our albums.
- Will you have the same setlist for the European shows?
- I don't know yet. We may play more new songs there becuase a lot of ppl have seen us before with other materials. But I'm not sure, we haven't planned it yet.
- You are going to play in the States now, then early next year in Europe. What about the rest of the world?
- I'm sure we will get to Japan and South-America as well. Right now we are just trying to scedule the rest of the year, to put everything together for the next year.
- Have you thought aobut releasing a concert DVD?
- Yes, I think eventually we will. We just have to find a really good show. I mean we are play on the next tours as an opening band and I think we rather wait till we have our own shows where we can play all the songs and videotape several nights so we can pick the best moments and put together something really nice. I think that will come when we start doing our own headlining tour.
- Do you agree with that this kind of music has more fans in Europe?
- Yes, definitely. In America, I'm sure this music have lot of fans too but it is just not as popular. Europe always has a lot of festivals and a lot of different kind of bands. Here it's not like that. If you play a not so popular music, it's a little more difficult here, but fortunately it's getting better. But I think this kind of stuff has fans everywhere. For example we did our first tour in Japan and the first two albums came out there. We kinda started there.
- Do you have, do you think, influence on the music scene, on other bands, etc?
- I don't know. From time to time some bands send me cds of their music where we can feel we influenced them a little but I don't know how much influence is that for real.
- We can read on your homepage you like computer games very much...
- Haha - yeah, once in a while. When Russel stays over while we are doing the recording and we take a little break and start to play for 10 minutes, that turns into something like a 4-hour-long batteling. Russel is the game-guy. He always has the newest games and everytime I see him he is telling me about them and he usually bring the games over and show me how to play them. But I'm a movie fan, I'm a big DVD collector. That's my thing. Playing games is cool but I'd like to build a big DVD collection.
- What kind of movies do you like beside the fantasy movies and the old movie thing?
- I like all kind of movies, everything that is good, like old Hitchkock or any good, well-written movies. I have no real favourites. I just buy as much as I can and see what I like.
- Is there a movie you've seen most often?
- I've seen a lot of movies, but probably Omen. The music is spectacular in that movie. I think it's a great movie anyway. Even 'Star Wars' and 'Empire strikes back' I probably seen a million times. But John Carpenter's movie 'The Thing' is also a favourite of mine.
- Thanks for the interview, finish as you wish.
- I hope everybody will enjoy The Odyssey becuase we had a really good time working on the album and we are really happy about it. I hope the fans can feel that and the energy of the music. And I hope to see everybody out there on the tour having a good time.
InsideOut
Symphony X Official Homepage
To read the UM review on The Odyssey click here.
To read the UM review on Live On The Edge Of Forever click here.
To read the UM review on V: The New Mythology Suite click here.
