‘Beyond
Reality’ was released June 27th 2009
on our own label, what kind of expectations do you have for it?
Mangrove –
Well of course we only go for the max. We put a lot of effort in writing the
songs, the lyrics, arranging the music, producing and mixing it. Each step you
take in this process urges you to take the next step with at least the same
amount of professional approach. Right now we're very busy to expand our network
of resellers and internetshops and of course with spreading the good news of our
new album.
If you had to
chose one song you feel represents Mangrove, which song would you choose and
why? Personally I would pick ‘Voyager’, a song I feel captures the essence of
the band pretty well.
Mangrove –
We agree with you. Voyager indeed contains all elements that Mangrove wish to
expose in their music. There's a lot of melody, nice vocal arrangements, some
straight Rock, dark emotion, tenderness and orchestral eruptions. Somehow it all
worked out pretty well putting all of this together in a song that, to our
opinion, had to be the final track of the album.
Where do you
see the main difference between this album and your last studio album ‘Facing
the Sunset’? I think you’ve grown tighter and stronger as a band in the four
year that has passed…
Mangrove –
I think your notes might be the result of taking plenty of time. We avoided to
set deadlines. So writing and arranging the instrumental and vocal parts,
rehearsing the songs before going into the studio, recording the songs in the
studio, mixing the tracks and producing them, we took far more time for all
these processes.
How did you
come up with the title for the album – does that song represents the essence of
the album for you?
Mangrove –
Beyond Reality is the world beyond human control. It's everything we can't
touch, but it's definitely there in our minds. It is love, dreams, fears and
nightmares. But it's also time, space and death. It's everything you see in the
mirror. All songlyrics on Beyond Reality contain certain elements of this
immaterial world and the human struggle how to cope with them.
Who has
produced and mixed the album? How does the final result compare to the idea you
had going into the studio?
Mangrove –
Most of the work has been done by Roland and Joost. Nevertheless some important
decisions concerning sound, mix and productional addings, were taken by the band
as a whole. We think Beyond Reality is by far a better production then our
previous albums. For the first time we think Mangrove has succeeded in catching
the power and the full sound we have on stage. It was a bit annoying for us to
hear people say again and again that they found Mangrove a better band on stage
then on the studio albums. We wanted to change that and the first reviews
definitely confirm the idea we have reached that goal.
Tell us a bit
about artwork… and why is the lyric printed in mirror image?
Mangrove – The artwork is the fine result of a
coproduction between graphic designer Jochem Nijs and photographer Bert Lukkien.
We think that cover art work is very important. In our opinion it ought to
express the contents of the album. Since the main subject of each song on Beyond
Reality is related to elements of the immaterial world, and mainly to time and
space, we think the cover fits the music and lyrics very well.
Since the
mirror is some sort of passageway to this world Beyond Reality we thought it
would be interesting to print the lyrics in mirror image.
“This record
cannot be played in a blue Ford Mondeo wagon” (a line printed in the booklet) –
is that some kind of internal joke?
Mangrove –
I'm afraid it's not a joke. Immediately after receiving the first CD's from our
CD manufacturer our manager complained not being able to play the CD in his car,
while none of us had any problems playing that same CD in our cars. So he went
to see his local dealer who explained that Ford had taken sophisticated measures
to keep people from listening to favourite music, since it is a well known fact
that it might increase the risk of accidents or stationary traffic. Research has
proven that especially owners of blue Mondeo wagons happen to listen a lot to
their favourite music, so that's why Ford built in this hightech detection
mechanism into the sound systems of these cars to recognize the owner's
favourite music. When detected the player automatically rejects the CD. We
thought it would be appropriate to warn our customers for this.
Mangrove – any
special story behind your name?
Mangrove –
A mangrove tree shows it's roots, we like to show our musical roots as well. We
like to play music in the tradition of the great symphonic and progressive rock
bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes, these bands are our musical roots.
Any touring
plans – any festivals booked?
Mangrove –
Please check out our website
www.mangrovemusic.nl
for all our upcoming gigs.
Name the five
musical pieces that you want to bring with you when we send you to hell or
heaven!
Mangrove –
Since we have no interest at all to go either way, we would take five songs with
us that would lead us back to earth again. So first we take the “Highway to
Hell” (AC/DC) then we take the “Stairways to Heaven” (Led Zeppelin), but
“Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” (Phil Collins), 'cos when we were
“Knocking on Heaven's Door” (Guns 'n Roses), we heard someone singing behind
that door that “Heaven is a Place on Earth” (Belinda Carlisle), so we would have
to go back again.
Thank you very
much for answering my questions. Do you have any last rants for our readers?
Mangrove – You are most welcome. Thank you for
giving us the opportunity to say a few words to your readers. We hope to share
our music with you in the near future. Until then, all the best from Mangrove.
Last, but not
least we would like to ask all owners of a blue Ford Mondeo Wagon to buy a
decent car....... ; ))
