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Hi,
first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album “A
New Day's Dawn”.
To new fans could your please fill us in on the history behind it
all?
Dave - Thanks for your words! Hi I am
Dave and I am hitting the drums in Pure Inc. I’ve joined the
band 5 years ago when we were still known as Pure Yeast. Exactly
two years ago when we’ve signed our first record deal with AFM
records we’ve also decided to change our band name because a new
era has just started for us all. Also we’ve found ourselves in
our style of music and didn’t change the line up since. As the
record deal back then stood for a new beginning so does “A New
Day’s Dawn”. It represents the band and music the way we’re
feeling confident with – and this has been different with our
first album “Pure Inc.” Our debut album was some sort of a
best of Album of 10 years Pure Yeast where many songs have been
written by old members. And this is different now…
The
album was released in the middle of March, how has the reaction
from the media and fans been so far?
Dave - We’ve been surprised how
many people loved our new album. Of course we’ve expected a lot
because we’ve put so much energy into it - but also
“critical” Metal Magazines wrote nicely about the new album
which actually surprised us in the end. For the fans it might have
been a little harder to accept the new album because it
represented “the new” pure inc. But for those who stopped
being a fan, new fans joined. Anyway, we’ve almost made it to
reach the top ten of various Metal Magazine’s soundcheck where
mostly 50 Bands were being reviewed. And that’s indeed a nice
feedback for us all and keeps us motivated.
If
you should suggest one single song to understand the full Pure
Inc. musical potential, which title would you choose and why?
Dave - I’d suggest you to give the
song “Burst” a try. It shows a lot of faces of Pure Inc: The
song starts off slowly and becomes heavier in the refrain,
followed by an atmospheric middle-part. It’s a very dynamic song
and especially great to play live. But the song’s definitely
special and therefore sticks out on top of the others.
I
know artists don¹t like to put a label on their music - but a
spaceship from outer space has just landed in your backyard, and
is demanding an answer - so how would you describe your music to
an alien from another galaxy?
Dave - First
I’d ask the fairy aliens to grant me 3 wishes and afterwards
they should take me for a ride in their spaceship. Probably their
technology is much more advanced and sophisticated than ours,
therefore I couldn’t even play our CD in their spaceship and I
am sure they don’t want me the drummer to sing our songs. But
then again I got my MP3 Player with me (with all Songs being
downloaded legally) and I could give them a little preview: Since
people need some sort of labeling for being able to imagine into
what direction a band’s music is going. I mostly tell them that
we’re playing Rock. When their brain cells processed the
information I will continue with additional input which goes like
this: “We’re playing Rock music…….. with modern and
alternative influences.” I hope aliens would understand the
meaning of “alternative” at all…
If
your music was an emotion, which one would it be?
Dave - Nice
question! Without
doubt it would be passion!
Passion describes a lot of other feelings and probably meets the
incrediants of our music best. Passion is also the reason why we
are playing music and what keeps us moving forward. And what
emotion raises in you when you listen to our music?
Who
and what inspires you when you write a song? Walk us through the
creation of a song?
Dave - Most of the ideas are coming from Aliens…
err… Gianni (vocals) and Sandro (guitars). They’re coming up
with an idea which they share in rehearsals. Afterwards Gentman (Bass)
and I are adding our rhythm part to it. In the end it’s the
entire band creating a song out of a small seed of idea. We are
recording all of our ideas onto Mini Disc to keep track on our
procedures. Sometimes songs change completely from the basic idea
to the final outcome and sometimes we have an idea which we’re
stuck with – and then suddenly someone else comes up with
another idea to finalize the song. It’s always a matter of
inspiration I think… speaking about inspiration it’s hard to
tell what inspires us to write songs. I am sure bands we’re
listening to have a slight influence and then again we need the
time to work things out. Inspiration comes and goes…
Which
subjects do your lyrics refer to, and who writes them? And what
inspires you when you write your lyrics?
Dave - Our singer Gianni writes all the Lyrics. He
mostly writes about daily happenings, things which surround us,
love, hate and war. Also he states personal experiences or
messages in his writing.
Who
has produced and mixed the album? Are you pleased with the result?
Dave - Tommy Vetterli (Coroner,
Kreator) has produced and mixed the album again. Speaking about
producing it might be important for you to know that he actually
didn’t produce the album or the songs. He just gave us some
advices and certain ideas for a few songs, but the songs have all
been written by the band. We’ve entered the studio with a
finished product/preproduction.
We have made some great experiences working together with Tommy
that’s why we’ve decided to work with him again. In the end we
would make things differently – unfortunately we had a very very
strict scheduling which didn’t allow us to work on the mix for
too long. We definitely needed more time to finalize “A New
Day’s Dawn” – but it’s something we’ve learned from and
which will be made another way next time. Also it’s good to be
critical, otherwise you won’t find motivation to do another
killer album. You should stop making music if you think that
you’ve just created THE PERFECT album, because it simply
doesn’t exist. Maybe fans think of perfect albums, but you as a
musician should always stay down the floor thinking about how you
could make things better next time. But don’t get me wrong, of
course you can be proud of your work and the album – we’re
proud on “A New Day’s Dawn” too and the small mistakes on
the album probably add to the feeling and fans might not even hear
them…
Who
has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have
a great cover?
Dave - We’ve worked with the same artist Pascal Brun
again. But this time under different circumstances: We’ve
created the artwork together with pascal only and AFM had just the
final word saying “yes or no”. On the first album’s artwork
our record label worked together with Pascal and us - but since
it’s been the biggest weakness of our first album and also
reviews dissed our cover, we wanted things to do on our own this
time. By this I don’t want to flame our record label or to
spread bad words about them.. but we all know the first album did
not really have a killer cover.
We are more than happy with the artwork for “A New Day’s Dawn”:
Imagine 4 different musicians in a band having 4 different
opinions about something.. sometimes this can be a real pain in
the neck having arguments all the time. Funnily we’ve all agreed
on the new artwork when we’ve seen it the first time, so it must
have been “it”! Besides the music the artwork is the most
important thing to sell a record or to convince not-yet-fans. It
works like with the bees and the flowers: The more beautiful the
flower is the more attention it gets, hehe.
Do
you have any touring plans for 2006?
Dave - Various concerts and open airs
are being planned and have just yet to be confirmed. Unfortunately
we couldn’t manage to get on a major tour right after the
release. Now we’re checking opportunities to do a tour after the
summer or at the end of the year. Nevertheless we will play a
couple of gigs in May in Germany and Holland. It will be showcases
gigs together with Traceelords. We will post the dates as soon as
they are confirmed on www.pureinc.net.
Let’s
speculate – you have been granted a free slot on a tour of your
own choice – who would be your ideal touring partners?
Dave - Let me guess, the aliens
finally have granted us a wish? :-)
Audioslave would probably fit the most – musically seen it might
even fit too nicely. Since we are a flexible band in music we
would also fit to bands such as Nickelback or Alterbridge. It
definitely should be a band which attracts a lot of people every
night. It would be cool to tour with the red hot chilli peppers as
well – do you have any offers? :-)
The
internet is a very important source for many metal fans – how do
you use the internet and how important is it for you and other
bands?
Dave - We are living in the 21th
century and the internet is a big part of it. The internet gives
everyone a voice and let’s you exchange information almost in
real time. Of course this media has become a very important
platform for bands nowadays: People say, Bands which do not have a
website or email addresses do not exist! It’s a hard saying, but
it has truth in it. If you would like to know more about a band,
you check the internet – if you want to prelisten music of a
band, you check the internet – if you want to contact the band,
you check the internet – if you’re looking for fans who share
your passion, you checking the internet.. and so on. Therefore it
has also become for us a very important media. We try to be an
active part of the internet by posting news on our website or by
using the myspace community.
And
how do you feel about the metal scene in general at the moment?
Dave - Since Metal and rock is more and more
getting into the charts and on TV, it also receives a bigger
acceptance. Probably a lot of metal fans hate the fact that their
“underground” band is getting more popular – but this helps
a lot of newcomer bands to become bigger as well. Since the
all-over acceptance grows, the acceptance for alternative rock
goes with the flow.
Honestly, I don’t like to see my favourite metal band becoming a
huge band either – but they’ve worked hard for it and surely
deserve the success! Long story short, the Metal and Rock scene is
having a renaissance in most of the countries again. Maybe
Switzerland is still a little sleepy concerning this scene… but
that might change soon as well.
Which
song do you consider to be the best one you have ever written?
Dave - All our songs are “best songs”, hehe… no, I am kidding! Well,
it’s a tough question. On the old album for me it has been
“Falling Season” and on the new one it is “Burst” again
– but I really couldn’t pick out just one.
Name
an album, person or event that has had a huge influence on your
life … and why?
Dave - For me it’s definitely the Deftones: They
brought me from my extreme-Metal-only time to more alternative
music. Also The drummer Abe Cunningham has been a big influence
for my playing: His way of trashing the drums real hard, but never
losing the groove and the dynamics, has really fascinated me.
Also I adore A perfect circle: This kind of music has showed me
how to connect your feelings to your playing and how you can
underline a song’s details best with fills or licks. Another
motivation for me has been the endorsement deals with Sabian, Tama
and Vater. Having my small name between all those awesome drummers
is really appreciated and I take it with big honour.
Which
music do you listen to at home?
Dave - Mostly “real” played music: This goes
from Death Metal until Classical music. I like to listen to all
sorts of music which inspires me as a musician myself. For example
I like bands such as the Deftones, A Perfect Circle (!), Nevermore,
Killswitch Engage, Emperor & Zyklon, Borknagar and even José
Gonzalés pleases me. It just needs to be real played music and
not electronically!
Vinyl
has had a small comeback lately – do you still prefer “the old
sound” or are you a CD/DVD kind of guy?
Dave - As a system engineer working
with computers I’d say I am more a CD/DVD kind of guy. But also
I can understand people still loving the old fashioned Vinyl
plates. Vinyl sound lives and is uncompressed compared to
CD-quality. But then again CDs are more portable and everybody can
burn them on their own – not many people can do the same with
Vinyl plates. Also if you take a hi-fi kick ass production and
would put it on vinyl – would it really sound better? I don’t
think so - hi-fi sound needs a hi-fi media! But old records or new
records being recorded traditionally surely sound special and
warmer on vinyl.
I
thank you very much for participating in this interview and
sharing this information and your thoughts with us - these last
lines are entirely for you. Any final words you would like to
round off with?
Dave - Thanks to YOU for your time! All right people, if
you have heard something bad about Pure Inc. then don’t believe
the rumours ;-) If you want to get a real impression about us then
check us out live or check www.pureinc.net
for MP3’s, media files and much more! Thanks for your support!
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