Interviews

Witherfall Interview

Jake: Hi, this is Jake Dreyer from Witherfall, I’m adding my partner, Joseph here, okay?

Joseph: Hello-hello!

Kronos Mortus: Hi, okay, it’s nice to talk to you two! Talking with musicians is always a pleasure!:) I suppose you spend as much time as you can with playing music. How many hours does in mean per week? What’s the priority for you? Music, music, and… something else?:)

Jake: (laughs) Oh, good God! You know, music in our lives, it’s like the tide on the beach, there’s no line of demarcation. Wherever it takes as we go, so taking up for 24 hours straight or 28 hours to get something done. We do it, we’re constantly writing, constantly working on Witherfall. I don’t think it stops.

Joseph: I only slept 3 hours! (laughs)

Jake: Literally, he just woke up! (laughs) Everything we do is involved with Witherfall, it’s a non-stop work. Everything that we’re doing and that’s might not be the part of music, it’s working towards the music, you know, in some sort of way. I still pratctice a day at least 6 hours or so, you know, it’s whether writing sheet or working on songs. We’re waiting for the tour that starts on Friday, we have a lot of rehearsals, it takes all the time.

Kronos Mortus: I think your career so far is really successful. Two well-respected albums within a relatively short time… That’s great! Did your music find soon the right people?

Joseph: We don’t really care who listens to us, we don’t shoot towards a certain genre. Quite honestly, we are not interested being part of the scene. We just wanna make the music we want to make and anyone else is more than welcome to come along to the ride.

Jake: Right. Yeah, anyway, as for the artwork, we ran into Wåhlin, who, it is ironic but he creates include for Eric Clapton, Justin Timberlake or Janet Jackson, major huge pop stars and then, all of a sudden, now he’s working for all this very dark, melodic metal stuff. (laughs) I would even call the songs on Vintage metal, though it’s not even a metal record. It’s more like a rock record. If someone gets the influences, we welcome everybody to our fanbase, you know, cause you gonna find something in there. But it’s not gonna be just one style, not suited just for one concrete metal audience.

Kronos Mortus: Passing of Adam Sagan was a deeply sad thing… How could the band process loosing of a great member and friend? How were you able to concetrate playing and creating music, again?

Jake: We always knew when our friend, Adam passed that the band was still continue on. There was just nothing. He helped built up in early stages, around we’re doing the Nocturnes and Requiems era, so we’re gonna let this spirit to carry on… We try to do as what as we could to keep his memory. There was never any moment at doubt that we’re not gonna do that. With the A Prelude of Sorrow it became the muse for it, you know: innocence, death, all of these topics.

Kronos Mortus: Your second album called „A Prelude to Sorrow” has been released not so long ago, last year’s november, and now here is the new acoustic EP. I think fans cannot complain. This tight gap in time between the two discs, was it by intention?

Jake: Yes, it worth to do the two. I even knew it A Prelude to Sorrow went even out yet before we got the call from Century Media that they were warning us to do an acoustic EP. No, that wasn’t that all, yet. So the record we’re gonna release to work, really immediately started having to do preproduction for what we came the acoustic EP. So that was by Century Media, that was by of course we went in, built for the tracklisting and when we’re doing the tour with Come Alive in Japan, I think in the November and I don’t even really remember recording sessions for the Vintage EP just because, I mean it was really like we were in the studio, we worked all night and then took a flight to Tokyo. Impendating Tokyo and neatly getting off of the plain when strange in the studio finished it up. Yeah, it was pretty quick that once the idea came around. Cause that it was also, I think the label wanted to count this tour that we’re coming up, starting next week. Once another, it’s all acoustic.

Kronos Mortus: When did you start writing these 8 songs? What could we know about „Vintage” EP?

Jake: Actually, all of the songs besided to chorus on the course, all of the songs are already written. Joseph and I, we did in one night, we arranged all the sphere to acoustic version and the Vintage medley.

Joseph: Let’s say that’s surprise the Vintage medley for people that actually to listen to it.

Jake: Yeah! (laughs) We did the medley for Vintage, arranged that in all one night, so that was very easy. That was written a couple of years ago as a Japanese bonus track, after Nocturnes. So that were still few that were already written, wait of our hands.

Joseph: That’s what we’re released.

Jake: Yeah, exactly. And then. of course that were two cover songs on the ’B’ sides that we had for Prelude.

Kronos Mortus: Soon you’ll start touring with Sonata Arctica. I think it will be a great adventure and a great fun! How do you prepare for a tour? Are there any special practice before the tour or something like that?

Joseph: We just hope we won’t get stopped at the airport! (laughs)

Jake: (laughs) Yeah, it’s funny just cause you’re still so much, it’s not just you’re prepairing for the tour like – honestly, the easiest part sometimes is just the rehearsal from arrangements. There’s so much more you have to do, a lot of prep-work. Even just picking of how many bags people gonna be taking and talking with the booking agent and then luckily we just have management now, so hopefully soon it’s gonna be taking off but it’s just a ton of prep-work, I mean this tour stuff just starts happening, you know, four months prior to the tour event,

Kronos Mortus: What is your message towards the fans? What can they expect? What will they hear from Witherfall?

Jake: The set we have is very sombre and dark. I’m really happy with it. I think, there was a main when Joseph and I was discussing wanted to have the whole thing in a certain mood to do it, almost non-stop. It’s definitely more I want a line that… it’s kinda hard to explain, again, it’s not metal what we’re doing. It’s very dark and it takes you on a journey a little bit, you know.

Kronos Mortus: What was the best concert for you so far?

Jake: Oh, that’s tough! (laughs) F*ck, I think it was the show in L.A. I mean, as far as it wasn’t the biggest one, for sure but it was as far as the best as for the band performing.

Joseph: Yes, for sure! I mean is that was the fifth show we’ve ever played so. We were starting actually warm up.

Jake: Yeah, I said that other than that I saw. If you want like an actual answer it’s kinda interesting, I’d say it’s the our top show. Have you heard the record?

Kronos Mortus: Yes.

Jake: So, you know what’s coming out. What did you think?

Kronos Mortus: I haven’t had any expectations, so it was good to listen to it, I was really surprised and blown away by that special atmosphere of the songs. Quality of the sound is also amazing.

Jake: Thank you!

Kronos Mortus: What are your plans for this year after the next tour?

Jake: After the next tour, we’ll come back to the States, we’re gonna play at Keep It True.

Joseph: We are planning the third Witherfall record after we get down just line the shows and then probably a tour in the fall.

Jake: Yeah, we’re right now looking at the fall and winter months. But the only thing that can we’re definitely doing this Keep It True in the end of April.

Kronos Mortus: Back to the past: when did you put your first metal cassette to the player? Which band, which album you’ve heard the first?

Jake: Oh, the first? (laughs) First, as I remember, I mean I think when I was a 4 years old kid, I loved Kiss, so it was Fire Destroyer. And then AC/DC, Back in Black which one I remember. Physically, actually it was the live one in 1991 in Dunningham. That was, I wanna say, that’s the answer. That was the first CD in the line: AC/DC, Live in Dunningham, ’91.

Joseph: I think my first real record was, I could said that Michael Jackson’s Thriller on one side and Up Tight for Destruction on the other.

Jake: Very good bullshit! (laughs)

Kronos Mortus: That’s good! Could you think then that once in the future your music is listened to by the young metalheads?

Jake: Yeah, I was like 4 years old, I wanted to be on the stage, shaking my ass, so I used to like I was thinking playing stuff, you know, nothing else I ever wanted to do. Besides even when I was a little kid, at that point, it was a kind of dreaming of, you know, having another people listening to music and hopefully get the same like the goosebumps when you hear like a part of a song you really love: that’s just the main goal. It’s kinda like a drug. (laughs)

Joseph: So Jake wanted to be a drug dealer! (laughs)

Kronos Mortus: Thank you for your answers and time! We’ll keep our eyes on Witherfall!

Jake: Thank you again! Are you coming up any of the shows on this acoustic tour?

Kronos Mortus: You won’t play in Hungary this time as I know but when you’ll play somewhere nearby, I’ll be there, definitely!

Jake: That’s fine.

Joseph: Oh, then we’ll see you that point, aren’t we? (laughs)

Kronos Mortus: Thank you for the calling! Bye!:)

Jake: Thank you very much! Bye!

WEB: https://www.witherfall.com/

The interview was taken with Joseph Michael and Jake Dreyer on 06.03.2019.


Contributed by: Zsuzsanna Muszka

Related posts

WITHERFALL take on the impact of misinformation with new single/video “What Have You Done?”

KMN

WITHERFALL – new album “Sounds Of The Forgotten” out May 31, 2024

KMN

Deathwhite Interview

KMN

Leave a Comment

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Accept Read More