Interviews

Induction Interview

Hello, hello, can you hear my voice?

So, first of all I’m so sorry – I totally slipped. I was travelling today to The Netherlands, and I just arrived – so, like I forgot about it. But I’m so sorry!

No, no, it’s no problem! Thank God, everything is settled down – I just left the meeting, but now it’s okay, everything is settled down. Thank you for coming – so, it’s so nice to see you and talk to you!

Thank you again that you could make the time on a later point, because I know that you are always very busy you know… all these interviews, so…. Great that we could still make it work now!

Thank you very much – it’s Friday evening, it’s a quite nice and relaxed time, for me at least. I’m after work, so… So first of all, let me apologize for my voice – I’m sick with a nasty flu, so… But I hope I will be able to speak clearly!

Everything’s fine, and sounds all good, so no worries, but thanks for the heads up!

OK! My name is Zsolt and let me welcome you on behalf of the Hungarian metal website Kronosmortus.com. Thank you for coming and being here with me!

Yeah, great, super appreciated! Thank you for having me!

Could you please answer then a few questions? I know it’s already late, but shall we get started?

Yeah, absolutely!

OK, thank you! So, „Induction” was formed in 2014, however, with a slightly different line-up. What were those necessary things that made the band work smoothly? How easy was to achieve the routine? (I’m referring – of course – only of the time, when you were already a band member).

Yeah. Well, I mean the band really started out more as a project, as like a side thing, and then it was more like an experiment. When Martin first found the band and then made the first single „The Outwitted Consecration”, it was yeah really just session musicians, and then from the point on when I joined the band, that was when it really became a band. So that once we started to like… really see also publicly work on the routine and check out you know… how can this become a band and yeah… with the first album and the tour behind sadly there’s been another line up change but what I think when it comes to this routine it’s never fully there, right? Because the music world and the business is so much in change, especially in current times that it’s very hard to find a stable way of doing things. But that’s actually one of the things that I really love about the music business, because what I learned from that is that after a change, after a problem that you’re having, you immediately move on. You know, you just keep going and you’re always able to solve a problem, and that’s something really beautiful about it and then yeah.. Currently with the line up we have I’m extremely happy with it, and so is everyone, so yeah… we’re trying to keep everything as steady and stable as possible, and yeah… of course develop the right routine for us.

I see. Your music style – I would say – is mostly progressive power metal with symphonic elements and influences. You must be really skilled musicians to come up with such songs in that particular style. Could you please tell me a few words about the members and all those things that made them/you become so professional? How much practice and love of music does it take to achieve that level of professionalism?

I think the difficulty of the songs doesn’t have to say anything about how good a musician is. I think what is often underappreciated is how hard it can be to write easy and catchy songs as well, and what I’m trying to do with Induction is that we have best of both worlds. So we do have the technical aspect but fulfill the well… I guess more general needs of the music listeners and yeah… what I hope to achieve is that everyone will kind of find themeselves in the music, and… of course without diversifying way too much, because if you please everyone, then no one’s gonna be like really happy. But what I can tell you is that from each and every one involved there is a lot of time spent. The most, I guess it’s obvious from me, because I well… organize everything, I write all those songs and it’s kind of like my baby. But everyone is doing their part, and everyone is extremely involved with the idea of where we can, where we wanna go. So yeah… I guess we’re all putting in the work and now as well with the tour preparation you can really see that life in action.

Yeah, I see. The thing is that you already have a previous album that you simply called “Induction”. You immediately became well-known with it, and received various types of criticism – however, the majority of these critiques were positive. How successful do you think this debut was?

I believe that „Induction” was a very, very good start into the metal world. Ultimately, the absolute final, or like… or the next step is definitely this album. I recently got asked the question if I believe that our self-titled debut was like an experiment to see where we wanna go, and I just agreed, but in a way it rang something in me and there’s a lot of things that we did on this first record that I learned from, and that I did totally differently on this one and I believe that really shows that just the experience that was gained on this first album is coming to creation now. We made no exception in the quality – I think even that we up-managed to improve the quality, and I think that the songs are just a lot better thought out and can ring with a lot more people.

I see. As far as I know, that particular album was still released without a label. However, a very good proof of its success was that it was released in 2020 in Japan by Rubicon Music with a bonus track. How could this happen? What did you do to make it happen? And another question is that approximately how many records have you sold?

Well, we do have a management since the first album, so… also our singer from the first album, he always had good contacts to Japan, so that’s why we were able to do… get a licencing deal there. Then we also have to say this our kind of music is just the people in Japan love that, you know this is exactly the type of what they want there. And sorry, could you repeat the last part of the question again?

I was just asking that approximately how many records have you sold in Japan?

Ah yeah, that was it. That’s actually really hard for me to tell, because I made the mistake of never keeping book – but I can like guess from how many I have left: I think it must be like close to three or four hundred. Something in that range. Which just actually not too bad, considering all things.

So, can we say that the, catchy melodies of Induction have finally reached their target?

Yeah, absolutely! Yeah, and I’m excited to see, how it’s gonna be with Born From Fire, because obviously now we have the full force with Atomic Fire behind us, and everything is like has a better groundwork and… so it’s exciting to see, where this can go this time, you know…

After all these, everyone is obviously looking forward to the continuation. This year you signed with Atomic Fire and I think you couldn’t have dreamed of a better continuation. How much consideration did you have to give to this possibility? What did the publisher say – what was the reason they wanted to work with you?

Well, I got in touch with Atomic Fire and sent them some demos, right…? I think I got first got the idea from my father actually, because he, well… he was signed with Marcus Staiger for a long time, and he already heard much earlier that he’s gonna do a new label and already by that point I was thinking well.. that could be something cool, so I kept going at Kai as well asking: „hey can you please give me the contact or like… tell, ask him, you know, how about it, you know, and…” put in the word, so that’s how I first got in touch, and then I had an opportunity to really show like what the track record that we have, so Induction had success already with the first album, being unsigned, we played a tour, we sold a decent number of records, and we have a really cool social media – so they looked at everything and then obviously they listened to the songs and that’s what really convinced them. And there was the point when they said „well, we have quite some…”. so let’s do this”, and yeah that’s for me just got into the decent started working. A plan to I release Sacrifice the first single and have everything big announcement together. So, that was quite exciting, yeah.

I see. What if I say that I would compare your music with such bands like Edguy, Rhapsody, Kamelot, Stratovarius – however, you also include your own characteristical musical elements, and that’s what makes you outstanding and not just simply a „copy band”. You do have your own style, and your songs really are metal anthems, let’s say. Do you agree with that? What would you add to it?

Yeah, I think that well… first of all, I take inspiration from many different songs, genres and bands, and things in life overall. I wouldn’t really agree with the comparison to Kamelot, Stratovarius and all those bands. We are doing power metal, but I think it’s different. The idea of like „anthems” – I think that it’s pretty well on the spot. It’s just I always imagined or pictured Induction’s music as „big”, and it was always meant for the big stages in my head. And I think that’s exactly, how the music sounds like. It’s not… it doesn’t belong on the small stage in a club. It belongs on the festival stages, where people sing along and everyone’s there. I wanted to be like a ton of fun when listening, a bunch more on the second record than the first, without losing the like… interesting touch and all the little twists and turns that the music really has.

I see. The title of the album is „Born From Fire” and it will be released on the 25th of November. But the cover artwork was done by the Hungarian-born Péter Sallai. Actually its concept is so well built and it’s so outstandigly created that it’s quite hard to put it into words. When you watch it, it really comes to life because of the detailed elaboration. How long did it take to create the cover art after providing the artist all the necessary info? What’s your general opinion of Peter Sallai?

Well, we used to work with a few different artwork designers on the first album – we always used to work with Stan, then we tried out with Gustavo Sazes, as Stan Decker was on the first album. Then we tried out with Gustavo Sazes for the two singles: Queen of Light and Sacrifice. And I ended up with Péter Sallai, because I like his style – it’s like painted, but still digital, so it’s like very high-end and shiny. Which is once again, exactly what I think the music needs the way it looks. And what I told him back then when we started working on this artwork was: „hey dude, so listen, the album will be called „Born From Fire” (we already knew that), and I… you know… this time I know you’re a fucking great artist, so just do your thing. All I need is flames: put some flames, you know, have the pharaoh there and I imagined him like kind of coming out of the crags of the ground, like being really huge and that kind of idea.” And then he made the first draft, and I said: „fuck, that’s it! Let’s go that direction!” And then it took a while of back and forth until we found a color scheme. All that we had a few version, where the fire was more dark red, and we ended up deciding for the more golden bright vibe, because I think it’s a little bit more catchy for the eye and not so common in a lot of the artworks. And I think this red fire you see a lot, so I wanted to do something little bit different. Yeah, Péter did an outstanding job on this one, so I’m very happy with his work.

How do you usually write an Induction song?

That’s a great question! It varies a lot. Let me give you the example of I Am Alive. That’s the only song on the album, where other people have contributed. This song I wrote in the matter of two days, together with my bass player and as inspiration we took a song from John Mils, and just started like.. writing like… I think we just took the arrangement, the rough arrangement idea, well something like this could be kind of cool, so we went into a similar direction, then after two days we already had a song that was like such a big hook, you know. Sometimes it tingles super fast. And other times it looks quite different. For instance, the song „Ghost of Silence”, which is towards the end of the album – massive arrangements, a lot of work went into this one. I ended up cutting it down from I think almost 9 minutes, or 9 and a half minutes to six minutes, which is now, because there were so many parts and I have probably wrote half a year or year on that one until it was finished. Yeah, but usually my thought process when I write is I get inspired by something, I have a riff or melody in mind, or I just sit down and play, and just something comes out. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I mean, I can tell you all about the unfinished projects I have but… yeah… the ones that make it are obviously the ones that you know…you get to hear.

Yeah, the unfinished projects are as much interesting as the finished ones!

Oh yeah, I have so many good ones… I think so many good unfinished ones, but then I’m stuck on this like one point and then you know eventually you get scared to continue, because you can only ruin it you know… So, it’s hard to get over that point and I had that on a few songs on this album as well, but then at that point I just need to take some distance and come back later.

I see. This current album was recorded again at Chameleon Studios in Hamburg with producer Eike Freese – but this time it was mixed and mastered at Jacob Hansen’s studio. Needless to say that the final result is superb. How different it was to enter the studio this time compared to the recording of the first album? What changes did you intend to make?

Yeah, great question! So, first and foremost, we only recorded the vocals at the Chameleon Studio. Previously we recorded the vocals and drums at Chameleon with Eike. At this time for like cost efficiency reasons we recorded – and also because he’s a great producer – we recorded the drums in Spain with Dani. Which was a ton of fun, being in a completely different country, you know, recording the stuff for the album, so it was a really cool vibe that we were able to achieve for this as well. And the main thought process of working with Eike again is… was for me that I trust no one more with vocal recordings, because Eike is able to… just the way he has with people is amazing. He’s able to tickle the best of the best out of you, and I really wanted that with Craig, because Craig’s potential is huge, and now he absolutely shines on this album, and I think for a new one that’s been following what our singer’s doing, this is gonna be the best you’ve ever heard of him. He really outdid himself on this record and… yeah, that’s why I wanted to work with Eike. The reason why I wanted to work with Jacob this time on the mix is that I was really blown away when I heard the mix he did for Ronnie Atkins. I just randomly heard and I was kind of like „damn, that kicks ass, you know… it’s huge”. I never heard about this guy before, but you know… I heard the mix and I looked him up, who’s Jacob Hansen… funny, same name as me as well…., and I saw that he’s working with a lot of renown bands like Epica as well, I thought: „OK, let’s just give it a shot” and I think it was the right choice. He really has this extremely shiny and like… bright high-end mixing approach which I see as a good fit for us.

Do you think these new songs from “Born From Fire” will shake Europe? Will it be a significant success and will people get surprised? It’s no coincidence that I ask it, as it contains all the elements of a great album!

I don’t want to blow my own horns so much, but I believe: absolutely. I think that anyone who’s into that type of music and who will hear this album… well, not everyone, but I think the vast majority of people will really enjoy it and I think we have a very good chance at Induction that this will bring us very far – which is really nice. Yeah, I believe that many people will like it. It’s just a matter of getting it heard.

You’ll start a tour with Serious Black at the end of November. How interesting and successful it is supposed to be?

What do you mean?

I mean how many people do you expect to come, what kind of people do you want to get into your circles?

Yeah, I mean the tour is a really cool opportunity. It came, just sent from the heavens above to us, Mario 1just contacted me and said like „Hey guys, listen, I have a tour going on, and I still need a band. How about it?” I said “well, we’re releasing an album then – good timing! Of course, let’s check, how we do it.” And I expect from this tour that we’re gonna well… first of all, show the people that we’re out there, right? That’s the most important thing. It’s a new line-up and we haven’t played live yet. But I want to be on that tour and every single person that comes I want them to leave there and be like „what the fuck – this is their first tour, and they play like they’ve played for years already!” You know, I want them to be impressed and have fun. You know, it’s about having fun, and I just wanna have some unforgettable nights for myself, and for my bandmates and then of course for the people that are there. And yeah… let’s see where it goes. I mean it’s just the start. We partnered up with Nine Lives Booking as well, so I’m pretty sure that next year it’s gonna be the year for Induction on the road. We’re gonna play as much as we can.

Does this mean that we can expect the continuation of live shows in the future? What are your dreams in terms of concerts?

Yeah, I mean whatever works, works, right? I don’t have to tell you that touring is incredibly difficult right now after the COVID pandemic obviously – that made a huge financial dent into all the backline rental services, the nightliner services, and it’s so expensive right now. This is why it’s very hard to tour, but still, of course we wanna do it. So, we’re looking right now at something that will happen for sure next year: is several different festivals, and then we’re trying at least have one, at least… have one extra support show, support tour – but we’re still looking into what is possible there. If we’re very lucky – this is like maybe very short notice – but if we’re very lucky then maybe there’s another thing coming up at the end of this year already. So, yeah, let’s see. We’re definitely honored and we’re trying our best but yeah… everyone should keep in mind how difficult it is and the best support that we can have right now is that people just supported by buying the album and yeah…. making happen things out like that.

I see. As you’re quite young I imagine you’ll be playing music for a very long time. Are you prepared for a long life in metal? How interesting and exciting do you think a 30-40 years of musical career?

I think you never stop learning. Honestly. I’m 23 now, and when I was 18, I felt I know everything now – that’s it! Then I turned 20 and I was like well, now I know everything – that’s it! Now I’m 23 and now I’m starting to realize: „wait a second! I know nothing!” So, there’s gonna be many more challenges, I think, hardships, but also so many amazing moments, and…. Just from the last year or so, I can see the development, you know. Since the start, like, since the release of Sacrifice alone, what happened with Induction and everything around us is amazing. You can really see the progress! Yeah, I wanna live a long life, because I’m excited about the future and I believe that yeah, it’s gonna be exciting in music as well. With all the new bands….

Do you know some Hungarian music? Do you have Hungarian artists that you like to listen to? Do you have by chance friends in our country?

Not that I can think of right now, to be honest. Can you maybe name a few? Maybe I know them.

We have quite a lot of good Hungarian artists. Actually I’m more about in death and thrash metal scenes, but maybe you heard about like Archaic or Angerseed…?

Arch Echo?

Archaic. They played in Wacken.

Yeah, cool. I don’t know actually. I’m not too familiar with the Hungarian metal scene.

Yeah, I was just curious!

I should definitely have a look and check more in depth. Because I was never on the radar…

Maybe you should give a couple of concerts in my country and this is always a good opportunity.

I’m gonna meet some of the local bands as well, right?

That would be cool. Tim, thank you very much – it was great talking to you, and thank you for coming so late. I’m sure a lot of good things are going to happen with you and with your band in the near future – I just wanted to say thank you (something happened with my computer, I don’t know what happened actually)… I wish you all the best and I would like to greet your band members and I would like to ask you to say hello to all your band members! And I wish you a lot of success and a lot of fun on the road!

Thanks dude! I’m sure we’re gonna meet again at some show or something – until then, thanks again for the interview. I’m having a lot of fun now doing all these, and it was definitely one of the very nice ones. So yeah, excuse me again for the…

No, no, it’s not a problem – thank you for coming. It’s always a pleasure to greet great musicians, and I really enjoy your music, so thank you for coming and thank you for taking the time!

Cool dude! Then have a good night!

Have a good night too! Bye-bye, thank you!


INDUCTION online:
www.inductionofficial.com
www.facebook.com/inductionofficial
www.instagram.com/inductionofficial
www.twitter.com/induction_off
www.tiktok.com/@inductionofficial
www.youtube.com/induction-official
https://label.atomicfire-records.com/project/induction

The interview was taken with Tim Kanoa Hansen on 04.11.2022.

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