EXIVIOUS - klíč je kolektivní kreativita

EXIVIOUS - The Key is the Collective Creativity

Bizz: Each one of you has more obligations than just Exivious, Tymon and Robin play in Cynic, Stef in Textures who are also pretty active. The music that Exivious produces is quite sophisticated and it must have been hard to prepare and learn to play the whole album. What did the preparation look like? How much of the material had been done before and how much of it was improvised in the studio?
Tymon: The majority of the preparation for the album was done before Robin and I joined CYNIC. All the fundamentals for the songs were already written before that happened. The recordings of the album were done in our time off from CYNIC and Textures though. But looking back, that actually worked really well for us. It gave us the luxury of coming back to the music and the mixes with fresh ears a couple of times.
Robin: For me personally I would say it is about 50-50. There were parts that were written the way I wanted to hear them with the guitar riffs or drum grooves, while other parts were kind of born to be interpreted in the moment.
 
DR: I can hear on the album a great influence (amongst others) of Allan Holdsworth. Is his style of playing the key for you or is there even someone above him? Or is he just one of many?
Tymon: In guitar world he is probably my biggest influence, but in the overall world of inspiration he's just one of many. There's actually a lot of great singers and instrumentalists other than guitar players who had a huge influence on my melodic sensibilities.
 
Bizz: I agree. And what about getting inspired by Cynic?
Robin: Cynic has definitely been a big influence on me. As soon as I heard FocusCynic will no doubt have its effects on future Exivious albums.for the first time, I always wanted to play in a band like that. Listening to that album as much as I did has it's effect on you, I guess. It wasn't until I got the bass stems 2 years ago, though, that I really heard the bass parts. In a (very fast) way, though, that also changed my playing, giving new inspiration for parts and lines.
Tymon: Of course Cynic inspires us! I've studied the Cynical approach for years so I feel like it's part of my musical vocabulary, both in playing and composing. But even these days I think Cynic will inspire us. Music is a living, breathing thing and playing in Cynic will no doubt have its effects on future Exivious albums.
 
Bizz: Tymon, you produced the whole album. The result is of course fantastic, but how did you manage the whole process, how did the recording go? The drums must have been complicated, right?
Tymon: It was a pretty easy and relaxed recording process. We were well prepared and knew exactly what we were going for. The drums are the only thing we did in a full blown studio. We took 5 days in Excess Studios in Rotterdam to get the drums done. The other instruments were recorded in our home studios. We made sure our source material was of a very high quality, that the mixing process so much easier because we didn't have to fix things in the mix. I had a very basic concept for mixing this album, I just wanted to make everything sound as good as it naturally could. Not trying to make things sound different than what they were recorded like, an approach that's widely used in metal mixing.
 
Bizz: The mixing is also fantastic. There is not even a single moment where something would be unclear during the album. How long did it take you to mix one song and how did you do it?
Tymon: I'm one of those engineers who mixes "along the way", so it's pretty much impossible to say how long it took me. And like I said before, we had the opportunity to come back to the mixes with fresh ears a couple of times, this definitely made things easier to get right.
 
Bizz: „I'm one of those who mixes ‘along the way’.“ Does it mean that Exivious is not the first album you have been mixing or do you mean just your own records?
Tymon: I studied composition and production and have recorded quite some demos for different bands over the years. Production was my first choice for a career to be honest, but then Cynic happened. Being a touring musician I unfortunately don't have the time to focus on my production career right now. But I'm confident that I will get back to this profession as I love doing it!
 
Bizz: I won´t hide it anymore, Exivious could very well be the album of the year for me and definitely the best debut in years – hopefully it won´t surprise you and your humble mind won´t scream out loud :) Have you actually ever heard some album similar to your debut?
Robin: First of all, thanks for the kind words. We had a great time recording those songs and working with a band with such musicians is like a dream for me. I think you can also hear that on the album. It´s not a product of just a couple of riffs and a drumbeat, we actually love playing that stuff, and putting that energy on record can make or break it. I hope when people hear the album they can hear that. Of course there’s a lot of albums that we are influenced by, and you can hear that music in our playing. We weren’t trying to copy any of those bands, but instead we wanted to make the best record we could, so I hope we just sound like Exivious.
 
Bizz: Certainly. However I meant whether you know a band that sounds similarly. Speaking of „metal“, Lye By Mistake, Cynic, Canvas Solaris or Panzerballett come to my mind.
Tymon: Not really to be honest. If I did I would have changed directions anyways because I really don't like to sound like something that's already been done before. And of course, the bands you mentioned have similar influences and stylistic similarities, but to me they're definitely different bands!
 
Bizz: What are the reasons for incorporating the intermezzos All That Surrounds? I tried to decipher if the album is divided into some parts, some difference or some link but i couldn´t find anything. Or are they just relaxing parts? But even the rest of your music is very relaxing, so would you help me decipher this concept?
Tymon: I'm glad to hear you figured there must be a concept behind it. It basically divides the album in 3 pieces. We realized our music can be pretty taxing on the ear, asking for a lot of attention from your brain to process all the information that we're throwing at you. That's why we thought it would be good to have 2 palette cleaners in there.
 
Bizz: How difficult it is to merge genres that seem to be completely different? Metal needs law, jazz offers the space for improvisation… Even though in your case it seems that both these genres were born for each other – perfect symbiosis… I admire you for that ;-)
The key for this album, merging genres into one solid, cohesive new style.Tymon: That was the key for this album, merging those genres into one solid, cohesive new style. I think those genres merge perfectly with the right approach, so that's what we set out to prove!
 
Bizz: The situation of Tymon and Robin in Cynic kinda reminds me of Sean and Paul in 1991 when they played with Chuck´s Death. They not only made themselves more visible but also travelled over quite a great part of the world. Even Stef has become quite known through his playing in Textures. Do you feel somewhere that the names Cynic and Textures have made Exivious more known, have brought something for Exivious?
Robin: Of course this has made it a lot easier to reach out to people. Cynic attracts a very wide range of fans, and a big part of them are always looking for what other projects the band members are in. I think the same goes for Textures. We definitely got an easier start being in those bands, and it´s really cool to see how open and appreciative people are, and where our music ended up. Last January for instance we toured through Australia, and it´s fun to run into fans that have our cd, that music travelled quite a distance!
 
Bizz: What about the reverse situation an the talks like „hey that's the band from guys from Cynic and Textures“. Do you mind? It is not about the loss of one´s identity, after all the music speaks for itself, but people often sort the band somewhere and then its hard to reverse it.
Robin: I’ve never experienced playing in Cynic as a negative thing by any means. As I said before, this has made it a lot easier for us to get our music into the world.
 
Bizz: Why did you release your cd on your own? Don´t you tell me you couldn´t find a label. Or you didn´t even look and did everything according to your ideas?
Tymon: We basically thought we wouldn't need a label. The music business has been going though some big changes in the last couple of years and I feel those changes are just the beginningThe only thing a label is good for these days is promotion and money.of what's about to happen. We have such great tools out there these days to promote our music and get in out into the world! The only thing a label is good for these days is promotion and money. But being the self contained band we are, doing production, mixing, recording and everything around it ourselves, we didn't need a lot of money to get this album happening. Promotion wise we have the CYNIC and Textures link which makes things a lot easier!
 
Bizz: Whose idea was it to put inside the limited series of the original poster and how demanding/costly was it to make them? Please, describe to me also the concept around it, what should it express and how should it feel to the fans?
Tymon: This idea was formed by the band and our graphic designer Henrik van Leeuwen. The concept behind the album is the phenomenon choice. The lines in the artwork represent one's path of life. A chain of endless choices, some bigger than others, some only having an impact on our personal life, some with the power to set a chain of events in motion influencing countless other choices. The web of lines that build up from album 1 to 1000 basically illustrate this matrix of choices that make up our collective world of choices.
It was fairly expensive to do this, explaining the higher sales price. But we felt we didn't want to cut corners anywhere in our entire production.
 
Bizz: Cynic actually already are your (Tymon and Robin) native band, but can you have two native bands? How do you have it with Cynic? Or does your heart beat mainly for Exivious and you will devote them more of your time in the future?
Tymon: Robin and I started out as session members, but things have changed a lot in the past 2 years. The extensive touring and working closely together as this 4 piece made us a real band. At this point I think CYNIC and Exivious are just as dear to me.
Robin: As long as I’ve been playing bass, I’ve always wanted to playThe concept behind the album is the phenomenon choice. Of course it wasn’t easy to put Exivious aside for the moment.in a band like Cynic. Being now in the position that I actually play in that band itself, AND have Exivious, is almost too good to be true. Of course it wasn’t easy to put Exivious aside for the moment to focus on Cynic, but it was the way we felt we had to go. Touring and working with Cynic is a blast, and we’ll definitely do some more Exivious in the future.
 
Bizz: What about the ideas for both bands? The music of both bands is partly similar, more exactly Cynic can be heard in Exivious, but into the composing process of Traced in Air you, Tymon, probably didn´t really enter. How will it be in the future? Cynic just being in the studio…
Tymon: You're right, TiA was basically completely written when I joined, I just put my touch on there with some counter riffs and solos. The new approach is quite different. Like Paul, I'm a musician with a very strong idea of how things should be done, living in every little detail, trying to get things to that magical place. On the EP we just recorded for CYNIC Paul and I worked very closely together which was a trip! I think we make a great production team! The new album will probably follow a similar production process.
 
DR: What does actually the name Exivious mean? Does it mean something special for you? I couldn´t find it in a dictionary.
Tymon: It means whatever you want it to mean!
 
Bizz: And what does it mean to you, Tymon? As you said the album concept is about taking decisions. Can Exivious mean something like “Go to hell, we like it that way!“?
Tymon: To me it became a synonym for my personal musical journey over the years. Exivious has always been my main musical project for as long as I've been playing. Things changed a bit when we got together in our current lineup where I feel I got to share my personal concept of music with the other 3 guys, making it a real band.
 
Bizz: Nobody would guess it, Tymon, but you have been leading Exivious for twelve years now. Haven´t you ever had the impulse to quit Exivious an try some other project? You were a full band, then it was a one man project, now again a band. Have you always wanted Exivious to be a band, or would you even be satisfied by doing it alone?
Tymon: I've always pushed for Exivious to be a band! Projects don't really attract me, there's something to be said about 4 or 5 people becoming a close family. I'm convinced you can hear this in a band's recording! Exivious is me, Michel, Robin and Stef, and I don't think that will change anytime soon! Especially with the way we approach our music, we can't just replace a member without changing at least 25% of what Exivious is. I'm a firm believer of this!
 
Bizz: In the beginning you weren´t an instrumental band. How do you cope with being without vocals (more for the listening, no lyrics - not so much about thinking) and how did you come to the decision of leaving the vocals out? You sing in Cynic and there are even lyrics for Waves of Thought.
Tymon: This was a huge dilemma for us when we formed the modern day Exivious. We all love vocals, it can add a lot of expression to music. But in the end we felt vocals weren't needed for the thing we were going for with Exivious. The thoughts behind the music are still there, spinning wildly in our own heads though, instead of pouring them out in the form of lyrics.
 
Bizz: You will stay instrumental for good, or if some singer emerged, you would try him out? And if you had one, would Exivious sound exactly the same or would you adapt the music and sound a bit?
Tymon: Who knows! Our path is open to whatever needs to happen...
 
Bizz: Crazy idea, but can you imagine being swallowed up by electronic and industrial? Could Exivious be about loops and dark sound parts?
Robin: I think Exivious can go anywhere we want, and since we're open for a lot of different music styles, anything can happen!
 
Bizz: Michel comes from Sengaia, where even Eric Kalsbeek from Textures sings. Didn´t you think of making him an offer for Exivious vocals? Even if just for a song, as a guest… What about trying more vocalists, different from song to song… wouldn´t it break the concept that you are heading for?
Tymon: We thought about it, he definitely has a great voice. But we thought it would be a little to inbreed to go this route.
 
Bizz: I would like to ask how did you find your current band mates? For example how did you get Stef into Exivious, how Robin into Cynic? They are both amazing players, but for Stef – even as a perfect drummer – it must have been very difficult to adjust to a completely different style than in native Textures?
Tymon: Textures is a pretty big band in Holland and after seeing them play I had a feeling Stef would be capable of much more than just the Meshuggah drumming he does a lot for Textures. So when our previous drummer and I split up I just sent him an email and he basically was interested right of the bat! Stef introduced me to both Michel and Robin. This all happened in a short period of time, I remember I was so surprised to suddenly have a full blown lineup again!
Robin: I know Stef back from when I started rehearsing with my own band. He was in another band in the same town, visited the same high school, and the music scene in the area was pretty close at that time. Years later I saw him walking, listening to some music, and he made sure I listened to it. It sounded awesome! So I said to him that I was really interested in playing in thatLife can be weird and easy.band, which turned out to be Exivious. Some time later Tymon told us he was going to play with Cynic, and pretty much the same thing happened, I told him I would definitely like to play in that band, and as it turned out they needed a bass player. Life can be weird and easy!
 
Bizz: I sort of disagree on this, Tymon. Textures are not just about Meshuggah drums although „odd“ drumming is a strong aspect. But their music is very emotional, full of atmosphere with protracted motives. It was in the time of Polars, wasn’t it? And for how long has Stef been in Exivious? From Robin’s answer I understand he’d been in Exivious earlier than him.
Tymon: Well all I mean is that you don't hear Stef playing Exivious like stuff in Textures, I agree that Textures is an awesome band, don't get me wrong there! I think we got together in 2005 if I recall correctly. But the other guys came in really quickly after meeting Stef.
 
Bizz: Given that Exivious already exist for 12 years, why did the album take so long, when the line-up seemed to get stable during the years. There is not enough musicians down there? I don´t believe it… there must be lots of them – just to mention some: SunCaged, Lemur’s Voice, After Forever, Epica, Textures, Obsidian, CiLiCe etc. Or am I mistaken?
Tymon: I just wasn't ready to put out an album I would be satisfied with. The vision I had for Exivious required some serious skills, musical knowledge and a developed musical vocabulary. So all those years were basically needed to get me to that place where I felt I could pull it off. Of course there's a ton of awesome musicians to be found in Holland but with all due respect to our local scene, there's not a lot of musicians who have the sensibilities and skill to play in a band like Exivious.
 
Bizz: I can´t in the least doubt the contribution of Michel to the band, because your songs can´t even be divided by authors. How did you decide who to take on the post of guitarist beside yourself and what were your demands?
Tymon: I think a creative mind is much more important than any technical skills on the instrument. None of us are big shredders or technical geniuses like you see on youtube sometimes.Creative mind is much more important than any technical skills. The key to Exivious is the collective creativity.The key to Exivious is the collective creativity we have. To inspire each other! Michel fits in the picture as my fellow composer, he has helped me a lot with things like structuring and dynamics in songs. And besides that his melodic and harmonic sensibilities are very different than mine, but curiously work together perfectly!
 
Bizz: Your music is now 100% fusion, but even on the first demo there were some jazzy parts to be heard. How did it occur that the ratios of the two genres –metal and jazz- came to an equilibrium? Pure intention or just natural evolution?
Tymon: Intention, with our debut album we finally realized what we set out to do.
 
DR: Jazz rock a.k.a. fusion had its best years in the seventies. Do you think it has again the possibility of attracting lots of fans or that it will stay by its small but faithful group of fans due to its complexity? Do you have some favourite bands from that era? I can think of, for example, Brand X that are not so far from Exivious either.
Tymon: We're blown away by the positive feedback to our album, from a group of people way bigger than we expected! It seems the metal scene has been opening up a lot recently. Robin and I see it all the time when we're touring with CYNIC. It's awesome!
Robin: We’re touring with Between The Buried And Me right now, and it’s really cool to see a band like that can be as big as they are. The metal scene as we experience it really has an open view for other styles and influences. Curiously enough, I don’t really know that many bands in this musical genre from that time, I grew up listening to bands like Death, Cynic and Meshuggah. In my opinion, these bands aren’t that close to Exivious’ sound, but other people might think differently.
 
Bizz: Even though the conditions are getting better, still the music in these veins has no chance for commercial success. What is still driving you forward? Do you think that you can ever attain something „dreamt-of“, something ideal?
Tymon: I think it's important to realize there's no such thing as "something ideal".I think it's important to realize there's no such thing as "something ideal". Commercial success is in no way a consideration.Commercial, musical, personal or any kind of success doesn't equal happiness. We did exactly what we wanted and had to do with Exivious. Commercial success is in no way a consideration for what we are doing.
Robin: We never intended to make this music to get rich. As you said, that would most probably not work out hahaha! Nevertheless, when I see how many people already know the album and how psyched they are about it, I would say it’s a success. At least for me it is.
 
Bizz: The last question is related to this. What are the next steps for Exivious? Tour, next album… I heard even something about summer festival plans… and reaching as far as our country… for example Brutal Assault?
Robin: We would really love to do tours with Exivious, but for now Tymon and I have decided to focus on Cynic first. And who knows what happens in the future! We are thinking about new music, new ways that could end up on an Exivious record, but I guess only time can tell when that´s going to see the light of day.
 
DR: And finally: Do you think that King Crimson will still make another disc? :)
Tymon: Time will tell :)

aktuálně

diskuze