Ελληνικά
Metal Invader had a nice chat with Chris Ojeda (guitars/vocals) of Byzantine about their new album, the difficulties of being an independent band and other personal stuff. His sincerity shocked us, in a pleasant way.
First of all, congratulations for your new album “To Release Is To Resolve”. It’s been fifteen years since the formation of the band and I think this is your best release to date. What’s the reaction of the people when it comes to your new album?
It’s been overwhelmingly positive. We still have some older fans who are upset about the lineup changes but they are in the minority. We also still have some publications that haven’t grasped onto what we have been trying to do for 15 years, which is mix a few different styles of heavy music that we like into our own sound. I have tried to expand my vocal range even more on this album to diversify our songs and that can get on some people’s nerves. In the end, we have to write the songs to make ourselves happy first. If everyone else likes them as well, that is just an added bonus.
This is your first release since Sean Sydnor (Bass Guitars) joined the band and Brian Henderson (Guitars) returned. Do you think the maturity of your new album has to do with them joining the band or was it something deriving after that many years of being a band?
It’s something we have been pushing for the whole time. I wrote this album in its entirety so it’s just a continuation of the Byzantine sound we started in 2000, just more dynamic and a tad bit more involved. The areas where the new guys helped tremendously were the dynamics. Sean and Brian both have different styles of playing than their predecessors, so adding them into the recording process added another ripple to our sound. The solos are more Lydian in nature than Jazz/Atonal. The bass lines are finger style as opposed to picking.
What are the lyrics about?
I went through a lot of personal separation since the last album. We lost two band members and I went through a divorce with my child’s mother. I have three songs on the album on those topics. That is where the title, “To Release Is To Resolve” came from. Sometimes you have to let someone or something go in order for things to get better. I also cover topics from prescription pill abuse (The Agonies) to alien intervention (You Sleep, We Wake) to the West Memphis 3 murders (A Curious Lot).
This is your second self-released album. What difficulties did you encounter on releasing it? Where did the recordings take place?
The main difficulties you encounter when self-releasing your album are getting the proper exposure and landing a decent tour. The money isn’t that big of an issue because we have been able to successfully crowd fund our albums and take personal loans out to offset the rest of the cost. We can achieve a very good sounding record on a smaller budget than we used to be able to do when dealing with our previous record label. This recording was done in Charleston, WV and the vocals were tracked in Myrtle Beach, SC. We recorded the drums at a local studio, recorded all the guitars and bass in my basement practice space and the vocals in our engineer’s studio. It was a blast!
As you mentioned, being an independent band means less promotion, lesser chances of touring etc. How do you plan to promote your new album?
We always promote as much as possible on free social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc. The main thing that we strove for on this album was landing a Distribution deal, which we got with RED/Sony. Our album is now in stores as well as all the digital outlets (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify). We have also been working with the PR Firm The Syndicate for the last 2 albums now which has helped us tremendously. We also have a booking agency now so there is not much difference between us and a band on a bigger metal label. We just have to do a lot of the behind the scenes work ourselves to make sure we promote heavily.
Given the chance, would you join a label? Are there any personal reasons (political views etc.) that could discourage you from doing so?
I have no real desire to sign a recording contract anymore. We were under contract on our 1st 3 albums and, although it helped us get a fan base and tour with a lot of bigger bands at the time, we never learned how to manage our own business and never saw any royalties. Running our own label specifically for this band has taught me invaluable lessons on business management. The hands on aspects of it are very fulfilling to me.
Are there any plans on playing on Europe?
We would love to tour Europe in the near future. We want to hit a few more markets in the US this year and hopefully get a decent tour lined up in the Spring of next year for Europe.
You’re often referred to as Groove Metal, Post-Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal and as a part of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. What are your major influences and how would you describe your music to someone who has never listened to you before?
Personally, my influences growing up were bands like Testament, Exhorder, Forbidden, Megadeth. Later on in my 20’s I discovered Meshuggah, which opened my mind to a whole new way of playing heavy metal. My influences now are a lot more mellow. I really love Porcupine Tree, Katatonia, Tears for Fears, Devin Townsend…
Being myself from Greece, which has its history interwoven with that of the Byzantine Empire, I can’t but ask how you came to choose that name for your band.
I was looking for a word that could describe the music that I wanted to write and I kept searching for descriptions for intricate, calculated… etc. The term Byzantine came across my search and I instantly loved it. The Byzantine Empire’s judicial system was so complex and labyrinthine that it was a perfect synonym for the band. Also Byzantine can mean “carried out by underhanded means”, which is awesome too! I did a search and noticed no band had that name so I ran with it. It also doesn’t give a new fan any negative connotations. The band name “Casket Full of Babies” might turn off potential listeners. HA!!!
It’s been fifteen years since your formation and each album sounds more mature than its predecessors. What should we be expecting from you in the future? Are there any musical directions you’d like to experiment on?
I don’t think this band will ever try to experiment so much that we sound like a completely different band. We will just continue to try to tinker with our formula just enough to keep ourselves interested and hopefully continue to write catchy, groovy and unique heavy metal songs.
Thanks a lot for your time and I wish you all the best for your band. Is there anything else you’d like to tell to your fans and to the people reading this?
Please check out our music on our Facebook site, follow us on Twitter and come see us perform if we visit your town! Thanks for the all the support!
www.facebook.com/byzantinewv
www.twitter.com/wvbyzantine
www.byzantinemetal.com
