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| w/PAT SAVELKOUL |
| Dawn/The Metal Web!: First off I must say congratulations on the new album and that I was thoroughly impressed. The musicianship I found to be incredible. Is that the kind of reaction that you’ve been getting lately for the new album "My Passion//Your Pain"? Pat Savelkoul: Thanks for the compliments! Glad to hear you like our new creation! So far the response has been excellent. The reviews we got so far, merely from the European press since they are a little bit earlier than overseas, has been totally crushing which made us very happy of course. Overall the response is even better than on our previous album “Flesh_Power_Dominion”. But of course there are always people around that like the previous stuff more. Guess that’s normal and of course you can’t please everybody on this fucking planet, which we don’t intend to do either by the way. We play the music we like ourselves and not the other way around. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Can you give us a brief history of Callenish Circle and what is the concept behind the name? I have read that the band name was actually "made up", is that true and how did it come to be? Pat Savelkoul: For an extended biography please check the website: http://www.callenish-circle.com. Callenish Circle is a Stonehenge-alike circle in the north/west of Scotland, situated on the tiny island "Lewis". Ages ago a circle with very huge stones was found there and the people back then never could have managed to get these stones placed in that particular circle, so a myth arose that once a year ghosts appear at Callenish Circle. So it’s definitely not a name we made up but a real existing mythological place on earth. But I must admit that originally the name was spelled as "Callanish" and we changed it into "Callenish" so we would always have a unique band name. That’s the story behind the name in short. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The album title "My Passion//Your Pain", what is the meaning behind the title? Pat Savelkoul: The lyrics of the song "My Passion//Conflicts//My Pain" are about the contrast and connection between passion and pain. The first part of the song "My Passion", describes the individual that has a passion of doing things that cause pain to other people. Later "Your Pain", the same musical part repeats and describes the individual that suffers from the pain. The meaning behind the lyrics is that those two individuals will be connected forever. For example, the child molester will always remember the child and vice versa. Those individuals often end up in situations where they’re confronted with those happenings of their past; the conflict. Sometimes people say “time heals all wounds” but in cases like this the wounds will never heal. Dawn/The Metal Web!: What does the cover artwork signify in the way of the band or the album itself? Pat Savelkoul: After having the album title "My Passion//Your Pain" and one song "My Passion//Conflicts//Your Pain", we wanted the album cover to reflect the contents of the lyrics of the song which is the contrast between the individual who has the passion to cause pain to the other individual, and the everlasting connection between both individuals. After discussing this with Niklas (Cabin Fever Media and guitar player in Dark Tranquillity) he came up with the idea of the "Parasitic Twin". You see the left one of the Twins is controlling the right one. The right one is really suffering while the left one is in control. As you see no matter what happens, the Twin will always be connected. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Speaking of artwork, Niklas Sundin (Dark Tranquility) did the design and artwork for the sleeve of "My Pleasure//Your Pain". Has he done other artwork for the band? Pat Savelkoul: Yes Niklas was also responsible for the artwork of our previous album "Flesh_Power_Dominion", that was released on Metal Blade Records as well in 2002. Dawn/The Metal Web!: As I said earlier, the musicianship heard throughout "My Passion//Your Pain" is incredible. While remaining inimitable, the band does bare resemblance to "At the Gates" and "In Flames". Have you heard that comparison before and what are the primary influences within the band? Pat Savelkoul: No! Don’t compare us with In Flames please. Listen again and don’t tell me in we have influences of In Flames in our sound. Yes they are melodic indeed just like us, but their sound is totally different from ours if you ask me. Callenish Circle is way more intense and Thrash oriented, while In Flames is melodic in a totally different way. I can live with the At the Gates comparison though. They also have that melodic intensity in their sound and of course At the Gates was without a doubt one of the most influential bands emerging from the Swedish Death Metal scene, at least for the modern sounding Death Metal that means. "Slaughter of the Soul" still reigns supreme these days! Dawn/The Metal Web!: My favored tracks off the album are "Soul Messiah", "Forsaken", "This Truculent Path" and "My Hate Unfolds". Can you give a brief interpretation behind each of these tracks? Pat Savelkoul: Ok here we go "Soul Messiah", this one is about all kinds of addictions you can possibly think of that can ruin a man’s life. When people are having serious psychological problems. For example, when they’ve ended up in situations where they don’t see any exit they tend to search for means that help people enlighten or release themselves from those situations. The result is an addiction or devotion that seems to help at that particular moment. But over a long period of time the person only sinks deeper into his problems. The end of the lyrics describes how this addiction works as a kind of parasite, destroying the person and then goes onto the next person. "Forsaken" is about someone hearing voices in his head which are driving him insane, trapping him inside his own world full of lies, without any purposes, living from deception to deception. It’s causing desolation and desperation. "This Truculent Path" is about getting to know certain things you don’t want to know at all. Thinking about a situation over and over again can feed your hate and can make you conscienceless to people involved. "My Hate Unfolds" describes the hate you feel against someone who’s completely fulfilled with his own person and in your opinion far too proud of the things he has achieved. Someone who can only think about himself. Dawn/The Metal Web!: If you had to name just one track off the new album to best define Callenish Circle, which would it be and why? Pat Savelkoul: Difficult question since you can divide the songs on our album in 2 categories. First, of all the live songs like "Soul Messiah" and "Forsaken" and besides the more studio-oriented songs like "My Hate Unfolds" and the trilogy-song "My Passion//Conflicts//Your Pain". Anyway since I am a real "live" maniac and I definitely prefer live-shows above studio-work, I would choose "Soul Messiah" and "Forsaken" since they contain the furious intensity that I like of playing in Callenish Circle. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The band also covered a track by Pestilence called "Out Of The Body", why that particular band and song? Pat Savelkoul: Well as you might know we started out as a cover-band back in 1992 by playing cover tunes of our favorite bands like Death, old-Paradise Lost, Bolt Thrower and yes, Pestilence. So when Metal Blade asked if we could record something extra we started digging in our own history and very soon we came to the decision that “Out of the Body” from legendary Dutch band Pestilence would be the song to do. Pestilence had a very big impact on the Dutch metal-scene in the late '80's and early '90's and for Callenish Circle it definitely was one of the main inspirations to start playing this kind of music. Besides it’s a killer song to play live. Dawn/The Metal Web!: When was the material written and completed for "My Pleasure//Your Pain"? I ask because I see that the recording started back in September 2001. Pat Savelkoul: Where did you get that information? The new album was recorded in January and February 2003 while the recordings for "Flesh_Power_Dominion" were done in April and May 2001. So you were definitely wrong informed on this one. Dawn/The Metal Web!: I noticed Ronny Tyssen (guitarist) does the majority of the lyric writing. Do you as the vocalist get involved in any aspect of the writing? Pat Savelkoul: Ronny is indeed responsible for moreover of the lyrics. I adapt his lyrics in the vocal-lines of the new songs. So I have to fit the words in a logical way into the music. Sounds easy on paper but is often pretty hard in reality. But because of that aspect, also a challenge to make up cool vocal-lines. We do it like this for over 10 years now so we all have some experience by now. Dawn/The Metal Web!: In the past the band went through several label changes before signing with "Metal Blade". What was the basis for the replacement in labels and what made the band decide to sign with "Metal Blade" as opposed to other labels? Pat Savelkoul: Well the other labels simply didn’t do what they promised on promotion, distribution and touring. Especially with "DSFA Records". They fucked us over really bad since they let us pay the whole fucking recordings. Then they completely ruined the album by a total non-promotion/distribution and up until now we haven’t seen a single penny back from our investment in the recordings. We signed to "Metal Blade Records" because they simply offered us the best deal, financially seen and even more important they offered the best conditions on promotion, distribution and touring-possibilities. We are glad we made that choice because they haven’t disappointed us, not even once until now and they stuck to all their promises. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Who is "Trendkiller Music Mgmt" and what do they contribute to the band? Pat Savelkoul: Well actually that’s the name for my own management. Since I take care of all band management and booking for Callenish Circle I decided to use the name "Trendkiller Music Management" for that. In the past I did some underground band promotion and some underground mail order and distribution under that name. I stopped these activities when I started working at a record label myself; "Hammerheart" but I still use the name for the management-thing and for the bus trips we sometimes organize for our fans. For example, the "Wacken Festival" where we play in August. Dawn/The Metal Web!: In support of the new album Callenish Circle will kick off a tour overseas from August through October. Has there been any discussion as to when you’ll tour the States? Pat Savelkoul: Yes in October we will hit the European road with Exodus and Nuclear Assault among others. But before, we will play the two leading German summer festivals, "Wacken Open Air" and "Summer Breeze Festival". Last month we already did a small (4 shows) Benelux mini-tour with Dismember. At the moment no concrete plans for a US tour yet but maybe in 2004. First we will concentrate on touring Europe and then we will see for the rest of the world. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Well when the US tour does happen, you can bet "The Metal Web!" and myself will definitely be a part of that support! Again, "My Passion//Your Pain" and as musicians, "truly amazing"! Thanks for the interview. With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? Pat Savelkoul: Thanks for the support and to all the readers I’d like to say: check out our new album "My Passion//Your Pain". OFFICIAL SITE "CALLENISH CIRCLE": http://www.callenish-circle.com HOME |
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