Callenish Circle Interview

w/GAVIN HARTE

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Out of curiosity, why the name Pitch. Black. Effects for a title?

Gavin Harte: That’s a pretty long story. But, here you go… A few years ago, I was in Berlin visiting the Jewish museum. Besides the whole Jewish history, the most impressive part was (regrettably) everything concerning the holocaust. One room in the museum was created to give the visitor an impression of how it would feel to be locked in one of the camps. You must imagine to be in a concrete building ; pitch black, cold, humid, alone, feeling really tiny, desperate and the only light was to far way and unreachable. For some reason this made quite an impression on me and when I read a poem a few months ago, it immediately reminded me of my visit at the museum. The poem told a story of someone in a hopeless situation, which got their energy from really simple things, like this beam of light coming into the room every morning. The poem described this experience as coming from a completely dark environment (pitch black) into a light environment in a symbolical way. If you do this literally, what you get is an overexposed effect in your eyes: a pitch-black effect. Besides the title Pitch.Black.Effects, the song Schwarzes Licht describes this whole story and the overexposed effect comes back into the artwork.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Musically, the album is a very in your face thrash album and you really mix it up with your arrangements. This album is fierce with a lot of variety! How did everything go in the studio recording this album?

Gavin Harte: Before going to the studio, we didn’t know what to expect, a new studio, new producer, new way of recording. Therefore, we were pretty exited of how everything would go. The recordings went pretty good. Of course, we had some small things we ran into on our way towards the end mix, but nothing major. We made really long days in the studio and spend a lot of time experimenting with new sounds and fine-tuning the songs. Before we went to the studio we thought about 95% of the material was finished. During the recording I think about 30% of the material was rewritten. For us the end result is really great. All of our experiments really paid off. We managed to deliver a typical Callenish Circle records without repeating ourselves.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: What is the concept behind the cover art because when going through the booklet you have images of grasshoppers, metal masks, a stone mask with a castle in the distance as well as a shot of the band looking as if you are standing in what appears to be either a hospital or an insane asylum, especially with Pat all in white (Laughs)? That was at least the feeling I got when looking at it.

Gavin Harte: The images in the booklet are all more or less graphic interpretations of the lyrics. For instance, the background of Sweet Cyanide shows this chemical mask. The shot of the band is made in a hospital. So, you got it right! During live-shows, Pat runs on stage as a hyperactive person. From his performance, we made the link to some hyperactive crazy person from an insane asylum. We put him in some white clothing and there you go. The whole idea is rather based on his overactive live performance.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You actually wrote the lyrics for one of the tracks Schwarzes Licht. Can you tell me the idea behind that particular track as well as the interpretation of "Das Schwartze Licht... Es Nimmt Mir Die Kraft... Es Nimmt Mir Die Hoffnung... Ohne Furcht In Das Nichts Hinein..., which is a chorus you wrote in the song?

Gavin Harte: This song is closely connected to the album title. The lyrics are about a person in a hopeless situation who still finds the strength to keep on fighting for a good life. It's about getting the energy from those little things in life. Like a beam of light or the smell of a flower. A subject that can be projected on all different kind of situations. It shows how relative everything is. One day you are talking about buying this fancy car and the next day you hear that you are deadly ill and you start fighting for your life. The chorus describes how hard it is to retrieve the positive energy ‘because the black light sucks up all energy.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Where do you think the band as a whole is drawing it’s inspiration from these days as opposed to writing lyrics or music from the first album? Is it somewhat different from back then?

Gavin Harte: Our lyrics have always been based on the same, “human emotions”. We are in existence about 12-13 years now and during the years, we’ve become older and more mature. Which sometimes I doubt that, though. The content of the lyrics are more in dept now, compared to the first lyrics we wrote.

If I look at the music, our environment has always influenced our music. In the early days, we were more focused on Metal music only. During the years we got more open minded towards other musical styles and I think that’s also to be heard in our music. It’s quite funny how ideas from very different styles can be adapted to Callenish Circle’s music.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: From the last album to now, how do you feel Callenish Circle is different as a band and as a vision?

Gavin Harte: Between the last album My Passion // Your Pain and Pitch.Black.Effects there are about 2-5 years. During the years we talked a lot of the new album and one thing that we wanted to take with us are our live performances: which parts and songs do we enjoy playing live. We found that the groovier parts we’re really cool to play so we decided to focus more on the groove than on speed. As a vision, much has not changed in our opinion. We always been self-willed and we don’t bother too much about trends. The important issues for us are keeping the music interested and challenging, being open minded towards your environment and be sure to have fun in what you are doing!

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Callenish Circle is very established overseas, yet America hasn’t quite caught wind of Callenish Circle enough yet. Why do you think that is and is there more of an effort to focus on America now with this new record?

Gavin Harte: Although we’re signed by an American record label, there is a big difference between the European bands and US bands. We are promoted more in Europe than in America. Metal Blade has a lot bands so they have to choose their priorities. But, I think, if the press is really positive about Callenish Circle and we keep on receiving these great reactions from American people, we will get more priority in the US too. In my opinion, we share many ingredients with popular bands like Unearth and As I Lay Dying although we’re not labeled as a metal core band. So, the market is big enough for Callenish Circle to fit in.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When thinking of your band mates, what do you feel they bring to the band aside from the vocals and/or instrument they play?

Gavin Harte: Pat is the contact person for the business-side of the band. Now he is pretty busy with arranging shows and tours and stuff. He’s "true" manager who is keeping control of the whole business side. Besides that, he’s also taking care of interviews if he has the time for it. Talking about Ronny... he is our main idea generator. He always comes up with the basis guitar ideas. Besides that, he is also involved in doing the interviews and some website developing. Wim & Muuk are there to play there instruments. They both bring in their opinion about how things are arranged within the band. Speaking for myself, Ronny and I compose the songs, I do some web design and I am involved in the whole interview process.

So, all the band tasks are divided among the five of us. Every one does the part where he‘s good at. Besides the five band members, we are working with a steady crew consisting of Gail Liebling, sound engineer, Gabriel, tour manager & merchandiser and Geert our stage manager & guitar tech. They are not mentioned very often but they are important people for us when we’re on the road.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Don’t blush when I say this, but you are a great drummer! And believe me; I listen for flaws because I’m so pessimistic. (Laughs) I like your style because though you can do the "bells and whistles", you’re a very tasteful drummer. When recording, is there a certain regiment that you use to obtain the drum and snare sound that you have? Do you use a lot of Pro-tools? The drum sound is amazing!

Gavin Harte: Mmm, thank you very much! We wanted to have a pure and real drum sound instead of a bunch of samples. To attain a natural sound we also used the ambient sound of the drum kit. The basis for a good drum sound is of course a good sounding and tuned drum kit and a nice set of cymbals. Luckily, last year I got an endorsement deal from a Dutch drum factory called Adams. They really produce some top-notch stuff. Being a small drum kit company, they are actually pretty big and famous for their instruments for symphonic orchestras. They also provided me with a set of Istanbul Mehmet cymbals. So, the basic requirements are present. Now you need a decent drummer and a good producer with both minds in the same direction. We used pro-tools to record the album and using pro-tools in a right way makes recording a lot easier. However, it’s not the case that I played one verse and copied it 4 times.

As a drummer, I like to experiment a bit to make it sound more musical. I think that’s where the bells and whistles come in (Laughs). Although I should practice some more, I’m still learning every day bit by bit.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Do you think Callenish Circle will finally get a chance to tour America in 2006 and what do you think would be the ideal lineup for Callenish Circle on an American tour?

Gavin Harte: The new album is out now for 4 weeks and the reviews and response are awesome. We get a lot of response from people from the US. We recently got the radio charts and the new album does a much better job then the previous album; all top 10! So, it seems that we’re really doing a good job with this album. Unfortunately, it is not completely in our hands to tour US. But, if the new album keeps on developing like this...

A good line-up? Although we’re not marketed as a metal core band I think we would fit on a metal core tour with bands like As I Lay dying and Unearth. In my opinion, we have many common ingredients in our music.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Gav, thanks for taking the time in interviewing with me. Metal Blade and I are actually going to have a contest for a CD giveaway along with your feature so hopefully we will turn a couple more American heads your way! With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!?

Gavin Harte: Ok, thanks for the interview. There were some really hard questions that really made me think. To all the readers, forget this interview and all you might have read about Callenish Circle. Check out our music at http://www.myspace.com/callenishcircle or for some more info http://www.callenish-circle.com. Then you’ll be convinced! (Laughs)

OFFICIAL SITE "CALLENISH CIRCLE": http://www.callenish-circle.com

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