Hey Lee! First of all, thanks alot for answering these questions! It means a lot!
No problem!
To-Mera's debut album 'Transcendental' was received very well by both critics and fans, do you feel any pressure to make the follow up even better?
Not really. We already know the next album will be better because the new songs are far more mature and written on a grander scale. Transcendental was the first 8 songs we ever wrote, and stylistically there were places where we were just basically dipping our toes in the water. We've got a lot more confidence as a band now, and more of an idea of what works and what doesn't for us.
You play a lot of shows in England, will you be visiting any other countries when the next CD is released?That's the plan. It's difficult trying to get support slots, etc, when you only have one album out. But we have a good booking agent who will hopefully be pro actively pushing us onto a decent tour should the opportunity arise. We're happy to play everywhere and anywhere!
You've toured with a variety of bands, from the Gothic ambience of Octavia Sperati, to the utter brutality of Emperor. What is it like to perform to such wide audiences? What type of reception do you receive?
Well, the Emperor show was a strange one. 2000 people looking at us like we'd come from Mars :). We didn't get booed off or anything bad like that, but it was definitely a partisan Emperor crowd. I guess to a degree we could play with most types of bands, but we'd be more comfortable playing with progressive metal bands. Symphony X would be nice, someone like that.
Forgive me if i'm wrong, but i remember you said you recorded 2 videos? The video for 'Blood' was released a while ago, but what happened to the second video, for 'Phantoms'?
No, the original plan was to do two videos, but since very few TV stations bothered to play "Blood" we decided not to bother paying for another video.
Could you give us an explanation as to what the video for 'Blood' is about?
The director interpreted the lyrics in a slightly different way than the song intends, but it seemed fun to do it this way (even though not many people get it!). In the video, it's relating to the fact that it's difficult to escape your past. It's always around to haunt you. I can't really go much deeper than that, hehe.
Due to Julie Kiss being female [I'm pretty sure, anyway ;)] To-Mera get lumped into the Femme Metal category with bands such as Nightwish and Evanescence. Do you see this is a good thing? Or not?
We used to be annoyed about it, but now we don't care to be honest. It's impossible to stop people thinking in this way. We know we have nothing in common with these other bands, and a lot of other people realise this too. That's good enough for us.
Are you interested in the femme metal scene?
Not really, I have to say. There are some great individual bands, like Stolen Babies, Unexpect, Aghora, Diablo Swing Orchestra, etc, but I'd listen to them no matter who was singing. I've seen a few of the femme bands play live, and After Forever seem like a very tight and professional band. I wouldn't listen to them at home though.
At home what music would you listen to?
I have literally thousands of CDs, so anything from Abscess to ZZ Top. I have a rotation of random songs playing all the time, and once in a while I focus on particular band. Right now I'm crazy for Death Breath and Kansas with some Mats/Morgan, Anti-Cimex and Amon Amarth thrown in too. I'll listen to anything from emo to jazz to death metal to experimental noise.
Was it strange, to be picked up by the label you founded? ;) :)It was to be honest. It's a long(ish) story, but I'll try and keep it short :)
I was involved for a short while with Earache records and my imprint label there (Elitist) had been cancelled (this is a story of it's own, hehe). Anyway, I had some bands in the studio or with finished albums that Earache were refusing to pay for. In desperation, I turned to Edward, the "new" owner of Candlelight to see if he could help to take some bands from me (he took Daylight Dies and Wolverine). When I sent the other band's CDs I also threw in a To-Mera demo. At this point we were already speaking to two other labels, but a week or so later I got an email saying that Candlelight were interested too.
It was obviously slightly strange for me considering my past, but Candlelight offered the best deal in terms of flexibility and artistic control and, as a band, we chose them over the other deals offered.
What is going to be happening with To-Mera in the next year?
The new album will be out early 2008. We hope we get the chance to support the record with plenty of shows.
To-Mera are currently recording the follow up to their debut CD; Transcendental.
To-Mera @ Myspace
To-Mera Official
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