Ekove Efrits Interview with Against Magazine; Issue 4 [December 26, 2013]

Posted by Nick Skog on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 Under: Interviews
Ekove Efrits Interview with Against Magazine; Issue 4 
Published: December 26, 2013
Interview by: Joel Costa
Original Link [Pg. 38-39]

AGAINST: Congratulations on the new album. “Nowhere” is your fourth full-length. Can you give us a brief history on how Ekove Efrits came into existence? 
EE: Thank you, Well I think it’s all about a habit. Transforming  your inner feelings from your dark side into something tangible for yourself and second for your audience. It could happen for any form of art with different mediums. And about me I chose to write music under the title of Ekove Efrits , completely as an experimental project many years ago somewhere between 2001-2005 but there's no specific date because I started to recording some stuff without any specific name and it was only couple years after that I choose the name for my activity. 



AGAINST: How is Metal seen in Iran and what can you tell us about your country’s scene? 
EE: Iran has a talented powerful Metal scene with many great bands but as you know in a underground level , and also it’s not limited to only metal stuff but a wide range from instrumental/Rock/Post-rock  to electronic/ambient and any other style of music such as extreme one, Death metal, ect . I think it’s normal because people in society have different tastes in music both in audiences and artists and that’s extendable to music too.
I have heard many great bands in these past years and some of them have really surprised me!

AGAINST: What are the advantages and disadvantages for having a Metal band in Iran?
EE: If you asked me this question years ago as a teenager I would definitely think about being famous among Metal fans as one of the advantages but it’s not something  bold for me anymore. Things go normal during the course of your life and this is no exception too. I think the real advantage is rather something else. By having a band In fact you make a straight channel from your feelings to those ones that want to sit and hear that. You make a personal world and some people come to watch, that’s all! Sharing your own world.
About disadvantages I definitely say the situation here about unpopular forms of music. In addition of official limitations you won’t face a huge desire from people these days too. I know Metal music belongs to a minority in compared with rock or pop music and also by coming newer genres it becomes old and older somehow but in my country I can use minority of minority instead of minority fans of Metal music! Maybe absence of internal magazines and Web-zines is another negative aspect.

AGAINST: You have a very distinct sound. What are the main influences for Ekove Efrits?
EE: Thank you, I just do my best to follow my own feelings. Of course I'm inspired from lots of bands but in the process of recording I just focus on myself and those inner sounds in my mind. I see this as an essential destination for art, discovering and knowing yourself through art.

AGAINST: Can you tell us about the process of making of the new album?
EE: Usually I start each album when I have something in my mind, it’s almost always about melodies and the stories behind them that make me curious to move forward and that was the case for “Nowhere” too. Of course I can’t depict a clear plan to show you how exactly things went there because I don’t follow a specific rule in my process. This time something very exciting happens for me and that was the participation of “Megan Tassaker” in some songs as the female vocalist which brought a new spirit to the album. To be honest before recording the lines I knew that I need to bring a new soul to the album and what could be better than some female vocals? So I got in contact with her and fortunately she accepted to join and sing over some songs on the album. Also my special thanks to “Jessica Enneby” that allowed me to put one of her stoning illustrations into the booklet of “Nowhere”, because that was so close to the atmosphere of my songs.



AGAINST: The female voice sounds amazing. What made you choose Megan for this position?
EE: I agree! Besides her beautiful voice, another reason was her understanding, amazing intuition and the variations in the way she sang. She understood the atmosphere of my music deeply and I’m completely satisfied with the results.

AGAINST: What made you decide to go with drum programming instead of using real drums?
EE: I’m not a drummer and also I’m not easy to be in a band or work with somebody else in a long term, so it’s more comfortable for me to be alone and use drum programs.

AGAINST: What inspires you lyrically?
EE: Everything that involves my mind one level more than normal things but I can say life and people have important role in between.

AGAINST: Will you bring Ekove Erifts to the stage?
EE: I don’t really know. Years ago I was exciting about bringing EE to the stage but now it sounds a little bit unusual to me.. Signs of turning into an old man haha! But I don’t really know as I said. Maybe… not impossible at all.

AGAINST: What are your plans for 2014?
EE: At this moment I just think about having a break!


In : Interviews 


Tags: "ekove efrits" "nowhere" "atmospheric black metal" "ambient black metal" "cinematic music"