söndag

Sky Architect svarar på elva frågor.

Sky Architect är ett band med fem yngre musiker från Rotterdam som 2010 levererade den pigga debuten Excavations Of The Mind.  I år räknar bandet med att släppa uppföljaren A Dying Man's Hymn.

image

Nedanstående intervju med bandet är gjord via e-mail. Den innehåller bland mycket annat info om hur bandet jobbar fram sina låtar, fakta om den holländska progrockscenen och vad bandet anser om svensk progrock.

Pressrelease:

Sky Architect is a new progressive rock-band consisting of five young gentlemen. While studying at the pop-academy in Rotterdam Wabe Wieringa, Rik van Honk and Christiaan Bruin (multi-instrumentalist also known for his solo project “Chris”) laid the foundation of what is now Sky Architect. Starting out as an instrumental rock-trio they were later joined by Tom Luchies and Guus van Mierlo, who completed the formation.

Reviving the symphonic progressive rock style of the ‘70’s, they make music from the heart with a technical edge. You can often hear a hint of bands such as King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Flower Fings, Porcupine tree and Pain If Salvation in their music. Fans of the above groups will surely like what Sky Architect has to offer.

Their debut Cd “Excavations of the Mind” can best be described as a symphonic, complex, dynamic, versatile and ambitious concept-album. Thriving to revive and reinvent the progressive style and sound of the 70’s, the album hopes to reclaim a place for symphonic rock-music in the 21st century. Recently Sky Architect were signed to Galileo-records, who will release “Excavations of the mind” worldwide. Renowned rock-illustrator Mark Wilkinson, famous for his work with Marillion, Fish and Judas Priest, created the artwork for the CD.
With “Excavations of the mindSky Architect delivers a most promising and exciting debut album. Not to be missed!

Intervju

1. How did you come together as a band?

Christiaan, Rik and I met at the conservatoire in Rotterdam back in 2006. We did the same study there and thought it be cool to jam together. We actually started out as an instrumental jam band. We made some short rock songs, pretty cool if I listen back to those! But nothing imagelike Sky Architect now. It took us 2 years to come up with the idea that it would be cool to start a real band with a bass player and singer. So we asked Tom and Guus to join us, and they were crazy enough to say yes! They also studied at the same school as us. So that’s where we came together. Pretty freaky coincidence, 5 guys in their early 20’s (maybe Chris was still 19 back then) who chose to play progressive rock without asking for it, but that’s how it happened!

2. How come you choose to play progressive rock in a rather traditional 70,s way, with epic suites and all?
 
Progressive rock is the genre that apparently came out of our jam sessions, we didn’t really mean to play a certain genre. Symphonic rock and everything related to it connected us so we decided to just play from our hearts. Another thing is that we don’t like to limit us with certain boundaries. If a song turns out to be 20 minutes we don’t start cutting because it may be too long. A piece of music has its own life. It grows within a band. And if it turns out to be this epic suite that’s just how it’s supposed to be!

3. Did you grow up with your parents listening to this kind of music or what kind of music did you grow up with?
 
Haha, indeed some of us grew up with this kind of music. Pink Floyd, Camel, the Beatles, Beach boys, Kayak, Focus are just some of them. I think you can blame our parents for being half responsible that we make this kind of music now!

image

4. How do you go about writing your music?

We’re all very creative musicians, so the final song is always written with the 5 of us. We all have our ways of dealing with a musical idea, and that is one of our main strengths. Most of the time I (Wabe) have the first ideas of how a song has to turn out though. Tom and I share most of the lyrics, although I tend to write the rough story lines.

5. Whats the prog rock scene like in Holland? Do you have a following there?

It’s not really big. There are a couple of bands though, but most of them play prog-metal like music. Traditional prog rock (as lots of talented bands from Sweden make) is not really represented over here in Holland besides us. But we notice that people do like our music. Our followers are certainly growing!
 
6. In what way will your coming album differ from your first one?
 
Most of all it will be a much better balanced album. We have found our ‘sound’ better this time, and we think that the singing and lyrics are much better. It will differ from ‘Excavations..’ in a few ways. It has 9 songs which are much better balanced, which wasn’t really the case with ‘Excavations...’ where there Deep chasm is this 19 minute epic and Gyrocopter a cool jam session gone frenzy. On ‘A dying man’s hymn’ (which will be the title of our 2nd album) all songs will have the ingredients of long epics and cool jam sessions gone frenzy! It has 2 really beautiful mellow tracks too, much like the Damnation album from Opeth.

7. Will the band be touring in order to support the new release?

At the moment we are really busy trying to find the best booking agency/promoter for us! We want to be able to present our music to the public as good as possible, so we are fully prepared already. But we just have to find the right persons.

8 Are there any newer bands or artists you find inspiring or enjoyable?
 
We are looking forward to play with Beardfish at the
Terra Incognita Festival in Canada this spring. We love the way those guys make music. They’re really a band where we feel a musical connection with.

9 What’s your favourite band and album from the 70,s?
 
I don’t have a favorite album. There are countless masterpieces created in the ‘60’s and 70’s. Just to name a few would do the others wrong. Lately I’ve been exploring Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield) again, what an inspiring piece of music! If I have to pick one for the sake of this interview I’d pick Camel’s Mirage.

10. What’images the best album of 2010 (not counting your own)?
 
I have to confess I only bought one album from 2010 this year, Dramarama from Agents Of Mercy. It’s an Ok album, but not close enough to the quality I would expect from mister Stolt and companions. I also heard some snippets from Making Sense, the 2nd solo album of Chris, our beloved drummer! It’s a shame I didn’t heard it in its entirety yet. There are a couple of albums released in 2010 I still crave to hear though. They are on my wishlist. Midlake, the Watch, Canvas Solaris and Shaolin Death Squad (yes!) all made a new album just to name a few..

11. Any final words to share with Universum Noll´s readers?

Thanks for reading this interview! We hope we were able to interest you in our music. We sure look forward to playing for you in the future. Keep a watchful eye on our websites for info about our touring plans, upcoming album and more! (http://www.skyarchitect.com) Or follow our movements a bit closer http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sky-Architect/399176157925.

Universum Noll tackar Sky Architect för intervjun och hoppas att få avnjuta bandet live så snart som möjligt.

Excavations Of The Mind finns på Spotify Sky Architect – Excavations Of The Mind … eller lyssna här.

Köp bandets musik från Record Heaven.