IRISH COFFEE

INTERVIEW WITH INNOSENSE

 

Coming from Larisa, Thessaly, greek prog metal band Innosense made a sensational debut in 2011 with ‘’Outcast’’ and impressed fans of prog who are looking out for some great new bands. Without big label support and media coverage, but armed with tons of talent this guys will put many big names of the genre to shame. Let’s see what the guys have to say about the band and their debut album.

Innosense formed in 2005 and your debut album was released in 2011. What went on in the meantime until the release of ‘’Outcast’’?

A lot went on, we started in late 2005 when we ended up with the current lineup and practically launched the band in December 2005 supporting Sieges Even here in Larisa city. Some more live shows followed so that the fans could get to know us and in late 2006 we released our demo ‘’Life’’. All these years we tried to keep the band active playing shows and we had the chance to share the stage with big names of the scene, like Sieges Even, Evergrey and Fates Warning, while at the same time we worked on our own material. The process took so long because we paid a lot of attention to details both in composing and arranging the material and recording it. Of course due to our professional obligations, since we all have jobs and totally different schedules, we couldn’t go as fast as we would wish.

It’s been quite a while since the release of the album. How do you feel about ‘’Outcast’’ now and how do you feel about how it was received in the metal scene?

We feel like it was a very good start. It’s been exactly one year from the day the album was released and the reception from people who listened to it makes us believe we are on a good path; reviews of course were more than encouraging in their majority.

It’s obvious you like to play technically and free of any clichés. One could expect an odd and hard to follow outcome, but you manage to build strong melodies and emotions. How do you balance all this?

As a band we just want to play good music and come up with a result that satisfies ourselves first of all. We’d never put a song on the album if we didn’t like it, just because it’s a little more technical or because it has a better guitar riff. Above all it has to be a song and everything else comes next. Maybe the term progressive has been misconceived a little bit, it doesn’t necessarily mean playing everything you learned in 5 or 10 years just in one song.

While you have your sights on the future of the metal sound you still managed to win a lot of fans who are more in favor of old school metal. How come?

I think it’s because of the great variety of influences that coexist within the band. We may all like progressive, but individually we listen to very different stuff.

I think a lot of bands are troubled with finding a sound of their own, especially in demanding genres like prog rock/metal. What’s your approach? Is it something restraining or liberating? There are bands who sacrifice a lot of good material until they settle down to the sound that represents them best, leaving aside anything that doesn’t fit the style they have chosen.

The long time from the formation of the band ‘til our first full length release gave each of us time to find his own role, place and sound within the band. So when we started working on ‘’Outcast’’ we didn’t have to experiment and I can say that we sacrificed almost no material at all. Instead we focused on making the material we liked as best as we could. I also think that the fact most of the stuff was written by one person, Bill, gave the album some uniformity.

You mention Fates Warning and Conception among your influences and for the second part it is obvious both in the music as in the vocals. What about Fates Warning, what’s your favorite period of the band? Shall I guess ‘’A pleasant shade of grey’’?

I will have to disagree on the influences. I do like Conception a lot, but our music has very little if nothing at all to do with what they were playing and I’m talking about being influenced, not copying. What sounds a lot like Conception, and I don’t think that it’s bad at all, is the sound of Bill’s voice and maybe in some parts the style he sings. And again I’m sure that if you would listen to the same vocal lines from another singer you wouldn’t think of Conception. Thank god we don’t have any power metal elements because people would match us with Kamelot as well. Regarding Fates Warning, anything they’ve done, especially since ‘’Perfect symmetry’’ is a favorite.

The style of music you chose to play cannot offer fame, money etc especially when Greece is your starting point. So what’s your motivation to create music?

Like you said, when Greece is your starting point, no metal band should expect any of the above. Greek bands that enjoy fame and live off their music are counted on the fingers of one palm, and perhaps some fingers are not needed, so fame, money etc couldn’t or shouldn’t be your motive to create music. We are simply doing something we like, it fulfills us all and when we get good reactions it makes us even happier and more creative and it gives us the courage to go on.

‘’Outcast’’ is a strong album in every aspect and it has very few to be jealous of compared to bands abroad; personally I believe it had almost no rivals last year in progressive metal. But did it open any doors with record labels, managements, live shows abroad etc? Are you interested in that option or is the commercial aspect totally indifferent to you?

First of all we are very happy with the way you commented on ‘’Outcast’’ and we thank you very much. What ‘’Outcast’’ has given us is the chance to state our presence to the fans of the genre and draw their attention and that was our goal. We also got more proposals for live shows and we are discussing some, mostly in Greece, but they have to fit in our professional obligations. As for labels, right now we are with Steel Gallery, which is distributing ‘’Outcast’’. Yes, we are interested in the commercial aspect and the perspective of being on a bigger label and having a manager working for us, time will tell if we are worth or able to handle something like this. For now ‘’Outcast’’ has done enough as a debut.

Is there any plan for the promotion of the album and the band or do you rely on word of mouth? I can’t say I’ve spotted that many reviews/presentations of the album on the net, although all were favorable.

The promotion of the album abroad is mainly a task of our label, which according to its size has sent out enough promo cds and was present at events related to the genre. Apart from that every band member is doing his best on the net in his spare time to promote our work.

I’m growing bored of a load of expensive video clips of greek bands of doubtful quality but sadly you didn’t go on with such a move. Is it totally out of budget or do you think it’s not worth spending time on such a project?

No, it’s in no way a waste of time and maybe we’ll do something soon. It’s within our plans and we want to do it.

How is the life of a greek metal band in the province? Did you ever think of moving to the capital or even abroad to chase the dream?

I don’t think it’s different to the life of a metal band in Athens or Thessaloniki, nor do I believe things would be different if we lived in Athens. Going abroad was on our minds at the early stages of the band, but we were all 25-26 years old and we had our jobs here, so it would have been a very risky move.

In Greece extreme metal bands were always more success and to a smaller extent some classic metal bands too, while bands representing progressive were rather neglected, bound to minor outbursts before vanishing again. Do you have the same complaint, that the local scene does not support this genre enough?

No, we have no complaints from the local scene. Greek metalheads in general do indeed listen more to these genres, progressive always had few and loyal fans, not only in Greece but also abroad. It’s just that for some period with the huge success of Dream Theater and other big names the genre had a rise.

From the live shows you’ve played till now which one has been your strongest experience regarding connection and interaction with the crowd?

For me it was the last show we did here in Larisa in support of Fates Warning. It was a great night though we had some issues with our sound, it was also the first show after the release of ‘’Outcast’’ and we played for a crowd that really wanted to hear us and they showed.

Which band would you like to share the stage with or do a tour together?

We’ve already played with one we wanted and I wish we could also tour with them. I’m talking about Fates Warning of course. But we would also love to share the stage with Dream Theater, Pain of Salvation, Symphony X and all the bands that are our main influences.

What’s the program for the band’s near future and the plans for future releases?

We want to do as many live shows as possible in the coming summer and we are also gathering song ideas for our next album which of course will not come six years later…

Your last words…

A big thank you to all the people who support the Greek underground scene and our band by coming to our shows, buying the cd, or just commenting on facebook or youtube. Also a big thank you to Lonely Road fanzine/blog for presenting us. Hope we can see you all soon.