Sea Of Tranquility



The Web Source for Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal & Jazz-Fusion
  Search   in       
Main Menu




Decadenze - Driving You Beyond Obsession
Posted on Wednesday, December 16 2009 @ 14:02:15 CST by Duncan Glenday
Heavy Metal

Decadenze is a hungry young band from Wales whose brand of good time, sleazy, and heavy, in-your-face metal makes for a remarkably fresh, yet happily familiar sound. After seeing the band for the first time when they supported UK Pomp Rockers Magnum on their recent UK tour and immediately buying their debut album Beyond Obsession the same night, Sea of Tranquility staff writer Steven Reid caught up with bassist Steve Edge to ask a few quick questions.



Steven Reid - Sea Of Tranquility: Judging by how "tight" Decadenze is on stage I presume that you guys have put in some serious live time. How long has the band been together and has the line up changed much in that time?

Steve Edge - Decadenze: The band has been together about four years now, though it sometimes feels hard to include the first year or two as we are so different now than we were then. But they are very important and we grew a lot in those years and, as you said, put in a lot of hours rehearsing and playing live. It's no secret that playing live is the best way to grow and develop your sound and your presence. We actually started as a four piece and after a few months got another guitarist (Adam), we felt that we would benefit in all areas from having a second guitarist.

SoT: The Glasgow show I was at saw you slowly turn what was quiet audience interest into something altogether more enthusiastic. Did the rest of the shows go as well?

Decadenze: Yeah most shows are like that when you are the support act. Most people go to gigs purely to see the headliners, they aren't there to watch your band or any other band, they are excited about seeing one of their favourite bands who they have spent money to see and if anything the support can feel just like a waste of their time! That's why it's so great when you can turn that around and have people tell you how much they enjoyed the night because you played and how you 'added' to the night. We didn't have a problem doing that on any of the shows, they were all awesome.

SoT: At times your songs come across as hard riffing metal, almost veering into speeded up stoner territory, then suddenly it's blues laden hard rock, then we are off into an altogether more upbeat feel good style. Was this something the band worked on and how would you describe the band's sound?

Decadenze: That's a difficult one. It's hard to describe because as I said earlier our sound has come from years of live playing and growing, so it's sometimes hard to pin point precisely when/how/why you started to sound a certain way or do a certain thing. All we know is we want to write good music that people can connect to and enjoy, whether old or young or rocker or metal head....it's all fine with us! We just try to do what feels right for the song and that's why some of our songs are more aggressive and powerful and others are more subdued and ballady.

SoT: How did you manage to get someone as respected as artist Mark Wilkinson to produce what is a stunning CD cover for you?

Decadenze: The record label we did the album with had worked with him previously so we were put into contact with him, explained the concept of what we were going for and he seemed to really take to it, as he would being such a great artist. We love the cover he designed for us, it's better than anything we ever hoped for.

SoT: The album seems to have been very well received, not least here on Sea of Tranquility, you must be very pleased with how everything has gone.

Decadenze: Yeah it's been great overall, like most albums it's had it's negative reviews but we know it's not to everyone's taste, so we are just appreciative of those who like it. That includes you guys of course!

Decadenze

SoT: How long did it take to record and what were the main challenges you faced?

Decadenze: It took the best part of two months and the most challenging part was trying to record and do shows at the same time. We love playing live and didn't even think about cancelling our shows to do the album, so we just did both and it was quite difficult! Sometimes we would arrive at the studio early, record, drive 3 hours to a show, do the show and then drive back to the studio and carry on recording. But we wouldn't do it any other way, we are more than prepared to do things like that....we will work 24/7 if it brings us success.

SoT: Even though the album only came out in June, recording for a new EP Gambler's Payback has already begun. Why so quick?

Decadenze: Well we spend a lot of time writing and we still see ourselves in a state of musical growth, I hope we always will be. There is never any excuse for a band to stop growing and progressing. So we wrote a bunch of new songs and we all truly believe they are better than anything we've ever done and we want to share them with everyone.

SoT: A lot of band's trying to become established these days are releasing EP's , why have you decided to go down that route as well?

Decadenze: I think it's because EP's are a small sample of where a band is at in that current time, it's a way of getting your songs down onto CD in a relatively short amount of time and being able to show fans, record companies etc. where you are at and what direction you are taking. Whereas an album is very time consuming and is bigger and longer and a more concrete release. An EP is just a taster for people to see if they like you, and in turn you can gauge how well the material is being received and adjust accordingly.

SoT: When do you hope to have it released?

Decadenze: Feburary 2010, all things going as planned.

SoT: The set from the Magnum tour already contained some of those new songs, in fact hardly anything from Beyond Obsession was played. Why was that?

Decadenze: Same thing as before really, we feel we have grown and improved as writers since the album and we want to see if people feel the same. So we are playing our new material live and seeing what people think and how they react to it. We are just the sort of band that works quickly so we have a lot of new stuff we want to play.

SoT: Do the new songs continue in the same style as the debut?

Decadenze: They continue in some ways, I'd like to think that anything that was good from Beyond Obsession we have kept and anything that was wrong with it we have improved. Then of course we have got things entirely new in some of our newer songs, it's all about finding what's good and keeping it and the opposite for anything that's bad!

SoT: There are already some tour dates lined up for next year, it's great to see the band have a real strong work ethic. You guys are really giving this everything you've got aren't you?

Decadenze: Yeah definitely! We are lucky to have five hungry guys who have their sights firmly fixed on achieving success....we won't stop working until we get where we want to be, or someone forces us haha.

SoT: So there's an EP, then more tour dates, what's planned beyond that?

Decadenze: We will write, practice, tour, record, tour, practice, write.....etc etc, you get the picture...it's just gonna be lots of work and hopefully equal amounts of fun and success.

SoT: Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions Steve, I'm really looking forward to the Gambler's Payback EP!






Hits: 2934

 
Related Links
· More about Heavy Metal
· News by duncanglenday


Most read story about Heavy Metal:
Lynch at 50: George Lynch looks ahead with lessons from the past


Printer Friendly Page  Print
Send  Send to a Friend



© 2004 Sea Of Tranquility
For information regarding where to send CD promos and advertising, please see our FAQ page.
If you have questions or comments, please Contact Us.
Please see our Policies Page for Site Usage, Privacy, and Copyright Policies.

All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner. The comments are property of their posters, all other content © Sea of Tranquility

SoT is Hosted by SpeedSoft.com