Interview with Dahl of FADING BLISS
When did you start your band(s) / project(s) and how long have you been making music for?
We started Fading Bliss in 2009. Most of us have been active in other local bands before starting Fading Bliss, but we all are now fully focused on this one band.
If you had to describe the sound(s) to my readers what would you tell them to expect?
The first idea behind Fading Bliss was somehow to pay tribute to the godfathers of gothic / doom, so to bands like Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Tiamat, Theatre Of Tragedy and alikes. This old school basis is just perfect for us, as it mixes elements from the doom and death metal scene in a melancholic way. On this basis, we added female vocals, violin (on the first album), cello (on the second one) as well as some more progressive and / or funeral doom elements.
Is your music available on any merch format such as tape/cd/vinyl or digital medium? Where can listeners find it?
We self-released our first EP in 2011, on CD, in a nice digifile packaging. It’s nearly sold out, but if I’m right, some mailorders (Malpermesita, GS Productions…) should still have some copies.
From Illusion To Despair was released on Mighty Music, Denmark, in 2013. Again it was released in a very nice digipack. This album is still available too, from the band or through online mailorders. Some time ago, it was available on Amazon.com too…
Finally, our new album, Journeys In Solitude, has been released on May 5th, 2018. The first limited edition is a hand numbered digipack (first 50 copies come with a free patch). The regular cristal box CD should be released later this year, and hopefully a vinyl version should possibly be released during the first half of 2019.
Of course all these releases are available on most digital media.
If you had a choice of working with other artists who would they be and why? Any collabs at all in the past or lately?
The doom scene is a very friendly one, so it’s always nice to work with other people. On our first album, Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom) took part to the last song, “A Walk Through Despair” and contributed with some theatrical vocals. Last year, William Nijhof (Faal) also joined us on stage for a very funeral version of “Chant de Ruines”. There are so many friends we’d like to involve in some way !
How has the reaction been so far to your music?
The reaction has mostly been positive so far… You know, if you enjoyed the metal of the 90’s, you could maybe like our music. The roots are still there, even if the influence range is wider and the production is more powerful.
What would you like done this year in your life may it be musical or personal.
Wow… That’s a really open question. It’s hard to give you only one answer, as we are 7 people in the band, with different lives and different aims. To my concern, of course I’d like to achieve many things on a familial and professional level, but I’m not sure that it would be of huge interest for your readers. On a musical point of view, I’d really like to go on with Fading Bliss, to keep on making music. As I’m a fan of split releases, I’d really like to release such a thing with Fading Bliss soon. But before that, hopefully the next album will be finished and we’ll have another opportunity to chat about it.
If there are bands that influenced over the years to make you want to become a musician in the first place, who are they?
Again, I can’t give you the names of the artists who influenced my 6 fellows. But I can easily give you the names of my fave vocalists : Tomi Koivusaari (Amorphis), Johan Endlund (Tiamat), Matti Tilaeus (Skepticism)…
If you had to describe the recording process of your music, how does it work best for you and what do you use?
We are old school guys, so we work like an old school band. Everything starts in the rehearsal room, most often with Olivier bringing riffs and new ideas on which the whole band can work. As soon as a song takes shape, we record a demo version of it in our home studio. This recording is of course basic, but it really helps us vocalists to work on the lyrics at home. When we have enough complete songs, we select those which will be professionally recorded. Up to now, we have recorded our 3 records at the Noise Factory Studio with Gérald Jans. It’s a very nice place, and Gérald is just the perfect sound engineer for us.
How long do you expect to make music for and what are your goals till the end of this year onto the next?
As I told you earlier, I really hope that the Fading Bliss adventure will go on and on. Before the end of 2018, we’d like to re-release the first EP as it is mostly sold out, probably release the second edition of the new album, and hopefully have the basis of the next album.
How important is your work to you and what do you want others to get out of it?
For me, music is just a matter of vibes and emotions. So it can’t work with everybody. I know it may sound a bit cliché, but we’ve put a lot of us in these songs, and we’ve tried to really make a music we could stand behind. So if you can feel the melancholy, or if you’re just nostalgic of the 90’s doom / death scene, give it a try.
How has gigging and touring have been on your band on the road? How is the fan reaction so far?
Fading Bliss is still a very small band coming from a very small country, and we don’t play that often, so I’m not sure we have fans. But we have played a few shows in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Romania, Bulgaria, etc, and we got some very good responses from the audience. Hopefully we should play more next year.
Any last words for the readers of Autoeroticasphyxium zine ?
First of all, I’d like to thank you for this interview. Be sure that your support and interest is greatly appreciated. To your readers, I’d like to say : keep on supporting the metal scene in all possible ways. Keep on attending shows, keep on buying shirts, CDs, vinyls. Keep on following the bands you like on the social networks. You are the scene. Doooooom on!
-Daniel M Ryan
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