Interview with Kaivs by Dave Wolff
Tell the readers about your debut "Horrend". Given that it was your first impression as a death metal band, what was the point you wanted to make musically?
Tiziano: "Choosing to debut with “Horrend” wasn’t premeditated at all, but it comes out from a Max's idea just right after a couple of months of rehearsals when we saw the first songs come to life..."
Max: "No, the idea for a demo was yours haha not mine!"
Tiziano: "We had four of to choose at that time, but we decided to pick up only those to start a little promotion of our music, hoping for some reviews or more general impressions about it while we were working on the others. In the end “Horrend” went on for over a year, receiving very good reviews and catching a bit of attention upon us. The funniest part was, beyond good rankings, reading about their surprise once discovered we’re Italians."
Max: "Just to have a bunch of songs out as soon as possible. It should seemed haste, but it wasn't! Full of rehearsals, arrangements, lyrics and songwriting, we were on a certain top at that time, you know! All was done with the old manners, in rehearsal room, even if we're in times you can learn a song or playing an instrument, within all the apps and websites that permit you to do that. We also had the right artwork too, so all was awesome!"
Jacopo: "We wanted to bring back the old sound of the timeless classics of this genre, but from our point of view and with our influences. Our main goal was to provide a raw and sieging sound to do what we do best: death metal!”
Is Kaivs the first band you have all played in, or have any of you worked with other bands before forming this one?
Max: "I never been with any other band since that."
Jacopo: "I've been playing with several underground bands since 2015 when I first approached playing live and never stopped from then. Kaivs is one of my active projects at the moment and I'm proud and happy about that. For example, me and Leonardo have had a black metal project way back in 2019 where I used to sing."
Tiziano: "It’s the first band where I’m doing serious things like recording ep's and lp's and doing gigs around and outside Italy. I’ve been in a few bands before Kaivs, but none of them were at this level and most of the people I played with, weren’t reliable enough to get things done."
To what extent has Stockholm, Sweden's death metal industry inspired the band? Do many bands in Rome take inspiration from bands in Stockholm?
Jacopo: "That's a very complicated question if asked to me, I think that Stockholm death metal has its canon requirements that everyone needs to follow to bring that sound, that atmosphere, which made the genre so iconic. We took a lot from those bands and we sent a message by our own terms. I'm sure other metal bands have chosen to follow the same steps like we did and some others, preferred a more USA-ish path, not that I mind of course. I've always said that what we do it's nothing new and nothing added to it, but I think that if you want to play this kind of genre, you have to play it with a sense of hunger and a sense of heart, leaving rational and thoughtful things out of it. That's why I don't like technicism and such, they tend to butcher a bit, the experience."
Tiziano: "We got a lot of inspiration from it, as much as Finnish, Dutch or American death metal. Not so many bands do this here, others mostly play technical or progressive death metal or in any case, with other influences.”
Max: "I don't live there, so I really don't know."
Which Swedish bands do you all listen to in particular, and what do you like best about them?
Max: "Dismember, Carnage, Nihilist and Entombed back in the day, also early Vomitory, Necrophobic, Tribulation, Berzerker Legion, Aeon, Tiamat, Dissection, Gates Of Ishtar, Nephenzy, In Battle, A Canorous Quintet, Liars In Wait, Obscurity, The Crown, At The Gates, Firespawn, Unanimated, Seance, Unleashed, Edge Of Sanity, Grave, Crown Of Thorns, Decameron, Hypocrisy and Defaced Creation then, why not? Yngwie Malmsteen, John Norum, Morgana Lefay, Heads Or Tails, Hammerfall, Lefay and Europe too!"
Jacopo: "Maybe I'll sing outside the genre of the band, but I'm a huge Dark Tranquility fan, but I also love Amon Amarth, Opeth, Marduk, Bathory, Dark Funeral, Entombed and Watain."
Tiziano: "Dismember is on top of the podium of my preferences, followed by many others bands like Entombed, Unleashed, Grave and so on.. It’s really even difficult for me to say what do I like most of them when you pick up some bands of such level."
What topics are covered in the band's lyrics, and are there any current events that the band was especially motivated to write about?
Max: "Well, everything about violence, blood and horror. Also, near-death experience, sensorial shit and so on! I had many titles, so it was not easy to choose only eight songs for myself. "Blooduniverses" is about this planet, once it was real earth now turned into hell."
When "Horrend" was formally released, what formats were it made accessible in, either independently by the band or through an independent label?
Jacopo: "Horrend" was totally do it yourself and it's only available on cd cardboard format and on the various streaming platforms."
Tiziano: "It was published only in one format and independently with our funds. It was quite impossible to have a label at that time because we even not tried to look for any, it was just too early for that.”
Max: "Yes, it's totally underground."
Discuss the songs appearing on "Horrend", the recording process for the ep, and how it reflects the band's development at the time.
Max: "The main thing was that we had more than three songs so, we just wanted to release the shortest not to spoil "After The Flesh" too early. Recording sessions were faster, in less than four hours, all live recording, except for the vocals and effects, all made in a couple of weeks to mix them up. Released on cd, on a cartoon sleeve format, in limited edition, still a few are available online."
Jacopo: "The songs we have chosen were the ones suitable to be a prefect appetizer to "After The Flesh" we wanted the people to listen to our work and to create a sense of craving towards our music, with the intent of satisfying this need. For this purpose, we opted to record the upcoming release and the ep in the most analogic possible way."
Tiziano: "There were three of the four songs we created after the first months of rehearsals, and those looked perfect for being sent everywhere with the purpose of gathering some impression and why not, some good review. We might call them embryonic versions of those we can found in the debut but it isn’t quite like that, because in the end, the only factor that’s changed is the type and the amount of distortion. Songs' changes were minimal."
How has Brutal Records from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA been treating the band since you signed with them? Do they put a lot of effort into promoting Kaivs?
Max: "Good! They sent the deal in a week, we signed it and then all was set after not so long."
Jacopo: "Huge thanks to Michaeal for having us with him in this journey, he has been super pres
ent and he is doing a perfect job regarding promotion!”
For what reason was "Horrend" chosen as the band's debut single?
Max: "You'd ask 'em but for me, it's our best song so far!”
Tiziano: "Generally an artist should love any of his songs but I think “Horrend” is a really awesome track, enough to give its name to the ep."
What improvements did you intend to make from your earlier work when you recorded your full-length album "After The Flesh"?
Max: "Better sounds but without intricate riffs and as always, no guitar solos."
Jacopo: "Our biggest focus was on the sound. You cannot have the old school without a good dose of that extra rawness."
Tiziano: "Improvements on sound and production with a particular eye on mixing, to be sure of making something that would have seemed a bit like Dismember "Pieces" ep."
Max: "Left Hand Path" too!”
Tiziano: "Actually just these, because every "After the Flesh" songs were recorded through live takes just like "Horrend" was. That’s it."
Why did you choose to record "After The Flesh" at the Kika studios in Rome? To what extent did the employees who collaborated with you on the album assist you?
Max: "Just because we were there for "Horrend" so, the choice to come back in the same studio, easily followed up again. It's a matter like when you feel you're in the right place at the right time."
Jacopo: "Our home is where Kika Studio is at! Huge shout-out to Andrea Kikazaru, he was super patient and put lots of care and passion in helping us recording our creation. It has been a huge presence in the life stream of this band, as a producer and as a friend of ours!”
Tiziano: "Kika Studios has been our basecamp, we did all rehearsals there and so we decided not to change location for the recording sessions. Andrea made an excellent work mastering with “After The Flesh” and he gave us some good advices to get everything better under more aspects."
Who created the "After The Flesh" cover art? How did you find him, and what other bands has he designed cover art for?
Tiziano: "We won’t be grateful enough to Juanjo Castellano, who also worked with bands like Black Dahlia Murder or Paganizer, for both artworks of "Horrend" and "After The Flesh". I didn’t remember how exactly we found him, we were doing some research looking for an artist, then at some point his name has popped out and, looking some of his works, we just immediately decided to reach out for him to start this collaboration."
Max: "We got in touch with Juanjo Castellano, because he made famous illustrations in the death metal scene. First of all, I'm a feaster of detailed artworks! For myself, Roger Dean, Derek Riggs, Wes Benscoster, Ed Repka and Dan Seagrave still kick ass and Juanjo is on the list... an album without a proper front cover it's not a record!”
Discuss your song "For Satan Your Flesh For God Your Soul" and the promotional video you made for it. Did the band produce it independently, or did you collaborate with any production companies? In what ways do the video's visuals depict the song and its lyrics?
Max: "We were only informed by the label they were going to do that, they read the lyrics and we stressed the combination with "The Exorcist" movie. So, they decided by their own the line to follow."
Has Kaivs been performing live to promote the new album? How has audience response been this far? Any plans to record live videos for social media by any chance?
Max: "Youtube is full of our stage videos, an European tour will follow and next summer we'll be playing in Portugal with Dark Funeral, Soen, Extermination Dismemberment, Carach Angren, Dustbolt and many more."
Jacopo: "Kaivs has been announced at the 2025 edition of Laurus Nobils! It will be a perfect opportunity to promote "After The Flesh". For the live recordings, we are thinking about it, but it is not on our main list for now."
Tiziano: "We haven’t had many of them so far, but promotion will be going on for the rest of the year at least and of the next one too. All past live shows went well with a good response from the people, we are convinced to communicate energy and passion on stage and that’s something people catch immediately."
Does the band have any ideas for the upcoming recording? Or is that going to require some more time at this point?
Jacopo: "I'm pretty sure that our riff master Tiziano has something going on in his forge and it will be a matter of time before something new will arise."
Max: "Maybe at due time."
Tiziano: "Ideas for new songs have already been composed only on guitar by now, so when the time to start with the second album will come, most of the guitar parts are ready to be incorporated with the other instruments and vocals as well. It’s too early to speak how tracks of the new record will be, but certainly more catchy than the previous ones."
WEB
LINE-UP
Max Foam: vocals
Tiziano Mortician: guitar
Jacopo Simonelli: bass
Leonardo Sastro: drums
DISCOGRAPHY
Horrend (2023)
After The Flesh (2024)
No comments:
Post a Comment