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1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
I would love to: The band was formed in Hesse, Germany in early 2021 although we have known each other for decades and shared school desks, rehearsal rooms and stages in various constitutions in the past. Therefore it just felt right when it all came together. Unfortunately it was quite a challenging time to start a band as the pandemic kind of peaked exactly when we all waited in the wings. That is one reason why it took us a while to really get our shit together, but here we are at last.
2.So far you have released an ep, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
We came up with the term „Dark Extreme Melodic Metal“ because the common genre-descriptions did not seem to fully meet our demands. Given the fact that we have our roots in different subgenres our music turns out to be a mixture of quite a lot extreme Metal influences reaching from Death to Black and Melodic Doom with a pinch of Gothic Metal in the polyphonic vocal parts, but if I had to put it into only one well-known box I would probably say, that the influence we all have in common is good old Swedish Melodic Death.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?
The lyrics of the EP approach several aspects of Platos Allegory of the cave. Of course we do not offer a highly sophisticated deep-dive into ancient greek philosophy, but looking at the topic from different perspectives can still create really exciting views into the concepts of individual freedom and self-awareness. It also makes you question, how far we have really evolved as mankind. Isn‘t it almost hilarious to think of an old bearded greek dude wrapped in white sheets and brooding over exactly the same issues we still struggle with today?
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Cephyre'?
CEPHYRE is a „Frankenword“ assembled from „Zephyr“, which resembles natural creation and procreation on one side and „Fire“, resembling the oppositional forces of destruction but also symbolizing progress and knowledge. The name therefore verbalizes the principles of duality, the merging of polar opposites into something new and distinct.
5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the ep cover?
We tried to capture the lyrical concept of the allegory of the cave in different scalings throughout the artwork of the digipak. The cover artwork shows one of the key scenes in the narrative: A prisoner escapes the darkness of the cave and steps into the light, facing new challenges.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
In late 2023 year we organized a little festival called „Roots of Metal“ with our resident friends „Oracle of Worms“ and „Concrete Cold“. We also invited our friends „War Engine“ from Novi Sad, Serbia. I have absolutely no idea, if that was our best show. But it was probably our most fun weekend so far. The last gig we played was at a Halloween-Party, so it would have been almost rude, not to put on a little corpsepaint. We normally don‘t do that, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Generally spoken our stage presence depends a lot on the on-site conditions. Our bassplayer Chris for example tends to do a lot of meters on stage, but at one show he was forced to stand in the doorframe to the restroom due to lack of space. So you always have to adjust a little to the circumstances and try to get the best out of each situation. By the way: Chris handled his situation a lot better than I did when I found myself next to something that highly resembled a stripper pole on stage.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We have some shows scheduled for early 2025. our original plan was to make „Roots of Metal“ an annual event. This plan unfortunately only lasted a little less than one year, because the venue let us down badly. The billing however was already booked and we still want to play with all the bands, that were involved, so there are some more shows to be announced before long. And then there is still a visit to pay back, so we really hope to make it to Serbia this year and maybe add some gigs on the way.
8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Up to now we tried to do almost everything by ourselves which gave us a lot of freedom in approaching different processes, but of course there are also downsides to that mode of operation. For example: We recorded almost all the tracks for „Gleam“ in our rehearsal room, our living rooms, bedrooms and even kitchens. When it came to mixing we had the hybris of even doing that completely by ourselves. This took quite some time just to realize, that we were not completely happy with the results. So we finally scrapped our own mixes and gave the recorded tracks to our friend Sascha Stange, who completely nailed our desired sound in about the time it took ourselves to figure out the right reverb-settings for background vocals. What I am trying to say is, that some things just should be done by people who teally know how to do them in order to prevent yourselves from getting stuck in a rut. So a label would absolutely make things much easier for us and we hope to get in touch with people to support our next releases.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of extreme metal?
So far we have only played shows in Germany, which makes it a little difficult to talk about worldwide reactions. There have been quite a few positive reactions as yet and of course there is social media and all that comes with it. But a thumb on facebook or a heart on Instagram does not really get you into conversations. But who knows ... Maybe this interview might also help to connect with some more people out there. We would love that.
10.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
Our bassplayer Chris is vocalist in his Hardcore-bands „Business as Usual“ and „Blind Youth“. Our drummer Manu also plays in the Thrash-Metal-band „Centrate“.
11.When can we expect another full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We had actively decided to put the first songs we wrote on the EP, so there will almost naturally be an audible development. Actually we have already written approximately 80% of the material for our full-length-album alongside two a little more experimental projects, which will most likely end up on additional EPs in the future. At the moment we are still figuring out the exact schedule, but the tendency is to start recordings for the full-length within the next few months as we are really excited to see the pieces come together and add the final touch.
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that has had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As I mentioned before we have a lot of various influences, but most of them are to be found in different types of 90s extreme metal, which is why we wanted our sound to partially be kind of a reminiscence to that era. Our mixing engineer Sascha did a great job in helping us create this atmosphere and adding just the right amount of a modern touch. Nowadays I am personally most excited about listening to bands that somehow push their boundaries. The latest album that really got under my skin is the new Gaerea.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I guess, that I already got a little carried away at some points, so I will cut this one short and just go with „Thank you for having us, it was a pleasure“.
www.cephyre.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/cephyre.band
www.instagram.com/cephyre.band
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