Sermon's journey from 'Moon' in 1993 to 'Till Birth Do Us Part' today showcases their evolution. Discover more about their history, inspirations, and future plans in this exclusive interview.
1. Can you
tell us about the origins of Sermon and how the band's journey has evolved
since its formation in 1997?
Sermon, whose
roots go back to the band ‘Moon’ which was founded in 1993, was formed in 1997
in Izmir, Turkey. The band recorded their first demo "Cosmic
Prisoner" which consisted of 2 songs in the same year. After the first
demo the band recorded their second demo "Sea of meanings" in 1999.
When the other
band members parted ways with Sermon in order to continue their lives on
different paths besides music, the band ended its musical activities towards
the end of 2004.
In early 2021,
the band's rhythm guitarist Cem (the only remaining member of the original
line-up) re-formed the band with lead guitarist Durmus, who joined the band,
and they started composing and recording new songs for the album.
While the
recordings were going on, they released 3 songs (Posthumous – Requitement –
Destined to Decline) from the upcoming album by Earache Records Digital
Distribution platform in 2022 for promotional purposes upon the offer from
Earache Records. This 3-song single received rave reviews from all over the
world.
After the
recording of the album was completed, Sermon signed with French label Bitume
Prods to release the first full-length "Till Birth Do Us Part".
"Till Birth
Do Us Part" was physically released as a Digipack by Bitume Prods in
February 2023 and the album was also released on digital platforms by Earache
Records Digital Distribution.
2. Sermon has
recently released its first full-length album "Till Birth Do Us
Part." Could you share the inspiration behind the album's title and the
overall thematic approach to the music?
In fact it has
been a year since the release of the album. The inspiration behind the title is
to infuse into one’s mind that death begins with birth. Once you leave the
placenta and exit your mother’s womb, the journey to death begins. In fact
there are two journeys: The first one; which is attached to your mother until
your birth, and the second; after birth, in which you are alone. Birth
seperates you and your life source and you become left alone in the journey you
enter which will inevitably end with death. That’s why we have chosen this name
and used the cover which is about the most common mother and child figure in
the planet, Mary and baby Jesus.
3. How has the
response been to "Till Birth Do Us Part" since its release in
February 2023, both from fans and the music press globally?
The response was
more than expected. The album had amazing feedback from almost every part of
the world both from the fans and the press. Especially South America and
Europe. The band has been interviewed and the album has been reviewed and
included in many numbers of magazines and various radio stations.
4. The band's
style combines elements of Doom and Death Metal. How do you approach blending
these genres to create Sermon's unique sound?
I think our style
is fed from the background of each member’s musical taste. We have always been
into 80s’ and 90s’ death metal and doom metal. We always try to put the maximum
amount of emotion into our music. We try combine it with much harsher elements
of extreme metal. In fact we have a broad range of musical taste from heavy and
thrash metal to almost every genre in music.
5. Could you
share some insights into the songwriting and recording process for "Till
Birth Do Us Part," including any challenges or memorable moments during
production?
After
reactivating the band, Durmus and I immediately started composing and recording
the songs for the album. We recorded the songs in Durmus' home studio.
During the
recordings we had parted ways with our former vocalist and we were looking for
a vocalist and this was a challenging process for us during the recordings. But
we solved this problem when Harun (Forgotten,Trenchwar) accepted our offer to
do his vocals on our album and Harun performed perfectly on every song on the
album.
One of the
unforgettable moments for us was when we sent the album songs to Harun, we
didn't listen to any pre-recordings about Harun's performance on the songs
before the vocal recordings and Harun did the vocal recordings of some songs in
Ankara where he lives and sent them to us. We knew Harun was an excellent
vocalist but we had no idea how he would perform on our songs.
When Harun
finished the vocal recordings and sent them to us, the result was perfect and
proved to us that he was the vocalist we were looking for for Sermon. Harun
came to Izmir, where we live, to record the vocals for the other songs and we
listened to his vocal performance during the recordings and the result was
perfect again. Everything turned out as we wanted and Harun is really a great
vocalist.
That was one of
the unforgettable moments for us...
6. Sermon
recently signed with Bitume Prods. for the release of "Till Birth Do Us
Part." What led to this partnership, and how has it impacted the band's
trajectory?
During and after
the recording process, we were in search of a label to release the album
physically above all. There were a number of labels which we were in contact
with and Bitume from France came with the most suitable offer to us. It has
provided a great impact on us to introduce ourselves again to the scene thanks
to Derrek. The album have reached almost every part of the world physically and
digitally. The physical copies in the label have been sold out. We only have a
number of copies left in our own hand.
7. The band's
single "Sermon" released via Earache Records Digital Distribution
received positive reviews. How important was this single in setting the stage
for the album's release?
After completing
the mixing & mastering session of 3 songs for the single, we got in touch
with various labels. Earache was one of them. They replied with great
enthusiasm and to be honest, we were surprised. Earache is a label that shaped
the world of death metal especially in the 90s. Even if they do not press
physical releases anymore, they told that they want to include Sermon in their
digital distribution roster. It was a great honour for us to be included in
their domain and of course it played a very prestigious role in presenting the
band and setting the stage for the release of the album.
8. Sermon's
music often explores intense atmospheres and themes. How do you translate these
themes into your live performances and connect with the audience?
Thank you for
your opinion. This is what we actually strive to do when making music and it
makes us so glad to hear that. We try to reveal our soul while playing live and
make the audience feel what we feel. We do not use any special effects, just
some visuals or images on the background if the venue is sufficient.
9. Can you
talk about the lineup changes that occurred in Sermon over the years and how
the current lineup contributes to the band's dynamic?
Line-up changes
have always been one of the important problems for bands. Sometimes the
musician you are looking for for the band is not enough for the band as a
performance, those who want to continue their lives in different ways due to
life circumstances,differences of opinion , irresponsibility.... etc., there
may be many changes in the band line-ups due to many problems with many
reasons. Sometimes it takes a long time to experience the relationship and
adaptation process with each new musician. We have had many lineup changes in
the past for these reasons, and then this led to the breakup of the band.
But now Sermon's
current line-up is the most perfect and stable line-up from the band's past to
the present. All our friends in the band are contributing to the band with
their excellent talent and creative ideas, selflessly and seriously fulfilling
all their responsibilities. There is a great positive energy in the band and we
will see the effects of this positive energy in all the work we will do with
them in the future.
10. Social
media and digital platforms play a significant role in music promotion today.
How do you use these platforms to engage with your fanbase and promote your
music?
Yes, we
definitely agree with what you are saying. Social media and digital platforms
are an extremely wide area for you to promote your music. Thanks to digital
platforms, musicians and bands can reach and interact with more listeners
quickly and effectively. You can do more advertising and promotion. Of course,
there are disadvantages as well as advantages of this. The disadvantage is that
the physical album sales of musicians and bands who release their physical
albums are gradually decreasing and the demand for selling physical albums is
decreasing...
Today, except for
a small number of passionate music lovers and collectors, it is not possible to
say that the masses of music listeners buy physical albums.
As a band, we
always advocate for the release of physical albums and the support of the
audience.
In order to
communicate with our fan base and promote our music, we actively use our band's
social media pages, personal pages and many platforms to share the latest news,
content, concert news and videos about our band.
11. What are
Sermon's plans for the future, both in terms of new music releases and
potential tours or live performances?
ue to the
positive effect of the success of our album, Sermon is gaining more and more
listeners and fans every day as the interest in our band and our music
increases. This makes us happy and we feel more responsible for making quality
music because we need to offer more quality music to our expanding audience.
We are preparing
for our second album and we are composing songs for our second album.
At the moment we
don't have any tour plans as we don't have any offers for any tours.
We always play
live shows as long as there are offers for us. On May 24th we will play a live
show in our own city and in the following periods live shows in our own city
and other cities are on the agenda. When they are finalized, we will announce
them on our social media accounts.
In the future we
want to participate in festivals, tours and play live shows in other countries.
If anyone is interested in us, they can contact us.
12. Finally,
is there a message or concept that you hope listeners take away from Sermon's
music, particularly from "Till Birth Do Us Part
First of all, we
would like to thank everyone for your interest in our album and your support
for our band.
"Till Birth
Do Us Part" is our first album after a long silence of 19 years, so it is
a very important album for us and we put a lot of effort into every second and
minute of it. In this album, we have developed our past music style and added an
intense atmosphere to traditional Doom Death Metal by reflecting our own style.
We believe that we have made an album that the listeners of the genre will
like, of course the listeners will decide that.
Thanks a lot for the interview. I hope to meet you all in concerts one day there or somewhere else.
Sermon TR (@sermon_tr) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire