Welcome! We're here with Scarlet Anger, discussing their latest album "MARTYR" and its themes, a departure from their previous work, and their artistic evolution.
1. Your latest album "MARTYR" was released
in January 2024. Can you tell us about the themes and inspirations behind this album?
Our themes are mostly taken out of everyone’s life and problems most of
us has to face. We aren’t a political band, neither are we going to be one in
the future. The lyrics of the title song MARTYR for example explore the concept
of martyrdom and how one sacrifices to achieve personal goals. The text
encourages facing the pains and challenges of life and overcoming one's fears.
It emphasizes the need to free oneself from negative influences and the past in
order to step into the future.
2. "MARTYR" marks a departure from your
previous album "Freak Show" in terms of artwork and focus. What
influenced this shift in direction?
We wanted to push our music once more to the foreground. Maybe we also
needed to break the chains from our mascot the dark clown. I don’t know. But
also, all the artwork you’ve seen from us over the years was all from
ourselves. Mostly from our guitar player Fred. Particularly on FREAK SHOW Fred
did an amazing job as he has drawn a cover for every single song of the album.
You can explore it in the booklet of the album. That meant tons of work. We
didn’t want that he had to shoulder that again 😉. The cover of MARTYR
was in fact not meant to figure as a cover. It was a natural process during our
promo photo shoot. We’ve thought that the colours and everything is so cool
that we wanted it as the cover.
3. Your band has a unique blend of thrash metal with
elements of classic comics and horror stories. How do these influences manifest
in your music and lyrics?
Joe, our singer and Fred were the main forces of these elements as they
are huge fans of comics, horror stories and b-movies. Both know each other from
their early childhood, so that happened automatically that these elements
entered their art. But as I mentioned before, the new album MARTYR is more
about challenges every single one of us could face in their life.
4. You've mentioned dropping your trademark dark clown
imagery in favour of putting the music further in the foreground. Can you
elaborate on this decision and its impact on your artistic direction?
It was a natural process. We took it to the extreme on FREAK SHOW as
Fred has drawn a cover for each song. That was huge work and we’re very proud
of the result. But we had to move on. 4 of us wanted to drop the clown, me not 😉. But I
could accept that. I always liked bands that move on without dropping all of
their trademark. I think our unique stye of thrash with a lot of melodies in
the choruses hasn’t changed that much. Maybe the songs on MARTYR are more
mature as on the albums before. That’s the main difference I would say.
5. The cover artwork for each song on "Freak
Show" was done by Fred Molitor himself. How important is visual art to the
overall presentation of your music?
Now I think it’s less important than before. We don’t take the dark
clown on the stage anymore. It’s all about the music and the performance. I
don’t think, or at least I hope that you’ll not be bored on one of our shows.
Just pass by and we’ll do everything to convince you.
6. Your music videos, such as "The Abominable
Master Gruesome" and the lyric videos for songs like "No Time"
and "Martyr," have a distinct aesthetic. How involved are you in the
conceptualization and production of these videos?
The idea for “The Abominable Master Gruesome” came from the
director/producer of the clip. His name is Mike Tereba, also from Luxembourg.
It’s the story about the dark clown, why he is (or was😉 ) such a badass. That
was a huge shot. The recordings took us 2 complete days. But the time has also
changed as lyric videos became more and more popular, and to be honest,
nowadays I prefer lyric videos (when they are well done) to normal ones. You
get the possibility to check the lyrics and the theme of a song in one time.
7. With extensive touring and festival appearances,
how do you maintain energy and keep performances fresh night after night?
All of us have their day jobs as we have to pay our duties as everyone
else. An extensive tour with several months on the road isn’t possible for us.
But, we’re welcomed to a lot of festivals which is great. You come around and get
the possibility to present your music to a wider audience as on normal club
shows.
8. You've shared the stage with notable bands like
Soulfly, Anthrax, and Megadeth. What have been some of the highlights and
challenges of touring with such iconic acts?
Unfortunately, we haven’t toured with them as I mentioned before it
would be very difficult. We have been asked several times supporting some other
thrash bands through Europe, but unfortunately we couldn’t took the risk of not
paying our duties at home. So the shows with Anthrax, Soulfy,… were supporting
acts for specific club shows.
9. In addition to performing, you've also been booked
for various festivals. How does the experience of playing at festivals differ
from traditional concert venues?
Summer festivals are great. You come around, see many different people
from different countries. The festival crowd differ not that much to
traditional concert venues, except maybe, they are in an even better mood as
most of them don’t have to take the car to get home. They sleep on the camp
ground. So they can drink AND rock 😉.
10. Looking ahead, what are your goals and aspirations
for Scarlet Anger in the coming years, both musically and professionally?
First of all stay healthy! Second keep this band alive as long as
possible. We’re on the road since 2007. We’ve already seen many bands we’ve
played with which don’t exist anymore. I think with MARTYR we’re on a good way.
Maybe we’re gonna release some singles in the nearer future. It surely will not
last once more 6 years to the next release 😉.
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