Interview URSA

Discover the creative journey behind URSA's "Primordial Crown," their first track with vocals, and explore their evolving sound and future aspirations in this interview.

1. Can you tell us about the creative process behind "Primordial Crown" and what inspired the song?

Alex: The song survived our entire lineup change, haha, so it went through a lot. The song started as most of our current songs did, with jamming and recording whatever comes to mind. Then someone of the band picks it up and we build on it. From there it’s a back and forth between everyone till all the pieces fall into place.
The slower pace and heaviness of the riffs made me think of a black hole slowly devouring a planet. Jan picked up on that and wrote lyrics.
Jan: Following the band's style, through cosmic imagery the song tells a story of both power and betrayal. It’s also inspired by the Greek Myth of Arcas, hence the title of the intro.

2. The music video for "Primordial Crown" has a dark and atmospheric setting. How did you choose The Bilding in Bilzen as the location for filming, and what was the experience like?

We figured that a big hall would be the easiest to film quite a dark video and since The Bilding is quite close to our rehearsal space, it was a no brainer. It’s also the location where we first organized our yearly event Hibernation Fest. We consider ourselves fortunate to have this modern cultural haven in a city with such a rich musical history.

3. Your music combines progressive metal, post-rock, and post-metal elements. How do you balance these influences to create your unique sound?

I think it is mainly about letting go. At first, I (Alex) wanted to steer the band in a certain direction, but we are all influenced by so many different things, and we all have such different sources of inspiration that it was impossible to do so. I ended up just letting it go to see where it would end, which is where we are now. We just keep an eye on the arc and structure of the songs, so they become songs and not just a bunch of riffs thrown together.
Jan: Indeed, we all have very diverse influences, but I think we are all most commonly inspired by bands that are not dedicated to one specific genre. Such bands can always surprise the listener and of course we try to do the same ourselves.

4. With "Primordial Crown" being your first track with vocals, how has the addition of Jan Buekers changed the dynamic of the band?

We were kind of scared to add a 5^th person to the creative process, but we all feel like Jan has always been there and fits perfectly. I think he has brought a lot of energy to the band both as a person and musically.  It’s kind of a second wind for us, a fresh new chapter and I think everyone is stoked on that. We’re now in the process of writing new music and what I can already tell you is there is less stress to always keep the instruments interesting, Jan can have the spotlight now, haha.

5. The track has received extensive radio play and critical acclaim. How does the band feel about the reception so far?

Really good. It’s nice to hear people appreciate our music and are moved by it. We’ve been steadily reaching more and more new listeners and are stoked to see where it will lead us.

6. Can you give us a sneak peek into the upcoming tracks you plan to release later this year? What themes or styles can listeners expect?

We will be releasing all our current songs with vocals in the coming months, and we’ll actually be revealing 2 new songs at our Progpower Europe show in October. We are busy writing new material. We expect it to lean more into the heavy vocals by Jan but as we mentioned before: We follow the creative flow and see where it ends up.

7. You've planned several concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. What can fans expect from your live performances?

Jan: We're not trying to be the heaviest or fastest band in the world, but rather to stand out in our versatility. At a live show, listeners can enjoy atmospheric passages but also some brutal riffs and technical brilliance from the talented musicians I have the honor of sharing the stage with at URSA. Expect a very energetic and captivating show.

8. The band began as an instrumental solo endeavor by Alexandre Belli. How has the transition to a full band been, and what challenges have you faced?

The biggest challenge was trusting my fellow musicians. As a solo artist you kind of want control over everything. The songs are your babies and suddenly you must share those with others and that can sometimes be frustrating. Luckily, I have found people I trust musically and personally and who take the music to places I could have never taken it on my own.

9. How did your previous experiences with bands like Horses Blew Fire and Sons of a Wanted Man influence the formation and evolution of URSA?

Niels: I enjoyed my time in Horses Blew Fire and am still proud of what we did with that band, but URSA for me is the next step. As a musician you always try to learn from past experiences. How to write something that does the part justice, how to prepare for a live show, etc…
I think everyone of us has gone through several bands and came out better each time.

Jan: As a band, you can work as hard as you possibly can, but at the end of the day you always need some outside people to grant you some modest success. Be it local promoters, or musicians from other bands or some other influential people in the metal community. You have to get out there as a band and convince people to become ambassadors for your band and initiate a snowball effect. That's the only way you can grow as a band. That was the case with my previous bands and it is no different with URSA. You sometimes need to make compromises as a band. But as long as everyone keeps in mind that together you're working on that long-term growth, that shouldn't be a problem.

Alex: It taught me I didn’t want to be a frontman again, haha, and that you have to trust the process. Once you establish a good framework, things really start to come alive on their own.

Staf: Having worked with so many musicians with different approaches to writing songs certainly has though me to keep an open mind and, as Alex mentioned above, trust that we discover our synergies during the process.

10. URSA’s music features complex time signature changes and atmospheric melodies. How do you approach songwriting and composition to achieve this?

We don’t think about the time signatures that much. We have always listened to a lot of bands that played around with time signatures like Car Bomb, Meshuggah, Tesseract. I think we all grew up listening to Tool (except Luciano) so it’s just part of how we experience music. On the other hand, it might also be related to the fact we write and record at home a lot and then send each other parts. So if I come up with an idea in 3/4 and someone else in 5/4, it’s very likely we’ll glue it together and make it work.
As for the melody, nothing beats a melody that draws you in and truly connects with you. That’s also largely intuitive, we explore musical avenues till it feels right. And we keep an eye on the “story” of the song, make sure it makes sense and the melodies return when they need to.

11. What are some of the band’s major musical influences, and how do they shape your sound?

We all explore a ton of different music. I’d say bands mentioned above like Car bomb, Meshuggah, Tesseract, Monuments, Tool end up shaping us rhythmically. Bands like Night verses, The Ocean, Cult of Luna are responsible for our sense of atmosphere and bands like Karnivool, Vola and Leprous helped shape us in terms of melody. Besides that, there’s post-hardcore like Hail the Sun, Circa survive, Glassjaw heavy stuff like END, Norma Jean, also the Mars Volta… You name it

12. Looking ahead, what are URSA’s goals and aspirations for the future, both in terms of new music and live performances?

Well to put it bluntly: bigger and better. Having almost finished this chapter we look forward to writing new songs and sharing those with our audience. We all love to perform live and are looking forward to the upcoming shows. Opening for any of the previously mentioned bands would be a dream come true and of course there are some festivals on our list such as Arctangent among others where we’d love to play.
Jan: As for me, it's all just starting of course. But I am already impressed with the journey we have made together over the past few months, and I look forward enthusiastically to the future and the opportunities that will hopefully come our way.

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