CD REVIEWS

www.artrock.se - 9/10 album review (in Swedish)

www.obliveon.de - 10/10 album review (in German)
(at site, go to CD Imports then search in "S" category)

INTERVIEWS

The interview below is with www.obliveon.de
(It is not yet on their site. It will be in German when it is.)

• Seventh Circle were founded back in 2002, so what did you do all the time before? Have you been involved in other bands and projects before? Did you release something before with these projects?

Seventh Circle is really my first musical project, though I released a short, poorly produced demo back in 2000 under the name THE CRIMSON SKY PROJECT. It was my first attempt at making music and looking back on it now, really wasn’t that good. I was a young musician with very little resources and knowledge of how to actually create music. Needless to say, I’m not really proud of that demo. : )

• “The Struggle” seems to be the first official release of Seventh Circle, right? What has become of all the other Seventh Circle songs mentioned on your Myspace-page? Will they be released at a later stage of time?

“The Struggle” is the first release, yes. A lot of the songs that didn’t make it on the album have just been lost over time or simply didn’t turn out the way I wanted. Some of them had some bits and pieces recycled for other songs, and some of them you may see on future albums. I know one or two will for sure be reworked for the next album.

• What were your musical influences when you started Seventh Circle? Saviour Machine might be the obvious influence, Wedding Party another but what about bands such as Vauxdvihl or Braindance?

Saviour Machine has always been a big influence on my music. I have been a fan since the early 1990’s and Eric Clayton and I have been friends for many years. He actually taught me a lot about music production so it makes sense that a lot of what I do really has some of that SM sound to it. Wedding Party was never really a big influence on me musically, though I am friends with a few members and I actually served as manager of I-Dragon-I for a brief period in 2006. I’ve never heard of the other two bands you mentioned, but now I may have to check them out. Some of the other big influences of mine are Tool, The Mars Volta, 30 Seconds to Mars, Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails as well as many film scores and various electronic artists.

• Eric Clayton from Saviour Machine co-produced “The Struggle” which is obvious when it comes to the guitar-sound and the orchestration. How did you get into contact with him? Did he have an impact on the songwriting as well?

Eric and I have been good friends for many years as I stated above. We met back in 1993 at a Saviour Machine show and became friends some years later. I asked him if he would be interesting in mixing the album with me and he said yes. It turned into more of a co-production role as we began working on it, and a ten day mixing schedule turned into a six month production. But the outcome was well worth it and the album sounds much better because of his involvement. All the songs were written and recorded before Eric got involved. He basically took what I had and just perfected it. He really didn’t do any of the song writing, though he contributed small bits and pieces here and there, mostly just adding some harmonies to orchestration and vocals and adding samples, etc. We rewrote some string parts together and re recorded some stuff as well.

• Your clearly stating that Seventh Circle is not a Christian band but a band who’s working with Christian musicians such as Eric for example. Is there any particular reason why to put emphasis on this non-christian aspect of Seventh Circle?

Over the years I have been in contact with many Christians, working closely with Saviour Machine the last few years and being an active member on the message boards. I know there are a lot of Christians who do not listen to secular music, who will only listen to Christian music. I respect that, it is their decision. The reason I want it to be clear that I am not a Christian is because I don’t want those people to get the wrong idea, though I would love for people of all faiths to listen to my music, I know that people have standards and boundaries regarding that. It’s just out of respect for those people. I’ve had some incidents where people thought I was a Christian, talked to me for quite a while on numerous occasions and when they found out I wasn’t, they felt deceived, even though I never told them I was, they just assumed. I have no problem with Christians, some of my best friends are Christians, I just don’t want people thinking something that is not true. I hope that makes sense.

• “The Struggle” is dedicated to Ellsworth Timm and if I got it right the whole album as well as the lyrics seems to be a tribute to his life. Who was Ellsworth Timm and why did he leave such an important mark on you? Would you call “The Struggle” a concept-album?

Ellsworth Timm was my Grandfather. “The Struggle” is the story of the last two years of his life and the events that occurred leading up to his death. I found it to be an interesting story and one that really impacted me emotionally. He was the first relative of mine that I was really close to that died and I suppose something like that will take a toll on anyone in that same situation. So, “The Struggle” is definitely a concept album. There are parts that are from my point of view and parts that are from other people in the family’s point of view as well. Every song tells a chapter in the story, though it is not chronological. The album seemed to flow better with the tracklisting as it is.

• “The Struggle” seems to be a very personal album based on your own experiences and observations. Can you imagine to work out of a more fictional perspective as well integrating political or social topics?

In the future I would like to explore all different types of writing styles from all different perspectives. I think it’s important as an artist to always be trying to do something different and always be pushing yourself to do something bigger and better than you already had done. As proud as I am of “The Struggle”, I don’t ever want to release an album like that again. I want to evolve and grow as a musician. I’m excited to see where I end up as an artist over the course of the next few years.

• Do you prefer to work conceptionalwise or do you prefer to work song by song without any connection to other songs in the first place?

I think it depends on the album you are setting out to make. For “The Struggle” I definitely set out to make something that was consistent in overall mood and content, since I was telling a story. For the next album, I will be doing something a little different and focusing more on the songs as individual compositions, rather than a piece of the puzzle. I wouldn’t say I prefer either, though I am a huge fan of concept albums.

• Is there something like a centre of the album? A track that combines all what Seventh Circle stands for, musicalwise as well as lyricalwise?

“The Struggle” really doesn’t have anything that culminates what Seventh Circle stands for since it is a concept album. Though, the title track definitely stands out to me as the backbone of the album. It’s probably the most important piece since it’s from my Grandfathers point of view. I would say it is the centre of the album musically and lyrically.

• Currently Seventh Circle seems to be a studio project mainly. Do you have plans for live concerts and if yes would you rely on the musical side only or would you go for a good show as well?

I would love to do shows but since this is basically a solo project, the best I could do right now would be to take a computer on stage with me and just sing along with the songs or something... haha. I think eventually the opportunity to do shows will come and when it does, I definitely want to do something more theatrical and give people an unforgettable show. I haven’t thought a lot about what a show would entail, but I would definitely do something special.

• “The Struggle” is limited on 70 physical copies only but can be downloaded for free as well. What were the reasons to release the album in such a limited and unusual manner?

At this stage in my musical career, I was more concerned with just getting the music out there to people. I have had nearly six hundred people download the album and have sold around fifty CD’s. If I were charging for the download, I might have only had less than a hundred people download it. So for me, it’s worth it to give it away so more people can hear it. I figure this way, down the road I will have made a larger fan base because of it. And that is more important to me than making some money. Eventually I will press a regular version of the album but right now I simply cannot afford to do so. Hopefully soon.

• Do you already have plans for a new release in the near future?

Immediately after I finished “The Struggle” I began writing the next album. It will be called ‘HUMAN” and will deal with a lot of issues going on in the world, as well as some personal stuff. Overall, the album will deal more with impersonal things. If all goes well, I hope to release the album sometime in 2009. We’ll see what happens.

• Any last words to our readers?

I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this interview, I hope it was informative as well as enjoyable. And if you haven’t already, please go download the album. You might even like it. ; )
I’d also like to thank obliveon for the interview and the wonderful review of “The Struggle”.

Thanks again!
ADAM