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BIO | INTERVIEW
2006 - Schmidt about ’Gloria’
Hello Andy! It’s been quite a long time since your last release ’Back To Times Of Splendor’ - what happened in these 2,5 years?
That long ?!?! Fortunately, quite a lot happened. BTTOS being our debut record, things were first of all very exciting at release and the months to follow. We did a lot of live shows including an European tour mit labelmates Amon Amarth and Impious which was quite an experience. Also we did 5 concerts together with our friends of Dark Suns as an 8-piece to perform BTTOS at its full potential. Promoting the record went on for a year straight without break. In March 05 we teamed up with Tippelt and Hirsch of film-m to start working on GLORIA. To make it short - the process was to take almost 18 months.
What do you expect of the new album?!
quite a lot actually. Most of all, I wish that DISILLUSION with the two records at hand will be recognized as a band that goes to the extremes with each piece released. Creating an imagery, a mood, a feel, something you could call a storyboard - and then bring it to the utter end and finish it. And once it is finished, it is final and will not need continuation. I would like to think of the band as one that is courageous, inconvenient, eager, inspiring, daring, surprising. Also, GLORIA is not plainly a Metal record. I do believe GLORIA can tear down a lot of boundaries between genres and their fans. It is hard music made in 2006, fresh and cunning.
‘Gloria’ proves once more that you are real artists. The album is much more experimental and even more progressive than all the stuff you did before. Why is there such a big difference?
I have to admit, to be that experimental was not a goal we had or something we attempted. We were rather thinking that GLORIA is Pop *lol. Now people say it is experimental. I still don't think so. That point of view seems to come from an overall self-copying metal scene. Go to the alternative sector, and GLORIA is not experimental. Just modern.
Of course there is the question why we did not do BTTOS Pt2 and therewith go the easy way. Well, as I said before, BTTOS was finsihed. It had an end. The song was sung, the story told. A moment that is gone should be cherished but not imprisoned. We had done, what we wanted to do on the record and knew very very soon, that the follow-up needed to be different. Question was, which setting the music was to focus on. Since BTTOS was like a C.D. Friedrich painting, a journey through landscapes driven by a strong feeling of longing, we were thinking that the place and time we live in right now and here Leipzig 2006 would be a great start, because the city is who we are. GLORIA so became an urban record, with a strong feel of deterioration and cynicism, and on the other hand, eagerness, glory and will. To achieve to put that into music and to make the change we teamed up with two complete outsiders Tippelt and Hirsch of film-m.de right at the beginning of the writing process. All of of locked ourselves up at KickTheFlame.com Studio here in Leipzig and let ideas for music, video, feel and look come. Tippelt being a musician, he had a lot of ideas for the record and also wrote some songs on GLORIA.
Putting out a record like this after having received overwhelming response for its predecessor is quite courageously – would you agree?
not to say ignorant, stubborn, childish, unprofessional, a sheer provocation?! Courageous, sure, but self explanatory if you see the details. BTTOS was just such a step, though only a few knew the band. It seems to be part of the band.
You also released some trailers in advance of the album – what are they about?! Could you tell us a bit about the formation and how you created them?
That is right. The trailers are, to put it simple, our imagery for GLORIA, one we had during all the months we were working on the record. To release them in advance was just a logical thing to do. They are part of the video shots we had done for the upcoming video for DON'T GO ANY FURTHER. I said before we teamed up with Hirsch and Tippelt of film-m.de. They were supposed to do a video for BTTOS which unfortunately never came into realization. Still, we thought back in 2004, wokring together would be a good idea. Tippelt also being very much experimenting with sounds and Hirsch actually being a designer made the team complete. SO, for GLORIA you could say it was the 5 of us, who did the record.
Apart from these trailers, ‘Gloria’ suggests to be a sonic movie with much depth, it’s not only music, right…?
By now I am sure, that DISILLUSION always does sonic movies. It was not intended for GLORIA, but happened. Period. You could call that the layer, that sets the band apart from many many others. How much depth it has, I do not know, since it was not intended to put too much thought and intellect into the music. Actually, the main part of the music was written completely from the stomach, as Germans say - meaning, the head was not involved at all .When recordings were to be done, we went back to the initial ideas and feel, well, to keep it.
Well – one question that everyone wants to know – who or what is ‘Gloria’?! What idea lies behind this title?
Some questions should be left unanswered.
What do the lyrics on ‘Gloria’ deal with?
The lyrics are very associative and spontaneous and cynical.
What are your plans after releasing the album?
we are doing a lot of shows in Germany right now preparing for a tour to come.
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