Rising Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

A lot of things has happened within the last six months. I'll give you the short version. We recorded our second album “Abominor” and just after finishing it the other two members left. We've had a year of severe disagreement, but we managed to do this final album together, and despite of the disagreements, I think it came out really good. The demise was off course a blow to the band and me personally. In July just some weeks after the split I decided to carry on with a new line-up. I write most of the music and is practically managing us anyway, so why stop this thing, that I have been working hard on the last five years? As the first one, I contacted our original drummer Martin Niemann, and he was all in. The last couple of months we've been jamming new stuff, and it's really awesome playing  with him again, and we're looking for other new members to finalize the line-up. So kind of a weird situation having finished an album, suddenly no band, and then all of a sudden writing the next one with, while preparing for the release of an album with the now demised line-up. But it's all good, and Rising is heading the right direction,

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous releases?

“Abominor” is a faster, more raw sounding and aggressive album. The songs are more straightforward and there's no epics as on the first one. The vocals are less melodic, more growling and cold, and the guitar works incorporates a lot of noise and chord work as opposed to only riffs. Still there's riffs all over the place , and it's unmistakenly Rising.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the new release/

This was our singers department, so quoting from our bio:  Thematically “Abominor” departs from the band's first album by addressing multiple subjects of darkness, grief and violence. More

personal and earthbound than previously, the lyrics depict the frail nature of man; the

cowardice and the valor, the hope and the despair that sets the stage for man's interaction

and his place in the natural (dis)order.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Rising?

We wanted something primal, something describing the forces and structures behind life. Rising is tapping into those energies, powers and changes that rules the universe and also affects human life in a basic, underlying fashion.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Actually a couple of our festival shows has been the best, fx at Roskilde Festival in 2010. But also some of the small club shows in Europe has been intense. Our performance is energetic and direct. Not much talk, but lots of sweat and headbanging. It's a metal show.

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new release/

No. As a direct consequence of the break-up with the former members, we can't and don't even want to play shows in support of the album. This album is kind of an end to an era, and what I and  Martin, the drummer, is focusing on now is the future, new songs and a new line-up. We might perform some of the songs one day, but we wont be playing live until late next year. We do love to play live, so we want to get out there asap, but I guess we need to hold our breath for some time though.

7. The new album came out on your own label, can you tell us a little bit more about the label you have started?

Forming a label in an idea – maybe an unoriginal idea, but still an idea – that a good friend of mine and I have had for some time. We've both worked or are still working professionally on bigger labels, been playing music for ages and have some experience doing this for 20+ years. Kind of a hard earned knowledge of what-to-do and what-not-to-do. And we've just been talking about doing some records with good bands, giving good music a home and a place to grow from. And when all the Rising drama occurred, I thought, instead of shopping the album with no band to back it live, we might as well put it out ourselves and get this label thing going. So “Abominor” is our first release, and I do think it's a pretty good start, hehe. As to what we're going to release, we don't wanna limit ourselves. Our background is metal, but we can put out any kind of music, as long as it's good according to our tastes.

8. on a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the newer music by fans of extreme music?

I think we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from both media and music fans. We're still a small band , but the people buying out records and attending the shows are very much into it. It's a thing which is common within metal music and heavy stuff all around, I think. People are really into the music itself and support it, and I feel the same way, I'm a fan, I buy records and go to shows. As opposed to mainstream music, where a lot of artists bleed due to bad sales etc, the dedication hasn't changed within extreme music, and it's great.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases/

The new stuff we're writing is very dark, very aggressive and has of lot of eerie atmosphere going on. It's definitely very metal, even more than before and also on “Abominor”, and you can hear some death metal in the tonality and riffing, but still it has a lot of melody, hooks and first of all big riffs. Some songs are short, fast and to the point, some are more slow and epic in form. For me it's a further return to what I want Rising to be: Epic and huge sounding, yet still raw and direct, heavy, melodic, aggressive and disturbing. We aim to record the new mateial some time late next year.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays/

I listen to a wide variety of music, but back in the day my first inspiration was heavy rock and heavy metal from the 70's and the 80's. That still remains the closest to my heart when talking heavy music. I've been very much into early death metal such as Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Carcass and Entombed, and that has influenced my playing and writing a lot. These days I find that a lot of the interesting extreme music is from The States, lot of good black, doom, sludge and HC stuff coming out of the US.  Spinning right now is the HOAX ep's, Early Graves, Baroness' Blue Record, Lord Mantis. And Captain Beyond, Stones and Neil Young, when talking oldies.

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

My family and friends foremost. Politics and society, but I find it to get me depressed more and more, as I get older, so I try to stay away from that. But really, my life really revolves around music – playing, writing, doing the label, doing PR for other bands, buying records, listening to records, going to shows, reading music biographies, nerding with friends about music etc etc. It never stops.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Yeah, thanks for the interview and to you reading it, check out Rising and ”Abominor”, if you like heavy music. You might like, you might not, but either way, thanks for your time.