Interview с SpiRitual : DARKSIDE.ru

Stefan, what was the starting point of the SpiRitual project? The music of SpiRitual has much resemblance with Betray My Secrets of the end of the 1990s. Christian Bystron has been taking part in both projects. So, what prevented you from releasing "Pulse" as a new Betray My Secrets studio work?

I was considering another ethno/metal album for several years and discussed this issue with Christian Bystron, but we never found time where we both would have had time to work TOGETHER on a new Betray My Secrets album, so finally in summer 2005 I decided to try this adventure alone. This is the reason why the project is called SpiRitual and not Betray My Secrets. For Christian and me Betray My Secrets wasn’t just creating a new music style but Betray My Secrets also stands for an ideal creative work between two individual musicians, so the name Betray My Secrets wouldn’t have fit. In the end, however, Christian took part in SpiRitual too, by playing some fantastic solos and trying to promote the album whenever he can. (smiles)

Could you compare "Pulse" and "Betray My Secrets" from the point of music and sound? What do you see as an essential distinction between them?

You could say that SpiRitual is a sort of optimized and more concrete version of Betray My Secrets. The sound quality is better, and the music has more extremes. Either very hard parts or very soft and ethnic parts, but still well combined.

Could you agree with the statement that the music of SpiRitual has much more Darkseed elements than the Betray My Secrets album does?

Yes, I definitely think so. Even if the songs are very long and don’t have typical mainstream structures, there are many catchy melodies and my typical melodic vocals, being the main element of Darkseed.

You pay a lot of attention to Darkseed that has got the broadest discography among all of your projects, and now you are all into SpiRitual. Might it mean

there will be no new works from Betray My Secrets and Shiva in Exile?

Since SpiRitual is a new version of Betray My Secrets, and Christian is more involved into SpiRitual than expected, there’s no need to continue Betray My Secrets. (laughs) Shiva in Exile will definitely go on, the chances are very high that I make a full-length album in 2006 (already wrote one song for an American gothic bellydancing compilation CD, sung again by Yana Veva of the Russian band Theodor Bastard). The future of Darkseed in 2006 is quite unsure. My priorities from now on definitely will be SpiRitual and Shiva in Exile.

How did you come to the name SpiRitual? Does it mean any kind of rituals?

It’s just a word game, and the name wasn’t formed by me, but by a friend of mine who has nothing to do with my music at all. (laughs). I once asked him for an album name of Shiva in Exile, and he said “why not name it SpiRitual?” So the band name SpiRitual was born. SpiRitual, because I consider myself a spiritual person, and the word “Ritual” with highlighted “R” simply as word game. (smiles)) All in all the emphasis on the word Ritual is stupid, because spirituality means accessing non-material things WITHOUT any ceremonies or rituals. But well, it sounds nice, so I like it.

What does the word “spiritual” mean for you? What from your point of view does a person need to be spiritual? What do you think about the significance of spirituality and religion in our world nowadays?

It’s nice that you mention spirituality and religion in different words, and don’t put spirituality and religion together, because the two things are different, but still they belong together to some extent, because they both have the same aim: to find “God” and be united with the “universe”. Religion achieves this by rules, ceremonies etc. in a community, while spirituality has no special way to achieve this. Every individual person can find his own way, but usually it’s

a way in silence, without masses of people. That’s the nice thing about spirituality. It works without laws, and without any leaders. All you need is YOU. However, it’s difficult to describe exactly what spirituality is, and how to achieve it. If you ever heard of gnostic movements in religion, well, this is what spirituality is. Jesus also was a spiritual person, not a predefined christian person. He belonged to a gnostic group 2,000 years ago, and that’s what he preached: your own body is your temple! Yes, I think this describes it best. Another nice saying is: You can go to a church and talk ABOUT God, or you can go inside yourself and talk WITH God (please don’t understand “God” as man with white beard...). (laughs)

A world without religion or spirituality would be a bad world. Indeed, many bad deeds and wars were and are caused by religious thinking, BUT not the religion is guilty for that. The humans performing this religion in a wrong way are guilty! A person REALLY understanding and feeling spirituality/religion wouldn’t ever cause a war or do any negative things. Being spiritual means accepting and feeling cosmic rules, one of them being “what you do to others will fall back on you, either positive or negative”. All religions and spiritual movements have this core message, and many other core messages too. But FEELING this message, instead of just reading it, makes the difference whether a person pretending to be spiritual or religious really IS spiritual or religious!

"Pulse" has been recorded with the help of many international musicians living in different parts of the world. Could you tell us how the creative co-operation with each of them was going, what parts they fulfilled:

– Dr. Phil. Christian Ratsch
He is a German book author and scientist, he provided rainforest sounds for me, as well as recordings of the Columbian shaman Kajuyali Tsamani.

– Maurizio Guolo
The Darkseed drummer, he played very good drums on SpiRitual!

– Yana Veva
The female singer of the Russian band Theodor Bastard. She recorded her vocals in Russia, and we communicated over e-mail. Was a great cooperation, and it will continue. (smiles) Her voice is so damn dark and individual, but still sounds very serious and professional!

– Gaby Koss
The former female singer of the German band Haggard. She recorded her vocals in Munich/Germany. Her strong features are the opera elements in the ethnic voice style. She’s one of the most constructive persons I know, always open minded for new ways or creating arts etc. Simply perfect!

– Kajuyali Tsamani
A shaman from Columbia who performed flutes and percussion for SpiRitual. He is a good friend of Dr. Ph. Christian Raetsch.

– Christian Bystron
Guitarist of Megaherz and former Betray My Secrets. He played lead guitars and solo guitars on “Pulse”, “Nahash”, “Save & Heal” and “Nowhereness”. By the way, in the early 90s he was the guitar teacher of several Darkseed guitarists.

– Rene Berthiaume
Guitarist of the German folk metal shooting stars Equilibrium, he played the solo on “Symphony Of Life” and “This Battle Is Yours”. He is one of the owners of the Munich Helion studios where I record or mix most of my albums.

– Markus Glanz
Guitarist of the fantastic Munich band Koyaanis-Qatsy. And now the funny thing: he also was a former guitar teacher of Darkseed! (laughs)) I didn’t know that when I got in contact with him! He played the melancholic solo on “This Battle Is Yours”.

Apart from all the musicians, also Tommy Herrmann, Darkseed guitarist and owner of the Helion Studios should be mentioned. He did a fantastic job recording and mixing the album!!!

What is the share of the material that was not recorded in the studio but taken from the sound- and sample libraries? Did any of the musicians take part in working on those samples?

I’d say 50/50. In the future I hope to in

crease the percentage of real performed instruments! But it’s very difficult and expensive.

You’re looking for musicians with different music skills (flutes, violin, percussion, female vocals) at the moment. Have you found anyone?

Unfortunately not. SpiRitual is an album being 99% listened by metal audience, and not by new age/world music people, so it’s very difficult to find skilled musicians that also have possibilities to record material in a very good studio and don’t demand millions of dollars. But I won’t give up! Here again my message: IF YOU ARE ABLE TO PLAY DUDUK FLUTE, NEY FLUTE, ORIENTAL VIOLIN, ETHNIC FEMALE VOCALS OR PERCUSSION, GET IN CONTACT WITH ME via stefan@spi-ritual.com! I am also open minded for instruments not being mentioned here.

Why did you start with the 6-songs EP? Was there ever an idea to wait a bit, record more material and present SpiRitual with a full-length album?

The initial plan was to make a 5-track EP with max. 25 minutes. But the songs turned out to be much longer, especially because of Christian's long, epic solo guitars. In addition to that, I had some extremely creative moments in the end phase of the recordings, and “Nowhereness” was written. So we now have this stupid playing time of 35 minutes, being neither EP nor full length but “nowhereness.” (laughs) The reason why I didn’t plan a full-length album from the very beginning was that I wanted to write max. 5 tracks, and each of them liking 100%. I didn’t want to get the feeling of being tired and just writing 2-3 more tracks as fillers in order to get more money from the sales.

How the last track "Nowhereness" was composed?

Yana’s vocals on that song originally were on a demo playback of mine, which I made just to check how good we both cooperate. The vocals were so good that I didn’t want to let them unused, and so Yana and me decided to use them for “Pulse” and I wrote "Nowhereness", as basis for h

er vocals.

Who is responsible for the release, licensing and distribution of "Pulse"? Why did you make your choice in favor of those people?

On the Russian-speaking territory it is published by CD-Maximum. I think it’s good to try out record companies, in order to gather experience. In the past I already worked together with two other big Russian labels, and they also did a great job in my opinion! I didn’t sign any licensing deals with other territories yet but sell the album by myself, just on the website. However, I wouldn’t say that it will remain like this. I am currently negotiating with an American label and a German label, too.

The Russian video team Deviant Creations made a video clip for the title song "Pulse". It’s one more Russian touch to SpiRitual. How did you manage to find those guys and how did you like working with them?

Well, same as with Konstantin ("Bonez" Viktorov, album artwork designer - ed.). A lot of selfless energy, and they contacted me first, too. We agreed on a video clip, which represents THEIR vision and interpretation of the video song, so we said, “Okay, I make the audio arts, you simply make the moving pictures arts”. This enthusiasm really seems to be a Russian phenomenon. Let’s hope that there are even some Russians out there being able to perform ethnic instruments. (laughs)

Tell us a bit about that video – who came up with the basic idea, who wrote the script? Where was the video shot and who was that girl – the heroine in the video?

The heroine of the video is Dasha, the girlfriend of a Deviant Creations video guy. One more example for selfless energy... The video was shot somewhere in Russia, but please don’t ask me where, I have NO idea. (laughs) Originally it was planned to be shot on the coast in the North, but unfortunately the weather turned too cold. However, also shooting the video more in the south didn’t prevent Dasha from experiencing som

e very icy moments. Poor girl. (laughs)) Well, the basic idea was done by both sides, Deviant Creations and me. Usually I came up with naive or simply impossible ideas, they just laughed and said I’d need to pay $100,000 for it or it’s simply not possible, and so we slowly but surely agreed on a good compromise, combining my utopic ideas and their realistic possibilities, haha. They did a really good job and I learned much about video stuff.

Did you take any part in the process of making the video? Which idea was the video meant to transmit?

I’d say 90% of the concept were done by Deviant Creations, and of course 100% of the realization. I just came up with my opinion sometimes. Big thanks to all at Deviant Creations!!! The general message is: “God” can be found in everything, even in plants etc. (spirit arising from the flower, and later being in Dasha’s hand and eyes, flying through the universe etc.). It shall deliver a positive mood, and it does!

You have so much in common with Russia. Do you have plans to visit it in the nearest future?

It would be indeed very cool! I know so many people in Moscow and St. Petersburg and in Kiev/Ukraine, and Christian of Megaherz was so fascinated by his trip to Moscow that he now started to learn Russian!!! So yes, visiting Russia is a “must have” thing on my list. (smiles)

What do you expect from "Pulse"? What must happen for you might safely say – yeah, it works absolutely great?

I just want to get back my expenses. The whole project was financed with my private money and the good will of all appearing “guest” musicians and graphics artists. But when I think back, SpiRitual was the best process of creating an album I ever had! Simply, because the “Russian connection” worked fantastic! The video guys of Deviant Creations, Yana Veva, and last but not least Konstantin Viktorov with his great website and booklet work. It was a 100% enthusiastic album c

reation without ANY commercial thoughts and wishes! I think such work only is possible with Russian people. Russians still have a vision and fight for it!

There are a lot of ethnic cultures (Indian, Oriental, etc.) and each of them has its specific expression in music, architecture, etc. Which of ethnic directions seems more attractive personally to you and why?

I don’t like Indian culture (I mean India, not native American) that much. Neither the food, nor the music. (laughs) The music is a bit too weird and “happy”. I prefer oriental (Near/Middle Eastern) music, because it has real gothic elements in the harmonies. Also several instruments are perfect for gothic, for example the Armenian Duduk flute. It’s perfect for playing sad, or dramatic melodies. Besides that the Near/Middle East features very aggressive percussion like Darbuka. India in contrast to the Near/Middle East just has boring Tabla percussion that sounds like weird clapping, without any depth and feeling (in my personal opinion, music is always just a matter of taste!!!). Another culture I like is native American. VERY nice flutes and flute harmonies, and dark percussion, too!

Are you satisfied with the responses to the last Darkseed album "Ultimate Darkness" (2005)?

The reaction of magazines and fans was very good! But the sales were lower than we expected. However, that’s a normal thing in our days. Every band is pissed off with the sales, because most people download music instead of buying it. They destroy a lot of bands because of that. But on the other hand, I would do so too, if I still were a pupil without money. So I decided to see making music just as idealistic way to communicate a message, a POSITIVE message. And if I get back my expenses, and satisfy the other people working for SpiRitual, then I am happy.

What are you going to do furthermost? Occupied writing new material for Darkseed or exploring new horizons in your ethno world?

I am currently finishing a new Shiva in Exile track, for an American gothic bellydancing compilation. Maybe I will also use this song for SpiRitual and add guitars later on, because this song turned out to be very dark, even if it’s full with ethnic elements. Besides that, I will write 2-3 other Shiva in Exile songs during the next weeks and send the demo to record companies. Yana Veva will for sure be featured on several tracks!

What is your favorite girl’s name and why?

Svetlana, but this is an insider gag. (cracks) Only Konstantin knows about it, and if he tells anybody, his head will be cut off and sent to his parents in a plastic box!

Anna Babicheva, Alex ‘KIDd’ Kuzovlev
January 30, 2006
3 фев 2006 the End

SpiRitual

Cross of Сultures