Evocation interview

I’ve written the article about the new album, and i did promise in that the interview too, well the interview is done, but i’ve got the answers with a huge delay, and becausee of my comprehensive exam i haven’t got any time for Fémforgács. Since by now i’ve done with all of them, so let’s see what did the band’s basser, Martin „Tore” Toresso write back to my questions.

First of all what did you do between 1992 and 2006, because the silence was big around Evocation in this period. As I know, you entered a new era with your 2006 demo.

As you probably know, Evocation was split up back in 93 due to musical differences. After that, some of the guys started to play in different bands and some quit music totally. Then, sometime around 2004, Marko, Vesa and Janne met at a party and started talking about a reunion. A year later they had their first rehearsal. Everybody was back in the band except for Kricke (former bass player) who had moved to Stockholm. This is the time where I joined the band. I and Janne were at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, drinking beer and talking about Evocation and their reunion and that they were looking for a new bass player when he suddenly stopped and looked at me. – Ey, you are a bass player, why don’t you join us? Two weeks later I was standing in the rehearsal studio and since then I’ve been one of the E-tribe members. The following year we wrote and recorded what was to be our debut album, Tales from the Tomb. We picked three songs from the album and made the 2006 demo, and from that moment the new era of Evocation was a fact.

How could you persuade Dan Swanö and Anders Björler to make a guest appearance and how long did the work in the studio take? Dan Swanö is a fucking genious, what’s he like face to face, as a person? Can you tell us something interesting about the new album?

It was not much of a persuasion. We asked both Dan and Anders if they wanted to do a guest appearance on our upcoming album. They both said yes so there were never any complications. Actually I’ve never met Dan in person. He recorded the vocals in his own studio and sent us the files. Anders did his recording in our studio though. He had a gig with The Haunted in our town so he killed some hours with us in the Evocation Studios.

The cover of Tales from the Tomb is a wonderful work of Dan Seagrave, but the new album’s cover is a bit weak. Don’t you think it would have been better to ask Dan to paint another cover that matches your music?

That is your opinion. We’ve got a lot of comments on Travis artwork, mostly good ones. I like the artwork he did for Dead Calm Chaos and it fits the title perfect. Seagrave is the man when it comes to old school cover arts, but we choose Travis Smith for this one and I haven’t regret it for a second.

How old are you guys, what do you do beside playing music, do you families, and do you have any other project beside Evocation?

We’re all between 32 and 35 years old. All of us have regular day jobs besides Evocation. Janne is a self employed truck driver, Marko is a psychologist, Vesa is a teacher, Thomas works with advertising and I work with logistics. Janne and Vesa have kids and Marko has his first kid on the way.

No one has any music projects besides Evocation at the time if that’s what you meant. We have our Studio though, the Evocation Studios, were we record, produce and master other bands such as Suicidal Winds and Lifeless.

Some news report that At The Gates and Asphyx both got together again and are working on a new album. What do you think about this? Is is worth for the cultic bands to rise again from their ashes which can result in the opposite way?

As a big fan of At the Gates I think it was great that they got together again and did the tour this summer. They finally got the appreciation that they are worth and should have had back in the 90s. About them making a new album, I don’t know. If they do, I really hope they have the hunger and inspiration to do it the right way. It is a big risk to take and the fans will be critical.

What bands is/was inspiring you, and can you tell me a name which was your favourite in your childhood and is still one today?

I had posters of bands like Kiss, Ozzy and W.A.S.P., that I got from my older brothers music magazines, on my walls before I even was interested in music. It was something magic about them that appealed to me. Then, when I finally started to listen to all the bands that I thought were so cool, I found out that there were faster and harder and even cooler bands around. My first real favourite band must have been Pantera, I was so amused by the energy and power that they created and still am today. Later on I got more in to Death Metal and when I was about seventeen me and my friends were head banging to the Evocation demos, hehe! I think that Evocation is one of the reasons me and my friends started to play music back then. Some years later I got to know the Kenttäkumpu brothers and now I’m in the band.

What do you think about the dominating metalcore and deathcore trends of our present days? My opinion is, there are already too many bands, due to their multiplication like mushrooms these genres are becoming boring, there are only a few outstanding ones. I can see only money and profit, success and the labels, no sign of honesty…

It sucks! There are so many of these bands that sounds exactly the same these days that the record labels can choose the best, good looking bands or the one with a chick in it. That’s the only way these bands can stick out from the masses. But…they sell records and that’s what counts for the big record labels. Maybe it’s we who don’t get it, hehe, old farts doing our thing for ourselves and a couple of maniacs listening to it. It’s a subject you can discuss for hours. But as long as someone supports us and the old school death metal scene there will always be some true death metal out there.

Would you like to send a message to the readers of Fémforgács?

I Hope to see you guys at the Festivals of 2009. Drink before think and bang those fucking heads!

Beer or wine?

Beer, easy one!

Death metal or Sweden? Haha!

Isn’t that the same thing? Death Metal is Sweden, right? Or is it Sweden that is Death Metal? Haha

Something you’d like to say at the end?

Thank you for showing interest in our band and keep those horns up!

Thanks for the interview and take care!

Akela, Jó’vana Akela, Jó’vana
április 05.