Edenbridge have released an excellent album called 'My Earth Dream'. What was the secret behind it? How was it put together? and how do they fit within the symphonic metal genre?
R13
Over the last few years the genres of symphonic and goth metal has exploded, are you surprised at the sudden popularity of it.
Lanvall
No, not really. I think the entrance of more and more women into the metal scene is something exciting. Why should metal be just for men to play? Of course many people have considered this as a trend, which is not a trend for me. A trend can just be a musical style but not if it's performed by men or women.
R13
Why do you think the scene has suddenly got much bigger?
Lanvall
Mainly because of the success of Nightwish and Within Temptation which both are total mainstream bands in the meantime from their success, which is nothing bad of course. This opened up a lot of possibilities for other bands.
R13
With the likes of Nightwish and Within Temptation becoming almost mainstream were you worried that Edenbridge were going to be tagged as scene followers regardless of your 10 year history?
Lanvall
We cannot be scene followers cause at the time when we started which was 1996 with the pre-band of Edenbridge really nobody worked with female singers. When we recorded our first album we didn't even know Nightwish, so we were among the first bands to play this style. I also think that we were always different to those other bands. We work with different harmonic structures, different arrangements, we have always integrated a lot of foreign cultures influences, now we worked with a real orchestra and Sabine's singing voice is also totally different to all those soprano/gothic/opera voices.
R13
With so many bands being lumped into the symphonic and goth metal scene, did you fear Edenbridge would get lost in the mire of bands who all sound the same? And is 'My Earth Dream' a conscious attempt to elevate the band above the chasing pack?
Lanvall
I think My Earth Dream separates us even more from other bands in that style. Just take the choirs which are totally different. When all other bands work with Opera/Classic choirs we do it differently and have some Queen-ish/rocky choirs, done by Robby Valentine and Dennis Ward.
R13
When you started out was the vision of an album that was driven by real orchestration always at the back of your mind or did this vision develop as the band progressed album to album?
Lanvall
Working with an orchestra was always a dream of mine from the point on I started to write songs. But that's always a question of budget. With the move to Napalm Records we negotiated a much higher budget and that gave us the chance to work with a real orchestra. When that was clear it backfired me in a great way and a lot of inspiration arose.
R13
Did you have in mind what My Earth Dream was going to sound like when you started the project?
Lanvall
You can never tell how the whole album will sound when you are starting to write. I don't make exact plans which song should sound like this and that. That would only limit me. The best thing is to let everything flow and this was the case regarding our new album.
R13
How do you begin to write a song that contains orchestration? What is your basic writing process?
Lanvall
This depends. I wrote a lot of basic ideas on the guitar, therefore the new album is much heavier due to the use of 7-string guitars. So many songs were developed out of a basic riff. When I added some orchestration I also had to change the riffs sometimes cause the orchestration leads you to other harmonies. Writing parts is quite simple but arranging them to the big result is the difficult process.
R13
How long does it take to write something as huge sounding as My Earth Dream?
Lanvall
Only the title song took me about 2,5 months to write and arrange and the score for the orchestra is 27 pages. The whole album took me over a year just for writing, of course with some little breaks in between when we were touring.
R13
The band have progressed from each album, adding different aspects to the sound, is this a conscious decision or something that happens naturally? Do you have any plans for the direction of the next album already or do you leave the direction of the band to your feelings at the time?
Lanvall
I really have no idea at the moment for a next album. I've been in a constant turning wheel since last September with recordings, mix, tour preparations and the tour itself from where we just returned. But of course I would love to work with the orchestra also on the next album. What I can say we will surely continue the way we started on MED.
R13
Do you have any previous experience in directing an orchestra? The orchestration on My Earth Dream is quite complex and compliments the rest of band, was this down to yourself or did you need to get a little help in piecing it all together?
Lanvall
I have no education in scoring but I studied a lot of classical scores by myself, especially the symphonies by Anton Bruckner where I learned a lot. So when you have the sound in your head you just need to be able to write it down. With today's modern technique it's not that difficult to programme the orchestra on the computer. So I made all the arrangements and then gave them to Enrique Ugarte, a famous composer/conductor/arranger, who just conducted Mike Oldfield's new symphony at the Press release concert in Bilbao. He liked what I did and said that everything is set great, so he only had to do some minor changes in the arrangements which made me very happy.
The trick is that you have to be careful not to overdo it. The orchestra has a much bigger effect when you also let the band enough room. So you will find a lot of parts where it's just reduced to guitar/bass/drums like the opening riff in “Shadowplay”. When the orchestra then comes in it sounds much much higher.
R13
The impressive thing about My Earth Dream is the sense of metal is rarely lost, bands such as Epica and Vision of Atlantis have their guitars so low in the mix they lose impact. How important was it to keep the emphasis of metal within the music?
Lanvall
Yes, this is exactly what I said. I wanted to have both in front, so you have to give everything room in the mix. Therefore Karl Groom and I spent 12 days to bring those 100 to 200 tracks per song together. So if you have orchestrations all the time there is no further room to crank the guitars up.
R13
Was there a fear that the Orchestra would take over the mix and the music?
Lanvall
Not at all when you give them their room. It's mainly all about finding the right frequencies where everything has its place. So we spent a lot of time working on the guitar sound which in the end made a lot of room for the vocals and then the orchestra we could perfectly match with everything. I think the mix is awesome.
R13
Are you out on tour in 2008 subsequent to your recent excursion with Rage, of course?
Lanvall
As I said we just returned from the tour. We have a festival next week in Germany and then a small pause. We are heading for Korea in September which will be awesome cause it will be our second visit there and we play the Metal Female Voices Festival in Belgium in October. Of course we hope for another tour in Autumn.
R13
How do you perform such grandiose music live.
Lanvall
Of course we have a hard disc where the backings are coming from. Live we are playing with 2 guitar players but no keyboardist. I think this adds a lot when it comes to stage acting and anyway, people expect something different when it comes to a live performance than listening to a record. In our case this works very well.
R13
As stated in my review, Sabine is a raven haired temptress, is it a worry that the media and fans will focus on her rather than the music?
Lanvall
We never had that problem. It was always the music first. Take a band like Epica. All the media and fans were totally blown away by Simone's appearance on stage, this was the only thing that made the band big. I cannot remember anybody who spoke about their musical qualities.
R13
Do you believe it brings you more attention and is a positive aspect of the band, or do you think there are negatives to this?
Lanvall
Of course it is not a bad aspect when you have a good looking female singer in front. But the much better thing is that Sabine is getting great reviews because of her great voice and vocal performance.
R13
What are the plans for Edenbridge over the next 2 years?
Lanvall
Playing live as much as possible and raise the status of the band and of cause writing a great new album.
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