Interview: Selfmachine

Dutch metallers from Selfmachine are ready to release their second album entitled as Societal Arcade. They have also re-signed with the Italian label, WotmHoleDeath record for this new one, but below you can read an interview I had with Steve, the vocalist of the band who he talked about the album: recording session, musical direction, the cover artwork. He also mentioned about the departure of the ex drummer and getting on board the new one and touring plans.

Cheers Steve, nice talking with you again about Selfmachine, how are things going?
Hey Carla, things are really busy at the moment. We are doing a lot of preparations for the new album’s release. We’ve made a few lyric videos, a music video, new merch, new stage banners, organising the album release show, organising a fun afterparty, planning tours, doing all the promotion… And we also have to break in a brand new drummer! So yeah, quite busy!

As you said that you are ready to release the new album entitled ”Societal Arcade”, also you have re-signed with WormHoleDeath records, how is it to release the second album with this label again?
Oh it’s great! When we finished with the promotional run for our first record ‘Broadcast Your Identity’ we really didn’t know what we wanted to do. We had a really good open conversation with the folks at Wormholedeath and they made us a great offer. We considered this and we concluded that it made more sense for us to build on the relationship we already had, instead of having to convince somebody else who doesn’t know us and doesn’t give a crap about us. Wormholedeath clearly does both. In this industry that’s a rare thing. Also, the label has been expanding over the years, opening up some new offices around the globe,… it will be interesting to see what that will bring to the table!

The album has been recorded in 2 sets: in Italy at Realsound studios and in your homeland (NL), why did you do the recordings like this?
It’s a time-based practical decision. Wormholedeath got us to record at Realsound studio. We knew we wanted to at least record the drums and lead vocals there, to get a more organic sound than on the first album. For the budget were on we had a set number of days for recording. With all the multi-layered stuff we have going on in our music it would have been impossible to record everything in that time span. So we decided to record all the guitars and bass tracks at our homes and then re-amp it in the studio. That way it would still have that big fat crunchy sound that only comes from cranking an amp up all the way. In the end we also had plenty of time to record the acoustic guitars there and do some fun experimenting like recording handclaps for the song ‘Normal People’.

More of, what is the theme and the musical direction you went through the album?
The music progressed naturally. I think if you listen to the first one, you can hear us searching for ‘our sound’. Also, we were still getting all the band members together while we were writing it. This time, we were a solid team and we knew what Selfmachine should sound like. We’ll always be a band that incorporates many different styles and influences, but as a whole I think this album just sounds a lot more solid. As for the lyrical theme, I tackled a personal struggle of mine. See, I tend to not always pick up on the signals people are sending out. Whether it’s me annoying the hell out of someone, or a girl showing interest… It’s not that I don’t care, but I just don’t see it. So I read some books on human behaviour, on how the human animal behaves. Those who are aware of the structures that make up society can work things to their advantage. They get to play with life as if it were a game. That is what the title ‘Societal Arcade’ refers to.

The sound of it, in my opinion, seems to be more different than your previous release, ”Broadcast Your Identity’, more heavy I’d say, do you agree with me?
Well,it’s a bit more of everything. It contains some of the heaviest stuff we’ve ever written, but also the mellowest, juiciest ballad. So more varied, more versatile,… but also more coherent. Go figure. Hell, I guess in the end we just learned to write better songs hahaha!

You are doing the vocals both clean and growls, how can you handle it even during the live shows?
For the last couple of years I’ve had a great vocal coach. She also does vocal coaching on some of the big TV productions, musicals and talent shows. She has taught me a lot on how to use my voice in a responsible way. For me, singing clean has always been more taxing on my voice than screams and growls. I guess I’ve always had that technique down, lucky me. I was worried at first, when we went on tour with The Agonist, that the heavy touring schedule would wear out my voice. But as it turned out, my voice only got better and stronger with each show that passed!

Seeing your studio diary on Youtube, I have seen the Bloid guys (NL), I suppose they’re the guests on the album…
The guys in Bloid have always been great friends of ours. We played our first gig ever with them and many times since. I also once filled in on drums one time when Daan couldn’t make it and we even introduced them to Wormholedeath who got them signed to the label! When we need to do some cool group vocals, they are the first people we call. Fun fact: ‘Broadcast Your Identity’ had Rijnes on backing vocals. On ‘Societal Arcade’ we had Jeroen and Daan. So now finally we have a full set hahah!

What can you tell me about the cover artwork? Definitely is all of the band on it but then there is that sphere which seems to reflect you all…
The cover makes more sense once you see the interior artwork. The band is playing pinball machines and the ‘sphere’ you refer to is really a giant pinball. You can actually see the flippers in the reflection of the ball. So not only is the band playing pinball,.. they are actually INSIDE a pinball machine. This is a visual representation of the lyrical theme I described earlier. Life is a game and everyone is playing it while simultaneously being played! It’s totally meta, whoooo!!

You have announced a new drummer. The ex one, Ben, left the band. Any reasons why he left the band and how do you see the next Selfmachine steps with the new drummer?
Ben left the band because he found out that being a touring musician was no longer something he aspired to. He wanted a steady job, a house, you know, an adult life. I guess he figured this couldn’t be combined with the band’s plans and ambitions. We were sad to see him go. He’s a killer drummer and an amazing guy. He left us with one hell of a task in finding a replacement. Fortunately, after contacting a lot of drummers, we came across Robin Boogaard. He had a background in both groovy powerhouse drums (he played with Dutch legends such as Agresion and Demia) as well as technical and fast deathmetal stuff (Cypher, Paper Doll Decay) and that gave him the baggage needed to tackle our stuff. Obviously it’s a lot of work to fit somebody into this machine (pun intended) that has been running for over 5 years now. However, I am confident that it will all work out. He’s a cool guy and a rock-solid player and once we hit the stage again we will undoubtedly kick all kinds of ass out there.

We will watch a new video soon aswell, but what other plans do you guys have, any tour plans over Europe, maybe summer festivals?
First we will play our album presentation show in the Melkweg, Amsterdam. That will be Robin’s first show too. In April we will do a ten day tour of Europe with Koronal, Unprocessed, X-Panda and Fractal Universe. In July we will play the great MetalDays 2017 festival in Slovenia, which we are really excited about. After that we are planning some shows and short tours in the Netherlands and possibly some other countries. Then in the fall we’ve got a tour of the UK planned and another, bigger European tour. In between all of that we also would like to shoot another music video… so we’ve got quite busy year planned already. ‘Societal Arcade’ isn’t even out yet, so who knows what that will bring? Whatever it is, I look forward to it. Bring it on!

Hope to see you one day somewhere in Europe, thank you Steve again for the interview! Cheers and rock on!
You’re most welcome Carla. Keep up the good work! Ciao!

https://www.facebook.com/selfmachineofficial/