Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

What made you call the band "Twilight's Embrace"? The origin of the name is lost in the mists of time! But it was probably just meant to capture the idea of beauty in darkness, which it arguably does.

How was the band formed? Ben: I started writing music for the band many years ago, and then started collecting band members so that we could do live gigs, recording, etc. This took a few years but by 2010 the band was able to start gigging in our hometown of Nottingham.

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?

Vocals: Andy Walmsley
Guitar: Ben Sizer
Guitar: Jack Thorp
Bass: Al Venn
Drums: Allan Sharp

We hail from various parts of northern England, apart from our drummer Allan who is from the south.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? To begin with the aim was just to get some gigs and produce a recording. That went well, so we've just taken it one step at a time since then.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Our biography says, "Twilight's Embrace draw from a range of influences, blending slow and majestic doom-laden riffs with twin guitar harmonies, overlaid with deathly roars and gothic baritone choruses." But other people have described us in various ways, from "Insomnium meets Opeth circa 'Blackwater Park'", to "Shades of God era Paradise Lost combined with 'Brave Murder Day' era Katatonia". We are influenced by all those bands so they are fair comparisons.

Where was your first gig? The first proper gig we did was at a pub called The Old Angel in our hometown of Nottingham. It's a small venue but has hosted some well-known acts there in the past such as The Haunted and Orange Goblin.

Where was the latest gig? Our last gig was at The Rescue Rooms, also in Nottingham. This is a much bigger venue and we were supporting local legends Evil Scarecrow (http://www.evilscarecrow.co.uk/). Many of our favourite bands have played that venue so it was great to be in their place for a change.

Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? Ben: Most of the music is written by myself, although our old guitarist Dan has contributed in the past as well, and new guitarist Jack is contributing parts for the future. Lyrics are handled by our vocalists - the first two EPs feature lyrics by ex-vocalist Dee Christopher, whereas everything on the new album is by Andy.

What genre do you feel you are? That's hard to say. Overall, maybe we are melodic doom metal, but we have some faster songs which don't fit that.

Why did you pick that particular style? Ben: I was into bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema, and My Dying Bride early on, and then later on came to learn of bands like Katatonia, Swallow The Sun, Draconian, and Insomnium. The intent was to try and mix these British and Scandinavian influences in new and interesting ways.

What are your songs about? Andy: Primarily I write about various philosophical and personal issues, bits of my history, things I’ve done, mistakes I’ve made, etc... though it’s all usually shrouded in metaphor and layers of obfuscation, so what you think a song may be about, may not be precisely right. There’s also a bit of literary influence dotted here and there, for example The Dry Land is based on themes from Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Quartet, reworked a little to have some more personal meaning for me.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We exclusively work on our own material. We might record a cover or two in the future, but the priority is on originals.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We have 2 EPs available - Reflections (2010), Traces (2012), and we are about to release our first full length album, By Darkness Undone, on April 28th.

Do you have any clips on YouTube? There are several clips of our various live shows up there, but the one most relevant for us today is our simple lyric video for album opener "The Dry Land" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Z_ibqLnUs).

What got you started in music?

Ben: My grandparents gave me a keyboard when I was little. I moved onto writing music on the computer later, and when I got into metal, I got a guitar for Christmas and carried on from there.
Andy: I blame my dad. He was (and is) a huge prog rock fan, and always had Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, etc, on in the car (along with a surprising amount of Queen and Bon Jovi). That sort of exposure to music eventually led me to picking up the bass to play (and sing) in my first band when I was a kid, which quickly turned into a life-long obsession.
Al: If you grow up with a hippy for a mother and a punk for a father you have no choice but to be into music. A friend brought his bass when he came to live with us back when I was about 16 and after a few weeks I was hooked.

Best/worst gig you've played? Probably the best was a small show in Birmingham a couple of years ago, organised by our friend DJ Beerman (https://www.facebook.com/RadioDJBeerman). The support from the audience was phenomenal, with pretty much everyone there enjoying all the bands from start to finish. The worst was a recent hometown gig. It was our first live performance in 9 months, and it showed!

Is it always the same songs live? We change the set every few shows to keep things fresh, and we'll be bringing more of the songs on By Darkness Undone into the set soon, once people are familiar with them.

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? For a band like us it's hard to get tours, because there's not a big scene for this sort of music in the UK. So we mostly get to play individual shows.

What are the plans for the rest of the year? We're hoping to arrange some live dates to promote our new album, and between gigs we'll probably be writing material for the follow-up. But we have no shows planned at the moment.

How do you get psyched up for a gig?
Ben: Mostly I just have a beer or two, to calm the nerves. I'm not a natural performer so I just have to fend off any stagefright and concentrate on the job!
Andy: Honestly I’m not sure. I rarely get nervous before shows. I think I just enjoy them too much. Playing live is in my top 3 things to do in the world. And the only one I’m allowed to do in public as well.
Al: Ale!

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Ben: We listen to a lot of bands, old and new. In particular Andy gets exposed to a lot of new acts in his role as a writer for nocleansinging.com but in general we all have a varied taste.

What's the first step when making a new song? Ben: Usually I will put some ideas together into a rough demo and share it with the band. Then we start discussing where to take it from there. More recently I've been sending individual riffs to Jack to let him weave them together with some of his own. But we're not a "five guys jamming in the rehearsal room" kind of band.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? This is a complex subject, and even within the band, we have differing opinions. On one hand, we make music with the intention of it being heard and enjoyed, not as a product to be sold. But on the other hand, if people aren't paying for the music, it becomes a lot harder for us to make it, as running the band costs us money. There's no doubt that filesharing has given us a lot of exposure that we wouldn't have otherwise had, and that's something we're very grateful for. But our album could have been completed a lot sooner if more of those people were buying the CDs and we'd had enough money to record it all in a studio. It's worth noting that the idea that we could make our money from gigs and merch is a myth because the demand simply isn't there. But on the other hand, platforms like Bandcamp, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo are tools that may help smaller artists to overcome these obstacles in future. We'll see.

What would be your dreams for the band? 

Ben: I'd like us to be able to gig more widely, especially over on the European mainland. We think there is an audience out there for what we do, but the UK is perhaps not the best territory for this sort of band.
Andy: In the short term I want people to embrace the music, and take the time to really get into it on a deeper level than just casually listening to it piece by piece. I spend a lot of time on the lyrics and delivery and melody lines, and it’s important for me that people take the time to appreciate those aspects of what we’ve written. In the long term I would like us to become more associated with the bigger bands of the scene, to get a little acknowledgement from the bands we look up to, and hopefully be able to get out there and play bigger and better shows.
Al: Sharing a stage with Katatonia would be nice.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to?

Ben: You can probably guess what I'm into by looking at the influences on Twilight's Embrace. 90s British doom like Paradise Lost, Anathema, and My Dying Bride are still favourites of mine, as well as the various acts that have developed on that doom-death formula, such as Katatonia, Draconian, Novembers Doom, The Prophecy, Morgion, Ghost Brigade, Mourning Beloveth etc. I also like melodic death metal, though more of the traditional and melancholic varieties than some of the stuff that leans towards metalcore. Favourites would include Before The Dawn, Insomnium, and Dark Tranquillity. Then there are the barely-classifiable acts that defy strict classification, such as Opeth, Primordial, Daylight Dies, Throes of Dawn, Agalloch, Novembre, Amorphis, Forest Stream - each dark, heavy, and melodic in their own way.
Andy: I tend to pick and choose from across the metal spectrum really, as there’s such depth and variety out there that it seems foolish to stick to one strict style or sub-genre. I grew up listening to Hardcore bands like Vision of Disorder, Earth Crisis and BoySetsFire (all of whom I still love) then slowly branched out to ever heavier and more challenging forms of metal. These days Black Metal (in all its forms) is my main focus, but recently I’ve been enjoying a lot of quite difficult Prog/Tech Death Metal stuff as well.
Al: I've found beauty in every genre except Country, Western, House, Gabber and RnB so far. I'll happily have a day of Netsky, Cocorosie, Cream, Foriegn Beggars, John Murphy, 65Days of Static and Bloodbath. Whatever takes my fancy.

Have you been in any other bands?
Ben: I've not been in any other bands, but I do write music for a solo black metal project, as well as working on soundtracks for computer games.
Andy: I’m currently the vocalist for omni-dimensional death metallers Beyond Grace, who have a much faster, more aggressive sound akin to Blood Red Throne or Kataklysm, and I just did some guest vocals for the second album by Lascaille’s Shroud too. It’s a pretty phenomenal record.
Al: Alpha Helix! Prior to Twilight's Embrace I played with a lot of people but very informally. Early bands were all about jamming in the countryside on lazy sunny days and small open mic performances.

What would you do if there was no music?

Ben: Make computer games. Luckily for me, that is what my day job involves!
Andy: Invent it and make millions and sit on a throne made out of money.
Al: I would live a half life, a cursed existence. Might as well ask me what I would do if there was no colour.

How important are your fans?

Ben: Without the encouraging feedback we get, we'd probably have stopped many years ago. And every person who buys our music or merch, or who comes to a gig, is directly helping us continue to make this music, so for that we are incredibly grateful. Ultimately you can't let other people tell you what music to write, but that doesn't make you any less thankful when people appreciate it.
Andy: It’s funny because although we make music purely for ourselves – how we like to write, what we like to hear – perhaps the most rewarding thing is the feedback we get from people, particularly those who are new to our sound, either over the internet or at live shows. We don’t do it “for the fans” (I hate when bands say that, it’s so disingenuous) but they DO make it all worthwhile in the end.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? That's impossible to do because, as one reviewer once said, "to choose one would be like picking your favourite child". Seriously though, we're very proud of everything we've recorded for the new album By Darkness Undone.

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen?

Ben: I couldn't pick just one band, as so many stand out for different reasons. Iron Maiden always produce an amazing show despite their advancing years, which you can't say about Motorhead or Ozzy, for example. Primordial are possibly the most passionate act I've seen; I don't think they'd be capable of "phoning it in" even if they wanted to. But possibly the most intense performance I saw was Behemoth at Hellfest a few years ago. I'm hoping for a repeat of that this year.
Andy: That’s a hard one, because there’s just so many options! I can say I have never, ever seen a bad show by Satyricon. Or Marduk. But the very first time I saw Ulver still stands out to me as one of the best live experiences I’ve ever had. We all just came away from their set absolutely drained – physically and emotionally worn out. In a good way.
Al: Tough question. The Mars Volta have some of the best energy of any band I've seen, just don't watch them at festivals. In Flames put on the best show I've seen live at Hellfest. Honourable mention to The Dillinger Escape Plan for always blowing the roof off.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing?

Ben: It's unlikely that this band will ever let us make a living - the industry today doesn't make that very practical for a band like ours - but we'll play on as long as we can. I have always felt a need to create things, and since music is my first love, that's what I create the most.
Andy: Just the urge to be creative. For me at least. I can’t paint. I can’t sculpt. I can’t do anything traditionally “artistic” really. But I can write, and I like to play with language and meter and melody in order to pass on something real and emotional. Even if we weren’t able to play live I would still want to be writing and recording and just creating the music that I love.
Al: A love of music rather than a love of fame. I make music because I find it fulfilling any money is merely a catalyst for more music. Money is a means not an end.

Do you have any webpages?
Our main site ishttp://www.twilightsembrace.com
We're also on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twilightsembrace
Twitter: http://twitter.com/t_embrace_band
Bandcamp: http://twilightsembrace.bandcamp.com/

How do you view the music industry of today? It's a tough environment, since there is less money for labels to support smaller bands like ours. In some ways we have more reach than ever, with the internet letting us share our music with the world for free, but in other ways it's harder because we have to cover all our costs of releasing an album ourselves. It's not good enough to just be hard-working, sadly; you need money too.

Do you have anything to add? We just want to say thank you for the interview! We're very grateful for the interest in our band and hope you enjoy our album, By Darkness Undone, which is released on Monday April 28th. Check it out at http://twilightsembrace.bandcamp.com/