Lydia's Gemstone - Ny melankoli

- Tekst av Vegar Myrstad, 1. februar 2012 -

Østerrikske LYDIA'S GEMSTONE ble dannet i 2007 av brødrene Markus Keimel (vocals/guitars) og Christian Keimel (drums) etter flere år i diverse andre band og prosjekter. Sammen med Hannes Achmüller (Gitar) og Yosh Halbedl (Bass/Sampling) gav de i 2008 ut demo skiva 'No endorphins added'. 2 år etter ble ‘The new Melancholy’ innspilt og albumet ble belønnet med platekontrakt for Twilight og utgitt i fjor (2011), og omtalt her på arcticmetal.no. Jeg tok en prat med vokalist og grunnleggende medlem Markus Keimel.

Congratulation on your release ‘The new Melancholy’, are you pleased with the result?

Markus: Thank you very much! Well, making and especially creating music is an enduring process in constant advancement. So for sure there are a lot of things I would do different now respectively the recording as well as the songwriting/arrangement. But in the main I'm very satisfied with the result. The feedback from fans and press is more than positive. That's motivating, proof that we're on the right way and also an affirmation of what I'm doing.

How will you describe this record compared to your previous release ‘No endorphins added’?

Markus: The “the new melancholy” - Album sounds a lot heavier and mirrors more facets of our musical spectrum. There are more details as well as more emotional intensity.

‘No endorphins added’ was a self-released album, but this time you have signed a record deal with Twilight. Was it hard getting a deal?

Markus: Because of fatal differences and problems we prematurely had to quit the contract with twilight. This was the reason why we re-released the album as free download. We just wanted to say thanks to our fans who waited so long after all the release-delays.

In this section of the interview some questions around the recorddeal were placed, but due to the circumstances mentioned above these were left out.

The album is called ‘The new Melancholy’, and is in my opinion very describing on the music. How did you come up with the album name? How will you describe your music yourself?

Markus: Anywise “the new melancholy” is something like a statement that approximately should let you know what you have to expect of this band in the future. Lydia's Gemstone stands for originality and recognition value. It's a very atmospheric kind of Rock-Music with influences of  a lot of stuff like Metal, Classic and Electronic Music. We are working really hard to intensify that components and I can promise you that it works. We already finished the songwriting - and arrangement – process of the next album and will start the pre-production in march. Very very stunning stuff to expect.

Do you have a personal favourite on the album?

Markus: Difficult to say. “Noir” and “The Lunar Threnody” are maybe the most felicitous songs the album.

As I mentioned in my review ofyour record, in the opening track ‘The Lunar Threnody’ I find there are some similarities to My dying Bride, is this a band that has inspired you, or is this purely a coincidence?  

Markus: My Dying Bride is a band I know and like. But I would say that this is an coincidence. As a songwriter and person I'm self-contained and I already quit this famous phase of self-discovery.

Furthermore I' m not influencable so easy as if I would put melodies and characteristics of preferred bands into my songs. Well, for sure I can't reinvent the wheel. But I want to set a course and still do my own stuff, uninfluenced by other bands and musicians

While we are talking about inspirations, the vocals are characteristic and may, in my opinion, remind of other big names in the Rock/Metal scene: Glenn Danzig and Aaron Stainthorpe.

Who would you say has brought you the most musical inspiration personally?

Markus: There are no singers influencing me anymore. I found my own voice and I found my own style. If there are anyhow similarities in accent or in the tone colour of our voices than this something we have to live with. *laughs*

What I want to explain and say is that I'm not coping anyone.

The song ‘Noir’ has a somewhat different feel to it compared to the rest of the album and adds another dimension to the album, is this side of Lydia’s Gemstone something we will hear more of?

Markus: Honestly, yes. The Song “Noir” is pathbreaking and, how you beautifully said, it added another dimension. If you want to intensify, to outbid and to max the atmosphere that you create with your music you have to use more musical components like electronic sounds and keyboards. This is something that you will hear a lot more of on the next record.

You also released a video for ‘Noir’, can you tell us about the recording of this? Any more videos planned?

Markus: The recording sessions were not as spectacular as you maybe imagine. For sure a lot of fun but the most interesting process was the post-editing. We planned one clip more but it's currently not sure for which song.

Are there any tours planned in the near future?

Markus: Yes, we currently plan and organize a small tour for spring in Austria. A bigger one will follow in autumn. The reason is that we will start to pre-produce our new album already in march and the main focus is on the record.

Austria may not be the most familiar rock/metal scene to our Norwegian readers, how is the scene down there? Any bands we should know, or should check out?

Markus: It's ok and it's very alive. Some austrian bands you should check out or know are Visions of Atlantis, Drop Down Gods, Hollenthon, Whispers In The Shadow and how they're all named. *laughs*

Visions of Atlantis and Hollenthon have both previously been reviewed here at arcticmetal.no

Are you familiar with the Norwegian scene? Can you list any names, any favourites?

Markus: For sure I know some of the highlights of the norwegian scene. It's not a secret that it's a very influential one. Not only respectively the black metal stuff.

Who does the songwriting in Lydia’s Gemstone, or is this a joint effort?

Markus: I'm the main songwriter in Lydia's Gemstone. It's comparable with human anatomy. I build the essential vital parts and during the arrangement process we built the skeleton. If you feel that the song got soul it's finished. *laughs*

As this interview is coming to an end I want to thank you for the talk and wish you all the best for the future! Any last word to our readers?

Markus: Thank you very much for the interesting questions. I would like to invite your readers to check us out in the WWW and also to have a look on the website of the band's designer Simon Goritschnig. www.simongoritschnig.com

yours, Markus