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Interview with vocalist Patrick Savelkoul of Callenish Circle
March 2006 By: Joe Florez
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Out of all the melodic death, thrash bands or what have you that are out there now, Callenish Circle has got to be the biggest underdogs of them all. They have existed for 14 years and have survived longer than other underground acts. The band has five full lengths and two EPs under their belts. Callenish Circle’s has matured with each release and the compositions have only gotten stronger and more experimental. That’s not too bad for a group who once didn’t mind only doing covers. While CC gets rave reviews for their efforts, the group’s own exploitation of their musicianship goes unnoticed for the most part, unlike other talent-less artists who don’t even deserve a bad write up for their latest disc. In the end, the group doesn’t mind it and the best part is that they continue to deliver one awesome release after another. Pat Savelkoul who takes firm control of the
mic isn’t too worried about the exposure because all the true fans know about them and their music and it’s in their collection (myself included). If you don’t know about this band, then now is the time to jump on the bandwagon because what they have to offer is a lot. Hopefully, it won’t be long before these Dutchmen cross the Atlantic Ocean and wreck havoc all over North America.
You must be extremely proud of the band for lasting about fourteen years. It’s not common for a band in this genre to even make to the ten year mark.
Yes, I truly am proud… when we started back in 1992 I never could have imagined that the band would last this long, not even to speak about landing a record deal with Metal Blade Records, playing European tours and big festivals, a mini-tour in Mexico, etc, etc. You must know that we started out as a cover-band because we thought it would be fun to play the songs of our favorite bands back then (Death, Pestilence, Bolt Thrower and old Paradise Lost). When we just started, we didn’t have any intentions to write our own music or to play shows whatsoever… so having that in mind I am really proud of what we achieved during the last 14 years.
“Pitch.Black Effects” pretty much continues in the same vein musically as the last few releases. “This Day You Regret” will basically blow out your speakers. The guitars are aggressive and thrashy, while the drums show absolutely no mercy and the screaming is unrelenting. Playing this style for so long, do you ever get bored with this or do you always get invigorated when it comes time to release a new CD?
Well, I don’t fully agree with you on this point ‘cause I think with [Pitch.Black.Effects] we experimented quite a lot. Flesh_Power_Dominion and My Passion//Your Pain were musically wise indeed more or less in the same vein but on the new album we experimented quite a lot with different drum patterns, different guitar riffs and more worked out vocal lines. On top of that we added some new and fresh elements to our music in the form of the electronic soundscapes delivered by Gail Liebling (also producer of the album). Of course it’s still Death/Thrash music, but for us it was important to develop as a band. It would have been pretty easy to pull off the same trick as we did on both former albums, but we took the risk and decided to add some new and fresh elements into our music.
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Another classic track is the experimental “Ignorant.” Just like your previous albums, you like to dabble in electronic/atmospheric vibes and have them included in songs from time to time. What I like about the way that it’s used is the fact that they don’t overtake the feeling of your song. It just adds a little extra flavor to your thrash attacks. Also, what is intriguing on this track is the breakdown which is melodic, hypnotizing and slow. It reminds me of Meshuggah to a degree. Do you ever get scared when an experiment that you played with for a while finally gets pressed on CD because some of the fans may not like it?
No, not really… we always did and always will play the music we like ourselves and don’t think too much about the fans’ reactions upfront… I mean… there are always fans that like the early stuff more. There are even people out there that think our demo from ‘95 was the best we did.
(And I'm one of those people, it's
the best demo ever - Steve) Well everyone can have his own opinion of course, but what I learned throughout the years is that you can’t please everybody. So, if a bands wants to continue the band members need to be happy with the music they play. I mean if I don’t like playing this music anymore I will quit immediately, no doubt about that. So, as a musician you always look out for new and fresh ideas to keep it interesting for yourself as well.
I found “Schwarzes Licht” (that’s black light in Deutsch) to be interesting because it’s in English /German. Also, you have a female singer Kaleen sort of do a duet with you and this is all blended in with the electronic and aggressive playing. How did this all come about?
Well to start, Kaleen is Gail Liebling’s wife. She also had a small guest appearance on our former album MP//YP. We wanted this song (Schwarzes Licht) to have a cold atmospheric vibe, also in connection with the lyrical theme, and the German language is really suitable. Besides, Kaleen works in Germany so her knowledge of the German language is pretty good.
The new disc also comes in a limited edition package which contains a bonus DVD with a full concert and some behind the scenes footage. Who’s idea was it to give a little something extra to the fans?
It was the band’s idea to add something extra to the album… we had a professionally recorded/filmed show available from the Tilburg
concert we did in 2004 and besides we had some other nice features on the shelf. So, we suggested the idea to Metal Blade Records to add a DVD to the new album and they immediately agreed. On both former albums, we recorded some covers as bonus but this time we thought the time was there to do something extra in the form of a DVD.
While the last couple of releases were recorded by Andy Classen, you decided to change producers and went with world renowned Tue Madsen. That man sure knows how to bring out the best in extreme metal because this just sounds so huge. Will he be on board the next time around?
Thanks for the compliment on the production. We are also really satisfied with the sound of the new album. But don’t forget that our producer Gail Liebling had a big impact on the production of the album as well ‘cause with him we did the complete recordings. Since he’s our live sound engineer for a long time, he knows exactly how CC should sound and he also helped me a lot with working out the vocal lines. Personally I think the vocal lines are much more worked out compared to the former albums. Just listen to the album with your headphones on and you will know what I mean. For the future, it’s definitely an option to work again in this construction, but since we are not working on a new album yet we leave all options open. But to get back to the question, Tue really did an amazing job and he also works really fast. All in all, I can say we are pretty much satisfied on how everything worked out ‘cause for us it was the first time that we recorded, mixed and mastered the album at 3 different locations.
I have to admit that I have only heard the name, but never listened to you because I thought it would be too extreme. All that changed when I reviewed ‘Flesh_Power_Dominion.” You just take the best elements of several genres and make them work in your favor. Was it always a game plan to be more than one dimensional?
Well, we were never a real extreme band. In the early days we even started as a pretty slow paced Doomy Death Metal band, but during the years (when our playing and writing skills improved) we more and more headed into the direction we are now. We also never limited ourselves to one particular style whatsoever. So, our music has always been pretty much diverse and that’s the way we like it. |
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It seems like that since the beginning: you, Ron and Gav have been the driving force behind the band. That’s good because since you all know each other like the back of your hand you can read each other’s minds and the changes aren’t exactly huge come each release. They all have a similar pattern with the exception that each album is more mature, refined and more devastating than the last.
I can only but agree here. With each new album we simply try to top ourselves without making drastic changes music wise. With each new album we simply try to do better on all aspects (songwriting, production, tightness, etc). I mean as a band you should always try to improve ‘cause stagnation is deadly in such an overcrowded scene as metal is nowadays.
Just last year, the band did something that I am sure most fans could agree on. Candlelight Records gathered your first two releases that are now hard to find - “Graceful…Yet Forbidding” and “Drift Of Empathy” - and combined that with your E.P. and demo which was then smacked onto two discs. Was that a question you were asked a lot about up until last year?
No, it was an idea that I had in mind for quite some time already. As you might know our former material was released on pretty small and inexperienced labels and the distribution was really underground so a lot of new fans were not able to find our old stuff. Since we own the legal rights for all our old material, we |
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finally thought the time was right to make it available again for the new generation of fans. First we released it on Karmageddon Media over here in Europe and a few months later Candlelight USA released the 2CD in North America.
In the beginning, you played covers and were inspired by the likes of your neighbors Gorefest, Pestilence and Paradise Lost. That’s really cool to be playing artists that are in the underground rather than pick the obvious like Maiden, Priest, Ozzy, etc. What drew you to go down the heavier and darker path?
Well, bands like Death, Pestilence, Bolt Thrower, Gorefest and Paradise Lost were simply our faves back then. Besides, I am not really a good singer so covering Maiden or Priest would have become a huge disaster I think [laughs].
Up until record number three, there was a ton of Death influences worn on the sleeves of the band. Mainly it was Ron, right? Did you ever worry about shaking that off because it was used so much or did you all know that it would eventually go away sooner or later?
Yeah, Ron, but also Jos (our first guitar player) were really big fans of Death and I guess you also hear something of that back on the very early material. On the other hand we never copied Death (which is impossible anyway) and always tried to put our own ideas in our music.
What are the big plans for 2006? Any festivals to hit or major tours?
At the moment we are looking out for a bigger European Tour and besides, we have some single shows, mini-tours and festivals scheduled. Let’s see what the year brings.
The biggest question I have to ask is when in the hell are you going to come to North America and kick all of our asses with your music?
Well, everybody out there just bomb Metal Blade Records with requests. It’s really difficult to come over without the support of your record label. So, everybody who wants to see us in the States just send mails to our label and we will see what happens. We are ready to come over, that’s for sure!
Any last words for your die hard fans?
Thanks for the support during all these years. Without you we never would have gone this far! Keep on Thrashing and hope to see you on the road one day.
www.callenish-circle.com
www.metalblade.com
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