Chad Bowar: How are you recovering from your injured shoulder? What happened?
Aydan: I am definitely better now. One month ago I was skiing with some friends and I lost my skis and heavily fell on a block of ice with my shoulder. I broke the bone between the arm and shoulder, and I was forced to undergo surgery to put a metal plate in order to maintain the bone. Obviously I couldn’t play guitar for a while and we have been forced to call a session musician to play the March gigs in my place. Now I’m slowly playing a bit and hope to be back on stage at the end of April.
How come you decided to make Two Tragedy Poets a mostly acoustic album?
Well it is what we like to call an experiment. We were thinking about exploring our softer and acoustic side for a while, and we had the opportunity to do it. We talked to our label about the project and we were thinking about doing maybe a five or six track EP. But they were really happy about the idea and asked for a full-length.
Was the songwriting process any different than a “regular” Elvenking album?
It was a different approach, and in the beginning we were a little scared. But in the end we realized that this musical side is so deep in our musical DNA that we had no problems at all.
Is there a concept or thread running through the lyrics?
No, no concept. Every song has its story and its personal approach to a different argument. We wanted to have total freedom also on the lyrical side. And I think that the album contains really interesting lyrics all with different approaches:, serious or funny, ironic or really romantic.
It’s been out in Europe for a few months. What has the response been so far?
Being a very experimental thing, absolutely out of the business and a real risk, the first responses have been awesome! The thing that everyone underlines is how you can expect anything from us, and it’s totally true. We do everything to please ourselves and none more than us as musicians, men and songwriters. If someone else is going to appreciate our work as well, we cannot be more happy.
How come the long delay between the European and U.S. release?
There are always problems between the main record label and foreign licensee. This time AFM has started to work directly on American soil, which should be a great thing for us. It is a new thing, so that’s why the release there was delayed so much. I hope now the album is in stores.
Were you surprised at the polarized response to your last album The Scythe?
Well, we knew that The Scythe was a particular album, different from the other releases, as is every single Elvenking work. We were prepared for some critics, especially from the fans of our first albums. The metal listeners are usually really close-minded and if you change something, be prepared. On the other hand, we knew that the album could open new and different doors for us. The fact that The Scythe is our best selling album shows that the work was really good and it has been appreciated by a lot of people.
What are your upcoming tour plans, and when will you be able to play guitar live again?
As said I was forced to sit out of touring for the last four gigs. I will be back on stage next week for a three date mini tour. My arm doesn’t work 100% yet, but I think I can play the shows. We have a lot of live gigs coming, so the faster I will be back on stage the better it is!
You played ProgPower in the US last year. How was that experience? Any plans or desire to do a full U.S. tour in the future?
Progpower was amazing. I was really surprised about the enthusiasm of the American metallers. Here in Europe they used to describe the U.S. metal scene as completely dead, but I saw a lot of passion and energy there. The crowd was crazy and really focused on the performances. This was an amazing experience and we have been welcomed in an incredible way there. Obviously we would love to come and play again there soon. Everyday we receive fan requests to play the U.S., so we hope to have the chance soon.
What was the first concert you attended as a fan?
It was Iron Maiden in 1994, I think, on the X Factor tour, with My Dying Bride. You cannot forget your first show!
Any tour horror stories?
Usually we have a lot of funny and nasty stories which are impossible to mention here, more than things like that. Obviously a lot of (crap) happens on stage, but we always tried to solve the situation in the most professional way possible.
Do you remember the first show your band played?
Yeah, you cannot forget this as well! It was also not near home as young bands usually do, but pretty far. Before recording our first demo we never played live. In that first gig Damna played bass on stage because we didn’t have a bass player at the time, and we played the 4 songs included in the demo and a couple of cover songs. “Infinite Dreams” from Iron Maiden was one. It wasn’t a so horrible a show as far as I remember…
What’s the best show you’ve ever played? How about the worst?
One I remember is always Pestpop festival in Belgium, not because it was a great played show, but was our last show of the tour we did with Jon Oliva’s Pain in 2006 and we had a lot of fun. The worst happened in the first periods of our career playing in front of few people, which is obviously a bit depressing , but also pretty normal I’d say.
