This interview with Patrick Essman (vocalist and guitarist of Sweden gothic rock band Myrah) was granted to us by Evita Hofmane of P3lican webzine (HERE). Well, this band is dark enough for us, so if you’ll discover something new and their riffs touch your heart then it’s enough good for us too.
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How could you describe Myrah to the person who has never heard your band?
Myrah is a Goth Rock/Metal band with a dynamic and heavy sound with melodies and choruses that will stay in your mind for a long time.
Recently your band started to colloborate with a new record label. Tell us please about your future plans.
Yes that´s right Inverse Records, and they have done a great work to get the new album out there. We are currently rehearsing new songs for an upcoming release, but I don´t know if there will be a new album now, but we will record some new songs and maybe put them up for a digital release only this time. Of course there will be a new album out there for us, but maybe not until the end of next year or so, time will tell.
How is your new album "My Deliverance" different from your previous work?
The album is more versatile and we have worked much harder with it then the other recordings we have done, and also the songs are a bit longer and epic if you compare it to our debut album”Six Feet Down”. I think it´s a bit heavier too. And more songs that will stay in your mind for a while.
What is the message/general theme of your second album?
There are two main themes on the album, one is about a man who has lost everything and he is not feeling well and the other one is dealing with the matter that our mother earth is feeling very bad and we humans are torturing her with all our greed and filth and that we need to think about the future if we want to survive, if it´s not to late already. We are the most egoistic and destructive specie on earth so maybe there is no hope for us.
In the interviews journalists always ask – are you satisfied with a new album? But I will put this question from the different angle –maybe there is something you’re not sastisfied with?
To be honest I think the new album is the best recording we have done so far, but there are always things I hear in the music that I would change if we would record the album again, but I think that´s a good thing, because then the next record will sound even better. The new songs I have written is a bit heavier and a bit more progressive, so I think the next album will be more versatile and also I will work even harder with the vocals and the harmonies. We have already found our sound and we just have to tune it up a bit and then get it a little rougher and then it will be a killer record.
How do you percieve criticism? Or- so to speak- ideas how this or that should be? Every song – it’s a small microcosmos. And if you’re the creator of it, maybe it’s not easy to let somebody criticize it? Whether it is your band member or some other person?
If I think back of the early days when I was younger it was harder to hear people giving criticism on the music I was writing, but nowadays I like to hear what people have to say about the music and I´m always open to try things, if a member have some ideas and if everyone thinks that it sounds good we go with that. I think it´s good to hear what other people are thinking about the music and it can give me ideas for songs in the future.
Myrah have played in different countries. Tell us about most impressive gig – where it took place, time when it happened and audience.
Ohh, we have played so many great gigs now and when we are playing in Germany it´s always a great audience and I think that country is the best to play in, especially when we are touring with our friends in Mainpoint a german band, then it´s the most fun, but if I would choose just one gig, maybe it´s the gig we did in the UK last summer at Gosport Waterfront Festival, even that we just played five songs, it was very fun and there were alot of people that loved us so we gained many new fans there.
This spring Myrah was on tour. What were the impressions about concerts on this tour?
We had a very great time playing in Germany. We also played at a 2 days festival with only two bands per night and that was great, it was out in the countryside and the small venue was overcrowded, the venue took maybe 300-400 persons but I think it was like 500-600 persons in the audience and people were standing outside the venue as well and there was a very good feeling in the air.
Has your public changed during these years? Where are the best audience for Myrah?
I don´t think it has changed so much, we have always had fans from children age up to very old people, and people who don´t usually listen to metal or rock seems to like us as well. Our best audience are in Germany and we love to play there.
Have you had any funny, curious incidents happen on tour?
It always happens funny and strange things when we are on road haha, I remember one time in a place I will not tell, the band ended up all naked running around in the hotel, I don´t know why hehe but maybe to much alcohol was the reason J. We are swedes and love to drink alcohol so it use to be wild parties when we are around, but we don´t drink alcohol until after the show.
I have been on concerts in different countries, but I have never been on concert in Sweden. What is the audience in Sweden if we compare with other countries?
I think that it´s much more fun to play in other countries, often the people in Sweden just stands there and listen to the bands, they are not that active. And often they don´t want to go near the stage, maybe they are afraid of it or something, because the audience like to stand in the back with their arms crossed. So Myrah loves to be on the road abroad and to meet people that can show us their feelings when they are listening to us, that´s much more fun and we will get more energy from that too.
Whats going on on the Sweden metalscene? Which bands from Sweden we must know? Something not so well known but very worth to hear?
I see alot of Metalcore band popping up, but I´m not into that music at all. But the Swedish metalscene seems to feel very fine with alot of big bands touring around the world. But I don´t really listen to Swedish bands so often, when I do, it´s bands I know you have already heard, like Amon Amarth, Dissection and Dark Tranquillity, but I can tip you about a not so famous band, but it´s not metal really but more postrock which is a genre I like and the band is called pg.lost and they are very good. Otherwise most of the music I like come from Finland, I really like the melancholy and melodies in their music. I love bands like Insomnium, Before the Dawn and Ghost Brigade.
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What can you tell us about the gothic rock scene in Sweden?
The gothic rock scene isn´t that big here and mostly underground bands and clubs, and we don´t have so many big bands but we have the band Tiamat and also some metal influnced bands like Draconian, Beseech(R.I.P), and Katatonia, but these bands are not typical gothic rock bands.
What is the reason for choosing gothic rock over other musical genres?
I really like the dark and melancholy feelings in the music, but I have some other musical projects too, and those are in different genres like blackmetal, doommetal, ambient and some shoegaze/postrock. But all music I write must touch my heart and give me special feelings when I hear it, otherwise it´s no meaning to go on.
In your opinion – why bands who have started their career in similar conditions, who are all talanted and diligent, why most of them doesn’t achieve their aims?
You must have some luck and also be prepared to have some setbacks and that you have a great core in the band that always sticks together even in the roughest of times. And also it´s good to play live as much as possible, even if you don´t earn any money from a gig it´s still worth it, you must sacrifice alot, especially time and money. So I think if you are really into this business you need to work your ass off to get somewhere, none will come and take you to the golden success, you must make your own way there. Eventually something great will come from all the hard work. I think many bands give up to easy when it´s not going as they planned, but you always need to have a second plan for everything.
What is the main dictum you have learned during these years about life and music as two inseparable things?
See the answer above, it applies on life as well. And also don´t take anything for granted, everything can happen in life.
Tell us an epically gothic joke!
How do you get a goth out of a tree?
Cut the rope!
Official Website
Facebook
Myspace
ReverbNation
YouTube
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How could you describe Myrah to the person who has never heard your band?
Myrah is a Goth Rock/Metal band with a dynamic and heavy sound with melodies and choruses that will stay in your mind for a long time.
Recently your band started to colloborate with a new record label. Tell us please about your future plans.
Yes that´s right Inverse Records, and they have done a great work to get the new album out there. We are currently rehearsing new songs for an upcoming release, but I don´t know if there will be a new album now, but we will record some new songs and maybe put them up for a digital release only this time. Of course there will be a new album out there for us, but maybe not until the end of next year or so, time will tell.
How is your new album "My Deliverance" different from your previous work?
The album is more versatile and we have worked much harder with it then the other recordings we have done, and also the songs are a bit longer and epic if you compare it to our debut album”Six Feet Down”. I think it´s a bit heavier too. And more songs that will stay in your mind for a while.
What is the message/general theme of your second album?
There are two main themes on the album, one is about a man who has lost everything and he is not feeling well and the other one is dealing with the matter that our mother earth is feeling very bad and we humans are torturing her with all our greed and filth and that we need to think about the future if we want to survive, if it´s not to late already. We are the most egoistic and destructive specie on earth so maybe there is no hope for us.
In the interviews journalists always ask – are you satisfied with a new album? But I will put this question from the different angle –maybe there is something you’re not sastisfied with?
To be honest I think the new album is the best recording we have done so far, but there are always things I hear in the music that I would change if we would record the album again, but I think that´s a good thing, because then the next record will sound even better. The new songs I have written is a bit heavier and a bit more progressive, so I think the next album will be more versatile and also I will work even harder with the vocals and the harmonies. We have already found our sound and we just have to tune it up a bit and then get it a little rougher and then it will be a killer record.
How do you percieve criticism? Or- so to speak- ideas how this or that should be? Every song – it’s a small microcosmos. And if you’re the creator of it, maybe it’s not easy to let somebody criticize it? Whether it is your band member or some other person?
If I think back of the early days when I was younger it was harder to hear people giving criticism on the music I was writing, but nowadays I like to hear what people have to say about the music and I´m always open to try things, if a member have some ideas and if everyone thinks that it sounds good we go with that. I think it´s good to hear what other people are thinking about the music and it can give me ideas for songs in the future.
Myrah have played in different countries. Tell us about most impressive gig – where it took place, time when it happened and audience.
Ohh, we have played so many great gigs now and when we are playing in Germany it´s always a great audience and I think that country is the best to play in, especially when we are touring with our friends in Mainpoint a german band, then it´s the most fun, but if I would choose just one gig, maybe it´s the gig we did in the UK last summer at Gosport Waterfront Festival, even that we just played five songs, it was very fun and there were alot of people that loved us so we gained many new fans there.
This spring Myrah was on tour. What were the impressions about concerts on this tour?
We had a very great time playing in Germany. We also played at a 2 days festival with only two bands per night and that was great, it was out in the countryside and the small venue was overcrowded, the venue took maybe 300-400 persons but I think it was like 500-600 persons in the audience and people were standing outside the venue as well and there was a very good feeling in the air.
Has your public changed during these years? Where are the best audience for Myrah?
I don´t think it has changed so much, we have always had fans from children age up to very old people, and people who don´t usually listen to metal or rock seems to like us as well. Our best audience are in Germany and we love to play there.
Have you had any funny, curious incidents happen on tour?
It always happens funny and strange things when we are on road haha, I remember one time in a place I will not tell, the band ended up all naked running around in the hotel, I don´t know why hehe but maybe to much alcohol was the reason J. We are swedes and love to drink alcohol so it use to be wild parties when we are around, but we don´t drink alcohol until after the show.
I have been on concerts in different countries, but I have never been on concert in Sweden. What is the audience in Sweden if we compare with other countries?
I think that it´s much more fun to play in other countries, often the people in Sweden just stands there and listen to the bands, they are not that active. And often they don´t want to go near the stage, maybe they are afraid of it or something, because the audience like to stand in the back with their arms crossed. So Myrah loves to be on the road abroad and to meet people that can show us their feelings when they are listening to us, that´s much more fun and we will get more energy from that too.
Whats going on on the Sweden metalscene? Which bands from Sweden we must know? Something not so well known but very worth to hear?
I see alot of Metalcore band popping up, but I´m not into that music at all. But the Swedish metalscene seems to feel very fine with alot of big bands touring around the world. But I don´t really listen to Swedish bands so often, when I do, it´s bands I know you have already heard, like Amon Amarth, Dissection and Dark Tranquillity, but I can tip you about a not so famous band, but it´s not metal really but more postrock which is a genre I like and the band is called pg.lost and they are very good. Otherwise most of the music I like come from Finland, I really like the melancholy and melodies in their music. I love bands like Insomnium, Before the Dawn and Ghost Brigade.
The gothic rock scene isn´t that big here and mostly underground bands and clubs, and we don´t have so many big bands but we have the band Tiamat and also some metal influnced bands like Draconian, Beseech(R.I.P), and Katatonia, but these bands are not typical gothic rock bands.
What is the reason for choosing gothic rock over other musical genres?
I really like the dark and melancholy feelings in the music, but I have some other musical projects too, and those are in different genres like blackmetal, doommetal, ambient and some shoegaze/postrock. But all music I write must touch my heart and give me special feelings when I hear it, otherwise it´s no meaning to go on.
In your opinion – why bands who have started their career in similar conditions, who are all talanted and diligent, why most of them doesn’t achieve their aims?
You must have some luck and also be prepared to have some setbacks and that you have a great core in the band that always sticks together even in the roughest of times. And also it´s good to play live as much as possible, even if you don´t earn any money from a gig it´s still worth it, you must sacrifice alot, especially time and money. So I think if you are really into this business you need to work your ass off to get somewhere, none will come and take you to the golden success, you must make your own way there. Eventually something great will come from all the hard work. I think many bands give up to easy when it´s not going as they planned, but you always need to have a second plan for everything.
What is the main dictum you have learned during these years about life and music as two inseparable things?
See the answer above, it applies on life as well. And also don´t take anything for granted, everything can happen in life.
Tell us an epically gothic joke!
How do you get a goth out of a tree?
Cut the rope!
Official Website
Myspace
ReverbNation
YouTube
