 |
| Tim Yatras |
Hey
Tim, welcome to Sadik Underground Review! How are you? Everything ok? Come on, tell
us show did your career as a musician started.
(Tim):
Thanks for the interview. I'm OK. Well,
I started playing music at a very young age, I was already jamming together
with some friends at age 10 or 11. I began on drums, but always played a little
guitar and keyboard, which I've gotten more serious about the last 7 or 8
years. I began playing drums in serious bands by around age 16 or 17, mostly
Black Metal, but I've always played some other styles as well.
How
old were you when you started being interested in music? Which bands/musicians
did you like best?
(Tim): As I mentioned above I started playing drums at age 10 or 11, but I was already
very interested in music long before this! I saw my first concert (an
Australian singer name John Farnham, who I went on to see more than 20
times over the years) when I was 4 years old! The first tape I ever got was
Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion Part 1 when I was around 7 years old. I got
into Black Metal when I was around 11 years old, initially through some dubbed
tapes of Bathory, and then it all just went from there!
Which
band do you still appreciate?
(Tim): Oh, I pretty much still listen to everything that I listened to as a kid. Of
course some stuff doesn't seem so amazing today, but I think I always had a
pretty good taste in music ahah!
Which
was your first band? Are you satisfied with what you did in that group?
(Tim): I
played in a lot of bands with my cousin growing up, but never really did much
with them, until I was 15 or 16, and joined a band called 'Blacklisted'
providing drums and some vocals. We played a lot of backyard parties, and some
small venues around here for a year or so, before I left. The style was like a
weird cross between Hardcore and Black Metal, very raw. I don't really care
about that anymore though, so I don't feel satisfied or dissatisfied, just don't
care...
 |
| Tim "Sorrow" Yatras & Mitchell "Desolate" Keepin |
Let’s
talk about your success: I think you’ll agree with me, your fame started with
the Austere project. In spite of its short life (a little more than 5 years),
Austere became one of the most important and most famous bands of that genre.
What do you think your success is due to?
(Tim): Well, yes, I guess I became more known in this scene with Austere, for sure.
However for a few years prior to Austere I played in a Heavy/Power Metal band.
We actually toured through Europe supporting Megadeth in
2005... I
don't know what made Austere special to all those people. For us it was just
about getting our innermost feelings out through music, without a thought for
how it would be received. Mitch and I were very close back then, I guess we
just hit on something, dare I say it, magical haha!
In
percentage, how much do you think you contributed to emotivity of
Austere?
(Tim): Oh, looking back it's just impossible to say. I mean Mitch did more of the
music on the first album, I did more of the lyrics, then I contributed more
music as we went along and the lyrics became more even. I wouldn't put a
percentage on it, it was just a combination of the two of us. I mean, without
Mitch it would never and could never be Austere, not even close. Would he
same the same about me? I hope so.
Personally,
do you think that Austere were worth their success?
(Tim): That's not for me to decide. I'm proud of what we did, and listening back to
the old songs I still like them, but I can't say if we deserved it or
not...
Shall
we expect a return in the next few years? If there will be one, with some
innovation?
(Tim): No return ever. Sorry.
 |
| Woods of Desolation - "Torn Beyond Reason" |
Tim
Yatras isn’t Austere, Tim Yatras is Tim Yatras, so now let’s talk about your
other projects: 2011, collaborating with D. you composed “Torn Beyond Reason”
with Woods of Desolation. Can you talk about this experience?
(Tim): Ah yes, Torn Beyond Reason. I'm so proud of my work on that album, and of
course D was excelling at that time as well. WOD is essentially D's solo
project. We were doing Grey Waters together and he asked me if I would be
interested in joining him on the next WOD album, and of course I said yes. He
had some very rough demos prepared and then together we arranged them into the completed
songs you hear on the album. It was a very easy process. I think the album only
took like 2 days to record, 1 day to mix, something like that.
What
does the album talk about? Which message did you manage to convey with your
music?
(Tim): Well
D wrote all of the lyrics for that album, and I know they are very personal to
him. I think, because we were so close at the time maybe, I was able to deliver
them with same passion and conviction as I would deliver my own words.
 |
| Germ (Logo) |
We now
arrive to your brand new and fantastic project: Germ. Tell us how did you
decide to give birth to a band like this, starting from the first album:
“Loss”.
(Tim): Actually 'Wish' is the first album, 'Loss' was the follow up EP. Germ
has actually existed for many years now, since around 2003. I recorded an EP in
2006 which was never released, and did most of the recording of both 'Wish' and
'Loss' in 2009. Those releases were a very long time coming, haha!
Was
there a band that ispired the project?
(Tim): No, definitely not any particular band. Maybe a combination of a bunch of
different influences, but even then...
 |
| Germ - "Grief" |
With
“Grief” you left the spatial/electronic and psychedelic atmospheres of the
first album, giving more importance to your feelings. Why did you decide to
change something in the stylistics of Germ?
(Tim): Well, I guess for one thing, 'Grief' was written a long time after the first
releases. It wasn't really a conscious decision to change the style a bit, just
a natural progression. Having said that, I was a little unhappy with the fact
that a lot of the guitars on the first releases were a bit too buried under the
layers of synths and orchestration, and I knew I wanted the guitars to be more
prominent this time around.
 |
| Tim Yatras during a Germ concert |
Why did
you make Germ play live? Don’t you think that such a intimate and emotive
reality shall lose part of its fascination during a concert?
(Tim): Well, I do think you lose something in the songs by playing live, but I guess
at the end of the day it's just a bit of a different
interpretation. I had
toyed with the idea of Germ playing live since the release of 'Loss', and when
I was offered the support slot for Enslaved if I wanted it, I decided to give
it a go and get some people together and see what happened. I was relatively
happy with how the rehearsals went, and so we took it to the stage. Germ will
return to being a studio only project at some point for sure, but there are a
few more shows I want to play before that happens.
 |
| Autumn's Dawn - "Autumn's Dawn" |
Let’s
now talk about your last novelty. How and why were Autumn’s Dawn born?
(Tim): Autumn's Dawn was born when myself and Anguish (Germ's live guitarist) traded
some ideas over the internet in between live performances. We found that
putting our ideas together, within 48 hours we had 30 mins of music.
We recorded those songs at the end of 2013 in a couple of days, and they will
be released on April 21st of this year. Although, you can already find a couple
on Youtube.
How
much do you rely on this project?
(Tim): This project is just for personal enjoyment. We will only do as much or as
little as we want. At the moment we are both enjoying it and have been working
on music together quite a bit, but there is no pressure or anything
involved.
When
there will be some news from the band?
(Tim): Well, as I mentioned we have an EP coming out April 21st, and we are currently
working on a full length album, to be released later this year.
 |
| Thy Light - "No Morrow shall Dawn" |
During
the summer in 2013 the new Thy Light album “No Morrow Shall Dawn”, which
features a song with you, came out. How did you come in contact with Thy
Light?
(Tim): I've know Paolo and Thy Light since the Austere days. Actually Mitch was in
contact with him back in 2006 or something, and that's how I got to know Thy
Light. Paolo asked me if I'd like to provide some vocals for a song back in
early 2013, and, being a fan of Thy Light myself, of course I said yes!
Were you comfortable?
(Tim): Yes, it was very easy.
Paolo provided the lyrics and
a rough guide vocal, I just went into the
studio here and did it!
Tell
us something about your career that we don’t know.
(Tim): Well, maybe I already did earlier in the interview when I mentioned touring
with Megadeth?!
What
do you think about Italian music? Are there some bans that you appreciate or
that moved you in some way?
(Tim): I
like a lot of Italian bands. There have been many great bands over the years.
No point in making a list, but one Italian band that has very much impressed me
recently is Dreariness. I think the album they released is great, and look
forward to hearing more.
Would
you like to play live here in Italy?
(Tim): Of course if it's possible I'd love to do that one day!
We
would like to thank you a lot for the time you dedicated to us and for your
patience. Personally, I am really looking forward to hearing some of your new
works, hoping to see even a slight improvement in your albums, that are already
masterpieces. See you soon, Tim!
(Tim): Thanks for your kind words, and for the
thoughtful questions!
0 commenti:
Posta un commento