I'm not from Denmark and I did not know the band Boil. Perhaps I'm not the only one, so please can you introduce the band to our readers?
Boil - we've sort of fought our way up from the underground and building a name always takes a little time. We're a prog rock/metal band fusing genres of metal, rock and alternative in our own melodic yet twisted boil universe. We are now signed at Mighty Music/Target and very soon we will be releasing our second album 'A New Decay' all over Europe. The album is self-produced and we've put tons of energy, blood, sweat and tears into the new album and it really shows. Hopefully people will now open their eyes and ears to our music. We've already received quite a lot of very interesting attention from both fans and industry people, so things are looking promising indeed.
The name Boil is easy to remember, but what does it stand for?
Boil - yeah, the name is easy to recognize I guess which is obviously always a good thing in the huge music jungle. For us the name symbolizes both the dynamic and energetic side to our music (symbolized by something that boils) as well as the more dark and sinister side of our music and lyrical universe (symbolized by the infection and abscess of a boil).
What happened after the debut album 'Vessel', did you get a lot of positive response and a bigger fan base?
Boil - 'Vessel' was more or less only released in Denmark and obviously that limits the potential scope a lot. But after the release of Vessel things progressed steadily. We received a lot of great reviews and were compared quite a lot to Tool, I guess because of our polyrhythmic structures and because we take our time to let the various pieces in our music progress naturally. We were nominated for Best Debut Album of the Year at Danish metal awards 2007 and won the Nordic Challenge talent competition in 2008. We also played a lot of gigs, hereunder the opening concert at Sweden Rock Festival 2008, the SPOT festival in Denmark in 2009 and support for Ill Nino in Denmark. People really embraced us at every concert, however we were still struggling to make a name for ourselves- the biggest problem being that people outside Denmark still didn't know who the fuck we were unless they had acquired the album by some odd chance or visited our myspace by mistake hehe.
I don't know your debut, but what are the biggest differences between the debut and your new album 'A New Decay'?
Boil - we've definitely evolved a lot since our debut album, both due to some line up changes, but also because we've matured music wise and have found and defined our own sound and universe by crafting the music and lyrics in our own way. We've also experimented a lot more on the new album, both when it comes to composition, structure and melodies but also by blending in a touch of percussion, electronics and even strings here and there to add a little spice and life. 'A New Decay' requires the listener to take his time and get actively involved in the music. In that way the album is very much like a good book, and as you know a good book can give the reader a much deeper and more memorable experience than some what-ever-Hollywood movie forgotten after 20 minutes.
Who is the main songwriter in the band, or is it a real band kind of thing?
Boil - that varies, but ideas often start with our guitarist Stig going 'listen guys, I juggled some ideas last night, and sort of ended up recording an entire draft for a demo with all instruments and shit. Then all of us immediately start nitpicking the demo changing parts here and there both individually and by jamming together in our own studio. Our vocalist Jacob usually writes the lyrics by digging into the more darker parts of the human psyche and modern society. Sometimes Jacob and Stig writes the lyrics together and then the two of them tend to get all hyped on quite far-reaching philosophical stuff and twists - only stopping when they run out of coffee! So yes, our music is very much an emotional thing and we are all deeply involved in pressing each other to the limit during the writing process.
In my review I was very positive about the high quality and the maturity of the album, did you all have music lessons or are you autodidact?
Boil - well for the most part we're autodidact. We have all played music since our early teens and we did take music lessons back then, however the real progress and evolution has been taking place while playing in various bands over the years. The only person in the band who is a properly schooled musician is our drummer. He graduated as Percussionist from the Royal Academy of Music last year, so in order to pay his rent and put food on the table, he also plays various percussion and huge Japanese drums and shit at large symphonic concerts from time to time. It's always good fun to get him drunk and let him play an improvised concert on the dishes or what ever he can get his hands on. Better still, he has mastered the art of deliberately playing untight and singing off tune but somehow making it sound cool never the less. Really fun stuff for any band get together haha!
There are lots of influences in your music; could you please tell us what the main influences are?
Boil - We're mostly influenced by ourselves. However no doubt we're influenced by the old masters of the 1990s such as Faith No More, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Tool but certainly also by modern alternative metal bands such as Katatonia, Opeth, Gojira and Meshuggah. So if you add all these bands into a great black metal pot and then add a lot our own twisted personalities and unique ideas and perceptions as well, then all you need to do is stir it, let it cook for a while, and you have our soup de jour. Voila. Best served boiling hot of course!
The band uses sometimes strange rhythms and lots of tempo changes in the songs, but the songs never turn into loose sand. How are you doing this?
Boil - we definitely like to challenge each other and to turn the conventional ways upside down. However our music is actually not strange or polyrhythmic structured merely for the sake of making things weird. Twisting a good melody just a bit to make it even more interesting comes naturally to us. We find complex music much more inspiring and rewarding than straight forward music as complex music requires the listener to actively relate to the music. That being said, we still very much preserve the good melody in our music. We don't want it all to turn so weird that we don't enjoy it ourselves.
Any message behind the title: 'A New Decay'?
Boil - In Boil's lyrics the decay symbolizes a tendency in our modern society where people not actively and critically question the information they are bombarded with every day from TV, politicians, religious groups, organizations etc. We are not dictating a specific doctrine, we're merely advocating a collective mental wake-up call.
On the cover we see a white sterile zone, what's the idea behind it?
Boil - again this is part of Boil's lyrical themes and there is a meaning to it all yes. Let me just say that we like to keep our messages at least a bit subliminal so there's something for people to find and interpretate when they decide to actively take a closer look at things. And the cover is no exception.
What will the next steps be for the band, after the usual album promotion and interviews, touring perhaps?
Boil - first of all we look forward to seeing how the fans and the industry responds to the album, first in Denmark and then in the rest of Europe. There 'll probably be some interviews and stuff and hopefully also opportunities for large festival jobs and touring will emerge. It would be cool to hook up with the right famous band and start playing large venues all over Europe. We are dying to meet people outside Denmark and share our musical passion with them. So yes, a hopefully a lot will happen.
You signed a deal with Mighty Music, how did they get interested in the band Boil?
Boil - Mighty Music likes to "target" things... We're the bull's-eye, why wouldn't you want to aim for that? Well, we forwarded a copy of the album master to Mighty Music/Target and received a call shortly thereafter from Target's manager Michael. He really liked the music and gave us a call. That's basically how it started.
What do you expect from the label?
Boil - besides hearing their advice about do's and don't in the business we definitely expect them to utilize their wide reaching web of contacts within the industry to help us open doors here and there to the media, to festivals, to interesting concerts and relevant arrangements. We have high expectation because we know they are dedicated and efficient people. And in return we will of course work our butts off coz you can't expect to be carried unless you are willing to also pull the wagon yourself.
Tue Madsen mastered the new album, I have to say that it sounds as a Swiss clock, whose idea was it to ask him and are you satisfied?
Boil - well thanks. We are fortunate to have our own studio in Aarhus Denmark (called the Sleepwalker Studio) were we did all tracking and mixing of the album ourselves to make sure every little detail sounded just perfect. We didn't want to leave such important tasks to some sound guy who doesn't know the songs by heart and care for the importance of details. Naturally things take a lot of time when you do it yourself, but the result is much more rewarding. The only thing we didn't do ourselves was the mastering of the album. We have worked with Tue Madsen (The Haunted etc.) on the first album and we are very fond of his professionalism, attitude and his straight the bone kick ass sound which always guarantees for a lot of presence and tension in the music. So it was an easy choice for us to hand over the mastering to him and he added the final touch to the album. We are very satisfied with the spice he added.
What is the bands goal in the years to come, where do you want to be in about 5 years?
Boil - we definitely want to be playing the larger festivals and play with a lot of other cool bands. We'll continue to challenge each other to evolve and write even better music and we most certainly want our music to be shared, known and recognized by people worldwide to create that special band-audience circle of energy. After all, music transcends boundaries, so we'll try to be transcending I guess. Also it will be interesting to see if we can get a foothold outside Europe because our current records deal only involves Europe. Finding the right label in e.g. the US could be an interesting project in the future also.
Name the 5 albums that you will be taking with you on a year long journey?
Boil - well I'd say we would take the following albums with us for the ride: Katatonia -The Great Cold Distance, Opeth - Ghost Reveries, Gojira -The Way of All Flesh, Tool - Aenima and Alice in Chains -Dirt.
Anything else you want to share with our readers?
Boil - well, we would definitely encourage you guys to get your hands on "A New Decay", lock the door and turn off the TV, open a beer or a bottle of wine and really take the time to listen and relate to the entire album and lyrics. And if you only make it to the drinking beer part when you put the cd on, well that's perfectly cool also, coz sometimes that's what music is about also.
