Hi Edwin, thank you for doing this interview. How are you doing?
Doing well thank you. Looking forward to answering some questions you and maybe others might have about Die Sektor.
For those who are not familiar with Die Sektor, can you give a brief introduction to the band?
Die Sektor is at this time a 4 person band. In broad terms we make dark electro or industrial style music. Scott and Daniel founded the band in 2002 and were signed to NoiTekk in 2004 based on the unreleased "Scraping the Flesh" demo. The First Full length album "To Be Fed Upon" was released in 2006. Our second full length album "Applied Structure In A Void" was released just a few weeks ago on Feb 25th. We are currently working with NoiTekk, Deathwatch Asia and COP Int. for our releases.
The line.up of Die Sektor did change again, what was the reason for the line up change?
Yes there was a line up change between the first album and the second. It's not something we really want to elaborate on too much but basically no song writing was being completed so everyone involved decided to move on in order for Die Sektor to continue.
First of all, you joined the band? What did you do prior to Die Sektor and what is your role in the band?
I was good friends with all the guys in the band for a few years before I joined Die Sektor. There were a few local industrial bands I played in usually doing production and lyrics. I started my own project at some point and Scott and Alan from Die Sektor joined the band as live members. Scott on drums and Alan on synths. This was all during the time Die Sektor was trying to find a new vocalist. Alan and Scott had been auditioning people for several months with no real success. One day just messing around in the studio and hanging out Scott had me write some lyrics and do a few takes on the song that would later become Accelerant. Scott and Alan liked what they were hearing so after some discussions between Alan and Scott they asked me to join Die Sektor. I had to make the decision to put my own project on hold and dedicate all my time to Die Sektor. So this all happened around Dec 09. We worked on the new album non-stop from that point on.
How was it join the band, after all the guys are playing together for years, did you easily blend in?
It was really easy for me. We were all good friends already. I even played a few shows on the road with Die Sektor with my old band. So there were no surprises.
On the new album also original member Daniel Gant returned, how did this happen?
Scott and Daniel have been best friends all this time even after Daniel left the band the first time. Scott really wanted to bring him back in the band for several years but Daniel was in music production school and he just couldn't put the time into it that was needed. We brought him back in shortly after Daniel finished school. It started off with Daniel helping to mix the album but has since grown to where Daniel contributes a lot of the music as well.
Between the previous album "to be Fed upon" and the new one "applied structure in a void" lies 4 years, why did it take you so long to release this album?
Some of that has to do with things we can't or won't talk about. There were personal issues and all manner of vice and trappings. A big part of it was the main programmer Scott and the vocalist John just were not writing songs together so the project was in limbo. Both parties were working on personal and solo projects and not with each other. So after Scott and Alan decided that Die Sektor was not going to end they had to cut ties and move on. After I joined the band it only took about a year to get the album done.
The album is being produced by Brian Gardner, how did you get in contact with him and what did he do for the sound of Die Sektor?
Brian did the mastering for the album. Mastering is the process where you finalize the album, bring all the levels to their max and eq and compress to give it that final polished big sound. Brian is the coolest guy ever. We contacted him just to see "if" he would possibly do it. We really didn't expect to hear back but he got back with us really quick and said he would master the entire album. He ended up doing all the remixes as well. He seems to just really like music of all kinds and works even in his spare time.
He is known to be a bit experimental so it's hard to say exactly what he did. Most of it was eq over the entire track with a trained ear that only comes with that level of experience. He was able to make everything sound big without much loss in dynamics which is really amazing as well.
When you compare both albums, what is the biggest progress that you made?
When I joined Die Sektor at first I was thinking we were just going to hook up the same vocal processor used on the other album and whisper scream and pitch shift through the songs. Scott and Alan told me right away that they wanted a much more diverse approach this time which is part of the reason they chose me over some other people. After I heard the parts of the songs that were already written I could tell that the music was going to be much more varied as well.
So really I would say progress was made with the diversity, song structures and production level.
On "applied structure in a void" there are lots of different kind of vocals, vocoder, distorted, clean. How do you decide where to put which vocals and how will you do this in a live setting?
Ha-ha it's not easy to do live. Really I just let the songs and music tell me what type of vocals need to be used. Normally we have a basic form of the song that I write lyrics for. At this point I will start working out the structure such as chorus and verse type sections. I just go with what I feel. It all comes from inside. That's how we write music and vocals. Of course the outside influences are part of all that stuff swirling around our heads and hearts.
We have been rehearsing the new songs with myself, Daniel and Scott all doing vocals. It actually sounds very close to the album. Just a bit more heavy and brutal.
Did the album turn out to be the album you had in mind before you started the recordings?
We wanted to make something that we would take notice of and listen to ourselves. We did achieve that. We wanted to blend in other styles of both underground and even more popular styles with harsh dark electro and see what would happen. That's what I want to hear when I pop in a new CD. We don't like it when people make the same album over and over or when there are no fresh ideas introduced for an entire album.
Outside of all that we had to just follow our feeling and let the album shape how it wanted to shape. It's always nice to be surprised by your own creations.
I will say we are working with a deconstruction aesthetic. We intended the album to sound as if the layer of soft reverb and top layer sounds of the first album had been eaten away by corrosion and now you have a more raw chaotic underbelly exposed. If that makes any sense. ha-ha.
In my opinion the album is really refreshing, why is it important to be innovative for you?
We just don't see the value in playing it safe or trying to copy ourselves. This is an underground form of music. It was intended to innovate.
Having said that I don't think that innovation always means experimental music. I can find just as much if not more innovation in a brilliantly crafted song structure or a one of a kind voice as I would find in a never before done fusion or crazy complexity for the sake of complexity.
"To be fed upon` made it to the first place in the DAC, what are your expectations for this album?
It's really hard for us to know having been four years since our last release. We know a fair amount of people were interested and hopefully most of them purchased the album. We were anticipating losing a few fans with the updated sound and having to start over with building the band up to recognition after 4 years. Based on what I have seen and e-mails we received there were a few people who didn't like the new sound. However for everyone that didn't like it we had three new fans who had never heard of us before this album and loved it.
Another interesting thing is a lot of people have been telling us that after several listens they changed from hating to loving the album. That's a
really good sign to us.
Everyone in the band including myself thought the first album was very good. It's just so strange though the effect of only having one album out for 4 years has had on a portion of our audience. Some people out there have just built the album up so big in there heads they almost have a complex about it. Most people forget when "To Be Fed Upon" came out there was a huge backlash from people who didn't like the the change in vocals from the EP and thought the albums was too weird and lacking in club tracks. It's easy for people to forget we are just trying to make a disc of good tracks for them to bump while they drive around or hang out. That's all.
What inspires you in writing lyrics?
There are two main ways the lyrics form. The first is that I am reflecting back to the world what the world reflects on me. In other words I just take everything I see, hear and feel and then show it back after filtering through my perceptions and mind.
The other way I write lyrics is kind of an opposite approach. I try to go as far inside as possible and shed light on dark unknown places in my mind and the universal mind. The emotions in the music really helps bring the words out of me. I write various poems and ideas down as they come but usually the music is the key.
Will the album being supported by live shows? Will there be a European tour as well?
Yes! We are rehearsing for the next month and then we will start actively booking shows wherever and whenever possible. We want to cover as much of the U.S. as possible this year. There are some things in the works that could bring us to Europe this year as well. Of course we would like to play all over the world so we will continue to pursue that goal.
Any last words for the readers?
I just want to say thank you for this opportunity to do an interview with Cyber Angels. Also if I might mention again that Die Sektor's new album was released on Feb 25th worldwide and we really feel that anyone who picks this album up with an open mind is going to find something they really enjoy.
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