1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
J: Hey. Doing good. I'm just at home. In my little ''studio'' corner.
K: Hi, tired as usual. Sitting in my bedroom checking some on the internet before I head off and drive 1,5h to band practice.
2. DREYRA is based out of Tampere, Finland. Were both of you friends or colleagues growing up in the same town? Had you known each other prior to the band´s formation?
J: Well Klabbe actually lives on some tiny island in the middle of nowhere. I was looking for a singer and found Klabbe on a forum looking for a band and we just worked great together. We had the EP ready before we even actually met.
K: It's actually Finlands biggest Island.. 2,800.99 km2 (1,081.47 sq mi), I was at a bachelors party (My cousins) and decided around midnight with the guys that were still up and around their peak drunkness so I showed them my youtube covers and they were surprised and told me to look for a band, so I did and then Juho found me.
3. If you look back at the band from the time you started to where you are at now how would you like to describe that journey?
J: I guess i've gotten better at playing and writing? I think Klabbe has had a more interesting journey so far. It's been a blast to see him improve as a singer and get awesome chances outside of this project.
K: Vocals have improved and I try for a longer time than before to get the vocals right on recordings, I've also started to get used to play with others and jam songs together, still hoping for a chance to get used to live gigging..
4. How much time do you spend on the band both physically but also mentally each day? Is it worth all the time and effort in the end? What do you want with the band? What is the purpose of playing in a band?
J: When I'm recording, a lot. I mean, this is worth it to me. I got a great friend and get to make the music I want. I don't want money or fame. I just love making music. Hopefully at least 1 other person gets something out of it.
K: Sometimes I can't sleep for days, especially around music release. All I do is think about the music and day dream.
5. Explain a little about how you all as a band develop the music and lyrics and then merge them together perfectly to create a song.
J: I just start jamming. I try to keep our stuff as brutalistic as possible. So it's just the vocals, 2 guitars, bass and drums with no bullshit. Usually I write the lyrics at the same time I'm trying to come up with the riffs so everything kinda molds in there nicely. Once I have some shitty demo done, I send it to Klabbe and he does his thing and then I usually play the instrumentals again to compliment the vocal melody more.
K: Juho is our chef and does all heavy duty stuff, I basically just serve what he creates and try to meet his idéa for the vocals
6. Let´s talk about your debut “Eschatology”, musically, this EP is packed with monster riffs, incredible solos and some very heavy guitar work. How do you go about picking and creating the guitar parts for each song?
J: Yeah, I just like simple heavy riffs and progression. I record everything in 8 or 16 bar segments. Once i'm happy how it sounds, I do the next segment, but change the melody or the riff or the undertone and try to just evolve it somewhere new. Then I go back to the previous segment and refine it. It's a lot of back and forth and replaying shit until my fingers bleed and my legs don't work.
K: I give encouragements to J when he says stuff like my hands/feet hurts while I drink my coffee and say stuff like "It will get better just keep cooking up greatness, you can rest later."
7. K, your vocals are a bit of a hybrid style of death and black metal styles that creates this raspy, rumbling delivery. How did you get to the vocal style that you use now and had you tried other vocals before deciding on this approach?
K: Yea funny thing, I started practicing vocals when I was around 13 or 14 and then it was mostly early metalcore.. I quickly learned that my vocals were too heavy so I started switchng genres, I still practice to alot of different styles. BM/Thrash/Metalcore/Doom etc, anything goes but that doesn't mean it will sound good.
8. “Eschatology” is pretty well produced – in which studio did you record it? And who took care of the mixing and mastering?
J: 100% homebrewed. I've been a hobby musician for close to 20 years and somesort of audio engineer for 15+. So yeah, me.
K: Bedroom and sent it to J when I felt it was good enough
9. When you release a record how much attention do you pay to things like track order, lay out and art work? How planned is everything?
J: The track order is the reverse order in which we made the tracks. It kinda goes backwards in time. Everything has a meaning, but nothing is planned. It just goes how it's meant to.
K: Art work is defintely important to catch others attention, but It still needs to relate to the music somehow.
10. Finland is a country with a very cold and sombre climate. How does the natural environment and surroundings influence your music, both in terms of inspiration and atmosphere?
J: Yeah, nature is mentioned a lot. Guess you can't help but get influenced by it. Lot of weird shit happens in the woods. Who knows what's buried there.
K: we actually got the idéas for the theme for IV from when I was walking around a marsh near where I live and sent the image to Juho and he then said something along that could be good lyrics for IV..
11. Death Metal has come a long way today. Are you keeping track of the new bands in the DM scene? What do you think of the various sub-genres that are mushrooming each day?
J: Yeah, I'm always interested in hearing new or hidden ug bands or musicians, not just metal bands. I think it's great that there's a billion talented or untalented people out there creating their thing.
K: Yeah somewhat.
12. Do you think a genre of unpopular “popular music” like death metal and/or black metal can be a form of art?
J: Absolutely. It is art.
K: It's only narrow minded morons who wouldn't think It's art with a deep meaning, metal 100% have more thoughtful and diverse lyrics than anything played on mainstream radio, but then again most humans are incredibly stupid, It's undeniable. Surely I'm one of the stupid ones but still.
13. It might be too early, seeing as you’re working on it right now, but what can we expect from the forthcoming album?
J: Fat riffs, brutal drumming, insane vocals and just weird fucking song structures.
K: I concur with mr J.
14. With so many bands competing for attention what do you do in order to stand out and be counted? How far would you go in order to gain attention?
J: Nothing? I'm not in on that competition. Klabbe is a beast promoter. But yeah, people either listen or don't.
K: I just stand in my village town square with a bell and paper pamphlet and yell "Dreyra, Eschatology, out on Spotify!" and repeat it while my voice last.. Oh and we also invest in some ads through Meta.
15. That's all the questions I have for you guys. I'll let you have the final words by saying whatever you'd like to our readers and your fans out there.
J: We have fans? Keep listening, more to come. Thanks!
K: Don't wear band merch you don't listen to. Come on, you're better than that!
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