1. You are a band that has seven years of presence in the Swiss Metal scene. How do you think time has treated you all these years? Are you satisfied with your development so far?
It’s not so easy because we are living in a country where the metal scene isn’t really developed. It doesn’t mean there are no bands, but not many of them are truly professional. However, it’s hard to make a living from any kind of music in Switzerland.
2. Have you been influenced by any non-death metal bands? How did you come to realize music is your passion?
Absolutely, we have many influences in jazz, such as Allan Hansworth, Coltrane, Coleman and free jazz in general. Classical influences include Bach, Mozart, and Wagner, while progressive influences come from early Genesis, Yes, and ELP. Since I was a child, I’ve always been attracted to music, particularly the guitar, and CDs and vinyl. My father was a musician too.
3. How’s the promotion of your debut album “Breeding of Twisted Souls” going? The release of a full length album can bring changes on every level. Have you noticed any changes in Serkion?
We have done everything by ourselves, DIY. It has helped us a lot in shaping the vision of the band. Actually, we have had many promoters contact us since the release. It’s not a big deal, but it’s still better.
4. When you pick songs for an album do you place them as they were written; the first song written ends up as track number one and so on, or do you place the songs according to a pattern of where they fit the best? How important is track ordering?
Not necessarily. Sometimes songs are listed by when they were written, but most of the time, we check which one fits best when played together and after listening.
5. You have an interesting sound, can you tell us the typical approach you take when composing a song?
We try to explore new patterns, experimenting with chords and scales that are not commonly used. We aim to change every song, avoiding the same patterns or notes, and altering the spirit of the band.
6. How do you work as a band? What’s the process you follow when composing an album? Do you work individually or as a team spending hours all together in a studio until a good idea pops up?
For Serkion, I prefer to work alone to write and compose the songs. Then, I show the composition to the band.
7. Apart from the classic and brutal death metal influence, the progressive element is undoubtedly present to a great extent in your music. Is this just the way the music is taking you?
I really enjoy brutal death metal, but I have a big preference for technical death metal, whether it’s old school or new. That’s the biggest influence. Even if we write something without consciously thinking about it, that’s the direction the music takes us.
8. With so many death metal bands coming up these days, how do you manage to keep your material relevant? How challenging is it to come up with newer material?
We aim not to replicate what others have already done or used. We avoid copying what we like and search for different elements, even outside the metal scene.
9. What about live playing? I saw that you played in many places of Switzerland? Where did you like it the most? How people are reacting on your very specific music? And what is the most important thing for your live show?
Yes, but we prefer unofficial or alternative places the most because the people are often more open, and the audience is more motivated to move. We love reactions, and if the audience doesn’t move at all, it’s a bit disturbing for us.
10. What is music for you? Does it bring you some new emotions or it helps you to get ride of some negative emotions?
It’s a way of life, a lifestyle if you prefer. It gets on everything, including emotions. It helps a lot with negative shits like stress, allowing us to focus on the present moment and just chill out. It’s like meditation.
11. What is your view on the current state of death metal- it seems to be either old school retro movement or a brutal/fast/technical as possible- is there anything new death metal can do?
Mixing more influences that were not present before or have never been used, especially with the guitar, is essential.
12. What does Death metal mean for you? Can Death metal be good if it's too based on brutality or doesn't contain enough of it?
Balance is crucial. You need both old, without forgetting the influence of the first metal bands and the newer ones. Being balanced is the most important.
13. People are migrating more and more towards digital music, with the internet being available to almost everyone. In such a state, how difficult is it for bands to sell their merch?
It could be more challenging with the new tools available, but they are pretty useful for recording, mixing, and mastering. Even for selling the LP album, everyone can buy it from anywhere.
14. What ways has been the best for you in order to promote the band? What do you do to reach as many interest as possible?
The main focus is on live shows. After that, social networks and online platforms like YouTube are still interesting for promotion and sharing in general.
15. Could you tell us more about the metal scene in Vaud, Switzerland? Is this a quite good state on a metal point of view, and were there good Death metal bands to check out in the past?
It’s relatively small. We don’t have many other bands playing this kind of music in our area. We are not the only ones, but I don’t know lots of real death metal bands. There are more hardcore bands in our area or with some hardcore influences. It’s not the best place for extreme or metal music in general. One important name is Misery Index, but they lean more toward grind death, and another significant influence in tech death metal is Coroner, although they are a thrash/tech thrash metal band.
16. What does the future hold for Serkion? Is it in your plans to release any new material?
Right now, we are still looking for some shows, but we have more and more contacts, so we are quite enthusiastic. Yes, we have already played two new songs at our shows this year. I have finished writing the next LP, and I have to record the demo for two songs. Then, we will manage to find a good place or studio to record the full-length album. I hope to have enough time to show the latest songs to the band and record the next project in the summer of 2024.
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