Interview with Thulcandra - Steffen Kummerer

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Thanks for taking time to answer our questions, and let’s get started. Thulcandra means the silent earth, taken from The Space Trilogy by C.S Lewis, what made you guys select this name for the band?

Actually we took the name from Darkthrone's demo with the same name. Those recordings have a horrible sound, but the ideas where great, so we thought this could be a good idea. Of course, back then nobody else used the name.

“Fallen Angels Dominion” is the band’s first full-length album (and a very impressive one), can you tell us a bit more about the ideas and concepts behind this release?

Thank you very much for the kind words, great to hear that you like what we are doing. Our aim with the first album was to bring a statement into the scene, that this band is still alive and that there are still bands playing this kind of music nowadays. We are all supporting the old bands from the early days, such as Dissection, Unanimated & Sacramentum. There was no concept behind this album; we are just friends writing the music we grew up with in the nineties.

What made Thulcandra want to play old school Swedish Black/Death Metal in these days that there are plenty of musical genres being revived?

Good question. One point is the overwhelming number of party three chord vodka punk bands you call pagan metal nowadays. I can't stand party music in this genre. There is more than just drinking alongside metal. I respect everyone’s decision to write and perform the music you like, but this stuff makes me insane. We see Thulcandra as opposition to this trend.

With all the hectic touring schedule (and big popularity) of Obscura, will Thulcandra be a project band? Or are there plans to keeping it a ‘full-time’ gig?

Thulcandra will not become a huge touring band; this is not possible by the schedule of all four members. We would love to play one real tour or some single shows even in the States as I recognized that people there are really into the music and support you as a band. At the moment we are sorting several offers for the end of the year, but I guess we will only play selected shows at festivals we also enjoy from a fan perspective. The Helio Festival in Munich of course is one example. There you have a small event of 1.500 fans, organized by fans so the whole festival is very smooth. On the other hand, this band is not a project, we see it as real band and want to go on, writing new music, release new albums and perform live wherever it may be possible.

We read that “Fallen Angels Dominion” was on the works for a few years before being recorded. Do you guys have songs left out or even new songs, in preparation for a future release?

At the moment we are sorting out new and old ideas for the next release. I just got the original recording files of our demo 'Perishness around us' which I will remix in the end of this year to finally release those songs in whatever way. Besides those recordings I found our old rehearsal material as well as three CDs full of ideas. We have a lot of material and I am looking forward to compose the new album with the evil twins during the fall of this year. We already booked the Woodshed Studios once again and work once again with V.Santura to get the sound we want to have.

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Will the technical brilliance showed in the Obscura albums be incorporated (in higher doses) in the music of Thulcandra?

I don't think shred solos would fit into the context of Thulcandra, honestly. The technical aspect of Obscura should stay in Obscura, this is different music. I could imagine that the way of arrange a song in general is present in both bands, but everything else just don't fit. We want to keep it easy.

Are there any plans for a full-on European or maybe even American tour in support of “Fallen Angels Dominion”?

We got some offers for European Tours, but none of them fit into our schedule or the approach we have so far. With the Pantheon Agency we also have a string partner in the USA for possible touring, so I would love to come over again to play in America. Besides Obscura, also Helfahrt and Dark Fortress are very active bands so we have to find a spot in between those shows. In general we try to play some more shows, but it has to make sense.

If you could make a super band with any musicians dead or alive, whom would you pick? And what kind of music would you play?

Good question, I would pick Beth Gibbons, Florian Magnus Mayer, Franz Beckenbauer & Phil Collins to play Swing with high gain seven string guitars. Could be interesting.

Anything else you want to add for your fans and our readers?

Thank you very much for your interest in Thulcandra. Feel free to listen to the one or other song of our debut album 'Fallen Angel's Dominion' and have an eye on our touring schedule.

Thanks for the time and good luck promoting the album.

More Info: http://www.myspace.com/thulcandrametal and read our review of "Fallen Angel's Dominion" HERE.

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