1. Greetings to Belgium! SAILLE is quite a new name of the world metal scene. So I think maybe it would be pretty good if you could share a few things about the history of the band, about its essence, main philosophy, message...
Reinier: Hi, thanks for giving us the opportunity to do so. Well, some years ago Dries (keyboards/The Archest) got this whole thing started. He played in a band called Mortifer (together with Jonathan, also in Saille now). He was working on some stuff and got the idea of recording it with guitars and vocals. About two years ago he contacted me for studio time reservations and so we got to meet each other. The purpose of these recordings was a project by the name of Saille. The backbone of the album was „The Beauty of Destruction“ and Dries wanted to capture that idea both musical and lyrical. It also shows in the artwork done by the Polish artist Michal Karcz.
2. I have also read that you used to be a studio only band. Were there less of you in the band those days? When did the turning point come? When did you decide to become a full band playing live?
Dries: Originally Saille was indeed nothing but a one-time project for me, but during the recordings my homerecorded demos came to life, they had become full songs, with real drums, guitars etc. At first only Gert (drums/In-Quest) and Jonathan (guitar+vocals/The Archest) were involved. During the process in the studio Jonathan and Reinier both started to work on me, claiming it would be a shame if it ended by the time the album was ready. So, the whole idea of bringing this on stage grew while actually recording the tracks. The atmosphere was great between us and it all somehow connected. Eventually I went with them about the whole bringing-this-on-stage-issue, but as a matter of fact it wasn’t that hard to convince me. I had been playing with the idea myself. We went searching for additional bandmembers and recruited Reinier (guitar/ Fleshmould), Didier (bass/Fractured Insanity) and Yves (guitar/Ycon). Now we’re a real band, everyone is doing his fair share, so the project is no longer a subject for discussion.
3. If that what I have read is correct, it took you nearly a whole year to record, mix and finish the "Irreversible Decay". What was the reason for it taking so long?
Reinier: Well, that’s not entirely correct, but it took all this time mainly to get all participating musicians in the studio and to work on the details afterwards. It started with the recording of the drums and shortly after the guitar recordings there were musicians from everywhere in the country doing their acoustic parts. It was an issue of agenda’s, schedules, patience and a lot of work.
4. I wonder, were there any changes of the music itself happening during that time? Or was it like that you finished the composing process in 2009 and nothing changed during the recording?
Reinier: The music itself didn’t change, nor did the compositions. Pretty much everything was arranged beforehand. The decisions whether or not to take a real instrument instead of a keyboard part were taken during the process by Dries, I was stunned every now and then. Some detailed corrections or small mishaps were corrected, overall it was a process of perfectionism, but you have to stop at one point. That point happened to be almost one year later. It’s not like we were in the studio 7 days a week, it was done in sessions, weekends and so on.
Dries: The idea of bringing in real classical instruments was due to my disappointment of the sounds I really had in mind. No synth beats a real violin or cello. So there we were, re-recording parts with live musicians.
5. I personally would label the music on "Irreversible Decay" as somehow fresh melodic/atmospheric black metal and I would prefer not to give any comparision because they tend to lead to speculations... Yet anyway, how do you yourself see your music? When creating the album, did you have any intent about what genre the final result should be? Do you anyhow limit yourselves when it comes to genres?
Dries: There were no boundaries and I only made the music I would buy myself. Genres in particular don’t bother me, the sole criterium for me is whether I like it or not. The thing is I like black metal the most and especially when there’s athmosphere and symphonics. Actually, I like classical music as much as I like black metal and I’ve been combining these for years. I had quite some classical music training, so it’s all very natural for me.
6. Pretty much all the reactions the album has been receiving seem to be really positive. Do you think that when the music is melodic, intelligent and at the same time full of ideas, it can catch the attention of the listeners without them rejecting it before the first listen because of the symphonic soundscapes (for example)?
Dries: Difficult question... I’m convinced most metalfans are true followers of the genre, not following the what’s hot according to the media or fashion. It’s all about the music. Of course there are many subgenres in metal, but I think it’s more fun to discover tiny new things every time you listen to an album. Our cd will not be for everyone, but I tried hard to make a black metal album, avoiding the symphonic additions to overrule the overall sound. Still, it is symphonic black metal.
7. I hope that this is not going to sound like poking, but - when writing the music, did you care about a kind of "listener-friendliness"? I mean, did you write any of the compositions so that not only you would like them, but also the "general public"? Is your music composed pretty much just for yourself or do you also take the listeners into consideration? Many bands point out the first option in the interviews, yet I do not always trust them. If it was so, they would not play live, right? Hehe...
Dries: Since it was never the intention of playing live or making a big fuzz of it your first option was never the case. It all kind of happened to us. I made this music for the fun of making it, you know what I mean? I like to recognize parts and bang my head on some parts when I go out and listen to a band on a gig. I also like to be surprised by that same band once I listen to their album when I’m alone at home, discovering details I didn’t notice before. Besides, it’s very difficult to write music for a particular audience if you never had an audience before, Saille is a bright and shiny new band, remember ;-)
8. When listening to the album now, what feelings do you have floating in your head?
Reinier: Speaking for ourselves and I think Dries will agree on this we heard our stuff quite enough for a while. It’s hard to listen to your music over and over and over, and still try to listen to it objectively. But of course we like it a lot, otherwise we wouldn’t have done all the efforts.
Dries: Since I’ve been composing this stuff over the years I’m fed up with listening to it. Playing it live is still a lot of fun though. We’re just happy it all worked out quite well and that’s where you start to appreciate it again. I rediscovered why I started writing it in the first place.
9. What could you say about the lyrical side of "Irreversible Decay"? Does the album have any kind of a story or do you simply connect thoughts and compositions that are not anyhow conceptually bound? Are the lyrics an important part of the creation of the band?
Dries: I’ve been searching for a subject and I fell for „The Beauty of Destruction“, like I said before. All the lyrics are about the destruction of our planet, by the forces of nature itself. No matter how terrible a disaster, there’s always something wonderful about it. How it looks or how strong it is or how it ends. Of course that’s also something to be heard in the music; the intensities and the differences between the fast - and the melancholic parts for instance.
10. You decided to make a video for the song "Plaigh Allais". How shall one understand this move? Do you see recording a video as a certain form of promotion that is necessary these days?
Dries: Just like everything else: it just came out of the blue. There was this suggestion and there was an opportunity to actually make the video. We thought it would be fun to make a video with friends of ours and put it online to get the band in the spotlight. Well, we had a lot of fun, but it all turned out to be a lot of hard work as well! Now it’s online and we’re glad we did it, since this is the era of YouTube and Facebook – it really helps to promote the band.
11. As we already touched the promotion a little, how does it look in case of SAILLE? Do you take care about a lot of stuff on your own or is the label the main link between you and the general awareness? Do you think that these days it is much more difficult to push through when compared with the earlier times? All around, there are tons of utter shit, bands presenting themselves big-mouthed crap and boring music...From my point of view, it is not easy at all... At least in the case when the band does not want to be just another twelve-a-dozen band with just an average publicity... I am right, am I not? What is your goal in this area?
Reinier: Times have changed, the band has to do as much as the company does when it comes to promotion. It’s all about money and how much there is to spend, for both the band and the label. Saille did their share and the label is doing their part of the deal. Of course it’s not easy, since there are zillions of releases each month. When there’s too much money involved you might be a part of a moneymachine, like you state: big mouth/boring music. Well, here’s news for you: it’s not like that at all in our case. I think we’re doomed to do it ourselves like we’re doing it right now. Since things are going quite well we’re not complaining. And as long as it’s fun and doable, we will continue. Give us some time and ask again.
12. In your private life, do you listen to music similar to that which you create or do you please yourself with something completely different?
Dries: I like mainly black metal, but also My Dying Bride or comparable melacholic stuff. I also like classical music and some jazz.
Reinier: For me it’s metal only inbetween death and black metal. On some occasions I enjoy some heavy classical stuff as well, but that’s it. Whenever I hear a radio it makes me want to smash it.
13. How do you see the Belgian black metal scene? From what I can judge from the things that I have heard from the bands that I have been in touch with in the last few years, it seems that your country is blossoming... Personally, I for example adore Gorath!
Reinier: The Belgian scene is reviving in the past decade. It used to be really crappy, but thanks to the internet and some nice initiatives it changed quite a lot. We have many friends in other bands and Gorath is definately one of them (Filip contributed lyrics and some voice to our album too!). Great band for sure.
14. So, this is the end. The questions were very easy to write, which is thanks to your great album that was playing here when I was writing them. I hope to see you one day in the Czech Republic!
Dries: Yes, naturally we would love to! Invite us for a festival and we’re there. Many thanks for this intie, which is one of our first ones.
Reinier: Yes, get us to Prague or so! I’ve been there last year and would love some Trdelnik and Pils again!
