Interviews: Beyond Forgiveness

In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview the  Symphonic Metal  band Beyond Forgiveness from USA. Check out the interview and this band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1.Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that? 

Greg: Rich heard the song called Beyond Forgiveness by Eternal Oath, loved the name, and thought it would be a cool band name.  The band at the time had a completely different lineup and a different name.  When he brought up the idea to the band, everyone agreed and changed the name to Beyond Forgiveness.

2.Why did you want to play this genre? 

Talia:  The band really has its roots in Greg and Rich’s love for the genre.  Even though both had played in other bands, particularly death and black metal styles, they both really loved this style and wanted to do this project.  I was a classical musician, and also listened to a wide variety of styles, but fell in love with symphonic metal after Rich burned me a mix-CD of a bunch of bands.

Greg:  For me, it’s always been a dream project. The first time I heard Nightwish, I fell in love with the style.

Jim:  Nightwish was partly responsible, but probably Kamelot was more responsible for me getting into the symphonic metal genre.   To me the bands that do symphonic either do it well or they don’t, and Beyond Forgiveness does it well, so it was an opportunity for me to grow musically and do something that was a little more educated, I guess, in the writing.

Sean: The Orphanage album, “Inside” was the first one I heard in the genre.  I just got it in a random pack of CDs, and fell in love with it and then expanded to listen to other symphonic metal bands.  Then after that, the next band I heard was Epica.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed? 

Talia:  Yes, we had all been in other bands previously that played shows together in our hometown.  I had also done some recording in my studio for Beyond Forgiveness’s first lineup.  Sean played in another project briefly with Rich and Greg.   Jim comes from a band that all our previous bands played shows with at some point.  I think this really helps our chemistry as a group, because we’re all good friends and have a lot of history together, even outside the band.

4. Each band member favourite band? 

Rich: Xandria is my favorite band currently, I could go on and on though, with all the bands that I like!

Jim:  My favorite band is Iced Earth because they bring elements of Maiden and EARLY Metallica, but kept it relevant and modern and I think they do it really well.

Greg:  Iced Earth is my second favorite, but my first is Blind Guardian.

Talia:  It’s hard for me to have favorites, and it changes often, but I’d have to say right now, my favorite is Thy Shade.

Sean: Amon Amarth and Eluveitie.  Amon Amarth first got me into the viking death metal music and the first time I heard Eluveitie, they turned me onto folk music in general and started a whole new love affair.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Talia: I get inspired to write by anything in life that moves me somehow.  Almost every day there’s something that makes me write down a line or two of words, most of those pages go in the trash, but some eventually become songs.  For example, I started writing the words to our song “Never Before” after I saw a news clip interviewing someone who had to evacuate very quickly from a large forest fire.   Our song Dust to Dust is inspired by a line that has always stuck with me from a movie that I saw along time ago.  I write both about real stuff that I either experience or see others experiencing, and about more fictional/fantasy subjects, such as The End of Time, which was kind of a fun song to write around the concept of alien invasions.  

Greg:  for me, it’s just whatever pops into my head.

Sean:  and then we get together and we build on that.

6. Where was your last gig? 

Talia:  Our most recent gig was at the Zodiac in downtown Colorado Springs. 

Greg:  Andrea, the sound girl, kicked ass!

Jim:  Yeah, that show was really fun, and for being a smaller venue, the sound was really awesome.

7. Where would you like to act? 

Greg: I’d love to play Wacken, and 70,000 tons of metal!

Jim:  I’d agree with that, and any European Festival would be cool.  I’d have to throw Red Rocks onto the list also.  It’s one of the best venues in the world sound-wise.  

Talia:  I love touring, and would love to get out to as many cities as possible around the world that we have fans in!

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

Greg:  Xandria, Epica, and Nightwish would be awesome!

Sean:  I think the whole band agrees with that!

9. Whom not? 

Sean:  I don’t think there’s anyone we wouldn’t be willing to play a show with.

Jim:  Yeah, so long as there’s cohesion in the show, and our music fits the bill.

10. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that? 

Talia:  I used to get really nervous if I ever had to sing or play instruments solo as opposed to with a group. I think stage fright comes from worrying that other people are judging and criticizing, which of course they are.  In the classical world that I spent so much time in, sometimes it seems like people just want to criticize and pick apart every note and stylistic choice instead of enjoying the music. Honestly, every show I still feel a little nervous a few minutes before I go on stage.  But I just breathe a few times, and remind myself that no matter what the vibe is in the room, I own that stage from the moment I step on it until the set is done, and no one else’s negativity gets to come on stage with me!  That usually gets rid of the nerves for me. 

Jim:  I never got stage fright.  To me we’re all painting on our own canvas.  You create what you create and if people like it, they like it.  If they don’t, then they don’t.  It doesn’t bother me whatsoever if someone doesn’t like what I’m doing.  You got to make yourself happy.  That’s the way I always looked at it.

Greg:  I used to have really bad stage fright, but after a few shows, I started looking at it a different way and now it’s more excitement than stage fright. 

Sean:  Yeah, I still have stage fright, just not nearly as bad as I used to when I first started out.  You just have to convert it to energy.  As a drummer,  the nerves just make you play faster.

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

Greg:  That’s too long of a list! Most of it’s European metal.

Jim:  For me, I would probably say what’s really inspired me a lot are some of the European metal bands also like Helloween, Strativarius, Blind Guardian, Primal Fear.

Sean: That’s really hard to answer.  A lot of bands’ drummers have influenced me a lot.  John Bonham from Led Zeppelin, for example, and Fredrik Andersson from Amon Amarth.

Jim:  There are bands that inspire me that are nationally touring bands, and some that are local or regional bands that are really inspiring too.  

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for? 

Jim:  One fan asked to sleep with me and my wife together.

Talia:  Most of our fans ask for autographs or pictures, and nothing really out of the ordinary (yet…).  I think it’s a little weird when fans want me to autograph various body parts, but I still do it as long as it’s a place they can show decently in public!

Sean:  there was that one time, when someone asked Talia for a bra and a picture of her wearing it...

Talia: ok, yeah, I forgot about that one...

13. What do you think of your fans? 

Talia:  I love our fans!  I’m honestly blown away by the response we’ve gotten from the public.  A lot of times we’ll get notes from people through our social media sites, and I love to read them and find out where people are from, because we have fans from so many different places in the world.  

14. What do you think of our site?

Talia:  Very cool! There’s so many great bands to check out on the site!  Seems like an awesome place to find new music, and we are really honored to be interviewed for the site!

15. Something add?

Jim:  Thanks for the opportunity to share our music and a little bit about the band with your viewers.

Talia:  We are really excited about our new partnership with Sliptrick Records, and look forward to the upcoming album that we are writing right now.  

Sean:  Also, thank you to Saluda Cymbals for the recent endorsement.

Talia: We do have our EP, "The Ferryman’s Shore", and our album, "The Great Wall", available through all the major download sites as well as CDs that you can get through our website.  Please let everyone know they can check out our videos on youtube, and that they can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with everything we’re doing!