Interviews: MALACODA

In this new occassion we have had the opportunity to interview  the Power Metal/Melodic Metal band MALACODA from Canada. 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? 

The band name comes from a character from the book Dante's Inferno. It roughly translates to "Cruel Tail". Dante's Inferno was one of my favorite books, going all the way back to when I was a preteen. I knew I wanted to have a band name that had its roots in classic literature since I've always had a "Gothic" mindset. The debut self-titled album had a few songs that referenced elements of Dante's Inferno, so it just felt right to use something from it as a band name.

2.Why did you want to play this genre? 

I'm not really sure what our "genre" is to be honest, since there are so many sub-genres of metal these days, but I guess that's why I wanted to play something in the heavy metal vein- it's such a diverse genre filled with subgenres and spin-offs of sounds. 

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

Malacoda started off as a solo recording project. The first record was just me, a producer and a few session players for drums, backup vocals and guitar solos. Every release since then has had either session players or people who were more involved in the live aspect. The most recent iteration of the group doesn't have any session players, and I didn't really know these guys before they joined. Mick, our guitarist, was just supposed to be a fill in guitarist for the Mannequin Heart music video, but we got along so well I asked him to join permanently. Vlad, our drummer, was someone who we came across online that was looking at getting some more experience as a musician. Tiny's a bassist that's been around the local metal scene for quite a long time, I think it was inevitable that we'd eventually work together on something at some point.

4. Each band member favourite band? 

Oof that's tough, everyone has multiple favorites. I know that Vlad's really into Tool, Mick is the biggest Pantera fan on the planet, and Tiny really likes Killswitch Engage. If I had to pick only one, today I'll say Katatonia.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs? 

Every release is different; it kind of depends on what my head space is. The first record was primarily about personal things in my life, people I know or used to know and a few tracks were about books I had read. Ritualis Aeterna, our follow up EP, was mostly about different aspects of horror, be it classic gothic literature, horror video games, personal fears, or ghost stories. The new release, Restless Dreams is based on the video game Silent Hill 2, or more accurately my "close reading" of the themes of the game. I guess you could say the "darker" side of life is what inspires me.

6. Where was your last gig? 

Our last gig was at The Coalition in Toronto, Canada. It's kind of a heavy metal/hard rock bar. We were the support for a local band's EP release, The Darkstone Crows. We're actually playing with them again in Toronto next month, this time they're returning the favor and are being our support for our release party. 

7. Where would you like to act? 

I've always wanted to play in Europe and in Japan. That'd be pretty expensive and hard to justify right now, but people tell me Germany is great for music.

8. Whom would you like to feature with? 

I'd love to play with Paradise Lost, that's the band we get compared the most to because of how varying in sound our releases are. I'm also a really big fan of those guys; I think a lot of my stage presence is influenced by Nick Holmes' demeanor. Tiamat would be great too, but I'm not sure how active those guys are anymore. I could put tons and tons on this list.

9. Whom not? 

Hmm, I can probably think of a few bands I wouldn't want to be involved with, but they aren't worth mentioning.

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

I can't speak for the other guys, but I think the first and only time I've ever experienced stage fright was the first show I played when I was in high school. It was at a talent show, and I was a keyboardist and backup vocalist in a really crappy alt-metal band. We sucked so much, I remember quitting soon after to work on my own stuff and develop as a musician. I think the best advice is to just go out there and own it. It's like being on a roller coaster- you can't get off when you're already on it so just enjoy the ride while you can. 

11. What bands have inspired you the most? 

I would say Iced Earth has inspired me a lot as a guitarist and a vocalist, Type O Negative and Katatonia are huge influences of mine for many reasons. Opeth is where I get any semblance of prog in my writing style. A lot of bands, it honestly depends on the song and album cycle. For the newest record a lot of prog was influencing me, stuff like Steven Wilson, Leprous, and Opeth- but so was a lot of 70's and 80's music like Allan Holdsworth, Rush, and Black Sabbath. For more metal influences this time around it was mostly Paradise Lost and Katatonia. This record isn't as "typical metal" as Ritualis Aeterna was, that release was primarily influenced by bands like Iced Earth, Kamelot and other power metal bands.

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

I don't even know where to begin with this one! Years ago when Malacoda had just started to become a live act, I once had a fan that was obsessed with an older member of ours and they ended up giving me a massive Malacoda logo carved into this really heavy plastic sheet- like this thing was 3 feet tall by 6 feet wide and weighed a lot. I told them I couldn't accept it and that they should take it back since I didn't want to owe them (and because I didn't have the space for a massive plastic sign that was way too heavy and big to hang up anywhere), but they insisted. They ended up asking me a bunch of questions about the member they were really into and I didn't even know them that well so I had no answers really. I think I still have that plastic sign somewhere in my garage....

13. What do you think of your fans? 

I think our fans are really cool, I've had some come to my recording studio (shameless self promotion - go to www.oldhauntrecords.com) and have also had some ask for vocal lessons. They're a good varied bunch, we've got really young fans that are just kids and then we've got die hard metal heads that come to our shows to start mosh pits. I know we've got a lot of fans that are a lot older because our first release was a lot more of an accessible alternative metal record and it's amazing that they've stayed by us with all the drastic changes we've made with each release since then. I'm honestly amazed we have a consistent fan base since we're not exactly consistent sound wise. 

14. What do you think of our site?

I really like the articles that go into detail about each track on the record, that's something that I think lends itself really well to certain bands that work with concept albums. I also like the album cover insights, being a bit of an art nerd myself it's nice reading about the ideas that went into creating an album's artwork.

15. Something add?

Hi mom!