Elyes Bouchoucha, keyboardist from Myrath, took time out recently to talk with Metal Express Radio. Here’s what he had to say…
Metal Express Radio:
Congratulations on the amazing new album Tales Of The Sands. You guys have been very busy since the release of the last album Desert Call in early 2010. Can you give fans some insights on how much work it’s been putting this album together?
EB:
The album was mostly composed during November 2010. The toughest part was that it took some time for the orchestration. The main recording took place in December 2010 at X Fade Studio in Nanterre, France. Then, the orchestration was recorded in February 2011 at Taher Guizani GT.Records studio in Sousse, Tunisia. It was engineered and produced by Kevin Codfert at X Fade, and mixed by Fredrik Nordstrom Henrik Udd & Kevin Codfert at Fredman Studio in Stockholm, Sweden. Fredrik Nordstrom has mixed albums of famous bands such as Dimmu Borgir and In Flames. Finally, it was mastered by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Orebro, Sweden. Jens Bogren has mastered Symphony X albums.
MER:
For readers and listeners not familiar with the Myrath brand of Metal, how would you describe your music?
EB:
I would describe it as “Prog-Power Oriental Metal,” which is a blend between Metal and traditional Tunisian melodies, scales, and harmonies, enhanced with balanced orchestration using traditional instruments.
MER:
All of the tracks on Tales Of The Sands are extremely passionate and intense. How much work goes into creating a Myrath song?
EB:
Well, a lot of hard work. Being Arabs and also Metalheads helps us in finding the inspiration to combine Progressive-Power Metal with traditional Tunisian melodies and scales — it comes naturally from our accidental influence and Arabian background. I must say the most difficult part is the arrangements, especially with the incorporation of Arabian orchestration (mainly violin and percussion) in a harmonic way so it blends with the Metal parts in a balanced way.
MER:
How do you think Tales Of The Sands compares to your previous albums?
EB:
Our debut album Hope, released in September 2007, was more progressive and very technical. In this album, you can find a lot of influence from the bands we grew up with, mainly Symphony X. You will also notice we already started introducing some Tunisian melodies, scales and harmonies. In the follow up album, Desert Call, released in January 2010, we put more emphasis on the blend between Prog-Power Metal and traditional Tunisian music. This was in an effort to come up with a style of our own and stay away from the influence of our favorite bands. The new album Tales Of The Sands reflects the experience and maturity that we have gained over the years. We hope with Tales Of The Sands that we have brought winds of change to the Metal community, the way the Tunisian revolution has sparked the spread of democracy into the Arab world.
MER:
Zaher Zorgatti is an extraordinarily talented singer and performer. Can you explain the benefits his presence brings to the band?
EB:
In reading some of the comments critics said about our album Hope, we knew we had to come up with a style of our own and stayed away from the influence of our favorite bands. The only way to do so was to have a frontman and a versatile singer who could sing using the quarter steps of the Tunisian scale, as well as straight ahead Metal scales. To that respect, in the summer of 2007 we convinced Zaher, considered by many as the best metal singer in Tunisia, to join the band. When he accepted our proposal, we knew that we had the versatile singer and composer we were looking for to use the mix between Metal and Tunisian music in a much more melodic and emotional way, yet still keeping the powerful Metal side. Zaher’s addition was a turning point in Myrath’s career. Without him, the band would have never reached this level of fame, or produced the type of Oriental Metal heard on Tales Of The Sands. He is not only a very charismatic frontman on stage, but a great composer. He is very talented in incorporating Oriental parts within our music. Also, he is so versatile he can sing in many languages (even in Arabic) as well as all Metal styles (even Death Metal). But, what is really striking with Zaher is the unique emotions he can get out of his voice. Just listen to the track “Memories” from Desert Call to get a full appreciation.
MER:
What other bands have inspired you, and how does their music influence your songs?
EB:
The only band that has really inspired us is Symphony X, but that was from the time when we were a teenage cover band up until the Hope album was released. Since then we have gained enough experience to start searching for a style of our own without looking for any inspiration from other bands. We just have the advantage to perfectly know the Tunisian scales, melodies, and harmonies of our origin, as well as the Metal music of our influences. So we just combined both genres to come up with a style of our own that many characterize as Oriental Metal, but may one day be defined as Tunisian Metal, Myrath way!
MER:
You recently shot a video for “Merciless Times”. How was that experience for the band, and are there any good stories you can share from the video shoot?
EB:
The clip was shot in Sousse, Tunisia in September 2011 using our own means. Zaher wrote the script with a young producer who happens to be one of his best friends. We shot the video using only two of our own cameras, so we actually had to redo the shots several times to change the angles. Once the shooting was complete, Malek (our guitarist) did all the editing and special effects on his own. We are very happy with the results and are pleased that the video clip is having so much success on YouTube! The scene of the band playing was shot in a steel factory in the outskirts of Sousse. It was only supposed to take a couple of hours. We started around 9:00 pm but after a few minutes of shooting we had a major power failure because of a bad circuit breaker, so we had to wait for about three hours for the electrician to replace the circuit breaker. When it was finally done we started shooting again. After about another hour one of the electrical cables caught fire and it was very close to bottles of gas used for welding. The whole place was about to be blown up, but luckily one of the electricians extinguished the fire quickly. So we had to wait another couple of hours to get the electrical cable replaced. By the time we resumed shooting and finished it was 7:00 am, and you could imagine how exhausted we were. That was our first shooting of a video clip; a day we will remember for a long time!
MER:
Can your fans expect to see Myrath in some upcoming shows or festivals to support Tales Of The Sands?
EB:
Yes, we will be embarking on our first European tour in support of Orphaned Land along with Arkan and Artweg through December 2011. Immediately after, we will embark on a mini-European tour, mainly in Italy, as headliners. In February 2012, we will be supporting a well-known band, whose name will be announced in due course, on their European tour. Then in April 2012, we should be embarking on another European tour as headliners. Dates will be announced once all the details are worked out.
MER:
Thanks very much for taking the time to share your thoughts about the new album. Do you have any final words to share for your fans out there?
EB:
I wish to thank all our fans for their valuable support and hope that Tales Of The Sands will meet and exceed their expectations. For those who do not know much about us yet, please check us out at myrath.com or facebook.com/myrathband.
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