Up-and-coming Metalcore outfit Alleviate are set to release their debut album entitled DMNS on August 23rd. Vocalist Marius Wedler and guitarist Ramon Kluft took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about their debut album, the band’s formation, mental health awareness, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: How did the formation of your band come about?
Wedler: During the COVID lockdown, Ramon and Timo had the idea to write a song together. They were gaming online and started joking about starting a project together. After they worked together on songs for Timo’s other band, Our Mirage, they knew that it would be a great fit. Timo’s studio became our common meeting point. Most of us already knew each other from our different bands and had heard about each other in some way. In 2020 Ramon went to Timo’s studio and together they wrote “Die For Me”. When the first demo was finished, Timo called me, full of excitement, and asked me if I wanted to join. How could I refuse?
MER: What are some of your main influences for the band?
Kluft: I think we really inspire each other when it comes to writing our music. With every demo or idea we create, everyone is getting inspired and wants to bring the song to a new level. Without any one of us the songs would not be as they are right now and I think that is truly one of our strengths. We believe that sky’s the limit and that we can create any form or genre of music we want to make. Since every one of us listens to completely different bands and music it happens naturally that we have each other as our main influence.
MER: Your debut album entitled DMNS is set to be released on August 23rd, what can you tell fans about the upcoming release?
Wedler & Kluft: We think the most important message that we want to bring to our listeners is that we truly understand them and that the listener is not alone. Our songs are about mental health issues and hard times in life. All of our members have experienced or are still experiencing mental health issues. We want our listeners to feel understood, feel heard and know that we see them. We want them to know that they are being loved. Most of our songs also have a positive message written in them for anyone to interpret as how they relate to it. We want our music to help them with these hard times and topics. Having people let us help them with our music and that they relate to our music is the greatest gift of all.
MER: What was the writing and recording process like?
Kluft: For the last four years we have been continuously writing this album. We felt like that we really wanted to push ourselves into creating the best music we can create at this moment, so it took many songs to come to this point. We’ve written around 25 songs and we strongly believe that these 10 songs on the album are the songs that Alleviate stands for.
All of our members live far away from each other and I live in a different country. So when it comes to writing our songs and our creative process, the majority of it is being done online and with sending over recordings to each other.
I write most of our first instrumental demos and send them into our whatsapp group, I try to create the songs as finished as possible before sending it over so there is already a vibe and structure in the demos for us all to work with. When everyone likes the demo, I will upload the session to a shared drive so everyone can open the song and overwork it.
Timo always overwork our demos, making additions and making the necessary changes.
He also creates our lyrics and vocal melodies. Because of his profession as a producer and his experiences with other bands he always knows what a song needs and pushes our songs forward to get the best out of our songs. His vocal melodies create a real open vibe and his melodies move people.
Marc has great ideas about the riffs and breaks that are the extra push to our songs to make them even heavier.
Marius joins in for recording his heavy vocals. Marius’ screams are really unique and create the heavy weight that our songs need. He and Timo overwork the lyrics and vocal timings together to make sure that the meaning and message behind the song is being portrayed as intended.
Yunus’ drums are always super creative and bring the song the last details it really needs.
He really has the great ability to completely change a vibe with just his amazing drum grooves and every time he sends over his drum tracks we are all ecstatic about all the little details and grooves he creates.
MER: What are some plans for you and your band after the album release?
Wedler: We will continue to promote the album on social media platforms with strong support from Arising Empire. And there will be another music video coming soon for one of our personal favorites! We are going to do Shows which are not announced yet so keep an eye open for that!
MER: Who do you hope to tour with and why?
Kluft: I would love to do a tour with Brand of Sacrifice or with Disembodied Tyrant. The music of these bands is really unique. Love it! It would be a dream come true to witness that every night live for a period of time and be a part of that experience. Also with the band Invisions would be amazing. They make great music! We came in contact through social media and we talk sometimes. They are great guys. I know a tour with them will be a lot of fun and will for sure create some amazing memories.
MER: Where do you hope to play live and why?
Wedler & Kluft: There are a lot of beautiful countries and we have a lot of listeners outside of Germany and the Netherlands. Going international would be amazing. What’s initially more achievable for us are the big festivals nearby like Wacken, Rock am Ring, Jera on Air in the Netherlands, or Graspop in Belgium
MER: How would you describe the music scene in Germany?
Wedler: While we played live shows the scene has been incredibly supportive. The fans and also new listeners gave great positive feedback and lots of love. We really can’t wait to play the whole album live when it’s released.
MER: What are your hopes for your band’s future?
Kluft: We are firm believers that the sky’s the limit so we hope we can keep on creating these experiences and bring ‘’Alleviate’’ to the next level where we can do international tours and play amazing live shows.
Be the first to comment