Earlier this month Dutch atmospheric post-metal sludgers SiMÓN released their second album The Inner Traveller, which Gilbert Potts described as "a record that works so well as a whole, that plunges the dirty, dark depths and ascends to uplifting highs, that reaches in and grabs my emotions and paints such a beautiful portrait" in his review. He asked the band some questions to find out more. The answers were given by Ilja Traas (Guitar/Vocals), Bart Heuts (Guitar/Vocals) and Theun Sponselee (Keys/Sounds).
(((o))): What is the most beautiful sound you have ever heard?
Bart: Echoes that you can hear in the Alps in Austria.
Ilja: Waves crashing ashore at the Wadden Islands. Listening to it from my tent as a young kid at the campsite and falling asleep so peacefully. Very soothing.
Theun: The thing that comes to mind is a Fender Rhodes with just the right amount of vibrato. When used correctly it'll melt your soul away in a song.
(((o))): You talk about the uncontrollable urge to express yourself through your art. How do the individual members of the band express themselves and at the same time come up with music you are all happy with?
Bart: We all share the passion for art, any art form that matters, but mostly music in a very broad sense. That’s why we don’t feel limited to a specific genre, but rather motivate ourselves to think outside the box. Mainly to push ourselves down a certain path and see where it leads us. I think mainly because we grew up listening to and being energized by sort of the same heavy music, that’s a foundation to build on and experiment with. Push boundaries individually but also as a band and keep feeding off eachother.
Ilja: We all have our own creative outlets and luckily we are able to at least share one creative and emotional thing together; that is playing with each other in this band. Personally I try not to think too much about my urge, because it comes naturally. Hopefully it will stay that way for as long as I live
(((o))): How much of the art is in the composition, and how much in the performance?
Ilja: I see it as a total package. My view on being in a band is trying to play from the heart and be as creative as possible. If that’s art? Fine by me.
Bart: Has to be 50/50. Composition and performance go hand in hand and are an endless loop, constantly feeding into each other.
(((o))): Is it inevitable that the human race will cause its own extinction?
Ilja: It’s always an interesting subject to philosophise about. In the context of our band it always seemed a big theme, but it has and will always be a metaphor. But I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. All prophecies that have been made are just hilarious to me. One thing that really bothers me still is continuous conflicts around the world, like innocent people getting victimised by war and terrorism. Or typhoons wiping away entire pieces of civilised earth and governments that won’t do shit about these situations, because there is no priority. Or psychopaths walking through shopping malls or schools to randomly fire machine guns at people…etc, etc…
Bart: I don’t think it’s inevitable. I think there is a lot of progress being made since this last decade and awareness is growing, but will it be enough? Guess we’ll find out some day, or not…
Theun: Probably yes, but let's be optimistic and hope for the best, that the human race one day will learn its place and appreciate this planet a bit more instead of ripping it apart. Would be nice, but I guess we'll need a cataclysmic event for that…..with the danger of extinction, so again, probably yes.
(((o))): Does making dark music help you deal with the dark side of humanity?
Bart: I don’t think we’re making dark music. Just because the majority of it is loud and we use a lot of distortion doesn’t make it dark music. I think we have a lot of euphoric, uplifting angles in our songs. Sure there are dark parts in there, but it’s all about finding balance in a wide spectrum of emotions.
Ilja: Dealing with personal humanity that is… I am not making music to change any ones opinion on things. Actually there is a lot of humour within our band; I guess I just don’t like to make happy music. I would prefer to call our album melancholic.
Theun: I think in the first place it helps you to deal with the dark side of yourself. It's an expression of emotions that people normally put away, which is the worst thing you can do. Acknowledge all the right and wrongs within yourself and once you're there you will learn that it's not all light and dark, good or evil etc, it's all those things combined together what makes you being you. And it is all those things that make humanity. And in the end, I think humour can be of great help as well….Wait, this question was about music right?
(((o))): How important was the recording environment to creating your latest album, The Inner Traveller?
Ilja: We recorded the album in De Leidseschouwburg. It is actually the oldest theatre in the Netherlands. Some people say it is haunted during the night. It wasn’t always a pleasant stay during the nights in those weeks of recording. There is over 300 years of history there, so go figure. Listening back to it, it gets me back to that place. You can really hear that majestic vibe.
Bart: When De Leidseschouwburg came up as an option to record the album, it was a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s an amazing and impressive setting with insanely beautiful acoustics, but at the same time stuff happened that can’t be explained.
Recording the drums at De Leidseschouwburg
(((o))): In the record you keep the intensity and darkness without making the whole thing doom and sludge by also using melodies, clean vocals and dynamics. I find this makes it more listenable in a wider range of moods. Sometimes too much variation can ruin an album - how do you find the right balance between two contrasting elements?
Ilja: I always like music with contrasts. I come from a 90’s music background, where you had the grunge and crossover metal type stuff, and late 90’s with a lot of interesting bands who reinterpreted hardcore and metal. That decade still appeals most to me. But there isn’t a clear thought behind our songwriting. There is no blueprint. Shit just comes out and it becomes a song within our own expectations of what a good song should have. We don’t want to be just this loud band; being aggressive all the time is kinda boring. So there are these elements of melodies, the clean vocals, the trance parts, showing a vulnerable side as well. They just give a bit more extra to a song. In a not too obvious way I hope.
Bart: I think that’s due to our past in other bands. We have a pretty good idea of how a song is supposed to work, but don’t prefer the pop format for the stuff that we want to do. So without exaggerating too much we try to push our boundaries. Stick to what we know for the most part, but try to push ourselves forward into unknown territories.
(((o))): You craft your songs well as a whole, which means you recognise the importance of bringing the songs to a conclusion. Most artists have trouble with this, especially those not using traditional song structures. Is this something you work at doing well?
Bart: In some cases we have a pretty clear image of how a song should end, even before the rest of it is written, but most of the time we let a song in progress lead us to an end that feels natural and organic. The end of a song on an album to me is just like the end of an episode of a series. It determines where you go from there, and in what state of mind. Each episode/track is a story on its own, but plays an integral part of a bigger picture.
Ilja: I think we have more trouble with the start of an idea. When finally having an idea for a new song it gets us collectively motivated to end it the right way, choosing a path to reach that ultimate climax. We all love to explode in the ending of a song, but it’s a lot of fun trying to hold back sometimes, giving that dramatic feel to our songs.
(((o))): When you play live, do you try to recreate what's on your records, or create something else?
Ilja: We recorded how we play these songs. If you’re making an album, you shouldn’t be too concerned about your live performance, that will distract you from letting your creativity get out the right way. It’s totally about making a piece of art with sound. To express yourself the right way that you actually want, you have to be very critical. Both on a technical and emotional level, that’s craftsmanship.
Bart: Live we don’t feel like replicating the record. We just want to play our songs better and put more physical energy into it.
Theun: Sometimes a song works really well just as it is when you play it live. Sometimes a song needs a work up when played live. And a song remains a living thing, so naturally when you play a song live, you start hearing other things that might work, so you'll try and it keeps evolving on stage. And sometimes a song doesn't work live at all, haha. We've tried to play 'Atmosphere Condensed' in the past, which I think is one of the better songs on the album, but live it's a total mess. We've tried that a couple of times but it didn't have that feeling in a live setting. So that one we haven't played live for a long while. On the other hand, when the urge is there we'll probably pick it up again and see what we can do with it. It remains a challenge to do something with that song, but we'll see.
(((o))): What's the most memorable thing anyone has said to you after playing a set?
Ilja: “I need a drink…”.
Bart: “I was looking at you the entire gig….I couldn’t figure out what’s written on your shirt”.
Theun: “I really like your music”. It's as simple as that. And I don't mean the just-being-nice version, because you notice when somebody really means it and is touched by your music or if somebody is just being polite. And when you see that you made somebody happy with the stuff you just did on a stage is always memorable.
(((o))): What's planned for the band in 2014?
Bart: We’re working on a vinyl release of The Inner Traveller, which is a big thing for us. We’re very excited about that.
Ilja: We’re also aiming to play more live gigs. Furthermore we keep writing new material. There are a lot of new ideas…
Theun: We've have some ideas about some 'special' projects as well, but those are things just in our heads right now and they need work.
(((o))): If you were an animal, what would you want to be?
Ilja: Wolf.
Bart: Spermwhale.
Theun: A bear, chilling in some remote part of Canada or something.
