Turkish misanthropists Episode 13 have posted an excerpt of a demo track for their forthcoming album. ZT speak exclusively with Ozan (Vox, guitar, composition) about a possible new release and recent line-up changes.
ZT: Is there any news on a new album – do you have a name for it or an idea when it will be released?
OZ: We are still working on the new album. We haven’t decided on the name yet but there are some ideas going on in my mind. Giving a name to an album has always been related to the lyrics for me and I recently started to write some lyrics, so we’ll see what will be the sum of the whole expression. Hopefully we’re planning to record it before summer 2012 and release it in late 2012 or early 2013, and as we go along, the possibilities for a title will make themselves felt.
ZT: How far along are you with the new material?
OZ: After the release of “Death Reclaims the Earth” we didn’t produce anything with the old line up. But I was always recording some riffs or some compositions that I like to keep for the band. I was aware that we had been through a kind of dissolving session, but Sermet and I were clear about continuing with the band. So in August of this year, Sermet and I got together, and we went through all the material that I’d been working on since the release of DRTE. He also wrote some bass and guitar parts for them and we tried to arrange them in a suitable framework. We’ve found the result to be very satisfying so far. We have almost 7 songs already and several sketches, but we have a lot more work to do, especially as we have two new band members.
ZT: What can we expect from the new material – should we expect more in the similar vein to ‘Death reclaims…’?
OZ: DRTE was a stepping stone to express the bands atmosphere in a way that was different from the two previous albums. I was very keen to get that album released because I had so much material and ideas for it, and I knew with DRTE we’d created a vibe that truly fits with the bands intentions. For the next album we are trying to go deeper with that vibe and atmosphere. Maybe you can sense some similarities with DRTE but there are completely different ambiences going on with this. I have to admit that after the departure of the old members I felt a renewed and massive sense of freedom in respect of creative possibilities, and Sermet and I are able to work extremely well together. Now we hope we can integrate this new-found impetus into the new material. It’s all about the harmony and the new material is really promising, with much more atmosphere.
ZT: How have the line-up changes affected things for the band, and what do the new members bring to the band?
OZ: After the departure of 3 members it was quite a discouraging time at first, but I had always been producing and recording something for the band. Episode 13 has a kind of secret, unwritten agreement that no matter what happens, if only one individual wants to carry on with the band, then there’s no problem. Of course this only applies to the ones who were in the original line up. So really the only disadvantage of that period was that we had to cancel some tours and live performances. I think that break was a good opportunity to listen ourselves, to calm down after some intense rock’n’roll times. Our new members have brought a very particular energy and vital pulse into the E13 camp. Our new guitarist Mehmet used to tour with us as a session member so he knew already how things work within the band. We now have a really talented drummer (Erdem) and guitarist. All we’re going to do is to harmonize all elements to create an opus that will satisfy us as a band.
Demo excerpts can be found at http://soundcloud.com/episode13official/d
