Switzerland’s Sounds of Fury give us an insight into their soon to be released second album Mediocracy, the content of which is anything but…
Q How do you all feel now your second album, Mediocracy, is set for release soon?
A Really excited, it has been a long process to craft this album and now we are eager to present our work and to see what kind of reactions it will produce.
Q Do you feel it is a step up from your debut album?
A Yes, of course, and on several levels. Interpretation-wise, we made a lot of progress since the first album, especially Axel who has worked really hard. Songwriting-wise, each song has its identity and the development is more natural. Production-wise, it’s really better than the first album because Andy Classen went through the entire process (recording, mixing, mastering).
Q Are all the band members involved in the songwriting process?
A It’s Nico who writes the songs, and we speak about arrangements during the rehearsals. Dario for his leads and Axel for his parts have total creative freedom.
Q The first album was self-released. Has the process been easier this time now you’re with Mighty Music?
A It will be easier, yes. An artist represented by Mighty Music has more chance to be heard of by a journalist than an indie album lost in a middle of thousands of other records. Also the network for promotion and distribution is already operational so that we have time to spend towards other things.
Q I know the title of the new album sums up your frustrations in life generally rather than a reflection on your music! What kind of things get under your skin?
A I took the subway just now and I would say fat women who speak loud, children and dogs. No, seriously, a lot of things, but more recently behaviour of some people that make mistakes and put you in a bad situation and don’t want to admit it or tell you it’s not easy, blablabla…
Q Do any of the band members have commitments with other bands and projects. Is it difficult to juggle timetables so everything falls into place?
A Axel plays with Darkrise, a band who toured with DTA and Obscura in November 2013. Otherwise until now it wasn’t too hard to juggle with the different projects the musicians of SOF play with. Depending on how things will evolve, we will have to make some choices.
Q Sounds of Fury play brutal death metal. How big is that scene in Switzerland?
A As everywhere in Europe, I think 90% of the people who listen to this music, they play it too. Almost all European tours do one or two dates in Switzerland, besides that it’s easier for the routing, there is also an audience, among whom some are musicians. To be more precise, if we look at our town, we have something like 20 bands and in Geneva it’s two or three times more, I think.
Q What are the aspirations of Sounds of Fury? What would you like to achieve?
A Musically we don’t have a particular goal to achieve, because once it’s achieved there is no moving force anymore and it stops being interesting. But we’d like to have a certain name for ourselves so that the next time we record an album or go on tour, things will be much easier for us, also financially speaking.
Q Which bands did you listen to and were inspired by growing up?
A The latest album that really made my jaw drop is Monoliths Of Inhumanity. Not necessarily for the production or the skills of the musicians, but really for the songwriting. In that particular domain, there are only two masterpieces: “Whisper Supremacy” and “… And Then You’ll Beg” that I listen to again every single time I write songs in order to get inspired. The first Misery Index album is also really good, with really punky riffs at some points. Actually, the guitar sound on Retaliate was our reference regarding the guitar sound for Mediocracy.
Q Finally, what tour plans have you got for 2015 and will we get the chance to see Sounds of Fury play in the UK?
A We hope to have the opportunity to play in the UK. We’re working on organizing a tour during the end of 2015, early 2016, but we have nothing that is official to announce right now because we don’t know where, when and how.
Mediocracy will be released via Mighty Music on May 25.
