Entrevista - Shot at Dawn

Depois dos suecos Icos, o nosso/vosso Art is Fucking Dead continua as entrevistas pela Escandinavia. Desta vez, na Noruega, com os Shot at Dawn, uma das ultimas esperanças do Deathcore. Têm talento, bom humor e influências neo-clássicas aqui e ali. Que mais podemos pedir? Estrearam-se em 2007, com o genial "Sic Vic Pacum Para Bellum", e em 2009 regravaram 3 faixas para o EP/promo "Pre Bellum". O futuro parece promissor para este sexteto...



P-First of all, please introduce yourselves and describe, to those who don't know you, what is Shot at Dawn all about.


SAD- Shot at dawn consists of 6 dudes: Chris and Johannes on guitars, Ole and Jonathan on vocals, Jonas playing drums and Espen on the bass.We're all about playing our music to show people that metal can be fun and doesn't have to be serious and evil. We love playing shows and
looking like clowns on stage ^^


P-It has been 2 years since your debut Lp, " Sic Vic Pacum Para Bellum ". What have you been doing in the meantime?


SAD - There has been a few member changes, we got a new drummer (Jonas, ex left among the living and kraanium) and Johannes is our new guitarist. We've been playing a lot of shows in Norway and writing new music. We have also gotten a lot of exposure by the press=)We have also re-recorded two songs from "Sic vic pacum para bellum". They are featured on our EP "pre bellum" which can be downloaded online at different blogspots. A cover of johnny cash's "ring of fire" is also on the EP. Check it out =)


P - What impressed me the most in your debut was how mature it sounded, for such a young band. "Sic Vic Pacum Para Bellum " has elements of a lot different genres, such has death metal, hardcore,black metal and even some classical-inspired solos and melodies. How did you guys managed to mix such different stuff?


SAD - We just like to mix every music style we listen to. Each member listens to different music styles, and we feel that the best way to make good music is to try to mix things instead of following one pattern like playing plain death metal, black metal or hardcore. So we decided to put the best parts from each of the genres we like, and put it in our songs to make it more exciting.



P - Can you tell us what were the main concepts behind that album?


SAD - There isn't a concrete concept, our singer, Jonathan writes lyrics about pretty much everything that inspires him. It could be about a horror movie or just things that happens around the world. But one thing that comes back in most songs is that the world is going to an end, and people just have to live to their fullest everyday.



P-You guys have from Oslo ; how is the scene there nowadays?


SAD - For a band like us, I have to say that it's not so good. People only like black metal, death metal or blackthrash. And don't want to expand their taste of music. But fortunatly, it seems like this is about to change. More and more people find out that Metal isn't only about old school death metal or black metal, and they open up for new music.



P -Is it easy for a metal band to survive in Norway, a country well known for its
extreme metal scene?


SAD - That's kindof a hard question, because of the extreme metal scene, there are very many metalbands, but most of them plays death metal or black metal. So I have to say that it's more difficulty for them to survive. We have an advantage because we play something which is kindof new. But then there are the people who swore to black and death metal who doesn't approve our style.








P - I know that you guys have toured in the past. Can you tell us both the best and
worst memories from the road?


We actually haven't been on many tours. We went on our first tour a couple a weeks ago. It was only a week-end tour, but because it was our first one. We partied a lot more than we should have. We were just so happy that we got to travel across Norway to new places that we had to celebrate every day. We rented a car that was used by students who had used the car for something we have in Norway that we call "russe celebration". The ceremony consists of students who graduates from high school, and celebrates this in form of partying and drinking constantly for one month.. The car was pretty fucked up, the stereo didn't work, the wheels was loose and it smelled pretty bad in the car, even before we had been there for hours and hours together. But anyways, we did some pimping of the ride, and painted our logo all over the side of the van. We got pretty many weird looks by people on the way! It was the ultimate white trash van.But other than that tour, we have been playing alot of shows in Oslo over the last 2 years. Some big shows and some smaller shows. Some of the most memorable show we played was when we got to play with "The black dahlia murder", one of our favorite bands. We even got some seconds on their new DVD! High five!!



P -What are your plans for the rest of 2009?


SAD - We're in talks with a pretty big record label, and we hope to release our sophomore album as soon as possible. We'll also try to book tours internationally, and try to promote "Shot at dawn" as much as we can. We also released our first professional music video which you can watch on our myspace page and homepage.



P-Are you planning to release some new stuff soon? What can you tell us about it?


Yes, hopefully. It depends on how fast we can get the record deal=) The new songs are more technical, more catchy and we have managed to mix even more styles to our music =) One of our new tunes, called "Whitetrash metal brigade" is a in your face 80's metal party tune, and we
can't wait to record it!



What are your influences, when writing the song?


Like every other band, we take our inspirations from our favourite bands. But due to the fact that we have such a diverse taste in music, both personally and collective, we end up putting a lot of different stuff in our songs. As long as it sounds good and natural, it’s alright. We wouldn’t put in a funky guitar part just because we want to sound odd or crazy. But if its sounds natural,
then hell yes.


P-What do you guys think of the recent popularity of deathcore? Bands like Suicide Silence, Emmure...

SAD - Its good that that these bands get a lot of exposure. It helps spread the music and it will be of help to other bands trying to break free from the underground. But as with every other genre that suddenly starts to get a lot of exposure, it will quickly fall down. Just look at glam, thrash metal, grunge, nu-metal, screamo and so on. They all had a couple of years in the spotlight, but most bands proved to be one trick ponys. If you want to survive you need to develop and expand your musical vision. Releasing the same album over and over again, with the same kind of riffs will eventually start to grate and people will get bored. Although some bands seem to manage that just fine. *cough* Hatebreed *cough*

P- I know that you guys ask blogs and websites to host your songs, and to make them available to download. Do you consider the mp3 vital to a band's career nowadays?

SAD - Of course, the digital revolution has helped a lot of bands get some much deserved exposure. Personally we’ve found a lot of bands on the net that we really love. It’s a win-win situation for both bands and fans. So we take every opportunity we can to share our music. But we understand that theres a difference between underground and well established bands. We’re still an unknown band, so we don’t have anything to lose by putting our music on the net.

P - What do you guys do, besides the band?

Everyone has daytime jobs, and then we use the evenings and weekends for rehearsals and concerts. Just like every other underground band. But yeah, we occupy our time with friends, parties, video games and whatever we can get our hands on. I’m afraid theres no cocaine and hookers involved, hehe.



P - I have to ask you guys who wrote the “Interlude” on “Sic…” . I was surprised by the whole album , but that track is really fantastic : the ultra-fast solo, and then that Gothenburgish riff... Great track, who came up with it?

SAD - Our first guitarist, Rob, came up with most of the guitar riffs on that song. And the rest of the band added their touch. The solo is actually played by the sound technician who recorded our album. He is a really good lead guitarist and we wanted him to do a guest solo.


P -When can we expect you guys in Portugal ?

SAD - As soon as a promoter contact us and wants us to play there . We hope that it happens soon.


P - Any last words to the readers?

SAD - Thank you for your time. We hope you enjoy our music. And hit us up if you want to chat with us! Check out our myspace (www.myspace.com/shotatdawnmusic ) for news. And tell all your friends about Shot at dawn :D Spread the word!!