PAST ALIVE, the – Interview with Suat Gören

Hello Suat! Great that you bring some time. In May you released your album What you need. A little late now, I know, but it´s still a reason for me to talk a bit with you…

Hello Tanja, thanks for the chance to make an interview. I am very curious about your questions. Get cracking…

Tell me, where are you from, who are you and how, where and when did the story about THE PAST ALIVE begin?

We are from the local Heilbronn/Germany. We have mostly known each other from former band activities and projects. Jürgen and I were together in a band in the early 90´s, and in the end of the 90´s, Nik and Jürgen played in a band. And Micha has been a friend of us. In the year 2000, where we all had no band anymore, we all came together and let go. This is what we´ve got now 😉

Where did you record What you need?

After we recorded our first longplayer Deepest Inner completely on our own in our rehearsal room, we knew that What you need had to be done in a professional studio. Although a huge part of the press highly classified the recordings to Deepest Inner, we were convinced that we need someone with experience and equipment to emphasize our sound. So we informed us, measured many things and checked the price performance ratio and of course the closeness to Heilbronn, and we bed in the SCB-Studio in Bretzfeld (Steffen and Anja of SCB-Music can confirm that ;-)).

The closeness to Heilbronn was important for us, because we all have jobs, and so we could just record on weekends and in the evenings. We were thinking about 8 12 weeks. Thanks to Steffen und Anja for their personal assignment and thanks to the team work and the friendship, we were allowed to work a little longer on our album. What the both did for us, I cannot appreciate enough. That is why I say again a VERY BIG THANK YOU!!!

After we had the perfect mix, we had an appointment wit Jürgen Lusky of the House of Audio in Karlsdorf. The album has been mastered brilliantly by him and he also gave a very good transparency to the album, like it´s just possible with a professional mastering. And that is why it sounds like THE PAST ALIVE, where THE PAST ALIVE is inside 🙂

Who is responsible for the songwriting??

Everybody in the band. Although I have to say that Micha and Nik as the 2 guitarists have got a heavier weight than Jürgen and me. Many lyrics come from Nik, who is not only responsible for the guitars, he is also our singer. Also Micha handles things that happen around him in songstexts. But because we are a unit as a band, we have decided not to write down in detail who is responsible for the single songs and lyrics.

How does the songwriting process turn to be in detail? How do you start, what comes first and what comes afterwards?

That depends from song to song. Sometimes Micha comes to the rehearsal room and shows us what has come to his mind since the last rehearal. Sometimes Nik has got an idea that is going around in his mind that finally is that matured that he shows us the stuff. Sometimes Jürgen got the guitar in his fingers (not the bass guitar which he usually plays, but the normal guitar) and wrote some riffs, and the groove blasts. And sometimes, but only sometimes, the Suat took the guitar and played a bit on it

The material will be worked out in jam sessions and then we have a look at the total result, when everybody put his part to it.

How did you come to the band name THE PAST ALIVE? Which meaning does it have?

That is the name of one of our songs who just blasted us after it was done. A huge energy, heavy, but nevertheless melodic, just great. This song has got everything that a good song needs, due to our opinion. And as we didn´t have a band name, we just titled it after that powerful song.

You play a lot of live concerts. Could you already get a name urbanly?

I think that you can say yes. Although Heilbronn is not a highlight in metal, there are a few very good bands like for example our collegues in LANFEAR, who are popular nation-wide. And these little amount bands try to hold the metal banner high. And more and more it happens that also we are invited to play the important and big events in the region like for example the Metal Inside Festival, the X-mas rockt and the Römersee-Festival. Being the first metal band at all, we had the pleasure and honour to play the Heilbronn Seefest in the legendary Gartenlaube. Anyhow an event that was visited by a few thousands of watchers every year.

Slowly but surely we are happy to play the bigger events. In July 2005 we played at Zeppelinfeld in Nürnberg at the Young and free festival. Directly after us the kids in Tokio Hotel played, but even the Preluders were there, as well as Nu Pagadi, Overground and so on. That should say: We upgrade slowly but surely concerning the largeness of events. Also the frequence increases steadily. Have a look at the October on our homepage. That is cause for joy.

How is the metal scene there where you live? Are there a lot of metalheads? Paderborn for example somehow is the trash stronghold. Which metal area booms in Heilbronn?

Like I already said, Heilbronn is a bit dead in that case. But in the neighbourhood there are a lot of opportunites. A hello to all of our fans from Bad Rappenau, that´s nearly our home. Those, who listen to our music style seem to be very tolerant, I think. They deal with a relativly wide spectrum. I do not see a booming music style here in Heilbronn, at least not in the heavy area.

What about gigs in the near future?

You can say Rocktober. Just have a look at www.thepastalive.de . Great! And I think, there´s not even everything on the page due to gigs. Just surf to the site sometimes. 2-3 further gigs for November/December are planned. We have the luck to play a lot of concerts at the moment.

Your musical influences cannot be dismissed. But which bands do you like privatly?

My favourites are at the moment Annihilator, Dream Theatre, Megadeth, Evanescence, Sepultura, Slayer, Disturbed, and of course old Metallica until the Black album without any limitation.

Your music is not black, not death, no power metal… How would you describe it?

We play metal, that´s all. But we don´t want be put into narrow definitions. We play what we like.

Why would you recommend your album?

Because its What you need. Neckbreakers, ballads, epic, grooving, fat guitars, sing-along choirs, this album has got everything that a longplayer needs to not to become boring.

Which subjects does What you need include?

Oh, I don´t want to tell a long story now: Please get your own idea of the album. The song samples can be listened from the homepage, as well as the lyrics. The complete songs and lyrics, too, of course you can find on the CD, which you can get for 10,- + shipping or you´ll come to a gig. There we always have some CD´s for you.

Immediately, when I listen to you, there come up comparisons with Metallica automatically. How do you see that? Does it disturb you, when you get compared with them?

Actually not, because there are a lot of other things that are annoying than being compared with one of the most successful bands in the world.

But the whole thing has got downside:

a) We want to sound like our own sound and we think, we do that. But as a result of the similarity from Nik´s voice to the one of James Hetfield, the people compare us with Metallica again and again. But the problem will be away soon: We will take out Nik´s vocal chords 😉

b) Some think we want to sound like Metallica (but we don´t want to) and blame us, we should not sound like Metallica. Got it? No? Us neither.

It would be very nice, when everybody would hear the CD what it is: The cool new disc of THE PAST ALIVE.

And spontanously the (split up Germans in) BLACKEND come to my mind Do you know the music of BLACKEND?

Yes, the guys are nice. We played with them 1 2 times at festivals. It always was very cool. But didn´t they have a break in the meantime? I am not up-to-date at the moment… (shame on me)  Blackend split up Tanja

I like your songs, because they are compact, without any big frippery, rough, but anyway with a lot of emotions. Which is your favourite song on the new one?

You also could ask that a father which child he loves most 😉 All joking aside: That depends on the mood: when I want to bang my head, then it is These Solutions or What you need, when I want to cuddle (thats metal (!), then The Edge of Time I.

How far do you want to go with THE PAST ALIVE? Is THE PAST ALIVE a fun band or something serious?

First of all there is the fun. But if there is a label that wants shower us with billions of dollars, we will see, if we can accommodate that much money with the fun 😉

Who is responsible for the great cover artwork?

That was Danny Alexander. I want to thank him a lot. Should anybody need a very good artworker, I can interfere. You won´t regret it. He has brought the concept into our non-conception. What he did was a killer of work.

You´ve already had some gigs with AXXIS or also CHINCHILLA. I like both bands a lot live. Is there any chance to see you on a common tour?

If it fits with time, then we would be happy. With the CHINCHILLA guys, we played a few concerts. Everytime it was a pleasure. Hi Udo, say hello to the guys in TPA. When will we party together again?

Is there any chance to see you on (a little) tour at all? 🙂

We would like to do a little tour. But that is difficult to fix it with our jobs. Everybody has got a job, vacation has to be coordinated and it is not that cheap, such a tour. The logistic of the people and instruments an so on We will see, what 2006 will bring.

Your words to the metalheads?

Bang your head like hell, support the underground bands and be tolerant.

Website:
www.thepastalive.de
Contact:
management@ThePastAlive.de
Line-Up:
Nik Gledic Vocals, Guitar
Michael Treffert Guitar
Jürgen Storz Bass
Suat Gören Drums
Discographie:
The past alive (demo) 2000
Promo EP 2002
Deepest Inner 2002
What you need 2005