Textures Drummer Stef Broks is an absolute character, and an absolute joy to interview (if having a slightly quirky manner of explaining himself!). And what’s more, his band is set to release the long awaited follow up to their breakthrough 2008 album ‘Silhouettes’. The new album, entitled ‘Dualism’ will be unleashed upon the public mid to late September, and should pleasantly surprise their current fans and gain them many new ones, with its highly technical/complex but just as melodic vibe. It is a masterpiece of modern progressive rock and metal, and Stef and the band couldn’t be happier with the final result, especially given the personnel changes that befell them during the recording process.
“Yeah, we’re definitely happy with it,” he enthuses in his thick Dutch accent, “we worked so really hard for it, for three years almost constantly. So that’s quite long! And we lost two members on our trail to the final result. We got new ones, and a lot of hassle. Eric, our singer left the band, and also our synth guy left the band and we got two new guys from Holland. Actually we didn’t expect that, to find a singer in Holland, because Eric was such a great great vocalist, and he was able to do anything with his voice, so it was a hard struggle to find a new singer. Actually we found a new guy in Holland, and that feels amazing. He was going to the same school as Eric, so that’s kinda weird!” he laughs.
“Actually, Daniel our new singer, when it comes to the capabilities of the voice,” he continues, “is probably even crazier than Eric! Especially with the high notes, and the high screams, and when it comes to the low screams and the low vocals. Woo! I’m excited actually!”
And as for the effect that the lineup changes had on the recording and sound of the album, Stef is just as enthusiastic about the direction the new album took as a result. “The new material, to our opinion, is more balanced,” he explains, “and that’s because the material that we wrote, all the parts, and the lyrics and the vocal lines, all the drum lines, all the stuff that we put into our songs…we could take the time to decide what we were going to do with our songs, and make it more balanced. We chose our ‘ingredients’ really well, better than the former album. In that way, writing the material is just like cooking!” he laughs again, “we chose our ingredients way better than on Silhouettes. (That album) was crammed with all kinds of experiments, and the new album is just ‘take this ingredient, take that ingredient’, and we crafted it into this really nice dinner, like in a restaurant…that’s what we tried to do, and I think we succeeded in getting the album we wanted.”
It’s a heavy album, but also contains moments of amazing, almost pop/rock melody, as well as having plenty of other non-metallic stuff going on within its grooves, and Stef is very quick to point out that they feel they are more than just another metal band.
“The heaviness and melody, that’s kind of what we stand for,” he states, “Textures has always been about diversity. We put a lot of stuff into our music, and it’s hard to say that we are really 100% metal. There’s also rock music, fusion, jazz in it, and even soul music, especially in the vocals. So heaviness and melody? In my opinion it’s a bit simple way to explain it, but it’s true.”
The band have a massive list of tour dates across the world coming up, taking them right through to almost the end of the year, with some amazing bands such as Periphery, Tesseract, The Ocean and The Human Abstract. The focus is on Europe and North America at this stage, but Stef is very confident that Aussie fans will get to experience technical ferocity and soaring melody that is Textures live within the next 12 months or so.
“Talking about the next 12 months, I think that will be possible!” he says, “so that means before (the Northern) summer 2012, I’ll meet you before that time!” he laughs again, “we’re making plans already. The plan for the tour schedule in 2011 is already set. Now we’re working with our booker for the tour for the first half of 2012, and Australia is one of our priorities, and New Zealand actually. We’ve always wanted to go there, but it’s so fucking expensive! Bringing along all the instruments, all the merchandise. But it’s definitely one of the main markets for Textures, I think there are a lot of fans there. I thinks that’s to do with the European roots of the Australian people. They hear the way we do it, the way English and Dutch people do it, and I think the Australian people are more related to us than the American people. In that way I really think it would be good to go one time. We can see it in the merch sales on the internet.
“And actually, we love Australian musicians as well!” he continues enthusiastically, “your bands Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus, those kind of bands, Cog, those are really Textures kind of bands. I even interviewed the drummer of Karnivool when he was in Holland, for the drumming magazine. I think they (Karnivool) deserve a lot of attention. I think they’re awesome, astounding!”
This is all music to the ears of Australian heavy and progressive rock/metal fans. Let’s hope we get to see the mighty Textures in Australia very soon. Maybe Karnivool could support? Make it happen!
http://texturesband.com