Friday, Nov 21, 2008

viruszine.com

E.M.I.L
Words: Fen  -  Images: Emil

Now let's praise another band...


 To start off I can say one thing: I can barely type due to extreme bruisage and pain. Why? I just woke up after a 6 hour concert of theirs. It was in a small crowded room, I was squished alive. My arms and legs are in serious pain still (although yesterday they were fine) from pogo (although I was in first row so it was more of being squished into a metal bar than pogo but ah well), not hungover (thank god)...just dizzy. For some it may mean I’m mad but the rest should know I consider this the morning after a perfect concert. I never thought anything could beat Stufstock, but this did. The atmosphere was like... whoa.
Ah yeah, this is also part of New School Revolution, the thing that holds about 8 bands. E.M.I.L. was one of them. I was holding their banner for some unknown reason during another band's concert over at Stufstock... and like I said I thought nothing could be worse than the crowd that made me go down with it. This crowd was. It doesn't bring you in the Luna Amara trance, you don't have dancers, you don't have big fancy clubs, no guitar solos, but still: you just can't stay on your feet there. You have to move. You have to feel the music. You don't even notice as time passes by, at what's tomorrow, of how you're going to be able to move and stuff like that. You just live the for the moment. Conclusion: they rocked my life for about an hour and a half, and I'm proud to be in pain as marks of that.

Well, there's nothing I could really say about the bio. They've been playing for a few years, but I don't know their history or stuff... Basically it's just 5 people having fun :). Yes, we do get that sometimes. Amazing, huh? Now, ignoring the fact I started off backwards turning this into utter rant, I shall talk about their music. On the other hand, I think they know better, so I'll let them do the talking.

Q: There are loads of opinions on your genre. What do you think is the one that best describes your music?

A: Our genre is definitely influenced by 2 great bands: Green Day and Sublime. It's not a fusion between those two: Most of the time we sing punk-rock, but we have songs hat would fit in the ska or dub category as well. We didn't want to experiment mixing different genres, we just picked the one we like most. Generally speaking, we go down the line defined by the Californian style. Other bands which have influenced us are: NOFX, Rancid, Smash Mouth, New Found Glory, Sum41, Mad Caddies, Less than Jake, Mest, Good Charlotte, Blink 182 and No Doubt.

Q: Still, it's a style that hasn't been approached in Romania. How do you feel about that?

A: We have faith in the power of punk-rock. Unfortunately, Romania isn't that thrilled about it. Bucharest liked it, but in the rest of the country Heavy Metal is still a religion. Until now, we only got positive reviews, especially for the fact that we come with something new. But from there to Mainstream... it's a long way. Actually we don't think we'll ever get there. We just don't think punk-rock will ever be as popular in Romania as it is in America.
Q: How did you guys find each other and decide to make a band (classical question :))?

A: We knew each other since high school, and we've been listening to punk-rock since 8th grade... so it was natural to form our own band at the time being. We all had some musical experiences in the past, and when none of us was in a band anymore...came the time for E.M.I.L.

Q: Some may say you're lyrics are a bit too....naive (talking about "Copacii infloriti", "Vara vara" and so on). What do you think of the fact that optimism has gotten equal with being naive?

A: We didn't start with the idea of making them that way. That’s how it came out. That's what it was all about: having fun. Let's be different, let's not have depressive lyrics and rock, but we didn't take that idea as a marketing strategy.
And by the way, optimism, in our case at least, is not equal to being naive. Optimism is equal to being sincere. And another thing, lyrics come second here, after the music (the instrumental part): I think we're the only band in Romania where you can laugh all the time during the concert, where everyone is one big happy family.

Q: How do you think your music has changed over the years? Not necessary talking about the songs, but about the live part. Do you think you perform now as you did at the beginning? If not, what changed?

A: We’ve definitely evolved as live performers. First of all, the sound quality has increased. That matters a lot. Second of all, there are many bands that can sing well, but can't pull out a good show. E.M.I.L is part of the second category. And people like that.

Q: It's been over a year since your last release. When should we expect a new album coming out?

A: Album number 2 is almost done. Mixed and Mastered. It looks like it's going to be called "Noi Doi Impreuna Separat"(you and me together separately) and it has 14 songs. We don't know when it'll come out because we currently aren't signed to a label. Probably in spring, though.
Q: And how do you think it'll be compared to "Cocktail Verde"?

A: Half the songs will be very much alike with "Cocktail Verde" due to the fact that they're made at the same period as the others, only we couldn't put them on the album. The second half will be slightly different because our style has evolved over the years. We also got 7 songs written by our friend Butch, serious and even poetic. It’s something new.

Q: What's your opinion on the fact that although you have many people that know and love your music, there are way too many that never heard of you?

A: Probably because we didn't have a big record deal. It's quite embarrassing that a band that’s been singing for 4 years and has an edited album is going to places where NO ONE has heard of it. But we hope that after album no. 2 things will change to the best.
We’re also grateful to the people that come to our concerts. Thank you.