From Assen, the Blackbriar, band of the singer Zora Cock, is another promising emerging band that are already fighting for their space. Formed in 2012, the band has been working hard, releasing singles and is preparing ground for their first full-length, and Zora tells us a bit more about the band, wich sound she describes as "melodic metal, mystic and powerful." Check out the interview right now :
RtM: To begin with, I would like you to tell us a
little about how the band started the activities?
Zora Cock: I met René (Drums) at the music college we both
attended and we started a project together. The music we made was fairly dark
pop-music, influenced by Kate Bush. A couple of years later, we were at a show
where Slash headlined and Halestorm was the support act. Halestorm completely blew
our minds and triggered us into making harder music.
Together, we wrote and recorded two songs (I
Like The Taste & Creatures of the Night). These first two songs sounded so
good to us that we decided to go and look for other band members. Bart was the
first we crossed paths with. We had never met him, but knew him from other
bands he played in. After the first meeting Bart introduced a friend of his
(Rene S.) to the band, to play the bass.
The four of us started rehearsing together,
but soon we thought that we needed a second guitar player to make out songs more
complete. Although Rene S. played the bass, he really is a guitar player. Rene
S. introduced Frank to the band to play the bass, and that’s how our line-up was
formed, in February 2012.
RtM: And how would you describe
the sound of Blackbriar for people who do not know the band?
ZC: Blackbriar's music is best described as
'Melodic Metal' it’s powerful, mystical
and mostly unique.
RtM: And what are the major musical influences of the
band? I see that you bring a lot of inspiration from the pioneers of Gothic
Metal bands but also bring something fresh, a modern sound, emotional and
intense.
ZC: Kate Bush has been a great source of
inspiration to me. Her singing style, lyrics and melody have had
a great influence on my writing.
Modern metal bands such as Periphery, In This
Moment and Textures have been a great source of inspiration to Blackbriar’s
band members. These bands have an incredible sound and their songs are amazing
RtM: You recently released a video for the song
“Until Eternity”. Talk to us a little more about this song and thevideo's production?
ZC: First of all, the recording of the audio for
this song was a bitch. We rented a studio for a weekend and had a hard time
getting it all together. This studio was not operational at all, and we
basically had to rebuild it from the ground up. Fortunately, we managed without
losing too much sleep.
The script for the video and arranging
everything has been hard work, but well worth the effort.
Until Eternity is about a never ending
love between two people, that find each other in every life they live. The song
is inspired by Lauren Kate’s book.
Doing this particular video has been a good learning experience which
will be useful to us in the future.
RtM: And how you have felt the receptivity of the
public to this music and video?
ZC: From the moment we uploaded the video on
YouTube and social media it all went fast. Many people shared the video and by
now it has been watched quite a lot. Reactions to the video have been very
positive.
RtM: The band is now preparing a full-length?
How are the recordings, the album will be produced by the band? And do you
already have a release date?
ZC: We are preparing an EP for now. We do have
plenty of material to fill a full length album, but we're not satisfied with it
as it is yet. No release date has been
set, but we are aiming for early February!
RtM: Do youu want to release the album independently or
already have proposal from some label?
ZC: Independently is most likely.
RtM: What about you Zora? Tell us how you began
your career in music, your influences and inspirations?
ZC: After secondary school I went to music college
for 4 years. I experimented with lots of different styles of music because I
didn’t really know what I wanted. At school, I met Rene and we made two albums
together. It wasn’t Metal, but they were dark pop songs. Soon after, we started
Blackbriar and I finally found what I was looking for.
A couple of my influences are Kate bush, Lana
Del Rey, In This Moment, Halestorm, Flyleaf..and I mostly get my inspiration from books, music, or my own experiences.
Zora, thanks for your attention, we hope to talk again soon your EP to be released! I let the final space to you to send a message to the readers!
ZC: Thank you all for your support! Carlos, thank
you for doing this interview. Our first EP is in the making so keep an eye on
us!
www.facebook.com/blackbriarmusic
https://blackbriarmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://blackbriarmusic.bandcamp.com/
Zora Cock – Lead Vocals
Bart Winters – Lead Guitar
René Sempel – Rhythm Guitar
Frank Akkerman – Bass
