Interviews : Ne Obliviscaris (Brendan Brown) – 14/05/2009

Formed in 2003, Ne Obliviscaris have been writing, recording and playing live around Australia over the past three years to gain widespread critical acclaim – many hailing their unique sound, intense live shows and extremely talented line-up.

A 6 piece metal band consisting of violin, 2 guitars, bass, drums, clean and extreme vocals; Ne Obliviscaris hail from Melbourne, Australia, and include a vast array of influences within their sound from progressive to black, thrash, death and melodic metal, and even western art music, jazz and flamenco. MetalObsession caught up with bassist Brendan Brown to discuss their current tour, new songs and band aspirations!

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MetalObsession.net: Welcome Brendan, to a Ne Obliviscaris interview on Metal Obsession. First things first, you’re in the middle of an Australian tour. Tell us all the where and when’s…
(NeO): Well so far we’ve already played shows in Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide & Hobart. Then coming up in the next 2 weeks we have these shows to finish off the tour:

Fri, May 15 @ The Basement, Canberra, ACT
Sat, May 16 @ The Annandale Hotel, Sydney, NSW
Fri, May 22 @ The Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC
Sat, May 23 @ The Espy Gershwin Room, Melbourne, VIC

MetalObsession.net: I believe Queensland’s Empyrean will be joining you for the most part. Who else can we expect to see on tour supporting?
(NeO): A large of diversity of Australian metal. In Brisbane we were supported by the brutal death metal band Cadaverine, and a beautiful instrumental prog band called City Chalk Outline. NeO is great because we can play with so many different bands, from heavy to mellow bands because we incorporate all these different elements in our music. I’m looking forward to seeing other local bands in the cities we travel to as well.

MetalObsession.net: I think more importantly to a Ne Obliviscaris fan, how much new material can we expect to hear live on tour?
(NeO): We will be playing the three songs on The Aurora Veil EP plus four other songs from the upcoming album, some old and some new. We are always writing and coming up with ideas both in our own time and in the rehearsal room. We are already working on material for the second album, so we are very eager to enter the studio and record our first. With 6 very talented people in the band there is never a shortage of great ideas.

MetalObsession.net: Also, still on the topic of touring, with your ever growing fan base extending into many countries around the world, what’s the likelihood of some international touring in the near future?
(NeO): It’s very likely as that is our goal as a band; to see the world and take our music to all corners of the globe. It will be a long hard road but we definitely will get there, time is on our side. We just have to be very patient and take things in small steps. Once the album is completed I think it will be very likely that we’ll do some overseas shows. Europe especially would be a dream of ours!

MetalObsession.net: Ok, here is the situation: The Australian tour has finished, you’ve sold out at the merch stalls, now it’s straight into the studio? Or, is their more to it than that?
(NeO): There is a lot more to it than that. We had some issues with the label we had been about to sign with so unfortunately that  made things a little more complicated. Since then we have also applied for an Australian government grant which will help us immensely financially. When we have the right amount of money and label support NeO will enter the studio and get the album on the way. We have already started pre-production which will make our studio time a breeze as we will have backing tracks and tempo templates already constructed.

MetalObsession.net: Now onto the album. How many tracks are we looking at? And, as I understand it, three of these on the new album will be re-recorded versions of The Aurora Veil?
(NeO): That is correct. We will definitely be re-recording those 3 songs on The Aurora Veil. They will sound much clearer and we have refined some of our parts, so they wont be exactly like they were on TAV. I for one have changed a lot of my bass parts since the recording, and we are all more professional and confidant players since when we entered the studio to record The Aurora Veil.

MetalObsession.net: Any significant changes to look for at this stage on the older songs your fans know so well – i.e.: how many changes has Ben made haha?
(NeO): Ben has definitely spiced the parts up and added his own flavour. It still very similiar to the EP, nothing drastic but definitely variations on what  Corey recorded. In our newer songs Ben has composed all his own solos and harmonies. He is a truely gifted musician and his playing is perfectly suited for NeO. I think listeners will be amazed at the things Ben has composed.  Definitely on the second album,  Ben will be involved in all song writing.

MetalObsession.net: Have there been any new influence to NeO’s music that on sitting back and going over your new material you have noticed?
(NeO): Definitely more mature. We are always improving as musicians. Our songs are taking on real emotional journeys and expolring many styles and colours. Our much older songs that we don’t play anymore were more thrashy and unoriginal in style. They were still great solid songs but NeO has evolved so much over the years of playing together. We definitely explore way more ideas and styles. Anything goes really, as long as we can all agree it suits the musical direction. Obviously country music is out of the question haha, but we have been exploring jazz, classical, latin ideas and anything that comes to mind and works well with the NeO soundscape.

MetalObsession.net: Any closer to signing a contract with any record labels? Is this a realistic possibility before the time for the new album’s release has come?
(NeO): We are definitely looking and open to any offers from any label. It is a difficult climate at the moment in the record industry but we are still confident of finding the right home for NeO in the near future.

MetalObsession.net: Any last words for the Metal Obsession readers?
(NeO): Thank you so much for reading, i hope the interview gave you some insight into what NeO are working on and trying to achieve. The album will be done sooner than later so be patient and i think you all will be very pleased with the end result. Keep supporting Neo and all Aussie metal because Australia is definitely putting its foot on the world map. There are some amazing bands coming out of Australia that definitely rival other top bands from all around the world.

MetalObsession.net: See you on tour!
(NeO): See you, up front with swinging hair and metal fingers \m/

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Band: Ne Obliviscaris
Date: 14/05/2009
Origin: Melbourne, Australia
www.myspace.com/neobliviscaris

Queries: Brendan Amos (Metal Obsession)
Retorts: Brendan Brown (Bass)