Interviews : Orpheus Omega – “At the end of the day, people will always want to make music” (An interview with Chris Themelco)

Orpheus Omega are currently gearing up for a massive national tour to support their latest release, ‘ResIllusion’. The tour will take them up and down the east coast of Australia, plus include shows in Hobart and the A.C.T.

Metal Obsession had a chat with frontman, Chris Themelco regarding the upcoming tour and future plans for the band.

Metal Obsession: Everything is coming up Orpheus Omega at the moment. You must be pretty pumped to get back on the road and promote “ResIllusion”?

Chris Themelco: Yes it is a very exciting time for us, we look forward to hitting some great stages across Australia as part of this tour and hopefully to help push for some International slots in the following months.

MO: There seems to be a common theme of self imprisonment, or lack of personal empowerment throughout “ResIllusion”. Could you tell us a little about the writing process of the album and why it has such a dark undertone?

CT: Well the majority of the lyrics focus on feelings and stages we had been going through in our respective lives, especially Joao and myself as the main lyricists and so it just gave the whole album a very dark foreboding vibe which does turn more positive towards the end as we are both firm believers in that after any low there is undoubtedly a high.

Listening to the album from start to finish, the lyrics portray the evolution of a character who is broken and bent. He’s everything that we fear in ourselves but throughout the album the character progresses and learns to deal with those fears and failures and to start anew, to build again and to see success where there was only failure. Everyone goes through their phases and down periods, but everyone has the power to overcome them.

ResIllusion Australian Tour

MO: The “ResIllusion” tour will kick off this Friday in Brisbane at the Stones Corner Hotel. What kind of set-list can we expect across the entire tour?

CT: We will be performing a nice mix of songs from both “Bleed the Way” and “ResIllusion” as we don’t want the fans to miss out on any of their old faves and some of ours as well. You’ll definitely hear the more energetic and mosh-worthy numbers as we feel part of the enjoyment of our lives shows is the interaction between the music, the band and the crowd. And when those 3 align… Bitchin’

MO: Outside of Orpheus Omega you do a lot of production and engineering work at your home studio, Monolith Studios. Since you have such a broad scope on audio engineering, could we perhaps see Orpheus Omega vinyl being released in the near future?

CT: It’s definitely on the cards. It’s something we’ve been asked about quite a few times so we’re not going to rule it out, but with all the the touring coming up it might take a back seat for the time being.

MO: Do you feel as though Orpheus Omega’s music is better suited to the audio fidelity of digital or do you believe vinyl can represent Orpheus Omega in the same light?

CT: As someone who works with audio all the time, I love what both mediums bring to the table, though I’m a sucker for analogue [laughs]. I think it’s more important that the music itself translates well, regardless of the medium to be honest. So it’s all personal taste.

MO: Do you notice any major difference between either formats?

CT: There’s definitely a difference but just like with any pair of speakers or sound systems it’s all dependent on every bit of gear as well. Having said that, Vinyl does inherently sound a little warmer and welcoming to my ears anyway. Anyone who already owns a record player already knows why they own one and like the sound.

MO: I recently saw an update on your Facebook page that stated you are already working on a third Orpheus Omega album. I take it we can only speculate what to expect? 

CT: We like to think that any time between releases is all time spent building towards the next release. For the moment it’s all just ideas and riffs and playing around with what comes to mind, which even so early is sounding really great to us. I think it’s important that we just keep writing what comes naturally to us and hopefully continue to forge our own sound and continue to build on that as we believe we have done on “ResIllusion” so well.

MO: Do you and Joao find it easier writing on tour, gradually building momentum or is it more fulfilling for you both to just sit down and write in solitude?

CT: A mix of everything really. As a band, we can’t always be around each other to write, so we take full advantage of what technology allows us to do in a writing sense. Sometimes we’ll start with a few riffs and send them around via email or Dropbox or something like that. Or sometimes we’ll brainstorm and jam at practice and go from there through a similar process. And then there’s those cool times where Joao will call me over the phone mid riffing and show me some really cool stuff and vice versa. We basically write wherever and whenever inspiration strikes.

MO: As we all know Orpheus Omega’s long time friend and bassist,  Milky passed away earlier this year due to medical complications. It was a shock to not only Orpheus Omega, but the Australian metal community. How do you feel the band will evolve now that a major player has passed?

CT: As with any band, when a member leaves for any reason, the dynamic changes and the direction will undoubtedly change in some form. Milky was a big part of the sound on “ResIllusion” and helped create the basis for where we are now as a band. It’s hard to know what’s going to come of it musically, but we are all dedicated to driving Orpheus Omega in the direction we all agreed we would.

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MO: Many are asking whether or not your current temporary replacement, Dan Ralph will be taking on this duty full time?

CT: [laughs] As much as we’d love Dan to stick around, his commitment to Naberus wouldn’t allow for that. Naberus is his main focus, so the fact that he’s been able to help us out so much over this tour is already beyond appreciation. We will at some point later in the year begin the search for an official Bassist, but for now our focus is on touring and supporting this album as best we can.

MO: No doubt Milky’s legacy will live on forever. I’m always blown away at the sheer quality of heavy music Australia produces every year.  I think we’re quite fortunate to have band’s like Oprheus Omega in this country. How do you gauge the local metal scene at this point in time?

CT: I think everyone has different expectation and ideas of what the scene should be and what it needs and what it actually is. At the end of the day, people will always want to make music and there will always be people to listen to it. We are fortunate enough to have a lot of people in the Australian metal scene who’ve supported us since the beginning and we are always looking to reach more and more people through every avenue available to us.

I don’t think anyone playing in a metal band (be it thrash, death, prog, core, etc) feels like they are main stream or ever could be. The word itself seems taboo these days anyway and gets used to lump groups together. You only need to look to bands like Psycroptic, Thy Art Is Murder and Be’Lakor  to realize that the scene is strong enough to support our musicians. I don’t think that anyone in these kinds of bands ever thinks that becoming mainstream is an option, and quite frankly, that’s not really an issue as long as the support is consistent and honest.

MO: Orpheus Omega have been quite fortunate to support some pretty big names, both in Australia and around the globe. Any big supports or international touring plans for the near future?

CT: We hope so [laughs]. We’ve been pretty lucky to support great bands like Amon Amarth and Eluveitie here in Australia. However, for us and our future endeavors, we really want to try and have those same opportunities overseas when we finally go over and tour alongside such acts. Having said that, we would love to continue to support great bands and represent the scene as best we can with any given opportunity in the future.

MO: Any famous last words?

CT: Thanks for the support and the interview, Anwar. It’s always a pleasure to speak with you. A massive thanks to all our fans and friends for the amazing support. We really can’t thank them enough.

We can’t wait to get this tour started.

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