First of all thank you for taking the time talking us here at DWTV ,
you recently recorded a 3 track EP called The Pledge. How was the
recording Process? Is there any concept behind it ? and where can people
find it?
Hey, thank you for having me!
The Pledge is available for free on Bandcamp
http://miroist.bandcamp.com/.
The idea behind the EP was to try and combine my joint love of
post-rock and progressive metal and create something dark, heavy and
murky. I wanted to get away from the highly processed, digital style of
djent and do something with a more organic feel. There is an overall
concept, and lots of effort went
into creating a theme and the artwork and the whole package, but at its
heart it's just about making decent music, otherwise its all bullshit.
Writing
and recording took place over about 5 months. I basically learned how
to
mix from the ground up over that time, and I've still
plenty to learn. I've been in bands before (none anyone has heard of),
and dabbled in recording, but this time it was just me, and I could be
responsible for the whole writing and the recording process. It took a
lot of
work, but I really enjoyed it and am really pleased with the final
result. The best part of it was working with my good friend Chris Lees
on the artwork, I think his designs are incredible and fit the EP
perfectly.
Do you feel like the Pledge has been received well by fans?
So
far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I started from
scratch and released a dodgy demo in November that a few people seemed
to like, and then just disappeared into making the EP until April. So, I
wasn't expecting anything from it, but so far, with the help of an
amazing and supportive scene people are finding my music and seem to be
really digging it, so it has been a really good few months and huge
thanks to everyone who has supported me so far.
What pulled you into the Progressive Metal/"djent" scene? , How did Miroist start?
Inevitably,
the answer here is going to be Meshsuggah, though I was listening to
Mnemic and Tool before them. I've been making music for many years, but
have always struggled to tie my influences together. I've always been
inspired by the cinematics of post-rock music, it's heavy in a totally
different way, and that's one sound, perhaps Cloudkicker aside, that
hasn't really made it into the djent sound. I wanted to create huge
walls of sound and play with dynamics, and have interesting grooves and
kinetic riffs. It's taken a while to piece all that together.
What Bands do you take influence from?
Godspeed You Black Emperor, The Twilight Sad, Cloudkicker, Vildhjarta, Meshuggah, Boards Of Canada, Autechre.
Where did the name Miroist come from?
It's just a word I made up.
What do you
think of the "djent" scene at this moment in time , do you think there
is more to come from it , or is it slowly turning stagnant?
The
sound was blessed with some exceptionally talented people in the early
days - Misha, Acle, Chimpy etc weren't just brilliant musicians and
players, they were also skilled *producers* too. Unfortunately I think
that's had the knock-on effect of blurring the musical aspects with
production aspects of it - there's a passionate interest in how it's
produced that I don't really see in any other form of music. But if
everyone aims for "8string EMG hyper-compressed syncopated riffing with
glitch interludes" it's going to start sounding the same because only
one part of that is anything to do with what you're going to do in the
music. It's just going to take more than a few years for things to
diversify. Sure I think there are some copycat bands, but that's the
same in every genre and I don't think djent has any more of a 'problem'
than other styles. There's a huge wealth of support from the fans, the
level of engagement is incredible, and djent continues to be blessed by
many forward thinking and unique musicians too.
Any plans for Miroist becoming a live band , or will it simply stay a "studio project"?
I would love to take Miroist live and I'm looking for the right musicians to do it. There's no rush though.
Whats in store for the rest of 2012? Any big plans?
I've
started work on a full length album, though I have no set timescale and
can't say when it will be out. I can say that it won't contain any of
the songs on The Pledge because recycling is boring - I like creating
new music and see no reason to revisit things once I've put them out.
HUGE thanks to everyone who's downloaded, purchased or listened to the EP so far, and thanks to DWTV for the continued support!
We'd like to thank Miroist for taking the time to answer some of our questions , we wish him luck with his album recording!!!!
