A mighty knight has risen and his name is EMERALD. The "Calling The Knights"
cd took me by storm with its grand melodic and epic heavy metal. Some labels
should better wake up to offer a deal to EMERALD because this band really
deserves it. Questions are answered by Michael Vaucher.
When was the band born and why did you decide to form a heavy metal band
?
Our history starts in December 1995, when my and
Jvo Julmy's former band DARK CRYSTAL is splitting up. In January 1996, we
started EMERALD with a first line-up featuring Michael Vaucher (guitar),
Jvo Julmy (guitar) and Véronique Remy (vocals), all former members
of DARK CRYSTAL (when Véronique left, Jvo, still on second guitar,
filled her space on vocals), plus Stefan Neuhaus (drums) and Roger Winkler
(bass), both former members of OPPRESS (Roger was replaced by Adriano Troiano
in '97 and new bassist is Stephan Kaufmann. The band also added a fifth member
in '98 with Thomas Vaucher on keyboards). We were all heavy metal fans and
just wanted to play ourselves the music we loved. It was my dream to stand
not only in front of the stage but also on the stage and play my music in
front of metal maniacs and headbangers!!
Did you release some demos ?
We never released any demos, neither DARK CRYSTAL
nor OPPRESS. But with EMERALD, we released in 1999 our first cd "Rebels Of
Our Time" which was in fact our first demo but as a cd.
When was the first cd released ? Have you received a good response in
the underground ?
As said above, we released our first cd "Rebels
Of Our Time" in August 1999. The response in the underground was absolutely
fantastic. We received many good and very good reactions and reviews from
all over the world for this album. Highlights were the reviews in Rock Hard
magazine, Steel Conjuring fanzine, Snakepit fanzine, Heavy Oder Was magazine,
That's Metal fanzine, Metal Heart magazine, Jesters News fanzine, Secrets
Of Steel webzine, From The Underground fanzine, Earshot webzine and Metal
Knight fanzine. And we took part at many sampler compilations like Pounding
Metal (Germany), Warzone (Greece), No Exit (Austria), Tell Hits (Switzerland)
and Metal District (Germany). 1000 pieces of the "Rebels Of Our Time" cd
were made and we now have just a few left, so we were really satisfied with
the reactions!
Your "Calling The Knights" cd is fantastic, really a great metal album
like I need. What do you think of your second album ? And how do you see
the evolution between the two cd's ?
Thank you very much for the compliments!! We're
really satisfied this time as the production of the new cd is better than
our debut cd. We had two very good engineers who brought the power of our
live sound on cd and so it sounds really metal this time!! That was the aim.
We also have a better artwork and booklet including all the lyrics, thanxlist,
etc... And of course, I think that the songs are better arranged and heavier
than on "Rebels Of Our Time".
Your cd's are self-financed. Is there really no label interested to sign
EMERALD ?
Not so far. But we didn't send "Calling The Knights"
to the labels yet. We will do this month and I really hope that we find a
good partner for promotion and distribution!!
Do you play often live ?
Unfortunately not. We'd love to!! We play about
4 or 5 gigs a year here in Switzerland. The problem is that it is very difficult
to play metal concerts in Switzerland, and when it's underground metal, it's
even more difficult. There are no metal clubs and not enough people who visit
gigs of underground metal bands. We will try to play some gigs in Germany
with "Calling The Knights" but we need the help of the people, the bands
and booking agents over there. We really hope it will work.
It is obvious that MEDIEVAL STEEL is a main influence in your music. Is
it your fave metal band ? What are the other bands you prefer ?
It is definitely one of my favourite bands. I just
love all their songs (there are unfortunately not many). My other fave bands
are : Iron Maiden, Virgin Steele, Jag Panzer, Warlord, Black Knight, Crimson
Glory, Savatage, Wikka, Masque, Attack, old Helloween, Running Wild and many
others. The other band members also prefer bands like Testament, Blind Guardian,
Grave Digger, Gamma Ray, Manowar, Edguy and Nightwish.
Are you interested by new bands of the current metal scene or do you prefer
the old ones ?
Both!! I'm still a big metal maniac and interested
in anything new and old around my passion HEAVY METAL!! I read every month
several metal magazines and fanzines and buy also a lot of new cd's (underground
as well as normal stuff like Edguy or Gamma Ray). Underground bands like
Twisted Tower Dire, Rival, Metalucifer, Aska, Eternal Darkness, Sun'n'Steel,
Pertness and many more still hold the flag of metal high nowadays and are
as good as the old 80ies metal bands. But of course I still buy a lot of
old vinyl from US underground bands. Rare and obscure vinyl stuff from the
eighties is my passion. I have a big collection with many cool stuff from
bands like Wikka, Heathen's Rage, D.D.T., Dragonne, Salem's Wych, Valor,
Snow White, etc...
What is your opinion about the scene in Switzerland ?
I think that there is no metal scene here in Switzerland.
Of course, there are some good bands and also some metal maniacs, but we
have no metal clubs, no metal magazines, no record companies and most important
there is no united scene. From our debut "Rebels Of Our Time" we sold more
than 80 % abroad. I think that important countries for a metal band from
Switzerland are Germany, France, Greece and Japan. If you are successful
in these countries, only then you can be successful in Switzerland. Sad but
true.
I wish EMERALD all the best for the future because you deserve it. Last
words are yours...
We would like to thank you very very much for the
opportunity to present our band here. We really appreciate this support very
much!! Thanks also to every reader who read this interview for the interest
in our band. If you would like to know more about EMERALD or if you like
to order our cd's, please visit our official
website
. See you all on the battlefield where all the brave knights stand as one!!!
Interview by Patrick Lefevre
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