Can you tellus how De Profundis started?HeyGuys! In 2005 Roman (guitars) answered an advert I’d placed on the internet andwe decided that we would start something completely new. I brought a drummerfriend and Roman brought another guitarist, and we found a bassist from Oxford,which completed the first De Profundis line up. That didn’t last too longthough- we’ve had various line-up changes throughout the years.
Andthis is the fifth incarnation of the band? Has that affected the band in a way?
Well,I wouldn’t know – if it’d be correct to call this the fifth ‘incarnation’. Butyeah, we’ve changed five drummers since we started out. (Laughs) Y’know thething about this is- where we come from- we have lots of musicians but mainlyguitar-players. When we lost our drummer- it was really hard to find areplacement. This had, in a way, affected the band and its progress- to a largeextent. Then again, I have to say that we’ve been extremely lucky in that caseas well. Time and again- We’ve managed to find people who’ve played stuff weexactly wanted them to play. However, when Nick came in, the band- for thefirst time- cut loose. We started writing the stuff that was in our head- withhim we achieved a new level of freedom.
Whatis the meaning behind the band’s name?
‘DeProfundis’ is a latin phrase which means ‘From the Depth’. It kind-of couldmean anything actually. From the Depths of what? You’re not really sure! But welike the fact that there’s no specific meaning to this- because that way, wethink people aren’t expecting a specific sound from us as well.
Tellus about your pact with G&S.
Wegot in touch with Grey and Saurian almost a year ago after we did a gig withIron Maiden in Bangalore. We’ve worked with them ever since. They’ve helped usto a great extent in making this tour possible. There is a lot of demand formetal in India. But it’s really hard getting gigs- specially a good stage.Luckily, Both Anupam Roy and Shashwat Gupta have helped us out with that bit.
Tellus about your frequent tours to India. What makes you come here so often.
Hasto be the music and the culture, man! It’s our first time in the North-east,btw. Also, another reason why we’re so connected is that we have very gooddistribution in India- most music outlets have our cds thanks to Sony Music.
Yeah,let’s talk about that too. About your pact with Sony.Sonysaw us last year when we played at Rock in India alongside Iron Maiden. Theywere quite impressed. They wanted to get us on board. They heard our album andshowed interest in signing us and in distributing our music…
Thefact that you guys all stay in London but belong to different countries. Doesthat in a way contribute to your sound?
Yeah,It does actually. If you’ve noticed- we’re not only from different countries-but also from different age groups. Hence, despite Metal being the commoninfluence we all have different tastes and preferences seeping in through ourrespective instruments. Which is why, when you listen to our music you’ll getto hear a lot of extreme stuff and at the same time a lot of calm fill-ins aswell. It’s basically about how variedly we’re influenced.
Doyou guys have any ideologies as a band?
Well,we don’t really speak about any ideologies in our music. We’re kind –of againstany of that. The Lyrics that we write are about how we feel or how somebodywould feel in a specific situation. Some of the stuff is autobiographical andsome very general- but when it comes to ideologies- we don’t push any agendas.
Movingon, tell us about your new album – ‘A Bleak Reflection’. That’s why you’redoing this tour, right?
Yeah,we recorded this album in May. Compared to our previous album- this one’s a lotmore natural sounding, a lot more evolved, a lot more complex. There’s a lot ofstuff happening. It’s avery long record as well. It’s almost 70 minutes. Themusic here is also a little hard to digest after just one listen. I reallythink we’ve created something that takes a effort from the listener’s side aswell. Another thing we really like to profess with this album is the fact thatwe are just being a metal band here- not doom, not black. We have so muchhappening in each song that it’s really hard to typecast ourselves into onegenre.
Tellus about the song-writing procedures that went into this album.
Oursongs are generally quite long. Almost about 8 minutes, in general. There’s alot happening. I think all of us believe in taking the listener into a musicaljourney. We’ve taken different moods. We’ve contrasted different sections. We’vetried to develop different themes and melodies. Our approach to songwriting iscloser to Prog-rock and Classical Music on this one.
AnyIndian bands that might have grabbed your attention?Yeah,we’re actually quite familiar with bands from India. The Guys from Kryptos-they’re very cool. We’ve played with Escher’s Knot twice. Loads of them,actually! Can’t name a few.
What’syour take on the Metal Scene- Globally? How do you guys keep pace with it?
Well,it’s really hard to talk about such things. You never know what’s in- what’sout. But the thing with us is that we do what we love to do- not what’spopular.
Tellus about the De Profundis Success Recipe.
Well!We wish there was a recipe as such. We’ll tell you what we exactly do- As aband it’s either us practicing- Rehearsing individually or promoting the band.Another very key component for a Metal band is to really kick it live- becausethat’s what these metal fans want. They don’t want a band that stands therelooking at their shoes. We always want to get as sweaty as those bands outthere. And that ‘s the kind of policy we’ve always followed.