Evil Clowns
Thursday, 15th March 2007
Interviewed By Dimitrios Fatouros

Evil Masquerade is back with their third album "Third Act" and the band has never sounded better. Third Act is a solid release of convincing songwriting and musicianship, wrapped in a very good production. When bandleader and guitarist Henrik Flyman set out to compose the songs for this album he was determined to make it far beyond what Evil Masquerade had done before. To make sure he would succeed he actually composed music for two albums instead of just one. Album # 1 should be the official one to be released, and album # 2 would never leave the domains of his studio. This process took Henrik 5 months. Now because of that - he was too tired- and decided against doing an interview - on the 7th day when he rested – so he sent upon us his drummer - insert stupid drummer joke here - (drumroll) DENNIS BUHL to tell us a few things about the third act of Evil Masquerade - as it unfolds : Come, come, children, come one, come all …… there's magic inside…!

M.I : Hello, thanks for doing this interview D.B : You are welcome! Thanx for the interest in Evil Masquerade M.I: Please give us a little historical summary - for those not too familiar with the band. D.B : Well, Evil Masquerade started as a series of nightmares in the twisted mind of Henrik Flyman, and since the demons in his head were always playing out of tune, he realised he had to find some real musicians to play with, he found some talented people from different places in the Danish metal scene and here we are! M.I: There have been tremendous changes in the ranks of Evil masquerade…. How do you think that they have affected the over all identity and sound of the band ? D.B :These changes have only been for the better, both on a musical- as well as a personal level. M.I: Which were the reasons that caused the schism - and how would you compare the two singers ? Was it conscious not to ask of Apollo to be a little wackier in the vocal department ? ( I' m personally missing that aspect.) D.B : The reasons for the changes were based on personal differences in the band, and we just couldn’t continue working together. The most obvious change has been in the vocal department, and Apollo has given the band a serious kick in the ass! He has a much bigger vocal range, and he fits in perfectly with the rest of the band! As for the “wacky” stuff, I guess that’s up to the listener to decide, but I still think there’s some pretty far out stuff here and there. M.I : The sort of theatrical - carnivalistic - masquerade theme is not entirely new to the metal circles - although - hardly anybody bases almost their entire image and lyrical content in that….What drew you to that ? D.B : Good question, I guess the sort "theatrical theme" just seem to fit really well with heavy metal. And Henrik has worked a lot with theatres and musicals, and that has translated into the music he is writing for Evil Masquerade. M.I: What has the response been so far to the album… What are your expectations from it ? D.B :The response this far has been really good and it seems that people like the new album a lot. We have received many great reviews up till now. I guess our expectations are that the new stuff will reach as many new fans as possible - and then of course get out and play some great live shows for our fans around the world! M.I: What are your immediate plans - a tour ? A Dvd perhaps ? Is a greek date a possibility ? D.B : We are actually working hard at putting the live show together right now, like I said we want to play live as much as possible with this album! And yeah it would be really cool to record some stuff for a Dvd, but lets see what happens. A Greek date is always a possibility, we would love to come play in this wonderful country, and hopefully meet some Greek fans! M.I: As much as the lyrical imagery is based in spectacular themes - I have never been privileged enough to have witnessed an E.M show. Are they as theatrical as one might think they could be ? D.B :We would actually love to work more with the theatrical aspect in a live situation, maybe have actors and stuff like that onstage with us, but our limited budget does not allow this right now, but let us see what the future will bring! M.I: Curiously enough - which are your influences - and how do you like - the other oddball - metal acts like mohani mohana - and such …? I mean the ones that completely didn't give a shit and did something really bizarre and grandiose ? Also is it just my idea - or is there a strong-er rainbow influence on this album ??? D.B : We have so many different influences and listing them all would be impossible, but all good music played from the heart by people who really live for this great art would definitely be an influence! And personally I love bands and artists who just don't give a shit, and are creating their music from the heart regardless of what the flavour of the month is! M.I: What do you think about other bands - that try to use theatrical elements - or about conceptual pieces generally ? Can one say that the EM albums have some sort of greater concept ? There's this whole horror-teria thematic, but i m not 100 % sure if it's all threaded together… D.B :I think that stuff is great, and if it is used right it can really enhance the experience of listening to music! We don’t really have a greater concept on our albums, but I guess you could say that our concept is being Evil Masquerade and taking that as far as we can!! M.I: Would you ever attempt - a proper sort of musical thing - a bizarre sick vision - brought to life ? David Defeis managed to do a couple of operatic pieces in some theatre in Germany that weren’t poorly received…so…would you ever consider such a thing ?! D.B :If we were allowed to do it properly, we would love to do something like that! Watch out for that bizarre sick vision, it might be closed than you think! M.I: What is evil masquerade to you ? Fun ? Horror - a dark side of ones self - taking over - and coming to the fore ?! D.B :All of the above! I could not have said it in a better way myself! M.I: Anything else ? D.B : I just want to thank you for doing the interview, and for your interest in Evil Masquerade! M.I: Salute our readers. D.B :I hope everyone checks out Third Act and gets an Evil listening experience, and I hope we will meet you all soon…. M.I : Thank you.