Reviews from "Solaris"
Interview with DISTANT PAST - "Solaris" TNT Radio
Hello, how are you? Let's dive a bit into your new work and the band itself. After 22 years, in
which you have released four albums, DISTANT PAST is back with their fifth effort, “Solaris”.
Before we dive into this new work, let's talk a bit about the band for those who might not
know you, even after these two decades of existence.
Well, the band really started after the third album “Rise of the Fallem” when we started to
play shows, first with guests then with a stable line-up who also did the last two records. In
the beginning it was just me inviting friends to record some of my ideas with me in my
homestudio. I always wanted to make albums with the themes of ancient aliens and more
serious, historical and thought-challenging content. When I started to collborate with Jvo,
with whom I played with in Emerald, it’s when we first started to get attention and after I
left, I started to focus soley on Distant Past. So it envolved from a project into a real band
with me still at the elm providing most of the ressources for the band.
First of all, if we take “Alpha Draconis” as a reference (your first album from 2010) and
compare it with this new “Solaris”, your sound has evolved. In your early days, your sound was
more direct and progressive. This new work is much heavier/power-oriented, though you still
maintain certain progressive touches in songs like "The Watchers." What does this album
mean to you in terms of musical evolution?
I wanted to get away from the power metal vein of music, which I did with the other band i
was in at the time and wanted to explore a more progressive and sprawling style. On “Alpha
Draconis” there is the 12 min final song which really was a way of writing and recording
what I always wanted to do. On “Utopian Void” and “Rise of the Fallen” (a though provoking
conceptual piece) there were many US-Metal and Progressive elements, which came among
other things from the guitar player of that period, who incomporated their styles and
contributed whole songs. I still prefer to have at least one song per album with a progressive
touch, were I can do whatever I want. The evolution is not forced, but I wanted to focus on
writung song that are more approacable and have meorable meloides an choruses. “Solaris”
is a logical contuniation of “The Final Stage”.
Your influences are very much rooted in classic heavy metal. How do you perceive the style of
DISTANT PAST within the heavy metal genre? Do you think nostalgia plays an important role in
your sound, or are you trying to reinterpret the genre?
After dabbling in more progessive styles, it was just a return to the style i feel most
confortable and better able to do. We’re just a “classic” Metal Band that played with with
our heroes in mind. There is no intention to reinvent or win any prices for originality. All the
best songs are already written...So, we’re not really thinking about nostalgia or originality,
but just play what feels best to us.
Let's talk a bit about “Solaris”. "Warriors of the Wasteland" and "Sacrifice" are powerful tracks,
and they both capture the essence of old-school heavy metal. Moreover, I think they perfectly
showcase the essence of DISTANT PAST's sound, right?
Yes, absolutely. This is why they were chosen as singles and are of the first few tracks of the
record. Now that the album is out “Speed Dealer” and “Fire & Ice” seem to be liked by many
as well as *Fugitive of Tomorrow”. But in the end, I think in Album terms and it flows nicely
and comes to an end in about 44 min, so it fits perfectly on an single LP. There is no need to
put 70 min of music out, no one is listening until the end. And nowadays with band releasing
single songs on streaming platforms this art is dying out. When we talk about art: The
artwork in the CD booklet is telling a story, but most of the reviewers just got some mp3s,
the coverart and a photo of our ugly faces. This part of the Artform is also slowly dying. But
as long as I do music, I want to do it like this, focus also on the Art, not only on the sonic
eyperience.
Something interesting about “Solaris” is that it seems to shift between moments of high speed
and others that are more introspective and slower, with songs like "No Way Out" and "Speed
Dealer" contrasting with others like "Rise Above Fear." It's almost like the songs are arranged
this way to create a dynamic album experience for the listener, right?
Excatly, with all the Distant Past Albums I try to create an experience, the album is a
completet entity that is enhanced by the visual of the booklet and the cover, which I always
carefully choose or work with the artitst. All Album cover are designed to capture the
imagination. I always get accused of the artwork looking more like one of a progband, but I
just like these kind of covers. It is always a process to choose the right songs, the running
order and nowadays the single songs to put out first, sadly without B-Sides, which back i
nthe day were integral parts of the single expericence. It’s not nostaligia, it’s the timeless
way this is done, in my opinion.
Earlier, we talked about classic influences, and one song that I really enjoyed is "Island of the
Lost Souls," with that strong '80s essence that reminded me a lot of Rainbow from the Dio era,
especially with those rhythms and riffs. Tell me about this song.
Again, a movie and novel are the main inspiration for the lyrics. “The Island of Doctor
Moreau” the audio clips and the term “House of Pain” are from the 1977 version. Musically I
was inspired by Tokyo Blade on this particular track. But one of my favorite Artists is Ronnie
James Dio, I even penned a song as a tribute called “Touched by The Gods” (on “Utopian
Void”), where I treid to caputred Sabbath vibes, written after I met him in 2011. Then I got to
jam “Holy Diver” with the Last in Line guys, what was really special. But Dio-era Rainbow is
always a great influence, “Stargazer” being one of my favorites. I went to these Rainbow
Reunion Shows were Ronnie Romero sang It, I closed my eyes and was mezmerized.
Let’s discuss the composition in terms of the guitars. I think Sollberger and Laederach have
done a fantastic job on this album. How would you describe their approach to the guitars, and
how do they contribute to the overall sound of “Solaris”?
Like Murray and Smith, they both have very different apporaches to the songs and an unique
style they each bring to the music. As Lorenz (Läderach) has a more constructive approach
and meticulously prepares and optimizes the song before coming to the band with his
suggesions, Ben (Sollberger) has a more sponatues approach and prefers to learn the song
the way it is to work on it with the band. They contribute a great deal and I’m very happy to
work with both on the both “The Final Stage” and “Solaris”.
What was the recording process like for this album? You worked with V.O. Pulver, known for
his collaborations with legendary bands like Gurd and Poltergeist. What did his experience
bring to the sound of “Solaris”?
“Solaris” and it’s songs have been around and some have been perfomed live long before
the CD Release. From “Alpha Dracoins” I worked with V.O. and he knows excatly what I want
and always has excellent suggestions about the sound and has a vast experience. This time
we recorded the drums at his studio for the first time. And it was a fun experience, I wish we
could record a whole album there, but usually we record everything a t my homestudio,
which gives us moire time and obviously saves us money. In the mixing process, is were the
magic happens and Mr. Pulver never dissapoints.
When it comes to writing your lyrics, your influences are quite broad and varied. What
narrative were you aiming to construct in “Solaris”, and how do these influences fit into the
album?
Thank you for noticing! Again, I discovered writing about (old) films a very fun way, as the
thought-provoking and moral themes inspire me to write about it in my perspective, taking
the points that are important to me or that caputred my imagination. The 1972 “Solaris”
Movie by Takovski is very hard to follow and tedious, but the viewer gets revarded with a
almost psychedelic experience. And then reading the original book by Lem (1961) gets you
even more in this very hopless and puzzling world. It is not an concept album, as some
reviewers concieved. But overall there are very diverse themes on the album, some personal
(“Sacrifice”, “Rise above Fear”) and some straight forward (“No Way Out”, “The Watchers”),
the other ones are all based on some movie or book. The Song “Fugitive of Tomorrow” is the
only song about the Solaris-Theme. It could have also been the title of the album.
Regarding the cover of “Solaris” and the visual concept, what message did you want to convey,
and how does it relate to the music?
I’ve been doing albums for almost 20 years now, so I know there is always a red line and a
concept, but it’s more about the individual songs in the context of the whole album. Teh
Cover and artwork are to define a concept where you can wrap around the whole theme,
wihtout all songs being about the same subject but somehow manage to create a elaborate
experience. The message of solaris is written on the artwork:
“Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his
own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, without finding what lies behind doorways
that he himself has sealed.” - “But what am I going to see?” – “I don’t know. In a certain sense, it
depends on you.” ― Stanisław Lem, Solaris, 1961
Now you tell me what that means to you. Maybe you just want to enjoy the music. No Problem,
but if you want to dig deeper you can! If anyone will discover the book or movie because of this
album, I have accomplished something.
It seems like you've found stability with Ben, Remo, and Lorenz in terms of the lineup, since
“The Final Stage”. Do you feel that DISTANT PAST has found its consolidation as a band with
this lineup?
A Band is always evolving and changing. But in terms of stability that we had for the last five
years, it was a very continuous effort by all the members to show some stability and
commitment.
As we mentioned at the beginning, this album marks 22 years since your formation as a band.
What do you feel “Solaris” represents in your journey, and what can fans of DISTANT PAST
expect in the future?
Well, we really only started in 2017 to be some sort of real band, before it was me recording
albums with friends and I can see going back to this way of working, as It might get exhausting
trying to increase the level of professionalism with all these great bands out there. Changing
interest and the different life paths of people involved hinder us a bit to plan too far ahead. But
I’s like to play shows at festivals around Europe and finally play in Italy, France, Spain and the UK.
I cannot guarantee that it will work out this time, but there will be a new album down the line
for sure.
This is your first album with Art Gates Records, after several releases with Pure Steel
Publishing. What attracted you to the Spanish label for this release?
It’s really quite simple, the guy from Pure Steel who was responsible for us quit and a guy from
Art Gates Records contacted us. Then we started to work together and it has been a fruitful and
supportive collaboration so far.
With the album freshly released, what’s next for DISTANT PAST?
We’d like to reach more fans of classic Heavy Metal to listen to our new record and discover the
old stuff too. We will play some shows in Switzerland next year and we really have to regroup
and talk about possibilities and intentions before continuing our quest. For now we concentrate
on the task at hand: the record release show with lots of guests and some special songs.
To wrap up, what would you like to say to those who are reading this interview?
Do check us out and get indulged in the music, it’s worth it and very rewarding, just as those Dio
and Maiden Records were in my youth. No approaches to modern music whatsoever, so we’ll
keep it old-school with a fantastic production.
Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you for the most interesting questions and keep up the good work!