Interview with Beansidhe

beansidhe-art MA – First of all, guys, congrats to your album! I had some quality time listening to it! You made a really nice work joining the guttural vocals with, sometimes kind, sometimes sweet, guitar textures, but always keeping the heaviness required to a metal band.

BS – Thank you, appreciated!

MA – To get started, Mónt is your third album. As I didn’t know the band before, and I guess many of our readers didn’t either, could you tell us a little about the two previews albums?

BS – Yes, Mónt is our third release. Beansidhe’s Everlasting Cry (2004) is a demo we registered in a single live session at a home studio. There are no overdubs added on top of that and everything sounds as raw and imperfect as can be…. it was our first experience getting anything on track. It’s not something I put on daily, but if you’re interested in learning how much we changed over time – which is a lot – I encourage you to check that out on bandcamp. All three releases are available for streaming for free. De Mortis Eloquentia (2010) was recorded in a slightly more professional way, meaning we put down drums first, then guitars and bass, and vocals at the end. It’s kind of fast and death-metalish in a way. There are a few bright things inside, but it’s a bit too claustrophobic for our tastes nowadays and dynamics are completely missing… it’s an angry EP.

MA – There is one video available at Youtube. I couldn’t find anything else about you. Was that on purpose?

BS – Yeah, we suck at promoting ourselves… it’s not something we’re really interested in and definitely not something we spend our free time on. Luckily Via Nocturna and Curtis picked us up for this one so we (read: they) could spread it properly. They did a terrific job with reviews, interviews and everything. Not something we would have achieved by ourselves.

MA – Most extreme metal bands are writing about pain, despair, anguish, and fear, and that writing is reflecting on the lyrics and the music. You tried to create, and I think you were successful, a dark atmosphere, full of tensions, musically and lyrically speaking. Bands like yours are avoiding speaking about evil, except those openly devoted to evil itself. I’d say the themes are much more about the effects of evil, than evil itself. Is it a sign of the times, or just a new approach?

BS – I am extremely curious how you figured out the tensions from the lyrics… no seriously, it wasn’t our intention to create a particular atmosphere. Of course we’re still within the boundaries of a musical style characterized by distorted guitars, pounding drums, and growling vocals. This raises particular emotions within the listener. In reality, Mónt features songs of darkness, songs of light, and songs of both.  There’s not necessarily a relation to anything evil per se. Existence has its own highs and lows.

MA – To get more personal, your lyrics deal with the concept of spiritual elevation to deity. How does that work to you? I can’t avoid the question: Are you religious? Are you looking to redeem ancient rites?

BS – There’s that aspect as well, yes. Let’s put this clear: we’re not into anything religious, ritual, or related to any fictional characters, be it in heaven or hell. Of course we’re human beings and spirituality has a major importance in (our) life. It’s interesting that you mention ancient rites, thank you for that! Mónt is actually somehow related to ancient times, as it speaks about people who used to live in the past. I am glad this kind of passes through the language barrier.

MA – The lyrics were written using a païsan dialect. Can you enlighten us about it and how it works with your search for nature as it’s reflected on the cover art?

BS – At a certain moment in time, a couple of years ago, we realized that English wasn’t the language we wanted to write and sing in. The simple reason is that it’s not our language. Not the language we think in, dream in, swear in. Also, it was of major importance to us to be able to create something that we could completely feel ours. Thus, we switched to our dialect and stopped writing about bulls**t everybody’s writing about in the metal scene. We tried to do something we would stand up for and that had a meaning to us. We started to write about our people who lived in the past. People who lived in our mountains, closer to nature than we are today. And we realized that we were writing about ourselves, too. Not ourselves as we carry out our daily duties, go to work, shop, or have a beer in the pub. Something more profound, more intimate, something transcending the here and the now.

MA – I couldn’t find anything about the band members, I mean, I don’t know their names and instruments as the information you placed on your FB page is very scarce as well as the info about the band. I see that the band avoids massive social media as well as live shows and public appearance. Is it a reflected option or because even though the resources are plenty now it’s still difficult to break the edge of success and much more for an extreme metal band?

BS – We simply just do as we please. We have day jobs and things that occupy most of our time. The little time we spend in this project we prefer spending getting music done. That’s about it. We tend not to do live shows because they are a huge investment (read: waste) of time. It takes months to prepare for a gig – if you want to do it properly, and it takes less than an hour from stage-on to stage-off. There’s the thrill, the recognition, and the casual kid headbanging in front of the stage. But at the end of the day, most of what you’ve tried to get through is lost. Simply not worth the time and effort.

MA – I could recognize some black and death metal influences in your music. Can you tell us about how you deal with this influence and how is the songwriting process into the band?

BS – There’s mainly guitars and drums involved in the songwriting: the two members remaining from the original line-up of 1999. Everything else comes at a later stage. I can’t say too much about which bands influence us because it’s varying. You listen to a good album, and you’re influenced and the next thing you write is going to bring something from that experience too – want it or not. Typically we get into our rehearsal room and we try out some riff. It typically takes a lot of time (look at our discography…) to get something out that we’re really happy about. We might put a song aside for months, then get back to it just to modify a little bridge or riff. Just because that’s the way we rather spend our time doing… No much of a secret or of a detailed plan…

MA – I guess that’s all. Thank you very much. Hope you the best and stay heavy!