Q&A @ Musica Metal /
Fragen und Antworten auf Musica Metal

...auf der italienischen Musikplattform MUSICA METAL findet Ihr ab sofort ein Interview mit Krypterias Sängerin Ji-In Cho und Drummer S.C. Kuschnerus: HIER ; die englische Fassung gibt es exklusiv weiter unten...

...und nicht vergessen: An diesem Samstag, den 13. März, werden KRYPTERIA das Megakonzertereignis rund um die 2500. (!) Show der Metalqueen DORO im Düsseldorfer BURGWÄCHTER CASTELLO eröffnen.
Alle Infos zu diesem Event, das ab 19 Uhr steigt, gibt es HIER; sichert Euch Eure Tickets rechtzeitig...

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...Italian music platform MUSICA METAL has published a new interview with Krypteria's singer Ji-In Cho and drummer S.C. Kuschnerus; you can find the Italian version of what Ji-In and Kusch had to say HERE or you can read the English original exclusively below...

...don't forget: KRYPTERIA will kick off DORO's "2500. (!) show" extravaganza at Duesseldorf's BURGWAECHTER CASTELLO this Saturday, March 13th.
Find all the information on this event HERE and get your tickets in time...

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Q&A w/MUSICA METAL
[Interviewer: Denis Barbieri]

Hello there! Thanks for answering my questions!

KUSCH: Ciao Denis, it's our pleasure.

1. I'd like to start speaking about "My Fatal Kiss", your latest album: it's your third album and looks like the maturity album to me. It even received a lot of extremely positive reviews. Do you wanna tell us something about this album?

JI-IN: Thank you very much! We worked very hard on this album and we are very happy about all the positive reactions. "My Fatal Kiss" combines all our individual musical backgrounds and strengths. During the songwriting process we were fascinated by the fact that everything and every person has got at least two sides. Even if you honestly try to be good, the dark side can take over and you may end up on the wrong path. Sometimes you cannot even tell the difference: what you see might appear as good, but looking closer, you may discover that in truth it is really bad or evil. "My fatal Kiss" is really about the struggle between good and evil. And now you know why there are two versions of me on the cover of the album. Of course in reality, I am always the white angel (laughs).

KUSCH: Musically I think "My Fatal Kiss" is our most organic album yet. We tried to add some spice and edge to the songs and the arrangements to pay tribute to our ever-evolving live identity. We consider ourselves a live band first and foremost, so we wanted to create music that would work particularly well in a concert setting. And so far, fortunately, it looks like we actually managed to pull that off.

2. The lyrics, in particular, have risen me a doubt: many of the songs sing of love (his excess, tragic endings, hate, etc.), who wrote the lyrics? Are any of them inspired by personal experiences?

JI-IN: We are in our sixth year as a band now, and of course we have experienced a lot of personal heights as well as drawbacks we try to deal with in our music. All of us are individuals with different ideas and concerns. We love to debate about the whole world and the weakness of mankind. That shows in our lyrics. Unless we stop talking to each other, there will always be enough inspiration for our songs.

3. Do you have any clue why the album came out in August 2009 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and only in late January 2010 in the rest of Europe? Shouldn't we be living in an "open world" and "European community", by now?

KUSCH: I agree, Denis, but in this stage of our career as a band we feel it's vital for us to be equally available to the media and the fans in every single country our music is being released. So between our label and ourselves we came up with the idea to avoid a simultaneous worldwide release but instead do it in different stages so we would have an opportunity to properly introduce ourselves everywhere. We are indeed living in an "open world" as you call it, so with the help of the internet even a fan on the opposite side of the globe would still have a chance to enjoy the album soon after its initial release. It might not be the ideal solution, but we felt our situation somewhat dictated this approach.

4. Has there ever been a fatal kiss in your life that you wanna share with your fans?

JI-IN: I think every person can tell about an experience of a "fatal kiss" even though maybe in a metaphorical way. Everyone makes mistakes and has to deal with the consequences. "Fatal kiss" describes the moment when you arrive at a crossroads in life where you have to make the choice which path to follow.

5. The first single is "For You I'll Bring The Devil Down", what it's about?

KUSCH: The lyrics to this song are relatively unusual for Krypteria. It's a tongue-in-cheek approach to a person's desperate search for a new, meaningful way of saying "I love you". But in the end all he or she manages to come up with is hyperbole. However, because these images and ridiculous vows of taking on the devil, stealing his crown and stuff are inspired by a very innocent, deep and sincere emotion, I think the writer should be forgiven for his or her failure to handle the task in a more intelligent or truly significant way. Wouldn't you agree?

6. The video for the single is a bit strange, because it doesn't seem to match with the lyrics... or it's just me? The story in the video doesn't match the story sung in the lyrics!

KUSCH: It's true, we had to make a decision as to whether we wanted to visualize the song's lyrics or introduce the "My Fatal Kiss" album concept. We decided on the latter primarily because to us an album as a whole always outweighs its individual songs. We also wanted the fans to listen to the "My Fatal Kiss" lyrics with these images in mind, hoping a new and thought-inspiring conceptual dimension would open up for them. Plus, I imagine a "going to hell and taking on the devil" video would have either exceeded our budget by a couple of million Euros or looked embarrassingly cheap and cheesy, so the decision wasn't all that tough.

7. In the video there's a scene which totally reminds me of Radiohead's "Karma Police" video, when the evil-Cho in the car chases in slow-motion the good-Cho, is it a tribute?

KUSCH: When we worked on the video concept we did not consciously think of Radiohead's clip, so I wouldn't call it a tribute. However, in the "Devil" video we wanted to include an extensive band performance as well. So maybe the "Karma Police" clip was helpful in getting our story across nevertheless, because of the viewers' certain familiarity with the concept. But again, this was not done on purpose, not at all. We're not smart enough for subtle mind games like that (laughs).

8. You said, in a past interview, that you all contribute to the songwriting, how does it work? Do you lock yourself in a studio 'till you handle 12 tracks? Do you sacrifice angel's blood to awake some arcane dream in which you play the new songs? Something else?

KUSCH: Who told you? Damn it, those angel blood dealers just can't keep a secret!

JI-IN: It doesn't always work in the same way. Generally, if someone has an idea - it can be a melody or a riff or groove - he presents it to the rest and we work from there. This way everyone gets to contribute to the song.

KUSCH: We usually start with a musical idea before working on the words. We just want the lyrics to perfectly match the atmosphere of the song, so we tend to develop the musical foundation first. But as Ji-In just said there is no actual masterplan as to how a Krypteria song comes to life.

9. On 2006 "No more lies" (from the album "In Medias Res") appeared on KTF World Cup album for the Korean soccer team renamed as "Go Reds", is any of you actually fan of any soccer team?

KUSCH: Oh, absolutely! Chris is an avid supporter of Bayern Munich, so much so that it gets to the point of annoying (laughs). Frank has a soft spot for the Bayern as well but his favorite team is Alemannia Aachen. It's a club with a long tradition albeit not a very successful one but since it's his hometown team he follows them religiously. I am more of an American Football guy even though I used to play for the youth program of the aforementioned Alemannia as a kid. To this day I enjoy watching calcio but it's tackle football that's dearest to my heart probably because I played this game with a passion for more than fifteen years. Ji-In used to play some soccer as a kid as well. Because she has such an intense, even fiery personality in competition I imagine a number of similarities to the way Gennaro Gattuso plays the game, an undersized and tireless firecracker with a lot of bite (laughs). Ji-In roots for the South Korean national squad, but that's something all four of us do thanks to the great time we had in Korea and the enthusiasm we experienced from the fans. Being asked to contribute to the Red's World Cup drive was an unbelievable honor for us. And while we have deep respect for the Azzurri as well, it would be nice if the German squad beat you guys at the next World Cup for once (laughs).

10. In the same year you played for your first time (lately doubled in 2008) at the great Wacken Open Air festival! How was sharing the same stage with bands like Carcass, At the Gates, Nightwish... do you have any cool related memory to that event?

JI-IN: Wacken is terrific. It's really amazing to meet thousands of people celebrating and sharing this event together. The atmosphere there is pretty cooI and we enjoyed every moment. And of course it was a great honor to play before grandiose bands like Nightwish.

11. You've been playing together for 5 years, how do you see yourself - as band - in the next 5 year? Do you have any special project in mind?

JI-IN: We will hopefully still be playing in 5, 10 and 15 years...God willing! This year we will be playing through Germany and later through Europe, hopefully through Italy as well! I love your language, architecture, food and passion...!

12. In my first question I said "your third album": you know, on the Internet there is a lot of confusion about "how" to count Krypteria's album. In 2003 Krypteria released a self-titled album but it was a studio project with different vocalists. The fans (and I agree with them) think the real first album of the present Krypteria should be "In medias res". Can you finally unveil the truth and stop us from going nuts in this chaos?? Thank you!

KUSCH: Ok, I'll try my best to finally shed some light on this. The band Krypteria, that being Ji-In, Chris, Frank and myself, was formed in the winter of 2004/2005 and we consider "In medias res" our debut album, so the fans' assessment is spot on. On this record you can already identify some of the ingredients that later would define our musical style and our sound. But only with our 2006 EP and even more so with our second album "Bloodangel's Cry" we forged what is the Krypteria way. Our evolution continued with album #3, "My Fatal Kiss", and everything we do now has its foundation in our live identity. The 2003 release was more of a musical theatre project with an international cast and is definitely not an official band album. And despite the fact that on its 2005 re-issue Ji-In's charity version of the song "Liberatio" is featured, this record is a collector's item for the die-hard fan at best but in no way part of the band's official discography. There you have it, that is the truth and I'm sticking by it! (laughs)

13. The last question is for your Italian fans: do you think we can hope to see you soon here? Do you plan a new tour in 2010? on your website there are only a few dates in Germany (among which the one in the Burgwaechter Castello, Duesseldorf for the "DORO's 2500").

KUSCH: Denis, even though only a bunch of German shows have been officially announced we will definitely go worldwide again this year. It's something we love to do and so far all our international endeavors have been very fulfilling. And with the support we've experienced from the Italian media and particularly the fans, finally playing in your country is among the top priorities for this band. We feel it's our obligation to our fans as well as to ourselves to personally introduce Krypteria and our music on stage to everybody who's interested outside of our home territory. And since all four of us have been to Italy numerous times before, we're huge fans of your country on a personal level as well. So, our booking agency has been instructed to get our butts south of the Alps and soon (laughs).

Thank you very much for the interview! You can leave a message for all your fans, bye!

KUSCH: Ragazze e ragazzi, if you like your metal emotional and dramatic with catchy melodies, heavy riffs and hard rocking grooves, if you like passion, power and a good sonic punch in the mouth and if you want to see musicians work their butts off live to give you one heck of a good time this is the band for you. So please take the time to check out our latest album "My Fatal Kiss" and make sure to come to a Krypteria show, you will not regret it. We can't wait to perform for you in Italy and when we do and you're at one of our concerts, stick around after the show so we'll get to meet each other and chat some, ok? We can't wait!