Thank you for taking the time for this interview. Chthonic is not that known yet here in Europe, but when listening to the songs, I was convinced of your musics quality. In my opinion it has some Dimmu Borgir & Cradle Of Filth influences in it. Is this correct?
They are the band we liked the most when we first listened to black metal, especially their arrangements. We also liked the bands whose music have very complex structures and arrangements, like Emperor, Enslaved and Hecate Enthroned. Our music is based on the symphonic black metal style with added oriental melody and arrangments like the pentatonic scale.
Unfortunately I only know your latest release Sediq Bale. During your time as a band, did the cultural musical influence more and more step into background, or will your future songs have more of this “oriental touch”?
We are trying to have more Oriental Specialties/features in our music in the future.
You are going to play on Wacken Open Air this year (where I hopefully will see you on stage). Do you think this will be an important concert for your success in Europe´s metal market?
We are happy that the organizer of Wacken likes our music. It’s an important experience for us. We hope that we can express the power of our music to the fans in the festival, and more important, we hope that through playing in this festival, there will be more fans who listen to more metal bands from eastern Asia.
With just some few words, could you give us a short impression of the spiritual backgrounds of your lyrics?
Our lyrics are about the tragic myths and legends in Taiwan or Eastern Asian.
Let´s get to the “crossfire” part of the interview (10 questions that are always the same in each interview):
At home:
01.)
In which way do you write your songs? Does anyone of you have kind of an initial idea, or do you just play on and on until something sounds interesting to you, or another way?
Usually we start with a concept, a story and divide it into about 10 chapters. Based on the theme and atmosphere in each chapter, we started to compose music. After music is done , Freddy writes the lyrics to finish the song.
02.)
Except playing music, what do you do in your free time?
Each Member of ChthoniC has different jobs, but all are relative to music, some teach instruments, some work in some labels.
03.)
Is CHTHONIC job, vocation or hobby?
Both.
On the road:
04.)
Vegan, straight edge, or rather sex drugs and rock´n´roll? What does a perfect catering look like?
These are just the appearance of people. We don’t care about it. The most important thing for us is deep attitude of people.
05.)
If you could choose, who would be your favourite support band on a headlining tour / who would be your favourite headliner you would support?
Our favourite support band: Take That
Our favourite band we would support: Slayer
06.)
What was your greatest event live or on tour by now?
A Decade On The Throne Concert, Taipei, Taiwan, 2006
Curious:
07.)
Imagine you are stranded on a secluded island and your I-Pod has a defect. It only will play one song (which is none of your own ones). Which one?
How will I laugh tomorrow if I can’t even smile today / Suicidal Tendencies
08.)
If you could start again at the beginning of your band, would you do anything different than you did?
Maybe not.
09.)
How much does the music you are doing mean to you? Are there limits in what you would invest (time / emotions / finances)?
No limit. We put all the energy in music.
The very last question:
10.)
If there was a question you always wanted to be asked, but never were asked yet, what would it be and what would be your answer?
haha, we don’t have this kind of question. During the 11-year history of ChthoniC, we have been asked all kinds of questions.