Present yourself to the readers
We are Expellow from Zurich, Switzerland. We play together since 2006 and finally finished our third full length album in April 2018!
Who composes ?...How does it work in the band ?
The songs are mostly written by our guitarist Daniel; on the last album there are also some parts and even full songs, which were written by Nici (the other guitarist). Taz (Bass) is often involved in the writing process, especially for consulting the whole process (Like: “This part is too long”, “Those two riffs don’t work that great together” and such very important inputs).
Our drummer Moritz often gets prepared drums to have a guideline how the song should feel, but in the end, he’s filling up the necessary parts to really finish the song musically. After this, process, everything gets into the hands of our singer Mik Dean.
Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?
Mik Dean (vocals) writes all the lyrics and works them into the songs in the form of gutturals or melodies. Or both.
Most of the time I take inspiration from recent events in my life that really moved me and/or made me think. Those are the kind of things I like to make my lyrics about. But it can also be some sort of storytelling or just a random subject I‘m currently into. It really depends on the Track, the energies of it and the voices that are going to be participating.
Why the name EXPELLOW ?
That is quite an uncommon story: Someday, Taz (Bass) got into our rehearsal room and was like: “OK; I’ve got a good name for our band!”
We asked him, what “Expellow” means, and his answer was: “Nothing, it’s just a name that you won’t find anywhere else.”
So we felt quite good with it: The name is for sure not given twice to another band and google searches will for sure redirect to us ;)
What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?
Because we are all quite different in terms of musical tastes, there are really many different influences!
Here’s a small overview of a few bands / styles our individual members really enjoy:
Everything from old school rock’n’roll to modern metal, especially punk rock and metalcore in the last few years. Bands who we’re really inspiring for the song writing for sure are Emil Bulls, Caliban, Killswitch Engage and The Black Dahlia Murder.
Phinehas, Lamb Of God and Unearth
I like many different styles of music. No mater if it is Hip Hop or Goa or anything else. In every genre are Bands or Artist I listen to. But my favorite genre is of course Metalcore. Actually I’m listening to: Eskimo Callboy (all time favorites), Neaera, System of a Down, Die Antwoord, Caliban, and Scooter... ;)
Caliban, As I Lay Dying, Beartooth, Asking Alexandria
I enjoy music from pretty much every genre there is. If something is good, it‘s going to move me in one way or the other.
My main influence is life itself, as keeps happening to me in it‘s overwhelming weirdness.
What's your best live memory ? And why ?
There are too many that are worth mentioning. From our first festival in Germany, Wackel Festival in 2012 for example, to our european tour finale at High Voltage Kopenhagen, up to the 10Years Metalmayhem at Kiff Aarau, where we played with swiss metalcore-legends Cataract and Breakdown of Sanity, or even the release show we‘ve just played: sometimes you just connect with the people, the crowd in front of you and no matter how big or small of a venue you‘re playing, that‘s the best thing ever, because it‘s what sparks the magic in the first place.
In studio, what was the ambiance for the album WE HELD THE LINE ?...etc.…
In 2014, we built our own studio in which “Modern Age Credo” was recorded as like “We Held The Line”. This gives us the possibility, to record as long as we want to, without being too pricy.
So the ambiance was really relaxed. The songs were all written completely and we just needed to record what we practiced. A few changes from time to time were necessary, but all in all, we could just get into the studio and work on this project.
Because we’re all working a normal daytime job next to the band, the recording took a little bit longer than most bands would need. We had many small recording sessions after working which took quite a lot of time; but it was also a really great time and we were really flexible in our schedule.
How does it work for the design of the CD ?and why this title ?
„We held the line“ is a term that is used in military context, meaning to defend a position or area that is under attack, so you won‘t lose it to the enemy.
The title was meant to be seen in a methaphorical way, even though the title track actually tells an „army-story“, so it‘s important to know that the main lyrical subject of the album more generally revolves around overcoming hardship, which rooted in Mik Deans recovery from depression in around 2016/17. The wonderful cover artwork, that was created by Oly Stingel of Olygon 3D, is capturing the whole thing very well by showing the torso of a black statue, that is covered in golden arrows which have hit it hard. Though severely damaged, the torso stands upright.
What are your projects ?
At the moment, we are searching and playing some gigs with our new material. The next big project will be our first “real” video clip which should be ready in summer. And we are thinking about a few possibilities to celebrate our ten years anniversary ;).
Website to remember
http://www.facebook.com/Expellow,
https://www.instagram.com/expellow_official/
and http://www.expellow.com
What would you like to say to the readers ?
Thank you for reading our Interview! If you‘re curious about our music, check us out on Spotify or Bandcamp!
We‘d really love to visit you, so if you‘ve got ideas or connections that might help us, just dm us on facebook, Instagram or use the contact sheet on our homepage!
See you all soon, hopefully!
