[TBB] Greetings. Can you please introduce yourself to the readers.
[Lufias] Greetings and hail. I am Lufias, lead vocal of Malaysia's extreme gothic band, Nekrad.
[Lycan] I am Lycan, permanent keys for Nekrad.
[TBB] Can you please give a brief history on how Nekrad was formed?
[Lufias] Nekrad was formed in 1999/2000, somewhere after "most of" the lineup were done with schooling. The founder of Nekrad, Deq Schizorenzo, was at that time jobless and still not going to continue his further studies. He met Lycan Cloudygate, who then plays lead guitar ( now the permanent keyboardist ), and they started talking about forming a Gothic and Melodic based metal band influenced by the known ugly and filthy U.K band Cradle of Filth, supported by some other bands which at that time were the top notch bands in melodic and technical element influenced in their musical arrangements such as Dimmu Borgir, Agathodaimon, Children of Bodom and Nightwish.
At the same time, Auks and Mancer who were among the closest friend with Deq were excited to play in the band as a bassist and fill the drum post. They started to practice somewhere in mid 1999 I guess. Afterward, I finished my studies, and worked as a part timer in a studio in Ipoh. I accidentally met Deq when they came in for practice in that studio. We were from the same school but was in different grades. At first, I just wondered why they didn't have a vocalist whilst the music were pretty kind to listen to. I then joined them and made up words by screaming and growling. Unexpectedly they liked it. we kept changing the keyboardist since every time we went for practices, there was no keyboard. And the keyboard parts in "Realms of Darkness" were recorded separately. Its too long aye? Hahahahahaa thats the point when Nekrad started.
[TBB] The idea of spelling Darken backwards was awesome but why Nekrad?
Were there any other reasons why the band stuck with that name? Were
there any other names used before?
[Lufias] The name was 110% inverted from the word DARKEN and it also represents one of the characters in the mythical epic TV series 'Cave of the Golden Roses'. An evil male witch-doctor. Anyway anyhow, its only Nekrad and no any other name being used. Stuck??? what the hell on earth jesus christ shitting for????? We like the name and pretty sure its more darken then 'darken itself'. dont u like it? hahahahahahaha [Its an awesome name - ED]
[Lycan] Yup,that part of Nekrad's brief history,and why Nekrad? Ewrmm,in my point of view,as common Nekrad is backward darken, its symbolizes of mirror, as we see a mirror, we see ourselves yet its not us, its the other dimension of us. A mirror just used to face ourselves, to confront what we desire and find out who we really look, hehehe. And why backward darken? In dark we all be prepared, the universe was formed just from nothing, a blast of big bang, things then started to form, its what science said, not me. Yet the idea, from darkness, where light arise, and all color of beauty were created. In coincidence all purpose mingling, sharing and life begun, and death end, creation continues, hehehe. Dark energy is somehow so mysterious. Its out of logic and its hidden, waiting to be discovered. It's like an imagination. We cant prove it, yet we all can feel it. Thus I agreed to name this band, Nekrad, and I concur what Lufias said just now that the origin of our name came from a character from The Cave Of The Golden Roses trilogy. I just feel that its more than that. To me, its not a coincidence, its a purpose.
[TBB] What about the line up. Who is in the band right now? Do you still keep in touch with any previous members of the band?
[Lufias] The current line-up are Lufias (gallery of serpentine and succubus throat), Belial ( 6 strings of nocturnal necromancy), Nero (4 pinky-pinky bloody veins), Lycan (keys to the world behind sight!) and Majestic (thunderblasts from the northern grim). Of course I still keep in touch with the old line-up. Since Lycan is still in the band. Deq have always been together with me working on the song compositions and Nekrad artworks. Auks is pretty busy with his death metal band but we frequently meet in local gigs somehow.
[Lycan] Yeah, I keep in touch in telephatic ways, haha. To us, once a comrade, always a comrade, hehehe, we all shall meet again right? Because from one to many to one again.
[TBB] In your own words, if you were an outsider, from listening to Nekrad, how would you define their sound? Any influences?
lufias - sounds? its changes by time.. and depends on their producer. its not always constant at 1 identity yet and thats what they need to recover. but as for live performance.. more they undergone for gigs and event the more tougher the identity in term of sound they gain. so.. call us if u are interested!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA am i still outsiders?
lycan - For sure we all also a listener,and as we all know,music is universal,yet not all ears can comprehend too much kind of genres,so in law of attraction,we play what we like to hear...About a question if I an outsider? I might be not listen to this kind of music,because this music just attracted those who insider,music is a language that who understand it can reply it and in my view,there is no outsider when we like what others presented,in delivered music is about wave influences mind...Thats why we called all our supporters that enjoy with our music is Nekrademus,because there are no outsider when we understand what we hear...Its an answer from me.......savvy,ahaks...
5. Back in 1999, Nekrad released its debut demo called The Realm of Darkness. Can you please tell the readers about the demo? Is it still available? If its not, would you consider rereleasing it for those who never got the chance to experience it?
lufias - the realm of darkness consist of 4 dark raw track recorded live and DIY. its been release in cassete format and only 200 copy available. most of the song such as lycanthropy massive invades and tranquility beyond disharmony which is appear in Dragonia Pegaso is taken and arrange by putting a new hades breath in it. and the other 2 song which is dragonism his feel and vampiric idealogy and principal will be fit in our next coming album nekradvaganza, the only thing is the 2 song will be with new name, new lyrics its the only music structure are similarly the same like the original one.dragonism his feel will be renamed to "1 little 2 little devil" and vapiric ideology and principal will be "old lucifer had a farm!". about the availability of Realm of darkness.. ermmm lets make it this way.., who still have the cassete and if its in good condition.. i am willingly to pay up to RM200.00 to buy it. hahahahaahahahahaha.. no.. we dont have anymore of that release.. in some cases.. we might interested to rerecord it back.. following the original of it.. still thinking on how we can achieve it.. whatever it is thank you for those who support the realms of darkness!!
lycan - If I not mistakes in myspace our comrade yet i still dont know who have put our songs there http://www.myspace.com/nekrad666/music/songs/vampire-idealogy-principles-20119090....Readest can experience it there,i just advice,its not what we meant to be,but its the effort we can do at that time ya,hahahahaha...As Lufias have mention that we already bring it forward in split and our soon release album that songs will be there,if readest like to do comparison,you are welcome to do that,what ever you all said,its what you all are anyway,ahaks....
6. And then after that, the band went on a long hiatus. What was the reason for the long hiatus and what was the reason for you to reactivate the band? Hows the reaction from the local metalheads so far?
lufias - I like to say thats not only rely on 1 reason. there is couple of reason lead to where we need to be in a long hiatus. an issue of black metal that raise is affected us too, since some folks are thinking we are somekind one of black metal serenades. clearly we are more into gothic but in some reason might be due to the raw guitar sound thats make we been labeled as black metal. its a dark time for us anyway.. and i think its not only us, some other bands too.other thing is such as lack of commitment especially to their vocalist, its me.. hahahahaa.. other bandmates like to change their musical appearance.. i still remember at that time linkin park is on the move. and they intended to play such somewhat linkin park did.. i think thats another reason we can take into account.. some more.. i cant recall back. Let me take you Back to end of 2011, i attended metal event somewhere in ipoh, and the sensations come back, i keep remeber the feel to be on stage, delivering feels of gothic itself to the metalhead downthere. another reason to do a comeback is, i am intended to improve my vocal technic, in other words i need such an activity in regarding with music. start to gather material for it. look for someone that have an ability in doing recording and all other work for the release. once i had a recorded material in hand than start to gathers lineup. i would like to thank you Mr. Jadam because he is among the people who realize nekrad comeback. others than that is Dark-e who are too humble to offer doing a split.
lyccan -Yup,I agree with Lufias and I like to add something,in celestial work,i don't know what will happen,in prediction,we just can do our best,and by history I learn and see how this coincidence just a great picture to imagine,we start at time of dragon year in chinese zodiac,and we comeback also in dragon year again.....hahahahahahaha....Yup,its look mean nothing,yet why is that aite?ahaks...And for this 2nd comeback,in my heart,in full gratitude that a sacrificed and a good leader ship that Lufias bring to all of us to do what we like,to me thanks not enough for him,he has a vision for Nekrad,he do a lot of hardwork and as for me,i love to express myself with music,with this teamwork we make it in this league of metal......About the reaction of metalhead,its a bridge for us and them to coloured our scene,we enjoyed what we do,so they enjoyed with us,yup,its a moment to remember anyway when everytime we performed,we can saw a lot of metalhead energy clinging and we all feel good by that,yeay....
7. Dragonia Pegaso was an ultimate come back release. How do you feel about the release and how was the feedback so far? How many copies were sold, if you dont mind me asking. Why was it released as a split (with Vociferation Eternity) instead of an album of its own?
lufias - i feel the same like u.. ultimate release.. hahahaha as vociferation eternity is gthering with us. as for now there is a lot of positive and negative feedback, we sum it all and take it as the concern for us to do more better in future. yes, as an early plan to release an EP. but at the same times voci is also plan to release an ep, so instead of releasing 1 single product we admire to just straight compile it and release as a split. 1000 copy printed, few more left.
lycan - we love to collaborate with our friends,what i feel about it,its feel like having a baby,its excited to name,to nurture,to have time with,and what important to me,its a gud work to be done,why not doing it?hehe...
8. I read somewhere in your facebook page that Nekrad is currently in the studios recording new songs. What are the songs for and hows the current progress of the session? Can the metalfans expect something new added to the new songs?
lufias - we are planning for a full-length album this year. consisting of 10 brand new freaks extreme gothic opus and 1 re-record versions of tranquility beyond disharmony ( appear in dragonia pegaso ). as for now we are almost at the end stage. mixing are in progress as Dark-e ( vociferation eternity / silkhannaz/died / dissectomy ) is on the move of it, next is mastering session. what i can tell its a lot of changes and differences in term of musically and lyrically. its more gothic 'friendly' song and only listeners can judge it. as for us, we enjoying creating our material, so we are excluded to judge our own style and idea. also we are working on a project for a compilation from ipoh, and split EP with band from Kuala Lumpur and i still need to keep that as secret which band they are.
lycan - I love do magic,yet i can't do one,hahahahaha,and i doing it as not telling it now,its surprise it,hahahahaha...It is in process,and its feel good to doing it....Ewrmm,expectation? Tune yourself with our tune,so what will you have is goose bumps,hahahahahaha....
9. Can we expect a new release from the band this year? Maybe you can drop a hint or two in regards to that and how can the metal fans get in touch with the band?
lufias - yes, nekradvaganza album should be planned to release as earliest on june 2013. will keep you guys updated on the exact date of release. 9 new song, 1 cover song and tranquility beyond disharmony re-record versions. for sure song such as twinkle twinkle little scar and raging war and despair will be in there too.
lycan - welcome to be Nekrademus,yeay...
10. Last words to the readers?
lufias - last but not least, i would like to thanks to all listeners, supporters, haters, commenters, friend and family. appreciate what you did!! thanks to you too for the interview. HAIL NEKRADEMUS!
lycan - Thanks for this interview,and to the readers,when you read this,you already have a vibe with us,and when you have a vibe,you are in tune with us,thanks for that energy you bring to yourself and us,HAILZ NEKRADEMUS!
