First of, just want to thank you for participating in this edition of Infidel Interviews. Could you start off by giving a little information about yourselves to the audience? Whatever you feel comfortable with, but name, age, and where you live would be pretty standard? Also what instruments you play / role you have in the band would also be good. No problem. My name is Tristan Smit, I'm 24 years old. Currently living in Manitoba, Canada. I've played drums in a band called Besieged since 2003.
How do you enjoy where you live? Is their a vibrant music community for you to indulge? Would you say you find that your local scene influences your attitude and/or creativity? Yeah its fine where I live. There's definitely a vibrant music scene here....Not just in heavy metal but all kinds of music. No I wouldn't say the music scene here influences us at all.
How long have you guys been recording for together as a troupe? Did you all know each other from before, meet each other in your local scene, or did you use another method to connect?
Since you are are a musical collective, I wanna ask, how do you all manage to get together musically, and then continue to stay together on the same page? Has it been a journey of compromise or do you find that you work together fluidly? Would you say there has been any major obstacles working together?
I guess thats depends on your definition of “We” is....Me and Nolan normally make the music and have asked people to play it with us after the songs are made.
What sort of processes do you go through when making music? Do you have a formula(s) that you follow, or do you feel it out as you go along? Or is it more of a mixture of the two? Nolan normally writes the majority of the riffs and then brings it to me. Then I give him ideas on how to improve certain parts and placements and we work from there. After we feel like we have something to work with we collaborate on vocals together and try to get strong verses/choruses and it normally just plays out on its own.
Would you say that your choice to pursue music has changed your life since you started? Would you say that creativity has evolved you spiritually, emotionally, or logically? What are some of the biggest challenges you have had to overcome in your musical career?
Sure. We started before the rest of the bands playing here today so it was different back then. I would just say it made us take a good look at the people we surround ourselves with. Biggest challenges would be just finding people able to play the songs live.
What would you say are your biggest influences when it comes to art and music? Are there any bands that you would say struck you with the chord that inspired you to peruse your current path of musical aspirations? For sure....Obviously Sepultura - Schizophrenia was the first thing we heard which made us really want to play this music. Slayer - Hell Awaits, Razor - Evil Invaders, Possessed - Seven Churches and Venom - Black metal. Those were the main albums that made us record our first demo.
How bout giving one strange or interesting insight about each member of the band to our audience? There's only two members and we our quite reclusive so even doing interviews is something i'm not exactly comfortable with.
What would you say each of your guy's favorite song that you wrote is and why? The entire new album. Because it rules.
What would you say would be you short term, and long term, goals for the band? Do you find that you two have to find a balance between your direction and goals? Or do you work together fluidly? No goals... We do this for fun.
Have you had any particular moment(s) that you would like to share, that you would consider to be a crowning achievement in your musical career so far, or moments that you would say truly continue to inspire you to pursue your artistic path?
Not really. Weve opened for a bunch of bands we love...thats about it.
In an industry that is driven by sales, and consumerism, what are your thoughts on digital downloads (legal and illegal)? Do you feel that streaming and digital download stores aid the accessibility of music? How bout music piracy? It obviously hurts sales in some regards, but it also boosts the access and distribution of the release which could lead to potential fans who do come to shows, buy physical copies of music, and get merchandise? Do you feel there would be enough turn around in that sort of system or are you firmly against file sharing?
Do whatever you want, either way were not making money.
Do any of you have any other musical projects that you are involved with, or do you have any other musicians or artists that you collaborate with in some capacity?.
No.
If you could collaborate with any musician or artist, dead or alive, who would it be? And what in particular draws you to want to collaborate with them?
Maybe Paul Masvidal from Death, and Cynic just to learn.
When it comes to non-musical media, what do you find yourself most inspired by, and what about it draws you to it as a source of inspiration?
Humans.
Thank you so much for participating in this episode of Infidel Interview. Any parting words for your fans, or my audience? Sure...Thanks for listening.
You can follow Besieged on their official Facebook:
And download their latest release on their Bandcamp: