Hanna Tsepesh: Hello Roland and Jake! Thanks so much for accepting this interview, because we know that you 2 are very busy at the moment. For the first question I'll ask you about DIGNITY history and also to make a little introduction about what you play and you do in the band. It was you Roland, that formed DIGNITY, right?
Jake: Hi there! I'm the lead singer and beer drinker (laughs)! I leave the history to Roland as he is the guy that formed the band!
Roland: I am the drummer and also beer drinker. The beer is some kind of rivalry in the band (laughs)! I am also the co-founder. I formed the band together with Franky. I know him for years and as he moved to Vienna back in 2001 we started to work on songs and played in the same bands. It was very soon obvious that we can work together very good. The result of all that is DIGNITY! We both know Martin and John Boy Bastard for a long time but it took a while to find Jake.
Hanna Tsepesh: (laughs)! Let's talk a little bit about yourself for the people to know you guys a little bit more. What are your favorite bands at the moment?
Roland: The bands I listen to are very different. For the Rock & Metal-genre it is Disturbed, Sixx AM, Rammstein. The last gigs I´ve seen were Firewind and In Flames. Both great bands. To be honest it is very difficult to be up to date with all the new releases for lack of time.
Jake: Well believe it or not but I don't really follow what's happening on the new stage any longer! A couple of years ago I worked in a CD store and at that time I bought tons of CDs and knew everything about all new bands etc.
Now days, when I listen. (which is not very often actually) I listen to old favorites like In Flames, Kamelot, Helloween etc. The newest band that I got eyes on and which I really like is Linking Park.
Hanna Tsepesh: What are the inspirations to create the lyrics and melody's for DIGNITY?
Jake: When I joined the ship, the title for the album was already set. So I sat down and tried to make, not a concept album, but lyrics which all in someway could be related to the title "Project Destiny".
There's a lot of personal thought's seen from my point of view, Like that we all should consider to live every day like it's your last, as you have no idea about what's going to happen tomorrow!
Some of the lyrics are very personal while others are a reflection of what's going on in the world right now.
Roland: As I don’t write lyrics and don’t have a gift for it, I don’t care (laughs)! For music it is all that influences me. Like the mood I am in or what I have experienced. Then I try to express that in tunes.
Hanna Tsepesh: Next question is for you Roland, from what age did you start to play drums? What made you start that and if there's any reason for to you choose to play drums?
Roland: I always wanted to play drums but my parent’s couldn´t afford it to by me a drum set. I started as I was 15 after seeing Motörhead´s Mickey Dee in Vienna. He plays incredible and it looked awesome. Like he wants to destroy the drums. I told my brother that I wanted to do that too. Then finally I got drums and spent my free time (and also the time I should have been at school) on my drum stool. I also liked the way Jörg Michael (ex-Stratovarius) played. I told him that a few years ago and he said that he takes no responsibility for anything (laughs)!
Hanna Tsepesh: This one is for you Jake, from what age did you start to sing? Any musician inspired you to start? Also do you have some kind of preparations like singing classes or something? You have an amazing voice, my congratulations for you!
Jake: Well, Thank you!
My first Idea was to be a professional Ice-hockey player, but I was injured pretty badly and the outcome of that was that I had to quit playing.
I've always been a metal head and a friend played in a band which needed a singer. Lied and said -I can sing! (laughs) but the only singing I ever done at that time was being a part of the choir in junior high.
Lucky for me this guys couldn't play either so they took me in!
At that point I decided that I was going to be a singer and from the age of 16 to 20 I spent most of my free time in the rehearsal room singing to other albums, and after a couple of years I started to get hang on it!
Guess it would have gone faster if I'd went to a singing class, but back then I guess I was afraid that someone would have tried to cast me in a form. I wanted to sing like Michael Kiske and I don't think there's a vocal coach in the whole would that could teach how to do that! Well, apart from Tobi maybe (laughs)!
Hanna Tsepesh: It is easy for you Jake to be near the band? You are from Sweden right?
Jake: Well we're all professionals. We keep in contact on phone and mail and I got my own studio so I do all pre-productions in Sweden and get down there when there's a gig or a recording, so I think it works fine!
Hanna Tsepesh: Do you guys have any musician in special that you admired the most and why?
Jake: Well let me put it like this! If I could choose I'd take Sebastian Bach's looks back in the 80th's a mix of Roy Khan' and Michael Kiske's voices and Metallicas success. (Laughs)
Roland: And the star on Hollywoods Walk of Fame from Motley Crüe! (laughs)
There are a lot of musicians and bands I admire but it is impossible to pick just a few.
Hanna Tsepesh: Talking about your new album "Project Destiny", I already listen the new songs available at DIGNITY Myspace. Can you talk a little bit about the album? Tell to us about the theme and what DIGNITY want to accomplish with it? I take this opportunity to send my congratulations for your work and for the powerful songs that you 2 create!
Jake: I love the album and the mixture of the soft music transforming into a bit heavier sound without loosing the entirety. I wasn't a part of the songwriting of the music so I guess Roland have to answer that.
Roland: Thank you! On Project Destiny there are songs and song-parts that are really old. As I told you before, Franky and I work together for a long time. So we had a lot of ideas in hand we started to work on a long time ago. Some worked great, some didn´t. Most of it are new ideas and influences. We wanted to do the best CD we could do and we love it. Jonas Kjellgren (Scar Symmetry, Sonic Syndicate) who mixed our album came into the studio one day and said: Stop writing so catchy songs. I can´t get them out of my head!.We started working on new songs a few weeks ago. Let’s see, what will come out of our crazy minds.
Hanna Tsepesh: When the band enter on studio to record the album, everything went good? The band had already all the songs and lyrics done?
Jake: Well I went down there met the guys at the airport for the first time slept like five hours then direct to the studio! We had a great time and everything passed without exception!
As I said before I had pre paired everything back home so they just threw me in to this tiny room and didn't let me out until I was done (laughs)!
Roland: Don’t believe a word he says! He got water and bred too (laughs)! When we first met for Meet&Greet, we headed directly from the airport to the studio. As we recorded the CD we just went to the studio did the set up for the recordings and locked him in this tiny room the NEXT day. So we gave him one night of sleep (laughs)! But we spent very much time on pre-production, so everything went fine. We had a great time in the studio and we are looking forward to record the second CD.
Hanna Tsepesh: I think it was very funny to record this album too (laughts)! Who was the person that made the album cover? This person have so much talent, in my opinion this person made an excellent work! I think the cover album transmit all that the album is about and have something magical too! Don't you think? What is your opinion about the cover album?
Jake: I'll pass this to Roland! I love this guys work and he's actually going to do the next Dreamland cover as well!
Roland: Yeah! The cover is great! Everything was done by Felipe Machado. He also did the covers for Iced Earth, Axel Rudi Pell, Blaze Bayley and many more. Felipe is a great artist.
Hanna Tsepesh: Will DIGNITY going to be on tour for the next year? If yes can you tell us where do you go for the readers to know? Is DIGNITY thinking to come to Portugal in the future? It sounds good for you to come and to perform here?
Roland: We don’t have a confirmed tour now. We are working on festival shows. We hope to announce more dates soon. We also hope to play in Portugal soon. I have played in nearly every state in Europe but never in Portugal. I hope that it will change soon! If you know promoters - recommend us!
Hanna Tsepesh: Great, we will do it! DIGNITY is a band from Austria so I ask if it was easy to get some kind of support and to have your label (NAPAM RECORDS) to support you? It was a difficult journey or it still is?
Roland: No journey is easy. It was VERY much work and it still IS! We have been in touch with a few labels but decided to sign with NAPALM RECORDS. We know how they work and are happy to be there.
Hanna Tsepesh: Jake one little curiosity, if you don´t mind! How are the things with your another band DREAMLAND? Do you guys are preparing the new album or something? Can you tell us a little bit about that if you don't mind?
Jake: We're in the studio right now actually! When you read this I guess I have started with the vocals! I'm really looking forward for this release the new album have really heavy guitars we've dropped the tuning down to C minor so I guess we'll have to wait and see for the response from the fans! The album will be released world wide in next March. Right after that I will start the recording with my newest project AVALANCHE which I've started together with Olof Mörck (NIGHTRAGE; DRAGONLAND) check it out on www.myspace.com/avalanchemetal
Hanna Tsepesh: thanks so much for all the information! If one deaf kid ask you 2 to write why you make this kind of music and what do you want to transmit to the other person that read the lyrics what will be your answer? But, remember that is a deaf kid that don't know the music terms.
Jake: Roland...Help! (laughs)!
Roland: Tough question and Jake is a sissy (laughs)! The music is what came out of our minds. What we want is to have a good time and also enjoy what you are doing. So when someone listens to our music, we want that he or she has a good time, too. For deaf kids this will be hard to understand for he has only the lyrics.
Hanna Tsepesh: (laughs) I also like to make toughs questions!
Jake: It´s as I said. They are sometimes very personal. But there is always enough space in it to have your own thoughts about them. So it is also important what you experienced in life. That will influence your thoughts too.
Hanna Tsepesh: What is the best advise that you Jake can send to one person that is starting to sing the same style then you?
Jake: OHHH though one! Well I must say that the best way is to stay dedicated! Explore your own voice to begin with. Record yourself and listen to it and see where it's starts to sound stained, if you play in a band show the others in which range your best voice is and make theme adjust their tuning so that it feels comfortable to sing the songs. Then after a while you can start trying to transpose the guitars a half note up and in that way you will have to force yourself to step by step learn to take higher and higher notes!
Hanna Tsepesh: thanks for your great advice! Do you guys want to send any message for the fans out there that always support DIGNITY and also for the people that going to read this interview?
Jake: Thanks for your loving support and I hope we'll meet on the road!
Roland: Yeah, and we hope that it will be very, very soon !
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks so much for this great and funny answers and for the time! THE GATES OF METAL wish you lots of success for the new album "Project Destiny" and good luck for the future concerts and for you Jake we also wish you the best luck with your other bands and we wish you a lot of success too! Hope to see DIGNITY in Portugal very soon.
Roland: Thank you for the interview! We wish you and the HELL ON FIRE team just the best. Check our Websites for news and we hope to see you soon. ROCK ON !
Jake: We shall thank you! Hell yeah, asks your local promoter to book DIGNITY to a place near you!
Hanna Tsepesh: You guys don’t need to thank to us! It was an honor to interview DIGNITY! Thanks and see you guys soon at Portugal!
By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen to some of DIGNITY music and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/dignityband
http://www.dignityband.com/
