On their recent European tour, Caliban had a quick chat with Planet Loud about the tour, and their brand new album The Awakening.
“German metalcore outfit Caliban are about to issue their new album, The Awakening, through Roadrunner Records so, while they were over in the UK supporting Bleeding Through, Planet Loud caught up with the band to get the lowdown.
Planet Loud – You’ve only played in Ireland so far on this tour. How did those shows go?
Caliban – Yeah, Ireland was pretty nice, pretty cool yeah, the crowds were awesome but this tour didn’t draw that many people in Ireland, I don’t think Bleeding Through have ever been there and we’ve played once with Hatebreed on the last tour but its getting better every time we go back to Ireland. It was nice and the weather was shitty like always.
Planet Loud – How are you getting on with the other bands on the tour?
Caliban – We knew I Killed The Prom Queen as they toured with us in the States for 4 weeks so we are very good friends with them and we have been friends with Bleeding Through for many years so it’s all been great.
Planet Loud – You guys have recorded a new record, any plans to play any new songs on this tour?
Caliban – We want to play new material at these shows but I’m pretty sure we won’t because we have had absolutely no time to practice because we finished our new recording for the album on Thursday and got picked up for the tour on the Saturday so we had one day back home and that’s it and now 5 weeks all over Europe.
Planet Loud – How’s the new album sounding?
Caliban – The new album is very, very hard and fast and we have definitely done on this album all that we could do best. It has less clean vocals but not because we don’t want to do clean vocals anymore it’s just because we thought, okay, lets focus more on every single vocal part and lets make it strong and catchy, so there is maybe only 4 songs on the entire record with clean vocals unlike previous albums.
Planet Loud – How was the recording process on the new album compared to that of previous recordings?
Caliban – We had Anders help us out on the last couple of records but we did this production mostly by ourselves. We had a producer called Benny Richter from Germany, he’s really into our music. He has very, very good ideas and is a real perfectionist. Mark was writing songs with him and hanging out and playing music and creating great ideas together, that’s not to take anything away from Anders though as he was on tour.
Planet Loud – Where did the name The Awakening come from for the album?
Caliban – We had at first the title From Sorrow To Serenity because we wanted to do a concept album. Our lyrics aren’t that sad or about heartache and stuff you know? The lyrics get stronger from every song, but The Awakening is like our resurrection.
Planet Loud – How was it working with Anders previously? Do you think it helped you guys in the long term?
Caliban – He helped us a lot in writing songs as we didn’t have the best structure to every song and he brought it to the point you know which really helped us out.
Planet Loud – Caliban put out records really quickly it seems. Five, soon to be six albums and 2 split EP`s in 8 years. Is putting out new material quickly something that’s really important to you guys?
Caliban – It’s not that quick no. We knew we would be really busy in 2007 so we thought OK we have two and a half months off because we did Australia in November and we came back home and we knew we had time off before this tour so we thought this is the best moment to record an album because we know we are on the road all year again so lets do it.
Planet Loud – Is playing in America important to you guys or do you prefer shows in Europe?
Caliban – I don’t know what I prefer really. The reaction is the same but the treatment in Europe is so different than the States.
Planet Loud – Better?
Caliban – A lot better yeah. Better clubs in Europe than the US, you can speak to every American band and they all say it’s so awesome to tour Europe because you get your backstage rooms and your catering and it’s a lot better.
Planet Loud – So what’s the plan for the rest of the year?
Caliban – Well first of all we will finish this tour and then hopefully do all the festivals in Europe. I hope we will be doing Download Festival but it is very hard to get on it. I want to play every festival and then we will go to the States again and hopefully Australia again then I’m pretty sure we will do another UK tour.
Planet Loud – Thanks for your time and best of luck on the rest of the tour.
Caliban – Perfect. Thank you very much.”
The Awakening is released on May 28th – keep checking back in the coming weeks for some tasty soundbites!