Alarum
Mark Palfreyman
Hello Mark, will you please introduce yourself to us and explain why you play in Alarum?
Gday, Mark Palfreyman here – bassist/vocalist from Alarum. Have been in Alarum since the start of 1996, and really enjoy playing in this band and playing the music we do. It's fun and satisfying to be part of something creative that is Alarum and found between the four of us… The reason we continue to do what we do and be in the band.
Can you introduce the band as well and tell us what you find appealing in the technical music?
We have Matt Racovalis on drums, Mark Evans on guitar, Scott Young on guitar and myself Mark on bass and vocals. What I find appealing about technical music is the satisfaction of playing music that can be challenging, interesting yet rewarding at the same time. There's not a direct emphasis by us to be technical or play music that is all technique and no feel, quite the opposite. When we get together and write, we all do whatever we want on our instruments to make things interesting for ourselves and push ourselves as musicians, we bring it all together as a band and find a balance between complexity, flow and songwriting which focuses on everything having its place somehow without be overly technical or overly simple.
The band’s latest effort "Eventuality" has been out for almost a year on the American label Willowtip Records. And now it has been released Europe as well through Earache Records. How were the reactions of the release back then, and how are the reactions on the album now?
Reactions have been mostly excellent, back then and now, other than those either narrow minded or more into their purity metal. There appears to be an appreciation of what we are doing by some and encouragement which is great. We've been doing this for 10 years now and love what we do, it's never been about following trends for us or playing easy listening music. We play what we enjoy and the fact that some others like it too… well that’s awesome. Those who like their metal more pure and safe so to speak don't seem to like what we do that much, likewise those who our music goes over there heads. However, those with an open mind and appreciation for something new or original with roots in thrash/death/progressive etc have really supported our release. Our music on recorded format in one thing, for us though its hard to represent what we do live and that where it's at. We look forward to sharing Alarum and our music live, with people in other countries.
How do you feel about the album yourself now? Do you wish you had done some things different here and there?
I'm proud of how the album turned out, years of hard work, ups and downs etc. went into it. There are things that could have been done differently and improved, but we did what we did and we've learned from the experience and will put that into practice when we record our next album.
I think as hard as it is, we did manage to capture our music in an album that will hopefully at least open up peoples minds and awareness of us as a band and make way for our future releases.
I'm completely overwhelmed by the musical abilities, for me its back to the Cynic, Atheist, Death days, but now in anno 2005. Are you much influenced by those mentioned technical godfathers?
Definitely, amongst all our thrash and death influences, bands like Cynic, Death, Atheist, Watchtower & Pestilence etc. inspired us to push ourselves and explore fusion and metal. They were godfathers who influenced all of us, musically and lyrically.
Where does the inspiration and motivation come from when writing songs?
From our life experiences, our environment and our enjoyment of playing together as musicians in a band. We live in the mountains/forest about a 40 minute drive from Melbourne city and it's a beautiful place to reflect, soak in everything about life, pick up our instruments and let the creativity flow…
How did you start writing songs for "Eventuality"? Did it all just come naturally, or was there a lot of precise practice needed to get everyone's parts combined?
We like to give our songs time, in that we can just jam, improvise, experiment and let them develop. We all tend to do what we want on our instruments and then somehow bring it all together. There's always fine tuning to work out more intricate rhythms or notes etc but in general it mostly works itself out.
Who is the main song constructor in the band?
It's all equal; the four of us construct the songs.
How do you feel about your debut album compared to the new one?
The debut album songs I really like, however, unfortunately the recording doesn't do them all that much justice. Maybe one day we'll re-record them. The songs are recorded a lot slower that we actually play them live and they're also a lot heavier live. When we recorded them in 1997 they were new and the four of us were inexperienced and had only been playing together for about a year. After we recorded "Fluid Motion" we toured Australia extensively and the songs really came to life. We’re still happy with our first album though and it was the necessary learning experience for us to grow from and expand on with our new album. I think the songwriting on the new album is stronger and less all over the place, though yet the new songs being more intricate, catchy, and technical, but flowing somehow.
How well did your debut album "Fluid Motion" do and how was it received?
It was only ever released in Australia independently; it did well here and helped open many doors here for us. By the time we were up and running well as a band though, the album was not a true representation of the band so we never really promoted or pushed the album outside Australia so people outside Australia are still discovering it now.
Has there been any consideration on getting it released for other territories than Australia?
It was sold out for a couple of years and we recently repressed some more and people who have bought "Eventuality" have been interested to get our first album. I'm not sure if we'll ever release it outside Australia, if someone wanted to I'm sure we'd consider it. There was also a video clip made for a song of that first album.
Australia isn't well known for progressive/death metal bands, how is the home fanbase for Alarum?
It's pretty good here, the band has been around for 10 years and worked hard, always staying true to ourselves and what we like to do. What we do is different and I think it separates us somehow here and I think people respect that and over the years our support has continued to grow in Australia and now overseas.
How do you feel about the Australian music scene yourself, metal in particular?
It's great, very diverse and healthy. There's a heap of great bands in every different style of metal and lots of cool shows too. There's a lot of distance between cities and not massive population, though somehow each city has a great metal scene and the bands are mostly of high quality. There's a festival once a year Metal For The Brain which people come together from all around Australia for and we all look forward to playing together and meeting up all in the same place and partying etc. If ever anyone’s out here in Australia, be sure to go to Metal For The Brain festival. www.metalforthebrain.com
"Eventuality" contains a hidden bonus track at the end of the disc, why did you choose to do it particularly after a silence of 20 minutes, and not...let's say… a separate track?
That hidden track is 'Murala', an instrumental piece that was originally on our 1996 "Blueprint" demo tape. When recording "Eventuality", our assistant Rick Luke who loved that piece of music encouraged us to re-record it maybe as a bonus track when we were in the studio one night so we did. When it came down to mixing, album song orders etc there wasn't an agreement on whether to include it on the album or leave it off. It was 50/50 with the four of us, so instead of leaving it off all together it was decided I would be at the end, after the last song and somehow removed from the rest of the album yet still a part of it.
Which lyrical themes appeal to the band when writing music? Do you handle the writing of all the lyrics?
We all contribute to the writing of lyrics, the themes that appeal are ones which have a positive aspect to them. If I've to sing a song thousands of times in my life I don't what to be drilling negative things into myself as that's not me. Ideas relating to nature/environment and our connection with it, our life experiences, universal flow and personal progression, improvement and health are what interest us.
It's now been a year since the initial release of "Eventuality", so you must have been working on some new material, how much material do you have ready, and do you have some song titles etc… for us?
We have about 10 song ideas which we've begun working on and many more on the way. No song titles as yet, throughout Decemeber this year we will be working hard demoing songs and by then will have a clearer idea on the songs, their titles and be looking at pre-production plans for the next album.
How have you approached the song writing on your new material?
With the initial idea that we want our next album to be the best album we've ever done and to take what do another step forward and continue to expand musically. Gathering ideas and song shells which are not the same as anything we’ve done before and giving ourselves the time to play with everything and see what we can come up with. We'll be expanding on all elements of our music as well as adding some new ideas.
How much has the band progressed, since you finished the writing and recording of "Eventuality"?
We've done a lot of touring since and I think it's helped us grow even more as a band and musicians to the point where we are more capable and in tune with what we do and what we want to do. We're a lot tighter as a band and more driven to take things even further in the future.
What can we expect from your next album?
More of everything we do and done better…- more melody, more grind, more instrumentals, more jazz fusion, more technicality, more flow etc… etc… etc…
Are you still with Willowtip Records, or are you on the look for a new label, and do you have any idea of, when we can expect your next release unleashed upon us?
Yes we are, our next album will be out through Willowtip Records also, they've been right behind us and believe in what we do. It's great to have a label that is also fans of the music we play and want to help get our music out there.
What does Alarum offer the metal scene?
Metal with a difference!!! For those open minded and searching for something fresh and new. Music that has its varied influences from thrash/death/progressive metal and combines it with jazz fusion and other elements, to offer some original diverse music. Also for those who are fans of bands like Death, Cynic, Atheist, Pestilence etc… and who like that style of metal Alarum may be of interest also.
When looking through the years of metal, which 3 albums do you have as your favourite albums?
That question is a ball breaker…. 3 - not possible!!! Here are 20 ok. In no particular order…
Slayer – Reign In Blood
Death Angel – Act 3
Cynic – Focus
Watchtower – Control And Resistance
Kreator – Extreme Aggression
Carcass – Heartwork
Death – Human
Death – Spiritual Healing
Pestilence – Testimony Of The Ancients
Atheist – Piece of time
Anthrax – Among the living
Sodom – Agent Orange
Exodus – Fabulous Disaster
Sepultura – Arise
Morbid Angel- Altars Of madness
Metallica – Master Of puppets
Megadeth – Rust In Peace
SOD- Speak English Or die
Venom – Black Metal
VoiVod – Dimension Hatross
Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you'd like to say to the readers of the Nocturnal Horde?
Thanks for your support, hope to be over there soon playing shows. For any more info or contact you can go to our website
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