All Interviews
Redemption
Redemption
Posted on Nov 5, 2005
by Anders
Redemption is a rather new progressive metal band. They released their selftitled debut album in 2002, that album got a lot of positive press and attention, among other things for featuring vocalists Rick Mythiasin and Ray Alder and drummer Jason Rullo. After the first album, which merely was a project mainman and songwriter Nik van Dyk decided to make thr band a real recording and touring band and joined forces with Ray Alder, Bernie Versailess, Chris Quirarte and James Sherwood. They released the second Redemption album "The Fullness Of Time" earlier this year, and that album was as interesting that I had to get in touch with Nik van Dyk and ask him a hell of a lot of questions.
Hey there, how are you doing?
Great, thanks! I’m working a bit more than I'd like in my "day job" but it keeps me out of trouble.
Will you please start off by introducing yourself and tell us what drives your passion for Redemption?
My name is Nick van Dyk. I grew up playing music for fun, and that still continues to be the primary motivation. I never gave serious consideration to being a full-time musician; I embarked on a full-time career as an executive in the entertainment industry, went to business school, and so on. My musical career is a happy accident, really.
How big is the interest from the public and the press for the band nowadays?
We are a small band in a small genre, but I have to say the response from the press has been exceptional, and the response from the public has been great. In Europe, in particular, Massacre and Replica have done a great job of getting the word out.
Have you felt that people have become more interested in the band after Ray Alder got in the band as the permanent vocalist?
Absolutely. He brings his talent, and his name recognition. I know nobody's buying the CD because of my name.
How much does he bring the band?
In addition to the heightened recognition, which really does make a difference, Ray brings one of the most compelling voices in the history of heavy music, and certainly my favorite voice in prog metal. It's an incredible honor to have him contribute his vocals to this music, and I think it really sets us apart.
How did you in the first place get the idea for Redemption?
It's a pretty funny story, actually. As I said, I never gave serious consideration to being a full-time musician. I had written a lot of music over the years that I never assumed would see the light of day. One night, I happened to see Ray Alder at a club show in Los Angeles, and went over and said hello – just doing the appreciative fan bit. A few weeks later, at another show, I saw him again and we struck up a conversation. One thing led to another and we became good friends. He talked at some point about wanting to do a solo project, and I played him some of the music I'd written. He liked one of the riffs enough to use it for one of the songs on the first Engine CD, but most of what I’d written was more progressive than the Engine direction that he wanted for his solo project. So instead, I asked him to help me produce a CD which I assumed at this point would mostly be for my own enjoyment. I had met Bernie Versailles by this time, and he had a couple of songs that were pretty different from what he was doing in Agent Steel, and I met Jason Rullo of Symphony X at the first ProgPower show and asked him if he'd be available to drum on it. He agreed, and we tracked everything and hired Rick Mythiasin of Steel Prophet, who rehearsed at the same studio where we tracked the drums, if he'd do the vocals. So that basically created the first line-up.
How did you work when you had to assemble the first line-up of the band?
Basically, Ray was very helpful in lining up musicians. We reached out to Jason, and Bernie and I took care of the other instruments. Ray had known Rick for some time through Steel Prophet, and Ray also put me in touch with Joey Vera who engineered and mixed the CD, and Phil Magnotti who mastered it. I recorded everything except drums at my home studio; we did the drums at Bill's Place, which is Mark Zonder's studio in North Hollywood.
How did you carry on to continue to find high-class and skilled people to play in Redemption?
The first CD did well enough to secure us an invitation to showcase our music at ProgPower 4. With the ProgPower invitation, I realized I needed a stable line-up. I had hoped to work with Jason Rullo on drums, but Symphony X is an extremely active band between writing, recording and touring, and even though Symphony X was going to play at the same festival, the logistics of rehearsing wouldn't have worked. I also got some good advice from my label in the US in terms of locking down a full-time band around me so that we wouldn't be perceived as just being a project band. I was going out to see a local prog metal band called Prymary play so I could assess their keyboardist as someone that could play with us live, and I was impressed not only by the keyboards but also by the drums and bass player. I asked them if they'd be interested in playing at ProgPower and they were very excited to do so. As for the vocalist, while Rick's performance on the first CD is quite good – in fact, I think it's some of the best work of his career – he is really a power metal vocalist at heart, and I knew I wanted to work with somebody who was more comfortable with prog metal; who thought in similar ways as I did in terms of melody and composition. Bernie and I listened to a bunch of CDs and decided to ask Corey Brown, the outstanding vocalist of Magnitude 9, to join us in Atlanta. He agreed, and that was the line-up that performed at ProgPower.
When recording for the new CD commenced, I suppose Corey would have naturally been our choice for a full-time vocalist, but Ray heard the pre-production materials and really wanted to sing on it. I was concerned at first, both because I didn't want to upset Corey and also because I wanted to make sure Ray wouldn't just treat this as a one-off project but would be able to commit himself to be Redemption's full-time vocalist. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Fates Warning and Engine, and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be putting Ray in a position where he couldn't fulfil his obligations to those bands, but I also wanted to make sure he'd be able to do what Redemption needed in terms of recording, press, live performances, etc. We sorted those issues out and he joined.
Is it the final and best line-up you have right now?
I'm very happy with the sound we've created and I'm hopeful we can keep this line-up together for the foreseeable future.
Are they all available for live performances and touring?
We're talking about some shows right now, actually, both in the US and potentially in Europe as well. I don't think we'll ever be the type of band that will tour three months out of the year, simply because we all have day jobs or other bands, and my career is particularly time-consuming. But we definitely want to play this music live.
You have just released your second album "The Fullness Of Time", how has it so far been received, both by the press and your fans?
Critical opinions have been almost universally off the charts. For example, Rock Hard France gave us CD of the month when we came out, beating out the new Dream Theater. I think we've started building a nice fan base in Europe. The US market is tougher, obviously, but so far almost all the reviews I've read have been very positive.
How do you feel about the album?
I'm really happy with it. I think we've established ourselves as one of the best up-and-coming prog metal outfits. I think we're finding our sound, which is pretty unique in prog metal – it's much heavier than most prog metal, but it's very melodic at the same time. It's a good balance between complexity and hooks, and it is very, very song-oriented as opposed to just showing off. There's also a lot of emotion in both the music and the lyrics. And I'm a big fan of Tommy's production. So I'm quite happy with it.
When you started to write music for "The Fullness Of Time", what did you then want to make?
The first CD was good for what it is – which is to say a pretty good experiment to see what I was capable of. It's definitely not a bad record, but I wanted to improve in a lot of ways. I wanted the new CD to be heavier, but more melodic at the same time. I wanted to improve the performances, I wanted to improve the songwriting, and the lyrics, and the production.
Do you feel that you have accomplished your initial goals with the finished album?
Absolutely. Fullness is a huge step forward in just about every aspect: the production, the songwriting, the performance, and the lyrics. Focusing purely on the material, the songwriting is much more focused and cohesive. And the melodies are stronger. Obviously, Ray's voice is a major change as well. On the production standpoint, we've gone from me fiddling around in my home studio to Tommy Newton in a professional setting. There's no comparison.
What do you expect from the album and what do you want to accomplish with your music?
To continue to build a fan base so that we can make another record and play some shows. I'm very realistic about what we can expect, in this genre, with the current state of the music business. I don't want to lose my shirt, but I'm also not expecting a gold record. If we can reach an audience, and resonate with people, and build a fan base, I'm happy. Hopefully, we're on our way.
How much of the music do you write and how much does the rest of the band participate in the making of the final tracks?
I write the music, lyrics and melodies, subject to the involvement of others either during or after the fact. It's a little challenging, because the other guys are all in other projects and I don’t want them to be put in the position of taking a great idea and choosing what band gets it. For me, I can focus 100% on Redemption. And then I'll turn the songs over to the others who comment. Chris writes his own drum parts, although I offer suggestions in-studio and we play with them a bit that way. Same with the bass. On vocals, Ray will have some changes to vocal lines or lyrics, but this time out most of it went as I initially wrote it.
Where do you find the influences and inspirations for your music?
I would say that influences are different from inspirations. Influences are people that shaped the way you play or write music; inspirations are people or events that make you want to play or write music.
I grew up on stuff like Iron Maiden, Priest, Ozzy, Sabbath, and the like, and was lucky enough to grow up near San Francisco when the thrash scene was emerging, so I saw Metallica and Megadeth play in tiny clubs to 150 people. I was particularly drawn to the more technical and "progressive" aspects of early Megadeth.
I also loved a lot of the harder-edged progressive rock stuff that was big in the 1970s – Kansas, Rush and Genesis being my favorites.
As far as inspiration goes, it's hard to say, musically. I'll hear a melody line, or a riff, in my head, and I'll write it down, toy with it for a while. It's not a particular event or artist that inspires me.
Are you in charge of the lyrics or is that Ray Alder who takes care of them?
I write the lyrics, at least so far. No pride of authorship, though. If Ray (or the other guys) want to bring lyrics, they're more than welcome to. So far, nobody's taken me up on the offer.
Can you initiate us in the ideas behind the lyrics and the topics touched in them?
My lyrics have changed quite a bit from the first album to this one. The first CD dealt mainly with third-person storytelling, and while it's not terrible, it's also not terribly mature. Telling a story written by somebody else from the third-person point of view is very linear, and can real more like a laundry list of events instead of being able to convey imagery more subtly, or evoke emotion through introspection rather than just a plotline. The new record is a big step forward – the lyrics are much more introspective, and touch on a range of subjects like loss, fear, hope, love, pain, betrayal and other things that, for better or worse, impact all of us. It's a lot easier to relate to the loss of innocence, say, than it is to relate to people running from a demon living underground in the desert.
What is the concept of the track 'Fullness Of Time'? It will be great if you could take us through each step/song of the track!
The name 'The Fullness Of Time' has to do with a cycle of emotions that one experiences when one is betrayed. Disbelief, anger, sadness, hopelessness and eventually, if we are healthy human beings, the ability to put this behind us and move on. Of course, this doesn't happen until we are emotionally ready – in good time, in the fullness of time.
The four songs in that suite deal with these emotions; 'Rage', 'Despair', 'Release' (which deals with hopelessness and whether or not it's worth continuing to fight against the things that work to bring us down in life), and 'Transcendence', which hopefully ends things on a positive note.
Why have you chosen to include tracks on the album, not associated with the concept of the album name, instead of making a full concept album?
I didn't really set out to write a concept album, per se, and I think it's almost becoming a cliché for prog bands to do that, so I don't particularly want to be known for it. Coming out of the first record, I knew that I wanted to take the lyric writing in a much different direction – more mature and introspective, telling personal stories of human emotion that everyone experiences, rather than third-party views of stories like the first CD. So from a thematic standpoint, this record is dark, painful, angry, frightened and ultimately hopeful, and I think that is reflected both musically and lyrically. It so happens that a few of the songs are thematically connected, but I don't think they tell a linear story… they could be played in any order and they'd still make sense. The last part does recapitulate the choruses from the previous parts into major keys in what I think is a pretty cool section, so that does depend a bit on the previous songs. But other than that, I don't really even think of those four songs as one big song… they really feel like separate songs to me.
What are your thoughts and idea behind the album title "The Fullness Of Time"?
The same as the meaning behind the song title. We overcome adversity once we are emotionally ready for it… after we've worked through the crisis. In the fullness of time.
The same questions above goes for the cover artwork, what does it illustrate?
The band's name is inspired by the film The Shawshank Redemption. There's a particular shot in that film, when the hero has crawled through a sewer to escape his wrongful imprisonment, and when he emerges from this sewer, he comes out into a rainstorm. There's a shot of him holding his arms up to the sky as this cleansing rain comes down on him, literally and figuratively washing off the filth that he endured as he crawled through the sewer. It's a very powerful shot, and a very powerful metaphor. And I wanted to use that metaphor to coincide with the theme of the song 'Transcendence', which represents a person overcoming adversity. I shared this idea with Travis Smith, and it became the back cover.
To complement this, I needed another picture that conveyed the opposite of transcendence – something that would correspond to the "entering point" of the lyrics to 'The Fullness Of Time' suite. If transcendence represents redemption, absolution, deliverance…then its opposite must convey anguish, pain, imprisonment. I told this to Travis and he came up with the concept on the front cover… a man, huddled over in torment, arms wrapped around himself as the only shelter he has, his thoughts and spirit evaporating into fire. I think it’s a powerful image.
Why did your choice of band name fall on Redemption, what are your thoughts behind the name?
Redemption means different things to different people. The name came, as I mentioned, from the film. But I also like that there's a positive aspect to it. We combine a lot of dark imagery with an undercurrent of hope, in the musical attitude and in the lyrics. I think it makes it more interesting to acknowledge the complexity of the human condition. It's got more "psychological texture", if you will, than just putting on corpse paint and shouting about hell, or on the other hand wearing bumblebee costumes and throwing bibles into the crowd… not to pick on Stryper.
How do you look upon the future of Redemption and far do you think you can take the band?
We're working on writing our third CD, so I hope that we are able to continue to write music that finds and audience, and tour in support of that music.
Will you share your 3 all time favourite albums with us?
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast
Rush – Moving Pictures
Thanks a ton for answering my questions, if you have anything to add, feel free to do it now!
Thanks very much for your interest and support!
Great, thanks! I’m working a bit more than I'd like in my "day job" but it keeps me out of trouble.
Will you please start off by introducing yourself and tell us what drives your passion for Redemption?
My name is Nick van Dyk. I grew up playing music for fun, and that still continues to be the primary motivation. I never gave serious consideration to being a full-time musician; I embarked on a full-time career as an executive in the entertainment industry, went to business school, and so on. My musical career is a happy accident, really.
How big is the interest from the public and the press for the band nowadays?
We are a small band in a small genre, but I have to say the response from the press has been exceptional, and the response from the public has been great. In Europe, in particular, Massacre and Replica have done a great job of getting the word out.
Have you felt that people have become more interested in the band after Ray Alder got in the band as the permanent vocalist?
Absolutely. He brings his talent, and his name recognition. I know nobody's buying the CD because of my name.
How much does he bring the band?
In addition to the heightened recognition, which really does make a difference, Ray brings one of the most compelling voices in the history of heavy music, and certainly my favorite voice in prog metal. It's an incredible honor to have him contribute his vocals to this music, and I think it really sets us apart.
How did you in the first place get the idea for Redemption?
It's a pretty funny story, actually. As I said, I never gave serious consideration to being a full-time musician. I had written a lot of music over the years that I never assumed would see the light of day. One night, I happened to see Ray Alder at a club show in Los Angeles, and went over and said hello – just doing the appreciative fan bit. A few weeks later, at another show, I saw him again and we struck up a conversation. One thing led to another and we became good friends. He talked at some point about wanting to do a solo project, and I played him some of the music I'd written. He liked one of the riffs enough to use it for one of the songs on the first Engine CD, but most of what I’d written was more progressive than the Engine direction that he wanted for his solo project. So instead, I asked him to help me produce a CD which I assumed at this point would mostly be for my own enjoyment. I had met Bernie Versailles by this time, and he had a couple of songs that were pretty different from what he was doing in Agent Steel, and I met Jason Rullo of Symphony X at the first ProgPower show and asked him if he'd be available to drum on it. He agreed, and we tracked everything and hired Rick Mythiasin of Steel Prophet, who rehearsed at the same studio where we tracked the drums, if he'd do the vocals. So that basically created the first line-up.
How did you work when you had to assemble the first line-up of the band?
Basically, Ray was very helpful in lining up musicians. We reached out to Jason, and Bernie and I took care of the other instruments. Ray had known Rick for some time through Steel Prophet, and Ray also put me in touch with Joey Vera who engineered and mixed the CD, and Phil Magnotti who mastered it. I recorded everything except drums at my home studio; we did the drums at Bill's Place, which is Mark Zonder's studio in North Hollywood.
How did you carry on to continue to find high-class and skilled people to play in Redemption?
The first CD did well enough to secure us an invitation to showcase our music at ProgPower 4. With the ProgPower invitation, I realized I needed a stable line-up. I had hoped to work with Jason Rullo on drums, but Symphony X is an extremely active band between writing, recording and touring, and even though Symphony X was going to play at the same festival, the logistics of rehearsing wouldn't have worked. I also got some good advice from my label in the US in terms of locking down a full-time band around me so that we wouldn't be perceived as just being a project band. I was going out to see a local prog metal band called Prymary play so I could assess their keyboardist as someone that could play with us live, and I was impressed not only by the keyboards but also by the drums and bass player. I asked them if they'd be interested in playing at ProgPower and they were very excited to do so. As for the vocalist, while Rick's performance on the first CD is quite good – in fact, I think it's some of the best work of his career – he is really a power metal vocalist at heart, and I knew I wanted to work with somebody who was more comfortable with prog metal; who thought in similar ways as I did in terms of melody and composition. Bernie and I listened to a bunch of CDs and decided to ask Corey Brown, the outstanding vocalist of Magnitude 9, to join us in Atlanta. He agreed, and that was the line-up that performed at ProgPower.
When recording for the new CD commenced, I suppose Corey would have naturally been our choice for a full-time vocalist, but Ray heard the pre-production materials and really wanted to sing on it. I was concerned at first, both because I didn't want to upset Corey and also because I wanted to make sure Ray wouldn't just treat this as a one-off project but would be able to commit himself to be Redemption's full-time vocalist. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Fates Warning and Engine, and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be putting Ray in a position where he couldn't fulfil his obligations to those bands, but I also wanted to make sure he'd be able to do what Redemption needed in terms of recording, press, live performances, etc. We sorted those issues out and he joined.
Is it the final and best line-up you have right now?
I'm very happy with the sound we've created and I'm hopeful we can keep this line-up together for the foreseeable future.
Are they all available for live performances and touring?
We're talking about some shows right now, actually, both in the US and potentially in Europe as well. I don't think we'll ever be the type of band that will tour three months out of the year, simply because we all have day jobs or other bands, and my career is particularly time-consuming. But we definitely want to play this music live.
You have just released your second album "The Fullness Of Time", how has it so far been received, both by the press and your fans?
Critical opinions have been almost universally off the charts. For example, Rock Hard France gave us CD of the month when we came out, beating out the new Dream Theater. I think we've started building a nice fan base in Europe. The US market is tougher, obviously, but so far almost all the reviews I've read have been very positive.
How do you feel about the album?
I'm really happy with it. I think we've established ourselves as one of the best up-and-coming prog metal outfits. I think we're finding our sound, which is pretty unique in prog metal – it's much heavier than most prog metal, but it's very melodic at the same time. It's a good balance between complexity and hooks, and it is very, very song-oriented as opposed to just showing off. There's also a lot of emotion in both the music and the lyrics. And I'm a big fan of Tommy's production. So I'm quite happy with it.
When you started to write music for "The Fullness Of Time", what did you then want to make?
The first CD was good for what it is – which is to say a pretty good experiment to see what I was capable of. It's definitely not a bad record, but I wanted to improve in a lot of ways. I wanted the new CD to be heavier, but more melodic at the same time. I wanted to improve the performances, I wanted to improve the songwriting, and the lyrics, and the production.
Do you feel that you have accomplished your initial goals with the finished album?
Absolutely. Fullness is a huge step forward in just about every aspect: the production, the songwriting, the performance, and the lyrics. Focusing purely on the material, the songwriting is much more focused and cohesive. And the melodies are stronger. Obviously, Ray's voice is a major change as well. On the production standpoint, we've gone from me fiddling around in my home studio to Tommy Newton in a professional setting. There's no comparison.
What do you expect from the album and what do you want to accomplish with your music?
To continue to build a fan base so that we can make another record and play some shows. I'm very realistic about what we can expect, in this genre, with the current state of the music business. I don't want to lose my shirt, but I'm also not expecting a gold record. If we can reach an audience, and resonate with people, and build a fan base, I'm happy. Hopefully, we're on our way.
How much of the music do you write and how much does the rest of the band participate in the making of the final tracks?
I write the music, lyrics and melodies, subject to the involvement of others either during or after the fact. It's a little challenging, because the other guys are all in other projects and I don’t want them to be put in the position of taking a great idea and choosing what band gets it. For me, I can focus 100% on Redemption. And then I'll turn the songs over to the others who comment. Chris writes his own drum parts, although I offer suggestions in-studio and we play with them a bit that way. Same with the bass. On vocals, Ray will have some changes to vocal lines or lyrics, but this time out most of it went as I initially wrote it.
Where do you find the influences and inspirations for your music?
I would say that influences are different from inspirations. Influences are people that shaped the way you play or write music; inspirations are people or events that make you want to play or write music.
I grew up on stuff like Iron Maiden, Priest, Ozzy, Sabbath, and the like, and was lucky enough to grow up near San Francisco when the thrash scene was emerging, so I saw Metallica and Megadeth play in tiny clubs to 150 people. I was particularly drawn to the more technical and "progressive" aspects of early Megadeth.
I also loved a lot of the harder-edged progressive rock stuff that was big in the 1970s – Kansas, Rush and Genesis being my favorites.
As far as inspiration goes, it's hard to say, musically. I'll hear a melody line, or a riff, in my head, and I'll write it down, toy with it for a while. It's not a particular event or artist that inspires me.
Are you in charge of the lyrics or is that Ray Alder who takes care of them?
I write the lyrics, at least so far. No pride of authorship, though. If Ray (or the other guys) want to bring lyrics, they're more than welcome to. So far, nobody's taken me up on the offer.
Can you initiate us in the ideas behind the lyrics and the topics touched in them?
My lyrics have changed quite a bit from the first album to this one. The first CD dealt mainly with third-person storytelling, and while it's not terrible, it's also not terribly mature. Telling a story written by somebody else from the third-person point of view is very linear, and can real more like a laundry list of events instead of being able to convey imagery more subtly, or evoke emotion through introspection rather than just a plotline. The new record is a big step forward – the lyrics are much more introspective, and touch on a range of subjects like loss, fear, hope, love, pain, betrayal and other things that, for better or worse, impact all of us. It's a lot easier to relate to the loss of innocence, say, than it is to relate to people running from a demon living underground in the desert.
What is the concept of the track 'Fullness Of Time'? It will be great if you could take us through each step/song of the track!
The name 'The Fullness Of Time' has to do with a cycle of emotions that one experiences when one is betrayed. Disbelief, anger, sadness, hopelessness and eventually, if we are healthy human beings, the ability to put this behind us and move on. Of course, this doesn't happen until we are emotionally ready – in good time, in the fullness of time.
The four songs in that suite deal with these emotions; 'Rage', 'Despair', 'Release' (which deals with hopelessness and whether or not it's worth continuing to fight against the things that work to bring us down in life), and 'Transcendence', which hopefully ends things on a positive note.
Why have you chosen to include tracks on the album, not associated with the concept of the album name, instead of making a full concept album?
I didn't really set out to write a concept album, per se, and I think it's almost becoming a cliché for prog bands to do that, so I don't particularly want to be known for it. Coming out of the first record, I knew that I wanted to take the lyric writing in a much different direction – more mature and introspective, telling personal stories of human emotion that everyone experiences, rather than third-party views of stories like the first CD. So from a thematic standpoint, this record is dark, painful, angry, frightened and ultimately hopeful, and I think that is reflected both musically and lyrically. It so happens that a few of the songs are thematically connected, but I don't think they tell a linear story… they could be played in any order and they'd still make sense. The last part does recapitulate the choruses from the previous parts into major keys in what I think is a pretty cool section, so that does depend a bit on the previous songs. But other than that, I don't really even think of those four songs as one big song… they really feel like separate songs to me.
What are your thoughts and idea behind the album title "The Fullness Of Time"?
The same as the meaning behind the song title. We overcome adversity once we are emotionally ready for it… after we've worked through the crisis. In the fullness of time.
The same questions above goes for the cover artwork, what does it illustrate?
The band's name is inspired by the film The Shawshank Redemption. There's a particular shot in that film, when the hero has crawled through a sewer to escape his wrongful imprisonment, and when he emerges from this sewer, he comes out into a rainstorm. There's a shot of him holding his arms up to the sky as this cleansing rain comes down on him, literally and figuratively washing off the filth that he endured as he crawled through the sewer. It's a very powerful shot, and a very powerful metaphor. And I wanted to use that metaphor to coincide with the theme of the song 'Transcendence', which represents a person overcoming adversity. I shared this idea with Travis Smith, and it became the back cover.
To complement this, I needed another picture that conveyed the opposite of transcendence – something that would correspond to the "entering point" of the lyrics to 'The Fullness Of Time' suite. If transcendence represents redemption, absolution, deliverance…then its opposite must convey anguish, pain, imprisonment. I told this to Travis and he came up with the concept on the front cover… a man, huddled over in torment, arms wrapped around himself as the only shelter he has, his thoughts and spirit evaporating into fire. I think it’s a powerful image.
Why did your choice of band name fall on Redemption, what are your thoughts behind the name?
Redemption means different things to different people. The name came, as I mentioned, from the film. But I also like that there's a positive aspect to it. We combine a lot of dark imagery with an undercurrent of hope, in the musical attitude and in the lyrics. I think it makes it more interesting to acknowledge the complexity of the human condition. It's got more "psychological texture", if you will, than just putting on corpse paint and shouting about hell, or on the other hand wearing bumblebee costumes and throwing bibles into the crowd… not to pick on Stryper.
How do you look upon the future of Redemption and far do you think you can take the band?
We're working on writing our third CD, so I hope that we are able to continue to write music that finds and audience, and tour in support of that music.
Will you share your 3 all time favourite albums with us?
Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast
Rush – Moving Pictures
Thanks a ton for answering my questions, if you have anything to add, feel free to do it now!
Thanks very much for your interest and support!
Redemption website
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