(Guideline Records)
Genre: Screamo/ Metal comparable to bands like old A Static Lullaby or old Underoath.
Interviewed on: 4/23/08
From: Freiburg, Germany
www.myspace.com/descendtorise
1. How did the band get together and form?
This is a long story, but I’ll try to give you a short version.
In Winter of 99, Julius, Florian and our drummer Simon started playing music together. A few weeks later I joined them and we founded a band. I remember in the beginning we played songs from Blink 182 and some punk rock bands, but we soon did our own stuff. About two years later our singer decided to concentrate on shouting and Simon our bass player joined us. Because our music has gotten another direction and we got rid of our old band name, we gave the band a new name, “Descend To Rise”. Up to now there has been no lineup changes, but our music more and more turned into that metalcore-screamo-thing we do now. In retrospective I can say, that it was very positive for the progress of the band that we all are friends and share more than music.
2. You guys just released your album “Behind The Infinite Scenes”, a little while ago, how has the reaction been to it?
The reactions are very positive so far. We already got some reviews for it and are pleased to see, that the people like it. We tried out some new things, especially concerning songwriting techniques and we didn’t know how the response would be. Obviously it paid off :-D.
3. How does the writing process come together?
Usually we try to write songs little by little until we have enough songs to record. But last year we were forced to schedule an intensive songwriting phase because the studio time was booked and we didn’t have enough songs for a full length record. So we started to work on new songs and finally we managed it within a month. Although it has been a hard time with countless very long nights this amazingly didn’t compromise the quality of the songs produced within that period. We always try to write songs all together based on some ideas. This takes much times, but we do it always that way, it works for us.
4. The cover art for the new album is really cool, how did that come about? Is that a real location?
Thank you, we’re happy with this artwork too. We thought about the artwork for a long time because we wanted the title to be clarified by the artwork. The title tells us something about the world around us, which appears to be infinite and something that takes places even behind all the things we consider. That’s a big challenge for a designer, but in my opinion Simon did a good job with this artwork. The location is a compositing of many photos, so it doesn’t really exist.
5. How is the music scene over there in Germany?
Within the last years the Germany hardcore and metal scene has grown a lot and it’s good to see more and more bands coming up and people visiting the shows and we are proud to be a part of it. This also means that it’s getting harder to be special, but we try this by delivering our music to the crowd with lots of energy. It should be a difference between listening to music over an iPod or experience it in a live concert, and we do our best to demonstrate it.
6. What’s your take on music downloading?
For artists in general it’s a big problem that people started to download the music they like illegally instead of buying it. The production of an album is an expensive business, especially for little bands who have to bear all the costs. In fact, even a full length price of about $20 appears to be too expensive for people. Young bands need the promotion of their fans to go ahead. There is also a promotion effect in spreading music over the internet but I think there are only a few bands who really benefit from this strategy.
7. Any plans on touring the summer in support of the album?
Actually we planned to go on tour right after the release in March for about two weeks with a well known overseas band but unfortunately we had to reschedule the whole thing. So we went on a 5 day tour with a Dutch band, “The Spirit That Guides Us”. We had a good time anyway and the chance to present our new album. There’s aren’t any plans for touring around in summer because it’s always hard to find a period where no one has to write exams or something. Above all our singer Florian is going to marry this summer so I think we’ll play as many shows as we can but a tour isn’t in the works.
8. Are there any Germany based bands we should check out?
Definitely. There are a lot of bands we know as our friends playing good music. You definitely should check out “A Fight Called Hope”, “World To Ashes”, “Lasting Traces” and of course all the bands on Guideline Records.
9. What are you guys currently listening to?
Underoath, Norma Jean, Relient K, MXPX, Killswitch Engage, The Almost, Taking Back Sunday and Thrice are some of the bands we’re currently listening to. We aren’t exclusively focused on hardcore and metal but open minded about getting influenced by different kinds of music.
10. What’s next for Descend To Rise?
At the moment we’re looking for opportunities to present out new album to all the hardcore kids out there. We’re also thinking about shooting a video for one of the new songs. There aren’t any concrete steps, but I’m confident of getting by. In general we’ll try to play at bigger festivals in Germany in the future to reach a greater audience.
11. Any shoutouts?
Hey fellas check out our new stuff and make sure to get a copy of our brand new album!
