As you headbangers may have noticed, MotherFUDD 2010is definately this year’s biggest metal hype. MotherFUDD is going to be epic, not because of the world record that will be set, but because of the awesome talent that will make the festival. Sathern is one of the awesome talents that will be performaing at MotherFUDD 2010… And here’s their interview with us!

Sathern Are:

Nick de Beer & Josh Chettiar – Guitars

Sven Madlener – Drums

Neville Shield– Keyboards

James Shorten– Bass

Interview By: Scream

Headbang Today: Welcome to Headbang Today. What’s it like to be so awesome?

Sathern: Thanks for having us. Well we don’t really see ourselves as being any different from those who come to our gigs and support us. We are just a bunch of guys who share a common passion, which is making music. Our goal of course is to get some heads turning (and banging), so if you think we are awesome we take that as a huge compliment!

Headbang Today: You are said to have a vigorous and strict method of songwriting. Tell us a bit more about the processes involved in writing a song for Sathern?

Sathern:Well Nick and Josh (guitarists) write the songs and being somewhat perfectionists they don’t necessarily settle on the first couple of riffs or melodies. We like to take as much time as possible on material and really find something that fits perfectly with the theme or concept we might be trying to convey in that particular song. If you take ‘The Burning Inquisition’ for example, out of the 15+ riffs and melodies only about 2 repeat. This is because we wanted to give the song a progressive feel and that required a lot of material to be written and then sifted through and arranged methodically.

Something you will notice in our music as well is the wide assortment of keyboard effects and sounds we use. We have, on average, a mixture of about 4 effects in a song that range between Strings, Choir, Piano and Organ. So writing these piano solos and arranging everything along with the traditional instruments falls under this strict method of song writing.

Headbang Today: How often does the band come together for jam sessions and tell us a bit more about what usually goes down at these metal-filled sessions…

Sathern:

Well twice a week mostly. Maybe more if we have a big gig or festival coming up in which case we practice as often as our schedules allow us to. As for what goes on; metal, beer, and of course lots of South Park.

Headbang Today: Your music rests upon the fine lines between black, melodic death and power metal. If you could sum these sub-genres up into your own category and give it a name, what would you call it? (use Sathern creativity)

Sathern:

Experimental melodic Space-dragon metal (for the joke of it).

Headbang Today: The burning inquisition is a beautiful instrumental song filled with musical twists, turns, melodic guitar work, double pedal raping and other instruments… Vocals are rare, if not completely absent. Do you intentionally focus more on the instrumental aspects of your songs than the vocals?

Sathern:
Well to a small degree yes, because vocals are only added after the tracks are written and recorded. This however doesn’t mean vocals take the backseat in our music, but in that specific track, given the progressive nature and intent of it, we definitely focused on the instrumental aspects the most. In other songs, we try to give each the time it deserves.

Headbang Today: When can we expect an EP or full length debut album from you? (A copy better get sent this way for a review!)

Sathern:

Probably towards the end of the year. We will send you two copies – how does that sound?!

Headbang Today: If you had to shoot a music video for your song Asterion, what would the music video be about? (I can visualize two gigantic fire spewing dragons battling each other in the dark skies…)

Sathern:

Well if your replace dragons with ‘The Elder Gods’ from the writing of HP Lovecraft, you got it pretty much summed up.

Headbang Today: What can we expect from Sathern at MotherFUDD 2010? (anything whack in mind?)

Sathern:

Well we have Dwayne from Sacrifist helping us out in our vocal department (we unfortunately had to part ways with our vocalist late last year) which is going to blow everyone away. We also have a few covers thrown in from some wicked bands, so yeah it is going to be fun.

Headbang Today: Who’s your most favoured band out of the MotherFUDD 2010 line-up?

Sathern:
That is a tough one, but probably Erebus.

Headbang Today: Last but not least… Any plans on coming down to shred Cape Town to pieces anytime soon?

Sathern:
We are definitely planning to hit Cape Town as well as Durban soon, so watch out!

Headbang Today: Any last words?

Sathern: We would like to thank Yvonne for organising Motherfudd and promoting us, Max and Wendy Madlener, Yamaha for our drummer’s sponsorship, the bands that have supported us in the past like Bile Of Man, Warthane, Erebus, Riddare av Koden, Historical Screams, Empery, Dwayne from Sacrifist for agreeing to help us out in the vocal department at MotherFUDD, and of course HEADBANGTODAY.com. You guys rocks!

See you at MotherFUDD!