Artist: Dawn Heist
Orgin: Sydney, Australien
Genre: Djent
Label: Bastardized Recordings
Link: http://www.facebook.com/dawnheistband
Bandmember:
Vocals – Patrick Browne
Guitar – Lee Norbury
Guitar – Adam Ellis
Bass – Zee Sandell
Drums – Allan O’Rourke
Time For Metal / Heike:
Hey guys,
Thank you for taking time to do this interview.
I read that Dawn Heist was formed in 2010, but can you tell a little bit more about the foundation? Did you already know each other before? Who was the one that had the idea of forming a band?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Dawn heist is made up of 2 previous bands that used to tour and hang out together and once the circumstances were right we came together and made the one band.
Time For Metal / Heike:
You did a lot of touring at a very early stage of your career. I think that’s really courageous. Haven’t you been afraid of bad reviews or reactions of the audience?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Not at all. We have always written music to please ourselves and achieve a goal or tell a particular story with each release. I think the constant touring in Australia and overseas early in our careers have helped us grow as musicians and performers. We understand that you can never please everyone and the most important thing is that we do what we love with no compromises. We have also met some of the most amazing people from all corners of the world through touring and playing music.
Time For Metal / Heike:
After your first headlining tours you also did supports for some well-known bands. Are there any other bands you would like to share the stage with?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
We are all huge fans of bands like Deftones, Karnivool, Tesseract and I think those influences do make their way in to our music. It is incredible to us that some of the bands we have toured with have become some of our closest friends.
Time For Metal / Heike:
I know some other Australian bands – like Voyager or Vanishing Point, but they are more into Melodic or Progressive Metal. I labeled you as Djent, and I hope that’s fine with you. What do you generally think about these categories? For me they are quite helpful to create special playlists. Are you sometimes astonished, how people categorize you?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Not really. We definitely get the djent label with this new album ʻCatalystʼ but we did expect that. It isnʼt a category that we set out to achieve but once you begin playing more progressive metal and add the elements of digital amplification, it will always happen. Being labeled has never really bothered us as a band.
Time For Metal / Heike:
Let’s talk about your album Catalyst. I am very impressed about the professionalism in every respect. Can you explain the processes from first song ideas until final production? As far as I understood, you are doing everything on your own. Do you want to continue in this way, so that you retain control?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Thank you for the kind words. We wanted to make a concept album and began the writing process with this in mind. We decided to record it on our own simply to challenge ourselves and because we knew exactly how we wanted the album to sound when it
was finished and we did not trust the vision with anyone else. We did however have our good friend Antonio Hannafrom Freefall Studios come in as the mix engineer with us to help with piecing it all together. We have worked with him many times and he did a great job in making order out of our chaos. I think this is something we will continue to do as it was a huge learning experience and we love to challenge ourselves and continually learn new things.
Time For Metal / Heike:
Is there any special reason behind the numbering of the songs? Or was it just some „oh let’s do it like this“?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
The album explores 3 different types of reality throughout itʼs story line and the numbers reflect which type of reality each song belongs to.
I) – objective reality
II) – subjective reality
III) – virtual reality.
The story of the album explores an individuals journey from servant to saviour to outcast and just to make things a little more different, we told the story in reverse.
Time For Metal / Heike:
On your facebook page you mentioned that you work on some new touring dates for Europe. Are there any news? Do you plan to do a headlining tour or maybe also play some festivals?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
We are currently in the process of booking tours for 2014 and we are really excited to come back to Europe and UK. That is about all that i can say at the moment though.
Time For Metal / Heike:
That’s it until now. For the next album I will surely have some more questions. 😉 Is there anything you would like to say to the readers and fans?
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Our album ʻCatalystʼ is available worldwide through Bastardized Recordings and on iTunes. We hope to see everyone from a stage in 2014.
Time For Metal / Heike:
Thank you very much again for your time and efforts. I really hope to see you on stage one day.
Patrick / Dawn Heist:
Thank you for the great interview.