by Vpower
The Band: Seventh
Station
Country: International
(Slovenia, Israel, USA)
Answers by: Dima Alperovich
(guitars); Eren Basbug (keys) ; Davidavi Dolev (vocals)
SEVENTH STATION, yes,
this has been one of the big surprises for Metalbrothers.es in 2016. They have
released one of the most amazing metal albums in the year, great skills but
also a very accurate feeling that will touch your heart when listening to their
songs, a killing combination. They are from here and there, but the most
important is that they have given a step forward into Metal history and
hopefully there will be more coming. A very interesting conversation with
SEVENTH STATION, one of the revelations in 2016, here in Metalbrothers.es (what
else?)
Hello guys and
congratulations for your debut album “Between Life and Dreams”
Alperovich: Hi, thank you very much!
Basbug: Hi there and thanks!
Dolev: Hey man, glad to be here, thanks for your platform :)
Your album has
surprised the Metalbrothers a lot because of his quality, ellaboration and high
level. Until now the name of Seventh Station
had no meaning for us, but this has changed dramatically with the
publication of your album. How was the band formed?
Basbug: Dima can tell the very beginnings.
Alperovich: I will tell a bit of the beginning. The band was
formed by me and Alexey Polyansky (Bass) in Jerusalem in 2008. We both were
students in the academy of music "Rubin" in Jerusalem and I offered
Polyansky to form a band. We both were classical musicians that were listening
to lots of different styles of music including metal of course. So, I guess we
always wanted to play not only classical music and the band was a good start to
break the exclusive classical world.
Basbug: I have joined the band after he reached out to me
through internet and immediately flew to
US afterwards to record the keyboards.
The next question is
clear, in a band with guys from so different countries as yours, we can think
about a stable project with new releases in the future?
Alperovich: Yes, We are already working on the next release.
Even though we are from different countries, we are still a band and not a
project.
Basbug: We live in a time where you are does not matter, we
can still collaborate, write, tour, as long as we plan it in advance we can
always get together.
That’s true. If we have to name one, which
country would be home for Seventh
Station?
Alperovich: hehehe, tricky question. I will answer it with
tricky answer. For me our home town is where we can continue to create.
Basbug: Hmm... Europe??
Dolev: God bless the internet I would say, and Whatsapp
calls, I think nowadays I see and hear Dmitri more often than when he was in
Israel. I would say the heart of the Band is Dima, so where ever Dima goes -
This will be where I personally feel the band is based. I think Slovenia is for
now the mothership.
Dima would be a good
politician hahaha Another “risk”, in my opinion, is that all the members in
Seventh Station are at so high level that I suppose, especially after the
release of “Between Life and Dreams”, you will be receiving offers from other
bands or projects, don’t you? Are there many temptations in your path?
Basbug: I am personally involved in many bands with a
variety of genres, all of them tour, it's mostly about scheduling everything
right. And of course, as time goes by and we will move forward to a point where
we can sustain ourselves throughout this music and that'll be it!
Dolev: We all do different things, all the time. One of the
good things about music is that it's very much an open relationship and each
band member has a place for each of his desires. What I bring in a pop band or
an impro-noise session is not necessarily serving this entity that is Seventh
Station, so- more projects = better ways to filter yourself into becoming a
vessel that serves the purpose. I like it.
Alperovich: Well, I don't know about temptations but all the
members of the band, more or less, have different projects and bands. For
example Vidi has his band Gunned down Horses (check them out) and Eren you
probably know that he works with Roli company and with Jordan Rudess.
Yes, it seems
everything is under control. We go from surprise to surprise with you guys
hahaha, because until now you haven’t signed for any label to distribute your
product around the world, right?
Basbug: We haven't.
Alperovich: Right, unfortunately we could not find a record
label that we believed they see a future with us. We got some proposals but it
didn't feel right, so we decided to self-release it for now.
Dolev: DIY is a good way to go. And there are distributions
for the album - everyone can get it. We go the extra mile to make sure we can
thread a god foundation for future work. I must say, statically it feels like
labels and all of these companies had stopped benefiting financially from the
crowd, the consumers of the music, so they created a system where they benefit
from the artist. It’s a very easy prey and we are very much aware of how easy
it is to lose everything you're working on because you're willing to give it
all up for your ambition and dreams. Too many people out there exploit artists
on a daily basis. We took another road and we are not the first ones to do so.
As a music fan\lover\nerd I think it's better to support the artist directly
than through all these middle men.
An interesting point
of view, Dolev. It’s time to talk a little about “Between Life and Dreams”. How
long did your work on it?
Basbug: A long time! I have been involved in the past five
years of it.
Alperovich: There are two ways to answer it, the long one
and the short one. The short one is that it took us too long. The long one is
that we started in 2012. We recorded everything but we felt it is not good
enough so, between 2013 to 2015, we rerecorded everything. We wanted the best
result we could get.
Talking about
rehearsals and composition tasks, being from different countries, I suppose you
almost never got together and you work mostly “online”, right?
Alperovich: Yes, we are mostly running the band through
having online conversations. Anyway, we work as composers, if I compose
something, I'm writting down the parts for all instruments. So it works fine :)
Basbug: But, we get together before tours and rehearse.
“Between Life and
Dreams” is in my opinion a top album. It melts high tech on every instrument
with great compositions and easy listening, that ain’t easy…
Alperovich: I like the result. We just tried to touch
people's main two organs: The heart and the brain. If it doesn't blend together
then it's not human for me. I mean, we always blend between our feeling and
logical thinking (in most cases I mean).
Basbug: It has great stories in it and for sure it takes its
time to find its place for many people. As ain't easy as it is, it's not like
fast food or disposable napkins either. It's there for to stay for a lifetime.
Basbug: Dima has more weight more than anyone currently (as
far as I know).
Dolev: I think Dmitri mainly sets the bar, also in the new
music that is written lately for the band - Dima and Eren are the main painters,
If I sit down to write something for the band I'll try to channel everything as
if it was their playground and colors.
Alperovich: In the first album me and Alexey wrote most of
the material and the rest made their parts to magical ones with their
outstanding talent and expression. For the next album we shall see.
I don’t like labels
very much, but they are necessary to describe an album in a few words. In your
case I would talk of progressive heavy metal with some symphonic roots, what do
you think?
Basbug: That would be correct. It is a straightforward
progressive metal album with a lot of symphonic influences.
Alperovich: I don't really like the term progressive metal
but as you said it is probably the easiest way to describe our music. I see our
music the opposite, classical influence with different genres added on top or
with the main influence.
I like every song in the album, no fillers,
but If I had to choose I would say Morning’s Silence is the song, it has almost
all I can ask and it flows so smoothly…
Alperovich: To be honest, I wrote Morning's Silence as the
song that will relax the mood before we are going into the madness part of the
album. It's the only song in the album that has a song format, so it's easy to
listen to it and enjoy it.
Basbug: It's the 'happy' song of the album for me. Has a
great balance between the other ones.
I’m a simple guy
hahaha What’s your favorite song in the album then?
Dolev: For me it's 'The Baron's Doubt' or our first single
Abnormal Circles Doubtful Hour. These were the tracks that made me want to join
this project. I liked preparing for them the most, certain anger in them I
cannot explain.
Basbug: I really like Baron Pt. 1/2.
Alperovich: Hmmm, I think it’s Another Dimension of the Sun
as I'm answering now, because if you'll ask me tomorrow, I will probably answer
a different one.
You have included an
instrumental song, 13:48, also enjoyable
and easy to listen, that is a constant feature in your music, you could be
named a progressive band but I believe every one can enjoy your album without
being a progressive metalhead…
Basbug: For sure, I have never rejected any music because of
its genres... I would highly recommend all to do the same. Great music is great
music, regardless of labels.
Alperovich: Absolutely, that's exactly what I like about
Seventh Station. Everyone can find his little piece of heaven in our music. You
just need to choose :)
I would like to talk
about two guys in the band. Firstly, Davidavi (Vidi) Dolev, the vocalist. He
makes a awesome work, he has a great voice and controls it prefectly, an
absolute diamond, how did you find him?
Dolev: I'll shut up and say thank you.
Hahaha, a good boy
Alperovich: I can't agree with you more. Vidi is an
extremely wonderful person and vocalist. It was very important to me that the
singer will be in high level as the other musicians, it took us years to find
someone that can lift the band to higher level. I was told about Vidi from a
person I knew back then in 2014 and I spoke with Vidi and showed him the
material and after few months of discussion, he accepted the challenge and we
got one of the best singers living today.
Another spotlight is
on Dmitri Alperovich, in charge of guitars. Good style, technique and a
glorious feeling for harmonies and melodies, this is, an absolute killer...
Basbug: He's easily one of the best guitarists I've worked
with- as well as composers. We see a lot of shredders just shredding for shred
sake, but Dima has a great sense of story, concept, lyrics, art, and
composition.
Dolev: Ha! My turn - Dmitri Alperovich , he is a very modest
person, too much sometimes. And I can understand why - Once you can play the
guitar like that , fully aware of all the choices you're making and all the
choices you're not making, and express your world the way Dima can with his
compositions and dedicated practice - he doesn't need to say a lot or make a
lot of noise. I wanted in because of the guitars. Dima is a hard worker. It’s
not only with the guitars like that, it's with the entire production and the
way he leads this thing, no compromises. But don't tell him I said it ;)
Alperovich: It’s all a lie :) but thank you
Well, Dolev, I have
too disagree with you a little... I know, we all know, several great guitarrists,
which I won’t name, that are not especially humble... So, point for Dima. What
are you main influences as a band?
Alperovich: We have many influences. The main ones are
classical composers such as Bach, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and band such as Dream
Theater, Symphony x, 7for4 and many others. We try not to limit ourselves in
any genre and style as much as we can. We compose what we feel the music needs.
Dolev: to be honest, I like the composers Dima mentioned,
but I don't really listen a lot to those bands. But if mentioning some good
Prog metal I could learn a lot from I would definitely mention Beyond Twilight
and Finn Zierler's .I don't really listen to a lot of melodic metal. I'm into
weirder things.
We could think about
tour dates or that is simply dismissed?
Alperovich: For sure not dismissed at all. We are working
now on setting our first tour. Once we will set it, you will know the dates and
everything else. We can’t wait to get on the road and deliver our music to
fans.
Oh yeah, great news! What
are your plans for the future?
Basbug: Extensively tour around the world, share our music
as much as possible and keep telling beautiful stories!
Alperovich: We are working now on our next release and it
will be a pleasant surprise, I believe. 2017 will be great year for Seventh
Station I think. Follow us on the media to see all the updates to come. As I
said before, the 2017 tour is in the making and we are super excited about it.
Dolev: high fiving you in person and having another
interview when we're around your hood. Your name will be at the door. I just
hope they let ME in.
It will be our
pleasure to inform the world about your second album and any other news (tours
or whatever) you generate. So, thank you the three of you guys for this cool
conversation and also for your outstanding music!
Alperovich: Thank you MetalBrothers for this kick ass
interview and thank you Metalbrothers’ readers for your time to get to know us
better. See you on the road.
Dolev: thank you for your support, keep in touch, stay ugly.
Basbug: Thanks!
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