She Past Away is for many people THE discovery
of 2012. With their blend of styles and influences rooted in the 80’s
and their unique vocals in Turkish, they have created a fiercely
modern sound, with a captivating and addictive atmosphere. Their
dark and cold sound has become a must play on the dancefloors. We
took advantage of their sold-out concert in Madrid on September 28th,
to interview the band and get to know more about them. We met not
only great musicians, but also very interesting and friendly persons,
willing to share their story with us. She Past Away are: Volkan Caner
(vocals, guitar, music and lyrics), Idris Akbulut (Bass) and Doruk
Ozturkcan (programming, production…).
Thanks to Daniel Olvera for his questions,
Depa for the audio, Juan Martinez for the opportunity, a huge thank
you to Maria Ortuño for all the help before, during and after the
interview, and once again to the band for their friendliness and the
amazing show: TEŞEKKÜRLER!!!
Guillaume Renard.
First of all, She Past Away, we are very happy to
make this interview with you, we like a lot your work
Doruk: Thank
you
The first question we would like to ask you
is how did you start with this particular project and what is the
background of SPA?
Doruk: In 2006
Idris and Volkan formed the band, before that they had a cover band
and they were performing, but not as SPA. In 2006 they started
performing the songs and they shot the first video “Kasvetli
Kutlama” in 2009. In 2009, we released the first EP “Kasvetli
Kutlama” and I think you know the rest. I used to play the drums
for a while, for 2 years, we did a lot of shows in Turkey between
2009 in 2012. We don’t play shows in Turkey now because there is
not enough scene there, but we started receiving a lot of concert
offers after making this release on Fabrika Records earlier this
year. We were receiving offers before but they multiplied after the
deal with Fabrika. Now there are no gigs in Turkey but in Europe, we
played in Paris, Gothic Treffen, we played 4 or 5 gigs until now in
Europe, and this is our biggest tour for the moment with 7 gigs. We
have 2 more at the end of the month, in Germany, and hopefully we
will be able to make a South American tour, starting in Mexico, next
year. So far we have confirmed for next year: Dark Munich in April,
and Castle Party in Poland in July.
Many people will be happy to see you in these
festival
Doruk: Well,
festivals are great because everything comes in big sizes, bigger
sound, bigger audience, everything is bigger basically, but we also
like the clubs, because it’s smaller, friendlier, there’s not so
much distance between the band and the audience. You catch more
people that way, talking, partying. Both festival and clubs are good,
in different ways.
We were wondering about the meaning of the name
SPA? Can you explain it to us?
Doruk: Well,
it’s written wrong, (all laughing)
That’s why we were wondering! Is it a mistake, a
play on words ?
Doruk: We made
a mistake, and couldn’t take a step back! (all
laughing) No, really, SPA, kind of
means “She passed away”, as “She died”, but it is a twist, as
by saying “past” instead of “passed”, it means that that
woman belongs to the past, she’s far away, not necessarily dead. It
has a sense of being far away rather than dead, I would say. (They
discuss it between them in Turkish) And
also, we didn’t want it to sound romantic or melancholic. We
wanted a colder feeling.
But that “she”, is it referring to one woman
or is it more abstract?
Doruk: Take it
more like a “she” spirit, like a ghost, far away, either in the
past, or physically away, or like
in the “idea” world, like a past
memory…
Many people are wondering about Doruk’s presence
in the band. Who is the band right now?
Doruk: These
guys (Volkan and Idris)
were the band at the beginning, I was added on later, because we
wanted to make it better on stage. In 2008, when I joined them and we
started playing gigs, it was like the start of a more present band.
But we don’t believe anymore that it’s necessary to have a
drummer on stage to make things more exciting, because the music that
we make is cold and dark, and it’s heavily depending on the drum
machine sound. We don’t feel the necessity to put a physical
performance on stage. We think that it kind of looks cooler this way.
Idris: And
it’s also very practical.
Doruk: Because
we are 3 people travelling now, I take care of the sound and the
backing tracks. Rather than having me onstage not being able to give
the outside sound, we prefer taking me out of the stage and be able
to have more control of the sound, because it’s really important,
the sound. It has elements and influence of a lot of bands and
styles, so if the level of the drums is a little higher or a little
lower, it makes a huge difference. The guitarist role is a lead in
some songs, in others it’s a backing sound. I need to be there to
control all of these musical aspects.
Idris: We also
travel easily being 3.
Doruk: We
don’t want to be any bigger, especially travelling abroad, the
smaller the better.
Your influences are obviously rooted in the 80’s,
can you tell us what are the main ones?
Volkan: Asylum
Party
Doruk: There
are lots of names
Idris: Big
names that have inspired us: Bauhaus, Clan of Xymox, The Cure, French
band Asylum Party, lots of bands, you’ll probably see it during the
concert.
Was it easy to have access to this music in
Turkey? How did you discover these bands before the Internet?
(Volkan and Doruk
speak in Turkish, then Doruk explains)
These guys were in Bursa at that time, in the younger 80’s and
there’s only one underground music shop there, that’s how, we got
this music, in cassette format, never original releases, and it was
the same in Istanbul. There was only one shop in Istanbul at my time,
where you could buy underground music styles. They imported one
original album and made copies of it.
You have already told us that you don’t play
gigs in Turkey anymore because there’s no scene, how do you feel
about being a Turkish band that now performs internationally, but not
in your own country?
(Idris and Doruk
speak in Turkish, then Idris explains)
As we said, there’s no scene in Turkey, there’s a little bit of
metal music since the 80’s.
Doruk: There’s
no real metal scene either, you can’t say that. Maybe there’s a
gig every now and then, but you can’t really say there’s a scene.
Of course it feels shit not playing in your country, not getting any
feedback.
Idris: There
they see it as just a personal hobby.
Doruk: And the
small audience that we get doesn’t really get the music, they don’t
really understand it, they only say: “Oh, you’re like Cure”,
because they only know Cure.
Idris: Or
Sisters of Mercy
Doruk: Yes, or
they say “You’re like Sisters of Mercy”, because they only know
Sisters of Mercy, they don’t see all the other influences in our
music. There was a small gothic scene, but they were all our friends
circles anyway, we know everybody like (counting
on his hand and laughing) 1, 2, 3, 4,
5…
Talking about the album, Doruk, you are the
producer, tell us how you wanted it to sound?
Doruk: I might
be the producer, but the sound comes from these guys (Volkan
and Idris). During the production
process, we were all together. We’d come together, do the
recording, do the mixing, leave it for a while, then come back to it.
It’s a teamwork, not my personal point of view. Because I am
stronger on the technical side, I helped these guys bring out what
they want better. Of course I had some editions, of course I put some
of my perspective in it too, but it’s mostly their creation.
When listening to the album, it seems like the
intensity is raising all through the album, except for the last
track, which is a perfect conclusion, like slowing down. How did you
chose the order of the songs? It really works perfect, you listen to
one track, and because it’s great you want to repeat it, but the
next track starts and you’re already trapped into it.
Doruk: Well,
thank you for understanding (all
laughing). Because we wanted to make an
album, not just put songs together one after the other. We wanted it
to sound just as you described
it. We want it to be a journey,
because that’s what a good album is. That’s the definition of an
album. So we really paid attention to the musicality, the flow of the
things, and you just confirmed that we did what we wanted, that’s
really nice.
You included the full EP inside and it fits
perfectly in the whole album
Doruk: Well,
as you’d imagine, when we released the first EP, we already had the
other songs, either produced or not in their final shape. Tonight
we’ll play two new tracks, and I suppose you’ll have a hint of
the next album. I think you’ll have the feeling that She Past Away
is not changing direction, but getting more specialized in defining
She Past Away’s music. So the second album, we are trying to shape
up things better, and bringing in more variety of styles, bringing
more influences this time.
We’re looking forward to it
Doruk:
Hopefully next year.
It’s amazing how you manage to transmit feelings
in your song, even with lyrics in Turkish. Why did you chose to sing
in Turkish? It’s a surprising choice, many bands chose to change
their language to English when they want to reach an international
audience.
Idris: Our
English is not good !! (all laughing) If we are doing this in
English, it’s not sincere.
Doruk: It
would be pretentious
Idris: We
think in Turkish, feel in Turkish
Doruk: For us
lyrics in Turkish make it more sincere, less pretentious, definitely
unique
Idris: And we
like very much to sing in Turkish
The language helps a lot the music, it’s
harmonious but also guttural.
Doruk: This is
Volkan’s genius!
Your song “Ruh” is an adaptation of
Baudelaire’s “Le Revenant”. Apart from the musical ones, what
other artistic influences do you have? I feel you are influenced by
horror B-movies, especially in the song “Bozbulanik” it’s a
crazy track, it feels like there are bats flying around you!
(They all laugh)
Volkan: Jess
Franco! B-movies
Idris:
Baudelaire, Lovecraft
Volkan:
Spaghetti westerns!
Which bands from the new millennium do you
appreciate and listen to?
All: Lebanon Hanover, Escarlatina Obsesiva, Antiguo
Regimen, Xeno & Oaklander, Martial Canterel…
You’ve been touring a lot during the last year,
do you have anecdotes to tell us? And how is meeting your audience?
(They laugh and
speak in Turkish)
Doruk: We are
messy travelling, we forget things a lot. When we went to Gothic
Treffen, Volkan left his guitar pedal in the taxi and it was gone,
just before the gig. Anyway we sorted it out. Idris lost his passport
the day after (laughing).
But we have really good memories usually. First of all, we are really
amazed by the people’s reaction. We can see how much they
appreciate and understand our music. So for our first time, we share
100% with people, and it’s such a good feeling.
We would like to know which is the song that you
enjoy the most playing on stage, that fills you the most?
Volkan:
Bozbulanik
Idris: Rituel,
but we enjoy all of them.
We have enjoyed your Secret Thirteen Mix, do you
sometimes perform as DJ?
Volkan: I have
a radio show in Turkey, it’s called Dark Entries, the program is
broadcast on a local internet radio: www.radiofil.fm
and there’s a blog for it: www.radiodarkentries.blogspot.com
About the new album, how far is it advanced, when
will it be released?
Doruk: We
can’t tell, we’re really lazy. 3 to 4 songs are nearly finished,
and we started quite a few other recordings, but we don’t really
have ideas of the dates it will be finished. Sometime next year,
probably the end of next year. (Volkan
speaks in Turkish, then Doruk explains)
Like the first album, we don’t want to just put songs one after the
other, we want to make an album again, so if we want to put like 10
songs in the album, we need to have more, so we can choose between
the songs, so… we’ll see
We’ll be waiting…
Finally, would you like to add something for the
readers of This is Gothic Rock.com?
Doruk: We’re
really happy about the feedback, we feel very thankful for that. We
want this thing to grow bigger, and we want
it to keep it going as long as we
can.
We certainly hope so too!
