.: FuryRocks :: interview :: Arkaea__Fear_Factory_helped_us_to_create_who_we_are_today

Published: 30 June 2009

Arkaea - Fear Factory helped us to create who we are today

July 20th will be the day that Arkaea releases their debut album Years in The Darkness. Even though Arkaea is a new band, their members are well known. Arkaea, consisting of singer Jon Howard and bassist Pat Kavanagh from Threat Signal and guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers and drummer Raymond Herrera from Fear Factory, sounds already promising. Furyrocks got the chance to talk to Raymond Herrera and ask him some question about the band, the music and the future.
First of all, Arkaea consists of members from Fear Factory and Threat Signal. How did Arkaea begin?

Raymond: ‘Arkaea began when Christian decided that we should use this music that we started writing, for a new project, and it was also Christian’s idea to bring Jon Howard into the new band.’

What is the story behind the band name? How did you come up with Arkaea, since it actually sounds really interesting?

‘We wanted to come up with a new word or new name for the band, and something that would be easily found when searching, so we though virally about it as well. So the word arkaea doesn’t actually mean anything, since it is a word that we created. We think the word sound interesting as well.’

Your album, Years In The Darkness, is about to be released on the 14th of July, and the 20th of July in Europe. What are your expectations?

‘We are hopeful that people will enjoy the album. We believe that the record is very solid and the response has been great as well.’

Did you have an initial concept for this album?

‘We actually didn’t have a concept “per say”, we just wanted to write a great record and have some great songs to really help create a name for this new band.’

Can you tell us more about the recording process for this album?

‘We recorded most of the album in my own recording studio, my studio is called Temple Studios and it is in Chatsworth, California. We started recording in September 2008 and the album was full completed in May of 2009, we didn’t want to rush and we wanted to make sure that the record sounded great. Since I own my own recording studio, we were able to make the record for very cheap and not have to cut corners on sound quality and be able to save some of that money to get Terry Date to mix and Ted Jensen to master the album.’

I notice bands get pressured more and more these days to release stuff, was this also the case for Arkaea?

‘Not at all, since the band is a new band, there wasn’t as much of a demand or deadline to release our album. If Arkaea becomes a more relavent name in the industry and to fans, then there will be more demand in the future to release newer material or product sooner, so that may be the case in the future.’

Years In The Darkness was actually supposed to come out in March, how come it got postponed?

‘We wanted to take our time and make sure that the album quality could be the best it could be.’

I’ve read that half of the songs on the album were originally intended to be on the next Fear Factory record, how come you chose to release them on this album instead?

‘Christian and I had spent about 7 months working on the next Fear Factory record, and we were prepared to sign a new record deal and go on tour but Burton was not interested in doing anything with Fear Factory, so we then decided to take the songs somewhere else and do something else with them, which then turned out to be Arkaea.’

Where do you get the inspiration from for the music and lyrics? Does this differ from writing for Fear Factory?

‘It may sound kind of selfish, but my best inspiration over the last few years has really been myself, since I am constantly trying to outdo what I have done before and become a better song writer and overall drummer. The writing process was very similar to Fear Factory, and with most of the music that I write whether it be for other musical projects or with the video game music that my production company creates.’

I got the feeling after listening to the tracks on the record that you got a chance of experimenting a little bit more with Arkaea on this album then with either Threat Signal or Fear Factory. Am I correct?

‘We did feel that since this is a new project, there is a little bit of experimenting, But overall the album is still more geared as an Fear Factory record than anything else, since it started out that way.’

About your first single, Locust, why was this one chosen to be the first single? Any reason in particular?

‘We felt that Locust sets a great tempo for the album and is a great first track because of its speed and intensity. We also feel that Locust offers most of the aspects that Arkaea is all about.’

As I previously mentioned, two of you are part of Fear Factory. Looking back at the start of Fear Factory and the start of Arkaea now, are there any big differences? For example the opportunities you had back then and now? Or any other differences?

‘The greatest opportunity that we have with Arkaea is that we have built a name for ourselves now and have a head start, which we didn’t have with Fear Factory, since Fear Factory is what helped create who we are today. So this should be able to help kick start somewhat of a notoriety.’

For everyone who hasn’t checked out Arkaea yet, how would you describe yourselves?

‘I would describe ourselves as still heavy on the Fear Factory style but with some other ingredients blended with it. Expect a lot of melody, tightness and epicness.’

And why should they listen to you?

‘I would want people to listen to this album, so that they can hear what the next chapter is for Christian, Pat, Jon and myself. And if you are a fan of heavy music, you will not be disappointed.’

Are there any plans to come to Europe for a tour already?

‘Yes we plan to come to Europe later in the year, our booking agent is currently getting everything finalized.’

I’m sure there will be a lot of people anticipating that tour. What can we expect from Arkaea in the future?

‘We have a music video for Locust that has just been released, you can also expect a new video for the song Gone Tomorrow which will be released sometime in August as well as touring and lots of video content as we go on tour and write more music.’

Anything else you would like to say to our readers?

Raymond: ‘Yes I want to thank your readers for taking the time to read this interview and for getting acquainted with Arkaea.