1. Introduce
yourself and your band and tell us why we should listen to you.
Hi Metal Coffee PR and thanks for
having us
I am George Topor, founding member and
guitarist for London based metal band Tableau Mort. I’ve started to
write music for Tableau Mort in early 2017 on my own, as a solo
project. Towards the end of the same year, George Bratosin – drums,
Cristin Giurgiu – guitar and Radu Vulpe – guitar joined and
Tableau Mort started to take shape. 2018 was a difficult year for us,
with various line-up changes that affected the release of our debut
album which was originally scheduled for November ’18. Most of the
material for the debut album was recorded between June and September
2018. With the addition of Marek Basista bass and James Andrews on
vocals, the line-up was completed and we’ve managed to add the last
touches to the album early this year.
You should listen to us as we are one
of those band that stand out of the crowd. Our music is primarily
black metal however I can honestly say, we don’t sound like any
other band in particular. We have added all sort of flavours to our
music that makes it different. There are not too many black metal
bands with 3 guitarists, or playing 8 string guitars. There is also
no black metal bands I know of, to incorporate bass drops in their
music. Orthodox Church elements are also a novelty as it is more or
less an unexplored territory, only a handful of bands touching the
subject at the moment.
2. What do you
classify your sound as, who do you tell people you sound like?
I prefer to keep it simple – black
metal. I am not really a fan of sub –genre and sub – sub –
genre labelling, however everyone’s free to label us as whatever
they wish if that makes them happier. To us, the music itself is more
important and when we write music we don’t think about genres,
labelling and what fits within a certain genre and what doesn’t.
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, I don’t
think we sound like any other bands but again, the listeners will
have the final say. Of course, you will find all kind of influences
in our music as in 2019 is extremely difficult to be 100% original,
but I would like to believe we are as original as we can be
3. With digital
music in today's world would you vote to keep or eliminate physical
media?
Well, personally I am a huge fan of
technology, gadgets etc. so I prefer the digital releases. Al the
music I’m listening to is on digital format, I do not own any CDs,
tapes, vinyls etc. On the other hand, the metal fans in general
prefer physical media. That being said, I would vote to keep both so
everyone’s satisfied.
4. What is the
reason you decided to be a musician and has that reason paid off?
This is a difficult one as I’ve never
thought about this before.
There were two separate episodes in my
career so two separate reasons why I wanted to make music.
In 1990, after the revolution, there
was an invasion of modern music in Romania, where I grew up. A
country that barely had any music up till that point, was suddenly
flooded with music coming from the west, in all its forms: pop,
disco, rock, metal….and I’ve started to listen to everything as
it was all so new, fresh and fascinating. At the time I was seeing
all those artists like gods, unreachable, untouchable and that made
the whole thing even more fascinating. Pretty much around the same
time, local metal bands started to appear but because the concerts
were so rare those people in the local bands were seen like some sort
of demi-gods too. ….And that’s what I liked, I wanted to be like
them, so in 1992 I auditioned for a semi-established local band as a
vocalist and the next minute I was in the band. While in the band, I
have started to take guitar lessons from the band’s guitarist,
eventually becoming a guitarist myself. It paid off for a while as I
started to play gigs and get a lot of attention, however it was
extremely difficult because we were playing on homemade instruments,
amps, pedals etc. and that was extremely frustrating eventually
leading to the end of my music career in 1997.
20 years later, in 2017 I decided to
pick my guitar again and start writing the album that I always wanted
to listen to but no one released. So this is where I am, releasing my
first album with Tableau Mort. We’ll see if that pays off
5. How do you
feel about females in metal getting special attention? Do you feel it
is fair?
I didn’t even notice that females in
metal are getting special attention. I’ve read a few articles
recently about the term “Female fronted band” and I assume that’s
what you are referring to. I know that quite a few female band
members got offended by this term but I don’t think the use of it
is intended to be discriminatory. Bands like Nightwish and Within
Temptation for example have a lot of fans who are also looking to
discover more bands in that vein, and articles that use the term
“female fronted band” helps them reach those bands
easier…..personal opinion
6. In the world
climate with hatred being at an all-time high and metal being an
“angry” music
I think punk and hardcore, maybe thrash
metal have more to do with the world climate, hatred, politics, etc.
and I don’t know whether these factors are related to the
aggressivity of the music or not. Our music is definitely not
influenced by any of these
7. Are you
opposed to religious beliefs or politics being used in music?
No, not at all. Our music and lyrics
are inspired from the eastern orthodoxy. Music is a form of art and
has to be treated as such.
8. We have dive
into some pretty deep issues here do you think your music sends a
message and if so what is it?
Our music sends a message for sure, but
we chose to leave it open ended so the listeners take whatever they
want out of it. Makes it more interesting.
9. The market has
changed and many bands believe that record labels are a thing of the
past, with many labels now charging bands to “sign” how do you
think a band can make it in today’s scene?
This is a very good question. First of
all, I don’t think the record labels are a thing of the past. The
musicians should focus on writing and playing music while the labels
should be taking care of all the other things. Labels in general have
all the contacts and tools to promote a band.
Until signing with Loud Rage Music a
month ago, we were an unsigned band and we contacted or have been
contacted by a lot of record labels. Quite a few of them were
asking for money to get us signed. I advise all the bands that are
looking for a label to stay away from these fake “labels”. A
record label is a business that invests in artists they believe in
and push to promote those artists in order to bring revenue to their
business. That works perfectly for both parties as the artist gets
exposure and money and same for the label.
These scam “
labels” are asking the artist for a
fix amount of money and for that money they commit to do certain
things…..sounds ok until they find the next artist and they will
forget completely about promoting you ….they’ve taken your money
already and they have no more interest.
10. Why
with the thousands of options including netflix , sporting events
everything on demand, do you think people should take the time to
listen to what you have to say in your music?
People who love their music will always
find time to listen to the stuff they like . I am a huge music fan
myself and between TV series, Netflix, job, rehearsals, family, I
still find time to listen to music. Now, why our music ? Because it's
special. If I didn't believe music's special, I wouldn't do it.
11. How do you
feel about pay to play? Do you think it is fair for a band to have to
pay money to play?
In my opinion this is completely wrong
and I would never pay to play, but at the end of the day everyone’s
free to do whatever they want. I know a lot of bands doing that
12. It is fact
that you are the talent and the entertainment explain what you think
is the most important key to success?
Hard work, perseverance and a bit of
luck
13. In country
music and even in some cases rock music is written and performed by
different people would your band perform a song written by someone
else?
Playing or recording a cover version of
a song you like is perfectly fine, however it is not something we
would do. At least, not at the moment. But I’ve never understood
the idea of being in a covers band, or even worse… in a tribute
band, but hey, there is public for that, hence the bands
14. If you are
pro female in music are you pro using sex to sell your music?
Why not? Sex sells
15. What is your
view on the lawsuits against people saying lewd or unprofessional
things to women or men and how does that affect an art described as
sex drugs and rock n roll ?
What a delicate question. Everything’s
about being PC these days. There’s always someone to get offended
by something someone else have said or done. It’s a trend
16. Ok let’s
lighten up a bit. What is your favourite band of all time and why?
I’m listening to a lot of music and I
keep discovering new bands every day, so I can’t say a have an
all-time favourite. It’s difficult as most of the bands have one or
two good albums and the rest are just average. However a have a
favourite album of all time and that’s : Covenant – Nexus
Polaris. What a masterpiece!!!* great album!!
17. What would you be doing if you were
not in a band?
I am doing other things in parallel
anyway, so I would probably be doing the same things
18. Do you have
a favourite sports team?
I’m not into sports, sorry
19. If you could
get on stage with anyone dead or alive who would it be?
Leonard Cohen
20. This is your
shot to let loose, Throw down your biggest complaint about the music
biz
As I’ve mentioned earlier: pay to get
signed or pay to play
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