For those who didn’t already know, you will be very surprised to learn that Days Of Confusion will be taking their pedals off the metal and performing on acoustic instruments this Wednesday night in the Silver Church. It is a fascinating transformation for a hard-rock performance set which has opened for the likes of Queensryche (US) and Arch Enemy (SE). I wanted to torture these already-overworked friends of mine with an interrogation about their process.
This english interview is made to promote the band not only to our Romanian readers but world wide !
And so here it goes.
What are the songs on your setlist for electrified concerts?
We play 11 songs live from which 7 have been recorded in a studio.
Six songs were released on our EP Seeds in November 2012.
1. Meta
2. Seeds
3. Journey
4. Faceless
5. Grace
6. Walking in the dark
Our single Bloodstream was released in January 2014.
In addition to those we also have four new songs.
Which equipment do you use to play in those concerts?
We perform using Mesa Boogie amplifiers.
As for guitars we perform our music on the following:
1. Gibson Les Paul
2. Fender Telecaster
3. Ibanez baritone
4. Yamaha baritone
5. PRS Tremonti
6. PRS Paul Allender, and
7. PRS Mike Mushok baritone
And in terms of effects we use:
1. Delay Line 6 DL4,
2. Chorus Boss,
3. Overdrive MXR Zakk Wilde
What equipment did you use to write the songs in your setlist?
We record using the same equipment with which we also perform live.
Describe your songwriting process.
Normally we start off with a musical theme or guitar riff initiated by one of our members, which we build up together in the rehearsal space or in one of our home studios. It is quite rare that one of us comes up with a complete song. We usually work as a team.
Who are your favourite artists who initially performed electric but then successfully performed acoustically?
Plenty of our favourite artists who normally perform electric have also performed acoustic. Three come to mind right now:
Alice In Chains
Sevendust
Karnivool
What types of instruments will you play at the acoustic concert? Which brands and models of guitars?
Cosmin will play on a 1979 Yamaha FG365S, Cezar will play on his 1981 Fender and Dan will play a Takamine.
How will you convert compositions for baritone guitars to acoustic guitars?
It wasn’t too much of a fuss, to be honest – we had to adapt all the tonalities to two types of tuning (Drop C and D Standard) and everything went just smooth from there. As long as you respect the harmonic progressions and the main vocal lines, everything else can be changed beautifully – vocal harmonies, structures, additional melodies – that’s the whole fun with re-orchestration.
Will there be real drums performed in this acoustic concert?
But of course. We re-orchestrated all of the songs, including the drum lines.
Will you record and release the acoustic concert?
We don’t intend on releasing it as new audio. It won’t (yet) become an official Days of Confusion release. But the concert will be filmed and those videos will probably be released online.
Your songs contain a lot of short "digital" tones. Do acoustic guitars prevent you from playing notes quickly?
The songs have been re-engineered in such a way that they can be performed on acoustic guitars. Most of our electric guitar riffs are not present in the acoustic versions.
If most of your electric guitar riffs have been removed or replaced, I assume you have added some wicked $10-chords in the new versions. Which of your acoustic re-orchestrations make you most proud and why?
Each one has something special - it's very hard to choose ONE. We like each one for what it is - it's like you would be put in the situation of choosing between your kids.
Which re-orchestration required the most preparation from all of you?
The most difficult one is the one that we have come up for 'Grace' - it's pretty much the most challenging one, musically speaking and it also has a haunting, quasi dark feel.
Do you mechanically adjust your acoustic guitars? Drop tunings? Capos?
Since we’re dealing with only two types of tunings and maybe C# standard for one song only – the last song of the evening, everything is done manually.
Will you slow down the tempo of some songs?
Our songs have undergone substantial transformations on their way to becoming acoustic versions. Tonalities, harmonies, and grooves, as well as tempos, have all been updated for acoustic performance.
Will you use effects on your acoustic guitars?
In order to enhance the warmth of our sound, we will use a little bit of reverb.
In the future will you compose certain songs acoustically without having equivalent electric versions?
For certain – Cosmin, Cezar and dare we say Andrei, the bass player, are big time acoustic music fans and we have slowly drawn Dan into it as well, so most likely we will write acoustic music in the future.
Will you present new songs at the acoustic concert on December 10, 2014?
The songs presented will be old songs from the ‘Seeds’ EP – to be frank, we have been waiting a long time for such a nice opportunity, as these acoustic versions were already sketched out since 2011. Finishing them and playing them live was only a matter of time and focus.
Which is more difficult? Writing brand new material or re-arranging material for acoustic performances?
Writing brand new material, for certain. A good song, is a good song no matter what sort of ‘clothing’ it might have on. Electric/acoustic/acapella – you name it. It will inspire you to give it as many faces as you want. But creating something from scratch is ALWAYS the more challenging thing.
It is a gutsy move for any band to suddenly cloak their material in new instrumentation. Translating both the melodic and the emotional spectra from stacked amplifiers to living room intimacy is a transformational experiment.
You are encouraged to witness this experiment live on
Wednesday night at 8pm.
At your favourite haunt,
The Silver Church on Calea Plevnei nr. 61 in Sector 1 of Bucharest.
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