Temujin (www.myspace.com/temujin1 ) is an awesome Australian Gothic Band. They have a cd out on Renaissance Records. Without giving too much away...read on......
Many people here in the UK would not have heard of you, although if I had my way that will change. Tell me a little about yourselves and how did you arrive at the name Temujin?, and bearing in mind you are from Australia, is the name kinda Aboriginal?
Temujin is the end result of a project that we began back in early 2005. Originally we simply set out to write and record a song or two for our own enjoyment. But once we started, the songs just kept coming. It just felt right to take this to the next step and record a full CD as a band.
The name Temujin is not Australian, it’s Mongolian – it’s the tribal birth name of Genghis Khan. The 2008 movie “Mongol” (good movie by the way!) tells the story of Temujin’s early years – if anyone is curious to know more about one of histories great figures.
Many people would not associate Australia with Gothic bands. What is the music scene like in Australia, particularly the Gothic Scene and the Femme Rock & Metal scene in general?
The world may not make the association, but that will hopefully change soon! The local scene is changing fast. The past 12 to 18 months has seen a growing number of local rock/metal/gothic bands with female members or singers. Overseas acts like Evanescence, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil and Leaves Eyes have toured and had success here, and it’s definitely having a ‘filter down’ effect. Our aim for 2009 is to be a (major) part of this growing scene.
Have you or Kelly been involved with any other musical projects that you would care to perhaps let us in on?
Kelly and I have vastly different backgrounds – I’ve been in numerous bands, mostly metal, over a number of years. Lots of gigs, recorded a few albums. I played bass on the original demo recordings for Australian Thrash Metal band 'Angel of Death' - that was a long time ago. For Kelly, Temujin is the first ‘serious’ musical endeavour.
Your debut cd '1000 Tears' is to my ears awesome. Can you tell me more about the songs on the record?
Thanks Dave … glad you like it! The 13 tracks are the result of about 2 and half years of writing and recording. We actually wrote about 25 songs, recorded about 20 of those, and mixed down 15. We then cut 2 tracks during the final mix and mastering sessions and ended up with the 13 songs that make up “1000 Tears”. The oldest track is (I think) the title track “1000 Tears”, and we wrote “All of You” in a few days during the final recording sessions.
And do you have any faves? and by and large how would you describe your sound?
Favourite tracks? It changes, but “Let You Go”, “Haunted” and “Heart and Soul” are the tracks I find myself coming back to more often that the others. Of course, there aren’t any tracks that I dislike – after all, why would we release a track if we didn’t enjoy it? As far as describing our sound, we are happy leaving that to others. We didn’t really have a clear target in mind when we started this – just wrote what we wanted to, and let the overall sound ‘emerge’ as we went along. Gothic Metal/Rock seems to be a label that both we and our fans are happy with, so that’s the simple tag we most often use.
Bearing in mind your cd is independently produced, was the recording process simple or did it give you major headaches?
There’s a reason why producers can command big dollars for their time – it can be a painstakingly slow task to refine a sound. As an indie band, we have to find that balance between quality and cost, and self-producing certainly kept the “money” cost down – but the “time” cost was pretty heavy! We’ve learned a lot from the recording of “1000 Tears”, but it certainly was a source of headaches!
I understand that there may be a second cd.
My motto is "If it ain't broken, why fix it?" So will the second cd follow a similar musical direction?
I don’t think there will be any major departures from the overall direction – keeping the blend of heavy and clean guitars, and layering Kelly’s distinctive vocals over the top is always going to be at the core of what we do. But having said that, we think we have continued to grow as writers and performers, and that the new material will reflect this. We want to follow a similar path to the first CD – write more tracks that we need, then refine and cut until we get the best track list possible.
I must congratulate you firstly on your recent deal with Renaissance, and Kelly's recent good news aswell. Will there be any plans to tour Temujin in due course?
Thanks, it certainly has been a big year in 2008. We’ve had to push back our live plans into 2009 now, and bring forward the recording. We expect to be able to return to live work early in 2009.
Having been an unsigned band and obviously with all the headaches of trying to get a deal, did the mood in the Temujin camp remain upbeat?
Remaining ‘upbeat’ has never been a problem. We write and play because we enjoy it – really enjoy it. Anything and everything else that might happen is a bonus, so being signed or unsigned isn’t central to the Temujin journey. That doesn’t mean we aren’t fighting for what we want though! Refuse to be Denied….
The female fronted rock/metal scene here in the UK could be stronger. What are your expectations of the rock/metal scene as a whole in Europe, the USA and indeed your homeland?
Metal will always be strong. There are just too many people who love their music with a hard edge, and too many bands finding new ways to play it. But Metal and Rock have certainly been a male-dominated music genre for a long time - I think that is finally changing. Perhaps the struggles of the established mainstream industry are helping to push this - after all, access to worldwide bands is far easier now that it's ever been. If bands like Nightwish, Within Temptation and Lacuna Coil can continue their success in the US then the growth of femme-metal is going to accelerate.
Musically and spiritually who/what are your inspirations?, and what sort of music do you listen too when you are chilling out?
We both spend a lot of time listening to Bad Religion and Disturbed. Not a lot of similarity between those two bands, and neither sound much like Temujin. But they both have a 'smart honesty' about them that we find compelling. We hope that we capture some of that essence in our writing. For me, I listen mostly to metal bands. From older bands like Anthrax through to Rammstein, and new acts like Otep. I do like Otep!
And what are your plans for the future?
For the rest of 2008, get stuck into the new material and get it recorded. There's a lot of good ideas floating around, and we need to get it down now! We have a video shoot booked in for early 2009, and after than we hope to get to the US (and if possible the UK) for some gigs.
Well good luck in all what you do, and all the best to Kelly again! Finally is there anything that you would like to say to anybody across the world via this website?
Thanks for the opportunity Dave - it's people like yourself that are making this journey so much more enjoyable. We appreciate the support, and all the best with Ravenheart. We also encourage anyone with an interest in Temujin to come join us on the web. You can find us at MySpace, Facebook, ReverbNation, Bebo, iLike, and last.FM (to name just the main ones). Talk to us ... we often talk back!
Dave Smith (Sep 25, 2008)