Landskap is the outfit
with quite a notable lineup. Frédéric Caure played in a dozen of
bands including Bellator, Bunkur,
Pantheist, Serpentcult and few more pretty extreme outfits; he’s
responsible for bass and rhythm guitars here. Paul Westwood is the
member of active atmospheric black metal / post-rock band Fen, he’s
the drummer in Landskap. Guitarist George Pan came from unknown for
me Dead Man’s Band and Father Sun. Kostas Panagiotou plays keyboards
and organ, he does the same and also sing in Pantheist since 2000,
now he’s also part of international project Clouds – I believe
that you heard of them. And Landskap vocalist Jake Harding spent some
time with Centurion Ghost and Dead Existence.
So you see that sort of
company we have here. But I bet that you couldn’t predict that
these five people are here to play good and old retro doom rock with
lots of psychedelic and prog rock pieces. The band have released two
full-length records named just “I” and “II” and already
finished the third album as the second one is to be re-released by
Black Widow Records. Kostas Panagiotu is the one who reveals past and
future secrets of Landskap.
Hi
Kostas! How are you? I usually start with the question about band's
current status, but this time I just wonder how did you get in
Landskap?!
Hailz
Aleksey! Well this is an interesting story …I got in Landskap when
Frederic asked me to join. He was the original bassist of this band,
but has now moved to Devon to start his own brewery (Stargazer
brewery…check it out if you like good beer, you can’t go wrong
with a Belgian in an English brewery!) Anyhow, we digress; you might
know Frederic better as the bassist of Pantheist in the ‘O
Solitude’ era…he was also the main organizer of the first funeral
doom tour ever, the ‘Funeral Procession’ tour back in 2003
(Skepticism, Pantheist, Until Death Overtakes Me). He moved to
England from Belgium a few years after I did, it really is a small
world.
Landskap is five
musicians with experience of playing in different metal bands, how
did the fate gather you under Landskap banner?
Most of us knew each
other anyway, London might be big but the scene is rather small. I
knew drummer Paul from Fen, Frederic was obviously also known to me.
George moved from Athens to London –like so many young Greeks
nowadays to flee the economic crisis. Jake only joined later. We now
have another bassist called Chris, and sadly Paul decided to move to
Scotland and quit drumming in April, so we are just playing one more
show with him before welcoming a new drummer.
Band's name was
invented by Frédéric, and it is translated as “landscape” from
West Flemish. What did you put in this word? What would you like to
bring forth your listeners through it?
First of course it
reflects Fred’s background and place he grew up, West Flanders;
however, for me it signifies much more. Our music has long-stretched
out sections, often instrumental, with plenty of repetition that
brings the listener in a certain mood. I like to see these sections
as musical ‘landscapes’: vast, long but also breathtaking and
beautiful!
The band paves
the road of vintage progressive doom rock if you don't mind against
such definition. Do you have a main ideologist of this direction in
the band? I'm asking because I remember that last works of Pantheist
have a huge prog influences, so what is your part into it?
The
band’s sound was developed after a year’s worth of jamming
between George, Frederic and Paul so I don’t have much to do with
setting the general philosophy, as it was already there when I
joined. The main idea is to play music reflecting our favourite
progressive/psychedelic era (late 60ties/early 70ties), but without
trying too hard to sound ‘retro’.
Landskap – Tomorrow’s
Ghost
What do you think
about doom metal elements people hear in Landskap? Do you agree that
you have some components of it?
Yes,
I’m quite comfortable with people hearing doom elements in our
music. I guess if this wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t be playing at
the Doom Over London festival soon! At the same time however, it’s
clear that our music has much more to offer; a bit of classic rock, a
bit of psychedelia, a tiny bit of prog, blues, jazz and some
metal…despite people’s attempts of lumping us together with other
bands in categories such as ‘occult rock’ or ‘retro rock’, I
don’t think we are that easy to pigeonhole after all.
Kostas you did
start play music (correct if I’m wrong) in more brutal genre, there
weren’t any hints of old school rock in earlier albums of your
first band Pantheist. How did you become acquainted with prog and
psych rock? And how did you know that it’s time to say your own
word in this genre?
I
always liked progressive and psych rock, way before Pantheist was
even formed. In fact, I never was a ‘metalhead’, I went straight
from the likes of Pink Floyd, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin
and Black Sabbath to Moonspell, Tiamat and Anathema, without the
obligatory thrash and heavy metal period in between. As for early
Pantheist, I can’t really say it was that brutal, as there were a
lot of ambient and classical elements in my music. I am a keyboard
player after all, so I perceive music and composition very
differently than most metal and rock writers/composers, who are
usually guitarists, or think like guitarists ;)
How
do you share your inputs and efforts in Landskap? Will you add
elements of rembetico in it as it was with your "Journey Through
Lands Unknown"?
No I
won’t, as said above the band already had a clear identity when I
joined and I am just adding my own contribution in the way that I see
fit. This means a lot of Hammond organs and keyboard instrumentation
that has been used by many of my favourite bands of that era. Most
ideas come from our guitarist George, but I think what makes Landskap
special is the way in which our playing comes together to create that
‘live’, jammy feel without descending into endless solos and acid
freakouts, as the tracks are well-structured and rather memorable.
Kostas, do you
miss Greece? What do you miss in London?
I
was 11 when I left Greece and even though I still go there every year
on holidays, I can’t say I am missing it as I was too young when I
left. I like the weather, the nature and the social nature of human
interaction, but there are also many things about Greece I just
wouldn’t be able to get used to. As for London, luckily I only
lived there for 1 year. I hated that lifestyle, always centered
around money as everything is so expensive and life is hectic, bah! I
am much happier living outside of London but unfortunately still in
the South East of England which is busy and overcrowded. I will be
looking forward to move to the South West of England over the next
three years, where things are a bit quieter.
The first
Landskap album "I" was released only on vinyl - speaking
about physical format; didn't you find some label to do a CD-edition
as well?
We
never looked out for it. We consider ourselves as a ‘vinyl’ band
mostly and consider CD releases as ‘bonus’. Black Widow really
wanted to have a CD release of II so in the end we consented, as long
as they released the album on vinyl as well. But all our albums so
far have been created with a ‘vinyl mentality’; the length, the
order of the tracks and even the choice of tracks to open Side A and
Side B are all adjusted to the vinyl format. For me personally, a
combination of digital mp3 and vinyl is the way. The first is the
easiest format to use and offers instant access, the second the
nicest in terms of packaging and creates that wonderful feel of
anticipation and wonder, just like back in the times when each
individual album was important, rather than people shuffling through
their iTunes library.
Besides that your
sophomore work "II" exists only as digital release since it
was recorded in 2014. I heard that Italian Black Widow Records put
their eyes on it. Is it correct information?
As
stated above, Black Widow have already released the album on CD and
vinyl since the end of last year.
Landskap – To Harvest
The Storm
You
recorded both albums in Greg Chandler Priory Studio. I was thinking
that in general he works with heavier and more brutal bands - just
like Chris Fielding of Whitby Studios / Foel Studio who works with
more traditional doom stuff. So how did you work with Greg over the
sound you needed to gain?
Most
of us had worked with Greg before anyway so we knew what to expect.
Greg actually works with a wide range of bands and not just brutal
metal, he is a proper professional studio engineer. I have previously
mixed the second album of my darkwave project Ereipia with him, as
well as my ambient project Sermones Ad Mortuos, so I knew that he
does an equally good job with non metal releases. He likes the music
of Landskap and has helped us to achieve exactly the sound we wanted
for our albums.
“II”
and “I” have not many differences as it seems from the first
glance, did you record both albums the same way and with same
intentions?
I
would argue that there are significant differences; the first album
is ‘simpler’ in its structure, and has more of a ‘doom’ feel
to it. We recorded it in one day in the studio and had to add a lot
of extras afterwards, such as the vocals, the bass and some guitar
solos. The second is more varied, with all musicians having stepped
up. Also for me personally, there was a significant difference as the
Roland Fantom I was using for the keyboard sounds on I was not
satisfactory, so it was mixed rather low in the mix. However, I then
went out and bought a V-Combo VR 700 which has an amazing Hammond
sound, which helped me find my place within the band.
Kostas,
you’re speaking like zealous keyboard fan! Can you tell about your
requirements to the equipment you use?
Certainly;
hardware wise, I'm mostly used to the sound of Roland synthesizers,
even though I used to own a Korg at some point in the past as well.
Generally speaking, I try to adapt my sound to the band/project I am
in, and because I like to try very diverse things musically, I also
end up using keyboards very differently from band to band. E.g. in
Pantheist keyboards are integral to the sound and I am using a lot of
grand pianos, church organs and majestic orchestral sounds to create
that ‘funereal vibe’. At the same time, more proggy sounds were
introduced gradually, even though with the latest album I have
adopted again a more ‘purist’ approach.
Landskap
on the other side is very different. I use mostly vintage sounding
Hammond with 70ties built-in amps, and electric piano sounds. As said
above, the V-Combo is ideal for that, but I also use the same
synthesizer in Pantheist very differently (no Hammond sounds, but I
use its dark wave sounds which are pretty amazing). The Fantom is
mostly used in Pantheist to give an extra spatial dimension to the
music, it’s a keyboard that can sound very dark and atmospheric,
and it also has a user friendly sampler. I have also used a lot of
soft synths in Pantheist (and session/project work), even though once
again this is avoided on the album we are currently working.
Landskap music
holds a lot of progressive rock elements, and prog is the genre where
keyboard play one of main roles. What is your part during composing
and recording stages?
I see my role very
similarly to what I was doing when I used to play in Crippled Black
Phoenix. Even though I am not the main composer, I add a lot to the
arrangements of the tracks. My favourite approach is to add little
‘riffs’ and ‘melodies’ in the tracks that compete and duel
with the guitars. I am also not afraid to hold low, sustained doomy
notes that can give more heaviness and depth to the compositions.
You
already have work over new songs for the album “III”, can you
share some details of new material? What would you like to put into
it?
Yes, the album has
already been recorded at the end of February, once again with Greg,
and is currently in the process of being mastered at Audiosiege
mastering studio. It will be –predictably- called III and is
marking the end of some sort of trilogy if you like, as there is a
feeling with the line-up changes we are having since Fred and now
Paul left, that we are entering a new era. It has by far the best
sound yet and the tracks are very varied, and perhaps slightly more
uptempo even though there are still plenty of ‘downtempo’
moments. I believe it is our best album yet, but then again I would
say that, wouldn’t I?
There
is a lot of bands play in retro manner today, and a lot of listeners
follow them as the world around us seem to be impossible to give a
place for these feelings and vibrations this music brings. For
example prog rock is something idealistic in some way, and it barely
could be a product of our surrounding. How do you see this return of
music scene on old ways?
I
know there are many bands nowadays jumping on the ‘retro’
bandwagon, but I think there is something innocent about the music of
the era we are exploring. It was a time when bands didn’t think too
much, they just went ahead and recorded whatever they felt reflected
their musical tastes. Nowadays everything needs to fit in a category,
a sub-subgenre and people are much more concerned with classifying
music, but for me personally the appeal of this ‘old’ music is
that it sounds spontaneous, unpredictable and honest, without trying
too hard to be something in particular.
Kostas, the last
record of Pantheist was released about five years ago, what’s the
band’s status today?
We
just played a gig in Edinburgh last weekend, and we play at the Doom
Over London festival at the end of this month (where I also play with
Landskap, that will be interesting!) Last year we played our first
gig in 2 years when we performed at Doom Over Kiev in November. After
the self-titled album, the line-up of the band totally changed and
currently I’m the only surviving member of that era. Therefore, it
shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that we had to restart with
the new line-up, initiating the composition of the fifth album from
scratch. The idea is to have it released by autumn of this year.
I guess that
Pantheist’s message changed through the years from album to album;
what is Pantheist today for you?
I
guess it has become more of a collective and less ‘my band’. The
new material is very brutal and heavy, bathing in a suffocating
funereal atmosphere, as was witnessed at our performance at Doom Over
Kiev. There is also a concept story behind the new album, which will
be published soon with its own soundtrack, so at least the
‘conceptual’ side of the band is still what it was: multi-layered
and unpredictable.
And
besides that you also took part in Clouds album “Doliu”, will
this project have a continuation?
I’m sure it will, but
I guess this is a question to ask Dan as I’m just a contributor to
this project. As far as I know, Dan and Jarno are currently working
on the second album.
Thanks for your
time Kostas! I wish you all the best in your creative undertakings
and I hope that will have a chance to discuss your new works pretty
soon. Do you have few more words for our readers?
Thanks for another
interesting and well conceived interview Aleksey. Hailz to your
readers, open your minds and close your doors!
Words by Aleks Evdokimov and Kostas Panagiotou
Links:
