What was the beginning point for your music career? How did it all start?
Ryan : 1988! Yup. This was where I listened to Iron Maiden’s 7th Son of a 7th Son album, started air guitar and never looked back. My first live show was in 1997/98, and it’s been going on now for almost 30 years. I had a college band and so on, but started getting serious with Az-rael and followed by Bhelliom,Fen-rir and finally Deus Ex Machina. Each band released a demo / album
Was there any bumps on the road? What kind of challenges did you have to deal with?
Ryan : People mostly and alcohol. There was a period where my drinking was a problem both on and off stage. The people part is not a bad thing. Members come and go, and that’s totally fine.
Some challenges we’ve had are looking for shows outside of Singapore. Even with the Internet, it’s pretty tough since we’re not a massively famous name. We’ve done great shows in Australia and the region though. Even playing here in Singapore is tough due to the “bad name” metal is associated with. Venues don’t always open for us, and the infamous Watain incident did not help either
What was the most fulfilling and satisfying moment so far?
Ryan: Every release we’ve done. It just feels great to know it’s done. The anticipation is huge even now especially when mixing is on going and we have no idea what it will sound like. And then there’s the release – which is just as exciting and fulfilling
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Ryan: Its a mix of melodic death metal, with thrash and progressive rock elements. The band as a unit is influenced by array of genres so we try to add those to our music as much as possible.
What is your creative process like?
Ryan: Generally it’s the usual “I have this riff or beat” approach, but as we start building the music up, the themes start falling into place. The exception is with I, Human – our last record. I had this idea to take Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot nook,and turn that into a story line. The difference is we took the idea of being the clone and looking through their eyes. The idea took off well. The current album ||| – is not truly thematic, but we still play on the current issues such as suicide, paedophilia and the current state of the world.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Ryan : The view on music as a general. Computers are everywhere now, and we use that for the entire recording process. It’s efficient. But there are many “talented” mainstream artists who can barely sing, write or perform without minus one’s. There are Dj’s who will not perform if their USB stick is missing. I mean you have a station to work on, so why not literally mix live?
The current Cancel Culture movement does not help either. I recently heard about the move to cancel that Christmas track “Baby it’s cold outside” because of toxic masculinity ( whatever that means), but a song about slamming wet pussy is allowed on the radio.
If you were asked to give a piece of advice to upcoming bands, what would that be?
Ryan :Don’t give up, practice and share your music as much as you can. Go watch other bands and learn from them
What has been the best performance of your career so far?
Ryan: That would be in Adelaide , The Cavern Bar back in 2011 during the Australia tour. End to end it was a perfect set.
If you didn’t become a musician, what would you be doing now?
Ryan: Exactly what I am doing now . Lol. I’m in technology, although I may have opted to being a Chef at some point
What is new with the band at the moment? What are you currently working on and would like to share with the world?
We do have something awesome coming up later this year, but we’ll keep it mum till everything is confirmed. We’re starting to write new music, and looking at some shows in the region as well. We’re hoping for some EU shows in the year if that happens. Yeah, so keep an eye out on Facebook, bandcamp, spotify , instagram etc for news.
Thanks again for the interview!
