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You can certainly say a lot about the Metal scene and especially the Power Metal scene, but there is really no shortage of bands with any (fantasy) concepts. So it’s refreshing to meet a band that has come up with something completely new. TERRA ATLANTICA combine fantastic stories with a touch of maritime flair and delighted the audience at the Helmfest. Read now in the interview, where their ideas come from, what they wish for their future and how international their fan base is.
Huge thanks to lightinmirror.de for the wonderful pictures!
Shieldmaiden’s Voice: If you had to describe your musical style, which would you choose?
Nico Hauschildt: Power Metal!
SV: Those are two words!
Tristan Harders: I’d say „adventurous“ too.
SV: „Adventurous Power Metal“ then?
[General agreement from the band members]
SV: Are there songs, albums or artists that mainly influenced you and your music?
Tristan: RHAPSODY, EDGUY, AVANTASIA, even though it’s basically the same as EDGUY and GLORYHAMMER too.
SV: I think you sound a bit like FREEDOM CALL…
Tristan: Yes, a lot of people say that! But we wouldn’t count that to our influences.
SV: What are your inspirations in general when you’re writing music?
Tristan: I’d say that I already answered that question…
SV: But you already released several albums with different themes, of which I would now like to know how you came up with them.
Dawid Wieczorek: Tristan dreamed the album. No joke!
Tristan: That’s right. The theme is similar in itself. It’s about a fictional world in which Atlantis is resurrected and this story runs through all three albums. You can also read the story on our website!
I write most of the songs myself and most of the time they are emotional stories. They have just been reworked a bit and made into fantasy stories.
SV: What prompted you to say, „We’re going to go out and do a little story time with people!“?
Tristan: I’m a big fan of concept albums. I especially like the albums that have a story running through them, so it’s all connected somehow. I also enjoy the drama of these albums!
Nico: Since we come from the coast and from Hamburg, it’s kind of obvious that we do something nautical. With the concept of what we had in mind, there was no band yet, so you could combine these nautical aspects with the fantastical very well.
SV: Your album Beyond the Borders had a higher orchestral portion than its predecessors. Aren’t you afraid that you sound too soft for a metal band?
Tristan: We have often been accused of being too soft, and when we play at festivals, there are a lot of Death Metal bands playing there, and they certainly laugh at us a bit. But we don’t care about that at all.
Dawid: The fans certainly don’t care. Some even came from France today!
Nico: If you got rid of the orchestral parts, it would be pretty much classic Power Metal.
Julian Prüfer: We just make the kind of music that we would like to hear ourselves!
Tristan: The orchestral parts are important for the emotions, they would not be there otherwise.
SV: Why should the people listen to you and come to your gigs?
Nico: I think we are different from many other Power Metal bands in that we try to be catchy, but still want to break up the old well-known structures a bit. Despite everything, however, we keep the mood factor. People can always sing along with us as much as they want!
Dawid: But we also have a lot of fun live! We are always told that we really rock out live and are still authentic.
SV: Where do you see yourselves in five to ten years?
Dawid: Obvious: Opener for METALLICA! [we laugh]
Tristan: Our goal is to play at bigger festivals soon, if we can. The Rockharz would be a good destination, for example. If it’s possible, we also want to release a new album next year. The last album went pretty well and we would like to build on that. This year we were also on tour with GRAILKNIGHTS and VICTORIUS, which was a lot of fun and we would like to do that again! Maybe with other bands as well. If anyone out there is still looking for a band to tour with, we’d be up for it!
Nico: I think I speak for everyone when I say that we think it’s cool when we play in front of bands that we like to listen to ourselves. Playing in front of FIREWIND today was really awesome! Often the music styles are similar and so we can win new fans.
SV: What is the best way to support you with that?
Tristan: You can definitely buy our albums online or our merch in general. You can suggest us at festivals, you can recommend us, stream us or just listen to us in general and follow us on social media. The latter helps our reach tremendously! We also had the last album supported by crowdfunding, which worked quite well, but we don’t know yet if we’ll do it that way again. If we do, that would be a good way to support us as well!
SV: If you could wish for something in your future, what would it be?
Tristan: Become famous! [laughs]
Nico: Play Wacken or Rockharz…
Dawid: Playing a European Tour!
Tristan: To become more known in general is, I think, an important goal for us and playing bigger festivals would be enough for me for now!
SV: If you could send a message to the fans you have, who obviously travel a long way for you, what would it be?
Tristan: I would like to thank the fans who travel these distances to see us. Last year we also had some from Finland, today there were some from France and for our next gig they already told me that there will be fans from Mexico! I am very impressed! Thank you so much for supporting us like this!
You can only like such a likeable band! If you also want to support them, then listen to them and recommend them to others if you like the music. If you don’t like the music, then just recommend them to people you don’t like! Another interview from Helmfest is still in the pipeline, so stay tuned!
Shieldmaiden's Voice 