KROKUS Singer Offers Songwriting Update

KROKUS frontman Marc Storace has posted a lengthy update on his web site on the songwriting sessions for the group's new studio album, tentatively due in early 2005. The message reads as follows:

"For the first time since the 'Rock the Block' writing period for KROKUS (2002) and the 'Wars Of Gods And Men' writing period that followed for WARRIOR (2003) I`ve again had my head buried under a big pile of new and unfinished song material … and what an exciting pile it is!!!

"A few months ago I returned to my home outside the Medieval City of Basel on the Rhine from Soundlake Studio in Lausanne, situated on Lake Geneva. This was directly after the first exciting 'listening session' with all the current KROKUS bandmembers and our manager Reto Lazzarotto.

"Obviously, most singers have their vocal and lyrical ideas already recorded on most songs they deliver, but this was intentionally not the case with songs coming from my collegues in the band. I'm happy about it because it's easier and more exciting for a singer to express ideas coming directly from their own heart and soul, as opposed to words from someone else's life experiences or their indirect imagination. This tripled my workload, of course, but it's what I love doing most, and so I pulled up my socks, pulled down the blinds and got down to serious work.

"After two more 'listening sessions,' I ended up buried under a fresh pile of newly composed material which I'll very soon have finished digging my way out of … in stops and starts! Luckily, the music is exciting and very inspiring for me and my creative flow has not let me down.

"Some friends have asked why I'm walking around with my 'head in the clouds,' but they also know that's the normal me whenever I get some crazy idea buzzing inside my head … it's like I'm switched on to 'auto-search!' This time the music came from every individual bandmember and I now realize the huge creative potential we're all sitting on. It's really great to know!!

"The majority of new songs are now ready for listening, although they are still in very raw form. What's important in the very initial stage of the songwriting period is for one to capture the seed of every new idea by getting it recorded as soon as possible and without technical delays. Some good ideas can get lost forever in eternity after the interruption by the shortest phone call. So the sooner you get it down the quicker you create fresh space in your mind for the next step forward and so on. Re-energised you start playing and singing again letting inspiration pour down your creative channels like shooting stars on a warm summer night. All you really need for this stage is a basic drum-machine to program the rhythms and your preferred instrument for chords and then you build up from there with arrangement etc. Main thing is to capture the core … or the spirit of what you want to express, on memory first, and then just let it flow. Singers can start with the vocal melody for example … whatever's quickest!

"Soon we shall need to decide which songs we'd like to go on the next album and that won't be an easy task, I assure you. We shall then hopefully meet as a playing band again to jam out the songs before going in for 'real takes' in the recording studio. I find this to be the best pre-production approach because after every long songwriting session, bands tend to drift apart into their individual creative worlds, unless they can play a few live gigs in between. 'Rock the Block' is a perfect good example. We were already in the studio but took breaks to play some big Swiss festivals. Jamming out the new songs not only re-awakens the 'band spirit' but automatically helps to cut out any trash that should not go into the studio. We also used this same working process most successfully whilst working on our 'Headhunter' album back in late 1982 in good 'ole US of A. Apart from helping the band give great studio performances we also cut down on some costly studio hours.

"So now you know what's been happening behind the scenes. Please bear with us for the delay and remember that we too are looking forward to bring you the 'new musical outcome of our labours' in early 2005. In the meantime, enjoy Autumn / the Fall and keep the faith."