Interviu: Asis Nasseri (Haggard)

Duminica ne-am intalnit cu Asis. Voiam sa-l intrebam cate-n luna lui Galilei si-n stelele lui Nostradamus, n-am avut timp sa facem toate astea, dar tot ne-a placut sa-l auzim vorbind cu atata patos despre placerea comunicarii cu fanii lor si despre complexul proces al compozitiilor sale:



(taking out my camera) If you don't mind, I'll be clicking around for a short while :)

Canon?

Yes.

350? I also had it. Totally great. Great quality for the amount of money. I remember it was hard for me to buy one. It cost around 700 eur - 1400 DM, pretty expensive at the time. It was cool. I liked it a lot. So let's start.

We saw the concert last night - what was your first impression of the public here?

We were overwhelmed and I know the audience did see this on our faces. When I'm on stage and something like that happens, I cannot hide my feelings. I'm very happy and of course the musicians did smile a lot, they were happy and overwhelmed and of course we did hope that people would like it but we did not expect this. I'm happy that everything went good because we canceled the concert in Sibiu last year...


That was such a shame. We know the reasons and everything, but you really must come again, this time to Sibiu, it's a beautiful medieval city...

Of course we will, we saw the pictures and for me it was a hard decision not to come. It would have been somehow possible to come then, there's a way to play only with the guitar, but it would have been only 70% and I don't play under 100% because the fans pay for it, they want to see Haggard, they listen to the music and they want to have a piano there.


For example, we have 3 violins - I can play with two, I can also play with one, like yesterday, fits perfect, but the piano is elementary, it's one of the basic instruments.


... And few bands use a piano, it's like a trademark for you.

Yes, and well, he's a trained piano player and ofc I appreciate that and I let that influence Haggard, I put his abilities into Haggard, so it's very difficult to find one that is also good and can play with the band - this is another thing. There are a lot of piano players but you know, they never did play with a band, they played their songs, with an orchestra, but to play with a band, that's different.

We want to play there and I will do everything possible to play in Sibiu and we will come I think in autumn with the new material, Tales of Ithiria, because this time we have the old material. On the new one there will be more musicians - there will also be a horn and a harp and flute - it will be more orchestral, I want to bring more musicians and we want to do it in autumn and hopefully will come back here.

I want to, it's not that I don't - I've been in contact with Romanian fans for 5 or 6 years, since Awaking the Centuries. I know we have a lot of Romanian fans, it's not like I come here and say "Wow, in Romania, I did not expect because I didn't know" - ofc I know there are fans, but there's always a question of how to come - we need flights, we need this and that, we need hotels, and then some concert promoters in some countries they say "yes, the fans want to see you but, oh, it's hard for us to get you here..."



The concert tonight, in Preoteasa,  was quite a surprise when it was announced. How did that happen so unexpectedly?

Well the guys from Artmania called me and said there will be a chance for a second concert, and I was also happy to come here at last. For me as a composer it's very important to be clear and to speak directly to the people.

There were some rumors that we were not coming, that we did not get enough money, that we don't want to play in Romania because of personal reasons, blah-blah. It's all crap. It was because of the piano player - I also send a video in which I explained this to the fans. You cannot prevent the people from spreading stupid rumors. I also wanted to come here to speak up and explain why this had happened. It doesn't matter if it's Germany, Mexico or Romania, all the fans in the world are equally important.
I'm very conscious that the success of a band is nothing without the fans. It was very hard for me because people were sending me emails - "hey, I heard you were not coming because of this and that" and when they asked for the second concert here I said I'll have to call my musicians, they all said "yes, ofc we will, I have to work on Monday but I will cancel that", and they were calling at work - orchestras and studios and said OK, we're coming here, we're doing the second concert. If it would've been a third concert also, if this would be possible, we would also play for a third time.


Speaking of the members of the band, do you find it hard to compose for such a large and not heterogeneous group of instruments?

I have to say that for me it's not hard - it's hard only to be satisfied with my compositions. But it's not like I think, "aaah, there's a cello line, ah, what can I do, I try this and that..." I'm composing in my head, I can do it without a guitar, I don't play well in cello and flute, I imagine a part, the drums, the guitars and how the classicals can sound. Sometimes I also have parts in my head where I hear 3 instruments and it's hard to separate them in my brain and see what is the violin playing etc. This is my way to compose - maybe its a kind of ability, because I didn't study classical music.




So you suddenly hear it in your head?

Yes, or I take the guitar and play my part, then I imagine what the cello would sound, there are times when I walk very constantly for 15 minutes for ex. along a river in Munich and I relax completely  - this is always a good moment for creativity. There are some days when I'm not creative but I have to work in the studio, but nothing comes to mind, then I take the guitar and I compose on purpose - the cello should play this and this and this, and the piano that, I make combinations of both. Sometimes it's inspiration, sometimes it's composing on purpose.


And which would you say was predominant in the Tales of Ithiria?

Both. There was a lot of stuff I did and then kicked out again. You know, it's the 4th album - I want to push Haggard a lot - I know there are a lot of Haggard fans in the world, and its not a thing about money, it's a thing about satisfying the fans everywhere. It would be easy to make a CD like Eppur si muove and say ok, this is the way to write, different songs, but same level, but as a composer, I want to reach a different level and ofc we want the fans to feel that we were very conscious to make a better CD without changing the trademarks, like the death metal voice, because we've always been a death metal band and the deep vocals are one of the secrets, one of the trademarks.

I hope that you will like the Tales of Ithiria...


About that - where does the name come from?

It's a name I created - a fantasy name for a fantasy land. I hope you'll like it, and I hope you'll like the concert tonight.


Si chiar ne-a placut.

Voi ati fost la Haggard sambata sau duminica?