1.Hello please introduce yourself to the readers? When did you become interested in playing music?
Hi, I’m Wouter and I’m the vocalist and guitar player of Celesterre: metal’s natural history unit. I’ve been a music addict for as long as I can remember, but seeing a concert of Elvis Presley on TV at the age of 9 was the sparkle for me. His show was so inspiring that I wanted to make music myself.
2.When did you first get the idea to form a band? How did you decide on Celesterre as the name of the band?
Probably around the time when I got into hardrock and metal back in 1992. I’ve played lots of music with lots of bands before I started Celesterre in 2010.
We made the name ‘Celesterre’ up ourselves, because it reduced chances of another band having the same name. The word ‘Celesterre’ means ‘the earth in all its splendour’, which is fitting since nature is the subject of all our lyrics. To us, the name stands for both construction and life as well as degradation and death. Both sides are equally important for the functioning of the planet and its organisms.
3.The band seems to draw influences from many different genres. Who would you say are the bands biggest influences?
That’s a difficult question, because after so many years I don’t really have conscious musical influences anymore. I like a lot of different types of music and I’m probably influenced by a lot of artists. When writing music however, I’m just trying to find out what the song wants, which elements work and what I want the song to evoke. I’m not thinking about other artists or their works. As a listener I value spirit and intensity very highly, so that’s something by which I also judge my own music. Last but not least: the lyrics and music go together very much in Celesterre, so the lyrics/subjects often influence the music too.
4.The Wild is Celesterre's debut release how long did it take the band to write the music for the debut?
That’s not entirely correct: ‘The Wild’ is our debut full-length, but prior to this album we already released a demo (‘Celesterre’, 2012) and an EP (‘A Blooming Spring’, 2014). The music for ‘The Wild’ was written between 2013 and 2015, so it took approximately two years to write it
5.Who usually handles writing the lyrics and what are some topics you wrote about on the debut release?
I write all the music and lyrics for Celesterre. The lyrical concept of Celesterre has always been and will always be the natural world. The lyrics on ‘The Wild’ are about the different phases and trials that every organism goes through in life. Each phase or trial has been given its own song: birth (Burst Into Life), the relationship between organisms and their driving forces (Instinct), fighting and struggles (Ramfight At Sundown), love and procreation (Endure The Cold), finding your way in your environment (The Wild), feeding and hunting (Hunger),interaction with other organisms (The Pecking Order) and decay and death (A Celebration Of Decay).
6.Besides the debut cd The Wild does the band have any other merchandise available for the readers? If yes what is available and where can the readers buy it?
Our demo is sold out now, but the ‘A Blooming Spring’ EP is still available. Also, new shirts are being sold when you read this. All our music and merch can be bought at celesterre.bandcamp.com. ‘The Wild’ can of course also be bought via our label Rain Without End Records.
7.Does the band have any plans to make a video for any of the songs off of the debut? If you had the opportunity to make a video for any songs off The Wild which song would you like to see made into a video?
There are no specific plans, but we are definitely open to the idea. All of our songs could more or less be soundtracks to wildlife documentaries, so if we had the opportunity we would make videos for all of them!
8.Does Celesterre play live very often? If yes what have been some of the bands most memorable shows so far?
Up to now we’ve done around 20 shows. We enjoy playing live, but since most of our shows so far have been local shows we try not to oversaturate the audience. A Celesterre show should remain a bit special. Our shows always have a very distinctive and intense atmosphere. Sometimes people just watch and applaud politely, but there have also been shows where I saw people totally getting into the atmosphere of the songs, sometimes completely in trance, or singing along with all the lyrics. Those moments are always very special to us as a small and relatively unknown band.
9.Are there any shows or tours coming up and if yes where will the band be playing? And who are some bands you will be sharing the stage with?
Yes, in November we will be playing in Rotterdam with Chilean doom gods Procession! Also Epitaph from Italy and Officium Triste from The Netherlands will be playing that night, so we definitely look forward to that one!
10.Besides working in Celesterre do you or any of the members currently work in any other bands or solo projects? If yes please tell the readers a little about them?
Floris, our guitar player, is also a member of an excellent band called Murw. They play a very unique style of atmospheric black metal. They released some great demos and two amazing albums (‘In de Mond van het Onbekende wacht een Oceaan’, 2007 and ‘Kanker’, 2011). Our bassplayer Lorenzo also plays in a Bay Area-style thrash metalband called Defazer and our drummer Tim also plays in a progressive groovy death/thrash band called Rages of Sin. They are all very good allround musicians, which is definitely an advantage for Celesterre.
11.When not working on new music or band business what do you enjoy doing in your free time? That’s a difficult question, because after so many years I don’t really have conscious musical influences anymore. I like a lot of different types of music and I’m probably influenced by a lot of artists. When writing music however, I’m just trying to find out what the song wants, which elements work and what I want the song to evoke. I’m not thinking about other artists or their works. As a listener I value spirit and intensity very highly, so that’s something by which I also judge my own music. Last but not least: the lyrics and music go together very much in Celesterre, so the lyrics/subjects often influence the music too.
4.The Wild is Celesterre's debut release how long did it take the band to write the music for the debut?
That’s not entirely correct: ‘The Wild’ is our debut full-length, but prior to this album we already released a demo (‘Celesterre’, 2012) and an EP (‘A Blooming Spring’, 2014). The music for ‘The Wild’ was written between 2013 and 2015, so it took approximately two years to write it
5.Who usually handles writing the lyrics and what are some topics you wrote about on the debut release?
I write all the music and lyrics for Celesterre. The lyrical concept of Celesterre has always been and will always be the natural world. The lyrics on ‘The Wild’ are about the different phases and trials that every organism goes through in life. Each phase or trial has been given its own song: birth (Burst Into Life), the relationship between organisms and their driving forces (Instinct), fighting and struggles (Ramfight At Sundown), love and procreation (Endure The Cold), finding your way in your environment (The Wild), feeding and hunting (Hunger),interaction with other organisms (The Pecking Order) and decay and death (A Celebration Of Decay).
6.Besides the debut cd The Wild does the band have any other merchandise available for the readers? If yes what is available and where can the readers buy it?
Our demo is sold out now, but the ‘A Blooming Spring’ EP is still available. Also, new shirts are being sold when you read this. All our music and merch can be bought at celesterre.bandcamp.com. ‘The Wild’ can of course also be bought via our label Rain Without End Records.
7.Does the band have any plans to make a video for any of the songs off of the debut? If you had the opportunity to make a video for any songs off The Wild which song would you like to see made into a video?
There are no specific plans, but we are definitely open to the idea. All of our songs could more or less be soundtracks to wildlife documentaries, so if we had the opportunity we would make videos for all of them!
8.Does Celesterre play live very often? If yes what have been some of the bands most memorable shows so far?
Up to now we’ve done around 20 shows. We enjoy playing live, but since most of our shows so far have been local shows we try not to oversaturate the audience. A Celesterre show should remain a bit special. Our shows always have a very distinctive and intense atmosphere. Sometimes people just watch and applaud politely, but there have also been shows where I saw people totally getting into the atmosphere of the songs, sometimes completely in trance, or singing along with all the lyrics. Those moments are always very special to us as a small and relatively unknown band.
9.Are there any shows or tours coming up and if yes where will the band be playing? And who are some bands you will be sharing the stage with?
Yes, in November we will be playing in Rotterdam with Chilean doom gods Procession! Also Epitaph from Italy and Officium Triste from The Netherlands will be playing that night, so we definitely look forward to that one!
10.Besides working in Celesterre do you or any of the members currently work in any other bands or solo projects? If yes please tell the readers a little about them?
Floris, our guitar player, is also a member of an excellent band called Murw. They play a very unique style of atmospheric black metal. They released some great demos and two amazing albums (‘In de Mond van het Onbekende wacht een Oceaan’, 2007 and ‘Kanker’, 2011). Our bassplayer Lorenzo also plays in a Bay Area-style thrash metalband called Defazer and our drummer Tim also plays in a progressive groovy death/thrash band called Rages of Sin. They are all very good allround musicians, which is definitely an advantage for Celesterre.
Listening to other people’s music and studying everything in the field of natural history! We all share those two passions within the band. We like to go out into nature as much as possible, often together. We live close to the coastline and there are some very nice areas here.
12.Thank you for taking the time to fill this interview out do you have any final comments for the readers?
I hope you will all enjoy ‘The Wild’. Keep following us, ‘cause we have lots of interesting future plans! Thank you very much for this interview Patrick!
Band Contacts
https://celesterre.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/celesterre
Label Contacts
https://www.naturmacht.com/
https://naturmachtproductions.bandcamp.com/
