Interview with Marcus Ehlin
Devlin is the new band of Siebenburgen's Marcus Ehlin and represents an extension of his original ideas for the Norwegian gothic black metal band. While he is still a member of Siebenburgen, he uses Devlin as an open minded venture into an even more creative side to his songwriting and playing. There are some similarities to Siebenburgen, but there are simply no boundaries here on the debut, Grand Death Opening. Here is Marcus to introduce his new project.
What is your vision for Devlin?
It’s originally a very small side project that has grown into a larger affection in my life. I wanted to do something new, something without boundaries. With Siebenbürgen I’m rather locked up on how things should sound, with Devlin I’m not. With Devlin I can get use of all my inspirations, I can get the most out of my creativity. I think that was the main reason why I started it.
Why has it taken so long for the debut to see light of day?
I have been working on it for the past eight years, but it’s not until now I have started to work more serious with the material. During the years I have collected a lot of ideas, but it was not until the end of 2001 I started to put it together. On Grand Death Opening most of the tracks are newly written, but some parts are from 1994. Devlin has changed names, the music has changed from instrumental to vocal based and so on. It’s not that I have tried to write songs for eight years and didn’t succeed until now, but I have written a little piece here and a little piece there.
Why do you find beauty in death?
That subject has always been close to my heart, as long as I can remember. I really don’t know why.
What does Devlin offer that Siebenbürgen was unable to?
As I mentioned in a previous answer, Siebenbürgen is Siebenbürgen. I wanted to explore another side of my musically creativity. I wanted to try something new for me, but along with Siebenbürgen, Devlin offers a great musical journey. For me it’s important with atmosphere, and I think that I have achieved that with Grand Death Opening. The new tracks I have written since the recording, I have taken a step further, they are really dreamy and I am very proud of the material.
You also mention that Devlin has no boundaries or limits, do you think this philosophy will ever confuse potential fans?
No I don’t think so. With that statement I only tried to explain how Devlin is working, I will not chock anyone with an hiphop album, he he. When I write for Devlin I don’t want my inspiration to get caught in a special style. I just want to focus on music, not concept. I want Devlin to be free, not to be pushed into a label. That’s my goal.
What are your plans for Devlin this year?
I hope to record the second album, but everything depends on how good Grand Death Opening has sold. It doesn’t look good right now I can tell, but I wish and hope that I can release another album this year. I have written a lot of new material which is guaranteed to kick some major ass. But this year is really hectic for me, I will start school and then record two albums, and Siebenbürgen will do some shows in Mexico in April, and in south America in July, so it will be a hard working year for me, but I will enjoy every second of it.
Will you be touring to promote the band?
I’m sorry to say no, the selling has been bad so I don’t think that a promoter or organizer want to put together a tour. But deep in my heart I hope that Devlin will see the stage light someday, I really love to play live, and I think that the music of Devlin will be something special on stage.
Do you feel satisfied with how Grand Death Opening came out?
All in all I’m pleased, but of course there is always one or two things that you want to change afterwards. One thing is that I sang too less on the album, but that is a thing that will be changed to the next one. I recorded at my home studio, DeadBitchStudio, during a couple of months last summer. All in all I’m satisfied with it, but of course there is always a bit here and there that I want to change. This was the first album which I have recorded and produced all by my self ,and my budget for it was really small, so if I look at that, then I’m rather satisfied. I didn’t have that much problems during the recording time with anything really, usually I have experienced so much stress and problems during my studio productions, soft and hardware problems, personal problems, you name it. But this recording went along really fine. I’m still waiting to see what went wrong. On this album I have played the guitars, keyboards, drum programming. Fredrik Folkare (Siebenbürgen) jumped in and did two guitar solos on "Buried Deep” and “Queen of Razors”. Other guests that did some vocal performances on the album are: Brockert, Bryngelsson and Rosdahl from Siebenbürgen, Martin Schirenc from Hollenthon and Marcus von Boisman.
Why do you feel it is important to have a female vocalist?
I don’t think it’s important at all, it was only a choice I made to include a female vocalist. As it looks now, the new material I have written is written for my vocals, so maybe there will be a 50/50 Lexi/ Marcus album next time. But I love female vocals, that I have always done.
Final comments?
First of all, thanks for this opportunity and for your support.
I hope that all of you have understand what Devlin is about now, and that your interest to know more has grown. Grand Death Opening is just the beginning, there is so much more to explore, so many more worlds to conquer, so many more deaths to die.
Discography:
2002... Grand Death Opening (Napalm)
Current line-up:
Marcus Ehlin
Lexi
| TTM reviews of albums by Devlin: | |
 | 2002 - 'Grand Death Opening' |
