 Gimme 5
Isaac Delahaye
MaYaN
Mailinterview
28.03.12

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The first MaYaN album Quarterpast was released on 20.05.11 - it's a great CD! How was the feedback of the press, the fans and your colleagues? Releasing an album with so many known musicians and guest musicians is always a little tricky. Some people seem to have this „hm, they probably just got a record deal because they know the right people“ mentality. The fact is that MaYaN already had a deal before any guest musicians were contacted. Anyway, we had really good reactions on the album, we did some awesome shows, a great South-American tour and we all look back on it with joy.
You´ve shot a video for the song War On Terror which got many skeptical comments on your Youtube channel, especially from American users. Why did you decide to choose this subject for the clip, and did you know beforehand that it could bring a lot of criticism, too? Of course you know that people will talk about it, and that’s a good thing. Not everyone has the same opinion, and that’s what makes all of it so interesting. The only thing we wanted to say with the video, is that during war there is a lot of injustice going on. Innocent people are being killed all the time; people who never asked to be part of any war whatsoever. I thought it was pretty funny to see how some people kept saying that stuff like that never happens, while we all saw a video where soldiers were urinating on a dead corpse. Some people are really blind for the truth.
 
How much of the plannings/prearrangements for a second MaYaN album did you get done up to now? We have a lot of material already actually. Basic sketches of songs. Everyone is participating in the songwriting so it’s pretty divers music again. We haven’t set a time-frame yet for the next recordings, because Epica has all priority now, but I suppose we’ll wrap up the songwriting somewhere later this year.
 
Will you choose different guest singers for this second album, and do you already have preferred candidates in mind? This is something which will be decided later, once the songs are written. We definitely don’t want to do the same trick again, so there will be some changes, but there are no details about that yet. Let’s first write some kickass stuff! I would definitely wanna have some guest grunters on the next album. Mix some of the best male grunters/screamers on the planet. Wicked.
 
Meanwhile, four MaYaN band members also play in Epica and vice versa. Is it easier to write new songs and to find new ideas while working together so often and for several projects? It’s a strange coincidence indeed that there are so many common band members. And sometimes something you start writing for Epica end up in the folder for the next MaYaN album indeed. As long as we don’t change what both bands are standing for, there is no problem at all. We’ll just keep writing music, and as long as you guys keep checking both bands, you’ll hear all about it :-)
It was a double “Gimme 5” interview with Isaac - here is the “Gimme 5” about Epica.
Photos ©2011 by Hans Clijnk
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