An interview with Ophelia’s Eye
An interview with Ophelia’s Eye
What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences?
Our current name is based on the novel “The Sandman” from E. T. A. Hoffmann.
The story is about the traumatic childhood experience of the student Nathanael which makes its way to the surface through the surprising encounter with the weather glass dealer Coppola. He believes he recognizes the devilish lawyer Coppelius, who is responsible for his father’s death. When the beautiful but quite Olimpia captivates him, he loses himself more and more between delusion and reality.
Olimpia is for us a characterization for the goal we want to achieve with our music:
In the course of the book, Nathaniel’s perception of Olimpia changes as he observes her through a pocket lens in her room: “But as he looked sharper and sharper through the glass, it was as if moist moonbeams were rising in Olimpia’s eyes. It seemed as if only now the sight was ignited; more and more vividly and vividly the glances flamed.” (page 28)
And toward the end of the story, Nathanel is enchanted by Olimpia. He calls her “heavenly-beautiful,” admires her every day, and is desperate and driven by longing.
We, too, want to “enflame” the audience, bring them to life and cast a spell over them. Through our songs the listeners should also lose the connection to reality – at least for a while.
To make the name sound rounder, Olimpia is called Ophelia in the band name.
Our inspiration for the lyrics usually are inspired by our own experiences in our daily lifes.
We all have quite a different taste in Metal which surely influences our songwriting. Most of the time, one of the guitarists have a basic idea for Riffs then we add drums, vocals, and bass.
In terms of song structure, riffs, melodies and drive we would say our main influences are As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage and a bit of Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth.
Regarding the sound production Parkway Drive, In Flames and Periphery are our role models.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
We define special rehearsals in which we only jam and focus on writing new songs. When we are jamming we always record ourselves and when something triggeres a feeling in us and makes us say “yes” – we keep this part and start refining it.
Besides that, we of course all jam by ourselves when practicing and when someone has an idea he records it and brings it into our jamming sessions and there we then build up the missing instruments and parts.
Regarding the themes we mostly want to put into our music what concerns or affects us in our own lives and integrate a feeling in our music.
How do you approach songwriting? Are there any themes that you are keen to explore when you start off?
We define special rehearsals in which we only jam and focus on writing new songs. When we are jamming we always record ourselves and when something triggeres a feeling in us and makes us say “yes” – we keep this part and start refining it.
Besides that, we of course all jam by ourselves when practicing and when someone has an idea he records it and brings it into our jamming sessions and there we then build up the missing instruments and parts.
Regarding the themes we mostly want to put into our music what concerns or affects us in our own lives and integrate a feeling in our music.
Why do you write the sort of music that you do?
As mentioned before we play and write the sort of music, which we feel.
We don’t have the aim to play a special Genre but it developed out of the music we listen to which of course influence us on an unconscious basis.
But we are now writing new songs and try out different things and setup a songwriting course session with another musician in order to further develop and solidifying our skills in this area, as we want to have the opportunity to write everything that goes through our minds.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
At the moment, to be honest we play our full set as we concentrated on refining the songs we had in order to put them out on an album.
But probably, when we have more songs ready we will rely on our crowd’s feedback during live shows and on the feedback the listeners of the album give us to decide whether to play a song at a live show or not.
We want to draw the audience in and also play with tension and release at a show: Building up a lot of energy but also have slower, calm parts in between before the energy builds up again.
How do you decide what songs to perform live and how do you transpose them into that live setting?
At the moment, to be honest we play our full set as we concentrated on refining the songs we had in order to put them out on an album.
But probably, when we have more songs ready we will rely on our crowd’s feedback during live shows and on the feedback the listeners of the album give us to decide whether to play a song at a live show or not.
We want to draw the audience in and also play with tension and release at a show: Building up a lot of energy but also have slower, calm parts in between before the energy builds up again.
What plans do you have for the future?
After releasing our EP we will release another Single combined with a story video on October 8th and finally start playing concerts (the next will be this Saturday, September 4th) again which we really are looking forward to.
Furthermore, we are going back to the studio in the end of October and beginning in November to record our full-length album.
A tour is also in planning, but more to that will be communicated as soon as possible.