Interview with Entropy

At the start of July I wrapped my ears around Entropy‘s third album, E3, and enjoyed it thoroughly as you can read from here.  Frontman Ger Schreinert took the time out recently to talk to us about why now was the right time for their third album and return.

Before kicking off and getting into the album itself can you give us a little bit of an education on how you guys came to be

Dan and I formed ENTROPY in Toronto sometime around 1989. We both wanted to write the best Metal music possible. We played a lot of cover songs back in the day, until we had enough original material to fill our set. Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Queensryche, Judas Priest, Anthrax and Iron Maiden, just to name a few. When we first started writing songs, we immediately felt the musical chemistry. That’s a big deal. I’ve jammed with lots of good musicians before, but without the magic of musical chemistry, the strong creative material just doesn’t happen. Dan writes ENTROPY metal songs exactly the way they were supposed to be played, and I sing those songs exactly the way they are supposed to sound.

We released our first demo tape in 1990, our first album Ashen Existence in 1992, and our second album Transcendence in 1995. We played live extensively in Canada and the U.S. from London out to Montreal and NY State, and all points in between, before taking a break in 1996.

How would you describe the band? Where are you from? How long have you been together?
ENTROPY is a very heavy, eclectic Metal band.  We’ve been called everything from Power Metal to Progressive Death Metal and Technical Thrash Metal.  Personally, I don’t like to put limits on the band by locking us in one of those tidy little Sam Dunn boxes.  Vocally, I enjoy being free to roam the Metal genres, and sing what is best for the song.  These days the media has been calling us Thrash/Groove Metal, and that’s cool with me, but we always write what we hear in the songs, regardless.  Who knows where we will go next?  Maybe we’ll end up with a really heavy Prog Metal style album, ha ha. 

It’s been the best part of twenty years since you last released an album. Why such an extraordinary length of time between releases?

ENTROPY retired after the Transcendence album in 1996, at a time when Metallica’s Black Album was the commercial standard. The live Metal clubs in Canada and the northern US went to DJ format. Rob Zombie, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, and all the Grunge bands completely took over the “Metal” club scene. Metal fans were dancing in the clubs to Alternative Rock DJ. It was a sad time for Metal, for the most part, and definitely a good time for ENTROPY to take a break. I don’t think any of us realized back then it would be for so long, ha ha.

E3 is your third studio album. Given the time between this and your previous was it difficult to get back into the songwriting habit?

That’s the amazing thing about E3. Dan wrote a fucking ENTROPY Metal opus, the songs are crushing, and when I got to work, the vocals practically wrote themselves. I don’t know man, when Dan writes a song with the right drummer filling out the tracks, it’s automatic for me. The vocals are second nature. It’s always been that way, since our first demo tape. I was amazed at the drum tracks Louis laid down in pre-production, and how much his playing added to the structure and feel of the songs. Louis was absolutely brilliant on E3, very inspiring. After hearing pre-pro from Dan’s studio in Montreal, the songs flowed very naturally for me.

We were lucky to work with our Co-Producer Darius Szczepaniak (I Mother Earth, Sacrifice, Sum 41, Headstones, Nephelium, etc.) on the album. Darius captured the natural live aggression and fury of ENTROPY, and transferred that energy into the studio tracks. The bass tone on the album that George and Darius dialled from the bass amp was incredible. I love the texture and the feel of the bass sound and riffs on E3. Listening to the final mixes, I was surprised to hear how modern the finished songs came out, in comparison to Ashen Existence and Transcendence. I guess unconsciously I was expecting to hear a much more old school style Metal album, ha ha.

Where did the inspiration for the album come from?

I went to see Dan and our drummer Louis perform in a band called E-Force (with Eric Forrest from Voivod), opening for the mighty Sacrifice at a venue in Toronto sometime in 2010. It was an awesome show, Sacrifice was amazing, and that gig was a catalyst for me. The live musicianship and chemistry between Dan and Louis was obvious. The scene in Toronto was buzzing with Metal again. Dan and I joked that night about re-forming ENTROPY for a third album, and the rest is history. Dan recruited Louis from E-Force, and our bass player George Giourgis from back in the day re-joined us. We were inspired from that point forward to write E3, and settle up some unfinished business.

Can you give us a quick description of what each track is about?

1. Means to the End
Inspired by the writings of Alvin Toffler. Technology is evolving in 2012 at quantum speed. Human behaviour is not. That is the primary challenge of modern human civilization.

2. Premonition
Inspired by the real life CIA training sessions at the Monroe Institute of Applied Sciences back in the 1980’s, and the fictional story by Philp K. Dick that inspired the sci-fi film “Minority Report.”

3. Bloodrites
Inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s short animated feature “the origin of O-Ren”, which is chapter 3 of the film Kill Bill – Vol. 1.

4. Succubus
Inspired by the supernatural being from medieval legend herself, this female demon has been mysteriously appeared in the folklore of many different civilizations and religions throughout history.

5. Nightmare Extraordinaire
Inspired by a nightmare vision of a hybrid new life form that humans will eventually create from combining bio-technology, genetic engineering and nano technology.

6. Encryption
Inspired by modern black-ops and government cyber spying using the internet. Against all of us.

7. Darkness Eclipsed
I will leave this one open to the interpretation of the listeners. That is the fun of reading the lyrics to a song anyways, isn’t it? I will say this song was a wonderful musical creation for me vocally, and I’m very proud of our work on this track.

Were there any particular challenges in writing the album?
No, I don’t think so. That is the beauty of modern communications for bands. Riffs and musical ideas flow quickly by sending each other digital music files. And we were all on the same page creatively. We wanted a crushing new ENTROPY Metal album that reflected our historical depth and style. And we got it in spades.

Who did you work with on the production and creation of the album and coverwork?
Darius Szczepaniak was our Co-Producer on E3. We recorded the entire album at Iguana Studios in Toronto. The staff there, and our assistant engineer Shane McCurdy, were all awesome to work with. We mastered the album at the Lacquer Channel in Toronto, and manufacturing and artwork for the CD was completed by Kinwood Multimedia in Toronto.

What has the response to the album been from your fans so far?
Amazing. Almost everyone loves E3, and they are telling us it is our best album. The media reviews (including yours!) have been overwhelmingly great. Sure, you get the occasional fan that wants to roll the clock back to 1992 and hear us record Ashen Existence 2 – The Sequel – but that’s ok with us too. I think it is awesome that we have fans that still listen to and love our whole catalogue, right back to 1992.

Do you feel the metal scene has changed much over the past 20 years?
Yes. Absolutely. Metal music has gone through a true resurrection, after almost dying off in the mid to late 90’s. And the scene is stronger and more determined than ever. Technology has changed everything as well. There are way more Metal bands now, almost a saturation. You can record a Metal album in your bedroom these days. And with all of the documentaries and analytical series about Metal music available on TV now, I think there is more interest in Metal than ever before.

What are the plans for the rest of this year and moving into 2013?

After releasing E3 in May this year, we played live in Montreal with Anvil, and then we headlined our own album release party show in Toronto. Both shows were awesome. We are going to play another show in Toronto this fall, and there has been talk of opening for some awesome metal bands coming through Ontario and Quebec going forward. We all have experience over the years of opening for bands such as Anvil, Sacrifice, Fear Factory, and Obituary, so we will continue to play those types of shows, and unleash a killer set of ENTROPY songs for the fans. I know the boys have been throwing some riffs around, and they already have some ideas for our next album, but it’s a bit too early to start that process for me right now – E3 is still very new, and very fresh.

Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to the readers?
Yes, thank you to Metal fans for 20 years of support! CD’s and Digital Downloads from our catalogue have been shipped all over the world, thanks to all of you! And thanks to all of the ENTROPY fans that have come to our shows to rage with us over the years. You are all fucking awesome!

E3 is available direct from Entropy’s own site below along with all the latest news and merchandise for the band.

Entropy Are:
Ger Schreinert – Vocals
Dan Lauzon – Guitar
George Giourgis – Bass
Louis Levesque – Drums

Links
www.entropymetal.com

Photos by Dave Dickson and Doug Lewis used with kind permission