Charming Timur Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

Charming Timur is my solo project, focusing on experimenting with genres that I have a desire to combine. In this case, it is Nu Metal and Post-Black Metal along with a touch of Sludge and Post-Metal/Post-Rock. The project will probably expand into more genres as time goes on, and I don't want to limit this project musically by setting certain boundaries in terms of genre or lyrical theme. Charming Timur is about freedom of inspiration.

2.Recently you have released your first album, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical sound?

I was really going for a bipolar sound on the first album. I divided the album into two parts. I had some really angry and depressed tracks in the first part and then some tracks that were more focused on the atmosphere and melodies on the second part.

I usually don't like too much contrast on an album, but this time I decided to step out of my comfort zone. A lot of albums, especially in the Nu Metal / Alternative Metal categories, tend to have the ”ultimate angsty sad song” as the last track, which was something I definitely didn't want to do, so it became track number 4 (My Pain). I feel it's a refreshing thing to have the album end with something that leaves you feeling a bit more ”hopeful”.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your music?

So far the lyrics have been about stuff going on in my head, usually about real life, mostly negative stuff on the first album, but there is no guarantee all my albums will be this negative. There's quite a lot of tracks with themes covering (my) mental problems and emerging pesonality disorders. Then on the other hand there's a song about just not giving up on things in life, despite what people think about it, (9. All The Same) to add some variation as well.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Charming Timur'?

The name ”Charming Timur” is something I came up with to break the tradition of having really artistic and ”deep” band names that have some spectacular meaning behind them. I also thought about the name ”Charming Bennett”, but then I wanted a non-american name to make it stand out a bit more. It literally comes from absolutely nothing of any real meaning.

5.On this album with the exception of an unknown guy playing some drums and tracks on song # 9, you recorded all of the album solo are you open to working with a full band in the future or do you chose to remain solo?

I have tried all kinds of band-projects and such in my time and they never really functioned as smoothly as when I do things by myself. I like to be in control a lot. Everything tends to work out really naturally when I just do things by myself. This does not mean that I couldn't have guest artists on my future material, and I'm actually curious on how that would turn out. I'm not a 100% against working with a band sometime in the future, but I think it's very unlikely. There could be some kind of a ”band arrangement” backing me up on some Charming Timur music video sometime in the distant future, I haven't thought about it yet.

6.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

In today's world where almost nobody buys music anymore, a label seems kind of useless, unless they would be really big so I could really get some attention. Also a lot of labels only accept touring artists, and that makes things more difficult as well. If I would receive a really good offer from a label, I wouldn't refuse it. The problem is that it's an extremely rare thing to come by these days.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of underground metal?

I'm still sort of waiting for more feedback, but so far it has been rather neutral. It has been more positive than negative though. At least it has been something new and refreshing for a lot of people.

8.Recently you have created a blogger, soundcloud and reverbnation for your musical project, do you feel these networks do a lot of help for newer bands and musicians?

I think it depends a lot on the bands and musicians themselves. Sometimes you can just explode in the social media and find yourself having a lot of attention, but then sometimes nothing happens and nobody notices. I think having some kind of social media is good so people can reach you though. Being absolutely out of reach, even though making you KVLT AS FVCK, might make you miss out on a lot. I think blogger has been my favourite social media platform so far.

9.Are you involved with any other musical projects besides this one or is this full time?

Yeah, I'm probably most well known for my solo Harsh Noise/Power Electronics project Whitewater Orgasm. That project has been really well received by a lot of people who are into that kind of stuff. I'm also the vocalist for the super slow Post-Black Doom project Laurasia Awaits Us. Charming Timur is currently the only project I'm actively writing new songs for though.

10.Where do you  see yourself heading into musically during the future?

I will probably go towards a bit brighter and adventurous sounds in the more distant future, and currently I have been writing songs that vary from violent and aggressive ones to kind of softer and more sensitive ones. There will definitely be Nu Metal and Post-Whatever in the future, but more styles might jump into the mix as well.

11.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

There is definitely some influence in the Charming Timur sound from bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deafheaven, Alcest, Mouth Of The Architect, Eyehategod (the slower parts in a couple of tracks sound very similar to Eyehategod) and so on, but I never really think about it that much, I just listen afterwards and hear the similarities in the sound.

I usually find myself listening to Sludge, Stoner, Nu Metal or anything with echoing guitars such as Post-Rock or Shoegaze. I listen to a lot less Black Metal than people would assume. I also used to listen to a lot of Noise/Power Electronics and Martial Industrial, but I haven't been listening to that kind of stuff recently. It will probably come back at some point again. Listening to music works in cycles for me. One season something, next season something else.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

I have always been fascinated about figuring out death and what comes after it. Also outerspace, aliens, transhumanism, timetravel and alternate realities have always been extremely interesting to me. When it comes to more ”down to earth” stuff, I'm interested in history, war and weapons in general. As freetime activities I enjoy watching TV and movies a lot.

13.Can you provide some links so people that are hearing of you for the first time can hear your music?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUmA07tcf-k Here is the official music video made in DIY spirit. I think it turned out quite nicely. It's a very symbolic track to describe my sound. Also my handsome facial features can be seen there to leave everyone daydreaming about me.

http://charmingtimur.bandcamp.com/ Bandcamp page for free download and the option to buy the CD.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

I hope to see more people just record songs and put them on the internet. Doing things yourself is going to be easier and easier in the future and you can just let your creativity flow. Don't overcomplicate! Also thanks for interviewing me and to everyone who read this interview too!

I have no idea why the font changed for the last question, I can't change it back, sorry about that!