Chimera is a four-piece, conceptual Heavy/Black Metal band. The band is consisting of a number of the finest Polish Metal musicians. They released one full-length album entitled “Transmutation”. I was pleased to get further insight into the band’s story, influences, and Charon‘s stunning art skills. Here are a few questions we had that were answered by guitarist “Charon”.
REM: The first classical question for those who have not heard of Chimera band, could you give us a brief history of the band? What was the catalyst?, and Why did you choose the name Chimera?
Andrew: Oh boy… we’ve met with Charon like 7 years ago or so. Charon wanted to start a new band and his colleague recommended me as a drummer. We had a couple of rehearsals, we had fun in making a few songs and later Dante, who has a long history with Charon, joined our team as a debuting vocalist. After some long and hard perturbations, Paul joined our squad. And luckily, we are playing together ever since. And I hope nothing will change that 🙂
I can’t remember why we have chosen “Chimera” for a band name though.
Charon: We are people who are different and similar at this same time. We have different beliefs, characters but we broadcast on the same waves, get along well and together we see the same path through the world of music. That’s why the above ideology guided me thinking about the band’s name. As you know, Chimera is a creature, even a monster with three different heads but one body.
REM: Chimera was founded early in 2013. Did you anticipate the success you’ve had?
Andrew: As I get older I’m more elastic in semantics as far as word “success” is concerned. We all have complex lives (hobbies, relationships, work, different music projects) and for me, the fact that we managed to record our second album is a success. But if you are asking me do I think we will have a success compared to Behemoth’s success then I must say… YEAH OF COURSE! 🙂
REM: What are your musical influences? Which bands do you listen to nowadays?
Charon: A difficult question, because there are a lot of them. Hmmm, I’ve been listening to Gojira again, sometimes Behemoth, the Polish band Hegemone or Mgła, but also rock classics such as Queen and Guns n Roses. I like to come back to the bands where I started playing with music.
REM: Aside from the first album“Transmutation”, what are your plans for the rest of the year?
Andrew: We are hopefully publishing our second album titled “Gloria Mortis”. This album is for me a big step because it is much more musically mature than “Transmutation”. And I just can’t wait when it reaches daylight. Apart from that, we have just started a tour here, in Poland. Several dozens of gigs are ahead of us in the next couple of months. Moreover, we are planning some international tour closer to the end of 2020. I’m really excited.
Charon: Yeahh! we can`t wait for a new album. This year will be two concert tours. We will be recording several video clips promoting a new album… promises to be a busy year!
REM: Do you have any basic rules for songwriting? Who is the main filter that controls what will BE eventually accepted for Chimera and not?
Charon: Basically, the lyrics are mainly written by Dante. I write music with Dante. However, everyone is a filter that assesses the whole. Everyone also adds something from themselves. Everyone has influence over whether a song is to be released or rejected.
Andrew: For me, the basic rule is that riff or a theme HAS to be groovy or energetic enough to move me. If that is not the case I will probably tell the guys that it isn’t working and we should try something different. When we worked on the “Gloria mortis” material the process looked basically like that: Charon and Dante prepared some drafts of the song and next we were trying it in a full rehearsal – polishing or even turning it upside down. Our band is democratic in nature so, if some part totally sucks for someone then we probably won’t play it. Probably :
REM: Have you had any fans from abroad contact you via social media?
Charon: Yes, people from Europe and the United States contacted us. We will gladly give high five with each of them. Maybe someday, who knows 😉
REM: How can you describe Behemoth band in two words, what would you say?
Charon: Good work Gentleman!
Andrew: More cowbell 😉
REM: What about Chimera‘s future? What do you wish to achieve with this band in the future, and what are the next steps?
Andrew: We will publish our second album, finish our homeland tour, do an international one and honestly, I can’t wait to start working on our next album.
Charon: In the near future we plan to start work on the third album. It would be nice to play at the biggest metal festivals in this world, maybe someday it will work. Our manager Monika recently joined us, so together I hope that we will try to make it happen. But above all, we want to have fun playing and creating new songs together.
REM: What do you want to say to the Metalheads out there?
Andrew: Music doesn’t end on metal, explore a little 🙂
Charon: I hope you enjoy our new album, which is coming like Charon on the boat with new souls 😉 And I hope that we will meet in person in your beautiful country in the future. Hail!!! m /
REM: Thank you guys for having this interesting interview with us. We all wish you the best.
Interviewed By: Yassine Siyaf
Edited by: Rana Atef
