False Reality - Interview

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Published on Thursday, 01 November 2018 20:35

Interview with: Lucian Popa
Conducted by: Will Ring

Formed in 1998, False Reality is a progressive/melodic death metal band from Romania who draw influence from acts like Opeth, In Flames and Dream Theater, but as well the band includes into their varied musical style some doom and black metal. In 2003, the band went on hiatus for eight years before returning in 2011 and releasing their only full length studio album, End Of Eternity, in 2016. In this short interview, we will discuss science fiction literature, the bands turbulent past, present and the future of False Reality.

Will: What instrument/role do you play in the band?
Lucian: In terms of performing, I play guitars and also do some clean vocals here and there. Regarding the rest of activities a band requires, I write the majority of our songs' lyrics, and also am one of the main composers. In the recent years, I've also been in charge of many aspects of the managerial activity of the band, being the link with the outside word, so to say.

Will: The band has stated that the title track to the album "End Of Eternity" is a sort of tribute to Isaac Asimov. Do you draw a lot of inspiration from literature?
Lucian: "End Of Eternity" is indeed a sort of tribute to Mr. Isaac Asimov, one of the writers who had a very strong influence on my personal growth, and with that, also in forming the view I have of the whole universe. Being an avid reader, it's only natural that my inspiration finds themes and roots in the literature I enjoy so much, especially sci-fi and fantasy, but not only those genres. I find that music and fiction literature work in similar ways, although the process is rather different, the main role of both is taking the reader, or the listener, on inner journeys. They speak to your mind and at the same time, they speak to your soul, giving you emotions and concepts that don't really exist outside that private part of yourself that is completely submerged in that frail new reality that will cease to exist once the song is over, or once the book is closed, achieving that through the use of images and words, if I may borrow this very beautifully definition of music Dream Theater used. And since we're talking about "End Of Eternity", the tribute to Mr. Asimov is only in the form of borrowing the title from the novel "The End of Eternity", while the lyrical content of the song actually has its roots in an epic romantic Romanian poem, called "Luceafărul" (translated as "Evening Star", "Morning Star" or even "Lucifer"), written in the 19th century by Mihai Eminescu, considered by many to be Romania's national poet.

Will: Which of the band's songs is your favorite and why?
Lucian: I guess it all depends on my state of mind and of spirit, but the ones I really believe capture the essence of what False Reality is, or perhaps is aspiring to be, are "Confused Sunset", "Requiem Into Darkness" and "End Of Eternity", with a very strong mention to "Dear Friend", an ode to departed loved ones.

Will: The band took an eight year hiatus from, I believe, 2003 to 2011. Can you talk at all about what caused this and what made the band finally decide to become active again?
Lucian: Yes, you are correct, we disappeared from the eyes and ears of the public in that period. It all started when our drummer, Cristian, who was pretty much the engine of the band back in the day, decided to quit False Reality, in autumn 2002, if I recall correctly. We tried to switch to electronic preprogrammed drumming, but after one gig it was clear that it just wasn't the way to go about it, since there was something we all felt missing, the energy and the vibe a good drummer can bring to a live show. We didn't really give up on the band, because in 2005 we started jamming and rehearsing again, trying to fill the gaps in our line-up, since we were missing both a drummer and a keyboards player. Up until 2003 I was playing the keyboards, but I switched back to my first love, the guitar. To our bad luck, things never really got going with the people we got on board, and we were in a permanent changing of our line-up, but that didn't stop us from believing we could make it, and we did manage to get back on stage in May 2011, all culminating with the release of the End Of Eternity album, in 2016.

Will: You have the chance to start a supergroup consisting of yourself and any musicians you want. Who do you pick to join you?
Lucian: If you consider both alive and dead musicians, Freddie Mercury would definitely be the vocalist, on drums I'd love to have Mike Portnoy, Kevin Moore on keyboards, David Gilmour and Steve Vai are my main choices to play guitar with me alongside them (I'll just play chords probably), Ravi Shankar will bring his sitar sound in all this madness, and I really want Cliff Burton to play the bass guitar. If I must pick only among the living artists, I think I'll take David Draiman as a vocalist, Marco Hietala as bassist and second vocalist, and I'll take Ravi's daughter, Anoushka Shankar, to play the sitar.

Will: As a fan, I have to ask the question that every band hates. When do you think we'll be seeing a new False Reality album?
Lucian: I don't hate this question, but sadly I can't really give you a good answer. Lately we've had almost no activity with the band, since some of us have had some personal issues that kept us from getting together a lot. On the bright side, some of those issues are positive ones, like having newborn children, buying or finishing the construction of new homes, getting new, better paid jobs (that require more time) and so on. The good news is that we have been discussing a concept album, and we've actually taken a few steps towards composing it, like some musical themes and song structure ideas, but it will definitely take quite a while. Don't expect anything in the following two or three years at least. On the other hand, we would also like very much to record or rerecord some old songs, two of them that have never been recorded so far, one that has a different ending now and one that we want to record again, in better quality. We've been thinking of releasing an EP with these four songs, but we must see what our finances say, before we take any matters further. We've talked about these projects with our label, Loud Rage Music, and they are more than happy to release anything we might have, but since it's a small Romanian label, we can't really expect a lot of financial support, since there are any resources available.

Will: What else can you tell me about the label Loud Rage Music, are you satisfied with the job they done for you?
Lucian: The label does a really great job, supporting mainly Romanian underground metal, but even more, and all that with a very tight budget, both in regard of money and time. We are very proud to be part of Loud Rage Music and we want to give Adrian, the owner, our gratitude for helping us release End Of Eternity, the first full length album in our troubled history. Hopefully, number two will be on its way, but we'll just have to see what happens in the future.

Will: Thank you for answering my questions. The last words are yours.
Lucian: All the best and thank you for the interview, Will!

False Reality links: Official website, Facebook

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