CONCORDEA

We don’t know much about (metal)music in Russia. So, it’s always nice when you can talk to someone who can tell us more about it. And I had the opportunity to ask Daria Domovik some question about her band, ‘Concordea’, and metal music in het country.

‘Concordea’ is a Russian band from Ekaterinburg (Ural region). And Daria is the guitar player of the band.

It was nice to have this opportunity, so thank you very much Daria!

Can you tell us when is the band established?

‘Concordea’ developed in 2011, the starting period of the band was pretty long, but full of dreams and good presentiments. When I was searching for bandmates, I just wanted to play some beautiful melodic metal songs, but to find someone who wants the same is rather an option than a rule.

So, the first complete line up came together in the middle of 2012, at that time Alexey (keyboard player) joined the band. By the end of 2015, we were still looking for a suitable vocalist. At the same time, we accumulated some material for music, so in order to not waste the time, we decided to go to the studio and start recording the full-length album.  I had some Italian rockers and metalheads among my friends. So once we understood there was definitely no vocalist for ‘Concordea’ in our hometown, we invited Filippo Tezza, a friend of our first guest vocalist, and he accepted our proposal, but after the album release didn’t want to continue with live gigs, so we were looking for an vocalist again. Now we are playing with Marco Moranzoni, ex-‘My Refuge’ and ‘Steel Violin’.

The band is called Concordea. What does it mean? Who came up with this name?

Actually it was a friend of mine who suggested to me such name. The very first name was ‘Concordia’, the disaster with Costa Concordia happened later made us change our name to ‘ConcordEa’, because nobody wanted to be associated with it. The name has a lot of meanings, but the main one is about musical consonance and harmony.

Who are the bandmembers? Can you tell something more about them andyourself (instruments, musical backgrounds etc.)?

Actually we are three now: me (Daria), Alexey and Marco. I can’t say I was involved in music during my early years. I started to play piano when I was 10 and back then I didn’t have any favorite artist. I liked random songs of random bands, but there was no particular interest towards specific albums or artists. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my father liked to play some vinyl, so I listened to ‘Deep Purple’, ‘Queen’, ‘Pink Floyd’ and some famous Russian bards, for example, Vladimir Vysotski (Russian poet).

Later my brother let me listen to ‘Symphony of Enchanted Lands’, the second album of Italy’s ‘Rhapsody’ and then my interest to the music and to metal in particular immediately started rising. This interest brought me to guitar playing.

As far as I know Marco has been singing for all his life and he has a lot of musical experience in different genres with different bands. Once he sang in gospel as well. Alexey started to study music when he was in primary school, the first instrument was an accordion. At that time, he listened to some classical music. Then there was jazz, when he studied the saxophone. After that he started listening to metal and bought a guitar. And then, at the university, his friend asked him to play keyboards in his metal band. So since then he plays keyboards.

Are you fulltime musicians?

Every one of us has every day work and even business trips. We need it to keep our project alive, but at the same time this makes all the processes very long, since we can’t dedicate 100% of our time and forces to the music.

Are there members that play in other bands to?

Marco is singing with a power metal band ‘Nether Nova’.

How would you like to describe or call your music?

I would say that it is the balance between the power and progressive metal sound: not too complex but not too trivial.

Who is responsible for the music and lyrics?

Lyrics are written completely by me, as for music we write it both me and Alexey.

Which other bands do you like also? And can we her that in your music?

I think you can hear very strong ‘Rhapsody’, ‘Sonata Arctica’,’Nightwish’ and ‘Dream Theater’ influences in our music.

You’re from Russia. Can you tell us something about the metal scene in Russia?

The Russian metal scene doesn’t seem to me a very power or progressive metal-oriented one. The most famous melodic metal bands here play mostly heavy metal or power metal with a heavy metal touch. We have a lot of metal bands, but most of them remain in the shadows.

Can you tell us some about your album?  Tell something about the titles.

I’d describe our full-length album in this way: heavy guitar riffs, beautiful melodies sang by an expressive high male voice, various keys, power metal rhythm, romantic lyrics and a light touch of progressive metal. We worked towards more well-balanced arrangements and more definite composition.

The best muse for the songs is my life and all the experiences I had. Even the Russian fairytale about the Princess Frog that results the base for ‘Confession of my pride’ lyrics attracted me because there is something I found correlating with my feelings and my life. Actually there is a lot of lyrics dedicated to the destiny of ‘Concordea’ (‘Wings motion’, ‘Rejected and Avowed’, ‘The Unknown’), but it can be always correlating with human life in general. For example ‘The Unknown’ tells about an unknown tomorrow of our band, but it can be also applied to the everybody’s tomorrow.

What can you tell us about the songs. Is there a message in it?

I think besides the message “enjoy good music” there is also “find the right balance in your life”. Follow your dreams, but have no obsession in following your dreams. Believe this world and your destiny, but don’t forget you are the only one who builds your destiny consciously. Be able to enjoy and win and be able to suffer and lose.

Read also: https://onsnieuws.blog/2019/01/11/over-wide-spaces-concordea/

What was your most remarkable performance so far?

The most remarkable one was in this December in Italy, when we played on one stage with ‘Trick or Treat’ and ‘Avelion’ in Carpi. Great atmosphere and nice audience! Two months before that gig we couldn’t even expect to play with Alessandro Conti’s band! And it happened thanks to Rock On Agency.  After our performance Alessando came to me and shaked my hand…

With whom have you been touring in the past?

We have just had three concerts with ‘Avelion’ in Rome, Carpi (Modena) and Bresso (Milano).

With whom want you to be touring someday if you have the opportunity?

I would say ‘Sonata Arctica’, but it’s too expensive ahah.

How important are your fans?

Very important. Is there any band around which doesn’t consider its fans?

Which country has the ‘best’ fans?

We still have to discover it. Being based on our little experience I can say Ural audience is very hot!

What are your future plans?

We’re preparing something to develop our project, but it’s a bit early to spread the news since we don’t know yet which form our ideas will take. But be sure you will hear about us in a while!

Is there anything else you will/can tell us what’s important and I forgot to ask you?

We are an international power metal band with only three components, so if you like our material and want to see us performing live, please support the band! And be patient.

 

You can find more information about us:

https://vk.com/concordea
https://www.facebook.com/concordea
https://concordea.bandcamp.com/releases
https://itunes.apple.com/ru/artist/concordea/870437185