Interview: Klynt

In June the Austrian metallers of Klynt released their new EP, titled This is Revenge. Recently DutchMetalManiac’s Tim van Velthuysen interviewed Klynt’s vocalist Dadu and guitarist Flavius.

Hey, how did your shoot go?

Dadu: Yeah, it was fun. We played two quite big festivals, the biggest festivals we have done so far. One was MetalDays last week or two weeks ago and in two weeks we are playing Metal on the Hill, it’s quite a big festival in Graz, where we come from. We wanted to do some promotional stuff. We don’t know how it will work out yet but it was a fun shoot and we’ll see.

You recently released This is Revenge, your new EP. I really like it, it’s really nice.

Dadu: Great, cool.

How are the reactions you got on it so far?

Dadu: So far so good. I won’t speak for others but the reception for what I’ve heard from fans and magazines so far is good. I think it turned out good and I’m proud of it.

Last year I already reviewed the predecessor of This is Revenge, Faustbreaker. Something that back then immediately stood out for me and I needed to get used to for a bit were your clean vocals, which aren’t regularly thrash vocals.

Dadu: That’s right.

Is that a deliberate choice?

Dadu: It is. I have a deeper voice than most vocalists, I sing that kind of music and I try to figure out my own way to do these things. As you said some people have to need some time to get used to it, some like it. I can only do what I like to do and develop it.

On This is Revenge you also do those vocals, but in my opinion they sound better now and are better mixed with the rest of it. What do you think of that?

Dadu: I agree with that. I think I tried hard to develop this and I trained. As songwriters we want the songs right, we write the riffs and the guitar parts with what the vocals do in mind. I think that way it all blends better.

Your music is a mix of epicness and thrash metal. Two things that aren’t exactly close to each other. How did you come up with the idea of mixing these two things?

Flavius: I think we don’t think about mixing these things. Really, it came just how it came. We write the riffs, we write the lyrics.

Dadu: We didn’t actually thought about that. It just happened.

Flavius: That’s the way we ride.

Dadu: It sounds epic. It’s for us and if that’s the case, it’s good for us.

It sounds quite unique.

Flavius: That’s good.

It is. When Faustbreaker was released Klynt had four members, now you have five. Besides that you also had some lineup changes. How does that feel to you, Dadu, since you are Klynt’s only constant member?

Dadu: Our first album was called Of Klynt and Man. Back then our current second guitarist Patrick also was part of Klynt. He left the band for personal and job reasons after that first album. After that time, it was quite hard, we had a lot of member changes. On Faustbreaker Flavius did all the guitar parts alone. We had guitarists for live gigs. I want to mention Rosie and Tom. Good guys, but it was not the band. It was not complete at that moment. Now Patrick rejoined and we’re back.

What made him come back?

Dadu: Definitely a change in his job. Before he rejoined he was a lot of time in Japan and China, because of his job. He was never at home, he couldn’t have done the band thing at that time. Now that has changed. He approached us and said that he wanted to come back.

Flavius: We wanted him back, so he is back.

Can you elaborate a bit on the statement you want to deliver with This is Revenge?

Dadu: The main statement is don’t be an asshole, be yourself. Be free, but don’t judge people. That’s the main message. I love the metal scene, I love metal people, I love the metal bars, but there are certain people that are very poisonous to this whole thing. This is a statement against false accusations. Don’t judge people because they don’t have long hair or because they have long hair. That’s not important. Let’s just love the music. We want to fight for that.

What would you mostly like to see changed in the metalscene?

Dadu: I think it’s good the way it is, but there are always people that put their own ego over the whole thing and shit on others. We want to say fuck you. It’s about metal, you can’t put yourself over metal. The scene in general is good and we’re proud of that. I hope it’s good in The Netherlands too. I guess so, there are a lot of great bands coming from there. You have to fight to maintain this.

It sure is good. Can you also tell something about the lyrics on This is Revenge?

Dadu: It’s basically about that. We have been through some hard times with the band. You mentioned the member changes. There also are a lot of people that, I don’t know, don’t like our faces or something. We wanted to reply on that.

Flavius: Listen to Bloodstained and Driven. That’s a statement for This is Revenge, for me.

Dadu: Personal thing for Flavius.

What’s the connection with the bear?

Flavius: That’s a good question. To be honest, we thought about an animal on the cover. In the group we thought about which animal could represent the thought of revenge the most. In conclusion we had a bear.

Dadu: Before that idea started, I wanted a fighter with an axe on the cover. Flavius was the first one that said “no warrior guy, everyone does that”.

Flavius: When you look at the cover and you see the arrows in the beer, the blood and everything. It is fighting.

You also mentioned it, you recently played a few shows including MetalDays. How was playing MetalDays?

Flavius: Awesome.

Dadu: It was great, beyond our expectations. MetalDays is not far from our hometown, like a four hour drive. We’ve been there several times as fans. It always has been a special place. Now being a part of it and having the possibility to play there is cool on its own, but it was so much more. It was a huge party, I can tell you that. It was a great experience.

The best gig in the history of Klynt or not?

Flavius: Definitely the one with the biggest crowd.

Dadu: Maybe the best gig so far, I would say that. It was really cool.

You also have three upcoming shows confirmed at this moment. Can we expect some more shows in the near future besides those three?

Dadu: I hope so. Besides the Metal on the Hill festival, there’s one smaller show I really look forward to. It’s going to be with Stälker from New Zealand. It’s going to be a small show, I really look forward to that one. We also have one gig in Carinthia in Austria with Warbell. That’s it so far, but I hope there are plenty of shows coming up.

Maybe also coming to the Netherlands?

Dadu: That would be awesome. We would need to have some shows underway because I think The Netherlands is a 16 hour drive. We would love to play there.

Flavius: If you know some venues or promoters, feel free to hook us up.

How’s it going with your glam metal ambition?

Both: Haha!

Dadu: That’s a thing of the past. We were young. It was a special thing, we had a cover of Bon Jovi, Runaway, in our live set for quite a long time at that moment.

Flavius: We made a picture of it. It wasn’t really like we’re now glam metal or something, but just a picture of the attitude.

Dadu: It turned out really good. Everyone pissed themselves laughing. It was great stuff. We actually thought about a secret gig wearing those clothes and makeup, but that didn’t happen so far.

So you still want to do that?

Flavius: Why not? Maybe in The Netherlands.

Dadu: It’s going to be a secret gig.

I saw that photo and I had to ask. Thanks for your answers. Is there anything you want to say to our readers?

Dadu: Yeah, I want to say what fits to the whole theme of This is Revenge. Be free, live the metal, don’t be an asshole and everything is going to be cool.

You can check our review of Klynt’s Faustbreaker here.

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