Band of the Day: Symbtomy

A great, in-depth BotD from the folks at Symbtomy for you today. Give their demo a listen (below) as well. It’s lovely stuff!

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

Duzl: Hello, let’s say we are an “Czech internationally based band”, we all come from the Czech Republic, but I have been living in the United Kingdom for several years, so I am in the UK and the rest of the guys are in the Czech Republic.

How did you meet?

Duzl: Like many other bands were created somewhere during beer session after a good dose of alcohol, Symbtomy are no the exception. The main brain and founder of the band is Dejvy (Sectesy, ex-Despise), who had for a long time an idea to start a band that would play pure old school death metal, but because of many common excuses as time, work, etc. he never made it happen :)… Once while drinking beers we touched this theme and I mentioned that I always wanted to play in a band, but since I didn’t play any instrument (as well soo many excuses why not), it never happened. Then after few beers Dejvy suggested to me that I should start to learn to play on bass and keep this post in the band, …of course I told him he is crazy and he should find some experienced musicians, but he was stubborn and then one year later….here we are!  Then Dejvy contacted Martin (also Sectesy, ex-Despise) if he would make a vocals for demo and then speak to other guests if they will able to record the demo. Štěpán/drums (Poppy Seed Grinder, ex-Despise), ADIS/bass (Elysium), Frank/guitar-solos (ex-Garbage Disposal).

How long have you been playing as a band?

Duzl: I personally date the official formation of the band since I succumbed to Dejvy’s pressure and bought a bass, so for me it is connected with the date of November 4, 2019, but unofficially we started the band during beer few months earlier and in Dejvy’s head maybe even a few years ago …

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

Dejvy: That is interesting, no one’s ever asked that before – you’re really the first one. It’s not a tricky thing, just a combination of two words that are extremely important to me. Symbolic (my festival) and Sectesy (my second band). I like symbolism and this was actually the first thing that came to my mind when inventing the name. I tried other names, but none was better than this.

What are your influences?

Dejvy: The inspiration is clear and as I always mention it – it’s death metal as such – the whole genre and the lifestyle associated with it. The music has to appeal to me or not and it can be old recordings from ABBA or news from young bands. In terms of influences I always wanted to try more “Swedish sound” and therefore I founded Symbtomy. I think the patterns here are absolutely clear – Unanimated, Gorement, Dismember, Entombed, Interment, Grave, etc.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

Dejvy: I don’t know if we can consider heart and sincerity as uniqueness. My music is not done in any other way than just to feel free in composing. When I am composing, I don’t think about how to make a song as brutal as possible, as fast as possible, as complex as possible, as melodic as possible … etc. I don’t see music as a sport where I should compete with others. For me, my music is the imprint of my soul. I don’t know if it’s unique for the listeners, but for me this is most important.

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Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

Duzl: Well, up to the point of the view, lyrics for the first demo of Symbtomy are fictional stories written by Dejvy. For many years Dejvy wrote to a large Czech magazine and created there a section – The History of Death (death metal). And our lyrics are one of the stories (one divided into three parts) from this section. Dejvy likes to play with the words and he is saying the lyrics are “perversely beautiful”, just check the name of songs and let your imagination work…

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Duzl: This is quite interesting question to which we ourselves do not know the answer. Symbtomy have not played any live show yet, for few reasons. As I mentioned, the band was formed in the autumn of 2019, the material for demo (not for full show) was ready in spring of 2020 and at that time we did not have a stable line-up, but this looks like it could change soon. And the another reason is, of course, the corona pandemic and I think we don’t have to mention impact of this situation on music culture generally. However, we have some offers for gigs, so let’s hope the world will return to normal soon and we will be able to plan our debut show…

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

Dejvy: One of the weirdest things anyone ever asked me, believe me :). I’ve played a lot of concerts (it can’t even be counted anymore), but if something special would happen to me on the stage … actually yes. We once played somewhere in the Czech Republic and I remember that I was nervous about the fans who climbed the stage while support bands played, walked around the guitarist, then around the drummer, opened the door behind him and disappeared there, then later again appear the same way. I have never seen anything like this in my life, exacerbated by the fact that next to the drum kit there were stoves to where the sound engineer used to go every half hour (whether the band played or not) to add woods. In the end, we found out that there were toilets behind that door, so the stage filled  during the performance, depending on how many people just needed to go on toilet.

Otherwise I have a lot of stories (when I started to remember). Once we played in Belgium in a club that they were just building that day! We thought they couldn’t build it by evening, but they really did it … But the fun came when we were let in before the official opening. They built a meter podium in a room just slightly over two meters high. I have never seen in my life what followed ….we appeal “that we really can’t fit on the stage”…then a guy with a chainsaw came, cut out a ceiling above the stage and we played. People only saw us halfway down, but we played our set. The funny thing was that there was a bathroom above the stage, so I played under the sink, our drummer in the shower, the other guitarist under the bidet.

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Dejvy: As for me, I have a little more. I’ll just mention what I am using for Symbtomy – the basis is Jackson guitars. Pedals Boss Heavy Metal HM-2 + Boss Noise Suppressor NS-2. Power Amplifiers VHT Valvulator GP3 + VHT Two Fifty Two takes care of the sound and sometimes I also use my ENGL Fireball 100 or Peavey 6505.

What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?

Duzl: World peace? Haha…. Actually we are promoting our first demo named DEMO#1 which is released (due to a  covid pandemic) with a seven-month delay. Demo is enriched by a variety of very interesting guests. The vocal parts were performed by Jonny Pettersson (Wombbath), Ralf Hauber (Revel In Flesh) and Johan Jansson (Interment). Three songs in the style of Swedish death metal will be released by the end of November 2020 via American label Frozen Screams Imprint, and in Europe under the license by the legendary Slovakian label Immortal Souls Productions.

What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?

Duzl: We want to be part of the scene with everything that goes with it, so our current plans  are get Symbtomy into the subconscious of fans, complete the line-up, record our debut full-length album which should be released in second half of 2021 and start to play live shows…

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If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

Dejvy: Honestly? I don’t care who I share the checkroom with for a long time. Really – I played in front of the biggest DM stars and in front of local bands. I played at big festivals and small clubs (once in Poland we even played in a club that was created from a block of flats on the first floor, with a play area in the living room and a bar in the kitchen. The great thing was that the drummer had behind the balcony so he had at least an air supply). I’m mainly interested in the atmosphere, the fans and the connection with them. I want to play for people who have an open mind and want to share the magical experience with me. But if I should be specific… then the concert of dreams would look like this:

First they would open Gutwrench with the set Wither Without You, then followed by Mendacity after Imprisonment, then Lustration should play Urges, they would be replaced by Phlebotomized with Preach Eternal Gospels, then Utumno would take over the podium with Across the Horizon, then I would not be eager to breathe because Internal Decay should to play their set A Forgotten Dream, they would be thematically followed by Unanimated with material on the record Ancient God of Evil, it would be slightly slower with Cianide who played the whole The Dying Truth, then the melody would return to the stage again with Desultory, who would play the whole of Bitterness, Winter would continue with the material from Into Darkness, after which people will be nailed by Illdisposed, who would play the whole miniCD Return From Tomorrow, then we would probably perform with Symbtomy because after us comes a Dissection performance of the album Storm of the Light’s Bane, which would be followed by the second stars of the evening Miasma with a set from the album Changes and the top of everything… Gore Fest with a complete set from the debut Mindloss.

I would like to experience this and if you want to … I will tell you exactly what would play simultaneously on stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 5, stage 6, stage 7, stage 8, stage…!

Check out this month’s BotD Playlist on Spotify and YouTube

Symbtomy: facebook | bandcamp

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