One of the great things about getting the Headline Acts sent through is having a quick watch / listen to the videos, and often finding a new favourite. Read the words below from Ophelia’s Eye then check out “My Honor”. It’s a great song, on a par with last year’s “Speak Words of Destruction”.
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
From Dulliken – a quite an unremarkable village in Switzerland with its around 5000 residents and nearly only industry. We don’t live there but agreed on rehearsing there since it’s in the middle of the cantons we live in (Aargau and Basel).
How did you meet?
Remo went to school together with our former drummer and band-founder Marco. They played together in a school band and therefore shared a long common history.
All others have met when we’ve joined the band (Michel: beginning of 2019, Corinne: August 2019, Sandro: August 2020, Stefan: January 2021), and we all found each other via ads on Bandbuddy.
How long have you been playing as a band?
The band itself has existed since 2017, but at this time only cover songs were played. When Corinne joined in 2019 we had the feeling that now was our time to start getting going. We recorded demos in our band room quite quickly, wrote a lot of songs and played our first gig in February 2020.
Then right after our first concert, a longer concert break due to Corona came. But we used this time to work on new music, producing our EP and our debut album, which will be released on April 15th.
And now with our new constellation since January 2022 we will finally be able to go forward again.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Ophelia’s Eye is based on Olimpia’s Eyes from the novel “The Sandman” by E.T.A. Hofmann. Olimpia for us is a characterization for the goal we want to achieve with our music:
In the course of the book, Nathaniel’s perception of Olimpia changes as he observes her through a pocket lens in her room: “But as he looked sharper and sharper through the glass, it was as if moist moonbeams were rising in Olimpia’s eyes. It seemed as if only now the sight was ignited; more and more vividly and vividly the glances flamed.” (page 28)
And toward the end of the story, Nathanael is enchanted by Olimpia. He calls her “heavenly-beautiful,” admires her every day, and is desperate and driven by longing. We, too, want to “enflame” the audience, bring them to life and cast a spell over them. Through our songs the listeners should also lose the connection to reality – at least for a while.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
What are your influences?
For every one of us, the inspiration comes from another band. Michel (vocals) is mostly influenced by old-school hardcore since he grew up with this, Remo (lead guitar) has more melodic influences such as Arch Enemy, Stefan (drums) is especially inspired by Lamb of God, Corinne (rhythm guitar) loves rhythmic bands such as Meshugga or Goijra even if this not exactly influences our songs and Sandro (bass) loves complex and experimental stuff such as Ice Nine Kills.
As you can see, we all have quite a different taste in Metal which surely influences our songwriting on an unconscious basis and as we develop, probably you will be able to hear a bit more of those different inspirations out of our songs.
In terms of song structure, riffs, melodies and drive we would say our main influences are As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and a bit of Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth since those bands are like a common ground in our band.
Regarding the sound production Parkway Drive, In Flames and Periphery are our role models.
Our lyrics are inspired by things each of us experiences in our lives.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We deliver a unique style in our music since we have influences both from the Melodic Death Metal sound of Gothenburg as well as the early metalcore era of 2003. This results in hard and energetic but also melodic metal and gives us a lot of room when writing.
Our unity among all members is very big, like family-bonds. We get through everything together, be it difficult, sad, exhausting or of course beautiful and joyful moments, and we have each other’s backs. But of course also the passion of all for music in general and especially metal and its community. You can feel this unity and passion with us also on stage and we think that we are able to transfer this passion also to the audience.
Also each one of us is willing to work hard for achieving our goals.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Our lyrics are always inspired by things we dealt or deal with in our real lives. On this album we dealt with a number of difficult situations, from suicide, misused trust, divisiveness, envy, greed and selfishness.
All the songs are packed with energy, some with engaging melodic riffs, some with astute melancholy and some with deliberately explicit, simple language. We really want you to immerse into the songs and think when hearing our songs.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Our live shows deliver a lot of energy, enthusiasm and joy on stage and a captivating performance. It is our goal that everyone can simply switch off and immerse themselves in our music, forgetting their everyday life for a while.
So far due to Corona we haven’t played too many gigs. Up until today we have played six live shows.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
In terms of live shows probably no band delivers as much as Rammstein with all the pyrotechnics and stuff, so this is worth seeing. Steel Panther could probably be seen as the wildest on stage in terms of celebrating the golden age of glam metal!
Our shows have been quite “normal” so far but we have some really loyal supporters who, at every show, give everything which really is great to watch from the stage.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Remo (Lead Guitar):
- Engl Fireball 100
- Harley-Benton Cabinet 4×12
- ESP LTD Deluxe Black EC-1000 with active EMG 81 and EMG 60 Humbuckers
- ESP LTD Deluxe See Thru Black Cherry EC-1000QM STBC with active EMG 81 and EMG 60 Humbuckers
Corinne (Rhythm Guitar):
- Engl Fireball 100
- Engl Cabinet 4×12
- Schecter Damien Platinum 6 SBK with active EMG 81 and EMG 85 Humbuckers
- Ibanez RGD320 with Fishman Fluence Pick-Ups
Sandro (Bass):
- Kemper Power Amp
- LTD Black Metal Bass
Michel (Vocals):
- Sennheiser 945
Stefan (Drums):
- 5B Agner Drumsticks made of hickory with his own signature – so try catching one after our shows. 😉
- Two Gretsch Renown Toms
- Three Gretsch Renown Floor Toms
- Tama G-Maple snare
- Tama Dyna Sync Double Pedal
- Seven Sabian Cymbals
- Four Zildjian Cymbals
- Gibraltar Rack
- Tama Cymbal Mounts
- Evans G2 Drumheads
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
Our debut album (don’t miss to pre-order it on April 5th on our website and bandcamp) and our coming live shows.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
Growing our audience, play as many shows as possible and hopefully also some outside Switzerland, writing new songs and most importantly: enjoying finally being able to go full steam ahead in our new constellation and on all the coming live shows!
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!
We actually applied at many locations together with our friends from I, Delustionist – a great deathcore band from Basel, Switzerland which we have a good friendship with. So, with them we definitely like to play no matter if they open the show, or we do.
But apart from that there are many great metal bands in Switzerland you should check out such as Expellow, Sickret, Atropas and many more. If you’re interested in checking out the Swiss Metal Scene, Tamselbärchen has a great encyclopaedia.
Regarding for whom we would want to open: There would be many and for each of us definitely for our favorite bands but if we needed to choose: Parkway Drive. We all love their sound and performance – especially the stage presence of Winston – and they also seem to be good guys with which you could have a lot of good talks and fun.
If you want to check out more new music, then fire up our Headline Act playlists on Spotify and YouTube!
Ophelia’s Eye: official | facebook | instagram | spotify | bandcamp | youtube
