How did you come up with the band Name? The name band Seas on the Moon I found being in school. I was searching for something unusual and took from the school bibliotheque a dictionary called “Russian English cosmonautics dictionary”. After a few days of research, I ended up with this name that the other guys from the band liked a lot.
Tell us about where you come from and how that reflects in the music? Our band is from the republic of Moldova which is between Romania and Ukraine. The band was founded in 1997 and had different states of activity through the years. Initially formed as a hobby school band which enjoyed playing Nirvana, Metallica and Slayer covers, later became composing its own material. Early years the band was playing something between death and thrash metal. The actual Seas on the moon “ars poetica” is about different emotional, existential and axiological parts of human existence. We are trying to reflect in our music what we feel in our everyday life journey.
Tell us about the song-writing process, how do you create your music? Usually it begins with a strong emotional state which makes me take the guitar and try to express what I feel in that moment through the music. It can be a guitar riff, or a combination of some guitar parts and synth sequences. In the early days of the band I was also writing the lyrics for the song, but I began concentrating on music mostly and giving this opportunity to other singers involved in the project. It seems to me to be more interesting and multidimensional every time. When I am happy with the instrumental 99%, I give it to side singers which I consider fitting a song or another and they write their vocal live. Together after we polish the lines and record the final vocal production.
Who has influenced you the most? In early days we were influenced a lot by Nirvana which made us create the band. Later came Metallica, Slayer, Death, Sepultura, Obituary and other death thrash metal bands famous at that time. But when we discovered the bands like Dream Theater and Pain of Salvation it was like a revelation. Dream Theater influenced a lot of our music and especially my musical taste. Also, could mention Riverside, Opeth, Rush, and many other progressive rock/metal bands. The actual genre of the band is progressive rock/metal.
What was the first song you or your band ever wrote? Tell us if you performed it, trashed it, etc.…. The first song written for the band was probably “The Forest of the hanged” in 1998 and was inspired by the Romania novel with the same name. The song was 14 minutes long and the audience was always enjoying listening to the song during the shows. We also enjoyed playing that song live. Sweet memories. Was a funny moment with this song during a local fest in 1998 when we were asked to play only one song as headliners because of lack of time. We said ok knowing that this song would be the Forest of the hanged which is 14 minutes long and is equal to 5 short songs of other bands. We ended up stopping playing because the organizers turned the power forcing us to close the show. The crowd was disappointed by that situation.
What song are you most connected to or proud of ? I am proud of each song I write so I could not underline one. Maybe the instrumental called Mioritual Healing which was released in 2013 remains something special for me after these years. Now we are concentrating on songs more than on instrumental music and I think we will show a lot of interesting music in the future and especially the new album which I wish to be released by the end of this year. 4 singles are already released and can be found on most digital stores available worldwide.
Do you enjoy playing live and what do you enjoy about it ? In the early days of the band we enjoyed a lot playing live and usually had 8-10 hours of rehearsals. After the band stopped the live activity, in 2004, the band became a studio project and was all these years my hobby which I was enjoying in my free time from studio work. I continued writing songs, recording and sometimes also playing live. In the future I hope to be able to perform more on live events.
What is next for the band? The next steps for the band are the release of the full-length album until the end of 2020 and keep being more and more active. Also, finding new voices which could be part of what I call Seas on the moon nowadays.
