In this interview, I was able to catch up with Simon J. Kok of the Finland based band Preterist to ask them a few questions about their album 'Blood Moon Rising'.
(Jacob) It's so good to finally be having this interview with your band:
(Simon) This is my first interview on behalf of Preterist, so congratulations to you! You get to be the first one to do this with me.
(Jacob) So, can you give us some insight into what got you involved in the music industry and what is the ultimate purpose of the band?
(Simon) The band really has no other purpose than to be a creative outlet for me. It is my own personal hobby. I like listening to music and making music and since I had the songs and the means to make them into a recording, I decided why not. I don't view myself as having ever been that involved in the music industry and I don't even really want to be. I like doing things on my own and in my own way, from outside of the music industry treadmill.
(Jacob) Who was the founding member(s) and when did the band officially form?
(Simon) I'm the founding member and the only member. This is a solo project. There is no forming date in that sense.
(Jacob) Have you been in any other bands before forming Preterist?
(Simon) Yes, I have. I played for many years in a Finnish Christian rock band called Etappi. We did two albums, both engineered, recorded and mixed by me, which is how I taught myself to produce music. We ended the band in 2016, due to other priorities in life for each of us making sustaining the band too difficult.
(Jacob) Can you shed some light on where your band's name came from and what is the meaning behind it?
(Simon) What is the meaning behind your band's moniker-Preterist and why did you choose that name?
Preterist comes from the Latin praeter, which means the past. Christian eschatology (ie. the doctrine of the last things) can be divided into four main branches, which are futurism, preterism, historicism and idealism. Futurism is the mainstream viewpoint, with the future antichrist and tribulation and rapture and all that. The rest are minority viewpoints. Preterism asserts that rather than describing events in our future, the Book of Revelation serves as a sort of a final chapter in the saga of Old-Covenant Israel, culminating in the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in AD70. Same goes for a lot of what Jesus preaches and predicts on the Mount of Olives, like in Matthew chapter 24. It is quite a radical paradigm shift and bound to raise curiosity in people, which is good. I chose this name because it is unique and reflects my beliefs. Coming up with a catchy and unique band name isn't easy, so I'm happy with this one.
(Jacob) What brand of instruments do you all use and why do you prefer that specific brand over another?
(Simon) As a drummer I play a Pearl BRX drum kit from 2007 with Amedia cymbals. The first drum kit that I learned to play with was a Pearl Export kit, so being a kid that stuck; Pearl was the mostest awesomest drum brand in the world. So when I moved away from home I took a student loan to finance my very own drum kit, which is the kit I own today. As for cymbals, there is a guy in my hometown who imports these great Amedia brand cymbals directly from Turkey. So when my Meinls, which I had been using for many years, started cracking on me, I sold them all off and switched brands. What the other musicians who participated in the making of this album use, I don't really care, as long as it sounds good. And it does. I know Egon, the bassist, has his Fenders and Ampegs and CJ, the guitarist, his quadruple Rectifiers and whatever Ernie Ball Music Man guitars he uses, but it really does not matter much to me.
(Jacob) Do you all have any hobbies outside of music that help to rejuvenate or inspire creativity within your music?
(Simon) No, not really. Music is the creative hobby. I am an entrepreneur, you see, and my workday consists of programming and problem solving. That is interesting in its own way and it is a line of work that I enjoy, but it is also taxing for the brain and can be quite stressful at times. So making music is a great balancer and relief for that.
(Jacob) Are there any artists that have played a part in influencing the members of your band along with your band's sound?
(Simon) Well, I can only speak for myself here. The other participants of course bring their own touch to the project, but I had produced very detailed demo tracks which the guys, CJ Grimmark on guitars and Egon Veevo on bass, very faithfully reproduced. The musical styles I'm most fond of are European power metal, progressive metal and AOR, so the influences you will hear there are just about anything from Dream Theater to Masterplan to Petra.
(Jacob) What is the biggest problem that you have had to overcome as a band?
(Simon) It has been really easy, to be honest. I do not have high expectations or aspirations. I just make music, dump it out in the aether and see where it goes. People have other kinds of stupid hobbies as well, like jumping out of aero planes or skiing down a mountain slope. And they use tons of money to maintain those hobbies and at the end of the day they have less of a memory footprint left than I do with this. Of course, hunger grows when you eat, so I guess one problem that I have from time to time is how to keep the creative energy flowing. I'm not good at finishing songs. But if the question is about problems relating to human relations or something like that, there are none of those, since this is not a real band. We haven't spent enough time in the same room to get on each other's nerves and the nature of this project is such that something like that happening is very unlikely.
(Jacob) Can you go into some detail about the musical direction on your latest release Blood Moon Rising?
(Simon) Well, I guess you could say it is a pretty typical debut album that is a mishmash of ideas still searching for direction and identity. It is a pretty diverse album, with a lot of different songs in different keys, tempos and grooves. But on the other hand, that's what makes it interesting, to me at least. I didn't want to make a monotone recording where all the songs sound the same and are predictable. I think it turned out to be a pretty solid mostly Power Metal and somewhat Hard Rock album.
(Jacob) Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to accomplish on your latest project?
(Simon) Yes. I wanted to make an album, I wanted to produce it myself, I wanted CJ Grimmark from Narnia to play the guitars, I wanted to mix the drums without sample replacement, and I wanted to have a diverse lot of good catchy songs with thought-provoking lyrics. So yes, I feel like I've achieved what I wanted.
(Jacob) What is your favorite song to perform, whether live or in studio, and why?
(Simon) I have never performed any of these songs live and the likelihood of that happening is low. What happens in the studio is that each one of the songs starts to develop in the way that I play it and becomes very detailed and mastering the song in the way that I want to play it becomes the challenge. It is sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating. But I don't have a favorite. Each one is interesting and challenging in its own way. Then again, I also don't have a song that I dread playing. But others are more difficult to play than others, sure.
(Jacob) Were there any special or funny moments during the recording process of the album?
(Simon) No, not really. The recording process was such that each one of us recorded our own parts in our own studios. We didn't come together in a physical location. So no, we didn't play any pranks on each other or goof around in some other way.
(Jacob) At this time, are you planning to keep moving forward as a band and are there any plans for future projects in the works?
(Simon) I do have almost 60 demo songs of varying degrees of completion in the works, so certainly I do have the will to produce a sequel for this album. People have been asking for a physical CD and some even for a vinyl, so getting a physical release out is something I'll be concentrating on next. It is too early to tell yet when a next album will happen or who I'll hire to participate, but in its due time everything will sort itself out.
(Jacob) Thank you for your time and thoughtful responses to each and every question. I am excited about your latest release and am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future.
(Simon) Thank you for the interview. For the reader, please, if you like my music, find Preterist on Facebook and follow. That way you'll be in the loop when I have news on the CD release.
(Jacob) It's so good to finally be having this interview with your band:
(Simon) This is my first interview on behalf of Preterist, so congratulations to you! You get to be the first one to do this with me.
(Jacob) So, can you give us some insight into what got you involved in the music industry and what is the ultimate purpose of the band?
(Simon) The band really has no other purpose than to be a creative outlet for me. It is my own personal hobby. I like listening to music and making music and since I had the songs and the means to make them into a recording, I decided why not. I don't view myself as having ever been that involved in the music industry and I don't even really want to be. I like doing things on my own and in my own way, from outside of the music industry treadmill.
(Jacob) Who was the founding member(s) and when did the band officially form?
(Simon) I'm the founding member and the only member. This is a solo project. There is no forming date in that sense.
(Jacob) Have you been in any other bands before forming Preterist?
(Simon) Yes, I have. I played for many years in a Finnish Christian rock band called Etappi. We did two albums, both engineered, recorded and mixed by me, which is how I taught myself to produce music. We ended the band in 2016, due to other priorities in life for each of us making sustaining the band too difficult.
(Jacob) Can you shed some light on where your band's name came from and what is the meaning behind it?
(Simon) What is the meaning behind your band's moniker-Preterist and why did you choose that name?
Preterist comes from the Latin praeter, which means the past. Christian eschatology (ie. the doctrine of the last things) can be divided into four main branches, which are futurism, preterism, historicism and idealism. Futurism is the mainstream viewpoint, with the future antichrist and tribulation and rapture and all that. The rest are minority viewpoints. Preterism asserts that rather than describing events in our future, the Book of Revelation serves as a sort of a final chapter in the saga of Old-Covenant Israel, culminating in the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem in AD70. Same goes for a lot of what Jesus preaches and predicts on the Mount of Olives, like in Matthew chapter 24. It is quite a radical paradigm shift and bound to raise curiosity in people, which is good. I chose this name because it is unique and reflects my beliefs. Coming up with a catchy and unique band name isn't easy, so I'm happy with this one.
(Jacob) What brand of instruments do you all use and why do you prefer that specific brand over another?
(Simon) As a drummer I play a Pearl BRX drum kit from 2007 with Amedia cymbals. The first drum kit that I learned to play with was a Pearl Export kit, so being a kid that stuck; Pearl was the mostest awesomest drum brand in the world. So when I moved away from home I took a student loan to finance my very own drum kit, which is the kit I own today. As for cymbals, there is a guy in my hometown who imports these great Amedia brand cymbals directly from Turkey. So when my Meinls, which I had been using for many years, started cracking on me, I sold them all off and switched brands. What the other musicians who participated in the making of this album use, I don't really care, as long as it sounds good. And it does. I know Egon, the bassist, has his Fenders and Ampegs and CJ, the guitarist, his quadruple Rectifiers and whatever Ernie Ball Music Man guitars he uses, but it really does not matter much to me.
(Jacob) Do you all have any hobbies outside of music that help to rejuvenate or inspire creativity within your music?
(Simon) No, not really. Music is the creative hobby. I am an entrepreneur, you see, and my workday consists of programming and problem solving. That is interesting in its own way and it is a line of work that I enjoy, but it is also taxing for the brain and can be quite stressful at times. So making music is a great balancer and relief for that.
(Jacob) Are there any artists that have played a part in influencing the members of your band along with your band's sound?
(Simon) Well, I can only speak for myself here. The other participants of course bring their own touch to the project, but I had produced very detailed demo tracks which the guys, CJ Grimmark on guitars and Egon Veevo on bass, very faithfully reproduced. The musical styles I'm most fond of are European power metal, progressive metal and AOR, so the influences you will hear there are just about anything from Dream Theater to Masterplan to Petra.
(Jacob) What is the biggest problem that you have had to overcome as a band?
(Simon) It has been really easy, to be honest. I do not have high expectations or aspirations. I just make music, dump it out in the aether and see where it goes. People have other kinds of stupid hobbies as well, like jumping out of aero planes or skiing down a mountain slope. And they use tons of money to maintain those hobbies and at the end of the day they have less of a memory footprint left than I do with this. Of course, hunger grows when you eat, so I guess one problem that I have from time to time is how to keep the creative energy flowing. I'm not good at finishing songs. But if the question is about problems relating to human relations or something like that, there are none of those, since this is not a real band. We haven't spent enough time in the same room to get on each other's nerves and the nature of this project is such that something like that happening is very unlikely.
(Jacob) Can you go into some detail about the musical direction on your latest release Blood Moon Rising?
(Simon) Well, I guess you could say it is a pretty typical debut album that is a mishmash of ideas still searching for direction and identity. It is a pretty diverse album, with a lot of different songs in different keys, tempos and grooves. But on the other hand, that's what makes it interesting, to me at least. I didn't want to make a monotone recording where all the songs sound the same and are predictable. I think it turned out to be a pretty solid mostly Power Metal and somewhat Hard Rock album.
(Jacob) Do you feel like you achieved what you set out to accomplish on your latest project?
(Simon) Yes. I wanted to make an album, I wanted to produce it myself, I wanted CJ Grimmark from Narnia to play the guitars, I wanted to mix the drums without sample replacement, and I wanted to have a diverse lot of good catchy songs with thought-provoking lyrics. So yes, I feel like I've achieved what I wanted.
(Jacob) What is your favorite song to perform, whether live or in studio, and why?
(Simon) I have never performed any of these songs live and the likelihood of that happening is low. What happens in the studio is that each one of the songs starts to develop in the way that I play it and becomes very detailed and mastering the song in the way that I want to play it becomes the challenge. It is sometimes fun and sometimes frustrating. But I don't have a favorite. Each one is interesting and challenging in its own way. Then again, I also don't have a song that I dread playing. But others are more difficult to play than others, sure.
(Jacob) Were there any special or funny moments during the recording process of the album?
(Simon) No, not really. The recording process was such that each one of us recorded our own parts in our own studios. We didn't come together in a physical location. So no, we didn't play any pranks on each other or goof around in some other way.
(Jacob) At this time, are you planning to keep moving forward as a band and are there any plans for future projects in the works?
(Simon) I do have almost 60 demo songs of varying degrees of completion in the works, so certainly I do have the will to produce a sequel for this album. People have been asking for a physical CD and some even for a vinyl, so getting a physical release out is something I'll be concentrating on next. It is too early to tell yet when a next album will happen or who I'll hire to participate, but in its due time everything will sort itself out.
(Jacob) Thank you for your time and thoughtful responses to each and every question. I am excited about your latest release and am looking forward to hearing more from the band in the future.
(Simon) Thank you for the interview. For the reader, please, if you like my music, find Preterist on Facebook and follow. That way you'll be in the loop when I have news on the CD release.