Dan Presland

Ne Obliviscaris

NE OBLIVISCARIS is an up and coming Progressive/Extreme Metal band based out of Melbourne, Australia. Their debut album "Portal of I" received critical acclaim from fans and the music industry in general, and they recently had a very successful Crowdfunding campaign to support a European tour. Recently, they released their second album, entitled "Citadel". Dave Campbell was fortunate for the opportunity to interview drummer extraordinaire Mr. Dan Presland here for Metal-Temple magazine.

By David Campbell

• January 9, 2015

Dan Presland (Ne Obliviscaris) interview

Tell us about the early years of forming the band. What was the vision that you wanted for your brand of music? How did you settle on your name, which means "Forget Not" in Latin?

I was one of the last guys to be in this current core group of guys. I joined early 2005, and at that stage we were still very much finding our sound and feet. Our vision was to tour the world and make music that we all really enjoy. Xen our vocalist came up with the name. I believe it's to do with a family motto of his.

Can you describe the state of Metal today in Australia? What different kinds of music do your citizens seem to enjoy most? Where have you found the most passionate Metal fans over areas where you have toured?

The metal scene in Australia is definitely on the rise for sure. Just coming off of our Citadel launch tour here in oz, things were pretty wild. Melbourne was the biggest show with over 700, Sydney sold out, and Brisbane was also a handful of tickets away from selling out. Melbourne has always been the strongest city for music form our experience. Australia seems to be somewhat open minded to music, as at our shows we do have a wide range of audience of people. However the pop/rock stuff still dominates the charts here. We were the first metal band in a long while to chart with our new record, and we really hope this opens up the door for more heavy artists.

You have an extremely unique and complex sound that truly defies labeling, including instruments that some people would not associate with Metal, yet I find that it fits in so well in the final product. How do you approach songwriting within the band? Do you find it challenging to play this material live?

Our approach to song writing is very primitive and organic. It generally always starts in the jam room and develops from there. We sometimes send ideas around in email, usually recorded
guitar, and things develop that way. It is challenging to play live, but we do consider ourselves a live band and work very hard to replicate our performances on the live stage.

How was your first touring experience following the release of "Portal of I?"

The POI touring was very cool for sure. It took us all over Australia a few times and gave us our first taste of overseas touring. It was a. Great experience and gave us a lot of new challenges to face and improve upon for our Citadel touring.

Your crowd-finding campaign proved to be very successful. For those not familiar with this concept, can you describe how this works? Also, how exciting was it to know that your fans wanted to see you tour so badly?

Crowd funding is basically offering products/services to people in exchange for support and money. We offered things from instrument lessons to EPs featuring music from our very early years. It was extremely exciting to see the support and demand for the band to tour. We were really blown away.

Your new album "Citadel" comes out on November 7. Can you talk about some of the similarities and differences for your new album compared to "Portal of I?"

Citadel is a progression of everyone in the band. It still sounds like NeO, but it is a whole new direction and dynamic. It still has all the elements of our first record, but we just explored different sounds and feelings.

Where can fans pick up the new album, and what tour dates have been established following its release?

Fans can grab the record from season of mist (European or US) online stores, nervegas.com.au or JB HiFi. We just finished a tour of Australia in support of the record, and we are currently working on European dates. We have only confirmed a few at the moment, which include metal days, Hellfest and Rockstadt extreme fest.

I believe fans always want to get to know the band in some ways. Can you tell us what interests and hobbies you have, and what kinds of things you do when not working on music?

In between music I have a full time career in driving trains. I have to travel away from home a lot, so between music and my career I'm not at home as much as I'd like but that's how it is. I enjoy cars, finding new music and video games.

What kinds of music and bands had a hand in influencing your sound? What bands do you all enjoy listening to today?

Bands like emperor, Gojira, Devon Townsend, Michael Jackson, the Beatles. Really too many to list. Right now I'm loving the new contortionist, Fallujah and beyond creation albums.

A quick and funny personal story if I may…I was able to get my father, who is a classical music fan only for the most part, to listen to and find some enjoyable moments in your song "And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope," as well as note the complexities within. I haven't converted him to a full on Metal fan just yet though.

That's really cool! We are really surprised at the end of the night when we are doing our March and we have people lining up to buy stuff who are anywhere from 18 to 60. It seems we connect to a lot of different people - something which we really enjoy. Thanks for the interview. All the best!

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