Derek Cvengros Archaic Revival
Interview August 2008

by Franco Wissa
Staff Writer

Comments: Self described as Lord of the Rings meets metal, Archaic Revival’s debut CD Pagan Evolution should firmly affix this Detroit lineup in today’s metal scene. Track after track rich with visual imagery coming from masterful keyboard arrangements, pounding drums, orchestral synthesizers and guitars upon guitars. But make no mistake about it, this IS power metal that fits perfectly with an underlying symphonic, operatic core. All brought to life by Archaic Revival founder and principal songwriter, Derek Cvengros. And heard through it all is the voice of Alexandria Clark, and Good Lord what a voice.

Even with a busy schedule that includes tours, personal appearances, and making future plans, Hardrock Haven was able to get some time with Derek and ask him a few questions about his music, his band and his fascination with all things supernatural.

Hardrock Haven: Thanks, Derek for taking the time to do an interview with us here at Hardrock Haven. But before we begin, allow me to say how absolutely incredible your debut CD Pagan Evolution was. So congratulations on doing that, but if you could, tell us how Archaic Revival came to be, how did you and your band mates hook up, and how and why the name “Archaic Revival.”

Derek: Not a problem at all, I love taking time away from my hectic schedule to talk music and such. I’m very glad you liked Pagan Evolution. After all, I put two and half years of my life into it. It’s good to know the time spent was worth it.

As you may know, Archaic Revival was originally my brainchild. I came up with the idea around June of 2005. I had just fallen back in love with music after putting it in the background during my four year stint at college. At the time, I was listening to a lot of European metal (Nightwish, Within Temptation, Blind Guardian, Therion, etc). I loved how unrestricted and “non-mainstream” European metal at least seemed, and wanted to do something similar to it. I decided to somewhat go the way of Nightwish, but since their music is written by Tuomas Holopainen, I saw it as being very “keyboard based”. I wanted to write music similar to Nightwish, but being a guitarist, I wanted to have it more “guitar based.” This proved to be a challenge, which is why it took so long to release Pagan Evolution.

I met Alexandria by chance in a coffee shop through a mutual friend. That night I found out she was attending the University of Michigan to study opera. I quickly told her about my project and found out she was also a metal-head. It seemed to be a perfect fit. She is the only other musician on Pagan Evolution. After the release of our CD, we searched for musicians to complete the line up and play live. We placed ads online and in stores for a drummer, bassist and keyboardist. We were quickly contacted by drummer Brian McGuckin who joined the band shortly thereafter. He’s a very seasoned musician playing with bands such as Coven 13. About two months after Brian joined the band we were contacted by classically trained pianist Kevin Naeve. Kevin had never been in a “rock band” before and, come to find out, was searching for a blues band when he found our ad. Another two months passed and after a couple bassist came and left, we finally came across one that would fit the bill perfectly. Through a friend, we found former Motor City Burger’s guitarist Chris Allumi, aka Loomi, to fill the bass guitar position.

Oddly enough “Archaic Revival” isn’t just some name I thought sounded cool. It actually has a meaning behind it. The whole idea behind the project was to take metal and add classical music to it. That being said, “archaic” means, among other things, “ancient” or “old” and “revival” means “restoration of life.” So if you take these definitions, “Archaic Revival” literally means the restoration of life of something ancient or old. The ancient thing here is classical music and I’m restoring it, but not the way it was 500 years ago. I’m restoring it the way I think it should sound today.

HRH: What began your love affair for the guitar? And when was it that you decided that your life had to involve music?

Derek: To tell you the truth, my first experience with music was when I was 11 in the middle school band. I played the French horn and I honestly hated it. Today, it’s one of my favorite instruments in the orchestra. I stopped playing the French horn after about a year. I can’t tell you exactly when I fell in love with the guitar, but I remember my parents had a really old acoustic guitar that was cracked at the heel. Totally not playable but I sure tried. I was probably 13 or so we I picked it up. I had no idea how to tune it, or even that I had to tune it, but I had taped Silverchair performing on Saturday Night Live. I tried my hardest to watch guitarist Daniel Johns and mimic his playing, but was not successful at all. Right before my 14th birthday I bugged and bugged my parents for a guitar. My mom kept saying, “no.” I didn’t think I’d be getting a guitar at all. Come my birthday I was opening presents and I opened up a little, plastic toy guitar. I wasn’t at all amused. But standing behind me was my dad holding a Peavey Predator. Not a great guitar, but that’s what I learned on. I was definitely excited!

After I got my guitar I played ALL the time during high school. I was in a couple of cover bands, and played a few shows here and there. After high school I went to college and put music in the background as I focused on getting a degree in mechanical engineering. After college, around 2004, I was reunited with a long time friend who instilled music back into me. Since then, I’ve made it my life.

HRH: Who were some of your favorites and who would you name as influences?

Derek: My absolute favorite band in high school was Metallica. I thought they were geniuses! I also loved Pantera and Ozzy. Including the previous three mentioned, my other influences include Iron Maiden, Nightwish, Blind Guardian, Within Temptation, and Therion.

HRH: Who did you grow up listening to?

Derek: When I was growing up I listened to a lot softer music than I do now. My first CD ever was Pearl Jam’s “Ten”. I also listened to Nirvana, Green Day, Offspring, Everclear, and Alanis Morissette. It wasn’t until the middle of high school that I started listening to bands like Metallica, Pantera, and Ozzy.

HRH: One can hear so many styles from listening to your CD - from the classical masters like Vivaldi and Brahms, to the operatic flair of Puccini or Verdi, the hard rock of Dio and Metallica all mixed with the sounds of today’s great female fronted symphonic/goth metal bands like 4Order, Tristania and Leaves’ Eyes. The time it took to put all this together must have been mind boggling. In terms of the songwriting, with so many styles how difficult was it put these musical ideas on to paper? Then putting this music with lyrics?

Derek: It was tedious. Being a guitarist with no classical training, I had a lot to learn. The guitar writing was the easiest and quickest part of the album. I recorded all the guitar tracks about a year before finishing the album. To write the strings and orchestra parts was much more labor intensive. I read many books on music theory and orchestration. I even read books on the history of classical music so I could get a better feeling as to what I was working with. And it was also a lot of trial and error. Fortunately, with the softsynths at my hands, I could sit in my studio and try new things out everyday. I’d honestly say one-third of the time writing music for this album was spent on the guitar and the other two-thirds of the time was spent researching and writing the orchestral and choral parts.

I’d have to say putting lyrics to the music was tough, only because I don’t see myself as a very good lyricist. The way I wrote each song was to write the music, listen to it over and over again until it put a distinct image in my head, then write lyrics based on that image.

HRH: Where did you come up with the idea for the use of the Garritan Personal Orchestra?

Derek: This idea actually spawned from Alexandria. I was working with her in the studio on rough vocal tracks. At the time, I was using a Yamaha tone generator (a keyboard without the keys) and the string sounds weren’t the greatest. I was getting frustrated because the vocals weren’t quite sitting right with the music. I kept comparing my music to that of Nightwish and Alex made the comment that the reason Nightwish’s vocals sat so well with the music, was because they used real strings. That sparked an idea right there. The next day I started searching for softsynths. I had no idea how powerful these softsynths could be. I looked at many different orchestral packages but I really liked Garritan the most. It’s not an expensive package, but it does everything I need it to. Plus, their support is great and they have a lot of useful tools on their Web site. And Gary Garritan, founder and owner, is really easy to talk to. Yes, he answers all his e-mails personally. That’s what really sold me on GPO.

HRH: I was disappointed to hear about the departure of the beautiful Alexandria Clark. Your new vocalist, Stefanie, was she selected from a group of singers who auditioned or had you worked with her in the past?

Derek: Trust me, we were all disappointed as well. But she unfortunately has gone on to pursue other ventures in music. As with Stefanie, we had auditioned many singers, none of which had impressed us very much. Stefanie, on the other hand, did. She is an experienced opera vocalist and fits right in with the rest of the band. Of course, she does not sound like Alex but she brings her own strengths into the band. She has quickly learned and caught on to the music and we love working with her.

HRH: Derek, where did this fascination for fantasy and mystical imagery come from? Is this a genre that you have always enjoyed?

Derek: I honestly can’t say where the fascination came from…probably because I’m a huge geek. I love Lord of the Rings and have read many fantasy books. I used to play Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid and I still play Magic: The Gathering. I find it more interesting sending the listener into a different realm, rather than keeping them in the world they are already in. I want my music to be an experience.

HRH: It seems that what has become prevalent in some of today’s artists is that there becomes complacency in their songwriting. You know, “I love girl, but I love that other girl more,” type of thing……. As a songwriter how do you prevent from getting into the mindset that each track must be similar to the one before?

Derek: That’s a tough question. I’d have to say, the best way I keep myself from doing it, is to keep mindful of it. That is something I set out to do when I wrote Pagan Evolution. When I wrote another lick on the guitar I’d make sure it didn’t sound like any other song I’ve already written. And if it did, I’d try work that lick into that song. When writing vocal melodies, I’d constantly ask myself, “Does that sound that anything else I’ve written?” If it does, I figure out which of those melodies works better in their respective song, and I change the other one. Of course, some things are going to sound similar. That’s what gives Archaic Revival its sound. But I never want a listener to hear one of our songs and mistake it for another song we’ve written (because they sound so much alike). Nor, god forbid, would I ever want us to be confused with another band. Yes, we sound similar to some bands, but they have their own sound, as do we. That is something we have strived for.

HRH: Future plans – are you going to stay true to the music heard on your debut? Or do you have plans for something else entirely? Any videos for Pagan Evolution coming out?

Derek: We are definitely planning on another album, hopefully by the end of 2009. And yes, we will strive to stay true to the music heard on Pagan Evolution. I am very excited to work with the other members of Archaic Revival, to get their ideas and utilize their creativity. My personal goal is to constantly release an album that is better than the last. In our next album, I want to incorporate more orchestration (brass and woodwinds). Hopefully I can learn enough in the next year to do so.

HRH: Reading your Web site, on stage of course you use a full band, but in the studio it was just you who did most of not all the musical instruments. The rich, layered, symphonic metal sound that is captured on the CD, is it difficult to capture this same sound when you play these songs live?

Derek: Yes it is. We don’t sound exactly the same live as we do on the CD, but I personally think that’s the way it should be. Kevin does a great job reproducing the strings and choirs live, but, as you know, I wrote every song, aside from Autumn Winds, with a full, five section string orchestra. This is pretty much impossible to do on stage with one keyboardist. What Kevin does is play the key parts in the songs; the parts that if taken out, would definitely take away from the song.

HRH: I loved the opening drum line to “Rise of the Gods.” You can feel yourself being transported to another time and almost another world as you allow yourself to be swept and drawn into the music. As a musical journalist, I have said time and again, “if the artists can convey a feeling into their songwriting, then have the listener hear and feel that same thing,” then that songwriter has done their job. On Pagan Evolution, you have done that brilliantly. How did you do it? How did you make Pagan Evolution sound so personal in parts?

Derek: Again, I don’t think I have a definitive answer for that. I see Pagan Evolution as an extension of myself. I want the listener to feel what I felt when writing the music. How I did it, I can’t say, but I was very mindful of it. And again, it might have been because I tried as hard as I could not to make my music sound like anyone else’s.

HRH: Derek thanks again for an astounding release. It was great talking with you and learning more about your music. Any final thoughts or words you would like to tell us here at Hardrock Haven on future tour plans, upcoming shows, or a follow up to Pagan Evolution?

Derek: Thanks so much for the interview. Currently, our main focus is getting Stefanie up to speed with Archaic Revival and working on music for the next album. We will be playing as many shows as we can around Michigan though. Thanks again.