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Probably I’m the major post-rock fan of Spotify (I’ve liked almost all bands of this genre), but, unfortunately, I’ve never interviewed any band of this genre. To fix my error, Groundcast brings you Katre, an excellent post-rock from Turkey. And starting our conversation, please explain a bit about your stories in music and the band’s story.
HASAN: Hi there, Hasan here, guitar player of the band Katre. If I may start with a correction from my side, I’d say Katre is a Berlin-based band, which has transnational characteristics. Şah Cihan (Synth) and Okaner (drums) live in Turkey. Özgür (bass) and I in Berlin. I can totally understand the confusion because, with a slightly different squad for the first album, it was easier to say “… a band from Turkey”. Today it does not really hold 😉
This is a band which brings together very good friends of mine together in the first place, who are at the same time very talented musicians. I met Şah Cihan at the age of 13 I guess, at 4 PM at the beach, where I was trying to play and sing Fade to Black. He is older than me and exposed me to his music library. I was literally picking any cassette from his shelves, playing it and in case I liked what I heard, I took it back with me home. This went on quite frequently. It was like a library.
We also discussed the genres/ musical approaches a lot. I learned about Symphony X, Shadow Gallery, Fear Factory, Bozzio Levin Stevens, Jason Becker, and many more thanks to him. Okaner was a close friend of my brother, who played bass in our first release. Our tastes matched instantly with Okaner, I knew he had a distinctive approach to playing and writing music. So he was on board for Katre.
The story about Özgür is quite funny. After our first release, we were just about to arrange a mini Europe tour, but my brother would not make it due to visa/work-related matters. So, I started looking for a bass player in Berlin. Özgür is a known musician in Berlin, I had heard of him even before Katre. I asked him whether he’d be interested. He said yes, but also offered me a lead guitar position in a heavy metal band in Berlin, called Panzehir. So, I was looking for a bass player but ended up being in a different band, which had a busy schedule with gigs. We played together for 2-3 years, had an awesome experience, and also released a single/ video with the band. This year, it was time to focus on Katre again. So there you have our history J
One of the most notable in your music is the influences of eastern music, with some compositional chooses and a few typical instruments (the song with Erkan Oğur is one of the most beautiful post-prog I’ve listened to in years). How eastern music is influential and important to you?
HASAN: Thank you. Erkan Oğur is indeed a tremendous musician and a huge inspiration to me. We are so grateful for his contribution to Encounters, Katre’s first release. All four members grew up with eastern music, it does play an important role. This is inherent to whatever we produce. Check out for instance “Now on the Continent”, the 5th track from our 2nd release Behind the Resilience. Süleyman Çelik, a tremendous musician from Berlin, played percussions (thanks Süleyman!!!)
What influences your music and yourselves? Listening to your debut, I can figure some tunes from Explosions in the Sky and Goodspeed You! Black Emperor, but the extensive use of drones and acoustic parts are beautiful and enchanting.
HASAN: We appreciate your observations. Influence-wise, there is a lot to say. Musically, all four members have a common denominator, this is progressive rock/ metal. I guess seminal albums such as Dream Theater – Scenes from a Memory or Pain of Salvation – Remedy Lane has influenced the way we interpret the relationship between stories and melodies. The stories stem from where our world is headed as well as human behavior, e.g. greed, will to power, etc.
And the name Katre? What does it mean for you? In your bio, you said that means “drop” and the metaphor about “a drop in the ocean” and, for me, it’s so moving, because I think that everyone alone is just a drop, but together is a massive force of nature.
HASAN: Exactly! This is how we interpret our name. A single drop in this ocean of life, in this infinity.
One of the most interesting and reward things is a section in your website telling about the story behind the albums. For me, “Behind the Resilience” is one of the most cruel and optimistic views about the refugees’ crisis (and that remains the same with Taliban control of Afghanistan and their distorted views about Islam) and The Mermaid is, for sure, the saddest episode about it. How is important to tell these stories behind the albums?
HASAN: I think, whenever one explores any given topic, it is important to start where it hurts most. As you said, the refugee crisis is a very sad and cruel topic. It hurts us to experience the news, see for instance what currently happens on the Belarusian border, related to the Taliban’s control you mentioned. At some point, you feel helpless because regardless of what you might do, it is hard to create a substantial effect. So, to ease the pain, and also to raise awareness, you write the stories, wrap them around instrumental music, which is I think a powerful way of communicating how you feel about extremely hard subjects. I already mentioned this once in an interview, and if I may repeat – music helps to control my emotions when it is hard for my mind to understand certain facts. I hope others can connect to those feelings after listening to our albums and reading the stories.
And about these stories, “Behind the resilience” shows up a more political face of the band because people want a place to live and war always messed them up. What’s the importance to take a position in themes like this? Here in Brazil we have a small crowd that says you can’t put these themes in music and, for us, it’s not so good.
HASAN: Yeah, I also hear it a lot. “Do not mix politics in music” or “football” or “university” or whatever it is. Believing in that is naïve. There is no single activity of ours that is not related to politics. The first release “Encounters” was about the topic of existence. I think in that sense we keep showing our humane face with Behind the Resilience.
I’ve read the band is in Berlin, so you’re all immigrants in a foreign country, right? How are your experiences living in a western country and the (probably) cultural shock?
HASAN: Great question. Özgür is born and raised in Berlin. I came to Germany 11 years ago. Both of us are strongly embedded within the migrant context. For us, I feel it is like football, we play both sides of the game pretty well, i.e. defense and offense. We can implement our social and human capital in various scenarios. So, we like this multiculturality a lot and do not feel to have any cultural shock or similar, except for my first few months in Germany. Şah and Okaner still live in Turkey.
It’s probably a painful question and feels free if you don’t wanna answer me… about prejudice. My brother lives in Germany since 2014 and he faced a lot of prejudice as a Brazilian immigrant for years and I think you probably needed to face the same problems. How hard is the bite of being non-European guys in Europe?
HASAN: Oh no, very good question. Prejudice is always there. Over time, I learned to differentiate when somebody is really eager to find more about your culture and starts to ask questions. This person basically knows nothing about your background, and to explore it, she needs some assumptions. In such cases, I am personally more relaxed and my answers are more in-depth. But there are also cases where I literally heard questions such as “do you eat sausages (or even potatoes) in Turkey”? I guess there is no other way than replying sarcastically.
Then there are those extreme situations, such as racist insults or hostile acts connected to the prejudices. I personally never had to deal with those extreme situations, but they should not be tolerated in any case, there is no logical explanation to defend such motives. Send your brother please my greetings.
We are a Brazilian music webzine and, for sure, we always ask about Brazilian groups? Do you know any? Do you like some?
HASAN: I still listen to Sepultura, the times when they had Max Cavalera. Other than this, Angra was a long-time favorite of mine. But unfortunately, I am not aware of the further bands, which is a shame. So please feel free to recommend me your favorites.
I wanna thank you for this interview and now it’s your space for a last message to our readers. Let’s go!
HASAN: It was so nice having this interview with you. I really appreciate that you analyzed the songs, the story, made a picture for yourself, and connected with us. And these thanks are also going out to our listeners. The album and Katre, in general, have been welcomed very warm, we are honored that reviewers and listeners find similarities to Tool, Pink Floyd, God is an Astronaut, Meshuggah, and many more. Stay safe, and all the best!
Related Links
https://www.facebook.com/thekatre