D /HARMA

Dharma was founded on the 15th January, 2007 in Budapest. 2010 "Heavenly Hell" was nominated to the Hungarian Metal Award for Debut of the Year. Now The refreshed line-up started recording the second album, and will be debuted soon as D/HARMA. Here is an interview with one of Hungarys best gothic metal bands.

Could you start off this interview with a short introduction of the band, info on how the band was formed and the origin of the name for our readers?
Laci (songwriter, guitar): In 2006 I moved to Budapest to be in the middle of the Hungarian underground culture. After a few jam sessions with Sub Rosa rhythm section, and  later w/ Grain (Korn tribute) I decided to start my own little rockband.  First I found a singer, Nicia and then later met with the guys. When Bandi (drums) and Greg (bass)  came on board  the band was complete. Dharma was not the band’s first name, we began as Karma on Heels, then changed to Dharma. A  few month later a new american comedy Dharma & Greg aired worldwide and we realized the similarity between our names. It was favoured by fortune J Dharma (ancient sanskrit word) means Natural Law.
Greg (bass) :  - In 2006 my former band split up, and I started to look  after a band. I saw and advertisement on a website said something like „ modern metal band is looking  for a creative bass player using a 5 string bass” So I decided to sell my 4 string bass, bought a 5 string one and applied for the ’job’ J Dharma and Greg? Hmm… would be a perfect band name, wouldn’t be? J

Which is the current line up? I see that you have line up changes.
Laci: Nicia parted ways with the band due to musical disagreements and personal differences. She was replaced by our friend, Ani Ritzel. The refreshed line-up started recording the second album, and debuted live at FetishBall a few days ago.
The band changed the name to  D /HARMA  to get a fresh start.

Ani: Well yes, just a few words about myself: Singing was my hobby every since I was a little child. I’ve had a couple of bands until’  now, all of very different kind. In my teenage years I was a huge fan of gothic metal, but at some point I started listening to heavier stuff. There are lots of pop artists too who I appreciate for their vocal skills.  So nowadays I like everything from Evanescence to Machine Head, from Amy Winehouse to Opeth. I find it very important to be open and multi-faceted as an artist for being able to chose the right drawer in your head whenever it is needed.

Your music has a very diverse sound. To people who may not have heard of Dharma, how would you describe your sound to them?
Greg:  We all have our different musical influences, that makes our music diverse and of course we don’t want  to play riffs that have been played thousand times before by others.
Laci : We've had our ups and downs, but as a band I think we have grown as musicians and with that growth, our sound is continually changing. It is very hard to describe the sound. What I could say that  D /HARMA  continues to combine elements of dark/ oriental metal and electro, but we have a few new tracks which have a bit more of a raw and rocky edge.
Ani: Personally, what I really like about D / HARMA is that it combines all the different kinds of musical styles that I adore, without being excessive and overloaded. It’s really hard to invent something new nowadays, therefore you have to mix things up. But I believe that good music is pretty much about simplicity and this is the key to create something unique. That’s what we are trying to achieve in both sound and appearance.

Lets go back to "Heavenly Hell "album. How happy are yourself with this album, does it come up to your expectations? How has the media treated this album?
Laci: Heavenly Hell represents the way we felt at the moment we recorded the album. Despite our work for this record, it was not a perfect album by any means, but most of these songs were pretty strong and emotional. The album was received well by both the profession and the audience and it was nominated to the Hungarian Metal Award for Debut of the Year. It gave us the opportunity to be featured on 3 different compilation: The Funeral Vol.2 (272 Records-US), Hammerworld-Let The Hammer Fall DVD ( Hammer-HU), Des Filles Et Des Riffs ( Season of Mist-FR). The results were far beyond our expectations.

Are there certain songs on the album you want to mention or tell something about?
Laci: It is an 11 song concept album based around the struggle to find inner peace in a decadent world. I suggest to listen the whole album from beginning to the end.

Now to the new album can you give me some more details? What can we expect to find when it’s released – any surprises?
Laci: We have finished the pre-production of our forthcoming album and hope to release it very soon. The drums and guitars will be recorded in January, and the vocals will be finished during next month. The album will have the power to connect to the universe J
Ani: The songs are very different, so hopefully every single one of them will be a surprise!

What were the goals you had in mind when you started to record it, any elements you definitely wanted to have on the album?
Laci : We definitely wanted a timeless, natural sound, and I do believe we could achieve it.We did not want to hire dubstep producers.
Greg: Yes it is very important to us, to record songs we can be proud of 20 years later  too.

How would you describe one of your shows for someone who hasn’t seen you live?What are your upcoming tour plans?
Greg: We would like to play as many gigs as possible in 2012 to make our new LP DHARMAGEDDON(coming out sometime in March) popular. And someone who hasn’t seen us yet…well…come and see us live!

What are the best and worst things about being in a band?
Greg:  
Worst: You gotta make some sacrifices in your private life and of course we are not professionals, so we all have regular jobs to pay our bills. Sometimes it’s difficult to meet all the requirements.
Best:  Play live gigs, writing new songs and record them. It is something you can not really tell with words. And of course if you see or meet with someone who likes your stuff, that’s also an uplifting feeling.

Overall what has has been the greatest challenge the band has faced up until today?
Greg:  We’ve been facing great challenges  since we founded the band. An underground band as ours has to fight even to play gigs, and of course there are a lot of blood suckers in this business you need to get rid of, or try to avoid them. We don’t have managers and many hotshot supporters. We do everything ourselves from songwriting to booking, and all the background works. It is hard to stay alive.

Would you like to add anything?
Greg:  All the best and Happy New Year to  http://www.subexistance.com/and to its readers. Please feel free to join us at http://www.facebook.com/dharmaofficial, or visit our website at http://dharmamusic.hu/  
and Look for our new album Dharmageddon coming out  sometime in March.

Kostas Sotiriou