2021 was a year of many things, including comebacks! One of the bands who released a new album for the first time in 6 years was Finnish progressive metal act SIMULACRUM. The band released “Genesis“ in early 2021 via Frontiers Music Slr. We asked them a few questions about how they experienced 2021. Read the complete interview below…
What musical goals did you set for 2021? Did you achieve them?
We released the new album “Genesis” in February, 2021. The idea was to tour Finland, but the COVID situation has been so unpredictable that it was impossible to plan ahead and book dates. We did one show in our home city Turku and decided to shoot the whole set in collaboration with the Turku Rock Academy. It was a high-class production with multiple cameras and professionally recorded audio, and is currently being edited and mixed. Hopefully, 2022 will be better for live shows.
Were you able to dedicate as much of 2021 to your project/band as you had hoped?
Yes… all of us dedicated a lot of time playing together at the rehearsal studio and we sound just as good and tight as the other best bands out there. It would have just been nice to dedicate more of this time together on the road. Anyway, we did the live video and this way our fans all over the world will get to enjoy the album release show as soon as it is released.
What were some of the highlights you realized in 2021?
The album release went well, feedback and reviews were very positive, and we also secured a very good new guitarist with Antti Karhumaa (ex-AHOLA). So, in total it wasn’t a bad year. It is just a pity that we couldn’t get out there and play these awesome songs live.
Is there anything you learned during 2021?
Staying positive gets you a long way. There have been many disappointments, but also unexpected opportunities. So, though the year didn’t go as planned, a lot of good came out of it. For example, the new James LaBrie solo album, which features Chrism on keyboards and Erik Kraemer’s own hard rock solo album that will go under the name KRAEMER. Both projects will come out in 2022 and for KRAEMER, the first music video was just released!
Have you (re-)discovered any new music during 2021?
The new DREAM THEATER album is killer. They have managed to do their best album with Mike Mangini on drums. Highly recommended to all the people that enjoy progressive music!
What can we expect from you in 2022?
We are aiming for an early 2024 release for the next album, so that means the master of the next album needs to be ready by summer 2023. So that means writing approximately one hour of new music next year! Besides writing new material, we hope to really do some touring because the band is both looking and sounding very good at the moment.
Written by Laureline Tilkin
