interview: Nemesis

The melodic extreme metal band Nemesis (Serbia) has been working on some new music that they will have ready soon. They have already made a video for the song “Vengeance” and it is available at their Facebook page. They are a relatively new band, but they are getting their name out to the metal music fanatics. Read this interview to catch up on the latest with the band.

Hello! I like the music of your video "Vengeance." Did you record it at a show of your band in Belgrade with your supporters? How was the experience of making a video?

Nemesis: Thank you very much for liking our video, it was a lot of sweat and work to record the video. Video was recorded inside of a theater that is located in Pančevo, a little town near Belgrade. It took us a whole day to record, with short breaks, and of course with help of our friends and band’s supporters we managed to get all of the needed material to create a great video. Since this was our first try in making a video, we will definitely continue making more so we can share our music with the world.

What is the situation with your new music? It is an EP, correct? When do you think that the new music will be available?

Nemesis: We are in full trot in making new stuff, we are full of ideas! It will be an EP, that is correct. It is still yet to be named and should have around 4 songs. There are more vocals to record so we will do our best to get our EP out before May.

You are in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, correct? Unfortunately, I do not know a lot about the metal bands from Belgrade and from Serbia in general. What has been your personal experience being in a metal band in the capital of your country?

Nemesis: Yes, that is correct. Serbia as a country that is still undeveloped when it comes to metal music and bands. Most of the bands that have a larger audience are pop-rock, rock and ex-yu rock, so it is very hard to push trough as a metal band. There are a lot of them though, so we are trying to unite and make a metal scene. When it comes to the clubs, we are very low on venues. Even if the venue is open for this kind of music, they are usually not designed and equipped for metal sound. Economic situation in Serbia is really bad and many clubs are closing, especially the ones that support metal bands. Being a metal bend in Belgrade is really hard. There aren’t any institutions or media that support underground culture. Also, metal bands in Serbia don’t get paid, the biggest amount we earned as a band was about $100 for a gig, so everything we invest in the band is from our personal funds.

Tell us about your lyrics. How does life in Belgrade affect your perspective on your lyrics? When you look at life in Serbia, what do you see? How are the future possibilities for yourself, your friends and your family?

Nemesis: Most of our lyrics are directly connected to our lives here and the things we see and feel. We find inspiration for lyrics in our everyday problems, but also in government corruption and some philosophical issues. Honestly, when thinking about future, we don’t see a bright side. Media manipulation in Serbia is on really high level. Serbia is a country of many paradoxes. On one side we have strong nationalist propaganda, and on the other we have capitalistic market owned by foreign people. The result is that we have really poor state and really rich individuals and politicians that are supporting the rich. Average monthly salary is about $250, but the cost of life is much higher. Because of these things we aren’t optimistic about our life here. And these are the things we are talking about in our lyrics because we would like to raise awareness about low life standards, media manipulations and low education among people.

In your opinion, what are some things that Nemesis must do in order to have success at the international level?

Nemesis: First of all we have to release our EP and promote it everywhere we can, so people from other countries can contacts us. We are planning to go touring in neighbor countries as soon as the EP is released. We are planning to play in Bosnia, Croatia and Bulgaria. To be successful in Europe you need to be persistent in your plans and ideas and to believe in yourself and your band mates. Also good funding can influence your success as a band.

Can you tell us who are the members of the band at this moment? Who started the band in the beginning? Arch Enemy was influential for Nemesis, correct? Did you watch a show or a video of Arch Enemy? What did you like about Arch Enemy’s music?

Nemesis: Members of the band are Sanja Drča (vocals), Aleksandra Petrović (lead guitar), Tijana Milivojević (rhythm guitar), Anja Tvrtković (bass guitar) and Selena Simić (drums). There isn’t one person that started the band. We kind of knew each other and we all had the same idea – to form a melodic death metal band. It is a coincidence that it’s an all female band, because only girls wanted to play this genre at the time when the band was forming. Arch Enemy is our big influence because of their melodic riffs, but strong groove and thought-provoking lyrics. We never saw their live performance, but we watched their videos. We have strong hopes to share the stage with them someday.

I live in the Seattle area. Here in the U.S. we don't know much about Serbia. How is it, vice versa? Do you like any metal bands from Seattle?!

Nemesis: One of the bands that have a big influence on us as a band is from Seattle – Nevermore! We could say that we don’t know too much about Seattle and its metal scene. But, Anja our bassist is a big grunger in her soul so she is more familiar with bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and etc. We would love to share some thoughts with you on that topic, we are very interested but it is very hard go get informed when it comes to Seattle metal bands.

In the 1990s there were wars in your region of the world. It was in the news a lot. This was before you were born, I think. Do you have a sense that Serbia and its neighbors can live in peace in the future? What do you think?

Nemesis: We said in earlier answers that the nationalistic propaganda is still strong, not only in Serbia, but also in Bosnia and Croatia. We have many friends in those countries which are not affected by the war. But there are still some isolated situations were elderly people are passing hate to their children toward their neighbors. Some of the girls were children at the time of Yugoslavian war and they had really bad experiences. They were really young, they were not aware of things that were happening but they remember the fear they felt. We have a sense that we can live in peace and cooperate with our neighbors because they are people made of flesh and bones, just like us. We even share the same language and culture. People just need to stop trusting the mass media and start thinking with their own heads. It’s 21st century, we have internet and stuff, we need to stop living in the past and make better future for our generations.

Finally, can you tell us how we can follow the news of Nemesis and the new music for 2017?

Nemesis: At this moment we are mostly active on Facebook so you can like our page and follow our adventures there. But also our Youtube page will be soon in full mode were we will post our videos and who knows, we are thinking of making some sort of travel vlogs in the future. Music will be also available for download on our soon to be open Bandcamp.

Thank you for your time!

Nemesis: Thank you so much for reaching out! We will be in touch!

facebook.com/girldeathmetal/

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