Interview by Si Smith

Mark Jansen is a name synonymous with class and top quality metal by all accounts. So when he announces a new project the metal world takes notice! Teaming him up with characters from his past and present to create something new and vibrant, MaYan is a tribute to his right to stand in the metal hall of fame;and as his co-conspirators Simone Simons and Floor Jansen are no strangers to Femme Metal, we thought we would grab Mark in between creative flourishes to have a few words about the new release...

Thanks for the nice words :)

Well, we last spoke to you with regard to Epica I believe, so this time may I wish you a very warm welcome back to Femme Metal and thank you for stopping by to answer our questions!!

You're welcome and thanks for the interview as well.

This new project sounds very exciting and has got tongues wagging in all sorts of circles. Firstly, where on earth do you find the time to create another project alongside your "normal" duties? What was it about this project that you felt was worth prioritising?

Haha so far almost every interview has started with this question. Because I'm a guy who's in need of new challenges every now and then :) I ran into Jack Driessen 2 years ago and we wrote some music together (before we were in After Forever during the early years). After all those years we had an instant click again. It worked very well. The result of it was the song "Resign to Surrender" which ended up on the Epica record "Design Your Universe". After that we decided to go on together and create some more music. We wanted to make something different from After Forever and Epica and that became MaYaN. As with Epica we surveyed the borders of heaviness already and we cannot go that much more extreme. If we would do that we'd lose that which Epica is standing for. Within MaYaN there's the possibility to go more extreme and add more grunts as well.Epica will be the priority band but during the Epica breaks MaYaN will join forces and we hope to play many shows this way. If MaYaN would become very popular we'll find a way to make it work as well. But only the future can tell. We have goals but no specific expectation, we'll see what happens.

The Mayan culture was one of the greatest civilisations of the ancient world. I remember that in Epica's "Consign to Oblivion" there were already references to the Mayas of Mexico and Guatemala. What is it particularly about the Mayan culture that fascinates you?

I have always been fascinated by this culture and now it resulted in the name of my band. The lyrics are not dealing about the mayan people but maybe in the future I'll write some lyrics about them as well (just like I did with Epica about the mayan culture). The Mayan are according to the stories the only people who have survived a poleshift. The mayan elderly predict that such a pole shift is going to happen pretty soon again. A very interesting subject. But probably I'm gonna write about this on the next Epica album already. Both bands are different but have some things in common as well. Besides that the knowledge of the mayan fascinates me a lot. They had a great insight in astrology and architecture. They knew the existence of certain stars which were impossible to see with their equipment. But still they knew about it. There are many theories about this and why they knew so much. I believe they lived in way closer harmony with nature, something we have lost along the way. If we would listen to our heart more carefully we'd follow the trails of nature again and regain our forgotten knowledge.

You are well-known for your interest in science and psychology as well as being well-read in quantam physics. What do you feel are the lessons our society can learn from looking at older cultures such as this?

Many lessons. I notice in current science a big scepticism towards spirituality. As if scientists are weak when they even consider that there's something more 'between heaven and earth'. I am a scientist myself, I studied psychology and graduated. But I would never be able to work among narrow minded scientists. I love to see that some scientists do dare to look beyond the 'borders' and invesigate for example near death experiences. Talking about quantum physics. I think our human brain is too limited to fully understand the extremely complex but by intuition, being open minded and smart we can come quite far.It's proven that consciousness has a direct influence on quantum physic level on the environment. Consciousness literally creates! I think we can see this even broader than this. What we think is what we create. Once we realise this life changes drastically. I also enjoy life fully. I have bad days as well but always try to see the bright side and enjoy the little wonders of nature. I'm not afraid to die, on the contrary I enjoy every day which is given to me :)

The band draws from both Epica and After Forever in its make up, whilst also introducing new characters such as Jeroen Paul Thesseling and his progressive bass playing. How did you decide who should or shouldn't be involved in this venture? Were you pretty clear from the start as to what you wanted to create?

We were not clear at all, we just let it happen. The only thing we were sure about was that it needed to be different from Epica and After Forever and that we should be able to listen to our own album as fans. And we succeeded on that. I've never played one of my own albums as often as I played "Quarterpast". Because there's so much going on you can keep on playing it and discover new elements.It was not difficult to find capable musicians. Everybody we asked to join wanted to participate. Jeroen Paul seemed too busy with his other bands to join us on tour so he got replaced by Rob van der Loo (ex Delain). We discussed this with Jeroen so no bad feelings from any side, it was just impossible for him to have three bands. 

Nuclear Blast are backing you all the way with this: was it easy to get them to sign up to this, based on your prior relationship with them?

It's never easy to get a record deal. But Nuclear Blast was from the beginning on very enthusiastic about the demos we did send them. I asked them to offer us a good deal so we would have no reason to look for another company as I love working with NB. It's the best label for a metal band in my opinion. Fortunately they offered us a great deal so we signed.

So let's imagine I know nothing about this band or project - how would you describe the band and the album?

I would mention three bands: Progressive elements from Symphony X, songstructures in the vein of Opeth and the heavy side of Epica/After Forever combined. "Quarterpast" is a brutal expression of emotions. The result of writing music under a good atmosphere with open minded musicians.

"Drown the Demon" was made available for free download as a taster for the upcoming album. What was it about this song that you thought might be a good representative of the delights to come (or was it not your decision)?

Nuclear Blast asked for a song (max 5 minutes) for compilation cd's. "Drown the Demon" is exactly 5:00 minutes, so that's why we took that one. We didn't know it would be the one to be released as well, but it's logical.

Songs like "Symphony of Agression" and "Celibate Aphrodite" are perfect examples (for me) of great and skilled songwriting at its best (and both clock in at over 7 minutes....). How do you begin to approach the creation of songs such as these? And where do you go once you have the original idea?

We just started writing and some songs ended up being 4 or 5 minutes and some longer. I never know when a song is finished but I can 'feel' it. As long as a song feels unfinished we continue working on it. So when we start we have no idea yet what kind of song it's gonna become, we just let it happen to work on it with full energy and passion.

Classic operas tend towards the tragic in their plots and denouement. How do you think "Quarterpast" compares to a traditional opera, with all the drama and counter-drama that is involved?

It's a pity that the last song of the album was left out on the i-pool. The song is called "Sinner's Last Retreat" and in that song everything comes together with the dramatic plot. It's the third longest track, The solo's are most intense, the choir heavy and the progressive elements come to a climax. I think this is very comparable to a real opera. All elements of the album come together in the last song. I've asked NB to add the song to the i-pool as well as the song belongs to the album and no album will be sold without this song either, even though it's advertised as being a bonus track. It's part of the whole :)

Sasha Paeth and his Gate studio were responsible for production: how have you managed to strike the correct balance between the epic symphonic elements and the heavier guitar-driven elements with the production?

We discussed with Sasha how to approach the music and we agreed to give the guitars a bigger role compared to Epica. There's also more going on in the guitarparts compared to the epica guitarlines. But at some points the bombastic elements needed to be placed upfront to give some extra melodic touch to the music.

You are largely self-taught as a guitarist (apart from a few early lessons in your life). For future aspiring guitar heroes, what would you say are the most important lessons you have learned along the way to where you are today?

I've learned that you have to follow your own intuition. Everybody wants to give you advice, and most of them mean it all well with the best intentions. But nobody knows what's best for you, only you do. If you really want to become a musician than go for it, 100%.

On May 19 will be your release show in Amsterdam, with Epica playing alongside (!). This is sure to be one hell of a show if you guys can pull it off! I understand that Simone, Floor and also Henning (Sons of Seasons) and the great Laura Macri will also be joining you on stage for this. How on earth do you prepare yourself for such an event?A week of sleep and finger-stretching exercises??!!!!!

All guests will join us on stage that day indeed :) It will be a hell of a show in all ways, more than 3 hours on stage. But I look forward to it and if there ever was an opportunity of dying on stage it will surely be that day haha ;-)

You will be taking the band on tour alongside Sons of Seasons next month - is there any particular reason to choose them to accompany you out of all the choices? Will Mayan be a feature at any festivals this summer too?

We will tour with Sons of Seasons as it's first of all a great band, their new album is phenomenal! And second of all Henning is the frontsinger of SoS, so he's there already and that makes it easier that he sings with us as well.

Many of your dates are in your home country - how are the fans and the media towards you there? Have you a lot of support? How do you think your regular fans will take this slightly heavier material?

Regular Epica fans are very positive about the "Drown the Demon" song, I don't know how they will react on the heavier stuff on the album. I expect some mixed reactions. It will be too heavy for some Epica fans but on the other hand, those people who got into us with "Design Your Universe" because of the heavier approach will probaby like "Quarterpast" as well. We have a lot of support from the local media and venueholders. Now it's just waiting to see how many people will show up at our gigs. We don't expect any Epica numbers of people but hopefully the venues will be packed in a cozy way :)

Judging by the popularity and solidity of this release already (and it hasn't even been released yet!), MaYan is a force to be reckoned with and will be for some time! Are you planning to carry on with the project at some time in the future to release more material, or is it too early to say yet?

We have signed for 4 albums, I guess that says enough about our intentions ;-)

One final question: will you be making any videos from MaYan? If so, whay may we expect?

Yes we're working on a video. I can't tell which song yet but the ideas are spectacular and confronting.

Thanks so much for answering our humble questions Mark, and may we wish you success on the "opening night" and for the tour!!

Thank you too! :)

Links

MaYan Official MySpace 

MaYan Official Site 

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