It’s been a really long time since the release of your previous album. Did you plan to have a long break like this?

 

We didn’t plan to have such a long time in between albums, there were circumstances beyond our control in which we had to wait for things to finalize, plus we had a member of the band leave so that put us back a little, but with that being said we are back and hungrier than ever before.

 

As far as I know Silvio had some health issues as well. Is he fully okay now?

 

Silvio had some really worrying issues with his health for a time, he recorded most of the album while he had the flu, then he had to have surgery to get rid of the sinuses that were causing him terrible migraines and after all that was done the poor guy developed tonsillitis in which the doctor said to him that it was the worst case he had witnessed in his 25 years profession, so it was a touch and go time, but luckily Silvio is doing great now and his voice has not been affected so we are grateful that he has come out of it 100 percent.

 

Apart from writing the songs what else have you been doing during this long period?

 

Well, we have been constantly writing and developing our skills as musicians, apart from that we have been playing live in Australia and just living like a bunch of normal guys do, some of us in this time have gotten ourselves married to very understanding partners and in general life has been good.

 

Tangled in a Dream came out on Limb Music. Why did you leave them?

 

It was a culmination of things that I really wish not to go into, I will say that we saw things in a different direction to them, so with that being said that’s why we made the move and also finished dealing with our management as well, but that’s all I will say, I'm not into putting shit on people, we sincerely wish them all the best.

 

And how did you hook up with this new company Dockyard1?

 

We found Dockyard1 through a good friend of ours Jörg who has his own concert promotion/touring company called Dragon Productions and he mentioned that there was a cool new label starting up with some very experienced people, so naturally we were interested. The offer they gave us was great and we knew some of the people already and we knew that they are capable, fresh and determined people, so naturally it was a good move to sign with them, and so far everything is going fantastic, so we are all happy guys.

 

Did you shop around with the finished material or only sent out demos?

 

Yes we did, in fact we got a few offers, but in the end Dockyard1 offered us the best deal and we have a new home for Vanishing Point.

 

You have three albums out on three different labels...

 

The last two albums have been released through two different companies, this is correct, one of the labels has disappeared off the face of the planet, we have had no contact with them for a long time now which is frustrating, the second album was released by LMP. Our new deal with Dockyard1 is for three albums, so we are very happy with that and they are very keen and determined to give Vanishing Point the push it needs, what more can one ask for.

 

Btw, is your debut album still available or it’s more like a rarity now?

 

Well, exactly, it is a rarity for sure, yet I think it will be re-released in the future, so if you have a copy of the old version then you have a rarity. (Laughs)

 

Your last activity before disappearing was a tour together with Gamma Ray and Sonata Arctica. What kind of memories you have of that tour?

 

It was a great tour and we had a lot of fun, for us to see so many cool places and meet so many people it was nice and quite a dream to be sharing the same stage with Gamma Ray and Sonata Arctica. We became really close friends with the guys in Sonata Arctica and are still in contact to this very day, not only were our dreams fulfilled playing to so many people, we also struck up cool friendships with people and we are happy that we did the tour, what band wouldn’t be. (Laughs) We hope to tour Europe again in the coming future, it’s been something we have been constantly looking forward to since we finished the tour.

 

It seems pretty obvious that you’ve been influenced by that tour, especially the music of Sonata Arctica, because your new album is more straightforward and more melodic than Tangled was. How do you see that?

 

Its true that Embrace The Silence is maybe a little more straight forward than Tangled was, yet we naturally just progressed and grew as musicians and individuals at that time, so with that being said I think that the album represents what we were feeling at that time, so we are happy that all the melodic elements are still intact because it’s what we do best and for us naturally any Vanishing Point album is melodic. I think with the new album we have captured some of the elements that Tangled had, yet this time it is a little more heavier and some of the songs are a little more darker, yet I think that the inspiration came from within due to what we felt.

 

Sonata Arctica covered one of your songs on their latest album. What was your initial reaction to that?

 

It was absolutely awesome and an honour to have a band like Sonata Arctica who we all like so much to have covered one of our songs, to have a band of such a high calibre enjoy your music to the point of covering it is amazing and we are grateful to the guys for helping us get our name out there even further, it is truly an honour and we are happy to have such great friends who are looking out for us. When I received the email from Tony mentioning that they had covered Two Minds One Soul, I was happy and when I told the guys in the band they were happy as well naturally, so it was a decision easily made to give them permission to do the cover, who could ever say no? (Laughs)

 

As for the musical style change, was it a common band decision or just the result of the songwriting process?

 

When we are writing we write together as a band, so naturally the songs came out the way they did, there are no preconceived ideas as to what is going to happen, we work best that way because otherwise it would be one dimensional and we fear that any cool ideas anyone on the band has to offer would be lost, so we always write as a team, I think that the music has progressed naturally and we are happy that the emotions we felt when writing the album have transcended to the actual recording, we wanted to truly capture what we felt and where the band was at that particular time .

 

Btw, how do you work on the songs?

 

Naturally we just get together in the rehearsal studio we have built and just jam out, it can be a lengthy process, yet we have a formula and we just go for it. I think it’s crazy to sit there and say to oneself that we should perhaps try to do something that isn’t ourselves. We pretty much let anyone on the band write the songs if they have the feel for it and have an idea for the new song, it’s a really simple, no bullshit way to do it, everyone gets to have an input and everyone feels good about the song, we are all confident in each others abilities and trust each other totally. Some songs can take a day, some songs had taken over one month to complete, it just depends on the vibe and how much the song makes us feel, it has to have melody and feeling otherwise we are not interested in doing it.

 

Is it the same with the lyrics?

 

It’s predominantly myself and Silvio who get together most, Joe likes to write lyrics in his own time by himself and we are very comfortable with this because he comes out with some killer songs lyric wise and finally just recently Tommy had started writing lyrics as well and he really has come up with some fantastic ideas, the songs Reason And Breathe are his introduction lyrically and we could not be happier with his output, he is an amazing musician, so we are never short of ideas. In general we write about what affects us as people and the way we see things, the lyrics are just an extension to ourselves.

 

What are your favourite songs?

 

My two favourite songs would have to be Season Of Sundays and Once A Believer, lyrically I was very happy with what I had achieved with them and they are close to me. Season Of Sundays lyrically speaking was written when I was in Europe and it was due to the events of September 2001 which inspired the song. It was just questioning as to why mankind is so stupid in it’s one way road of problems and division, when all it seems to be doing is obliterating itself and innocent people unfortunately pay the ultimate consequence due to this stupidity. I really wish for world peace, unity and happiness that’s all. I'm no peace activist and I don’t get involved in politics because it shits me, I just felt naturally that I should write about something that pissed me off and had me in a melancholic mood for a long time. I really enjoy the melody in the song and the symphonic element to it, every time I play the song it still has the same feeling for me because it feels real and true, without sounding like an arrogant bastard. (Laughs) Once A Believer is a song lyrically that deals with being betrayed and having to realise that what you had or whom you had believed in turned out to be a lie, pretty simple. Silvio's singing on the track for me is great because he displayed the spite that I was looking for and the whole song for me turned out great so that would have to be a favourite.

 

Did you work with a producer?

 

Yes, we worked with Endel Rivers once again and things went smooth, only his schedule is rather hectic so sometimes we had to wait until he had some spare time, but we never see this as a problem because working with Endel is fantastic. He's one of these producers who is interested in enhancing a bands songs and not creating something the band is not interested in. He is one of the most friendliest and easiest guys to work with, he gives all musicians space and he lives the music. In general everything went well apart from a couple of studio technical problems, but apart from that it was all smooth sailing. We seem to be a bunch of boring guys, sorry there's not much news there (laughs), only kidding.

 

Are you satisfied with everything?

 

100 % satisfied and I would not want to change a thing. I am proud and very happy with the new album, what can I say, it’s an album I comfortably know in the back of my mind that I will listen to it in years to come and not look at it as being contract fodder that feeds the machine. I'm not interested in that, I'm interested in making music that seems memorable to me and they rest of the guys in the band, and we hope that people like it.

 

You’ve been lucky to be able to play in Europe with your previous record. Can we expect the same now?

 

Yes, we would like to come to Europe again in the future. We can’t wait, we are not sure when, but hopefully it will be sooner than later. We had a lot of fun last time we were in Hungary and we hope to visit your amazing country again in the future.

 

Was that Gamma Ray tour slot supported by the label or was it self financed by the band?

 

We took out a loan for the tour and to get ourselves to Europe, crazy huh?

Actually we had some minor funding and support from the previous label, but the main source of money came from our own pockets, that’s all I will say.

 

What bands would you like to tour together with?

 

We'd love to tour with Gamma Ray and Sonata Actica again, that would be fun, apart from that we would love to support many bands like Maiden, Queensryche, Stratovarius, Nightwish, Within Temptation, Dream Theater oh man, you got me there, there are so many bands that I am a fan of so we would be happy to tour with just about anyone. (Laughs)

 

The Internet became a huge part of everyone’s life. How much you use it and what do you think about it?

 

I think its great for bands like ourselves to get out to a wider audience and it’s definitely opened the doors and made it easier for our music to be heard so I'm happy with that. As long as people don’t steal the music then I think it is positive. I couldn’t imagine if we had to type and write letters to places all over the world, it would be painful and too long to get anything done. (Laughs)

 

Do you prefer web based media or printed magazines?

 

I prefer both to be honest with you because I'm still the kinda guy who likes to read a good metal magazine and read it whenever I want instead of just sitting in from of the computer, but web based media is such a good outlet and a great wealth of current information as well, so it’s good to have the best of both worlds.

 

How is the current Australian metal scene? There’s very little to read about that here in Europe. Any tips for some good bands and releases?

 

Yeah man, we have some really cool bands here like Black Majesty who are close friends of ours plus there are bands like Crimson Fire, Eyefear, Daysend, Manic Opera, Voyager, Shadowplay, Dungeon, Anarion, Alchemist, Infernal Method, The Deadly and Alarum from the top of my head, many of them have albums out and people should check them out. We have a small scene here, yet is a good one and because we are so far away it can be hard to hear what’s going on here, yet it is a cool underground scene which is very healthy and I'm sure that many people will hear of many more Australian metal bands in the future.

 

I bet you still can’t make a living out of playing music. What is your day-job?

 

(Laughs) Actually I can’t say what the rest of the guys do because they would rather keep that private, but I can say that I work as a test driver for a car company here and I drive new cars for a living. It’s a cool job that lets me listen to music and drive a car fast if I need to on the test track and it is part of research, you know, see how long it takes to break a car. (Laughs) Only kidding. Apart from that it is a dream job for any car enthusiast, so I'm a happy camper. (Laughs)