1. How did the band get started? How did you meet
and how long have you been together?
Mark Rohrbaugh:
Entranced started in summer of 96 when Chris Shults and I had decided
to put out a CD. We had already been in previous bands together since
we were about 13 or 14 and our we had our old keyboardist named Dee
(from a different band) that had left his keyboard back in Omaha while
he went to school in Minniapolis. Well, we basically had decided on
Entranced to be a 2 man project originally. It was all instrumental
where i did all of the instruments on that first CD and chris did
some keyboards. We both did the song writing. We later decided that
we'd like Entranced to become a live outfit instead of a project,
and picked up Brian Cain (our old bassist) to play bass with Entranced,
while Chris switched from doing keyboards to drums. As time passed,
Brian switched to keyboards because we needed a good keyboard player,
and he was already very good at boards so- we said why not. Entranced
played live with Chris singing and playing drums, Brian on Keys and
myself on guitar for almost a whole year. Around march of 99 we hooked
up with Ben. It was kind of ironic- I hadn't seen Ben in a long time,
and I happened to see him at a show and we decided to try him out.
I know ben because he was a freshman kid in high school that was one
of the main people helping us sell our 1st CD that we cut when it
first came out in 96. He was also the bassist in the jazz band - I
really had no idea that we'd end up using him, but things worked out
really well. Aarion responded from an ad we had out for a singer and
thats how we met him. We had been with him twice. The first time we
worked with him he ended up cutting several tendon in his foot by
accidentally dropping one of his swords in it, so he had to take time
off from the band. He later hooked back up with us litterally a month
before we played at the Milwaukee Metalfest. He had only been in the
band a week before I had him record on the promo CD that we made for
the Metalfest. Chris Shults (drums) quit about 3 weeks before the
metalfest, leaving us drummerless for the show. I called chris correll,
our current drummer and asked him if he wanted to play at the metalfest
in 17 days. We only practiced with Chris Correl 7 times before we
played Metalfest but it did turn out well.
2. How would
you describe your music?
Mark Rohrbaugh: Atmospheric
progressive metal, with very dark, doom overtones to the music.
3. What are your biggest influences?
Mark
Rohrbaugh: Dream Theater, Theatre of Tragedy, Type O Negative,
Tiamat, Fates Warning, Cradle of Filth, Scholomance, Cynic, Atheist,
Carcass, DEATH, Eternal Tears of Sadness, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape
Plan, and a zillion others.
4. What influence do you think
your bands has in music and metal today?
Mark Rohrbaugh:
I think it takes a more progressive approach to doom metal, very layered,
and also alot more acceptable for the masses than most doom. We've
had people we wouldn't even suspect like the music, not just metalheads
have bought our CDs and such.
5. What made you want to
be in the band? And if you weren’t in the band what would you
be doing now?
Mark Rohrbaugh: I remember I started
playing guitar when I was 13, and I remember just thinking about how
I needed a release from reality. So the band thing is kind of a release,
but more of an addiction anymore. I'd probably be doing the same thing
if I wasn't in a band, accept without the band.
6. Are
any band members in side projects? If so what are they, and explain
a little about them.
Mark Rohrbaugh: Not as of
yet. I've been throwing around the idea of starting a grindcore band
with some guys as kind of a fun thing.
7. How would you
feel if a band took their sound from yours and became very well known?
Mark Rohrbaugh: I would have ASCAP speak to the individual,
have our music lawyers speak to the individuals and have the judge
speak to the individual.
8. What current bands do you
like or respect?
Mark Rohrbaugh: I very much
respect most progressive bands and jazz bands because the composition
and talent of the players is phenominal. Bands like Dream Theater
are actually getting very huge internationally and all they do is
write great music. I think its great when a band can do it their way
and get a huge international following and not have to follow the
current musical trend that will be out in 2 years. I also respect
all of these black metal and and grind bands that are broke, and tour
anyways, and still keep hitting the grindstone. That in itself is
a very hard thing to do.
9. How many demos/albums do you
have? Tell me about them!!
Mark Rohrbaugh: Our 1st CD is all instrumental - put out in
December 96, the next CD we did was a promotional CD that we made
pretty much just for the Milwaukee Metalfest and for other promotions.
Our actual full length album will hopefully be out by August, and
is expected to have at least 60 minutes in length. You can stay updated
at: http://www.angelfire.com/ne/entranced1
10. What demo/album do you like the best?
Mark
Rohrbaugh: The new promotional one.
11. What are the
bands favorite songs?
Mark Rohrbaugh: My personal
favorites are "Gods Voice", "In the Depths", "Stalker", "Seven", "Gothik
Tayke", but I really like all of them.
12. What does the
future hold for the band?
Mark Rohrbaugh: A brand
new album distributed internationally and through mailorder, hopefully
we will be getting signed on to the booking agency Mr. Bungle uses
after our album and will be able to tour this summer for a couple
months with a signed, bigger band.
13. If you could play
with any band who would it be and why?
Mark Rohrbaugh:
Type O Negative, because we could get alot of their fans into our
sound.
14. Who writes the majority of the music?
Mark Rohrbaugh: I'm the primary songwriter, but Brian
does alot as well. Aarion writes his own vocal parts after the song
is done.
15. Who has been the favorite band you’ve
played with and why?
Mark Rohrbaugh: A bunch of
bands at the Milwaukee Metalfest. Cephalic Carnage is amazing. They
played out here a couple days before Metalfest with Entranced, Lead,
and Fornever - they totally blew my mind seeing them live. A couple
other great bands are System Failure and the Reanimated. Both of them
are great bands as well.
16. Where did you get the band
name from?
Mark Rohrbaugh: From the mindstate
in which our music places the listener.
17. Describe what
the band is like live?
Mark Rohrbaugh: Well,
we basically are all so involved in the music live that alot of times
we are totally zoned out. We'd look down and see people all glazed
over just starting at us, people with lighters out the whole bit and
some couples would look like they were going to have sex right on
the floor to our music. The audience is usually not moving much -
usually just absorbing the music. We know we have played a great show
when we get done - and everybody just has this extremely glazed look
on their face, even a couple seconds after the song is over when seeing
them kinda snap out of it. Thats always a good feeling.
18. If you are gonna do any kind of video what would be in it?
Mark Rohrbaugh: I've always thought that having a Schindlers
List type theme would be good for the song "seven."
19.
Are there any touring plans made; if so tell me about them?
Mark Rohrbaugh: The only touring plan we have right now
is basically to get on a booking agency and have them do the touring
plans for us. Entranced is moving to Philadelphia in August, so we
will be playing all over on the east coast on a pretty regular basis.
20. Where do you think the band will be 20 years from
now?
Mark Rohrbaugh: We will hopefully be financially
independant and have our own label, and will have a pretty popular
status if we get promoted right, and get the touring breaks we need.
But, that would be hopefully more like 3-10 years...20 years? Hopefully
Entranced will either still be around, or a "good" has been. I'll
probly be playing jazz and be in a full progressive band. If the Entranced
feeling is still in my blood the band may still exist. |
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