Our Team Member, Bishal ‘Xenocide’ Dutta haD a brief chat with Steeves Austin, Guitarist for Progressive Math Metal band Beyond The Dust!
Here is the conversation.
Steeves Austin
UNHOLY MAUNDER – Hello guys! Greetings on behalf of the Unholy Maunder Team!
UM – How have you guys been?
STEEVES AUSTIN – Pretty good. very busy those times working on big stuffs
UM – We are already half way through the year. How has the year been musically?
SA – Very intense ! as you may know we released “Reality Deformed” in january as a single which features Jay Berast (Aliases vocalist) to introduce the slight turning we had in our musical style.
We also had some changes on the line up as Alex (our previous singer) had left the band and Valentin left the band too to be full time on Betraying The Martyrs.
So, we have been joined by Regan as a groovy bassist (ex-Post Offense, ex-Black Curtains) and Syhem (ex-Ashka) as our new “frontlady”.
With this new line up we are working on new material, new shows and stuff to present very soon Beyond The Dust’s new face to the world.
UM – For those who haven’t heard your music, How would you like to describe the band and the music that you guys play?
SA – I would describe the band as a bunch of silly dumb ass people enjoying being together and sharing the same passion ! haha
We are a 5 piece band playing something between modern progressive metal music and mathcore (that some people classify as “Djent”).
You can find a lot of influences in our music from Meshuggah to Dream Theater.
By the way, how come you never heard our music ?! go check it out noooow ! 
UM – You guys released a single In January. How was the response?
SA – haha! That was important for us to release it as this song was more in the vein of what BTD is at the moment.
Something more modern than before with a different sound and different writing style.
We had Jay as a guest appearance on this one to add very specific color to this song.
And the response was very good. this single has allowed us to keep the fans in suspense and lot of people are waiting for new materials.
UM – Your Facebook page states that the members of the band are prominent members of famous metal bands in the French music scene.
SA – How did you guys meet? Do you guys share the same taste in music?
Well, Valentin was playing with us while playing in Betraying The Martyrs, he was the real rockstar in the band actually haha.
Those guys are now signed on Summerian Records and touring worldwide all the time, we feel very proud to be close friends.
Actually we all met after the tragic death of previous guitarist Edan Shade.
Valentin was a close friend of him, and I (Steeves) joined the band to fill the void left by his disappearance.
We can only hope that he his proud of us where he is (cheers bro !)
About musical taste, we basically share the same vision of music. we are coming from different backgrounds and different influences but all mainly around metal music. (even if our drummer is a big fan of Justin Bieber ! *he is punching me at the moment*)
UM – What was it that got you into metal? Any major influences?
SA – Well, maybe generational conflict ! haha
We all grew up in a time when metal has been democratized.
We love metal for all that comes around, for the music, for the shows, for the “unconventional” side of this music.
We also love this music and particularly progressive metal genre because this is one of the only musical style where you are free to do whatever you wanna do. there is no limit to creation, no frontier that you can’t cross.
Our influences are from band such as Periphery, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Justin Bieber … (*drummer punching me again*)
UM – “Djent”. What does this mean to You? what comes to your mind when someone says this word? Why do you really like this
particular genre of music?
SA – Hahaaaa the uncomfortable question !
We know that this is becoming a polemical question those times.
Lot of people say “Djent is a genre” other people say “Djent is not a damn genre”.
Well, our though about it is whenever Djent may or may not be a genre, it allows to reunite lot of bands, lot of people that loves a specific kind of modern music (mainly identified with polyrythms, extended range guitars, home made productions etc …).
There are lot of bands classified as “Djent” those times but all very different. If you compare Sybreed with Periphery, this is really different. however, those 2 bands are classified “Djent” because they have those Polyrythms inside. haha, this is very funny to see such a big community growing around polyrythms
More seriously, we think this is a good thing that this word allows people to discover new artists and a new genre of music.
Our drummer is praying that one day Justin Bieber will be classified as Djent !
(*punch again*)
UM – The Guitar work on your two albums are killer! What made you pick up this instrument and how long have you been playing it?
SA – Kory is playing for 2 week now, and I don’t not have any idea about what guitar is !
(OH MY GOD WE ARE SO FUNNY IN THIS INTERVIEW !!!)
We are both playing for something like 10 years now.
That was obvious for us according to the style of music we were enjoying that one day we’ll be playing guitar.
Started with 6 strings, then 7, then 8 ! WOAAAAAAW WHERE WILL IT STOOOOOP
We just signed with Ibanez, and we suggested them our 195973506 strings guitar project ! finger crossed, keep that for you this is a secret haha
UM – Run us through your gear.
SA – We are freshly signed on Ibanez guitars and basses so we are playing on RG2228A 8 strings guitars and Regan is playing on an SR1205 bass.
We are lucky enough to play on Fractal Audio’s AxeFX Ultra. This shit is epic !
And lot of other rack units doing sweet flashing lights and useless things
UM – Tell us about the songwriting process of the band. Every band has a different approach to writing music. Who is mainly responsible for the song writing?
SA – Everyone in the band have composing skills.
Basically, someone in the band is writing a full song as a base, what we call a “skeleton” then we all reunite and brainstorm around it to improve and take the best out of the skeleton.
With all home studio stuffs/gears this is kind of an easier process now than in the past decades.
UM – Any memorable experience(s) live/onstage/backstage?
SA – Well, when we are on tour we classifies all that happens in 2 different “boxes” : “Stories you can tell” and “Stories you try to forget”
haha, but all experiences we had was memorable. we loved all the bands we toured with, those guys are memorable experiences !
Anyway, I think the most memorable story that come to my mind now is probably during the “World Domination Tour” with Becoming The Archetype when we found a cart at the place we were staying …
We all got in the cart and another guy pushed us in some bushes, some stairs etc …
Luckily, we broke a wheel before we found the skatepark just close to us … maybe there would have more injuries to the band members
(But as we are kind people we fixed the wheel with knife … RIP knife !)
UM – Upcoming tours?
SA – Yes ! Lot of big things are being discussed at the moment but we can’t talk that much about it for now.
but we’ll let you know about it as soon as we will have more for you guys
UM – Tell us something about the French Metal Scene. Bands, Gigs and stuff like that.
SA – French scene is not so well known but there are lot of good bands that become to represent our country.
Betraying The Martyrs, I think those guys are doing a great job to spread the french touch on the Metal scene.
In “Djent” scene you obviously heard about Uneven Structures, which are good friend of us too.
Other bands you should check out : As They Burn, Checkmate, Hell Of A Ride, T.A.N.K, Hord, Justin Bieber (*one last punch from the drummer*) and lot of other awesome bands we forgot mention
UM – Have you heard of the Metal scene in India? If yes, any Favorites?
SA – To be honest not that much BUT you have that awesome band, Skyharbor !
Those guys are freaking amazing ! but if you have bands to recommend let us know we would love to know more about your scene.
And there is one thing we love from you guys, this is your awesome action movies ! man, I’m a big fan of Endhiran !
UM – Any plans on coming to India?
SA – Not yet at the moment but if you wish to have us playing in your beautiful country let us know about any plans opportunity. that would be a big big pleasure for us to visit India.
UM – Thanks mate for your precious time! This is your space. A few words maybe, for the fans here and the budding musicians?
SA – Thanks to you guys for your great website !
Very big thank you to the fans and all people supporting us everyday.
We promise you lot of bit things this summer so stay tuned
As a last word we would use some word of our manager : “C’est très important que tu calmes ta oij !” (Private joke )
UM – Thanks Again! Hope you guys have a successful year ahead!
SA – Thank you Unholy Maunder ! You guys rule !
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