Interview with Mark Jansen of EPICA

Photo by Tim Tronckoe

Symphonic Metal legends EPICA are heading out soon for a tour in support of their last album OMEGA which came out last year. And on September 3rd they will be having their 20 year anniversary show to be streamed all over the world for their fans. I talked to guitarist Mark Jansen recently.


On September 3rd your band is doing a special 20th anniversary live show of your concert in Tilburg. What can fans expect during this special performance?

1st of all we want to make it really special. We have SAHARA DUST opening. We were formerly called Sahara Dust. We played our first ever show opening for Anathema in Tilburg at same venue. 20 years later we want to play as Sahara Dust as our own support act, this will be really special. Besides that were going to be playing many classics but also some songs that we don’t play often live. There will be something for everybody in the setlist. We will have big pyro show, big production and some special guests. It will be a really special show.


Why did the band decide to do a live stream of this show?

Because it was sold out quickly many months before the show. We had many people say how they wanted to go to the show but it was sold out. So we thought we could do the live stream so people that couldn’t get a ticket so they could still be there in a way.


When you started EPICA did you ever dream the band would still be at it 20 years later?

I was definitely not thinking about it so much time ahead. I always look 1-2 years maximum ahead. Also now I wouldn’t know what I will be doing in 10 years. But we still love doing it, and as long as we still love doing it we will keep doing it.

Photo by Tim Tronckoe

For people that don’t really listen to EPICA they will be think your a symphonic metal band but your band incorporates so many other elements to your music. Was this always your vision for the band or did things change over the years?

Yes we changed a bit. In the past we were more focused on the symphonic part. But since Isaac and Ariën joined the band we became more like the symphonic parts were just as important the guitar oriented parts. Its now a perfect blend between death metal riffs and symphonic parts. In the past we already had death metal riffs but they were a bit more in the background but now its more like a 50/50 split.


On September 2nd, one day before your anniversary show you will be re releasing your 1st 3 studio albums. Why are you just releasing those 3?

We are releasing those 3 because they were recorded with another label and we have just got the rights back to the recordings. We were not on Nuclear Blast yet. So now we can release them and since its our 20 year anniversary we can also release out live recording from 2006 that our previous label didn’t release.

As you just mentioned your releasing your 2006 live recording from your show at Paradiso in Amsterdam. Why did it take this long to have it released?

The more time that passed by the least likely we thought it was going to be released. So now that we got the rights back from previous label we have the control of it ourselves. Before we had no say. The record company kept saying they were going to release it but they never did. I believe they just didn’t have the budget to release it. I know the diehard fans are really excited about the release. It might not be as relevant to the newer fans. Older fans were always asking when were we going to release it so we are happy now that we can release it.


How special is it to play your 20th anniversary show at the same venue you played your 1st ever live show?

Yes its very special. Already the venue has a special place in our hearts. But they also re built part of the venue so its bigger and fits everyones needs. Tilburg is very important to the metal scene in the Netherlands. My 2nd ever metal show was as a teenager at this venue. It was a Dutch Metal night. We always had this connection with Tilburg. And to play in the same venue we started our career at is very special. It felt like it had to be like this.


Your last album OMEGA was released February of 2021 but because of Covid you were never able to tour to support it till now. How different will it be to support a album that has been out for a year and a half?

It will be different but everything in the world is different now. Its a matter of improvisation, nothing is the way it was. I think the bands that adapt themselves to the new situation are the ones that have the less difficulties with it. It would of been ideal to tour right after the release of the album but its simply not the way it is. The only thing you can do is accept the situation and now that we can actually tour we are more then happy about it. I see it from the positive side, it took a bit longer but people are very eager to see us live. We seen it as the summer festivals we have played. Everyone is so happy to see us and shows again. So we can’t wait to play headline shows with this album.

Photo by Tim Tronckoe

Do you prefer playing festivals or your regular headline shows?

We love playing festivals. But after playing lots of festivals we always look forward to the club shows. But when we do a lot of club shows we look forward to the festivals. I like them both and can not choose which I prefer because festivals are such a great atmosphere with so many people and especially the 3 or more day festivals. Its like a holiday mood and its always a great feeling to play a show for the fans.

Photo by Tim Tronckoe

How happy are you with your OMEGA album and the positive reviews from critics and fans liking it so much?

Yes after all this time very happy with the album and wouldn’t change anything about it. Also I noticed as we did a poll on our site the EPICA universe and it was picked the 2nd favourite album of all time for the fans. So I think we did something well. Fans really like it and are asking for lots of songs to be played from it at the festivals. That also means that we are still relevant and releasing music that is still relevant today. We are really happy about that. As after 20 years you could start repeating yourself or fans would just like the other albums and thats not nice for a band when that happens we are very happy the fans love the album so much.


What is a message you would like to give to your many EPICA fans all over the world?

We want to give a big thank you for sticking with us all the years already. Its not something we take for granted. We have seen so many bands come and go. We feel like we are in a lucky position and grateful for all this time we have had and for the time to come ahead. Above all we are very thankful to the people and giving us such a good time. We hope we give the same good feelings back to the fans. What I see from people writing is we make people very happy as well and thats the interaction and giving and taking. We get a lot of positive energy from the fans and we give lots of positive energy back. Lets hope we can keep doing that for a long time.


Anything you would like to add about the upcoming tour or 20 year anniversary show?

Yes, we are very full of energy. We have one summer festival left and then the tour starts. We are fueled and can’t wait.

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