AD: Our biggest influence is definitely film music like Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, John Williams and Danny Elfman.

Outside of Epica, how long have you been a professional musician?

Apart from Mark, Epica is the first professional band for every band member.

The latest from the band is entitled "Consign To Oblivion". In what ways do you think this album differs from your past releases?

It's more bombastic and if I may say so also more mature.

How did the writing and recording process go for the new album?

When we finished recording The Phantom Agony, we started right away with writing new stuff. We did however had an enormous amount of gigs, so the writing process had to go in-between the gigs. We did a lot of stuff on the computer which we sent to one another through email and ftp servers, which worked quite well!

How long did the entire process take?

Like I said, we started right away after we finished TPA, so about 1.5 years.

The new album is flooded with great songs, which would you consider your favorites off the album?

The title track of the new album "Consign to Oblivion".

The vocals on the album are superb, the additional choir and orchestra is also a nice touch. Is this your own personal choir and orchestra or are they "Hired hands".

We don't have the financial abilities to have an orchestra and choir ourselves so these are guest musicians.

What were you as a band trying to convey to your fans through this album, lyrically?

Mark: The main subject of the album is dealing about the Mayan culture. These people live(d) in close harmony with nature. That's something that's not in balance nowadays. People only take care of themselves, their careers, money and wealth. They don't care about nature and don't treat the world with respect. We don't have the feeling we can chance this attitude but we want to let the people be aware of this. Hopefully more and more people will realize that we can't go on like this and something will change into a positive direction otherwise we're probably lost.

So far, how has the response to the new album been from the fans?

AD: It has been great! We've received a lot of good response from all over the world!

Can we expect a U.S. tour in support of the new album?

Probably not for this album, but hopefully for the next one.

If so what kind of touring package would you like to be placed on?

It doesn't matter that much to me with which bands we are playing with. But if I could choose it would probably be bands that play the same kind of music as we do, since that is just more interesting for the fans.

What kind of surprises can expect at an Epica show?

Apart from usual backdrops, we just let the music speak :-)

Do you have any pre-stage rituals that you go through before shows?

Hmmm not really. Just trying to get into the mood.

How much of the new album will you actually play on the upcoming tours?

At the moment about half our set contain songs from CTO.

Changing gears a little bit... The band recorded the classic tune "Memory" for the "2 Sessies" album and it was AWESOME! Can we expect you to pull out another classic like this in the near future and cover it?

Actually we already did, we recorded Crystal Mountain from the metal band Death, which we are just about to try live.

I know from experience your cd's are hard to get in stores here in the USA. What if anything could you do to help rectify this situation?

We often get these complaints and we always forward them to the record company hoping they will put more effort in their distribution channels.

What are your views on downloading music and the internet being used a promotional tool for bands and labels?

In my opinion it's the best way to reach more people. Too bad a lot of companies don't use it to their full capabilities.

How do you feel when people compare you to bands like Evanescence and Nightwish?

We have some similarities so I can understand why people compare us.

When Epica is not recording what do you to occupy your time?

We have about 10 gigs a month, and that's when we are not on tour haha. In-between all those gigs I'm trying to graduate my studies in mathematics.

Can you leave us with any words of encouragement for the coming days?

Try to live your life up to the max, before you know it you are in you are in your eighties and you wish you would have made more out of it.

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