Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.18 01/98)
excerpts from an interview with Jimmy Paruta (Drums) and Keith Sudano (Vocals)
The story begins about 10 years ago during a time of personal crisis for Keith. One evening, with guitar in hand, he went to his then favorite spot at the shore. Off on the distant horizon he noticed a mysterious blue light. This light had no reason to be there and was seemingly inexplicable. It came to him as a sort of vision to be there and he realized that this blue light was Eternity. This is why the original logo is in blue. He started to play his guitar and what came out was the music to the song "Eternity" which is featured on our first EP "The never ending dream". We later added the "X" to the name for a few reasons. The foremost being a trademark dispute which forced us to either spend thousands of dollars to try to get the name Eternity, with an uncertain outcome that we would prevail in court or change our name. After much debate and soul searching we decided on the name "Eternity X". To us it gave the band a harder edge which was more in tune with our music and it also cleared up us being mistaken as a religious band.
You seemed to be more popular overseas than in the States. Do you have any explanation for this?
Actually, we have more fans in the States than in any other country. However, progressive music is currently not in vogue in the States whereas it is more readily accepted in Europe and elsewhere. We have found that the people in the States have responded just as favorably as people elsewhere, it's just a music industry thing.
Why did you decide to add a keyboard player to your lineup?
Ever since the second EP "After the silence" we've had keyboards as an integral part of our music. There are even keyboard effects on the first EP. The guitarist who perfomed on "After the silence" and "Zodiac" could also play keyboards so we were able to have the luxury of 2 in 1. When he left and was replaced after "Zodiac", we searched diligently for an extremly talented keyboardist. We figured if were going to get a keyboard player we would get someone who could really play and actually be much more than just piano and synthesizer sounds. When we couldn't find one we decided that Keith would take up the boards and just stay with fairly basic piano and padding while becoming much more guitar dominant. If we couldn't have great keyboards then they would be relegated to a minor supporting role in our music. This worked well for "Mind games" but Keith was unhappy being chained to a keyboard when he wanted to be his usual acrobatic lead vocalist self and while we could live with the situation as it was we all felt something was missing and it was forcing us to write around not having keyboards. So Keith kept looking and after about a year he found Jaime. We always wanted a keyboardist with his level of ability and now we are free to write songs the way we always wanted to.
Regarding the album title what bring you to "The edge"?
I'm not sure if you're referring to the music on the CD or if you're wondering what would make me go insane. As far as the music concerned, I love the different melodies and how each musical part is doing it's own thing yet all together they blend very nicely. The music is also a lot more progressive than one might initially hear or notice because there are such beautiful melodies going on but if you were to isolate each individual you would notice how technical each part really is. This is an Eternity X trademark and this is what separates us from bands like Dream Theater where there is nothing hidden as far being progressive because we place our emphasis on melody. As to what might make me lose it and go insane I could only guess. Probably if I where the title character in the song "The confession" I might react similarly or if I saw any loved murdered or tragically injured that would most likely put me over the edge. Oh yeah, when I'm trying to use an electrical product and it doesn't function properly that makes me insane. Also trying to assemble furniture and most of all when I can't get a drum part down in 3 seconds that makes me insane and I usually break things at that point. If you're anywhere near me you'd better run or learn to duck real fast or you might end up with a broken drum stick in a place where it doesn't belong.
I read that the goal of the band is to prove each and every day that the people that matter most in the world are your fans. Usually a band puts much more emphasis on their music and doesn't care that much what their fans want or responds personally to them. Where does this strong relation between the band and the fans come from?
I thought our goal was to get women, that's it I quit :~) No, seriously you're statement is an absolute fact. To us this seemed to be the most natural thing to do. As I said in a previous answer, without the fans you are nothing so doesn't it make sense that they should be the priority? One of the main reasons we put out our newsletter every quarter or so is so we can maintain that communication between the band and our fans. It lets them know us as people instead of just a bunch of musicians. They know how we think, what our likes and dislikes are, where the inspiration for our music comes from, and some behind the scenes happenings as well as much, much more so our fans can better relate to us and us to them. It is also a pleasure to hear from them and get their reactions and opinions. It also lets us in a little to each others personal lives. They have been very helpful in so many situations I don't know what we'd do or where we'd be now without them. As soon as we get positive responses to our music from a number of people we know immediately that we have created something special and wonderful. It also allows us and our fans a special closeness which makes that bond of the love for the music much stronger than it would otherwise be. By the way, doing all this for our fans does in no way diminish our capacity or concern over our music. Believe me, it is not uncommon for us to fight and argue over a 3 second piece of music to make sure it is just right. Yes, we do also answer every letter personally. Many people were shocked at this but they've gotten over it. It has made us a family that will fight for each other as opposed to merely saying, "Yeah, their music is cool." Our fans actually go out and recruit more fans for us because they simply want to. It goes much further than just a respect for the music. This is no doubt a direct result of us getting personal with our fans and caring about them enough to return their letters and emails and using their insights and opinions as a direct and immediate influence on how we write and perform our music. In this way not only do we love what we're doing but the fans also love what we're doing and in the end isn't that what it's all about?
Which was the most surprising response you got so far or in other words, from which country did you never thought in your wildest dreams to receive a letter, because it should be impossible that someone there might listen to your music?
What an interesting question. At first it would be any country that we've never heard of before, where we actually had to rip out a world atlas and try to find the country. We're far from being geography experts. Getting letters from India I would have to say have been the most surprising. When I think of India the last thing that comes to mind is heavy metal or progressive music. Shows how much I know. Algeria was another, and Zaire?!
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 1998