PLEASE TELL US A BIT ABOUT THE BAND, MEMBERS AND HOW THE BAND FORMED.

Somnus is: Scott Hilberg- vocals/guitar, Rhiannon Wisniewski- keyboards/vocals, Dennis Downey- lead guitar, Steve Rolf- bass, and Chris Stolle- percussion. We first formed as a full band in 1996, and the idea was to do something atmospheric, blackened, slightly progressive, and doomy, yet still metal of course. We don't limit ourselves to one style (i.e. doom, black, death, etc) because we all have different tastes, and each song we write has its own influences within it. This makes us harder to categorize but it gives us much more writing freedom. We just try and make good melodic metal that hopefully people out there can get into.

YOU RECENTLY RELEASED "THROUGH CREATION'S END", HOW HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN TO IT SO FAR?

ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO ANY TOURING TO SUPPORT THE NEW DISC? IF SO, WHERE?

Unfortunately we are not a big enough act yet to set up our own national tour. For now, we are being weekend warriors and setting up out of town shows here and there whenever possible. Since the Through Creation's End has been out, we played in Cleveland, Minneapolis, Milwaukee Metalfest, and Louisville KY. Our official CD release party is here in Cleveland on September 14. We will also be playing the Michigan Deathfest (yes Metal Mom is putting on another fest finally) on October 18-19 and the Music Macabre III fest in Cleveland on November 2.

WAS THE ALBUM DONE INDEPENDENTLY, OR DID YOU HAVE A LABEL BACKING YOU?

The album was recorded independently with the rights of the music belonging to Somnus, but it was released by Root of All Evil Records out of St. Paul, MN. Earl Root does all of the pressing and most of the distribution for us. Root of All Evil is still a fairly new label (they also released our first CD "Awakening the Crown") but it is a very rapidly growing one with quite a few good bands to offer. Plus Earl is a great guy to work with; he and his staff are a real pleasure to deal with, which is a nice plus, believe me.

THE BAND APPEARS TO BE EXTREMELY WEEL KNOWN FOR BEING AROUNS FOR ONLY 6 YEARS, IS YOUR FAN BASE WORLD WIDE OR MORE CONCENTRATED TO ONE AREA?

"Only 6 years" hahaha that's a long time to me, that's a quarter of my life! Since we have not been on tour, it is impossible to say what our fan base is like. We are making progress though. We have some great fans who write me from Brazil, Portugal, Turkey, Scandinavia, Canada and isolated locations around the USA but we still get the most support in Ohio. I hope people from all over the world hear us, especially Europe, where our melodic style seems to be more popular. We have six songs on MP3.com at http://www.mp3.com/somnusohio so check them out!

WHAT MAY I ASK ARE YOUR INFLUENCES WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR WRITING PROCESS? DO YOU HAVE ANY MENTORS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

We are influenced by dark melodies in all kinds of music, whether it is classical, power metal, old thrash, death, etc. All five of us come together and write both music and lyrics, which does not happen in a lot of other groups and is probably a reason why our songs sound fairly different from one another. We compose the music first, and then base the lyric ideas upon the imagery and moods that the song conveys to us.

I have no music industry mentors, because the musicians and fans are the ones who keep the underground alive. The music industry does not seem to care too much about real metal, which is good because they would poison it with excessive commercialism. I do admire many bands within the underground though, like Morbid Angel, Dan Swano (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Pan-Thy-Monium), My Dying Bride, Bal Sagoth, Dimmu Borgir, Summoning, and more. These entities have put out many quality albums and work very hard at being innovative yet still metal. I admire that and hope to do the same with Somnus.

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT UNFERGROUND SCENE? DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITES THAT ARE NONINFLUENCIAL?

The underground scene is kept alive through good metal and beer, both of which are always very influential. Any music is influential because someone somewhere is listening to it and making decisions about it. Even though Somnus is not world famous, I still have people in other bands come up to me and say that Somnus music has influenced their work. That is metal as hell and that is a part of what the underground is about.

YOU HAD MATT CAVOTTA DO THE ARTWORK FOR "THROUGH CREATION'S END", AND ALSO "AWAKENING THE CROWN", HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS THIS ARTIST?

Matt actually lives in the Cleveland area! Chris (drummer) knew him for years, and when the rest of the band saw his work, we couldn't go anywhere else. He is phenomenal! You can check out his art at www.cavotta.com

YOU HAVE HAD A FEW LINE-UP CHANGES, DO YOU FEEL THAT THIS IS THE STRONGEST LINE-UP TO DATE?

Yes, we've got the most technical ability and talent that we have ever had. We can do so much more now with the guitars and drums, with faster and more intricate passages. This line-up also drinks way more beer than any group we have had in the past. Miller actually endorsed us for a short time this year but they did not agree to ship the Beast directly to our practice spot. If we could, we would drink the good stuff but we are just not raking in that kind of money.

THIS QUESTION IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT, BUT TO SCOTT...HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN GROWING YOUR HAIR?

As you can imagine, Scott gets asked this all the time! So I know the answer hehehe? Scott has had hair that long since before Somnus started. It probably took him about 5-6 years to go from the short hair high school days to be down past his ass. His hair grows fast, and he does get it trimmed regularly, it could literally be down to the ground by now with no split ends either. He is the Crystal Gayle of metal and should be making tons of $ doing Pantene commercials instead of screaming on metal CDs.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD, OR THAT I MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN?

Thank you very much for the interview! Please check out our website at www.Somnusmusic.com
or write to us at
SOMNUS;
PO BOX 81379;
Cleveland, OH 44181
USA.