official Covenant Forum

Dear Clas, Eskil, and Joakim,

I guess this is going to be more of a statement (or an essay ) instead of just a simple question, and I’d love to read your comments....

When I first heard that Covenant has signed to Synthetic Symphony/SPV I was not only very delighted that Covenant has found a new label but I was also a little worried in a way.
With the following exegesis I don´t want to imply that Synthetic Symphony would be a bad record label. I know that they do a great job, that the guys at Synthetic Symphony are committed to the music they release, and that this label has a great roaster of artists such as Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, The Klinik, and many more. Synthetic Symphony is actually one of the best and most reputable record companies for EBM and Industrial.
But does that really hit the spot for Covenant?
To go like a bull at the gate, I wouldn’t like to see Covenant stuck in the typical Goth/EBM scene forever. I wouldn’t like to see Covenant sharing stages exclusively with the likes of Blutengel, Within Temptation, Funker Vogt, In Extremo, Unheilig or L´Ame Immortelle for the rest of our lives.

Your music has evolved, it has enhanced beyond the standard EBM stuff for a long time now (and was imho never Gothic, btw) and I for one file my Covenant CDs under ‘Electronica’ with bands like Underworld, Fluke, ASCII.Disco or Plastikman rather than together with :wumpscut:, Project Pitchfork or their now-label mates Funker Vogt, for example.

I don’t want to say that you should abandon the audiences you have achieved to gain today. No way!!! You have a very solid fan base, and that’s very cool. But I more and more feel that Covenant has to reach out for different audiences to survive.
The first steps in the right direction have been made. On the last singles there were remixes by people like Thomas P. Heckmann, Ellen Alien or Christian Morgenstern. The results of their work were brilliant and refreshing, and, of particular importance, it may have opened a few doors for Covenant to spheres outside the particular scene where your music has been nearly solely received up to then.
The singles have also been released on vinyl, which is important for the club scene.
A video for Bullet was shot – a great, good looking, non-low-budget video (but on the other hand I immediately knew that it wasn’t the kind of rotation that gets heavy rotation on MTV…oh well).
And, last but not least, Covenant got some coverage in medias beyond the typical Goth/EBM/whatever magazines and fanzines.
For that matter, your last label ka2 did a very good job. Unfortunately, for certain reasons, it did not yield fruit as much as one could have hoped for. Not yet!

I know that it´s very hard for a band with an EBM or Goth background to get through to the mainstream or other music scenes because all-too many times those bands are not taken seriously or are even ridiculed. I´m afraid that in the eyes of an average editor of 'mainstream' music mag or of the ordinary college radio DJ Covenant still has this EBM/Goth background, despite the fact that your music has left back EBM a long time ago and was never Gothic, anyway.
I think the biggest challenge for your band in the near future is to appeal to new, different audiences, to approach new media (be it TV, radio, or music mags that didn't care too much up to now), and to accomplish a new standing imagewise - without neglecting or even losing the following you have managed to build up so far. Quite a challenge!

As I said, this is not going to be a simple question but rather an attempt to share my point with view. Or a very long and boring sermon, if anything.
Let´s cut it down on this: Now that you are back on a label with a classic EBM/Goth environment, do you think that Synthetic Symphony is able and/or willing to follow the route on which the first steps were made with your last releases? Is Synthetic Symphony in the position to place Covenant in 'mainstream' media, on the bills of 'mainstream' festivals or in the support slot of big acts like, let´s say, Underworld, Moby or Prodigy? Etcetera......

After all, your music is ‘Pop with an edge’ and deserves an accurate treatment.


Best wishes,
Niggels
(who never ever manages to make it short, heh!) :lol: