Heavy Metal Resource: Hello Daniel. Thanks for taking the interview! I was really impressed with the album. For those who don't know much about the album at this point, fill us in a bit on the concept.
Daniel Flores: Hi Dave! Thanks for this awesome opportunity. It’s about a professional assassin who has second thoughts about what he is doing with his life. He knows things unknown to the outside world and he wants to ventilate that with someone. The whole concept is like a series of confessions between the main character Adam Evangelista and a priest called Caballero Dimori. These two have more things in common than just this coincidental meeting.
H.M.R: Okay. Out of curiosity, how much would you say that 'Operation: Mindcrime' had an influence on wanting to go this direction? The sinister direction.
D. Flores: As much as albums 'Yellow Submarine' and 'The Wall' have. In all fairness there is no truth to the myth of that our album is an Operation Mindcrime look alike, more it’s like another suggestion to what an album like that would sound and be seen like.
H.M.R: The story is very intriguing. It could also be deemed a bit controversial due to the high profile of some of the names in the story. Have you run into anything controversial yet?
D.Flores: Well, none other than the usual patriotism in the US, with guys saying we are anti-American and stuff like that HAHAHAHA. This album is not written as a lyrical missile. It’s just a good story and too bad, but most of the biggest assassinations happen in the states, It’s really not my fault. I’m just linking them all to one guy and he is half Italian and half Irish so I’m not really pointing out anyone here besides these two countries, but in Europe they know how to handle these sorts of things and are used to it.
H.M.R: You seemed to have a good understanding of history in all of this. How much time did it take for just the story part of this album?
D. Flores: Give or take, 3 months. It could have taken much longer but I had great help from people and books around me and off course the Internet. My brother and I have been interested in things like these (Forbidden archaeology, conspiracy theories…etc.) for years and the idea was born on my honeymoon… yeah, not a violent place to write a good story in but what can I say? It just came to me while I was there.
H.M.R: The ending was brilliant. I don't want to give anything away to the readers, but you did mention leaving it a bit open ended. Any hints?
D. Flores: You mean like “A gentleman’s hurricane part II” hint? No way! The ending is closed and nothing good will come out of doing a sequel of this story. But if you meant that you want me to give you a hint to the end? Well, I think the end is your typical Hollywood movie end, good guy kills bad guy, or is it vice versa?
H.M.R: I see. We'll leave it to the listener's interpretation. This is probably a pretty tough thing to pull off. Music matching the story from a visual standpoint. Will you venture back down this type of road in the future?
D. Flores: I think we have only scratched the surface of what can be made with both music and visuals with this band and I will continue to push the band down this cinematic hill, because right now it’s only downhill from where we are.
While on the other hand it’s a difficult task to pull of as you said there has to be room for a budget and a realistic timeline in which to create such a stunt, but yes it can be done better and better and while our music will continue to grow we will definitely push the envelope in this our own style and new found visual area.
H.M.R: This album was very nicely done. The package that the fans get is pretty nice. Who did all of the comic book work?
D. Flores: Mattias “the great” Norén. I think that Mattias has done his Monalisa with this album together with us. If we even do something again it has to be better than this and I don’t know if it’s possible.
H.M.R: Guess you never know. It should definitely please fans. As far as touring, I obviously haven't seen you play live, but with this type of an album, are you going to take it to the visual extreme live such as the way Queensryche has in the past?
D. Flores: We are actually planning to tour this next year with the new album. Plans are being made but nothing written in stone yet. That idea could be cool but it has been done to death. If we pull off something like that it will have a very different twist to it.
H.M.R: Okay, sounds good. I had the chance to view the video for 'Feed My Revolver' which gives the viewer a peak at the story and is done pretty well I might add. Will you be doing or have you done any more video work for the album? It would be really cool to see the whole thing done as a DVD movie of sorts.
D. Flores: We are planning a video for one more song, let’s see which one it will be. The visual thing has just entered the home of Mind’s Eye so we will definitely try to visualize the new album in a way no one else has before.
H.M.R: One thing that has me a bit confused and maybe I am missing something with the story, but it is mentioned that there are 12 assassinations in 7 days. The assassinations actually stretch across years. Can you explain what I missed here? I know there is a twist to this whole thing.
D. Flores: Good question! Most people get confused here. Here is the answer. As the press release says: “12 murders in seven days, so little time so MUCH TO TELL” people tend to forget to read the last part…he is really describing the murders in 7 days not killing in seven days.
The story fits historically but it’s not explained chronically, Adam tells them as he remembers them to the priest. I actually thought of doing it chronically but that made the story dull, you never think back chronically, so I made a decision and today I think it was good one.
H.M.R: I would have to agree. I like the way the story is delivered. It makes the listener think which in my opinion always makes for a good listen. How has the album done so far? It's been out close to a month or so now.
D. Flores: Pretty well, we have realistic hopes and we hope they will be answered. No one sells albums these days but if you call pull it off it’s a cool thing and you can be proud of.
H.M.R: That whole album thing is really strange. Seems that it becomes more of a touring to make money thing. Albums have become very secondary which is too bad. I mentioned touring just a little, but are there any shows lined up and will we get any live Mind's Eye in the U.S. any time soon?
D. Flores: I have said this before and I will say it again, the U.S. doesn’t support Mind’s Eye. Why? I have NO clue. It’s like something is working against us there. We would love to tour the states if chance was given but as I said before, we never even got an offer… If the people stand up and say bring over Mind’s Eye it will surely happen but it seems that the forces of prog over there are “player haters” HAHAHAHA Don’t hate the player, hate the game!
H.M.R: The market seems to be very corporate oriented. Certain individuals have too large a say in what gets played and what doesn't. I don't think alot of people know about Mind's Eye actually which is a shame, but that is where people like me come in. This album is special, no doubt about it. I wanted to wish you the best of luck with it. I had it as my Pick of the Month for September. If I left anything out that you would like to mention, go ahead and do it here.
D. Flores:Thanks again Dave, it was my pleasure to answer your questions. We in Mind’s Eye appreciate your support and if anyone wants to find out more about a couple of ugly musicians from Sweden please go to: www.roundrec.com or www.myspace.com/eyeofthemind And if you want to talk with me go to www.danielflores.net Have a good one Dave and take care!
H.M.R: Thanks again Daniel!
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