SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR - Uneasy Listening

SEVEN STEPS TO THE GREEN DOOR - Uneasy Listening

After two years of work, Seven Steps To The Green Door publish the second part of their saga about the mysterious Samuel and his search for his past. In order for the listeners to fully understand the concept, the band requires them to get to grips with the story
before listening to the album.

"The?Lie" appears opulent at first glance: the CD is accompanied by a lyric book the size of a pocketbook, which not only gathers the lyrics but also retells the plot. Musically, Marek Arnold and his comrades move between rock opera and lyrical progmusical. We talked to the mastermind about the project.

eclipsed: Can you briefly tell us where the second part takes up the plot of "The?Book" and what happens next?

Marek Arnold: Actually "The?Book" should be a closed story and has a definite ending, even though it can be interpreted. However, so much has happened in the world since then, especially as far as religious extremism is concerned, that it seemed interesting to continue the story. We have expanded them and made them more multi-faceted, for example by playing a central role with hinted plots from Samuel's past or characters that are only mentioned in the first part. It goes into his future at the same time as into his past, the father sung by Pete Jones now plays a decisive role. In the third part, which will surely come, we will shed more light on the role of the grandfather.

eclipsed: The story makes the whole thing a true mammoth project. The concept comes from Thoralf Koss, the lyrics from George Andrade, the music from you and Ulf Reinhardt: How did it come about?

Arnold: Thoralf developed the story and the characters and made them available to us. In the first part Lars Köhler, who sings Samuel, and I wrote the lyrics. But as a non-native speaker, you're on thin ice on such a complex issue. Through a fortunate coincidence we got to know George Andrade, and he threw himself enthusiastically into the project. Not only did he write the lyrics, he also wanted a lyric book where he would tell the story so that the listener could fully immerse himself in the plot. We are currently considering the possibility of submitting a Lyricbook to the first part. Anyway, George would love to do that.

eclipsed: Also the number of singers and musicians involved is immense..

Arnold: There were also big names that I asked for. With a very well-known singer, whose name I don't want to mention, everything was actually clear, but somehow he got cold feet on the subject of "religious extremism", at least that's how I interpret his refusal. With the musicians involved it was like that that that I am quite well networked by my numerous projects in the scene and have the unbelievable luck to have made close contacts with numerous fantastic musicians.

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