Crusade of Bards discuss the evolution behind Tales of Distant Worlds, closing their “Tales” trilogy with darker themes, introspection, esoteric influences, and a glimpse toward the band’s next chapter.
1. Tales
of Distant Worlds represents a significant shift from the folk-infused,
adventurous character of your earlier releases toward something darker,
harsher, and more introspective. What inspired this transformation, both
musically and creatively?
Almost 10
years have passed since the beginning of the composition of our first record,
Tales of Bards & Beasts. In this period of time, we have grown older, we
have changed and lived through bad and good times and different experiences
that have shaped us in what we are today. This has transposed into our songs,
our style and the themes we sing about. We don’t want to write songs just
because, but we still want them to be linked to us in a way or another and
being honest and true to ourselves in the process.
2. The
album explores “ethereal realms, dark emotions, and the hidden, esoteric
aspects of existence.” What drew you toward these themes, and how did they
influence the songwriting process?
We are huge
acolytes of all things dark and esoteric. Some of us have been actors in horror
escape rooms, others have been fans of terror and horror movies, books and
videogames for a long time. We wanted to explore all this themes musically as
well and we let them influence us in the themes, the lyrics and some musical
structures and tones.
3. Your
previous albums were built around epic tales involving seas, history, and
adventure, while Tales of Distant Worlds turns much more toward inner
landscapes and mystical reflections. How does writing about the internal world
differ from writing about external adventures?
They are
two different approaches indeed and something that a little preparation
beforehand. When you write about history or something that really happened, you
need to choose the point of view, what part you want to keep literal and what
part do you want to leave to analogies, if you have characters, dates or
geographical information that needs to be said. When you switch to philosophy
and feelings you can leave it more open, free to interpretation and without
defined boundaries.
The three
albums of the “Tales” trilogy belong to a wider concept and Tales of Distant
Worlds is the final one. We are not talking about a concept story with
characters or a universe to explore, but each one of them explore one of the
aspects of the figure of the “Bard”. Tales of Bards & Beasts talks about
myths and legends, Tales of The Seven Seas about real historical facts and
Tales of Distant Worlds about philosophy and introspection.
5. “An
Ocean Between Us – Part IV – Waterdeep” suggests a continuation of an existing
story. What can you tell us about this chapter, and how does it connect with
the previous parts of the series?
An Ocean
Between Us is an inner story that develops through the albums and will for sure
continue in future ones. The main theme throughout the songs is the distance,
sometimes physical distance between two lovers, other emotional distance
between what one wants to be but can’t, others the struggles of having to leave
a country in search for a better future...
6. You
describe Tales of Distant Worlds as the final tale of the saga, with “all
stories” meeting here. What does bringing this long-running narrative to its
conclusion mean to Crusade of Bards personally?
It means
quite a lot. It is nice to see that we manage to continue to see it end and
come to fruition. We have grown a lot musically and personally and the three
albums are a sort of score of this time. We will now focus on enjoying playing
it live for a while, but we are also exited to see what the next chapter will
be.
We have a
big help in our producer Dani G (Rage, Steve Vai, Firewind...) that has
followed us since the very beginning. He is the one that takes our ideas and
makes sure the correct musical feeling is placed in the right tone, way and
balance throughout all our songs. The main rule is to know when and where fill
the room with grandiosity and huge orchestrations and when to leave things more
open or acoustic. It is a long but very nice and rewarding process.
8. The
album features Jessie Williams on “Curator’s Lair.” What made her the right
voice for this particular song, and how did her contribution shape the final
track?
When
listening to the pre-masters of the songs it became clear that we needed a
third voice for Curator’s Lair to really take the song to the next level and
fully develop its potential. We have been fans of Ankor and Jessie for a very
long time and it was our first (and only) option thanx to her amazing
versatility both in clean and harsh vocals.
9. With
members based in Spain, Italy, and Germany, Crusade of Bards is a truly
international European band. How does working across different countries and
backgrounds affect the band's chemistry, creativity, and live experience?
Although it
may seem strange and challenging to have such an international line-up, to us
it feels normal. We have had the same line-up for quite some years now and it
all feels very natural. Marc, our bassist, is the only one that live far away
from the others, but he is an astonishing and super skilled musician so we do
not have any problem in meeting only once in a while.
10. You
have an ambitious live schedule planned for 2026, including festival
appearances in Germany and Spain as well as a European and UK club tour. As
this chapter of the saga comes to an end, what can fans expect from Crusade of
Bards on stage — and what do you hope the next chapter of the band will look
like?
You are
right. We have had an intense live activity in 2026, and it will continue
throughout the first part of 2027. After that we will focus on our next album
and reset the cycle once more. Upwards and beyond!
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