ATMOZFEARS ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM [this is my story]

When I ask Tim how he is doing after the turbulent past 1,5 years, he tells me that he definitely had his ups and downs. He slowly starts to get back into the ‘rhythm’ and simultaneously finds out how tiring that ‘rhythm’ can be as he says. “But, in short… Good!”.

Despite the fact that there were temporarily no events, he chose to release an album. But, there is a reason why he did this.”I chose to postpone it at first, due to the fact most of the album was planned around live performances, but the pandemic dragged on so long we decided to release it anyway.”

 
Still, he found it very difficult that he could not present his music to a real audience. “I think I can speak for most artists when I say that our energy comes from a mutually beneficial relationship, meaning, you get the energy you put in your music back when you share it ‘for real’ with people. Having to deal with missing out on that did impact my music a lot, especially in the beginning, but I feel we’ve made up for that, especially with the private event we held for our close community.”

“I’ve always looked for a way to describe my journey, my thoughts, and struggles through music”. So, the idea to create [this is my story] was born when Michael Jo and his team came along with the ‘my story’ vocals, everything clicked around that, says Tim. “After writing the album teaser, a look into my wiring, we started to develop more and more around this concept, and gave me even more freedom to do whatever I wanted.”

The album really tells Tim’s personal story. He has always had problems finishing tracks, tracks are never fully ‘done’ according to him. “This story tells more about me fighting with the ability to let go of them (the songs), speaking purely from the mind and soul. I think that’s where you’ll find I’ve let go of expectations, both the crowds, and my own, and it shows in the variety of tunes on the album.”

From the album tracks, we can tell that he has started to vary more in sound. When I ask him if this is a conscious choice, he says “I’ve got to go with yes, definitely”. Normally he would ‘shelf’ these more different tracks to cater to his audience, but he’s come to terms with no longer doing so.

His fans respond really well to his new and refreshing sound. “So far always when I’ve come off stage, all I hear are compliments. But that image might be a little biased, I mostly only hear the good things. The music is doing great so far, so I can’t really complain!”

 
When I ask him about the creative process behind [this is my story], he says that we’re getting the complete raw version of Atmozfears. “I don’t mean that in a ‘harder music style’ kind of sense. As I said before, normally half of the album would probably end up in the ‘I will never finish this’-bin, but no more! This is the unfiltered version of Tim, and I’m really happy I’m at this point, mentally.”

The whole [this is my story] project took two years in total. “Should have been half of the time, but no one could’ve predicted the pandemic”.

 
When I ask him which track he’s most proud of, he says “that’s like asking a parent which kid he’s most fond of”. He finds that a really difficult question to answer. “I’ve had to pick two it would be ‘outta my head’ and ‘the ancients’, one tune where the new and old atmozfears come together, and one where a new atmozfears was discovered.“

Besides all the album tracks he has created, he made all the teasers and some music videos all by himself, how cool! “Due to the fact that we had some budget cuts and me picking up an extra hobby, ‘editing/cinematography’, I thought; why not do these myself? There’s no way I could’ve done this whilst touring though, it takes up so much more time, and has definitely gotten me to the brink of insanity… Normally, after finishing a track, you’re done listening to it for a while, but if you still have to shoot/edit the video clip too… Safe to say that I might have lost a few brain cells there, but it was a great learning experience.”

Tim is very active on Twitch where he has built his own community, I asked him if he could tell me more about this community. “It’s been crazy how supportive my community has become, and I can say that they’ve helped me through this pandemic both mentally and financially. I’ve learned so much on them that I will take them with me anywhere, trying to give back where I can, too.”

A few weeks back, Tim organized an album release party at PKHS Tilburg. This was a really cool experience for himself, but also for his fans. “This was absolutely insane. Probably one of the best nights of my life, ever. We are definitely doing that again sometime.”

When I asked him if he has any big things on the schedule, he says that there’s always something happening. He is happy to get his hands on his very own first physical album. “Besides that, we’re also planning some [this is my story] showcases now that the album is finally done and the tracks can be played at events again. Let’s just say, the story will continue?”

I think that’s a good sentence to end with, the story will continue… I found it super interesting to learn more about [this is my story], and I actually like the new version of atmozfears. It feels innovative, refreshing, and I think we can use that within hardstyle. I hope you guys had as much fun reading this interview as I had writing it!

atmozfears – [this is my story] is now available for download at Hardstyle.com.