EMQ’s With A Tear Beyond
EMQ’s With A Tear Beyond
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Italian Gothic Industrial Metal band, A Tear Beyond. Huge thanks to their Vocalist Claude Arcano, Drummer Skano, and Bassist Cance, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
Claude: Hello to everyone at EM, and thank you for having us. We are “A Tear Beyond”, we place ourselves in the Metal genre, specifically in a mix between Gothic and Industrial. The band’s history is quite long and troubled. The founding members (Claude, Ian Vespro, and Undesc Grotesque) date back to around 2003. After various changes in style, name, and members, we finally formed “A Tear Beyond” in 2008, after a brief forced hiatus. From that initial formation, following further lineup changes, we arrived at the current band.
How did you come up with your band name?
Claude: I’ve always been curious about what lies “just beyond” any limit, in many ways. And wanting to interpret the Mask as you know it, but without diminishing the Man who wears it, I thought that in both ways I wanted to be just beyond the Man, exiting the body, but also just beyond the Mask, entering it, thus having a vision from within and without, from both points of view. In perfect balance, therefore, I would remain between the two, like a veil of breath. Why a tear? It’s the symbol of the emotion we infuse into our concepts. It can be both negative and positive. The tear is therefore the complete symbol of human emotion, albeit composed, from time to time, of different percentages.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
Cance: We come from Italy, where the mainstream scene reigns supreme. For the Underground, despite there being many interesting bands, it’s not easy, as priority is often given to tribute bands or established bands at live events. But the scene (with many interesting offerings in various Metal subgenres) remains vibrant and strives to reinvent itself as best it can.
What is your latest release?
Cance: The music video for “Deliverance,” a song from our latest album, “Afterthought,” released in April 2025.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Cance: Definitely Rammstein, Nightwish, Deathstars, Moonspell, Lord of the Lost, to name a few artists we all agree on.
What first got you into music?
Claude: Maybe we should all answer that question, and we’d all have a different answer… in my case, I got into music out of the need to have a companion who was always there, one that could take any form I needed to see for myself or show others. Not only did I begin to love it, understand it, and research it, but I began to use it as the vehicle for my emotional, conceptual, and physical messages. Music is the drop we have inside us that holds everything together.
Cance: Since I was a child, music, especially Metal and Hard Rock, have been a constant presence in my life. Thanks mainly to my cousins, I discovered Metallica, Iron Maiden, Europe, and Scorpions at a young age, and from there it was absolute love. Then came the first band during high school, in which I tried my hand at singing. Meanwhile, I strummed the guitar at home. Shortly thereafter, I discovered the bass… and I’ve been hooked ever since.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Skano: Staying within our genre and aiming high, personally it would be a dream to collaborate with bands like Lord of the Lost, for example. It would also be a nice experiment to blend two different genres, with some artists who don’t play industrial music like us, or even Metal, but that would open up too much of a world.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Claude: I think I can answer for everyone by saying that the festivals that would give us the most satisfaction (obviously among those we know) would be M’era Luna, Wacken, or Wave Gothic Treffen. The reasons are easily explained: the environment is suited to us and the country that hosts them, certainly one of the closest to our style.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Claude: Definitely a Soppressa! A delicious Soppressa which, to put it briefly, is a large traditional salami from our region, Veneto. It’s strange, but also very refined. It tastes of company, conviviality, a connection to the land and its traditions. Certainly the strangest… but also one of the most appreciated.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Claude: I’d say listen to music in all its forms. Use it! As a tool that can amplify us towards life and welcome us in our needs.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Cance: I wouldn’t know who to choose between Lemmy and Ozzy, so I’d avoid bringing them up and say good old Cliff Burton, who could have contributed so much to the music scene.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Cance: Writing new songs, recording sessions in the studio, and then performing live, including travel and accommodations, are the most stimulating and enjoyable parts of being a musician. Setting up and dismantling half the stage before and after a show, on the other hand, are things I’d give up without too many regrets.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Skano: With the advent of the Internet, the music world has expanded enormously, and on the one hand, that’s a good thing—excellent, I’d say—but the other side of the coin is that we’re left with so much music that it’s hard to find room for everyone. Sure, there are bands that deserve big stages but unfortunately remain unknown, but in the digital age, I think it’s impossible to avoid this.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Cance: Answering based solely on my tastes, I can only answer with one title above all others: “Master of Puppets” by Metallica. However, considering the Gothic/Industrial sounds more akin to A Tear Beyond, the number of albums I’d like to mention inevitably grows. Rammstein’s “Mutter”, Type O Negative’s “October Rust”, Katatonia’s “Dead End Kings”, Moonspell’s “Irreligious”, Paradise Lost’s “Draconian Times”, Tristania’s “Widow’s Weeds”, Theatre of Tragedy’s “Aegis”… but there are so many others worth considering!
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
Skano: With today’s market, the best distribution method is definitely digital downloads and streaming, but we always release physical CD copies, and with Afterthought, we also have some vinyl copies. They’re always available at our live shows.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Cance: It’s hard to choose one. There have been so many unforgettable ones. Perhaps the live show at Romexpo in Bucharest opening for Nightwish is the concert we remember most fondly, also because of the large audience that showed they really enjoyed our performance.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Claude: Probably an actor. However, I would do something that allows me to express my emotions in a varied way and that is able to move those of others.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Claude: Five is too few… I have and want to have room for many more people! I tried to list a few, starting with the band, our performers and technicians, families… and then, when I got to the thirtieth name, I realized I didn’t know the answer, haha.
What’s next for the band?
Claude: We’re already writing a new album. This too will be a concept album with songs connected by a specific thread. We hope to succeed in our intent. We also have a wonderful, top-secret multidisciplinary idea in the works that we can only talk about later… let’s see if it catches on.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Skano: We’re a bit old school, so we still rely heavily on music videos, which I recommend you check out because some are very cinematic and visual. We’re obviously present on all digital platforms and also use various social media to promote ourselves. In addition to our press office and live bookings, here are some useful links:
https://youtube.com/@atearbeyond
https://www.instagram.com/atearbeyond
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ixlM4oKdoP9bgj2aHsAsW
There’s a long-standing food-based debate here in the UK. And we’d like your help. So… A Jaffa cake – is it a cake or a biscuit? Discuss!
Everyone: A Jaffa Cake is a Jaffa Cake! Come on… let’s give everything its name. If we really wanted to categorize it, we should invent the Biscake! Oh no… It’s already been invented… and it’s a crazy Italian invention hahaha
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Claude:Thank you for your hospitality and kindness! See you soon!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
