The Discipline of Fire: Metal and Fancy Food with David T. Posey

May 5th, 2015
Thank you for reading this.
We took a brief hiatus from writing, as after producing two
very weighty issues, we were burnt out. Exhausted, and
unable to see the good in anything, we put our zine on
pause. ed. started the world's only pro-wrestling zine
distro, and published his own wrestling zine, while Patrick
focused on polishing up a screenplay. We kept an eye on
things, and when we found things to be excited about, we
started writing and interviewing again.
So, we're back. There's a lot happening in American black
metal right now, and we've very excited to be in the thick of
it. This issue contains interviews from Grue, Vile Creature,
Woman is the Earth, Chuck BB, David T. Posey, Immortal
Bird, Petrychor, and for a second time, Vattnet Viskar. The
cover art is stolen from a old British book of erotic
practices. Scott Wygmans contributed quite a bit of work,
including a two page spread of the origins of the upsidedown cross. Christian Degn contributed the ax and the key.
More of Scott's work can be found at
https://instagram.com/darkwizard_berserker/. More of
Christian's work can be found at
http://christiandegn.tumblr.com/.
As always, thank you for all your support. Thanks to DAS,
Adam B. of Gilead Media, Ben of BM&B, Seth of
Skulltoaster, Andrew at Western Lamb, Robert of the
Atomic Elbow, and everyone else who has helped along the
way.
Hails,
ed.&Patrick
blackmetaloftheamericas.com
blackmetaloftheamericas@gmail.com
Lay Down Your Soul for The Devil's
Comics: an Interview With Chuck BB
Last summer, Patrick and I dragged a metal box of
zines three miles to a shopping mall, where we did last
minute assembly while consuming food court Chinese
food. From there, we got in a car with our friend Tony
and drove to Gilead Fest II: EVEN GILEADER.
Patrick and I had procured a vendor table, and spent
the weekend slinging zines, eating farmer's market
produce, and watching some of the greatest bands
around. While we wandered the bucolic streets of
Oshkosh, we came across their local comic store,
House of Heroes. It was there I came across the first
two volumes of Rick Spears/Chuck BB's BLACK
METAL, a graphic novel that tells the story of two
twin brothers, who are the physical reincarnation of a
demon, and their quest to conquer Hell. It's a glorious
love letter to black metal, and we devoured both books
between sets. Chuck BB graciously agreed to discuss
the BLACK METAL trilogy via e-mail.
You grew up as a punk/hardcore kid in Redondo
Beach. When did you start getting into black metal?
What was your first memory of the genre? Can you
recall your first impressions?
I guess I was relatively late to the party, I don’t think I
heard any black metal stuff until the very end of the 90s, I
believe due to Napster being an option of finding and
devouring anything that I could. But aging out of Punk,
and hardcore, many drifted to indie rock and that whole
thing but I think I just found my way to metal. And
strangely enough the first genre in metal that really spoke
to me was Black Metal, I loved how gnarly, brutal and
dark and often epic it all was. The dark imagery that
accompanied it was an added benefit, not to mention all
the wacky(and not so wacky) exploits of the Norwegians
adding fuel to the fire.
You've mentioned you put out a zine during your punk
days. What was it about? What made you switch from
that project to making your own comics?
I think that’s the one great thing I got out of punk music,
this whole DIY culture, just make stuff happen your self.
It’s not as if there was some shortage of punk zines at the
time, I guess I just wanted to be involved, and I just
started doing it. That’s when I learned one of the more
important lessons in life; if you want to do something, to
be a part of something… you just gotta go do it. It was
great fun, and I was surprised that all these bands and
labels would just send me music because I was
photocopying poorly written articles and teenage opinions.
Free shows, free music, and hopefully helping to spread
the word.
I think the switch to comics was something that happened
a bit later, I guess I had always been drawing, and loved
comics as a kid, but somewhere along the line I stopped
keeping up with comics, and there was great stuff
happening that I wasn’t aware of, so around the time I
actually started getting into metal, I also had some friends
that turned me on to comics once more – and I was blown
away with stuff like Preacher, Bone, Sin City all that good
stuff – but also the mini-comic world – artists and writers
were just doing stuff, and photocopying or screen printing
great little works. So once again, I just did that. My early
stuff is pretty terrible, but it was fun. Again I met a lot of
great people, got some feed back, learned some things and
had some fun. I eventually kept at it, and caught the
attention of Steve Niles, who created 30 Days of Night,
and he offered me my first “professional gig,” a book
called Secret Skull. I don’t recommend it; artistically I
was still trying to figure out what I was going to do. But
that’s basically how I got into this mess, and I’ve been at it
ever since.
In other interviews, you've said you find black metal a
very genuine form of expression, which comes through
in Black Metal. The nature of the story is incredibly
over the top, but there's a lot of heart in the
characterization, and some moments of real emotion.
How important to you and Rick was it to strike a
balance between metal's aesthetic aspects, and the
experience of being a metal head? How did you work
to achieve this balance?
I think it was super important to do it right. I love metal,
it’s the only thing I really get nerdy about. I have never
dug into anything like I did black metal music. From the
moment I heard it, I was hooked and I wanted to hear
everything, read everything, separate fact from lore, etc…
So its really near and dear to me. But I’m not going to sit
here and pretend there’s stuff that’s not funny about the
genre – there’s some goofy shit going on here and there,
but I think so much of it is genuine and real that it’s hard
not to also love that aspect. So it was really quite
important to have fun with it, but also be reverential.
How did Christophe Szpajdel get involved with Black
Metal?
I think a fan of the Black Metal comic was in a band and
had his logo designed by Christophe, and I was like
‘What? A regular man could just contact this legend?” So
I got his email, and a very reasonable fee later we had a
logo for the band Frost Axe (the Immortal-esque band in
the comic) designed by the same dude that designed
Emperors logo! Crazy! But I guess that’s how it is, often
the professional is not that far removed from the fan. I
only wish I had done it earlier, it could have been in the
book from the first volume!
While Black Metal contains a number of obvious nods
to black metal bands and musicians, there are a
number of visual homages to comics
scattered through out, from the recap in Vol. 2 that
recalls All-Star Superman, to the forging of the second
sword invoking images from Walt Simonson's Thor.
Aside from these obvious influences, are there any
comic artists whose work you found particularly
influential in doing this project?
Metalwise, I was constantly going back to album art and
lyrical content to mine for visuals. As far as personal
style, I think I Jeff Smith was a huge influence, for
cartooning and linework, as well as Bruce Tim for his
really powerful character designs.
Not many people involved in black metal can note any
kind of mainstream award in their CV, but you've
picked up an Eisner for your work on Black Metal.
What was that experience like? Has this award
affected your career in any noteworthy way?
The experience was pretty surreal; I would have never
thought I would have been considered for a nomination,
let alone to actually win. However, now having it, and its
been a bunch of years since that business, I can say it
really hasn’t done much for me career wise, other than
something else to add to a bio to try and sound slightly
more important. I’m sure it helps open a door here or
there, but I haven’t really felt that Eisner bump in any
measurable way. But it’s always nice to be told you’ve
done good, and I’m proud and happy to have it – but at the
end of it all the work needs to speak for itself so I don’t
think it’s important on any level. I’m way more stoked to
have people show up at the cons wearing vests littered
with band patches that love the comic because it speaks to
them than any award. Maybe we need a Frost Axe patch
for them to add to their denim.
Black Metal borrows heavily from the iconography of
the second wave of Black Metal. In the years since
then, black metal has changed and mutated
considerably. Are there any aspects of current black
metal you find particularly exciting or artistically
stimulating?
Second wave black metal is definitely the stuff that
hooked me, and it’s probably the thing I go back to the
most. But honestly I’m not as aware of the new stuff, and
maybe its because I’ve opened up to listening to so much
stuff, and I’ve loved when certain bands have moved into
progressive territory. I’ve always loved the bare bones
stuff though, I’ve got tons of cds of bands I can’t even
recall the names of, all that necro shit (do they even say
that anymore?). As far as new stuff, that’s outside of that
realm, like your hugely successful Deafhaven doing
different stuff with some black metal-ish stuff going on. I
can dig it, but It doesn’t hook me like the older
stuff. Maybe I’m becoming an old jerk. Its funny, that the
2nd wave of BM is what really got me into metal, so much
of the time since then I’ve been exploring other metal
genres, or even digging into the roots of what made that
stuff work for me - not that I’ve just discovered Mercyful
Fate or anything like that, but it was part of my
journey. Maybe that’s a place that a lot of people have
found themselves in now, and that’s why there is this
dearth of throwback style bands cropping up. Anyhow,
enough of my rambling – not sure if I’m going anywhere
with this. I love new things!
Why is the book named Black Metal? Did you feel any
kind of pressure to encapsulate a definitive look at
black metal due to the title?
When Rick and I first spoke about the project, he wasn’t
as deep into the music and culture as I was – I was sort of
afraid of calling it black metal, because that’s a lot of
weight to hold, the book doesn’t represent the genre, we
aren’t two disgruntled teens growing up in frostbitten
Norway, we aren’t telling the story of helvette. But
gradually we realized that this book was going to reach a
broader audience than the troo believers, and the term
wasn’t going to mean as much to them as it might have
meant to some. This was a book about fun, loving the
music and all the imagery that comes with it. And I’m
surprised to have received no real upset emails from
mantle bearers, we only get people talking about how
much they love it and how it reminds them of themselves
at that age. So maybe it pissed off some people who take
shit very very seriously, but I haven’t heard from them –
which leads me to believe they either don’t care, or there
aren’t really that many people like that.
Recently, your work has been featured in the two
tribute books(Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost) Mark
Rudolph has released. How did you get involved with
this project? How did you choose which aspect out of
these legendary careers to interpret?
Those books are great, and I’m glad to be a part of
them. I love me some Mercyful Fate, and I really tried to
do something fun with “evil.” Which is such an excellent
track. I wanted to close my eyes and imagine the story it
might tell. The Celtic frost book, I only did an illustration
for, I wanted to do something more for that but the timing
didn’t work out for me. Mark is a great dude, doing great
stuff, and he’s a Decibel man as well – he just hit me up
and asked if I wanted to get in on it. Of course I do!
Many people are familiar with your work through
your long-running comic strip Stone Cold Lazy in
Decibel Magazine. How do you keep a project with
that kind of longevity artistically interesting to
yourself?
Good question. It’s really one of the first things I’ve done
entirely myself. It’s gone through some growing pains for
sure, and there are some stinkers in there. Longtime
readers probably know that at one point I just ditched the
lead characters and introduced new characters because it
felt like those characters weren’t really working for
me. But I feel like it’s pretty decent at this point, and I’m
happy with it. It’s great when I do comic cons, and people
actually come up knowing my work from the comic strip
vs. other comic work I’ve done. I know its getting to the
right people, and I love being a part of Decibel, it’s a great
publication.
As far as how I keep it interesting, that is a challenge, but
writing the short form comic strips is already a challenge –
so I try to keep it funny, keep it semi-relevant to my life,
and maybe my life parallels the reader’s life, getting older,
doing different stuff. I have no idea, but I know I love
doing it!
What's on the horizon for you?
Well, I do have some plans for Stone Cold Lazy, but it’s a
little too early to make any promises I can’t keep, I can
say for sure there will still be strips coming with every
issue of Decibel. Outside of that, Ivan Brandon and I have
been working on this Deathface project, which is sort of
like a Schwarzenegger power violence adventure pumped
up on all the steroids – but that is a ways out. There are
some other things, but they are not ready to talk about. If
you haven’t checked out Black Metal, there’s no time like
the present, as we recently released the Black Metal
Omnibvs which collects all 3 books into one hulking
beast.
Chuck BB can be found on the internet at http://www.chuckbb.com/
or on Twitter at @chuckbb
From the Forest to the Stars: Tad of Petrychor
Discusses Ritualistic Behavior, Inspiration, and
Balance
Petrychor is a band that first crossed our radar with their first
full-length, Effigies and Epitaphs, a seminal entry in the
Cascadian canon. We've kept tabs on Tad's work since then,
and after the release of last year's mind-bending
Makrokosmos, we knew we had to get in touch and get some
insight into the mind behind the music.
Why choose black metal as your first metal project? What do
you find interesting about the genre?
Black metal has gone through a massive transformation over the
last twenty years, appearing in a chaotic flash, igniting fires,
returning to the underground, and then bursting back into the
popular consciousness. Imagery associated with early black metal
has been appropriated; references are made in pop music and
fashion and most “culturally aware” people have heard the term
“black metal”. Yet this visibility is frequently superficial. There is
a dull recognition that ritual behavior is at play, but a lack of
insight into what or why due to the contemporary skepticism of
earnestness, the tendency to dismiss things based on perceived
silliness without asking why someone would bother to make such a
thing.
It is ritual behavior that attracts me to art, in this case black metal.
The genre is more diverse than ever, a good thing in my opinion,
but the glue that holds it all together is an appreciation for ritual.
Black metal is frequently made by outsiders, lonely people, those
with different ways of thinking, and is criticized as opaque and
inaccessible. As I stated in the release announcement for
Makrokosmos, ideally we do not make this sort of art to put people
off, to frighten or exclude. We make it to show others like us
around the world that though they may feel completely isolated
and misunderstood, there are others dealing with those same
hardships on their own journey. If there is hope and the
opportunity to connect with someone on this basis, then there is
hope for personal change, hope that through your own rituals you
may find peace and way not to extinguish negative emotions,
which is unhealthy, but express them and channel them into
creative forces.
Your new album is a big departure from your earlier work as
Petrychor, incorporating new musical influences and
expanding focus from the earth into the universe as a whole.
What prompted this change? Were there specific influences
you attempted to incorporate into Petrychor's sound?
Effigies and Epitaphs was a terrestrial work, a fractured and
chaotic attempt to express how I felt about the systematic
destruction of nature, literally due to industrialization and the
metaphoric destruction wrought upon our psyches and bodies
thanks to it. The field recordings on that album represent the four
elements and the track titles connect to make a simple sentence to
this effect. When figuring out where to go next, I decided that I
would avoid making the same record again by turning my attention
to the stars, the vastness of the unknown. As kosmische/krautrock
sounds have been a big influence on me for some time, it felt
natural to turn to those synth pioneers for inspiration; after all, they
were approaching the same subject matter in a similar way.
Though he wasn’t playing buzzsaw guitars and screaming, watch
Klaus Schulze perform amidst his towering instruments, seated on
a pillow and in almost ceremonial garb. The ritualistic atmosphere
surrounding the creation of those records was thick and admirable.
You're currently living in Los Angeles. How does your
environment affect your artistic output? Has the recent
drought in California had any impact on Petrychor?
LA is fractured and strange. It is known largely for the film
industry, but if you live here for any length of time you know that
there isn’t a unifying culture; people are broken up geographically
and by beliefs. Hopping from neighborhood to neighborhood can
change your mindset vastly and it’s my goal to absorb all of those
influences, to observe what happens when so many different
people try and mix together. It’s insane, it’s frustrating, it’s
inspirational, but it may well be time for a move. I’m not sure
where circumstances will lead me over the next year, but I long to
return to the northeast.
California’s drought was not a direct inspiration, but it has affected
my life and art. Trying to get people to conserve water in the
simplest ways is nearly impossible and I have been outspoken
about our obsession with importing plants, trying to obliterate the
natural landscape and transform it into the bourgeois vision of an
oasis. In learning more about succulents and rock gardens from a
horticulturist friend I have become a proponent of native plants.
An immense amount of water could be saved and the landscape
would be beautiful, all the more so by being in harmony with the
natural tendencies of our environment. Arizona and New Mexico
do a much better job with this, from my observation.
One final note: if you look at the cover for Makrokosmos you will
notice that instead of the typically lush or glacial vistas of black
metal you find a desert.
Your output is wildly varied, from the black metal of
Petrychor to the post-rock of Beware of Safety to the
fingerpicking released under your own name. This is in
addition to your poetry and photography. How do
you find time for all of this? How does your approach change
from project to project?
I feel like I don’t find time for everything. My last year was the
most difficult of my life and my art suffered for it; though I have a
well of inspirational material I have not yet succeeded in
channeling all of it into new works. This is the new year’s
challenge.
Despite the trials, 2014 was not a complete wash by any means. I
am proud of Makrosomos and the response I received to my
attempt to foster some connection between isolated people.
Lotusville, my album with Beware of Safety, best expresses my
aforementioned attempts to absorb and distill LA into an artwork.
As for how my approach changes, I’m not sure that it does. I place
sounds where I hear them without much regard for genre. If
something does not fit, I know I have another project where I can
use it; this has helped me to become a better self-regulator, more
willing to abandon or change ideas rather than forcing them into
place.
In 2009, in an author's bio, it was mentioned that you were
working on an ongoing poetry series inspired by Matsuo
Basho. Is this project still in process? What do you find
inspiring about Matsuo Basho?
A lot of poetry came out of last year’s events. From time to time I
write what I call Minimalisms, postmodern Western poetry
influenced by Eastern brevity, especially haiku, but without the
syllabic constraints which don’t make sense when you’re not
writing in the Japanese language.
I love meandering, massive works, hypersigils like The Holy
Mountain and Gravity’s Rainbow, but there is something powerful
about haiku, its ability to evoke full scenes in my imagination with
so few words. Brevity and simplicity can be profound, can ground
you when you’ve been living inside your own head trying to
achieve some complex goal. It is analogous to hiking in some
ways, or calisthenics; simple goals and small progressions can
become everyday victories, things that serve to remind you of your
constant growth.
Could you talk about the role Khrysanthoney played in your
career? What sort of impact do you think Khrysanthoney had
on black metal?
Khrysanthoney and Starlight Temple Society were highly
imaginative places that fostered a great deal of novel music.
Wilhelm did a fantastic job of mixing earnest outsider art with his
prankster’s eye and created something beautiful, something
enigmatic. I thank him for giving me a chance to grow in the way
that I have, for working to help me express myself when
communication was difficult.
So often black metal focuses on the Lovecraftian idea of
humankind's insignificance in the face of the universe. The
last song title(Cosmic Irrelevance Does Not Suggest Terrestrial
Insignificance) on "Makrokosmos" seems to refute this notion,
and the text on your Bandcamp page suggests a similar frame
of mind. What do you see as humanity's role in the cosmos?
Our cosmic role is near irrelevant no matter how many neoliberal
policies and individuals attempt to prove otherwise through their
attempts at colonizing space, money and energy that would be far
better spent on terrestrial sustainability and egalitarian living.
Our local role is what is so important. One musn’t give into
nihilism when faced with scientific truths about the scope of our
universe. One must instead recognize what they can do to change
their lives, to change the lives of those they love, and to discover
what rituals make them feel best, most actualized. Look back at the
chain of events that led you to where you are now, recognize the
chaos, the way in which one removal or addition would inexorably
alter all that came after it. Once you see those patterns you can
alter your choices and rituals to take you in the general direction
you want to go, but it teaches you not to get hung up on specifics
and prize growth in any direction over the stagnant, indulgent
nature of nihilism.
You have been outspoken on how music should be distributed
in the modern world, offering up the first two Petrychor
releases for free through bandcamp. You've changed tact a bit
and now people are asked offer up a nominal fee. Was there a
specific reason for this?
Direct donation is the best chance contemporary artists have at
being on control of what they make. I don’t support the
commodification of art and crowdfunding culture, but I felt it
appropriate to attach a small price to the music. I am trying to
make life changes, transition into different work; any amount helps
and I have seen the good it does with my band, bands I am friends
with, and those I have donated to.
What's on the horizon for Petrychor? Where do you see
Petychor by the end of the year?
There will be a new Petrychor EP in the next several months. I
launched a fun side project last year called Rhandir, which can be
found on Bandcamp, something influenced by RPG soundtracks
and dungeon synth demo tapes of the nineties. Making this project
made composition fun again while I was in a deep depression and
elements of it have been leaking into my other work. My newest
Petrychor music is a return to form in some ways, a renewed focus
on folk and metal elements, but I feel it will still surprise those
who have stuck with me over the years.
By the end of the year I hope to have a new label and physical
distribution again. With this new EP and Makrokosmos behind me,
I believe I will have a good way to communicate where I am going
and what I am doing. It may take time, but I will find those who
believe similarly.
Petrychor can be found on the internet at:
https://petrychor.bandcamp.com/
Be Careful, It is Dark: A Glimpse Behind
the Masks of GRUE
When I first heard there was a black metal band from
Boston named Grue, my thoughts immediately turned
to the infamous monster from Infocom's Zork games.
There's no connection according to the band, and to
be blunt, Grue's music is more akin to the festering
monsters portrayed in the works of Richard Upton
Pickman, another Bostonian than the unseen menace
from one of the earliest of video games. Barghast and
Ghast took some time out from their mysterious
schedules to field some of our questions, and we are
thankful. - ed.
First things first. Does Ghast really have a skull
collection? If so, what was the genesis of that
collection? What skull would you consider the
centerpiece?
Ghast: Yes, I do have a skull collection that most
would consider to be good sized. I grew up spending
a good deal of my time in the forests near my home
and finding skulls there. Over the years it is
something I have gotten more into, and have
developed a system for collecting and rendering down
animal remains for clean specimens. I don't know if I
have a single most significant piece. I have some wolf
skulls, a ram, and a nubian ibex that is harder to find
and not of this continent.
How did you guys meet? What brought Ghast
from New York to Boston? What prompted your
formation of Grue?
Barghast: One of my old band mates from Unholy
Goatfucker knew him from upstate and introduced us
at a show. At the time Ghast was playing in Fresh
Kill, and Grue’s first drummer was becoming more
and more busy with commitments to his family and
main band.
Ghast: Our paths crossed and after seeing Grue
perform with their original drummer I felt that if
given the chance I would get involved. Things
worked out and Grue is now my musical priority.
Barghast, you were a member of Bread and
Roses. Folk punk and black metal both have their
own weird hang-ups with authenticity, but usually
occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum.
What brought you to black metal? Do you ever
run into any kind of culture shock?
Barghast: What got me into black metal in the 90s
was Emperor, and the way they sounded almost
inhuman and otherworldly – I hadn’t heard anything
that felt like that since early Voivod. Skepticism was
equally huge for me back then, with a similar feel on
a much slower scale. This is ultimately what makes
black metal important to me, not any particular social
or political stance. I guess you could say it feels like
“culture shock” when I encounter people who equate
black metal with religion or bigotry, but it’s not really
that different from what it feels like to be surrounded
by believers and bigots in everyday life. Not to say
that all religions are the same, because all things
being equal there are certainly some that I find more
interesting and sympathetic than others. But
ultimately, whether we’re talking about Satanism or
Christianity or Asatru, they’re all puzzling to me, as is
the notion of glorifying or vilifying some genetic trait.
Ghast, you've spent time in a number of death
metal bands. What brought you to black metal?
Were there any challenges in changing genres? Do
you approach drumming differently for this
project than other bands you've been a part of?
Ghast: I was in another two-piece black metal band in
upstate New York called “Swept In Black” before
moving to Boston. We put out a demo that was
distributed among friends and is very obscure. It’s
hard to say what draws me to black metal – it’s a part
of my life and the most important musical expression
I can muster. Having played in mostly death metal
bands in the past it was just a matter of time until I
found a proper band to really create and develop with.
Performing with Grue keeps me in good shape since
the physical aspect of it is demanding. As far as the
approach to black metal drumming I'll say this; if you
have the spirit, the burning to do it, then it will come.
If you must force it then it’s a waste of time. I draw
strength from the energy of the music and it carries us
to bring life to the force we are creating. Whatever
musical entity I am involved with brings out its own
specific flavor from my drumming style. Grue
happens to draw one of the more intense and driving
ones.
Casualty of the Psychic Wars's title was inspired
by a Blue Oyster Cult song penned by Michael
Moorcock. What music outside the sphere of
black metal directly inspires Grue?
Barghast: I first heard “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”
watching “Heavy Metal” in the middle of the night as
a young teenager, not knowing Moorcock had
anything to do with it and well before I’d heard
anything remotely like black metal. Ridiculous
movie, but the song stuck in my memory. As far as
other music that inspires Grue, folk music is a big one
for me. Not singer-songwriter coffeeshop stuff, but
the energy and atmosphere and intricacy of actual
North American/Celtic/Scottish/Irish folk music.
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Steeleye Span
(England), Kornog (Brittany), Rêve du Diable
(Quebec) and of course the original “Wicker Man”
soundtrack. A few years ago I briefly lived in Western
Massachusetts where the old-time music scene is
incredibly active, and I was lucky enough to jam with
some incredibly talented people with decades’ worth
of playing experience.
Those are fairly indirect influences though. More
directly, I love Nomeansno’s weird narrative songs
like “The Day Everything Became Nothing,” “It’s
Catching Up,” and “Dark Ages.” I probably have the
opening bassline from “Junk” going through my head
for 25% of any given day. And of course, Ronnie
James Dio – not just the great bands he was in, but
the imagination and lyrical voice he brought to each
one.
Ghast: Tom Waits is a huge musical/life inspiration to
me. Listen to the album “Blood Money” if you don't
think there is real darkness outside of extreme music.
In our early e-mail exchanges, Barghast, you've
mentioned that Grue's name comes from Jack
Vance, and H. P. Lovecraft. Could you discuss the
impact fantasy and science-fiction have on this
project?
Barghast: Science fiction and fantasy have had pretty
huge impact on my writing for this band. I’d say that
most of my songs are things that someone with more
patience and a stronger work ethic would have turned
into stories or novels. But I also want to qualify that
by saying that I’m mainly talking about older writers
like Lord Dunsany, William Morris, Fritz Leiber,
Mervyn Peake, and Ursula Leguin along with Vance
and Lovecraft, because I think fantasy took a pretty
huge dive after Tolkien (although Tolkien, himself,
was fantastic). I’m generally pretty unimpressed with
the way both genres have gone in the past few
decades. In the past I would’ve said that anything
after 1980 was junk but I’ve mellowed a bit; now I’d
say that there’s so much great old stuff out there that I
haven’t had time to dig for the occasional recent gem.
Boston is a city most known for shitty sports fans,
hokey accents, and hardcore bands. As of late,
however, it seems like there's been a bit of a shift,
and more metal groups seem to be coming out of
the woodwork. Is this something you see as a
native of the region? Are there other New England
bands you admire?
Ghast: Morne is a Boston band that people need to
pay attention to. They are one of the most moving
bands I've ever seen live and are personal friends of
ours. I can't say enough about them honestly, so go
get all their records and see them on tour.
PanzerBastard are some vicious lads too, give them a
listen.
Barghast: I have to preface this by saying that I don’t
know anything about sports or Bridge
Nine/Deathwish hardcore, and although I’ve lived
here for going on 20 years I’m not a Boston native. I
do know we have a very active underground
hardcore/punk scene, and it’s pretty impressive how
some of those bands get around. As far as metal goes,
I’d say Massachusetts has a pretty heavy history at
least going back to the 90s – it’d be great to think we
weren’t so much to blame for metalcore, but there
you have it. Grue has been lucky enough to play with
all kinds of great New England bands recently:
Sangus, Morne, One Master, Ramlord, Obsidian
Tongue, Haxen, Bog of the Infidel, Churchburn, just
to name a few.
Your band is notably bass-less. What prompted
this decision? Do you approach the act of writing
music differently than other projects, due to your
instrumentation?
Ghast: We don't need a bass player. We create a full
sonic wave with the equipment at our disposal. The
presence of another individual would only threaten
the purity and vision of what we do.
Barghast: As weird as it might seem to not have a
bass player, it felt completely obvious at the time
because I had already started writing on a baritone
guitar that reached almost as low as a bass would
have – why add a second low instrument? It wasn’t
until after we’d been doing it for awhile that I realized
how much difference having just two musicians
makes. And yes, the writing approach is completely
different from any other band I’ve been in. Partly
because it’s just two of us, but also because I’m
playing guitar in a weird upside-down tuning –
something like a 6-string, down-tuned cello. I would
literally not be able to play Grue songs on a normal
guitar, and it’s not very comfortable to play “normal”
songs on the guitar I use for Grue.
On your most recent EP, you covered Townes Van
Zandt. How did you approach translating that
song to black metal? Why'd you guys tackle that
song specifically?
Ghast: Listen to Townes Van Zandt’s lyrics and you
can see how such a bleak outlook fits our musical
scheme.
Barghast: Even though the feel and texture is
completely different, it was important to me that we
change the core of the song as little as possible. Aside
from the instrumental intro and middle sections, we
play it the way it was written: it’s in a different key
but the chords, melody, and structure are basically the
same. And of all the great Townes Van Zandt songs
out there, I think this was the only one we could’ve
done that with. With songs like “Waitin’ Around to
Die” or “Tecumseh Valley,” we’d have had to change
a lot more, or end up with something that sounded
like country-blues-metal. Neither of those was an
option, since the whole point was to dig out the
common ground between our music and his without
compromising on either side.
What are your hopes for the future of Grue?
Barghast: We’re in the process of finishing up a new
full-length, which is called “Sifting the Ashes of
History.” It’s about apocalypse survivors looking back
and trying to understand the end of human
civilization, and was inspired by “Riddley Walker,”
“Engine Summer,” “A Canticle for Leibowitz,” and
the like as well as my general pessimism about
humans as we are now (but mixed with a little
optimism about our rapidly approaching downsizing
and demotion). The concept is more tightly woven
through the songs than it was in “Casualty of the
Psychic Wars,” and we pushed ourselves harder to
convey aggression and emotion through the music
and production. So my biggest hope is that when all
the dust settles this record sounds as good in reality as
it did in my head when we started writing it.
Ghast: Playing shows far and wide. Hopefully a
proper tour this year. We are in the process of
finishing our second full length album. I would like to
see this pressed to vinyl – really the ideal format with
which to experience this music. If all goes well you
can look out for that to be released sometime in the
second half of 2015.
Grue can be found on the internet at:
https://www.facebook.com/grue666
Prairie Winds Howl Forever: An
Interview with Jarrod of
When Init Records releases something, it's worth
your attention. Init was one of the many small
labels releasing a constant stream of amazing
music when I was starting to get into extreme
music. Much like Gilead, they've started to shift
from punk/hardcore to black metal, and that's
how a stream for Woman is the Earth landed in
my inbox. Woman is the Earth play sweeping
black metal that is as impressive as it is unique.
Jarrod took some time to answer our questions via
e-mail, and for that, we thank him. - ed.
Your music often draws on the Black Hills for
inspiration. The Black Hills remain a
contested area of land, an area occupied by
the United States in violation of the Treaty of
Fort Laramie. Do you draw on the history of
the region when you write, or do you try to
focus on your experiences with that area in
the here and now? What exactly do you find
inspiring about the region?
Jarrod: There is indeed a lot of history in the Black
Hills, parts of it are more glaring than others. The
history here is part of what makes it such a
unique place. Our music focuses heavily on our
own experiences though, on our own
interpretation of whats happening around us and
typically has very little to do with other people.
Growing up here has provided unique experiences
and a lot of inspiration… I have traveled, lived,
and worked in many different parts of the
wilderness and rural areas in the US, and the
Black Hills has a unique draw unlike anything else.
I think a lot of it is simply since it is my home,
where I grew up. The forest is small in comparison
to the lush vastness of Idaho or the Pacific
Northwest for example, but there is a certain
magic and diversity here that is hard to describe.
There is a lot of accessibility, which is normally
great- that you can drive from the plains to rock
canyons, lakes, and peaks in the same afternoon.
I think a lot of the unique feel has to do with the
fact that it is surrounded by plains- the high
desert of Wyoming and the vast grasslands and
badlands of South Dakota. There are no large
urban hubs nearby. Rapid City is the largest city
here at around 80,000 people, and Denver is
about a six hour drive south. There is a certain
feeling of seclusion, and a lot of room for
exploration in our small area. I think that's why it
has been a spiritual cornerstone for different
cultures for so many years. It is also interesting
geographically- it is considered part of the Rocky
Mountain region, but still very much part of the
upper Midwest. The culture here reflects that. My
family, as well as Jon and Andy's had all
homesteaded in the harsh plains of central and
eastern South Dakota from Norway and Sweden.
There is still a lot of that culture in South Dakotaa tradition of pride, stoic-ness, and humbleness in
a place where you still have to drive hours to get
to the next town of 100 people. People and ideas
are genuine here, for better or worse.
As black metal progresses, we've seen bands
incorporate more urban influences. Bands
like Ludicra, Krallice, and Black Anvil write
music
that draws upon their cities, eschewing the
glacial plains of 2nd wave Norway. What
would you consider the largest sonic
difference between
your work, and the majority of city-based
black metal?
Jarrod: Sonically, I don't think it is really all that
much different. I suppose there are elements of
industrial and electronic music and an overall feel
of chaos in some of the music those bands make
that i don't think we have ever delved into
sonically. I guess it makes sense considering what
their surroundings are. It seems that a lot of
urban black metal is highly misanthropic as welland I think I would tend to feel the same way if i
spent so much time in a huge city… maybe not.
Our music is not coming from a place of hatred or
total darkness and chaos. It is a reflection of all
things in our natural world. Life, death, cold,
warmth. We aren't angry all the time. We aren't
depressed all the time. Nor are we happy and
warm all the time. We don't claim to be anything
we aren't. Once that happens, we are no longer
genuine or pure in what we do. I do wonder how
genuine some city-based black metal is, coming
from a place where trends change so quickly. I
wonder what inspires them to write and perform.
Do you feel growing up in a more rural
environment pushed you to seek out fringe
artwork, like black metal, for instance?
Jarrod: I think that had something to do with it. I
also think it is just a big part of our personalities. I
guess I have always been interested in pushing
the limits of what i know or what i can do. We
grew up in Rapid City, which is a small city… There
has always been a pretty thriving art community
here. We were exposed to a lot of music, went to
a lot of shows, etc. However, in most of the
smaller towns around us, there is no such thing as
fringe music really. There is the radio. Obviously if
people have an interest and know where to look
they can find anything on the internet, but its not
like they can go see a metal band in their
hometown you know? There is just no exposure to
anything like that. My introduction to black metal
probably came the same way as with a lot of
people: As a teenager, I was really into
skateboarding, punk rock and hardcore music. I
kept wanting more and more out of music, wanted
to explore the fringes. I found black metal while
working in a record store as a high schooler. The
energy, intensity, vocal style and melody really
appealed to me. I believe Gorgoroth was the first
black metal band i heard, and I never looked
back. As i grew older I also became much more
interested in the ideas and individuality associated
with black metal along with the sound. That is
what has really kept my interest- that its a music
'genre' that I feel has no rules, I don't have to
believe in anything or anyone. It is a unique and
spiritual form of music for the individual. It is
selfish music. I like that. That being said, most
people in our hometown have no idea what we do
or what our music is.
Your band name was chosen to invoke
images of feminine energy and masculine
energy acting in concert, but you've made
efforts to explicitly distance yourself from
political or social implications of that. Why?
Jarrod: We have chosen not to let our music be a
platform to push social ideas or movements on
people. I don't like that. It is what has pushed me
away from a lot of crust and hardcore music over
the years. It starts to feel like an agenda, its no
longer an expression of true personality and
emotion, it feels more like a campaign for
someone else's political movement. We also don't
want to be pigeonholed or feel like we need to
appeal to a certain group of people. This music
isn't written for anybody. We write what we feel
and are amazed and really glad that other people
appreciate it, but it is not made to appeal to a
certain group of people. As I mentioned above, to
me, black metal is a celebration of rabid
individualism. It's very important to me to keep it
that way.
You're currently located in Rapid City, SD.
While rapid city is a major transportation hub
for the northern plains, you don't see South
Dakota on many tour routings. Do you worry
about artistic stagnation, being in a place
that is somewhat removed from traditional
metal stomping grounds? Is this even a
concern with the global reach of the
internet?
Jarrod: The music scene in Rapid City has really
deteriorated over the past several years for a
number of reasons i guess. It is definitely not on
many tour routings, even though it is a great stop
between Minneapolis and Denver, for instance.
There are definitely downsides to being based
here- like the difficulty to play out in different
cities or set up a tour. Or to play in our own city
for that matter. We don't worry about stagnation
here though. We like the fact that we are
separated from most metal hot spots. I think it
keeps us honest you know? We can't fake it here.
There are no trends or big influences around here
to change or influence what we do. I think that's a
good thing. Ha or we could just be living in a
bubble and be writing terrible, outdated music and
not know it! But i think either way it is genuine
and it's coming from the three of us, and that's
most important to us. We see our location as a
positive thing. And yes- with the global reach of
the internet, we don't think a band's location
makes as big of a difference as it once did. Of
course its more difficult to tour or get much
publicity or get a large fan base- but the internet
makes that less of an issue all the time. For
instance, the first label we chose to work with is
Eisenwald, based in Germany! They approached
us about releasing an album we had written and
recorded in our basement with no intention of
releasing it outside of Rapid City, SD. So all of a
sudden a super low budget black metal album
written in our basement in the woods was being
listened to by people all over Europe. It's pretty
awesome.
Have you ever felt the need to move from
South Dakota? What keeps your band in
Rapid City?
Jarrod: We don't feel the need to leave. Our lives
outside of our music are what keeps us here. Our
homes, our families, our livelihoods here are too
important to us to leave just for more publicity or
easier tour routing. We talked about relocating the
band in its earlier stages, when we were younger.
Over the years though, we want less and less to
be in the middle of a bigger scene or music hub.
We don't really care about that. We can create
genuine art anywhere. For me personally, I now
live elsewhere for 5-6 months out of the year and
still live in South Dakota through the winters,
when we do most of our writing, touring, and
recording.
"Child of Sky" opens with a monophonic
chant, which seems to draw from the
western tradition of plainchant. Black metal
often functions as a liturgical form for
performers and listeners. Do you as
individuals ascribe to any notions of
spirituality? How does that affect your
music?
Jarrod: I don't ascribe to any kind of organized
spirituality or religious beliefs. I have a highly
personal form spirituality and system of belief
though. Ultimately, I believe in the power of the
individual. That spirituality greatly affects our
music. I would rather not go into great detail
about all of my beliefs or how they tie into our
music- but it is absolutely used as a sort of
liturgical form. I feel a great spiritual connection
to creating art and in performing it. That being
said, we try to create something musical as wellthere are parts of our songs that may just feel
good rhythmically or are just sonically powerful.
Either way, we feel its really important to create
an emotional landscape of some sort.
Jon just successfully completed a kickstarter
for an illustrated text. What are your
thoughts on crowd-funding in the role of
artistic creation?
Jarrod: I think its great that artists are able to
create and distribute to a wider audience without
the need for record labels, publishers, etc. That
they can create a quality product with the help of
the public. I think it is important for people to
keep their goals realistic though, and to approach
crowd-funding for the right reasons. I think it
would be easy for a band or artist to rely on their
fans to try to make a bunch of money to go record
in a super expensive studio and have a high payed
audio engineer and contract out their artwork etc.
I don't think that is always the best approach, or a
realistic one… If you want to create something,
just create it. You don't need a bunch of money to
do it… Just because an album sounds professional
and has great packaging doesn't mean anyone
wants to hear it. I think crowd funding is a
wonderful tool, but doesn't change the fact that
great art is much more than that. Its important to
respect the process… to create something genuine
and worthwhile first, then worry about money.
What are your goals for 2015? What do you
hope to achieve with Woman is the Earth?
Jarrod: Right now we are really focused on writing
a new album. We have a lot of material ready to
go for our next full length, which most likely won't
come to fruition until next year since I will be out
of the state from late May through October. It will
be a true full length album (longer than the 26
minute 'Depths'), including material we have
written over the past 3 years. We are really
excited about it- as it is shaping up to be the most
powerful, dynamic, focused and personal album
we have ever written. The plan is that we will have
the writing process as well as a demo version
completed in May. Then make decisions on record
labels, studios, formats, etc. and record at the end
of 2015 or early 2016. We have a few shows
coming up in the spring and we are also working
with a close friend and phenomenal artist/tattooer,
Damion Cressy, to create some really great
artwork and merchandise coming soon!
Our ultimate goal is simply to constantly be
pushing our boundaries artistically and create
powerful music. For every album and every show
to be better than the last one. To create
something we can feel passionate about.
Woman Is The Earth can be found on the internet
at:
http://womanistheearth.blogspot.com/
reviews by ed.
False – Untitled
Gilead Media, 2015
“From death comes life, and with life comes sacrifice,
and with sacrifice comes our sorrow,” grows the
vocalist of False in the coda of “Saturnalia”. Black
metal tends toward the recursive, to the cyclical, and
False shine when they break that expectation. There's
plenty of unexpected moments throughout this double
LP, but they never come at the expense of the
memorable intensity. This is another strong release
from one of the most promising bands in black metal.
Highly highly recommended.
Il'lthil – Ia'Winde
Psychic Violence, 2015
this is an album of differing shades of cold,
punctuated by cryptic yowls. the shapes you see in
the wind and snow, these are the noises they make.
black metal via the acolytes of ithaqua, il'lthil
advances through their two songs at a consistent midtempo, the lengthy cadence of a prairie blizzard. the
choral moments that open each song provide a brief
respite from the chill, but it's not till the last six
minutes of “through the cold grey sky” that we're able
to see the sun. this is a storm worth waiting through.
AKHLYS – The Dreaming I
Debemur Morti Productions, 2015
i buy so many dumb cassettes that sometimes i lose
track of the bigger names in american black metal.
nightbringer have been impressive for years, and this
solo outing from their main dude is one of the
strongest outings i've heard this year. this is more
cathedral black metal than i typically enjoy, but
AKHLYS rages harder than most. massive tremelo
riffs underscore layered howlings while nimble
drumming keeps the whole thing neatly in line. while
this release is not normally in line with my usual
jams, i really enjoyed it quite a bit.
Reviews by Patrick
...and the lamps expire.
Addaura
From the album title and song titles its fairly
obvious this Seattle bunch are heavily
influenced and indebted to GY!BE. The first
track (title is way too long to list here) starts
off with a keyboard melody that wouldn’t
sound out of place in a score of a thoughtful
independent horror film. The track then veers
into familiar Cascadian black metal territory
before crashing down with acoustic guitars
and another keyboard melody that supports
the midtempo flow of the track. There is a
predictable amount of crescendo in the
songwriting, though there is some really
impressive drumming before the song fades
out. The next track ‘chambering things lost.’ Is
an experimental sound piece that I really like
but sounds like it should have been on the last
Altar of Plagues album? The last track it
almost a repeat of the first track but with
better percussion. All in all a solid release,
though to be honest I am becoming increasing
weary of this style.
Split w/Barshasketh
Void Ritual
Raw, hateful black metal from one dude out of
Albuquerque, there is a definite death metal
influence in his sound. This is most evident in
the first track ‘Heaven’s Gate’ which has
pummeling breakdown before the song ends.
The next two tracks ‘Benevolent Mother’ and
‘Temple of the Sun’ have their share of
melodicism and aren’t as inclined to stomp
your head into the ground. Recommended.
Vorde
Vorde
Straight out of NY, comes Vorde who create,
according to their label, “cosmic black metal”,
which is another way of saying space-y black
metal. I suppose. The first track ‘Hatewave’
starts off with some spook house
organ/keyboard atmospherics that wouldn’t
sound out of place on a Jörg Buttgereit
soundtrack. The raw buzz kicks in around the
three-minute mark, the vocals recalling the
dude from Urfaust but much less operatic. You
can definitely hear the mighty Dissection in
the track ‘Transformations of the Vessel’, the
most melodic track of the lot. The track ‘Blood
Moon’ starts off like some orgiastic blood
ritual, the vocals now really start to sound like
Abbath (Immortal) or Dagon (Inquisition) but
with a less pronounced croak. The music on
this track is where the band comes into own,
creating a dense slabs of blackness that don’t
buzz as much as hum or drone. There are little
touches like the chanting in the beginning of
‘Crown of Black Flame’ or the catchy synth at
the end of ‘Funeral Vortex’ that make this
band one to look out for.
Shaped By Aeolian Winds
Haethen
This three piece from Philly could be
described as Cascadian black metal without
all the adornments. The first track ‘Entranced
by the Unknowing’ does start off the oft-used
windswept intro, but the music soon starts
and is over in less than three minutes. This no
frills way of songwriting continues for the next
couple of tracks, so when the music does take
a bit of detour it's actually a suprise. The
chiming guitars, though it sounds like
mandolins, keyboard, and tasteful amount of
cello on ‘Fragments of Spectral Uncertainty ‘
do create something off-putting and lovely.
The rest of the album continues to do the
business, all in all a very good release.
Phobos Monolith
MARE COGNITUM
Another “cosmic black metal” release, this is
atmospheric stuff with a better grasp of
melody or perhaps of the Cascadian varietal
without being grounded in trees 'n shit. The
album starts with what sounds like a
spaceship taking off from the earth into
space, the chiming chords helping the ship
along its journey. The most Darkspace
sounding track (or even latter day Abigor) is
‘Entropic Hallucinations’, all pounding abstract
aggression with a haunted synth backdrop.
Beginning with spare guitar/piano, with
crackling ambience, ‘Noumenon’, is more than
just reminiscent of Cascadia. The subsequent
soaring, triumphant melodies also help that
assessment. The final track, ‘Ephemeral
Eternities’ returns to heaviness heard earlier.
It is here that band somewhat succeeds in
setting itself apart from the thousands of
other faceless hordes. The biggest problem
with the album is that sole creator (Jacob
Buczarski) hasn’t figured out how to get the
two sides of his sound to quite gel yet. The
results end up sounding like switching
between two different albums (a problem I had
with Panopticon’s Kentucky), I’m sure with
time though, Buczarski will come into his own.
Simulacrum
Xothist
Two long tracks that sound like white noise
from an old b/w television cranked to 100 with
the odd bit of drone-y ambiance, filled with
dread and apprehension. Sure, this stuff isn’t
for everyone, but if you like me wait in endless
anticipation for the next Spektr to drop, this is
a gift from the deepest depths of hell.
Death in the Summer: Correspondence
with Rae of Immortal Bird
We caught Immortal Bird opening for Fuck The Facts last
year, and their furious take on black metal blew us away.
Rae Amitay's scorched earth vocals match the vehemence
in her lyrics, and the rest of the band follows suit
admirably. Rae was kind enough to answer a couple of
questions regarding Immortal Bird, and their upcoming
full-length.
You and Evan are responsible for composing and
writing the music for Immortal Bird. How did you
meet at Berklee? What were your first impressions of each other? Was there a specific catalyst for your decision to work together
musically?
We met in the drum practice rooms during my first
semester of school. Evan was a few semesters
ahead of me but since we shared a number of common musical interests, we became fast friends.
Throughout our time at school, Evan and I were supportive of each others musical projects, but we didn’t
actually write anything together while in Boston. It
wasn’t until we both found ourselves in Chicago later
on that I approached him about collaborating.
You both have experience in bands with more of
a folk bent, Rae in Thrawsunblat and Evan in
Wilderun. Immortal Bird, despite being named
for a neo-folk song, has a heft and urgency that
seems more in line with your current surroundings. Do you feel that Immortal Bird represents a
break from previous music you've played? Do
you anticipate the effects of any folk influence as
the band continues to write and perform?
Immortal Bird definitely lacks a discernible folk influence, aside from the name. I’m not sure if it represents a break for me, as it’s the kind of material I’ve
always been inclined to write, but I know that for
Evan it’s definitely a departure. He’s been writing
Wilderun material for the better part of a decade, and
he’s very passionate about the orchestration and arranging that goes into well-crafted folk metal. Maybe
a bit of that has crept into our songwriting for the new
album, in the sense that we’ve added some previously unexplored textures. I guess we’ll see what
people think, but for the time being I think we’re safe
from getting labeled with a ‘folk’ genre tag.
Rae, during "Ashen Scabland", there's a moment
where you growl the words "I should see someone, but that means learning where I went
wrong." It's rare to hear a reference to the idea
of seeking mental health in metal, while instability is almost considered a badge of honor, an act
of distancing from the mainstream. What does
the idea of mental health mean to you? How difficult is it to practice self-care as a professional
musician?
I think that over the last few years, musicians in the
metal community have been a lot more outspoken
about seeking help for depression, bipolar disorder,
addiction, and other tremendously difficult subjects.
I’m not sure instability should be seen as an act of
distancing oneself from the mainstream, as I think
the distance is a product of not feeling as though one
can handle what is perceived as “normal” proximity
to society. If someone is using the guise of “mental
instability” as an excuse to set themselves apart as a
“tortured artist”, then they’re being disingenuous. I
don’t think that’s the norm though, but maybe I’ve
just been lucky enough to avoid those kinds of people. The definition of mental health is a volatile and
amorphous concept for a lot of people, myself included. I know I’m not alone in using my writing or performing as a form of catharsis. Still, it’s not a ‘cure’
so much as a reaction to whatever internal struggles
I’m facing. I expel a certain darkness through Immortal Bird but I wouldn’t say that music is always an adequate replacement for other forms of therapy.
When composing music for Immortal Bird, what
is generally the starting point? Do you focus on
attempting to convey an emotion, or keep a specific event in mind?
I usually start by messing around on my bass, coming up with melodic ideas that Evan and I can eventually turn into more solid riffs and structures. I don’t
really focus on events or emotions, I just play until I
hear something that interests me. Usually this means
something dark, dissonant, or otherwise nasty
sounding. Then I expand upon it and Evan helps to
arrange the ideas for guitar and the full band. The
emotions and events usually come into play later,
when I’m writing lyrics.
How did writing and recording the new album
go? How did it feel handing the drums off to
Garry Naples? Did he contribute to the writing of
the album? How did John Hoffman get involved?
It went really well, I’m extremely happy with how ev-
erything turned out. Handing the drums off to Garry
was a great decision all around. It was more time efficient, his performances were strong, and it’s material that he’s been playing live for almost a year now.
He didn’t contribute to the writing of the album, but of
course his drumming has many personal stylistic
touches that weren’t on the programmed demos. I
met John Hoffman at Southern Darkness Fest in
Tampa last year and really dug his personality offstage. I’ve been a fan of Weekend Nachos for awhile
and have always enjoyed their live shows/recordings, but after hanging out with him a bit I decided
that I wanted him to do guest vocals on a track for
our new album. I’m not typically a big ‘guest’ enthusiast, especially given that this is our debut full-length
and I think it’s important for us to focus on presenting
and developing ‘our’ sound, but I think he adds a
compelling energy to the song and his voice is
uniquely aggressive and very different from mine.
What would you like to achieve next with Immortal Bird? Any parting words for our readers?
I’m interested to see what doors, if any, the release
of our new album opens for us. We’ll continue writing
and touring, and there are already some exciting
plans in the works for late 2015 and early 2016. I find
that setting hyper-specific goals can be a recipe for
dissatisfaction and malaise, so I’ll just say that I want
to play more shows, see new places, and continue
growing as a band.
Immortal Bird can be found on the internet at
https://immortalbird.bandcamp.com/
The Discipline of Fire:
Metal and Fancy Food with
David T. Posey
The internet is weird, right? You
get to see people with more complexity than was previously available at
any other time in human history, and
mostly we use it to complain about
movies based on comic books. Sometimes it's great though, where you
can notice that a Michelin-starred
chef has recently favorited a tweet
mentioning Liturgy, and then you'll
interview him for your zine. David
T. Posey has worked in a number of
incredible restaurants(Trio,
Aliena), and most recently, was the
chef de cuisine at Blackbird. He's
currently in the process of opening
his own restaurant in Chicago. We
were lucky enough to chat with him
about the overlap of metal and fine
dining.
You recently were involved in The
Greenhouse Tavern's Metal as Fuck dinner, with Jonathon Sawyer and Dieselboy. Could you talk about how that
collaboration came around? Is the warhead sorbet the sneakiest Venom refer-
ence ever?
the metal as fuck dinner came about
pretty straight forward. jon and i have
cooked together in the past and i think
he knew i like metal, so that was that.
jon and dieselboy came up with most of
the food, and i contributed the lamb
'burned at the stake' course which was
a whole lamb that was glazed in a bunch
of burnt chilies, burnt garlic and reduced vinegar and served with black
beans cooked with bacon and some fried
kale, then we put some hay on the plate
and lit it on fire before it went into
the dining room. dieselboy came up with
the warhead sorbet; it was so good!
With Brooks Headley's recent tour diary/cookbook, and Alex Stupak's
new logo for Empellion(created by View
from the Coffin), extreme music is intersecting with fine dining in a very
visible way, even to those who might
not be familiar with Born Against or
Emperor. Do you have any thoughts on
why these intersections are becoming
more frequent?
i think personality has come out in
fine dining (bringing out metal dinners...) as a whole. for such a long
time, it seems, chefs have been hesitant to have fun with fine dining really only letting their personality come
out in the food. now there is defiantly
a new confidence in both chefs and diners to let loose a bit. at the end of
the day, it's just food...
There's an interview from 2013 where
you spoke about a dish you were proud
of, and it was a dish with minimal components, with a focus on execution.
Part of black metal's genesis was a reaction to the perceived soulless technicality of death metal, and focus on
creating maximum environment with minimal musical cues. Aside from your recent Metal-themed dinner, have you created dishes inspired by black metal in
any aspect? Does music influence your
work with food? Do you see your focus
on minimalist dishes as a reaction to
anything?
black metal, or music in general has
never really inspired my dishes, other
than when i sit down to think of a new
menu with a glass of bourbon and black
metal playing in the background. the
minimalist aspect to my dishes stems
from an interview with david kinch of
manresa a while ago. he talked about
taking food off of the plate and showing a confidence in product and technique, something that is very opposite
of the norm where people want to impress by adding tons of stuff, which
ends up turning into garbage. this is
very similar to the kind of metal that
i'm drawn to; very straightforward and
simple with tons of depth behind it.
Do you cook while listening to music?
If so, what are your preferred tunes?
for a long time we listened to music at
the restaurant while prepping. one day
i noticed that no one was set up but
they managed to find time to play some
shitty pop song, so i turned the music
off and we wouldn't put it on again until breaking down; i really loved the
focus that came from that. at home i
listen to loud kinda slow stuff like
year of no light, pallbearer, and
galaxie 500 when cooking.
You've noted a trip to Bastide at age
16 as one of the points that influenced
you to become a chef. When did you
start getting into black metal? What
was your first impression?
black metal is kind of new to me. i
grew up listening to a lot of old punk
and hardcore, then moved into the grind
and tech side of metal. i played drums
since i was 10, so listening to those
kind of guys play was nuts. i thought a
lot of black metal sounded like it was
recorded in a trash can, and couldn't
get past that every time i tried listening to it. i started getting into it
4/5 years ago; i think i had a rough
day and put some emperor or something
on and it felt good so i kinda fell
into black metal from there.
Where can our readers find your cooking
in the near future? Are there other
pop-up dinners or projects we should be
on the look out for?
hopefully we'll be open in a year, but
who knows. i've got a lot of guest chef
dinners lined up, with the closest one
being late april at balena.
David T. Posey can be found on the internet at @dtposey.
There Are No Mountains: Vile Creature
Speaks
This is Vile Creature's first interview, regarding their first release,
and we are so thrilled to include them in our humble pages. Vile
Creature's first release, “A Steady Descent Into the Soil” is a
harrowing journey of blackened doom through an incredibly
hostile landscape. We got a chance to speak with vic and kw, and
they were incredibly kind throughout our rambling questions.
firstly, could you guys talk about the formation of vile creature?
what prompted forming this band?
vic: me and kw have been - we're partners, we live together,
we've been dating for about eight months. we decided to put
together a project where i would be able to learn drum. we kinda
had a vague idea where we wanted to go with it based on the
music that we both really wanted to create.
kw: vic really wanted to learn how to play drums, and i like
instruments a lot. we both really like a lot of different types of
music, but both gravitate to really heavy stuff. I've always felt the
best way to learn is to create. vic went out and bought a drum
kit, and i set out my guitar stuff. she started learning that way,
and playing andvic: and at this point you hadn't been playing in any bands for
quite some time, so you were taking a break from it
kw: yeah, i hadn't played in bands for like five years or so. we
started messing around, and vic started learning and playing, and
we started writing. our record was recorded almost six months
after vic bought her drum set, so it's kind of the culmination of
the first six months of vic playing drums, and us writing music
together
i'm familiar with kw's work, the previous bands you've been in.
vic, have you had previous musical endeavors as well?
vic: no, nothing at all. kind of intimidating getting into music. so,
it's nice to have some positive people to encourage me and help
me along the way. no musical experience with any bands
previous to this.
vic, you play drums, kw, you play guitar?
kw: yep!
i was reading your tumblr, and you mentioned you recorded this
debut in an abandoned school? how does that work logistically?
vic: We decided to record with someone that we knew of, and we
obviously got to know. He works in a shared practice space in
this abandoned school. there's an owner, and they rent out the
basement to these folks who play and share a space. davis, who
recorded us, he does a lot of his studio stuff there. it's not totally
dilapidated, there's plumbing working, and electricity going
through the building.
kw: that definitely doesn't take away from the fact that it's
absolutely an abandoned elementary school. the area that we
recorded in was the old library, which was in the sub-basement.
there were still creepy paintings on the wall. if you were to
leave the library and got right down the hall - if we needed to use
the washroom - you walk past horror movie-esque empty
abandoned classrooms, that still have chalkboard writing on the
wall. there's still lockers hanging open. right in the middle of the
hallway, if you can imagine, there's this one water fountain. it
doesn't work, but it's tiny, and right in the middle of the hallway.
it's just a really creepy but cool place.
vic: we work afternoons, and we work at the same place. we just
needed to figure out when the best time to record would be. it
turned out that we were gonna do it all night long. we started
from 12 at night to 5 in the morning, in this abandoned school. it
was pretty weird.
kw: pretty intense.
question for you, KW. going through your musical career, a lot of
your earlier work focused on diary-style narrative. you've credited
Two Funerals as a band that pushed you to write more in a
political/social paradigm. do you see Vile Creature as a
continuation of that, or a mix of those two styles?
kw: i guess it would be fair to say it's a mix of the two. i love Two
Funerals so passionately, but I would say fortunately I never got
to write for Two Funerals, I just got to play with them and enjoy
all the stuff that they created and like, be a part of the live aspect
of it. Two Funerals will always be only of my largest inspirations
as far as writing politically. This band is a healthy mix of the
both, because it's political in nature with the stuff we're talking
about, but by that, we're also both talking about the personal
experiences we've been through. being open diary, while also
being political, if that makes sense.
the other thing that i always wonder about stuff like this, it feels
natural that there's a sense of catharsis in making music like this.
but you mentioned that you draw from personal experiences when
you're writing. do you ever end up making music that is
not necessarily cathartic, but also sort of traps that memory?
kw: i guess for me, i played in a band for ten years that was all
open diary stuff and it's definitely a time capsule. i definitely took
a four or five year break from playing and actively writing music,
just cause i wanted to not be so emotionally attached to
something you do every single night. i feel like with vile creature,
we've been able to talk about things i've never talked about
before, or expressed in writing or any artistic fashion. it's all so
fresh still, the record just came out a couple weeks ago, and by
came out, i mean we just put it online. we've been playing for
under a year, so, you'd probably have to ask me that in a year or
two if it was like re-opening wounds nightly to play songs, you
know?
vic: for me, i think it's more storytelling? that's pretty important
to get across, especially not having queer representation in doom
metal. i feel like the stories that we tell, it's important to talk
about them, and get other people hopefully interested in that side
of metal. there is obviously a political aspect to it, and sometimes
you need to work through your trauma to hopefully get a
political point across. there's definitely that aspect where you
could trigger past traumas, and that's not good. i think people
should take care of themselves if that is an issue.
that leads into my next question. going through the lyrics for vile
creature - for me, reading the lyrics, there's a lot of stuff that, if
you stripped it from all the context, wouldn't feel out of place,
lyrically, for a lot of doom metal or depressive black metal.
but, because of the way you identify the band, within this political
spectrum, as a queer doom band, there's this whole other layer of
context. i'm thinking especially of lines like "my body won't
succumb to pressure to conform," which in pure word
construction isn't that dissimilar from that sort of lone wolf,
against the herd mentality that you see in metal a lot, but the
context makes it entirely different. how important is this political
and social layer? how are you working to express it, through
lyrics, packaging, things like that?
kw: we're haven't played a shitton of shows, though we're going
on tour very soon. we've played probably five or six shows at
this point. we've got in the habit of making a point to preface all
of our sets with who we are, what we stand for as a band, what
the songs are about, which is just our experiences as, vic is a
queer woman, i'm a queer male identified person. the songs are
really specifically about the violence and hatred that has been
experienced in our times, while also recognizing that we have
privilege as white persons, and despite all the shitty things that
may have happened to us, we do still have this great privilege in
the world, and we need to use that to make sure oppression
doesn't continue. it also is a kind of grounding knowledge. we
definitely preface all of our sets by saying things like that. i'm
looking at the notes section of our zine and we basically say that
in the zine, though i don't know if we give a ton more context - i
don't know if we literally come out and say exactly what every
single song is about. I think like you said, it's pretty apparent
when you know the background of what the band stands for. i
think vic can probably touch on the importance of what we're
writing, or how important the message is for us.
vic: well, like you said, it definitely could be taken out of context,
especially with this kind of genre. these kind of lyrics aren't that
out of place. and so, not that i'm saying that people who don't
write music don't have their own personal lived experiences to go
off of and that they might not be genuine with what they're
writing about, but i do think that people who have lived trauma,
their stories should be told. it might be hard for us to come out
with the actual experiences and talk to people that we might not
know about these things, but i think that writing the music and
things like that is a form of getting it out, at least for me.
kw: i guess it may be worth it for context, if i were to tell you the
story behind the third song on the record, which is "a steady
descent into the soil," the title track, if you were to have the
knowledge that that song is about waking up in a hospital after
getting severely beaten for being queer, and being so under the
influence of heavy sedation that when you wake up that you
think that the nurse who is talking to your parents about what's
going on is actually death talking to you, and kind of coming to
terms with the fact that life is over, when really you're heavily
sedated would probably give context to what that song, and the
record's about. that's what the lyrics of that song are about, it's
telling that story.
you're based out of st. catherines in ontario. i'm not very familiar
with st. catherine'skw: most people aren't.
*laugh* is there any kind of influence on your music from your
environment?
vic: i've lived here my whole life, and kw has lived all over and
recently has moved here. so far, the band artwork is from the
same area. (to kw) do we have any other imagery or art that
we're taking from our area?
kw: all of our album art is of shots - like, the shots were taken in
and around st. catherines in the winter, which can get really
really harsh. (to vic) i think it's more like - what influences do
you take from st. catherines?
vic: being able to do this kind of thing, it's because of who we've
been able to befriend and work with in the area, so it's more like
the area provides people to help. to put out a record, to make
music, people in the area have helped create it. it's been mostly
us, but being able to record, and have friends sing on the record.
kw: i'd agree with that. st. catherines has provided us the ability
to focus on music. i was living in toronto. i've moved around
quite a bit, but i was pretty happy and settled in toronto. i was
living there for awhile, and really stoked, and when i moved to st.
catherines, i was really excited to move here. it's very
inexpensive to live here, and it's a smaller town in ontario. it's
about thirty minutes from buffalo, new york. while it maybe
small, and two-thirds a university town in certain aspects, there's
a really vibrant activist and vegan community here, way more
than you would think for a town of under 130,000 people. we're
able to both work in the same restaurant. they pay a fair wage
which is really unheard of. those types of influences, and rad
people who do rad things in this area has probably enabled us to
feel more comfortable with expressing the stuff that we want to
express in our music.
you're planning your first tour. how's that going?
vic: i've never done this before, so i've been reaching out to a few
people in southern ontario, but kw has been doing most of the
work with other bookings. i've been doing some artwork.
kw: you've been doing all of the artwork, i would say. vic's been
doing all of the artwork, and i've been doing a lot of the booking.
that's been pretty evenly put together, which i'm pretty stoked
on. the tour has been going well. we're just filling in a couple of
small holes, which is really rad considering that we started
booking this tour in january before we had a song online. we
only had a couple of small show flyer videos, which is something
we do- making creepy videos as show flyers. people were really
responsive to what we had to say, and were really quick to book.
we're both really excited. i haven't been on tour in a really long
time, and this is vic's first. we got a van that we're really excited
about because we both needed a car anyway. i've been filling out
the gear that i need. vic's been practicing really hard on drums.
it's really nice to have something - it's the carrot dangling at the
end. we've been focusing really hard on getting ready to just
have a really awesome couple weeks in the states, and ontario,
and quebec. we're just going to try to have a really rad time
traveling. we planned a day off to go to six flags in new jersey,
and i'm really excited about some roller coasters. so, tour's gonna
be really fun, that's in may. in june we're doing a week with our
friends antibody, which is a gaylord sludge bandvic: that's what they identify as.
kw: they identify as gaylord sludge. we're going to be doing the
east coast of canada. we're really new, so we're just starting slow
and have the expectations of having a really good time, which i
think is the most important of anything.
vic: i'm nervous about meeting a lot of people from the metal
community that aren't too favorable towards people being
outspoken, but i'm hopeful that there will be another side of it
where there will be people who are receptive to that, and also
radical folks.
kw: it was really funny, when we put our record on the
bandcamp. i don't know if you've ever been on the backend of
bandcamp, but you can see where people got to your page from?
we saw there was this russian forum that had posted the record,
and people were posting on there about - it was all in russian,
and i put it through google translate so i don't know how
accurate it was - but we were reading things about like "ah great,
we need trans/queer sludge bands - at least their music's good, it's
too bad they have shitty politics." weird stuff.
vic: even though it's on the internet, i feel like that might be
representative of the general metal community, and that's
horrible to say... i don't know.
kw: i would disagree with that statement, i don't think that it's
representative of the general metal community. i would just say i
haven't experienced a lot of queer metal acts and it'll be
interesting to play with a lot of the male dominated metal bro-
dude bands. so far we've been pretty sheltered as far as the shows
we've played. ontario and southern ontario, from what we've
experienced so far, has a really vibrant queer community that
we've been able to play shows in, and meet a lot of rad people. a
lot of the shows we have coming up are breaking out of that
small queer community, so it'll be intriguing to see what comes of
that. regardless of the atmosphere, it doesn't change what we
stand for, or how we introduce our set, or who we are. there's
nerves but it's mostly just excitement, i would say.
what kind of reception have you received so far, or are you
expecting?
kw: we're coming into this with zero expectations. i know it
sounds really simplistic, but vic wanted to learn how to play
drums. i was feeling really inspired to play music with my
partner. we came out of it having three songs written that were a
full thought that we're both really proud of. i know i'm really
proud and excited about them. we don't have any expectations as
far as reception, and i don't really care as i'm just excited to play
music and feel excited about playing music again. i'm excited to
share playing music with someone i care about, and someone
who feels identically to me politically, which is really cool. i
would say we're both unafraid - i don't think anything's going to
come of it. i'm not worried about what reception happens, i'm
just happy to play music with my partner, and to feel confident to
stand behind what's being said, and what's being played.
do you have any final thoughts?
vic: no, not really. thanks for doing this and contacting us!
kw: i don't have any final thoughts, but thank you for asking.
Vile Creature can be found on the internet at @vilecreature666
and https://vilecreature.bandcamp.com/releases
New Hampshire's Alright if you like Post-Black
Metal: A Long Conversation with Chris of Vattnet
Viskar
So we interviewed Vattnet Viskar back in Vol. II, but after hearing
their latest album, Settler, we knew we had to catch up with them
and get the scoop on the process. Settler sounds like home to me,
in a way I cannot firmly articulate. I've been moving around a lot
the past month, and struggling with both my sense of self, and
what I am able to rely on. Settler's been in my headphones the
whole time, and I can hear the comfort of the ocean, the fury of a
Nor'easter, the stubborn way people from New Hampshire are,
the sounds that buffeted countless teenagers in VFW halls from
Nashua to Haverhill. It's a tremendous accomplishment, and
we're very pleased that Chris took time to speak to us.
You guys have your new album coming out, Settler, on Century
Media, on June 16th. The big thing that I'm curious about- after
listening to the album a couple of times- it feels like a big leap
stylistically. It's a lot different from your earlier stuff. Could you
talk about the process of writing the album, where these new
influences came from?
Basically, when we starting writing this record- We did Sky
Swallower in such a rush, and it was a lot of leftover riffs from
the EP days, or just ideas that Nick and I had stored away on our
phones. Stuff that we wanted to do, but when I listen to that
record now, it wasn't fully realized in my mind. Not that it's a
bad record, or that I don't stand behind it. On this one, one of the
biggest things was bringing in Casey on bass. He's a dude we've
wanted in the band for two or three years now. He had some
stuff that he had to get through to be able to do it, and finally was
able to come in full force. Having him writing with us was the
first big leap forward, because he brings in so much creative
energy and different ideas that we wouldn't have gone for earlier
in our "career". Stylistically, this is always the stuff we wanted to
do, but felt held back by genre limitations in a lot of ways. There
was a point of us to try and - not necessarily please a few black
metal purists, but there was many times when I'd come up with a
riff, or Nick would come up with a riff, and we'd be like "Yeah,
you know what? That's too Norma Jean-y for what we're trying to
do right now." Over the past year, all of us went through severe
personal situations. We did a bunch of different tours with
different styles of bands. We just full force, all of us realized,
"Why are we limiting ourselves, why don't we just put out the
record that we have always wanted somebody to make." That was
our main goal, letting ourselves go, and being free in writing,
instead of holding ourselves back in a lot of ways. A lot of the self
was written through e-mail with Nick being in Austin, TX and
the rest of us being in New Hampshire. Sheamus, Casey, and I got
together a few times and wrote a couple of the songs. We sent
them down to Nick, and then he had ideas, so we hashed those
out. It was much more communal this time, instead of Nick or I
taking the reigns. You'll hear Sheamus's beats are more his style,
what he wants to do, instead of us saying "Play a blast beat for 12
minutes." We let everybody, in their own individual way, get
what they wanted out of the record. That's probably the biggest
leap forward, a kind of personal freeing of our own ideas, and
what we want to hear when we listen to a Vattnet CD.
For me, we just wanted to write the record we always wanted to
write. They say it takes thirty years or whatever for you to write
your first album, but for us, this was the one that has been
brewing in us since we were little kids, probably. I think you can
hear all of our influences come out. I think you can hear every
band we've toured with in some way on this record. You can
definitely hear a lot of the personal struggles we've been through.
We're very proud of it, for sure. It's the most accomplished piece
of music I've ever been a part of. That's the direction we're gonna
go from here on out, but you never know.
One of the things I found so striking about this record- obviously
every listener brings their own baggage when they engage with
something- so I'm going to pick up on things from my
background, right? Listening to this, I hear a lot of
Boston/Massachusetts bands, like Converge, or Isis. The bands that
everyone who grew up in that area when we did knows.
Definitely.
As someone who probably spends too much time thinking about
genre labels, and what genre labels mean because they've named
their zine after a genre label, Settler is one of the few black metal
records I've heard in awhile that felt distinctly of a place.
Yes.
Part of that is the subject matter. The album is inspired
by Christa McAuliffe, who was from Concord, New Hampshire.
The whole "American Exceptionalism/Space Race" thing feels very
concrete, in terms of thematic subject, in the way that I don't know
that I've heard since "Kentucky" by Panopticon.`
That is one of my favorite records ever.
It's great because it's about a super specific thing that means a lot
to the people who made it. Would you be able to talk a bit more
about- especially since Nick is in Austin, you've got a bit of a
transnational thing going on with your band- how important is
place when you're writing music like this? Are there specific
aspects of your environment that you're drawing on, specific
aspects of your background?
Absolutely. For me, I somehow always get very creative in the fall
months in New Hampshire. If you look back in weird occult
history, or stuff like that, the fall season and the winter solstice,
it's a time of death, the trees are dying. Out of that, you go
through this long winter, and then you go into spring, and
everything gets reborn. I always get this creative urge around
September, October. I just have to let it out. So basically, as far as
surroundings, if I wasn't in New England, I don't think that timing
would be what it is, and I don't think it would be as genuine. I
mean, you're from New Hampshire, but anybody who hasn't been
here for the foliage, it's beautiful, but at the same time, everything
looks like it's on fire. It's very exhilarating for me to watch a
metamorphosis happen in the nature around me. Surroundings
are pretty much everything. It's the only thing that really brings
out a sense of appreciation for the things around me, without
getting all "New Hampshire sucks, blah blah blah," cause you
always hate where you're from, but after touring, and Nick living
in Austin, and having to do the whole national thing, it's really
nice to come back home and appreciate that we have a lot of
beauty up here that if you don't really leave here a lot, you don't
really realize, and you just totally take for granted. Being from
New Hampshire, and this area, is a huge influence on us. It's
something we're all very proud of. We don't really back away
from it.
New Hampshires's beautiful, and you can take a lot from it. You
can go to a quiet area that has nobody around, and then you can
drive ten miles and you're at a Wal-mart with a bunch of
industrialized things. It's a weird dichotomy to see in front of
your eyes, and especially for me to see growing up. It's strange,
and you want to hold on to the past, but at the same time you
have to realize that progress has to happen. As long as you
protect everything in your mind, and remember the things you've
seen... It's really something important to me, especially as an
artist.
It's something I strive to bring out in our music, I strive for it to be
very New England. I think that it's a genuine area. It's one of the
first settled areas by Western culture in the Americas. I think
there's a lot here that needs to be represented, that some bands
have represented correctly, but a lot, in my opinion, haven't. I
want that band that's like "This is what New Hampshire is, this is
what New England is, and it's beautiful and it's depressing and it's
all at the same time." Anyone who's been here can understand
that, but other people kinda can't. It's an honor to be able to try
and do that. I don't know if we've done it successfully yet, but I
think on this record, we came as close as we have yet.
You mentioned briefly that this album came about through
tumultuous personal times for everyone in the band. While the
album is inspired by Christa McAuliffe and the tragic ending to
her story, and the other members of the Space Shuttle Challenger,
it's also a record about appreciating the good things in life,
appreciating the strengths of your path regardless of the difficulty
of that path. Could you talk a bit more about that?
I won't go into anyone else's stories, but I can definitely give you
mine. We started this band because we wanted to start a Wolves
in the Throne Room rip-off band. Nick and I were like, "We can
write this stuff, let's just send e-mails back and forth." Suddenly,
it became this thing that we were unprepared and ill-equipped to
deal with in a lot of ways. It's not like we're the size of Metallica
or anything like that , but when someone says to you "Hey, do you
want to be away from your family for seven months to a year, at
least, and do you like really want to do this," and you say yes, you
have to realize that there's a lot that comes with that that you're
not thinking about. As just an idiot musician, where this is my
dream, you're just like please give me a shot, I want to make this
happen. You realize that once you're in it, you're dealing with so
many other things that you've never dealt with before in your
whole entire life. You all went through break-ups of some sort,
some worse than others. For me, the last two years have been just
a weird mix of the best times of my life, being with the best
person I could ever possible be with, but also I lost my dog of 15
years- I can't describe to you what this dog was in my life. It was
the most life-shattering thing in the entire world, to lose my dog.
For some reason, I just put so much on to this Labrador that
when it happened, I lost my shit. Combining that with people
being sick in their life, and losing other family members, losing
family members on tour and not being able to get home... It's just
been a lot of weird, surreal experiences that you never thought
you'd be the person dealing with. You have to just get through it,
and do it.
For us, writing the record was very cathartic. That's why we
wanted to be so free with it. It was like, you went through this
shit, so play what you want. Whatever comes to your mind, let's
just go for it because this is the only control you have in your life.
Everything else is wild and crazy and stupid, but in this room
right now, you can control the music you make and the message
you want to send out. It's just our therapy in a lot of ways, and
you can hear the frenetic energy on there, and you can hear a lot
of the weird- you don't want to be optimistic, but you are- i'm
gonna try to keep a positive view on these things, but everything
fucking sucks. I'm trying my hardest to throw it all on my back,
and do what I feel like I'm supposed to do in life, no matter what
anyone says or does around me. That's easy to say, but when
you're doing it, and going through it for a year, two years, three
years, and people are still throwing shit at you, or life is throwing
shit at you, you have to stay on that mindset or you'll just get
caught up in everything else that's terrible. To keep a positive
attitude, is the only thing that keeps me going. It's something that
I strive for. I think that comes through on the record a lot.
There's a lot of major chord stuff, where Nick is singing about
some really terrible things, very personal and depressing things to
him, but the music around it is not happy, but poppier than we
have been.
It is kind of out of left field, and we have felt like outsiders pretty
much our entire time doing. Aside from the Pallbearer tour, we
haven't really toured or played shows with any bands that were
like us. We've always been weird Boston hardcore outsiders.
We're on this path, we can't do anything about it. It sucks
sometimes, but most of the time it rules. This is all we know.
Especially with the Challenger subject matter, we wanted to pay
tribute to that, instead of making it about death and explosions.
It's more about how a teacher from Concord gave up her life in
all forms to just go and do something great. She took the
responsibility of an entire nation, in some ways. So did the rest of
them, but she was the media focus. She took that on, and braved
the storm, and went through it all, and ultimately metamorphized
into something else. Maybe she's out there in the stars
somewhere, and that's kind of what the record is about. It's about
being on a path that can't define, that you can't change, you know
you're there, you know you're going somewhere, you've found
what you're supposed to do in life, and you just accept it. You
say, "Whatever comes at me, I know who I am as a person, and
I'm prepared to deal with it," which has taken me thirty-two years
in life to realize, as long as you know yourself, you can get
through anything. The record is pretty much about our vision of
trying to find ourselves.
You touched on one of the more notable things that I've seen in the
way people are reacting to this record. The internet is awful
because it lets anyone talk to you, and that's probably the worst
and greatest invention at the same time. And especially online,
there's an idea that there's a uniform or a expectations for a black
metal band, is that something that bleeds over to real life? Have
you encountered that kind of backlash at shows, in person?
A ton, fifty plus times, we've been walking to the stage and
someone will say something about us being f-words or whatever.
You just kind of brush it off. We've started to wear it as a badge
of honor. I started going to shows in the Merrimack Valley, you
know, Cave-In, Converge, and I looked around in the late 90's,
and every dude at those shows was dressed to the nines in
Abercrombie. It was the preppiest hardcore crowd I'd ever seen,
and that's what I grew up. It's been the norm, but I could
understand that when you step out of that very closed scene, and
you go to somewhere in Ohio, or Illinois, and quintessential metal
dudes are looking at you and going, "Why are you playing this
metal, I am the one who's supposed to be playing this music, look
at me!" It's weird, but you can't help who you are. I can't help
that I like to wear specific jeans, or whatever. We've encountered
it so much personally that at this point, you just kind of look at
the person like, "Really, dude? We could talk about anything in
the entire world. We could talk about beer, we could talk about
the cosmos, we could talk about science, but you're really just
gonna come at me about wearing a Morrissey shirt." That's what
pops into their head. You just deal with it, and hope that the
message you are trying to relay is stronger than whatever they
might put on you, because you're wearing Nike shoes instead of
combat boots. It's been something that we've dealt with forever.
I've dealt with that since I was a little kid. I was raised by two
women, so I've never been the super manliest man of all time.
When you're growing up, going through that, you try in high
school to maybe lift weights and become another person, but then
you just have to embrace yourself. This is who I am, if you don't
like me, you can go talk to somebody else, it's cool. Not everybody
is gonna like you, that's it. My mom told me at a young age that
not everybody is going to like you, and if you try to make
everyone like you, they will hate you even more. Why even
bother? That's a lesson I've taken and applied to this. Make the
record you want to make, put the artwork out that you want to
put out. Don't define yourself by somebody else's standards, that's
for themselves, not for you.
The initial reaction to the artwork was great, people just assumed
we were trying to out do Deafheaven. In no way were we. In no
way do I think we sound like them in any possible way. It's a
record cover that if you don't know the subject matter of what's
going on, you just assume it's some chick smiling in zero-g. Once
you learn the story, you can stare at that cover, that picture of
Christa, and just be like "This is one of the most heart-wrenching,
saddest but happiest things I've ever seen." To me, that's a much
better album cover than us just putting out a zombie chewing
apart a woman. I'd rather have a piece of art out there that's
glorifying a human being instead of tearing them apart.
It's Josh Graham, right?
Yeah. We went to Josh, and we said, "We want to use this
picture, can you re-do this picture? Can you put your take on
this?" He came back, and literally re-did the exact picture. He
wanted to keep the integrity of the picture, he stood behind it just
as much as we did. There were some battles with our people at
labels, and other people who said "You can't put out a record
cover that looks like this," and we just stuck to our guns and said
"This is what the record is." It's not about a specific event in a lot
of ways, but in a lot of ways it is, and this sums up the record.
There was no other options. We would have not put out the
record, basically. Thankfully we didn't give up on it, and they
had to accept it. It was definitely a process, a lot of nights of us
texting each other and wondering if we were doing the right
thing. We had to keep ourselves honest about it, and now that's
it's out, and people have finally figured out what it is instead of
assuming something else, I think it's hitting a lot harder than had
we just put out a zombie rooster or some bullshit like that.
You worked with Sanford Parker recording this. Could you talk
about working with him?
It was incredible, man. I grew up on those Pelican records.
Australasia was a huge influence on how I thought I could make
music sound. We played a festival in Denmark, and his band
Corrections House played, and he just kind of walked up to us
and said "I loved Sky Swallower, can I do your next record?"
Absolutely! For sure! 100%!
We had no other people in mind, we didn't really look into
anyone else. It was a no-brainer for us. We all lived in this
apartment above the studio for a week. We spent 24/7 with each
other. It was one of the first experiences where I could just dive
right into recording a record, and really focusing on it, instead of
driving to a studio every day, or whatever. We recorded from 11
am to 4 in the morning pretty much every day. It was one of the
most fun experiences of my life. Sanford got stuff out of us,
musically, that I don't think somebody else could have. He wasn't
super hard to work with, as far as things being perfectly played.
The way he recorded things was very conducive to us as people.
A lot of people might be really focused on details, like matching
guitar tones, he was just trying to make a record that sounded
like us live, something with an almost falling off the rails type
feel. He added synths to parts where he heard stuff we would
have never heard. We were just super open to letting him really
mess with the sound, and add his personal touch to it. It was an
honor to work with him.
You're going on tour with 1349. How did that come about? What
are your expectations for that tour?
We actually share management. It was kind of like, hey, our
record's coming out in June, there's this 1349 tour... I've obviously
loved Satyricon for as long as I've been into black metal, since
high school, and I think Frost is one of the most polarizing people
in black metal. I think we've all seen Until the Light Takes Us. It's
gonna be cool, assuming he gets into the States, just to watch that
dude play drums. I'm going to attempt to make conversation with
him at least once.
We're definitely the odd ones out on that tour. It's us,
Necrophagia, and 1349. It's cool that there's a tour going around
that all the bands aren't all the exact same musical styles. I used
to go to mixed genre shows around here, and just see an indieemo band, then Bane, then Piebald, then whatever, you know?
Everybody loved every band for what they were, and by the end
of the night, you weren't totally sick of blast beats and screaming.
Not that we're all TOTALLY different on this run...
As far as expectations, we don't really have many going into
anything. We just go with the flow. There were a few seconds
there where I was like, "Are the people who like 1349 just going
to absolutely hate us?" But that only lasted a second. We just go
out and do what we gotta do. We'll put on our version of an
intense show. At the end of the day we're all just trying to put on
a performance.
The last record cycle ,we didn't do many tours at the beginning,
so for us to have a full summer, basically, when the record comes
out, it's a step forward for us. It's better than last time. As long as
we're moving forward, and if every time we do something, it's at
least a little better than before, then we're very happy.
While Vattnet Viskar as an entity isn't expressly political, you
personally are very open about your political beliefs on social
media, in person, and so forth. How does that affect the music and
the art that you put out there? We talked a bit about the idea of
finding hope even when things look overwhelming, which
is definitely something that applies frequently in today's political
climate. Like, how do you overturn the industrial prison complex,
you know? So I can see your art as political in that sense, but is
there a way that manifests more directly for you?
The other guys in the band aren't as politically outspoken as I am.
There have been times when they've been like "Chris, you need to
shut up, like, really," which just doesn't work for me. I am who I
am, and if you want to know me, you're gonna get 100% of what
I think. Hopefully I can always back it up with facts, but
occasionally I'm just speaking from my heart. As I mentioned,
music feels like the only control I have personally in my life.
Take the Baltimore situation right now, you have Ferguson, you
have ISIS supposedly planning a terrorist attack here, you have all
these things that as people, we feel- it's almost out of our control.
We feel helpless.
I watch situations like this on TV, or on social media and I feel
like "What can I do? How can I change this, besides going out in
my every day life and just attempting to be a good person, and not
be that asshole in the Starbucks line." That's really the only
control that we as a society have, because our politicians have a
voice that we don't have, and that most of us will never have.
With that comes a total feeling of helplessness, and a total feeling
of "Well, the world is so fucked and everything is so crazy. Who
cares? I'm just gonna watch Netflix." To me, that's worse than at
least trying in your every day to do at least do one nice thing, or
trying to lead by some sort of example. Music is the only way I
can get that feeling of helplessness out.
I just learned that we have 5% of the world's population but 25%
of people in jail in the world. To me, that's unforgivable. The fact
that we have privately owned prisons is unforgivable. The fact
that cities and towns tell those prisons that they'll keep those
capacities about 90% is unforgivable. You can't do that. That's
just not how a society functions properly. At the same time, you
need people out there yelling that, saying that this is not good, not
fair. They need to be called revolutionaries, not thugs, or
terrorists. The whole system is corrupt, so where do you start?
For me, I start with attempting to put out a message that I think is
important, and attempting to live that. When you fall down, or
make an asshole remark to somebody, you learn from it, and
realize that everybody makes mistakes, and that's ok. That's the
whole point of where I'm trying to be at in life. You and I have
sat in basements of venues and argued about little things, but you
and I both have the same take on a lot of things, and to realize
that you're not alone in your beliefs and your thoughts is one of
the most empowering things that you can experience.
Vattnet Viskar can be found on the internet at
http://vattnetviskar.com/. Chris can be found at @chris_alfieri
Interviews with Vile Creature,
Immortal Bird, Grue, Woman is the
Earth, Chuck BB, David T. Posey,
Vattnet Viskar, and Petrychor
Art by Scott Wygmans and Christian
Degn
Reviews