Bertrand at the first Starlight Ritual gig as part of the 2015 Grimposium with Cardinal Wyrm in August.
J-F
Bertrand, also known as Athros or Athros Nordmen, is a musician from
Québec who's in Forteresse, Brume d'Automne, Nordmen and more
recently released an album with Starlight Ritual, a new traditional
metal project (read my review of their debut album here). It's my dearest pleasure to have this chat with
him.
You're
well known for your contribution to many Québécois black metal
bands but you recently released an excellent album with Starlight
Ritual, a band exploring heavy metal and traditional doom metal. Did
you wanted to do something more akin to traditional metal since a
while? It's a project that's really different from what we're used
to from you.
Yes, totally! Guitar as always been my main
interest and with Starlight Ritual I can explore this instrument
further. I’ve always been a fan of classic metal, not only the
songs but the sound. The music is so alive on old recordings, it is
very inspiring. Starlight Ritual is not a side project but my main
band and only focus. Musically it as nothing to do with my previous
work so I choose not to use my MNQ name.
What
were your influences and inspirations for this project? Also, what
are your recent discoveries?
There is a lot, in the band
we have diverse influences
and it helps to
create a
unique vibe. As for myself, classic and hard rock, heavy and doom
metal, overdriven old Marshalls tones and screaming solos are my
thing. I am always satisfied discovering new bands with the old
school spirit. My latest discovery is the Canadian band Spell.
Tell
me how the band got formed. Did you knew these guys for a
while?
Starlight Ritual's self titled debut album
I knew Lou, Dan and Forge for years, and we jammed together for a
long time until we decided to form Starlight Ritual. Lou Weed and I
used to jam together after school 17 years ago. It was about time we
put something together! Damian (vocals) joined the band shortly after
it’s creation, and his powerful vocals complete the line-up with
force. It’s the loudest project I’ve took part in to date!
What's
up with having several projects like you have, how do you plan your
time for each of them?
Well, Starlight Ritual is
my main band and we rock weekly. My black metal projects are mostly
studio projects and don’t require steady rehearsals except when
Forteresse is playing live.
Do
you think the politics surrounding Forteresse is a burden? I
remember this whole debacle about the band playing the first Messe
des Morts some years ago... How can it be compared to playing in a
band like Starlight Ritual that isn't socially or politically
engaged?
I never liked politics, and
there was a
lot of trouble going on around
the first
few
Forteresse
gigs, but I did
enjoy the
controversy haha! I remember we got pulled off the bill on the first
MdM, since
we were
wrongly
accused
of being an
NS band,
probably a false interpretation of Quebec’s nationalism. I’ll say
it again just in case those fools
are still around: Forteresse
is not an NS band.
We finally played the gig anyway, drunk, and
with no
sound check. It was awful, but I keep good memories of it. It feels
good now to only care about rock and roll!
Can
you tell me some information concerning the next Forteresse album?
What's the direction
the band is choosing to take?
The new Forteresse album is going to be very
intense, continuing
on the same path as Wendigo. Moribond, Fiel, Matrak and I will
complete the line-up. They have
composed some insane
songs, stay tuned.
Brume
d'Automne just announced that they'll play their first gig ever at
the next Messe des Morts (the 5th
edition) this November, any comments about that?
Well, I won’t take part
in this event and I don’t approve it. As the guitarist, bassist,
drummer and song
arranger,
I can hardly see how this
gig can be a true
Brume
d’Automne gig. The fans need to be respected, so Nordet and those
guys better do their homework, and do it well.
A
question for the gear fanatics: what's different between Starlight
Ritual and your other projects. Guitars,
amps, tones, etc…
Picture courtesy of Damian Warner
Starlight Ritual is playing with vintage gear.
Old Laney and Marshall heads cranked up to get those huge overdriven
tones. The guitars we use are made by Indie Guitar Co from Cornwall,
Ontario. They have hot ceramic pickups which helps in
making those old amps bark and
scream. When I’ve recorded my
black metal guitar tracks, I mainly used Fender Strats with single
coil pickups and a
Peavey 5150 amplifier. Quite different rigs.
Thanks
for the interview, do you want to add something in
particular?
Thanks for the interview,
and
thanks for supporting
Starlight Ritual.
Our first EP is out now, and
you can check us out
on youtube,
facebook and
bandcamp as
well. See
you at the next gig. Cheers!
Review + interview with
Nick Shallcross (guitars, bass)
I
can't stop myself from thinking that more often than not, doom metal
is a doomed genre. There's so little bands from the genre in the
light of what we consider to be the mainstream of underground metal.
We often get bands that are too much influenced by the apparent gods
of the genre, think of Candlemass and Black Sabbath and it's fine but
original and distinctive doom still exists.
For the amount
of American quality doom products (think of Wino's numerous
projects), we have a ton of unknown and underrated material, Tomorrow
is indeed one of these projects. Their sole release recently appeared
online due to Nick's label Black Swamp Collective and I've never been so
happy that technology exists since it's a marvellous EP. I had the
opportunity to obtain some information concerning this obscure yet
interesting band and I decided to make this article a hybrid between a review and an
interview.
Here's what Nick Shallcross has to say about
the formative years of the band:
Tomorrow was
formed in 1992 in Toledo, Ohio when Mark Reynolds
(vocals, drums) and I were introduced by
a mutual high school friend who played bass with the sole intention
of starting a band. Mark was into a lot of heavy underground
doom metal that I had never heard of before, and I was into a lot of
early prog-rock and shredding stuff at the time. I remember
thinking “this slow shit is awesome, it’s so much easier to
play!” Our friend was’t really into doom so we ditched him
thinking “how hard can it be to find a bass player?” Ha! We
ended up being a two piece for the next 6 years. In spite of that,
we were still writing music with the intention of it being
played by a full (4 or 5 piece) band. At the time our
biggest influences musically were Revelation, Saint
Vitus, Solitude Aeturnus, Cathedral, Crowbar, Sacrilege
(U.K.), and Confessor, although we spent as much time
listening to faster stuff like Dark Angel, Death, Atheist, Carcass,
and the NWOBHM stuff. We never played any shows but we practiced
and wrote constantly.
The
Revelation influence is obvious since
you have this blend of progressive rock
mixed with a soft and soothing sort of traditional doom metal and
it's not too far from what the Baltimore cult band were doing before
their first dissolution in 1995. It's apparent that Mark Reynolds
were a fan of the American doom
scene but the fact remains that
Tomorrow's music is a bit more subtle and less in your face than
stuff like Vitus or The Obsessed. This lo-fi approach is as
interesting to me as a full bodied album with pristine dynamics. Doom
rarely needs to have a Andy Sneap
production to get its point across anyway. The
vocals also possess this lo-fi tone and I thought it was
endearing.
This
is what Nick had to say about the
production of “Divinatory Mourning”:
In
the winter of ’95 we went into a studio that was run by a friend of
ours and recorded ‘Divinatory Mourning’, which was only a few of
the songs that we had written at that time. Almost every part
was done in one or two takes. Since there was only two of us and we
didn’t have a PA, we’d rehearse without vocals, solos, bass,
or guitar harmonies. So, when we were making that record, it was the
first time we got to actually hear the songs the way we intended. I
can still remember the look of shock on Mark's
face when I recorded the dual solo on ‘Grips of Winter’, he
didn’t even know I was planning on doing it!
These
solos are truly fun and I was as surprised as Mark was when they were
unleashed in my headphones. The
musicianship is interesting as it's making compromises between
mournfully slow like the sad “Grasp of Winter” and slightly
faster numbers like the next track “The Forsaken...” with
its awesome soloing. Despite the slow approach,
the songs doesn't drag much and aren't 10 minutes like with some
similar bands. Speaking of similarities,
I was reminded of early Warning (coincidentally the
debuts of both artists were released
in 1996).
The vocals in particular have this soft vibe akin to an album such as “The Strength to Dream”, this was before Warning became much more
whiny in this department. Mark's vocals
are not powerful, his range is limited but it fits the music they
play here, it's not epic or high octane doom so
Messiah Marcolin's operatic style wouldn't be a good fit. I
was also surprised to hear the integration of a harsh vocal bit in
the third song, it was perhaps a clue to
what would come with Apotheosis, a newer project
formed by the two members when Nick moved back to Ohio after
Tomorrow's dismantle in 2000. Here's
some details about this:
We
also decided to take all of our old Tomorrow material
and restructure it for a 2 piece band, make it as heavy as
possible, and change the soft vocals to improvised death vocals. That
became our other band Apotheosis, which has two releases, 'Husk'
and ‘Bane', available now on Black Swamp Collective.
The
structure of the extended play is a bit peculiar, there's three
complete songs surrounded by two instrumental tracks that are highly
atmospheric and heart warming. I think it was a
good idea, it
gives a sense of completeness to the release. Nevertheless, it would
had been nice to get more of “Ethereal”, the closing track, it
has sensible melodies reaching almost post-rock levels of
introspection but it ends after a meagre
two and a half minutes.
In
2008, I came back to Toledo and Mark and I started working together
again. We recorded his album, ‘Fragments’ which ended up sounding
so much like Tomorrow that
we will be releasing it as a Tomorrow album
on Black Swamp Collective in the near future. Mark and I continue to
work together in Simon Magus, with the follow up to our debut
album ‘The First Year of Catastrophe’ in the works; as well as
the third and final Apotheosis record.
Here's
a short history of the band after this release, music is a cruel industry and quite rough on bands that aren't playing a popular style!
After
that time period, we started getting better at our instruments, and
as a result developed more complexity to the structure and
songwriting. By that time we were starting to branch out and
took a bit more of a mid tempo prog-doom approach, focusing more on
odd-time signatures, layering, and displacement. We also found a bass
player in ‘99 that was into a lot of the same stuff as us. We did
play one show as a three piece (a metal-fest in the middle of Ohio)
which we got a pretty decent video of. There were two other
albums with the three piece lineup recorded from 96-00 that were
never released, although there is still the possibility that we
might put them out there. By fall 2000, after 8 years of
spinning our wheels and going nowhere, we disbanded and I moved to
Washington, D.C.
This
mid tempo prog doom approach is one of my favourite styles (see Memory Driven).
These
unreleased compositions
are the reasons I'm excited of getting
more Tomorrow music and apparently my wish will come true soon
enough.
Even
though it was never officially released, friends, local radio
metal shows, and some zines started trading cassettes of it; and
from what I understand it spread around the globe a bit.
It's
fun for these sort of projects to crawl back from the shadows,
there's
always great music to discover, some made this year like Simon Magus
(an excellent album as well, traditional doom but quite different
from this release) and some made twenty years ago but in the end,
doom is waiting for your soul. Perhaps tomorrow?
Live photo taken at Wings of Metal 2014 by Wayne William Archibald
Jean-Pierre
is an American musician known for his involvement with the excellent
heavy metallers Borrowed Time and more recently, the Canadian epic
doomsters of Funeral Circle. I'm glad he took the time to answer these questions.
Metantoine's Magickal Realm: First of all, what's the situation with Borrowed Time? Is the band
over? Their status has been mysterious for a while. If the band is
done, is there any plans to come back to the heavy metal genre with
some other people? I speak for myself here, but I totally adored the
self titled full length! The band is without guitarists right now,
maybe you're looking for new musicians?
Jean-Pierre Abboud: I
stopped doing Borrowed Time as a choice. It was actually quite
difficult to fulfill our show obligations at the end of 2013, but
with the help of great guys and players like Derek DiBella, Justin
Henry along with Matt Preston, we came out and did some great last
few shows (one in Chicago with ZuuL and Dawnbringer another with
Raven…), and recorded a cover of Savage Grace – Bound to be Free
which appeared on a comp with Ostrogoth, Attacker, Jack Starr,
Paradox, Satan’s Host and other old school killers. At times it’s
my favorite recording ever done under the BT name. After all of that,
Matt Preston moved to Pittsburgh for a job and although he gave me
his blessing to continue, I decided it would be wise to look for
something new. Matt did a TON of work on the self titled record, and I didn’t
feel it would be right to continue without him. Things could have
gone a lot more smoothly in 2013, but if you’re on a bad path, band
politics can become implacable. I completely include myself in that
statement.
Borrowed Time's self titled album, released in 2013
MMR: What can you tell me about the inspiration behind the artwork of
Borrowed Time? ( read my review of the album)
There's this fantasy vibe but it's way more classy and less cheesy
than most “sword & sorcery” metal bands. What's your process
when dealing with artists and illustrators?
J-P: Paperback
versions of LeGuin, Moorcock, airbrushed LP covers, 17th
century pamphlet art and crazy convoluted images that I create in my
head. The two artists Borrowed Time predominately worked with were Seth Bennett
(who designed the logo, Fog in the Valley 7 inch and several shirts) and Tim
Jenkins (Acid Witch, Shitfucker), who did the jacket for Black
Olympia and the S/T as well as a logo update. At the very end the guy
who did the art for Black Magic – Wizard’s Spell created a pretty
rad shirt image as well. The demo release had these awesome skeleton
clarinetists drawn by Mike Tuff (Acid Witch, Temple of Void) who
played on the Fog in the Valley EP and was BT’s lead guitar player
from 2010-2012. We kicked around the earliest versions of BT riffs in
2009.
MMR: You
talked about moving to Montréal when we met, is there still some
plans concerning this? We definitely need more awesome trad metal
musicians in the city! Based on your experiences, what's different
here than in the US? What's better and what's worst?
J-P: Haha,
thanks. It’s difficult, the way things can change. I know one of my
main flaws as a person is that I can get really excited about an idea
and just…live in it, for a while. Ya know? I really love Montreal
Quebec at large because they function at a higher standard regarding
their citizens than much of North America. You don’t find people
forced to live like refugees, but I’m not ignorantly fluffing all
of Canada here (Calgary, lookin’ at you!). I can see much more
clearly why there are separatists in Quebec from my experience
playing in and skulking around different cities across the
continental span.
Jean-Pierre (Sarcofago shirt) with
Funeral Circle at Wings of Metal 2014 in Québec City.
Picture by Max Be Te
MMR: You
played Wings of Metal (with Funeral Circle) but from a fan point of
view, what was your most expected performance and what was the
highlight of the festival for you? Are you attending this year?
J-P: DEFINITELY
attending this year, got my tickets two months ago! My most
anticipated performances were ADX and Dream Death. Trouble or The
Skull were totally crushing the night before as well as Bolzer.
Seeing Occultation again was a delight (they were a late addition);
one of the best memories of our lives (and I can speak for all of us)
was touring the west coast in 2013. We could have grown further from
what was achieved on that tour, but aforementioned band politics were
just rough.
MMR: Can
you talk about your heritage? Jean-Pierre is a pretty French name for
an American! Is it transposed into your lyrics and music, if so, in
what manner? What are the other influences in your lyrics, I think
they're particularly well written compared to most metal around!
J-P: I
am an American of Semitic origin. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio in
1986, at a time when it still kind of rocked. I am of Lebanese
heritage, my French name and Arabic surname come from that. I had
moved every year of my life all over the country (and once to
Germany) before settling in Michigan at 17. Feeling like an alien, or
feeling unable to relate to people and the anger or sadness that can
come from that has followed me for a long time for various deep
seated reasons. Dio was a huge, huge influence for me, and the lion’s
share of his work was about real life. In his work, fantasy is an
allegory for self-preservation and survival, for dealing with human
emotions and social problems or speeding at night.
MMR: What's
the future for Funeral Circle? I recently learned that Matthew
Barzegar (lead guitar) has sadly left the band. Will you continue
with the other members under the same name? Your performance with the
band at Wings of Metal was awesome and it would be a shame to end the
whole thing. Your voice was a great fit to the epic doom genre!
J-P: Yeah,
we have no intention of stopping right now, especially with show
obligations like Covenant, stuff in August and Hammer of Doom in
November. Matthew Barzegar’s decision was tough, and we all
discussed how to continue forward. I am a full time member of Funeral
Circle, along with Graham McGee (lead and rhythm guitar), Matthew
Kaufhold (bass guitar) and Phil Fiess (drums). In 2014 we got
together, rehearsed for a couple weeks and toured across Canada.
Enthusiasm and precision are character to each individual within the
band. We developed natural chemistry and we get along well, so this
year will definitely see more
classic and dirty FC Doom.
Funeral Circle/Gatekeeper split, to be released soon.
MMR: There's
a split with Gatekeeper coming up, what can you tell me about it?
Artwork, lyrics, music...
J-P: The
new split features our song “Hades Triumphant,” which we
performed last year. The lyrics and vocal lines were collaboration
between myself and Matthew and the artwork is another rad piece by
Karamazid. Phil and Matt K are entirely responsible for the churning
rhythm section that in my opinion makes this particular track. Not to
mention the Gatekeeper song (“Bell of Tarantia”) completely kicks
ass and comes from the same sessions as their split with Eternal
Champion.
Listen to "Hades Triumphant"
MMR: You
recently wrote a short story called “Journey
in Somnamblia“for the
Swords and Sorcery book alongside Howie Bentley and Byron
A. Roberts. I have yet to read it, I need to get my hands on this
book! Do you plan to publish some more stories or even novels anytime
soon?
Mataera Nom, character from J-P's short story. Illustration by Eva Flora Glackman-Bapst
J-P: I
would love to, but I’m taking it slow! Back in the roaring
nineties, I was published at a very young age and from there on I had
a pretty spotty track record in dealing with artistic discouragement.
I would say this lasted until about age 22. But last year, getting in
contact with Dave Ritzlin (DMR Books) and hearing his idea to create
a 70’s style swords and sorcery anthology with Metal musicians-- it
blew my mind. I wrote “Journey in Somnamblia” on tour last year;
currently, I’m writing the next chapter to my story concerning the
self-exiled warrior Mataera Nom, set to appear in the upcoming second
edition of “Swords of Steel”. This next one contains more
exposition along with an inward narrative, with heightened action
compared to the first.
MMR: What
are the bands, movies, TV series, books or anything else that are
inspiring you these days? Do you still feel deeply linked with the
metal culture?
J-P: Well,
my fiancée and I live Metal every day. We both have working class
jobs taking care of the developmentally disabled (who I tend to like
a lot more than the empty corporatist yuppies they tell you to
worship on TV or in blog content aggregation). We live in a
vainglorious metal castle of our own in a post-industrial butcher
town disguised by a university and deplorable state politicians.
These days I’m always feeling inspired to sing (on a recording or
all day really) as well as playing piano, acoustic, electric guitar
and bass just to play or to come up with ideas. There is a love in my
life where, at this point I’ve watched this person stick by me
through some murky times. With the same eyes that haven’t changed,
a change I’ve seen before and know too well; it’s something one
can’t let go. “Can’t let go” and “Nothing to lose” are
both great cliché song titles, these days I prefer the first.
Listening-wise,
Dio’s extremely underrated Tracy G/Jeff Pilson era, early Solstice,
Russ Ballard, Strawbs (thanks to Barzegar!), Samael, TNT, Thin
Lizzy/Lynott/Grand Slamm, Solitude Aeturnus, old Blind Guardian, My
Dying Bride, Golden Earring, BOC, Savatage, City Boy, Zep, Fates
Warning…
MMR: Are
you looking forward to something in the future? Gigs, etc..
J-P: Going
nowhere (to stay Metal) and everywhere (to make Metal). I may be
joining one of my favorite classic acts, but even if that doesn’t
work out, a more migratory existence is in order. Absolutely can’t
wait for Covenant fest and Hammer of Doom. Going back to what you
said about feeling ‘deeply linked,’ honestly – more than ever!!
The grindstone is our (heavy metal) hamster wheel. I don’t
understand why people decide the establishment will suddenly be there
for them, but all I can say is good luck and hello China.
MMR: Anything
else you want to add?
J-P: I
am deeply grateful to everyone I’ve gotten to work with and share
experiences, good or bad. The sum of events and the resulting
education negates any moral qualifiers – this is the real world.
Can’t wait to jam with my mates in Funeral Circle, leaving nine
days from now!
Metantoine's Magickal Realm: I see you as a grand wizard part of the doom metal council at the top of some white towers, I know you've been kind of inactive in the purest tradition of the genre but what do you think is the state of doom in 2014? I personally think some of the innovations (see Pallbearer) are tacky. Sami Hynninen: Yes, it is true that I am out of the scene in many ways, also as a follower of actions of other bands. I have heard some of the newer ones, but nothing really mind blowing, I am sad to say. Of the ones I have heard, I liked the ultra rough first demo of Doomsower a lot. Finnish band Carnutian also did an enjoyable demo, but then ceased to exist. I like Uncle Acid and the Deadbeat's “Mind Control”. I was bit puzzled with their massive following in Roadburn 2013, and did not quite get the thing, but that album turned out to be good! Pilgrim's debut album was delightful too. I think they are, or at least were on that debut – I have not heard the second album! – the only band that has succeeded to continue what we did with Reverend Bizarre, but even they lack, in their fantasy based themes and more coherent sounds, some lunacy and danger that was essential for our work. Good for them though, as the basis for that insanity and violence was in our bad life as a band. And I am not saying that they should sound exactly as we did, of course not – but they almost did! Except that they can actually play their instruments. In my ears Pallbearer is bit too soft to really attract or interest me. I listen to many different kinds of music, but there has to be some element of roughness there. Some dirt. But I do not want to put anybody down as I am not “there” anymore. They have some echoes of Warning's magnificent second album, don't they? But then again for ME that has already been done. And even with Warning I liked the earliest material – “Revelation Looms” and “Blessed by the Sabbath” – the best, when it comes to DOOM. That second album is something else; one of its own kind. Very emotional masterpiece! The state of doom in 2014 is good at least on that level that we are doing the fourth Spiritus Mortis album hah hah hah! MMR: Taste my Sword of Understanding was pretty different for your solo project Opium Warlords (less experimental) from the first two albums mainly because it was composed while you were still in Reverend Bizarre. What will be the influences for the fourth upcoming album? Are you gonna return to a more droney/avant garde sound?
Sami: Most of the stuff that you have heard from Opium Warlords so far already existed when I was still in Reverend Bizarre, so that is not the explanation for “Sword” being as it is. It is as it is, because it has to be like that, in the larger continuation of Opium Warlords. In the bigger picture; I have not had a period of doom metal or period of black metal or noise, or what ever, when I would do only that one thing. It all comes all the time! Songs can wait, in the most extreme case, for almost twenty years before they come out to the audience. I started my career as an experimental musician, and for me Reverend Bizarre was all the time a “side project”. I myself saw that my main thing is this other kind of music, but I did not have time to do it, because of RB, so it was waiting there inside of my mind to finally explode out of me. Now is this time! I have music inside of me for the next ten years. Of course I have been doing new stuff also, all of these years, so basically Opium Warlords albums consist of old material, and some new spices, but it is impossible for anyone outside of our circle to try to figure out any chronology in these albums. An album that will come out in 2017 may have older material in it than the album that came out in 2012. However, you ask this question in perfect possible time as the next Opium Warlords album actually has all the material written after the times of Reverend Bizarre. And it IS a return to that droney/avantgarde style! I recorded the main bass tracks in 2007, and now in 2014 we will continue this process! One correction to a subject that seems to follow me where ever I go: Opium Warlords is NOT a solo project. The fact that one guy plays bit more instruments, does not, at least for me, make an album a solo album. I am the songwriter and the main producer, but I do not work alone! And even with RB and the Puritan I wrote and arranged most of the music and just showed others what I wanted them to do. When saying this I do not want to take away any thunder from the other guys though! Their souls are still there 100%!!! MMR: What can you tell me about the next Spiritus Mortis' album? It was fun to hear your vocals in a traditional doom metal band again, it's perhaps the only remaining link to your days in RB.
Spiritus Mortis' The God Behind the God
Sami : Musically it will be everything you wish it to be!!! It really kicks some ass! Lyrically I am going to step out of the story telling style of “The God Behind the God”. I am not a big fan of this story telling in the first place – as a writer – but with that album I wanted to go to the deepest traditions of Heavy Metal. I would not be able to do that kind of lyrics better than I did there, so it makes no sense to stick to that lyrical style either, so now I will write in the way I did with Azrael Rising; free form metal lyrics with some abstract and surreal elements. Thematically I am in the world of two obsessions: necrophilia and black magic. I know that many people are waiting to hear “normal” heavy metal vocals from me again, and to be honest, I am for the first time in my life bit anxious about these expectations. It is almost like how I would feel if RB would return! How can I top what I have already done? But I guess when it is about the time to record those vocals I just do as I always do; go inside the lyrical world and deliver what is needed. By the way, talking about these links, I have one album for Opium Warlords which is like Reverend Bizarre turbo boosted with some serious progressive rock hah hah! It won't be done in the next few years, but when it comes I think some of the more traditional oriented fans, of what I have done, should be rather happy! But I do not see it as my purpose, to try to please these old timers hah hah! I just do what I want to do. And what I have to!
MMR: I thought Orne was particular since it has the whole RB trio (albeit you consider your involvement to be as a session vocalist), how was it to work with Kimi's dark proggy folky compositions?
Orne's debut album The Conjuration by the Fire
Sami : Well, that first album was done when we were still RB, so it was not so different from how things went with us. Except that, as you say, I was a session man, so basically I did what Kimi wanted me to do. I went through very dark times in my private life during that day the vocals were recorded, and I think that it can be heard there too. The second album was a different case. At first I was not even about to do the vocals, but then I talked with Kimi about the situation with the vocalists, and it became quite clear that with some other vocalist it would not be exactly what he wanted to have, so I thought about it for a while, and then agreed to do the vocals. In the first place it was a question of helping him out of the situation, but also about the album of course. The material he had for it, did not feel as close to me as the first one, which I liked a lot right from the beginning, but with few modifications we were able to make a good album of that second one too.
MMR: The dissolution of your old band and your will to work on more obscure genres lead me to believe that you could like this question. Do you think the life of a musician is in turmoil nowadays? The way you need to live on the road to truly succeed is as an example of being part of an industry. We see the creations of many solo projects (it's easier nowadays to work on music with all these digital tools.) I think there's many changes to come with the evolution of technology (a curse or a plus?), what do you think about that? Sami: I feel lucky now that I was there early enough to start with analogical 4-trackers and cassettes, and when I went to the studio it was analogue too! The first RB albums and KLV stuff, were recorded and mixed with completely analogue system. Sometimes in the mixing – which was all in realtime – more than two or four hands were needed, so me and Void joined the engineer there on the board. It was a good school for us! Also for the playing. You did not get endless chances to fix something as the tape started to break down, and what was even more important: you could not edit the tape! You had to play the whole song, and if you fucked up in the end, you had to start again. It really was hard for the nerves. Digital recording has many benefits but it has also caused me enormous stress. What ever can happen when you work with 0's and 1's. For artist like me who do NOT do gigs these new times are harder, as it is true that only by being on the road and selling merchandise you can make any money. But I just have to try to go on.
MMR: You've worked as a graphic artist (Jex Thoth, Fall of the Idols...), I really like that work, you seem picky (nothing wrong with that, quite the contrary) with the bands you choose to work with. Is a shared vision important when you accept to design or draw something? Furthermore, what kind of vision or people you prefer?
Jex Thoth's Blood Moon Rise
Sami: With the bands I worked with it was my own vision that I followed. Of course I asked for the title and in the best case I got to hear the music, but only with Furze I strictly followed the vision of the band. In other cases I just maybe got some wishes or details that could be there in the sleeves, and of course I did my best to add them there. It is not like I put down the ideas the bands had, but usually they did not have anything special, and they knew how I worked. I am not one to work as a member of the group, but for example with Jex Thoth I have what might be called a spiritual connection. I somehow KNOW what she wants. I prefer many kind of visions. There have been, and still are, many geniuses among the masses of so called ordinary people. I get mesmerized very often with some great piece of art, or film, or album. Right at the moment I am mesmerized by couple of bands, Iceage from Denmark, and Oxbow, Karp and Pyrrhon from America, as well as At the Gates' first album.
Furze's Psych Minus Space Control
What kind of people I prefer? I try my best not to harass other people. I expect this from the other people too. I prefer those geniuses I just talked about. People with vision, either in mind or heart. Or both. Spiritual, but open minded people. People who do not hurt animals, or rape nature. And people who make it possible for me to continue my work; the audience!
Bonus Question!
MMR: I'm fascinated by the music and culture of Finland (I did a whole series about Jussi Lehtisalo's projects). What are your favorite things about the country as of recently? Food, hockey, movie, anything really! Sami: Nature. Language. Some art, literature, cinema, music, and archtitecture. But for me this is not any kind of paradise really. The atmosphere is rather heavy. Still, as long as I can't live in somewhere in the aristocratic British country side or luxury regions of London, or under the sun of Florida, I rather live here, as I know the language pretty well. Not that I would use it much in conversations hah hah. So why am I here actually anymore? I like Jussi Lehtisalo! That is one reason. MMR: Thanks for accepting to do an interview with me, it's fun for a small blog like mine to have this opportunity. Sami: I often rather be in these smaller circles than in the big business, and their big magazines. This interview verifies why it is so. Thank you!
Jussi Lehtisalo
is the leader and the only constant of the seminal experimental rock
band Circle from Finland. Outside of this long running project
(almost forty albums under the moniker), he's in plenty of
interesting and oddly named bands like Krypt Axeripper, Steel
Mammoth, Motorspandex or Arkhamin Kirjasto and is also the man behind
the eclectic Ektro Records label. He's one of my favourite musicians
and interviewing him was an opportunity I couldn't ignore. I reviewed
some of his projects and I have so much ask to ask him! Tag along!
METANTOINE'S MAGICKAL REALM: I hope it's nice in
Pori right now? I have a friend who's visiting Helsinki at the moment
and he enjoys the Finnish sauna experience. I hope I'm not disturbing
you with these questions!
JUSSI LEHTISALO: Pori is a
quiet small town in Finland’s west coast. It’s active just for
ten days a year during the world-renowned jazz festivals. I’ve
witnessed for example Urban Sax and McCoy Tyner, so there’s
definitely great things going on in there. You’re not disturbing me
at all. I’m touched when someone is interested about things up here
in the north.
MMR: The recent
Circle situation is pretty confusing, the project changed its name to
Falcon (ex-Circle) and released an excellent AOR/hard rock album but
also kept the Circle name and released an album called Incantation
which was basically a doom/death metal record featuring the entire
lineup of Pori based death metal band Stench of Decay. But now, the
true Circle resurfaced with your usual experimental blend with
Leviathan. Care to explain all these lineup changes?
JUSSI: In short,
it’s a brand research. Which is more important, a work of art or
people behind it? Are artists free or slaves to their brand?
MMR: Circle is well
known for its constant experimentation and its huge discography. What
are for you the most important albums this project has created? Is
there some experimentation that you thought worked better than
others? I can think of the acoustic elements in the latest album
Leviathan, the drone of Mountain or the heavy metal/glam or the
psychedelic rock/proto metal of Sunrise.
If you were to meet
someone who never heard Circle, what would be the first album you'll
show to him/her?
JUSSI: Circle’s
records are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and the whole picture unfolds
only as the pieces don’t get together smoothly. I’m intrigued by
the sober plunge of Miljard and the shapelessness of Infektio, as
well as the versatility of Manner and the agility of Leviatan. I
recommend people attend Circle concerts in a happy frame of mind.
MMR: You worked with
Bruce Duff from Jesters of Destiny in Circle (Hollywood) and Pharaoh
Overlord (the excellent album Out of Darkness) and your label
recently re-released their cult classic album. Considering this, with
what other veteran musicians would you like to work with?
JUSSI: Here’s a
few of my favourite musicians: Mark Shelton (Manilla Road), Jimmy
Page, Christian Vander (Magma), Mark Lanegan, Kaija Saariaho, Läjä
Äijälä, Jaki Liebezeit, Robert Hampson... Circle is a dream group
for me, so things are looking very good.
MMR:-You released a
single with Chris Black (Dawnbringer, High Spirits, Pharaoh...) under
the name Aktor (I really liked it!) How did you manage to form a band
with him? It's mainly a long distance project, right? And also, can
you tell me about the upcoming album for this project. It will still
have the awesome Blue Öyster Cult influences, I hope? I met Black at
a High Spirits event and he said he's writing the lyrics so I guess
you compose the music?
JUSSI: It’s
been really great and easy to work with Chris. Aktor’s forthcoming
album is in the home stretch now, and it’s going to be brilliant.
On the other hand, I’ve always thought the records I’ve made have
been suberb, but that’s gone unnoticed by the wider audiences. The
riffs on the Aktor album are at times a bit weird, but I hope it
meanders somewhere between Jesters of Destiny, Molly Hatchet and
Angel Rat era Voivod.
MMR: I'm a big fan
of all your heavy metal projects such as Krypt Axeripper,
Motorspandex or Steel Mammoth. There are many similarities between
them, and I like the fact that they all have their own names, but why
is that so important to you? I mean Tractor Pulling is pretty damn
similar to Krypt!
JUSSI: I wanted
to build a whole NWOFHM scene, but I was pretty much the only one who
got excited by the idea, so I decided to start 10–20 different
bands. The bands sound alike to some extent because I’ve done all
the riffs at least for Krypt Axeripper, Mercedes Hell, Tractor
Pulling, and Motorspandex. I have in my drawer new EPs of almost all
of the abovementioned bands, but I’ve been wise enough not to
release them.
MMR:Arkhamin
Kirjasto explored a more extreme side of metal with its groovy death
metal sound. What influenced this project?
JUSSI:
Metallica’s Kill em´ All, Xysma, Morbid Angel, Kiss, Iron Maiden,
Slauter Xstroyes, Otis Reaper...
MMR: I always liked
the NWOFHM (New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal) tag, I believe it was
your idea, am I right? I like the tongue in cheek feel it has and
like the NWOBHM tag, it includes a wide variety of your ideas and
sounds. Can you talk a bit about that?
JUSSI: With
Tractor Pulling, I did my best to make music like Antiseen and
Accept. Krypt Axeripper was meant to sound like Manilla Road, Cirith
Ungol and Cloven Hoof. Motorspandex was influenced by Brocas Helm and
Rudimentary Peni. With Mercedes Hell, I dreamt of crossbreeding Satan
and newer Darkthrone, but as I’m such a helpless heavy guitarist
and singer the influences may not always be audible. But nowadays
I’ve developed into an outstanding riff machine, so it was
worthwhile to do these experiments.
FAST QUESTIONS
Favorite Finnish
meal that everyone should know about: reindeer meat, mashed
potatoes and lingonberry jam.
Favorite beer:
BrewDog Dead Pony Club.
A beer to try!
Favorite movie(s):
Satantango (Bela Tar), Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky),
Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard).
Favorite rock album
of all time: Jesters of Destiny’s Fun at the Funeral.
Favorite metal album
of all time: Iron Maiden’s Powerslave.
Favorite Finnish
hockey player (Teemu Selänne!!!???): Tapio Levo, Veli-Pekka
Ketola, Mika Niemi.
