Greetings. It's a pleasure to receive you in our pages, especially after that incredible album entitled "Hour Of The Wolf" that you released in 2007. Can you sum up a bit the history of the band for us? I'm quite surprised to discover Black Sun now, when you already released three albums and an EP before this last one. [Russell McEwan Vocals & Drums] Thanks. This is my tenth year of Black Sun. I initially started Black Sun Machine as a sample-based side project from my day job with Glasgow ‘Krautrock Experimenters’ Macrocosmica. Around halfway through the process of writing and recording the first album ‘Fleshmarket’, released by Over Records, I started working with Kevin Hare (Guitar & Vocals). Graeme Leggate (Bass Guitar) was a friend of Kevin and he joined round about the sessions that became the ‘Circus of the Fallen’ album. The absolute uncompromising weight of the band steadily developed over subsequent recordings ‘Rip Yourself Open, Sew Yourself Shut’ EP which was produced for a tour of Ireland and helped us to release ‘Sacred Eternal Eclipse’ on Belfast’s Distortion Project label. ‘Hour of the Wolf’ was released on our own Maximum Volume imprint in 2007 and we have just released our new album ‘Paralyser’ available only on limited edition vinyl with At War With Noise. As a unit Black Sun continue to write constantly and we have around 25 new songs currently in development. When I first listened "Hour Of The Wolf" it was like a shock, a big punch in the face of totally obscure and negative energy, I hadn't heard something so terribly bad-ass in quite some time. How would you describe what somebody can find when he first listens to Black Sun? Is this new album a good example of Black Sun or your music suffered some kind of variation from your beginnings? [RMcE] The ‘Hour of the Wolf’ album received all manner of differing reactions from press, fans and it’s live reception too. I think it is important for people to find their own interpretations of what they find in Black Sun’s music. I know exactly what I think about the lyrics and our sound but I hate when music’s meaning is spelled out into something fixed or prescribed. [Kevin Hare Guitar & Vocals] Black Sun is the realisation and exorcising of our personal demons, as such this is manifested in the brutality heard on record and seen and felt in the live show. I would say the listener is drawn into the turmoil of our world that is then focused and becomes all engulfing. We were once described as a car crash mixed with an abortion. However WE as players find the whole experience spiritually uplifting. Paralyser is most definitely a good example of our music as it contains all the elements of our previous work, yet more purposeful than before and also showcases our development for the future. Since the very beginning I discovered you I felt some kind of vibes that made me think about the old Godflesh, even if your music (on the last album) isn't any Industrial-related. But listening to your first works they appeared quite more. Were them a big influence for you in your beginnings? Which kind of influences played a major role on Black Sun from its birth until now? [RMcE] Without a doubt Francis Bacon’s ‘Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953)’ continues to influence my role in Black Sun. I discovered Bacon’s painting when I was at high school and he’s an artist I return to repeatedly. I like the unrestrained violence in his work; the perpetual scream also found in earlier works like ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944)’. As in Black Sun’s music his work has beauty and brutality combined. For some the brutality is the beauty and vice versa. Early on in my musical excursions I was fortunate to be a small part of industrial originators Test Dept. Alongside Einstürzende Neubauten and Laibach, in Test Dept there was actual use of industrial machines and tools as instruments. When industrial is referenced today it tends to mean the use of laptops and perhaps pure noise like Merzbow. Our machine-like repetition in vocals, drums and music probably lends itself to the industrial tag however we’re very consciously using standard rock instrumentation in Black Sun. It’s what we do with it that makes it sound the way it does. [KH] Over the years we've had many Godflesh comparisons, which is nice, however I personally am not a huge fan of Godflesh. I've always been more into the likes of Grief, Eyehategod and Crowbar in the sludge vein, and riffmeisters like Fudge Tunnel, 16, Neurosis and noisecore like Deadguy, Will Haven and Botch. However when it comes to writing for Black Sun it becomes it's own beast as all our influences both shared and individual combine to make up the soul of Black Sun. If I had to describe Black Sun in one word that would be agony. But, where does that agony come from? What is so fucking weird in your mind or this world to channel through you into those vibes? [RMcE] Ha! That’s the first time I’ve heard it described that way! I think musicians have always looked into places others might not and report back what they saw for our benefit. Channelling suggests that I enter some mystic meditative state when playing and that’s not the case. I’m very much aware and in the present moment. I think I do, however, draw on feelings from my past and aim to diminish their power over me by dragging them into the light and pulverising their meaning. It is necessary for the words to equate the weight of the music. [KH] Well quite simply 10 years ago this month I watched my best friend die in front of me. Other than my own grief, it angers me that many people in today's world walk around without respect to their fellow man and inflict pain on others without remorse and this goes unpunished. Unfortunately in today's society more often than not the scum prevails. What we were speaking about before is reflected on the lyrics of ‘Hour Of The Wolf’, which seem to be pretty weird too, with striking phrases like "Cause she's a whore", "What was broken now is fixed" or "What was dirty now is clean”, just to mention some from the first track, ‘Disintegrate To Khrist’. Are they some kind of exit channel for your own feelings or more an image of our crazy world? I think part of the gravity of phrases like you mention is the absolute clarity of my pronunciation combined with my west of Scotland accent. My gutturalness lends itself to distortion both in the music and imagery I use. I don’t feel qualified to comment on the world at large but I do enjoy the dialogue that playing live allows Black Sun and our audience. I hope the ideas are not written in stone otherwise what would anyone else get from it? There must be room for the listener to insert their own interpretation. On two songs you say “Then I start living”. What’s the meaning of this sentence for you? Does it have any relation with the walls of contention this society puts on us since our very first moments in this life? [RMcE] Probably escaping eighteen years of my father’s alcoholism. Took me until I was around thirty to actually remove its damage on my life if that is possible to accomplish. One thing that I found quite surprising is the difference of aesthetics you have on your band pictures and live. The pictures look really aggressive and strong, but live you’re just normal people playing your songs. Are you in some way closer to the Punk attitude for the live shows, without refusing the image and artistic side for your releases? [RMcE] Never underestimate the power of image. What’s normal? If we were actually ‘normal’, there would be no need to climb the stage every night and for people to come and see us play. I hardly listen to punk music whatsoever but maybe there is an honesty we share. How should Black Sun look? It’s interesting to consider how a band should appear onstage, as part of what they do is show business yet there is the necessity for authenticity in the music for the musicians and the crowd. Perhaps the album portraits are a more creative interpretation of the band members and music however the sheer physicality of our performance has a practical side to it too. [KH] I hate it when I see a band who don't go for it live. Whether you're trying to make a name for yourself or an established act, your audience has paid good money to see a show, I’m a huge fan of punk and hardcore and use that attitude in the live environment, do play a show with any less than 100% lets ourselves down and the fans. It's always essential to have strong images on album sleeves, but for the live show you need to see the emotion in our faces, we don't need to hide behind masks. I had the opportunity to see your show at Barroselas SWR Fest this year and, even if you were the last band of the fest and we were maybe 200 people only, it was a fucking brutal and heavy show. How important is live activity for Black Sun and how was that tour across some European countries? [RMcE] Barroselas and Portugal in general welcomed Black Sun warmly. We also played Bilbao for the first time too on those dates. We are all members of Black Sun in order to play live because of the transference of energy between the band and the audience. On that particular occasion the Portuguese had a huge amount of energy. [KH] Live shows are of the utmost importance to us, there is no better feeling than the connection with the crowd each feeds the other and makes every night unique. This is why we never let anyone down who comes to see us. I lived in Portugal for 2 seasons and have been many times on holiday in my life so for me it was one of the greatest honours to play to a Portuguese crowd, you guys have a true appreciation for heavy music in all its forms. I remember when I was about 11 hearing bands like Kreator, Coroner, and Malevolent Creation at my friend Nuno's house which was very formative for me. It was also great to play Bilbao with Knut. You’ve got the honour to have a remixed track on this album done by Billy Anderson. I imagine it was something really special coming from somebody who had such an influence on these wide ranged kind of music. What do you think about the track? In my opinion it’s even heavier, and I can imagine you loved it if it's on the CD, but can you give us a reason why you put it in addition to the original one? [RMcE] It was indeed an honour to work with both Billy and James Plotkin over ‘Hour of the Wolf’. I liked the canonical approach of having the same track mixed quite differently at the beginning and the end of the album. Both in Billy and James’ case there was a great crossover in music that we all admire and the recording, mixing and mastering process was an absolute joy. [KH] Billy Anderson is one of the best in the business as far as I’m concerned, he always manages to capture the intensity of a track and make it claustrophobic and persistent. I’ve read somewhere that you’re already preparing the release of your next album. What can we expect from it? Is it going to follow the path you set on ‘Hour Of The Wolf’? [RMcE] Our new album is ‘Paralyser’ and does feature a mix by Billy entitled ‘Paralyser (Hammer the Nails)’ on the At War With False Noise imprint. It’s our first vinyl release and it was a very enjoyable process recording in reel-to-reel tape again. The record has also been well received by the public. Designing the album layout with the increased scale of the format was very attractive to the entire concept of ‘Paralyser’ where there are three tracks all with the same name but with very different approaches. [KH] The new album Paralyser builds on what Hour Of The Wolf began. In many ways it is heavier and sicker than anything we've done before but also has balance and showcases our exploration into our sound and our song writing. It's a vinyl only release on At War With False Noise Records, available now! Even if Black Sun can’t be labelled as a Drone band, still being closer to Sludge, you use some droning and noisy stuff on your tracks. I’ve sometimes heard people saying that Drone is not music and similar stuff. What’s your opinion about this? Don’t you think music and art, generally speaking, is something that should remain open and free of those closed concepts some people tend so approach so easily? [RMcE] If it’s a noise show with some guy head down into a laptop with full frequency scree on the go I don’t find it so interesting. In fact I’m bored out of my skull. It has then become a church of noise with the true believers and purists reducing it to a tired formula. Noise seems to have attracted the attitude that it’s easy to do but in actual fact any minimalist artform belies it’s simplicity. Very few noise artists are using the extremely physical moving of air that guitar and bass amplification provide. If Black Sun are using feedback and drone the effect is designed to be totally engulfing. We are purposefully using rock instruments because of the resonance that only they provide. I don’t make any assumptions of what people should or should not think about any element of our music as it is completely outwith my control, and should remain so. [KH] I've always felt that music is art, and as such people are free to do whatever they feel like at that time of creation, that's the beauty of it. When drone is done properly it's equally as powerful as grindcore for example, and I think shares much of the same "fuck you this is what I’m doing" attitude. Thanks a lot for your time and excuse me for the delay sending you the interview. Good luck for the future. Add anything else you want…
Line-Up: Sergeant Russell McEwan: Vocals, Drums & Programming Kevin Hare: Guitar & Vocals Graeme Leggate: Bass Guitar www.myspace.com/legionofblacksun [email protected] www.myspace.com/atwarwithfalsenoise
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About ...Gia Thanatos is a webzine dedicated to music for the apocalyptic times. No matter the scene or genre it comes from, and mainly chosen according to its author's taste. Archives
September 2016
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