So, how do you feel with this new album just being released? Are you having good feedback from the magazines and fans? Is it really important for you, I mean, do you listen to what people says and think about it when you’re writing new songs? D - No, I dont think it really makes a lot of difference what other people say about it really, we have always tried to please ourselves first and foremost. If we started listening to criticism and worrying about trying to be popular the band would just fall apart. We create music because it makes us happy, some people like the way it sounds and some dont. As I said on my review of “Antichrist”, since the first listen I found a clear difference between this new album and “Words That Go Unspoken, Deeds That Go Undone”: this new one sounds a bit less complicated, although keeping all the variety Akercocke always had, and sounding more compact perhaps. What do you think about it? Was the previous album just too complicated? D - Personally I dont think so, it was a transitional album and contained material written with Paul Scanlan and also Matt Wilcock, so it is a formidable, diverse project. It covers a lot of territory for AKERCOCKE but certainly isnt too ambitious, I certainly dont veiw it as a failure personally. On the other side, as I said before, you still managed to put a lot of different influences into it, from the Black/Death Metal basis to electronic, ethnic and even some Pop/Electro Pop choruses on “The Dark Inside”, which is without any doubt my favourite track. The fact is a lot of bands who put so much influences into their music don’t use to do a good mix of them and tend to sound just like a lot of different bands making a song together, but this is not your case. How do you manage to fuse all those styles into Akercocke’s sound? Can you tell us a bit which have been the biggest influences on this album, musically speaking? D - There are a lot of musical ingredients to every one of our cd's but not one or two main influences or particular directions that we steered the songs into. It can vary from song to song, for instance "Dark Inside" pays homage to Autopsy, POSSESSED, Sonic Youth and Obituary - whereas "Man Without Faith or Trust" owes a debt to Sarcofago and The Berzerker. As everybody should know, the musical side is not the only important thing in Akercocke, as you have a strong message on each of your albums, which starts in what we could call Satanism, but on a really individualistic way to see it and forgetting a bit all the classical stuff we usually find in Black Metal. Can you introduce us a bit into your view of it, and what do you think about the typical “evil satanic” lyrics of Black Metal bands? Do you know the so-called “Orthodox Black Metal” bands like Deathspell Omega, Watain, Funeral Mist…? What do you think about them? D - Crumbs, I havent even heard of those bands let alone have an opinion on what they might sound like. I am certainly no expert on Satanic Black metal - I prefer a bit of Frank Zappa or Depeche Mode. I recently saw on youtube an interview you did on an irish TV channel, were you had to confront some radical christian guys who wanted to make you seem the most evil persons on planet earth. I found interesting that you said you where not antichristians, especially having a new album entitled “Antichrist”. Can you explain us a bit more about that? Are you only against organised religions as a confrontation to individualism? D - We were trying to say that we are not Anti - Christian in the sense that we believe that every one has a right to choose their own belief system. We personally dont agree with the Christian way, the Muslim way, but ultimately its up to you. If you choose to spend your time going to church on Sunday or praying five times a day - whatever - I really dont care, it doesnt affect me. But the television thing was a debacle, they didnt care about us or what we had to say. And we cannot forget your visual side too, from the suits that characterized you from the beginings of the band to all the imagerie on your videoclips, which I imagine tries to translate to images what you explain on your lyrics. You do you use always hot girls on your videos? Is it simply a sexual thing or are there other ideas behind it? D - You dont need any more ideas than sex, bro! Thats the best. Its all that counts at the end of the day, its an essential ingredient in the AKERCOCKE philosophy. The cover of this new work is a bit different from the ones you used to have on the previous ones, still dark, sexual and satanic, but more sober, with only the little pictures in the center of a gray background. What can you tell us about it? And about the cover of “Words That go Unspoken…”?. I think it’s the darkest one of all your albums. D - "Words..." is my least favourite cover of them all, personally. Although I like the image, the photography, I just dont think its strong enough for a cd and T-shirt. I designed, photographed and created the cover of "Antichrist" so naturally it is my favourite, it expresses everything relevant and potent about the band in 2007. Its the logical progression of the Satanic ideals and sexually fecund imagery that we began in 1997, just as our music reflects our journey so do our covers and lyrics. I’m not sure but I think Akercocke has never played in our country. Will we have the chance to see you after the release of “Antichrist”? Are you planning any tour? Which bands would you like to tour with? D - Whats your country? We will be touring Australia this year and are eager to return to America next year, but its expensive. I would love to tour with TED MAUL again, they are true bro's and I love to listen to them every night. Seeing nowadays world situation, especially about all the terrorism/war on Iraq stuff, and it’s “relation” with religion, and living in a country which suffered in the past those attacks(even some days ago you almost had a new case), which is your oppinion about all that? Do you think religion has really nothing to do(and I mean on both sides, as well muslim as the christian one in the U.S.)? D - Its all about fear, religion is fear - faith professes to conquer fear but it just transfers that negative energy into other destructive purposes, a different colour of fear. Fuck these extremists and their rubbish attempts at terrorism, driving a car into Glasgow A & E really highlighted the political motivation of Islamic fundamentalism, didnt it? What a typically flaccid gesture, blowing up a bus really achieved a lot didnt it? Pathetic. Fuck these losers... Do you follow nowadays extreme Metal scene? What do you think about it? Which are the last three albums(of any style) that surprised you the most? And one book and a movie? D - Surprised me most? Mmmm. I dont know about that, dont think I've had a lot of surprises in recent memory. Cant think of any interesting surprises at the moment, sorry... Some short choosing ones: (please explain us why did you choose them): - Morbid Angel or Emperor: D - Emperor, good tunes. - Politics or religion: D - Religion, great artwork. - Past or future: D - Past, Doctor Who and Star Wars. - Black or red: D - Black, none more black. - Satanism or atheism: D - Satanism AND Atheism! Anton LaVey and Richard Dawkins - huzzah!!! Ok, we finally arrived to the end. Sorry for the long questions, but I really wanted to interview the band since some time ago. Receive my best wishes for the band and I hope to see you soon on stage. If you want to add anything else, it’s your time… D - Thanks for your time and interest in the band...
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |