Questions by Mrik answered by Dave .
[Courtesy of Foedus Aeternus Zine] [ http://www.foedus-aeternus.net ]
Pretty much, yes. Do you? I wrote that part of the original biography a long time ago now and our music has changed in the years since then, but I think it’s still largely true. We haven’t changed the fact that our music is utterly savage, but to describe it metaphorically, there are also moments of staring up to the sky and trying to understand what has happened. An emotional context, if you will. The kinds of images that come into my head with this album are often like lakes of lava as the world burns, with great achievements of mankind being cast into flames. But there’s also the occasional person standing on an island of rock with tears streaking down their face. That might all sound ridiculous, and there’s a lot more to it than just those things, but that’s how I think it connects with Armageddon. II) Eschaton is the best Extreme Metal album of the year according to me. Honestly, I’ve rarely ever heard such a violent piece of musical hatred. What does urge you to sound so brutal? Which are the reasons for your tremendous hate and anger? Thank you. For Mick, I think he simply enjoys the adrenaline rush of playing such extreme music. It’s not so much a direct expression of hate or anger, it’s for the sheer hell of it, for the kick that the atmosphere gives you. For me, it’s more a matter of getting things out of my head. I have no idea why there’s all this screaming in my head, it’s just there. The ideas and extremity of Anaal Nathrakh just come, they’re always there in the background. It’s not that this music is made by a complete maniac who can barely exist as a human being, it’s made by people who allow that facet of themselves to emerge in the music. I’m perfectly normal most of the time, we both are. It has to be that way – if I allowed Anaal Nathrakh to come into daily life I’d be dead, and I have to make sure it doesn’t happen. But I do get some interesting results on psychological tests – schizotypal disorder, borderline personality etc. etc. I might be worse in that respect than a lot of people, but it seems clear from the fact that so many people seem to hear something resonant in Anaal Nathrakh, something they can identify with – I’m not alone. Almost everyone feels some kind of frustration, or has a sense that something is just wrong. And many people have a fascination with evil or destruction. You don’t have to be a secret serial killer to find such things interesting. III) The clear vocals on Eschaton make me think of Ihsahn’s voice on Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. How do you consider this band? And what are the bands you respect the most? You know, the famous inescapable references… I’ve been a bit frustrated by other people comparing us to Emperor to be honest – neither of us think Anaal Nathrakh sounds anything like them – I just don’t understand the comparison unless they’re the only other extreme band you’ve heard before. Obviously we have great respect for them, but there’s little or no conscious influence from them at all. I haven’t even heard much of their music since Anthems, which is naturally a masterpiece. In terms of the clean vocals, the biggest influence would have to be Garm circa La Masquerade Infernale, but there’s no intention of copying anyone. Musically it would be Mayhem and Napalm Death who stand out, but generally speaking there aren’t any conscious influences at all, we just do what seems best to us. So any influences you could mention are only really subconscious. IV) On Eschaton, there is one track… One fucking track… A track which crushed my brain into pieces of rotten flesh, this song’s called Regression to the Mean. That’s my fave actually, though it’s the slowest track from the album. Who had the idea to include this different song to the album? It was really just an experiment. We wanted to include another track on the album, and Mick just set about doing something different that was still identifiably Anaal Nathakh. I think it’s a good change of pace, very atmospheric. When we’d layered it up with Attila’s vocals and my vocals etc., I think it turned out well. V) Still about Regression to the Mean, do you think the musical orientation followed in this song can be a way to evolve with ANAAL NATHRAKH? Can we expect some more songs in this vein for the next albums? I don’t know. Neither of us listens to much music that sounds like that track, so there’s no influence to make music in that style, but I do think it was a successful experiment. There’s no conscious plan to move any further in that direction, but we both simply like interesting sounds. So there could easily be some more ‘different’ stuff in the future. I will probably want to include some proper harsh noise next time around – really harsh, not even slightly musical – but we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds. VI) Main vocal parts are grinding-like sounding, huh? Are you a fanatic of grindcore? Which are your favourite grind bands? Hmm, well the vocals aren’t really intended to be grindcore sounding, they’re not really intended to be anything in particular – just fucking horrible! But I do like grind, as well as a lot of other things too. The thing is, the name grind means different things to different people. We acknowledge Napalm Death, of course, and personally I love Circle of Dead Children. We just finished a Mistress tour with Narcosis who are an insane UK grind band, and I definitely enjoyed Prowler In The Yard. But I am quite particular with grind, I can’t stand Total Fucking Destruction, for example, and only ever got into the first Brutal Truth album. It’ll be interesting to se them if the rumours of a tour are true though. Nasum always left me a bit cold too, even though most people into grind seemed to love them. So it’s up and down with grind for me. When it comes to extreme metal, I’ve always been more into death and black, generally speaking. VII) The lyrics are not printed in the booklet, as usual, it was your choice, and I have asked myself some questions about the meaning of 2 tracks in particular that are The Yellow King and When the Lion Devours Both Dragon and Child. Who is this “yellow king”? What’s the symbolic behind this lion devouring a dragon and a child? One reason the lyrics aren’t printed is because I don’t like explaining things to people. If you want to know something, do some work to find it out. It will mean more that way. Put ‘yellow king’ into google and see what comes up, that’s a start. There more to it, of course, but it’s a start. The lion/dragon/child symbolism is from Nietzsche’s ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’, but that’s all I’m going to say. You’ll have to go and read and understand the original passage and then figure out how it applies to the title and the song. It’s actually true that in the case of that particular song you can hear a lot of the words, so it should be a lot easier to figure out what’s going on once you’ve started to understand the title. Some people would say that’s an arrogant attitude, but I happily accept that most people won’t bother to think so carefully about it and that’s fine. The music is all you really need – but if you do want to delve a little deeper you’ll find that there’s more to it than just some violent sounds. VIII) ANAAL NATHRAKH has definitely created its own musical style, there is no other band sounding like you. Do you agree with me? How would you personally define your music? Well I haven’t heard anyone else who sounds quite like us, and we also seem to think differently to most other bands. So I suppose I’d agree with you. We simply don’t try to classify ourselves. We go ahead and make the music that sounds right to us, and we do it as well as we can. After that, it’s somebody else’s problem to worry about how to classify it. The only thing we care about is if we think it sounds good, and we both listen to a huge variety of music. So the style isn’t important, it’s all about atmosphere and quality. Anaal Nathrakh is of course violent, frantic, sinister and so on. But those are the things we aim for when we’re making the music, rather than caring about genres. IX) ANAAL NATHRAKH is not a live band. I heard you played gigs in late 2005, but what do you intend to do in the future? Moreover, I visited the ANAAL NATHRAKH official forum and I read you guy said “I heard 1349 had been forced to pull out of the tour. I spoke to the promoter about us possibly taking on the dates instead, but we couldn't do it”… Can you tell me more about this please? Well, we’re not a live band in the traditional sense, but when we do play live we do it properly with a full band of musicians etc – standing around on stage near a computer is just never going to happen with us. So we are a live band that just doesn’t play live very often and doesn’t have permanent live members apart from the two of us, I think that’s probably the easiest way to describe it. A bit complicated I suppose, but still it’s not quite accurate to say we’re not a live band at all. When we did play live it was great, the material worked very well live, and it’d be good to repeat it. I’ve talked with a few bookers etc and something will probably be announced before long. The 1349 tour was one of the things I’ve discussed – apparently there was a European tour booked, but 1349 were forced to pull out. So the organiser asked us to replace them. It would have been cool to do it, but we couldn’t make the dates required. There are other offers and possibilities currently under discussion, so although it’s hard with everyone being so busy most of the time, I think something will happen sooner or later. X) Dave, you also kick asses in MISTRESS, your death/grind project. Are you working on new material for MISTRESS? Here another incredible project! Oh thanks, I’m glad you like it. In fact, we both play in Mistress, and we just finished a UK tour with Narcosis on Saturday. We’ve recorded 95% of our next album already, it will be called ‘Glory Bitches of Doghead’ and will come out on FETO records, the new label set up by Mick with Shane from Napalm Death. Should be out around Feb-March next year. Mistress started out as pretty much pure Sludge music, but we’ve grown and now it’s a lot more aggressive and faster, more like Grind. But similarly to Anaal Nathrakh, it’s not altogether easy to pin down to one style. The new album is probably harsher than the last one (In Disgust We Trust on Earache Records), more bleak. And this time there’s more variety in the subject matter. The title comes from a Nick Cave book, plus there’s Kant, Rimbaud, the film Dead Man’s Shoes, the nature of Mistress itself and so on. Hopefully people will like it, we’re certainly proud of the songs and we had a blast making the album. XI) Tell me more about Mick’s participation to the latest ABORYM’s effort. What does he keep in mind about this experience? What did it bring to him as a musician? Well, it wasn’t the latest Aborym album, it was a few years ago now. They basically just contacted him out of the blue and asked him to contribute to the drums and programming. It was great for him, he took a trip to Rome and stayed with the guys over there, and of course it led to us getting to know Attila who then came and made guest appearances for us. As you live your life day to day, it’s experiences like that which make you realise you actually are a musician in the first place! XII) Would you be ready to join some other projects as Mick did for ABORYM if you were asked to? If so, then give me some bands you’d like to help once in your life… Yes, probably, although I’m not overly eager to do that sort of stuff. I just get on with doing my own thing. We spoke with Joe from Circle of Dead Children about him contributing some vocals to Eschaton, and although that didn’t happen in the end, he seemed quite eager to get involved and mentioned me maybe contributing some guest vocals to the next CoCD album. So perhaps that will happen. I’m usually just not friendly enough to speak to people and generate opportunities like that! XIII) What about this PROFESSOR FATE? I heard it was another upcoming side project of you guys, right? It’s actually the name that’s coalesced for material that Mick’s been working quietly for virtually as long as we’ve been doing Anaal Nathrakh. It’s now progressed to the point where he’s got an album’s worth of material and he’s putting it all together in his spare time, so to speak. It’s intended to be more mood music, very relaxed, but still atmospheric. It’s looking as though there will be various vocal contributions, Garm has done a track, I’ve spoken to Mick about doing one, maybe more. But for the most part it’s Mick on his own. Just another name, another atmosphere to add to the list of things he’s done! XIV) Mick Irrumator also plays in a band called FUKPIG, but I found nothing about it… Can you help me? That was a side project by the guys in Mistress that was basically all about the musical spectrum between D-Beat and Grindcore. Just for fun really. There was an album that was signed up for release by Mordgrimm, Anaal Nathrakh’s original label. But it never came out. There’s a chance there will be a limited release via FETO at some point, most likely on strictly limited vinyl. Mistress has since moved a little more to overlap with that style, so Fukpig seems a little les relevant, but who knows - maybe they’ll sling something together again some time in the future. XV) “Irrumator”, what a killer pseudo! Are you into porno stuff? Do you or Mick prefer classics, or hardcore sex movies with perverse irrumations for instance ah ah? According to you, is bestial sex a way of destruction, I mean, the pleasure of desecrating a fucking human body? Well, I came up with the name for him, and we both agreed that a term which basically meant ‘face fucker’ was about right. I think you’re probably the first person I’ve come across who actually had any idea what it means! I find depictions of degradation interesting, but there’s no particular fetish aspect, it’s more anthropological. XVI) Give me your opinion about NS Black Metal: do you think politics should be implied in Black Metal? What is for you the genuine essence of Black Metal? It’s bollocks. Black Metal is ideologically incompatible with politics – it’s supposed to be about misanthropy in its purest sense – how can it possibly make sense therefore for it to be relevant to politics? Politics is all about how various groups of people organise and regulate themselves. If you view humanity as a whole with contempt, how can you care how it’s organised? It’s not even as if Black Metal is a particularly effective way of getting a message across – it’s hardly Bob Dylan – and the politics don’t add anything to the music. If you want to be a politician, go into politics. And don’t bother me with it, I’m not interested. For me, Black Metal is about various things, from the questioning of what’s beyond the world you can see (e.g. Mayhem’s Life Eternal), dreaming and awareness of indescribable things (early Burzum), through to outright hatred (lots of bands, and you can include us if you want to). If you have an appreciation of lack Metal, you can just feel it, you just know when it’s there, even if it’s hard to put into a nice neat list of things in an interview. XVII) I found an interview where you said “we have been criticized by some local people for not supporting the 'scene'”. What do you mean? Did you hold critics towards British Metal bands or what? Some people seem to think that because you’ve involved with music that this gives them the right to expect something from you. So if you don’t go out of your way to talk to them and compliment them on their music, whatever it is, then they think you’re an asshole. It’s just the same thing as when quiet people are often perceived as arrogant (which happens to me a lot too). In actual fact it’s not because you think you’re better than anyone else or even anything of the sort – it’s just that you don’t want to talk to other people at all! Personally there’s no difference with people whether they’re involved in a music scene or not – if I’ve got a reason to speak to them I will. If I don’t have anything to say I won’t speak. Sounds reasonably sensible when you put it like that, but obviously that’s not how a lot of people behave. ’Wow you’ve got a guitar and you’ve heard of At The Gates, let’s be best friends!’. Sorry, but that just doesn’t work for me. Too much of a miserable bastard I suppose! XVIII) The “Anaal Nathrakh” notion appeared in a movie called Excalibur if I remember well. It seems you may be into cinema. What are your most appreciated movies? Which was the latest one you watched? The last film I watched was ‘The Libertine’ on DVD. Great film. We do both like films, you’re right. One of the films we have in common is Robocop – it might sound silly, but I just love to totality of the world it inhabits. Another one would be Event Horizon. I can’t really watch many horror films, they get stuck in my head too much. The Exorcist is an example, after I saw that it took years before I stopped thinking about it. Dead Man’s Shoes is also wonderful, we both love that. Film is one of the best forms of escapism, because a really good film can be completely immersive. So that’s the way we both approach film most of the time – escapism. And so the films we enjoy most are imaginative but not too deep. We’re not really into art house films or really deep stuff. Personally I’d rather read a book for that sort of thing. Some people want to see themselves reflected in what they consume in various ways, and so if they think deeply, they want earnest films that articulate what they think and feel themselves. But personally I don’t want that. I already spend too much time in mental anguish, and film is an escape from that. I’d rather watch Sin City than something by Ingmar Bergman. XIX) Still about visuals, do you have ideas about how an ANAAL NATHRAKH video clip might look like? Does it deal with a possible project? I’ve had a few ideas for a video for ‘When The Lion…’ based around Nietzsche’s Madman passage. I think that could work really well. Despite what I said about both our tastes in films, I can definitely appreciate the artistic side of visual representation, and of course Mick is an artist. But I don’t think there’s much point in us making a video – there’s no real demand for Black Metal videos as far as I can see, and there’s no real broadcast platform to justify it. If we were approached to make a DVD and we decided to go ahead and do it then maybe, but at the moment it seems a little pointless. XX) Have you ever visited France? What comes to your mind when you think about our country? Wine and “saucisson”? Are French girls more sexy than British girls? I remember some English girls in Sweden when I was studying there, they were very horny huh huh… Yes I’ve been to France several times, I definitely like the country. The first things that come into my mind when I think of France are food (wonderful fresh bread and pate), national pride, countryside, culture, Jean de Florette, Sartre and Boris Vian. And then ‘Perfume’ by Patrick Suskind because of its setting. I agree with the linguistic analysis that the erosion of the international role of French as the language of culture and art in favour of increasing American cultural dominance is a very bad thing. As for girls, well of course I’m not going to enter into competitions with English girls or anything like that. I don’t think such things make sense. But there was a girl at one of the shows on the recent Mistress tour who was absolutely stunning. Quite similar to Angelina Jolie. She was French – what more needs to be said? XXI) What did I forget to ask you… mmmh, let’s see… Yeap, what about your current playlist? At the moment, hmm, Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing by Discharge, Stigmata by Skitsystem, Romance by Narcosis, Iron Monkey and a CD of lute music I picked up in Spain. XXII) I think we are over, aren’t we? I suggest you should conclude now. Dave, thanks a lot for your time, it was a pleasure to deal with you in this interview. I hope we can see you in France in the future, who knows… Thanks, I hope the interview is worth reading. I did speak to someone about playing in France sometimes, it would be good if it came to fruition. We shall see…
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