Funeral Rain Press Corps

Here’s another ancient interview, dragged from the depths of obscurity (and my hard drive) from the Funeral Rain Zine/MySpace ages. This was originally published on June 30, 2009.

For people who have never heard Sirenia, how would you describe the sound of the band?

I would say Sirenia’s style is Gothic Metal or Symphonic Metal, but maybe people think otherwise. I never listen to music and say “this band’s style is that one, that other band’s got this other style”. Does it matter the style when the music is good?

What of the lyrical themes? Are there any themes that seem to repeat, or are they more of a story or concept?

Morten composed the tracks from the album as he’s always done with all Sirenia albums, so the stories behind each song are only known by him and he never reveals his inspirations. He prefers each person to give the meaning they want. So I could give you my opinion, but I don’t want it to be like a statement of the real meaning, so I’ll keep it to myself. :P

You are in a band that has a strong history, even before it’s current inception. You are in a position that requires you to follow in the footsteps of three other frontwomen, who each have their own fans. Do you find this daunting at all?

From the beginning I knew it wouldn’t be easy, because the band’s got former singers and some people prefer them over me, but I don’t find it annoying, cos it’s usual. Each person has their taste and some think they like more former singers, but I’m not Fabienne, Henriette or Monika, we all have our own unique style. My singing being different from theirs doesn’t mean I’m better or worse, just I’m different. I’m just trying to give my best, so my band is happy with me and the choice they made when they selected me, and so people can like my work and be happy with it.

You yourself have a strong history in music, singing ever since you were 15. Could you give us a quick rundown of your music career?

I found I wanted to be a singer when I was about 12, but I just sang at home. I played my favourite singers of the moment’s songs and tried to imitate them, and that’s how I began with music. At 15 I told my mum I wanted to be a singer, and I got enlisted to a musical school, but for personal reasons I had to leave after just one year. Then sometime later I sang every year in my home town in a show they made to get funds for Alzheimer’s disease. I’ve also participated in contests, both nationally and internationally. In 2007 I was in the first Spanish edition of X Factor, and I was booted off the fifth. When I was out of the show I worked with some musicians from Granada, but the project didn’t work out because they wanted pop and I wanted Gothic Metal. Just after I left this project, I got the chance to be Sirenia’s new vocalist.

How was recording the new album for you? Did you have time to get to know the band before recording, or were you pretty much thrust into the role?

The album’s recording was real fun. In the studio there were just Morten and I, and we had so much fun during the recording process. It was easier than I thought it would be. At first I was slightly worried because it was the first time I was in a studio to record something so important as a Sirenia album, but just as the music started it was easy. Morten’s music gives so many things so I just had to let myself go into what I was listening.

When we began recording I already knew the band members, because in the second audition they were all there. Also, before the album’s recording we had a couple of shows.

The first single from the new album, entitled “The Path to Decay” has a great video, directed by Patric Ullaeus. How was working with Patric for you and the band?

Working with Patric was really great for us, he’s a charming person and very professional. Also, Patric’s been on the industry for so long and he’s worked with many big bands, so he’s got a lot of experience in this. So for a band like us it was great to work with someone like him because he understands our vision of things. Even before seeing the results of the video shooting we knew we would be happy with the final result.

Other than the kinds of music you perform, what do you listen to? Are there any particular bands you’d like to namedrop as favorites or influences?

Since I began singing, I listen to all kind of music styles, I don’t like to concentrate in just one style. Listening to all this, I get the chance to learn things that I wouldn’t if I just listened to just one of them. There are a lot of bands and vocalists that I like, so I can’t start saying which ones or we would never end!

I’ve read that you happen to love videogames. What kind of consoles do you prefer, and what’s your favorite game at the moment, and your favorite game of all time?

I love videogames, but lately I don’t have time to play, but for long travels I usually take my PSP so I can get distracted. At the moment I like a lot of games, but my most favorite videogame from years ago is Final Fantasy 7.

I’ve also read that you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings, the books and films. What else is on your reading/watching list?

Yes, I am a big fan of The Lord Of The Rings. Before the movies were shot I already had read the books a couple of times. I love everything that’s written by Tolkien, even I can’t remember exactly how many times I’ve read each book or seen every movie. I like to read all kind of stuff, but I love fantasy books, with fiction, action, etc…

I missed your debut at The Clinton House last week, but luckily for me (and the FuneralRain audience) Portland’s own TheMetalNetwork captured the magic on their videomotron, so I was able to catch it second hand. Fucking sweet set guys!

Thanks man! You know we be keepin’ it true.

I heard that those pansies in Spellcaster were at your house show too… how brutal was the beating you gave ’em?

Spellcaster is just another gaggle of Hot Topic posers that we have yet to crush from existence.

Why only 40oz.? I happen to know that any one of you consumes more than 40oz. of malt liquor in his sleep! Also, I seemed to notice a bit of a theme with your songs… do you think it’s possible to get audio alcohol poisoning?

Very possible, in fact when we hit the studio, every track will be recorded using our massive dicks after a good jerk sesh with some high proof liquor.

Do you guys have any plans beyond getting bombed, rocking the house,vomiting on your equipment and giving random chicks e coli through an Alaskan Pipeline? Demo? Contract? Worldwide inebriation? Or is this project one of those wait and see sort of deals?

While yes, being the hottest band since the Bee Gee’s and being fucked up 24/7 in our gold mansions is gloriously better than anyone else’s lives (not to mention the endless wave of supermodel ramming) it comes with a price. After you consume a certain amount of drugs and alcohol, your cognitive ability to make plans really just goes out the window. As is the case with us.

Can you guys out party Cross-Examination? I whole heartedly believe that a co-headlining house party of this caliber needs to happen. You guys could meet halfway in Nevada or something.

Funny you mention that, because we actually have partied with Cross Examination. While yes, they put up a good fight, 300 beers later The 40 O-Z’s reigned victorious. It’s really just a testament to the fact that if you try hard and believe in yourself, you really can do anything!

From what I can tell from the info on your website, you guys are concerned about the lack of protein that young women today are consuming (both orally and topically). Such a noble cause. I salute you!

Ah yes, we’ve spent much of our lives fighting the good fight. Sadly with over three and a half billion malnourished women on this planet, time is not on our side. Many of these girls will never have the privilege of slurping down our trouser pudding. That’s why we invented hair metal so many years ago, it made a real impact.

Is there anything you’d like to add for the Funeral Rain audience?

Yes, in a world of posers and pussys we are the light of hope. We are here to make people realize, by looking at us in all our glory, how much better their lives could really be. So next time your boss pisses you off, don’t take that shit. Slam a 40 of steel reserve and fuck his wife.

Next time your late for class & your teacher yells at you, don’t take that shit. Huff some spray paint, sharpen your pencil and shove it up his butt. Drown in the warm sudsy embrace of the 40 O-Z’s

Together, we are the future.

The 40 o-z’s. On Facebook

First off, here’s an easy question; why the name The Deep Sea Vents?

Well, the band name was already chosen when I was asked to join.

I’ve always loved the ocean and always felt close to it ever since I was a kid so when I was asked to join “The Deep Sea Vents” I was immediately intrigued and started thinking of ways I could incorporate every possible oceanic creature into a metal song!
The name of the band is attributed to Nate & Jeremy, the 2 lead guitarists of the DSV. Deep sea vents are a real thing at the deepest part of the ocean that release pressure and heavy metals from the Earths core. Before the name of the band had been chosen, Nate had been reading a National Geographic poster and saw the description of what Deep sea vents actually do and thought about that for a band name based on the releasing of “heavy metals” into the sea.

I like to think that there is some connection between what a Deep sea vent actually does at the base of the ocean and how I feel like I’m “venting” as I’m bellowing out lyrics on stage. I dunno…maybe there is some ancient catharsis to venting creatively for the Human soul.

How long have you guys been an active band?

We’ve been playing shows a little over a year. We’ve been together as a band a bit longer than that though.

How exactly would you catagorize yourselves, since there seems to of been some confusion in the past?

It’s really melded into a thrash, doom thing…somewhat progressive. People have actually called us psychedelic which I think is a riot considering I think of bands like Pink Floyd as psychedelic. Not some punk-ass metal head band like us!

I’ve thought about this a lot in the past but now I have no idea what you would call us. All I know is we sound different. We just have a certain way of writing what ever our little black hearts desire and it comes out the way you hear it. We don’t really sit and say; “Well, shit fellas, I guess we all gotta write some Thrash riffs or the Thrash community ain’t gunna like us no more!”

We just write what comes to us and work that into a sound that any of the four of us would want to hear and genuinely enjoy.
One of the things I love about this band is we don’t force each other to play songs that another person hates. We all have to like it and be able to get into it and work within the song structure and ultimately be able to lose our minds in it when we play live.
If there’s a category for all that, then I guess that’s us.

I believe that I was told that your drummer, Dakota, is going in for shoulder surgery? Is the band going to be looking for a replacement until he gets better or are The Deep Sea Vents on hold until he recovers? Either way, we here at FuneralRain.net wish him a speedy recovery.

Thanks for that. I’ll pass that along to Dakota.

Nah, we aren’t looking to replace him even temporarily. It can’t be done. Dakota is like any other member of this band; irreplaceable. If one of us isn’t there at practice, the other guys feel it. We’re a group that loves to play together and in my opinion, if anybody else were to even attempt to fill Dakotas shoes, it would feel really goddam strange and it certainly wouldn’t feel like “The Deep Sea Vents” to me. I think if something that drastic where to occur within this band, you’d find yourself listening to a very different band and it would’nt be called “The Deep Sea Vents”.

As for gigging; we are on hold. But Nate and I are writing new songs that we are both totally excited about. It’s so much fun to write in this band and see what comes next. I can’t wait to play the new stuff live.

What would you say are your influences, both lyrically and instrumentally? The seven seas and everything in, above or around it, I’m guessing?

I can’t really speak for the other guys but for me most of my influences are very horror driven; H.P. Lovecraft kind of things. I love haunted house stories, mystery stories and all sorts of fucked up weird macabre stories you hear in peoples day to day lives. I get a charge out of stories people tell you like; “Hey man, I SAW her again…you know, that lady I was telling you about that goes through my bathroom on stormy nights? Yeah…freaked me out when I was on the can that one time!! She passed right THROUGH the shower curtain and then she floated out the window into the night!!”

I also love to write about the ocean and things I saw there when I would go to Cape Cod as a kid with my parents. “Thresher” is the song I wrote about a dream I had where I was swimming with sharks. Those lyrics are telling you the imagery of that dream.

How important are Swedish Fish to the writing process?

Very. But not as important as Dakotas chips. You don’t mess with those during the writing process. No sir!!

Not really a question but I thought you’d like to know anyway: the review of The Deep Sea Vents’s “Into The Deep EP”
is the highest viewed and the most “Liked” review on the site! Congrats!

Wow!! That’s VERY flattering! Thanks to everyone who has checked us out since then! I hope we get to see you all out at a future show!

Do The Deep Sea Vents have any aspirations that include but aren’t limited to releasing a full length album eventually?

We’d like to release about three full length albums. Nate and I are pretty prolific when it comes to writing. We go through dry periods and then it’ll hit us. Like all last winter I couldn’t stop writing but until recently, I hadn’t started writing anything else. Getting those songs onto some media for us and our fans to listen to is my biggest goal.

We’d eventually like to do a small West Coast Tour once we have a full length album out and of course, we want to play more shows and get our craft up to where we’d like it to be.

Who’d win in a fight, Superboy Prime or Kid Miracle Man?

Cthulu.

Do you have anything to add for the Funeral Rain audience?

Thank you for listening and checking us out! It’s great to hear we got such a positive response from our EP review and a big thank you to you, Chase, for that review.

After Dakota heals up and we get those new songs under our belts, we’ll be hitting the venues again and we would love to see you folks at some shows so if you wanna check us out or just want to say hello, feel free to hit us up at our facebook page at; http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Deep-Sea-Vents/104594776247562
And you can hear our EP over at our ReverbNation page here; http://www.reverbnation.com/thedeepseavents

(NOTE: The opening question was asked before the June 2nd concert had taken place. The guys in Thornafire have been understandably busy lately, so we won’t hold it against them.)

Thanks a lot for the interview! Exacerbated Gnostic Manifestation is easily within my Top 20 list of favorite death metal albums of all time, so this interview is kind of a big deal for me.

Thanks for the great comment Chase, we just do what we do because we worship Death Metal.

So, Thornafire are going to be opening for Slayer on June 2nd as part of their World Painted Blood tour in South America, eh? Do you mind if I attempt to flatter you all and say that I see you guys overpowering Slayer in sheer badassery?

The truth is that the show was very crazy. We were plenty of good luck, we played with a basic back-line but we got a clear and strong sound, cleaner than the Kings of Killing. As I said previously on the press, I think the 13,000 attendees got a good impression from us.

I read somewhere a while back that you guys planned on touring the U.S. only to find out that you actually couldn’t. What happened and do you plan on trying again in the future?

We fixed all the papers several months in advance, but the embassy guys are really slow with paperwork and such. I am booking a new tour for Europe and after that one I’ll try to book something for the U.S. with our the new CD, I already have contact with a guy who works dealing with paperwork to get the musician’s visas.

As a musician, who would you say your biggest influences are?

I always liked the old twisted vibe from Morbid Angel on their demos, also some Bach, at least I try to play Death Metal with a sense and not play a random generic material that is quite boring.

I’ve always wanted to ask, what did you mean by naming the band Thornafire?

Our previous singer came up with the name, it was during the time that there was almost no band with a one one-word name. It isn’t based on faith, believes, or politics, it’s just referring to the strength of spirit.

Is Ibex Moon as awesome a label on the inside as it appears to be from the outside?

Yes, indeed, John the owner is always very active and easy to deal with, the label has only bands that play good music, they don’t have Metalcore bands. We have a very direct deal and a pretty good one, besides that I work for them as a graphic designer.

Are there any new details that you would be willing to share about your upcoming album? You mentioned that it’s going to be a little different than what you’ve written in the past. How so?

I do not want to change the style of the band for any reason, we are an underground band and that allow us a very creative independence as we don’t depend from the major markets. Certainly will be a new album following this Dark Line,  the new songs are currently sounding really good.

Is there a song in your catalog that appears to get more people moving more than the rest during live shows? Maybe one that gets more people battered and bruised that the rest?

That is Clergy’s Betray, the audience really enjoy it. For instance, the Slayer show we opened with that one.

What are your Top 5 Favorite Death Metal Albums?

Oh yeah, it’s an easy question:
1.-Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
2.-Autopsy  - Mental Funeral
3.-Celtic Frost – To Mega Therion
4.-Krisiun – Conquerors of Armageddon
5.-Hate Eternal – Conquering the Throne

Obligatory Stupid Question: Is there something in the water down there that makes EVERY extreme metal act to come out of Chile and its surrounding areas so fucking awesome?

Ahhh, Latinos have always lived the scene Extreme Metal scene with a lot of passion. I guess that’s why we add more feeling and madness to the music, sometimes with pretty basic recording studios, equipment, back-line and so on but then from time to time some infernal beasts come from these lands.

Is there anything you’d like to add for the FuneralRain audience?

Oh, thank Chase for the space given to Thornafire, and just wait for our new album as I’m working hard on it and this new stuff will sound un-listen-able for fans of Amon Amarth. I am also on the artistic/visual work, and I’m building a new tour of Europe and then USA (I hope), so if you see the Thornafire logo on a poster for some concert around, don’t miss the experience to see our blackened poison flowing through the amps.

Thornafire On Facebook

Thanks for taking the time away from crafting your brand of pure, unadulterated black metal to answer a few of my questions. It really is an honor, sir.

First Question: How is the metal scene (or more precisely, the black metal scene) in your neck of the woods?

Brisbane is interesting because it has no identity or ‘sound’ as such but the quality is highly unique and diverse often breaking barriers of obscurity.  A history of Spear of Longinus and Vomitor carried over to Obscure Black/Death anomalies Impetuous Ritual and Portal with the emergence of Mongrels Cross and Embrace the Solar Winds mark the soil of independent minds with no desire to adhere to a niche. Moon likewise chooses its own path with its individual sound in mind.

What’’s In a Name: Why Moon?

The Moon is the primordial reflection and ruler of night, the astral world and all those that are called luminaries of fire.  In ancient myth the moon was forced to diminish under the sun to rule the night.  When this limitation was incurred it struck a great resentment; the adversary derives its energy from this act.

How are you set up for live shows? Since you’’re a one man project, do you even do gigs or are you purely a studio performer?

Moon has members to play live; it has been active since late 2009 and continues to perform around Brisbane and Australia.  The shows are ritualistic performances of nihilistic black metal.

The title of your recent release is called Caduceus Chalice. Did you just choose two song titles that came up sequentially or were you referring to something Alchemical or did I miss the point entirely as I tend to do?

Of the four elements of Goetic Ritual, the Caduceus and Chalice are related to the male and female sexual organs and are tools for magickal realization.  The union of these two elements in its darkest sense is the alchemical gateway to the Astral Realm.  The Kundalini that rises through the Snakes of the Caduceus is the energy that infuses the darkness of the inner mind; the Chalice is representative of form and contains the waters of the veiled world.  Therefore semblance manifests through the fusion of will (Caduceus) and potential (Chalice).

The songs Caduceus and Chalice are of these characteristics separate and the convergence is symbolic of the drive of the album overall as travelling into the Astral Nightside and the Underworld.

Why do you think that there has been a massive surge in the depressive/suicidal black metal market? Is it a niche genre or do you think it’s just an exaggeration of people not knowing what to call a slightly different version of black metal? Personally, I’m not for it in great quantities though since I want to live…

I haven’t taken much care to consider what niche Moon is under although clearly it is black metal of some accord.  Projects such as this are unique and don’t try to adhere to any genre, I’d be doing what I do now regardless of what trends were around at the time. 

I’ve heard Moon be compared to everyone from Striborg to Xasthur to Burzum. I’m sure that you’ve pulled influence from any number of these bands, but who would you say is your biggest influence?

I’ve listened to a lot of Black Metal but I started formulating my own ideals before I’d heard any of it.  I remember when I first heard Dark Medieval Times and In the Nightside Eclipse how similar it was to what I was envisioning. The most interesting aspect I found in Black Metal was the outsider and trance like elements first exposed to me through Burzum, Darkthrone, VON and Abruptum. Ultimately though it has been my own ideology that has been the biggest influence; the more that is produced the more it is identifiable as Moon.

Do you have any side projects going on or is Moon your one and only for right now?

Moon is the only project I’m working on now, previous to this I played in Forn Valdyrheim, Urgrund and Catacomb. 

Obligatory Stupid/Silly/Retarded Question: If you were stranded in the middle of the Outback, under a massive boulder for some fucking reason and you thought that the end was coming, what would be the last song that you would wish to hear before you slipped away?

On the most unfortunate occurrence that I found myself stranded in my most detested of places the outback, under a massive boulder with no chance of survival I wouldn’t take much care but to listen to whatever was in my head.  At the time of writing this Ixtab’s Lure by Dispirit sticks with me for no profound reason.  

Is there anything you’d like to add for the Funeral Rain audience?

Caduceus Chalice is available June 28 through Moribund Cult.