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If you had the chance of checking
out Instinct: Decay you are probably already a really big
fan. The record was such a massive forward-thinking slab of dark
as fuck
metal it made every respected metal best of list of 2005.
The band is currently on tour and have recently finished
recording material for a split with Leviathan. This interview took time, we bugged Blake
for a while until he could find some free time from his busy
schedule to fill us in
about what was, what is and what will be of what will surely
become one of the most legendary extreme American metal bands.
: I like the fact that Instinct: Decay balances melody
with aggression, and yet it never loses that creepy metal vibe
that is (and maybe this is corny) to a degree out of this world.
How did you tackle the songwriting phase and what were you
hoping to accomplish?
I wrote this album the same as the rest,
spontaneously over the course of about two years. I think I was
bit 'pickier' with this record than I'd been in the past, but as
any musician develops and skills improve, you become way more
conscious of what you're doing than a teenager just looking to
unleash rage, which is what the first 2-3 Nachtmystium releases
were more or less. What I'd hoped to accomplish in the end
result on this record was something that would make Nachtmystium
distinctly different than the other black metal bands out
there. You were dead-on in your review that I've taken plenty
of psychedelics in the last couple years and listened to a lot
of crazy 70's psyche-rock, and that definitely had an influence
on the end product. I wanted to make a black metal album that
you could trip out to in a nightmarish-yet-psychedelic kind of
way. By no means are we introducing the 'hippy' thing into our
music, we all bathe and we're all metalheads, haha, but I did
definitely want to bring the psyche element to the table on
Instinct: Decay.
: Your sound is quite grounded. And I mean that as a compliment.
It’s pretty direct and psychedelic yet it retains much of a
black metal vibe without all the cheesy pomposity of a lot of
the bands of this ilk. Ideologically and musically, how would
you say your style differs from the rest?
What separates us from your average
black metal band is that we're NOT a black metal band, we're a
'do-whatever-the-fuck-we-want' metal band and black metal
happens to be what we build our foundation off of (in the case
of Instinct: Decay and its predecessors), if you must
categorize the rhythm sections of our music (rhythm guitars,
bass and drums - the core of any album). Ideologically we're
also not concerned with overly used topics such as the occult
and Satanism. Not that we don't admire those realms of the
world and some of the bands out there who utilize such themes
appropriately, but many bands turn that whole concept into a
joke by really having no ideology at all, so they grasp onto
that to 'fit in', per se. We don't want to fit in, we want to
stand out and be something unique. I don't want Nachtmystium to
be 'just another black metal band', I want it to be a powerful
force musically with unique character, both within our sound and
visually in the art we use.
: Please tell us a little bit about the beginning of
Nachtmystium. Why the name? How has the band changed since its
inception?
I started Nachtmystium when I was 16 years
old (hence the name...not what I'd call the band these days but
I'm not throwing away 8 years of building blocks just to satisfy
my own personal distaste for the name). I have no good
explanation for it, its a more-or-less made up word that you
could translate to 'Mysteries of the Night'. I was in another
band (who will not be named) at the time and I expected that to
be my main project and Nachtmystium was just a side thing I was
doing with another member of that other band. When I departed
that project in mid-2001, I turned Nachtmystium into my main
project, and it’s been that way ever since. The band has
changed a lot since its inception, and we've had a slew of
members over the years (probably 15-20 people in and out over
the years). Finally, today, we've got a solid line up that’s
been playing together for a long time now and this new solid
line up will make its first appearance as a recording band on
our upcoming split CD/LP with Leviathan (to be released on
Southern Lord in mid-2007)
: What can you tell us about the cover? What does it represent?
The cover represents how personal decay
starts within ourselves, and as people become more miserable,
angry, whatever...however they 'decay' as individuals, is then
pushed outwards onto those around us and the society around us.
Human instinct is to destroy ourselves through personal greed,
lust, and power. That’s why we eat McDonalds, that’s why we've
built nuclear and biological weapons, that’s why we start wars,
that’s why we smoke, drink, take drugs, etc. Life for many is
subject to self-abuse, weather we realize we're doing it or not,
and when a society of people abuses themselves, you wind up with
societal decay. This I think is a good way to describe the
current state of the country we live in. We have very little
culture in this country, our culture is "no culture" or "all
cultures", however you want to look at it. (This has nothing to
do with race/creed might I add) and as a result, we live in a
country full of people who disagree and don't give a shit about
each other. Do we really care as a country what’s going on
around the rest of the world? No. I know I'm not up at night
worried about people dying in Iraq, for example, and neither are
you and neither is the person who's reading this unless someone
is DIRECTLY affected by the situation. Our government keeps us
happy and 'safe', and we turn our heads at what our nation does
to the rest of the world. This is societal decay, and this is
what Instinct: Decay represents at its core. I use
politics and U.S. society as a metaphor here to describe a
greater idea. I hope this has made sense to you.
: Guitarist Jeff Wilson was recently added to the fold. How
do you think he will change the dynamics in the band, and how do
you think his presence will alter your approach to songwriting
and in the live setting?
I don’t think
Jeff’s involvement will change how the band functions much at
all. I will still handle all the writing, this is made evident
upon-entry to any musician who has joined us or will team up
with us in the future. However, Jeff has brought a lot to our
live sound as I personally cannot handle all the lead-guitars
(part of what makes the Nachtmystium sound) and sing and be a
‘front-man’, so he’s the first guitarist we’ve had who can
really help bring that aspect to our live performances, and
therefore making him a very valuable member of our tribe.
: Nachtmystium has a very open attitude towards band from other
genres. You have recently toured with the likes of Pelican
and Daughters. Musically, there is perhaps very little uniting
the bands, and ideologically, at least superficially there seem
to be no links either. How was the interaction between you and
these boys? And what do you think a package like this offers in
comparison to say a more linear tour with similar bands? Also,
how was the reaction of the public during this tour towards your
music?
This was a great tour for us. I’ve known the Pelican dudes for
a long time, as we’re all Chicago people. I used to work at
Metal Haven (the Chicago metal record shop) and that’s where I
first met Larry Herweg (Pelican drummer) and from there I met
Laurent and the rest of the Pelican crew. They’re great guys,
and much like myself, they’re open to all kinds of great music
outside their niche. We got along with them great and we were
both equally excited to be touring with each other. We didn’t
know Daughters at all, but they turned out to also be an amazing
set of guys who were a lot of fun to be on the road with, and
truly one of the most bizarre live bands I’ve ever seen. I
wasn’t really ‘into it’ at first because I couldn’t get my head
around what they were doing, but after 2-3 shows, I was hooked
and you can now safely say that I’m a big fan of Daughters.
The crowd reactions were interesting…I think all three bands
had their own crowds there with very few that were there for
more than one of us. So, it was interesting. Unfortunately,
our fans were the least receptive to the bands we’re touring
with…it kind of became the tour joke that all the headbangers
split when Nachtmystium was done’. But those bands were drawing
massive crowds of their own, so its not like the place emptied
out at all after we played…just a few metal folks would take off
showing little-to-no-interest in our friends’ bands, which to me
was really unfortunate because I’d hope that if someone is
following this band (Nachtmystium) closely enough to come see us
live, they’d understand why we were out with the bands we were
out with and I think they should’ve experienced those bands.
Regardless though – an amazing tour, and I’d do it again in a
second. Much love and support from us to Pelican and
Daughters!!!
: There have been so many members in Nachtmystium I already
lost count. Why is this? And how strict are you towards the
views and opinions of the other members? What do you demand of
them?
I demand
dedication. We’ve had a slew of members because people are
either too lazy, too busy with other bands or with their own
personal lives to be a part of something that’s (especially
nowadays) as demanding of their time and energy as Nachtmystium
is. Also, I think it’s been a conflict with some other members
in the past that I wasn’t open minded to outside writing, which
is completely understandable. I think the people in the tribe
right now are all on the same page, and this is the
longest-lasting functioning line up we’ve ever had, and I hope
it stays that way because together, we can create a monstrous
live performance and we function well as individuals while
spending days and months together on the road, which is really
the most important part. You have to be able to tolerate each
other, and I’m not the easiest person to get a long with when it
comes down to getting things done the way they need to get
done. Luckily, these guys all share my vision and we all have
the same goals, which is to take this as far as we can.
: There seems to be all these thinking metal bands (I mean
black metal related bands like Nachtmystium, Leviathan, Xasthur)
that are trying to stretch the limits of the music. What do you
think about the current state of extreme American black metal?
It’s hard to
say. The three bands you mentioned are three of about five or
six in this country that I consider to be a part of our
‘movement’, if you will. Its not like we planned this or have
some little ‘society’, we’re all just people that are trying to
create unique darkness through music. I like a lot of the very
traditional American black metal bands that play in the old
style, not bringing much new to it, but playing it with pure
conviction and dedication. However, we’re trying to distance
ourselves from being lumped in with that side of the coin
so-to-speak, at least Nachtmystium. I just hope more bands will
follow suit and create something that’s more original, more
extreme and more diverse instead of rehashing old ideas and
making records that may or may not be remembered and talked
about in 20 years.
: I know your MySpace page is a fan site, but there is a
little blurb there that clearly establishes the band as NOT a
black metal band. Your earlier releases were clearly more in the
black metal style, where as Instinct: Decay sounds like a
band in its own genre. What has prompted this change in
attitude? And what do you think Nachtmystium represented in the
past and it no longer does?
That MySpace page is actually official now. The guy who was
running it was contacted by me, and I liked what he had done
aesthetically with the page, so I asked him if I could just take
it over, and he said ‘of course’. I added that statement you
mentioned once in control of the page, and it’s very to the
point. We aren’t a part of scene-herding, we aren’t trying to
fit into a trend, and we don’t want to be thought of as a ‘black
metal’ band because I respect ‘real black metal’ enough to
realize that we don’t fit that mold. Back when we started,
that’s exactly what we were musically, visually and
ideologically. But I was also 17 years old then…I think growing
up and having my broad musical tastes (which I’ve always had
thanks to having music-loving ex-hippy parents who raised me on
Sabbath, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton, etc) has everything to do
with why we’ve moved on from the more immature approach to angry
metal music that we took early on.
: I know you are as of now in the middle of recording a
split with Leviathan. How is this process going? And how do you
think is the material going to fare in comparison to
Instinct: Decay and other releases?
Our material
for this split is actually completed finally! We recorded two
brand new tracks (one can be heard on our MySpace page
currently, entitled “Depravity”), re-recorded a song from
“Demise”, and then we made two covers…one of Death In June and
one of Goatsnake! The covers came out pretty cool too I think.
The new tracks, though, showcase what we’ve always done, which
is change a lot in between records. The Instinct: Decay
vibe can still be found, but there’s a lot more anger in songs
like “Depravity” in terms of aggression and lyrical content.
The other new track, “Worldfall”, is one of our most psychedelia-inspired
pieces yet. Instead of putting the bluesy solos all over it
like on the previous record, we used things like Moog
oscillators and clean vocals acting as a male chorus almost.
(think Hammerheart-era Bathory getting raped by Burzum on
a space ship….that’s how we jokingly describe this song within
the band!) At this point in time, “Worldfall” and “Depravity”
serve as what I feel are the two best songs we’ve ever made.
Maybe that’s just because they’re fresh to me, but I really
think they’re great tracks and I’m excited to have them
released.
: What’s on your stereo now?
Right now in my
5-disc changer are:
Disc one: New Nachtmystium trx (yeah, I’m still playin’ it –
its NEW!! =P )
Disc two: Moby – Play
Disc three: Joy Division – Closer
Disc four: Bolt Thrower – Those Once Loyal (great new
death metal record
from these legends!)
Disc five: Mammatus – s/t CD (great psyche-doom on Holy Mountain
Records)
And on my turntable sits the A/B LP of the double LP test
pressing of
Velvet Cacoon “Genevieve”, compliments of my buddy at Southern
Lord.
: What’s next for the band? Say bye.
We leave in about 3 weeks for tour with
Norwegian black metal
band 1349. Tour goes all over the U.S. and there are numerous
Canadian dates. Then it’s off to the New England Metal and
Hardcore Festival at the end of April. After that, we’ve got
more touring plans in the works and I’ll be hard at work tour
managing another great tour that I’m not playing on. (The news
will be announced shortly…)
Thanks for the
interview!! All the best, -Blake / Nachtmystium.
We'd like to say thanks to Blake for
the great interview and for certainly putting effort and
sincerity in answering our
questions. That's exactly what readers/fans need.
Read the
Instinct: Decay
review
Battle Kommand Records Site
Nachmystium MySpace Page |
