To start this interview: could you say a few words about Blackguard to our readers?Blackguard: we’ve been a band for… wow, this year is our 10th year anniversary. We are from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We are a metal band. When we started off it was more along the folk metal side; we call it symphonic, melodic, death metal with folk elements to it.
We’ve released 3 records so far: 1 CD on Prodisk (which is a label out of Montreal), then our first international release was in 2009 with Sumerian Records called “Profugus Mortis”. We actually changed our name from Profugus Mortis to Blackguard. And then, our last CD came out last year (2011) on Victory Records and it was called Firefight.
We sort of got away from a lot of our folk metal influences and we are now focusing on symphonic elements. But, we are still, I like to think, a pretty aggressive band in what we do. Hum… yeah… We tour a lot (laughs).
You guys are touring with Kittie. How different has this tour been for you guys when comparing to tours with heavier type of bands?
I’m actually sort of surprised. You’ll see Kittie fans out there but they are wearing Morbid Angel shirts or something like that. Last night, in San Francisco, there was a guy wearing one of those brutal death metal bands’ shirt and he was there for Kittie, you know?
So, I think that Kittie, although they are not as popular as they were maybe 10 years ago, has left an impression on people that still resonates today. They were a band that yeah… of course they were not the most brutal thing out of the market at the time but people that have gone into them probably went into listening to heavier music later on down the road. So, their influence is still very relevant.
The tour has been great and the fans have been fantastic. The people that are there to see music and have a good time are going to dig almost anything you do, as long as you do it well. And I would like to think that we play with a certain amount of proficiency, that we are a good band and that we put up a good show so, people respond well to what we are doing.
I mean, yes, it is a diverse lineup but everybody sort of complements each other very well and people that are coming out [to the show], are coming out to have a blast.
Any highlights so far?
Portland, Oregon was by far the best show. All the Canadian dates we did were really good too. We’ve only been in the States for the last 3 or 4 days. We spent a week in Canada before that. But Portland was easily the best show of the whole tour and definitely one of the top 5 shows of my entire career, I think. It was just incredible! I mean, there was a really good crowd; the energy that we’ve got from the people was amazing.
What made it so special for me is that we had a lot, a lot of stage time. It got so ridiculous to the point that we were just kind of hanging back and letting everybody kind of come onstage and jump off. It was like that for the last 2, 3 songs of the set. It was just so intense… It reminded me of all the really great punk shows that I went to when I was younger.
That’s what I like to see: I like to see a lot of energy from the crowd. So, it was just amazing. I left that show feeling so happy because it’s those kind of shows that are all the reason why I play music, you know? I want to play music to get that kind of reaction, when people are losing their minds and having a great time, not just necessarily sitting down and watching. I like to see energy: we are an energetic band and I like to see energy coming from the crowd. If we are playing in front of a crowd who just wants to watch that’s ok, I can’t hate them for it. But at the same time I want to inspire people to be even more energetic than we are onstage.
You guys have toured North America many times these past few years. Any plans to tour in Europe or other territories?
Yes, actually, that’s pretty much going to be the focus of this year. This is going to be our only North American tour which is very uncharacteristic of us (last year alone we did North America 6 times, I think). But, yeah… this year since we are wiring down the touring cycle for this record, we have only this one [tour in North America]. We are going to do some more dates but it is going to be
more concentrated in the East [Coast] and we are going to do a bunch of festivals in Canada when we get back.Besides from that, the goal is to go and do a full European tour. It sucks because there are [more] plans but I can’t really announce them right now. I have to wait until they are announced officially before I say anything. But, there are plans to go overseas and do a lot of cool, exotic places, where we’ve never played before. So, this year is going to be really fun.
Like you said: you guys came here many times last year and this year you will be touring again. Any scheduled breaks in 2012?
Well, we should have, I believe, 4 months off when we get off of this tour. But, we will still be going to do those “one off” shows. So, I think we have 5 or 6 bookings, like festivals sort of things. And in that time we are going to be focusing mainly on writing the next record.
For this new album, are you guys going to continue to focus on more symphonic elements?
Yes, absolutely. We’re basically going to just try to improve what we did on Firefight. It’s going to be like: a symphonic melodic power death metal record. That’s how I see it.
So, we are definitely going to carry on with this, we are not going to do any kind of drastic style changes. We feel that we are very comfortable with what we are doing right now; this is where we want to be stylistically and this is where we are going to continue now. We will just try to improve and get better at it.
Firefight was a really well reviewed album. Do you think that it did open some doors for the band?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, the CD that we put out before, when we had a lot more folk metal influences,…we got a lot a shit from it, especially from European press. Just people saying: “Ohh… what are these North Americans trying to do… folk metal?” Man… we can do what the hell we want. I mean, we weren’t trying to rip-off anybody’s cultures. It is not like we were talking about Viking mythology or anything like that or anything close to that, lyrically.
But yeah, we did have those folk influences because that’s what we loved and we had every right to do that, to write that kind of music. So, we did get a lot of shit from it, from a lot people. People just didn’t get it, people didn’t understand. Or, people would just call us pirate metal for some stupid reason.
I think it was a Terrorrizer review, it’s a pretty bad review and he is just like: “Oh… these guys are pirate metal”. I’m sorry! I didn’t realize that we did a photoshoot where we are dressed as fucking pirates and I forgot that I wrote songs about pirates. I don’t know where these people get off… some of these journalists. If people are going to review our record at least try to do your homework on the band and not assume something. Anyways, there are a lot of people who did get that CD, who kind of understood what we were doing.
With Firefight streamlining our sound to more symphonic elements, we kind of gave people fewer reasons to bitch about us, I guess… we kind of cut down on the confusion. I think, with this last record, people were able to focus on the music and what it was and not what they thought I was talking about or what we represented as a band.
So, I’m happy people got to properly listen to this CD and gave the proper listen that it deserved and I’m happy that people liked it. If people say they like our music… great! We are doing something right.
About your vocals: with so many tours happening throughout the year, are there any type of exercises you have to do to keep your voice well all the time?
Oh yeah! I think it was in 2010: we were supposed to tour with Kamelot and Leave’s Eyes. That was when Roy [Khan] left the band. [Kamelot ended up cancelling that North American tour].
The booking agent was able to save some of the shows last minute so we and Leave’s Eyes ended up touring for about 2 weeks and in that time I completely blew my voice out. I couldn’t scream… it sounded really bad. So, we did two weeks with Leave’s Eyes and then we went right into a Nevermore tour that we got put on last minute because Mutiny Within dropped off that tour. I struggled so hard through that whole tour.
I don’t know exact
ly what happened because I never really saw a doctor but what I think happened is that some nodes developed on my throat, my vocal cords couldn’t close properly, so I couldn’t manipulate my throat to a proper scream and it would always crack.When we went out with Deicide last February, the singer from Neuraxis showed me “The Zen Of Screaming”. It is basically vocal lessons for screamers. It showed me a lot of warm up techniques so, I try to do that almost every day, to make sure that I preserve my voice and warm up properly.
So, yeah, there is totally a regiment and I try to do it as often as I can, for as long as I can, just to make sure that my throat stays proper because that was such an uncomfortable, unpleasant experience. There is nothing worse than going on stage and knowing that you are going to suck and not knowing when you are going to stop sucking. But then again, some people say I suck anyways so … that’s debatable (laughs).
Blackguard was formed back in 2001. You guys have already passed the 10 year mark. How does that feel and what were the biggest highlights of this “decade”?
Touring in Europe was definitely a huge highlight.
The first couple of tours that we ever did in North America: the 2009 PaganFest and the 2009 Summer Slaughter. It was just crazy. It was the dream… Chris! [Paul calls Chris Kells, the bass guitar player from The Agonist, who was passing by]. You know what I’m talking about…? When you start a band and you like, dream about touring and all that crap… How did you feel about your fist tour? I’m totally getting you on this interview! (laughs)
Chris Kells: About our first tour? I thought I was going to be like a big Rock Star afterwards. [Then I] came home... No, not at all. And then you realize all the shit that comes by being in a band: you’re going to learn how to be a mechanic, how to be a merch salesman, how to do this and how to do that… Not what I signed up for, just kind of fell into it.
Paul: No, but it is still fun!! (laughs)…. But it was such an incredible experience. Especially the Pagan Fest was so much fun. It was so well attended and the crowd response was huge. I thought we were going to be big in no time because we were playing in front of big crowds in almost every show and we had great crowd responses. The assumption was: “all these people are going to come back every single show”. And that was not the case (laughs). You know… having a good show is a lot different than actually building a solid fan base that will follow you after show, after show, after show. We are starting to see that now, especially the last couple of years.
Mexico City! Holy fuck… playing for a crowd that is enthusiastic about music and live shows was incredible. It was one of the best experiences we’ve ever had. The first time we’ve ever played there was right before the 70000 tons of metal. Again, that was another surreal experience: playing the first ever metal cruiseship festival (besides the shorter ones they have in Finland).
Some of the shows that are coming up, will be in countries that we never played before… I’m gitty with anticipation to be able to play these places. I love the fact that I’m in a business and that I’m in a band that has given me these opportunities: to go to these countries and, being able to go there and play shows in front of hopefully people that want to see us playing. As cheesy as it sounds, it is the dream come true.
Any messages to the SOM readers?
Keep your eyes open for our new record coming out early 2013. Please search Blackguard on Facebook and if you like us, please like us on there. Keep in contact with us: if you dig what we do, we would love to talk to you there too. Send us a message, leave something on our wall. Keep us encouraged to keep going you know? Because we need you guys during the rough times, on those rough days, on rough tours, when we don’t feel like going on… the fans and the people who appreciate the music, they help us keep us going.
For upcoming shows near your city please come check us out. Check our music too, buy our records (laughs). I don’t know.
And anybody our there who already knows and have supported the band in anyway: thank you very much. We really appreciate it. You guys are the reason that we are still out here doing this. So, thank you!
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit
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