You recently performed at Reggie’s Rock Club with Alcest and Velnias
on April 24, 2010. Can you give some thoughts on that experience, and if you’ll perform shows with similar lineups in the future?"It
was fantastic. I got the opportunity to meet a group of really
great people, all of whom I admire. I think that is one of the most rewarding things about being a musician. As of now, our next performance will be at
Reggie's Rock Club in September with Katatonia, Swallow the Sun, Orphaned Land, and Novembers Doom."
Growing up in Chicago, what kind of kid were you? What music and metal were you first into?
"I was quiet, mainly trying to stay out of trouble. I grew up in a
neighborhood called Humboldt Park that was pretty rough back in the late 80s and early 90s. I was interested in music then. I can't recall specifically
when I got my first guitar, but I was probably around the age of 10. I remember being particularly obsessed with Pearl Jam's 10 around then. As I got a bit
older I was listening to more grunge like Alice in Chains and I was a huge Metallica fan around 14-15. Clad in Darkness was formed late ‘99 or early 2000
or so. At least the idea had occurred to John and I that we wanted to start a band, it took us quite a while to find members though. Back then I was heavily into bands like Opeth, Dissection, In Flames, and Agalloch."
Is someone clad in darkness if he is amidst her shadows?
"Ha! That's a clever observation. I never put that together. Let's just hope it's not during a period of Crimson Horizons."
Was the "period of Crimson Horizons" the early music referred to in the www.cladindarkness.com biography, that "resembled a very choppy mix of Opeth and Dissection"? Is Crimson Horizons available anywhere?
"There's no such thing by the name of Crimson Horizons that we have released. None. Not quite sure what you're on about!"
? http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/album-groupe-Clad_In_Darkness-nom_album-Crimson_Horizons-l-en.html
"??????"
Any unanimous beer favorite for the band?
"No, no, no. We all have very different tastes. John really doesn't like beer
that much, I think it would be safe to say one of Chris' favorites is Guinness, Brian is a fan of Rolling Rock and New Belgium, Casey, well he l
ikes a lot,I don't know what would be his favorite. I really enjoy Belgian strong dark ales. I'd say my favorite would be Rochefort 8. One of those and a Dunhill
International would be fantastic just about any time."
According to the Clad in Darkness last.fm biography, "Opeth, Agalloch, and Dissection" were early influences for the band, yet your sound also has elements of jazz and post-rock. Compare "Revelries and Silence" to "Unrest" for instance. "Unrest" with its dreamy sonic space, and "Revelries" with its jazzy blues interlude in the introduction. Your MySpace biography describes these genres of influence, such as avant-garde and electronic. Can you give some examples of where these diverse influences come from?
"Well the influences are just influences, they aren't always explicitly in the music and often times can be subtle. For example the electronic influence can be found in a track like Undulations and is solely in the way Brian drums. Parts of it have a really IDM feel to it, but there's no actual electronic music in our music, just yet. Basically we're just fans of music, we play it because we enjoy it and we all have pretty diverse tastes in music that inspire us to create."
See any good films recently?
"Well I did re-watch Man Bites Dog five days ago, but that's about the 100th time I've seen it, though it's still one of my top films ever. A few films that I saw recently that were new to me were: Tarkovsky's Solaris, Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, and Mike Leigh's Naked. I also rewatched some other favorites in the recent weeks: Down by Law, Platoon, and Near Dark."
Some of your fans like to parody the band’s name. Do you have any favorites?
"There's been so many that I can't really recall a specific one. Some of my old lyrics get parodied too. I am a bit particular to the H.M.S. C.I.D. though. It's a lot of fun though."
Recall any embarrassing moments on stage?
"Yeah, it was pretty bad. We were late for a show and sort of as a punishment the owner made us go on as soon as the band that was on was done. I hadn't eaten anything at all and I wasn't felling too well. All I wanted to do was sit down for a second and have a beer and collect myself, but I didn't even have time to tune my guitar. Basically I was a mess and really nervous, so when we got to a particular song we weren't very familiar with just yet I pretty
much froze up on stage half way through the song. It wasn't very pretty."If the band were to cover a non-metal song, what would it be?
"There's no doubt about it, Longplayer."
Amidst Her Shadows was released in 2005 and drew inspiration from the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. Will literature continue to be a conceptual force in future works, and if not, what will be?
"Well, it's only the first two tracks and those will be part of the full length album that we should be getting on soon. We've been saying that for a while, but the material is all written. We're thinking of writing an intro for Foreword, so that might delay things a bit, but really, it should be soon. I'm sure literature and pretty much any type of artistic medium will influence us in some way, in what way or specifically I cannot say."
I was impressed with the your material even more so when the band played "Nepenthe" during the WLUW.org, 88.7 FM radio show on April 22, 2010. There were a lot of nuances I hadn’t heard on a previous recording and just a fuller sound. Ever consider re-releasing Amidst Her Shadows with new production?
"Well I think a lot of that had to do with playing Revelries for as long as we have. We've had some time to experiment with different little things we can throw in there here and there. Re- releasing it hasn't been something we've discussed, but I guess you can never say never. It'd probably be a long time from now if it were ever to happen and I suppose a lot of demand for >such a thing to come to fruition."
Beyond that, what’s the future for Clad in Darkness as far as albums, sound, and touring?
"Well, hopefully we'll have the album ready before the Katatonia show in September. We have several months to do so, so I don't think it will be out of the question. After that there's nothing definite set. Touring would be fun. I would say it would be a possibility, but there would be a lot of factors for us to smooth out."
Three favorite albums right this moment.
"Warning's Watching From a Distance, Austere's To Lay Like Old Ashes, and Klabautamann's Merkur. I'm sure Lantlôs' .neon will take a spot on that list when it is released."
Any closing thoughts?
"Cheers for having me answer a few questions and thank you for the support!"
>
Interview done by Treacye Hieatt
Musisz być użytkownikiem tej strony aby dodać komentarz