ULTRA INTERVIEW:
I
saw your new album cover in an e-mail from Bandcamp. As soon as I saw the title and the cover, I was curious. Three guys giving me a hard stare, reminding me of my mortality and calling me a motherfucker,
grabbed my attention
and made me click the link.
I just had to hear if the music was as bad-ass as the cover, and was sucked in right away. The heaviness of “The Reckoning” made me turn up the volume.
The melodies
of “Realm of Darkness” and the rhythms of “Doom Christ” intrigued
me, and as soon as I heard that cool extra beat/time
change in “Whip The Sinners”,
I purchased the album. And by the time I got to the end of “Murder
Mountain”, if I still smoked I would have lit up a cigarette. I haven’t stopped listening to this gem of an album yet, and feel privileged to have this opportunity to interview you, so thanks a lot for giving up your time.
Tue
Madsen’s production has really accentuated your musical and songwriting strengths. What was it like to work with him?
Anders: I have known Tue for many years and worked with him before. The thing about Tue is that he instantly makes you feel comfortable. Even though he’s a big shot producer, he’s really down to earth and really cool to hang out with. As a producer, he’s a real pro. His philosophy is that the music belongs to the artist, so he rarely interferes or tries to make changes to the composition or sound, unless he’s got a brilliant idea. He really
respects you as a composer
and musician and manages to capture the idea of the music, while, at the same time, making things sound much better than you thought possible. So, we had a really good time in his studio.
Stevie: Like Anders, I have recorded
with Tue before, once back in 2003, in the early days of his producer career. He is really relaxed, but still top professional. He has a ton of experience and good ears. And he makes a gorgeous drum sound!
Andreas: For me, recording
“Memento Mori, Motherfucker” was the first time working with a “real”
A-level producer. I knew that Anders had worked with Tue on several occasions
before and I had heard a lot of really good things about him from, not only Anders,
but a bunch of other people as well. As Anders says, Tue is an extremely pleasant
person to work with and be around.
He sits in his chair, fiddling
with knobs and dials, saying hardly anything
unless he’s asked or unless he’s got something pressing
to communicate. So, it’s like, when Tue speaks,
you listen. He’s very vocal about wanting to help you capture your vision, your sound, and your music. He’s a fucking
wizard with ProTools and all the equipment he’s got stacked all over the place. I miss recording
with him and hope I’ll get the chance to do it again some day.
Were you able to keep writing and playing during the height of the pandemic?
Anders: Our rehearsal room is located in a big complex
owned by the municipality, so they had to shut it down for a month or more, but we have met as much as possible.
I guess we’ve all been writing riffs and generated ideas separately, so we probably
have a lot of material
for the next album, when we get to that. Live jobs are just starting to happen again, and we really look forward to playing in front of an audience
again.
Stevie: When the pandemic
came, we were almost ready to enter the studio and record the new album. However, with the lockdown,
we couldn’t meet and play together, but we made demo recordings of all the songs on album at home before recording for real with Tue Madsen.
Andreas: During lockdown, we tried to be as productive as possible by, as Stevie says, making home recordings
of the new songs and stuff. Generally
speaking, I’ve used the pandemic
as a catalyst to write and demo record music at home. In this regard, it’s been a productive period.
I
love all the tunes on Memento Mori, but “Murder Mountain” is my favorite. What is that story about? Would you be willing to provide lyrics? I might have something wrong, but it seems like it’s a parallel story to B.O.C’s “Last Days of May”?
Anders: It’s always up to the listener
to read into a song what he or she feels. But I can tell you that the story was inspired by the Netflix
documentary “Murder Mountain”, which I thought
was really cool. I highly recommend it, if it’s still up.
Andreas: “Murder Mountain” is Anders’ song. He came up with the concept
and the riffs and everything. I usually write all the lyrics, but for this one, Anders also came up with the chorus and the first two lines of verse one.
He mentioned the Netflix documentary, which I watched, and then I wrote the rest of the lyrics. As Anders said, which I agree with totally, is that once a song has been released and is out there for people to listen to, its “meaning” becomes manifold because people start reading different things into it. None of these meanings
are incorrect or worth less than the intended meaning
of whoever wrote the song. In other words, I think it’s really awesome that you see “Murder Mountain”
as a parallel story to “Last Days Of May.” It’s precisely
for this reason that listening
to music is so damn awesome! Songs stop being what they are and take on new forms. It’s a very organic
and beautiful thing, really. I will make sure to upload the lyrics to the songs on Bandcamp
I
have to know: What were some of the first rock bands you ever listened
to, and what have you been listening to lately?
Anders: I have a childhood memory of my older brother playing Deep Purple and especially the song “Fireball”.
I loved that song when I was 5, along with Led Zeppelin and, of course, Black Sabbath.
I still think some of the greatest rock music was written back then, and I still listen to a lot of 70s hard rock and doom. Lately, I have listened quite a lot to some cool Danish bands like Uddød, Kellermensch and Katla.
Stevie: When I was 12 in 1995, my mom got a new boyfriend who was the bass player in a grunge rock band. He was really inspirational, and he made me a tape with Pantera’s “Far Beyond Driven” and Machine Head’s “Burn My Eyes”. That tape was on repeat all summer. When I came home to my father after the summer,
I bought Slayer’s “Divine Intervention” and Konkhra’s “Spit Or Swallow”
and formed my first death metal band, Black Panthers.
I haven’t listened
to a lot of music lately, though. I play and rehearse a lot, so when I’m alone I just want some peace and quiet, haha! I listen to a lot of audio books. Two chill albums I like to listen to are “Wish
You Were Here” by Pink Floyd and “25” by Adele.
Andreas: When I first started becoming
musically aware at the age of, I guess, 14, I was heavily into classic acts like The Doors, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix and others from that era. For whatever reason, though, I started feeling a pull towards the darker, heavier side of music, and I found myself gradually becoming
interested in metal. I remember
buying Prong’s “Rude Awakening”, Cannibal
Corpse’s “Butchered At Birth”, Strapping
Young Lad’s “City”, various Slayer and Iron Maiden albums etc. etc. Currently, I like listening
to chaotic stuff like Undergang
(Danish band), Blotted
Science and the new Cannibal
Corpse album, music that forces you to pay attention.
I also massively dig bands like Ufomammut,
With The Dead, and Electric
Wizard as well as soundtracks like Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score to “Mandy”,
which is phenomenal, and Zoltan’s “Tombs Of The Blind
Dead”. I’ve listened
to these last two albums a millions
times. I’m also a huge fan of Goblin from Italy.
What was the first rock concert you ever saw, and what was the best one you’ve ever been to?
Anders: Uhh … There is really a lot to choose from. I think my first concert
was when, as a teenager, I went to the local sports center to see a Danish band called TV2, haha! The best concert? Well, I’ll have to mention a few.
Deftones and Sepultura
at Roskilde Festival
in 1996. Black Sabbath at Copenhell Festival
in 2016. I also have to mention Alice in Chains at that same festival – first time I heard them live, and it was magnificent, even though it was without Layne (R.I.P).
Stevie: When I was 9, I was just starting out playing drums. That year, my mom was working at a beach bar that held
concerts every single night the whole summer. I saw all kinds of French bands there, talked to the
drummers and sometimes they’d
let me play with them at their shows at night. It’s hard to point out only one concert, but seeing Sepultura
warming up for AC/DC in France in support of their new album “Roots” in 1996
was
super cool. Soulfly and Limp Bizkit playing together in Denmark in support of their first album was a fantastic
show, too!
Andreas: I have absolutely
no idea what the first concert I ever saw was. Some of the best acts I’ve seen live include, in no particular order, Placebo, Gojira, Mastodon, Strapping
Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Soulfly, Marilyn Manson, and Alice In Chains.
I cannot name just one.
If you remember, what music did you play in your very first band, and how old were you?
Anders: I have always been into rock and metal, but I guess my first band, which was in my teens, was more of a hippie pop-rock band. The reason I was in it was that the singer was this really hot girl, whom I was very interested in. When she got a boyfriend, I moved on to some darker music hahaha …
Stevie: My first band was called Black Panthers,
which I had with some friends from school. We played our own rock/death songs two times a week in the afternoon. It was very bad, but fun. We recorded a demo tape I still have. (You want a pic?). I was 12 years old.
Andreas: The first real band I was in was this weird outfit called Poe’s Raven in which I played guitar.
That was in the late 90s in high school. We played a messy mix of, I guess, rock, grunge and metal, and wrote our own songs. We recorded a demo called “December Dawning”.
The singer, Mikael Rise, actually went on to join Anders’ band Nil By Mouth, which recorded twice with Tue Madsen. It’s through Mikael that I know Anders. Today, Mikael sings in a techy djent band called Scamp (who’ve also availed themselves
of Tue Madsen’s services on several occassions).
Finally, what other Danish bands should we be checking out?
Anders: There is a lot of great Danish rock and metal bands, Kellermensch, Uddød, Bersærk, Baest, Fusskalt, Katla, Slowjoint, Olm - just to mention a few.
Stevie: Seed Of Heresy is cool old school death metal.
Andreas: Apart from the bands already mentioned by the others,
I highly recommend
death metal acts Undergang and Iniquity. Also check out Thunderwhip, a doom band out of Esbjerg. Their album “Forever’s
End” kills!
Stone Cadaver, I appreciate your thoughtful
responses and I wish you the best of success.
Rest assured that I will do my best to spread Stone Cadaver to motherfuckers everywhere.
Anders: Thank you very much!
I really appreciate the effort and sincerity Stone Cadaver put into answering my questions, and hope you found it interesting. You can check out Stone Cadaver's music on Bandcamp. You won't be disappointed. If you like it as much as I did, spread the word.
-ULTRA
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