Ten Questions to ... Alex S Wamp of The Black Capes

Any band whose profile says that they are influenced by The Sisters of Mercy, Fields of The Nephilim, Type O Negative and The 69 Eyes has already got my interest, and Greek band The Black Capes certainly live up to their billing on sophomore album Lullabies for the Dead, released this week on Dark Tunes.

The history of gothic rock (with a capital “r”) can be traced back to the mid-1980’s, when the likes of Ian Astbury and Wayne Hussey decided that they were more interested in Led Zeppelin than Joy Division, and since then bands such as Tiamat and Funhouse in the second generation of goth in the 1990’s and Sonsombre, Long Night and October Turns Black in the current third generation have carried on the good work, in addition to the bands mentioned at the beginning of this review.

Opening track And I Wait sets the tone for Lullabies for the Dead, with a heavy up-tempo bass and guitar salvo the perfect backing for singer Alex’s gruff baritone vocal. The Blood Is The Life and album highlight From Beyond The Grave are similar slabs of full-frontal gothic rock that will appeal to fans of current scene darlings Sonsombre, thanks to the strong melodies, high production values and familiar lyrical content.

But The Black Capes are far from being a one-trick pony. Alex’s inspired laconic vocal on the cover version of The Cult’s Rain, sung an octave deeper than the original, brings to mind the precise delivery of The 69 Eyes legend Jyrki, and the same style is used to great effect on other tracks like Gotham and The Gun of Love. Fans of Fields of the Nephilim are most likely to enjoy the more slow-burning, multi-layered songs such as the epic Sprinkle Your Sand, Morpheus and the bombastic album closer War Is Where You Make It.

For me the most interesting tracks are those which feature slightly more angular riffs and chord changes, such as the chugging The Gun Of Love and A Dream Of The Tower, which features an intriguing blend of post-punk and metal features, showing the band’s continuing development.

Wanting to find out more about a band for whom I could find no English langauge interviews online, I contacted singer Alex S Wamp and was delighted that he agreed to be the latest respondent in our Ten Questions to…. feature.

_________________________________________________________________________________

1.       It’s been three years since the debut album from The Black Capes. Why did it take so long to get round to album number two?

I realise that we live in a fast age, but I don't think three years is too long if you want to keep a high quality. Otherwise, you might end up listening to your album and think that if I had more time I would have changed this and that, would have come up with another melody, or written better lyrics, and so on.

2.       You’ve always had the motto “Bringing Gothic Back In Style”, and since the first album there seems to have been a bit of a resurgence in traditional gothic rock, with Sonsombre having put out three albums as well as bands like Sometime The Wolf, Guillotine Dream and October Burns Black coming onto the scene. Do you feel that the world is catching up a little bit with The Black Capes?

Well, we have this motto because we believe in it very strongly, and we wish to succeed in doing so, along with all the other new bands around the world. Also, one good thing is that we are starting to build bonds and create friendships with the other bands - like Sonsombre - and that's really good for the scene. We had a big post punk and retro wave revival the past years, so, if history repeats itself, maybe the time has come for gothic rock to rise again.

3.       The new album features a great drawing of a bat on the cover, very different from the almost steampunk logo you used on the first album. Other bands like The Kentucky Vampires have reclaimed some of the old goth clichés, and your song titles on the new album – Gotham, Welcome to the Necroclub, From Beyond the Grave – cover typical goth subject matter. How important is image to the band?

The first cover is our trademark actually, Mr. Gothopoly, who also exists in the new album - just not on the cover. Justin (Angry Blue) is a very down to earth person given his status, so we wanted to have something of his on the cover. We love bats and vampires, so it came naturally. Image is something the fans give more importance to, rather that the musicians. We are a cliche-free band, so maybe on the next album we might have a llama on the cover, and have songs about cupcakes, but put them through our personal dark filter so it can represent what we are all about. Also I love the new album by The Kentucky Vampires, just wanted to share that hahahaha.

4.       The first album got great reviews in rock and metal magazines and did really well in places like Germany where more symphonic goth and goth metal have always had a bigger audience (Nightwish, Lord of the Lost etc). Do you think that the new album will appeal more to a mainstream goth audience?

The first album was too goth for metalheads and too heavy for goths, but we played from our heart and people heard that in our music and gave us a chance. Same goes for the new album, only this time it came out a bit more goth rock and dark, rather than heavy. Maybe we will lose some fans who like our heavier side and, who knows, maybe win more fans from the goth audience.

5.       The new album features a cover version of The Cult’s Rain. What drew you to that particular classic? Do you feel it’s indicative of the current sound of The Black Capes?

The first reason is because we love this song, and also because like The Black Capes, The Cult, even on their early days, were also both a goth and a rock band.

6.       Which other classic goth tracks would you like to have a go at one day?

I would go for Beyond the Pale by The Mission, everybody in the band loves this song. Spellbound by Siouxsie and The Banshees would be another one, because not only do I like it, but I want to see what I could do when covering a song with female vocals. But, to be honest, we also wanted to do Iggy Pop's Cry For Love, and had it ready, but we can't have that many covers on the album so we left it for another time.

7.       Athens is reputed to have one of the most active goth scenes in Europe, but apart from Mike Pougounas’ bands (Flowers of Romance, New Zero God etc) few have became widely known globally. Do you feel that the goth scene there is vibrant, and which other bands should we be looking out for?

The goth scene (both bands and fans) is very small here but, like you say, very active. We have a huge stoner, black metal and thrash scene with thousands attending local bands shows, but the goth scene is very underground. It used to be big back in the day from the late 90's until 2005. But, nowadays, we have a lot of new musicians that get into the subculture and start forming bands. Some clubs are starting to host post-punk and goth shows, and big festivals have started bringing names like The Cure, Bauhaus, Nick Cave. You usually see a lot of young goths attending shows like those, which gives a positive message for the future. I guess it comes back to the revival we spoke of. You should check out Ghostland, who released a killer album, as well as Chain Cult, who are getting bigger and bigger with a lot of tours around the world. Also check out Cold Remembrance and Mosquito. And for some heavier goth check out Opened Paradise and Saddolls.

8.       You’re also the singer of the southern/stoner metal band Potergeist, which started back in 2005. Was that kind of music your first love, or did you always intend to branch out into a more gothic sound?

I was a goth from a very young age and always liked some darkness in the music I listened to. But I never intended to be a musician. My cousin and I were having coffee and he was playing his guitar, so I started singing, and he was like "dude, do you want to start a band?". So I never got to think about it. I mean I love the delta blues and the southern gothic stories, and that is why I still love what we do with Potergeist. But my need to return to my goth roots started showing when I turned Potergeist into a "swamp vampire" themed band. And it was around that time when I said ok, I must create a new band and keep my love for goth on that side, and let Potergeist be another thing.

9.       Your vocal tone is very different in the two projects (to my untuned ear!). Did you deliberately decide to affect a more traditionally goth rock tone for The Black Capes, or was it just what came out naturally over a different type of music.

I am a baritone to start with. But also the 2 bands have a different tuning, so the voice follows that. But I love singing more on these low notes because I never get to sing in that area of my voice in the other bands.

10.   Early reviews for the new album have again been very positive. What are the plans for the future? Are the plans for shows outside Greece when the current restrictions are lifted?

We want to tour as much as we can, and meet other bands and fans around the world, but right now everything is uncertain, so we can't really make any plans.

Thanks to Alex for the full and detailed answers. Looking forward to those other cover versions ... and the dark-filtered llamas and cupcakes!! In the meantime the new album from The Black Capes can be purchased here.