For those who subscribe to the theory of a new Goth/Post-Punk
Revival, a distinct third generation of bands launched in the digital era
employing technology not available to previous artists, She Past Away’s debut digital
EP of 2010 is often cited as the starting point. The movement really gathered
pace in the middle of that decade, with 2015 seen as a pivotal year in Europe
when the potential for a genuine scene became reality. Not only did She Past Away
release sophomore set Narin Yalnızlık and Then
Comes Silence unleash their seminal third album Nyctophilian, but new
bands began to emerge with a darker, more intense sound. From the former industrial
heartland of the Limburg province of Belgium came young turks Whispering Sons’
debut EP Endless Party, and the same region also gave birth that year to
one of the most interesting and highly respected projects on the current scene,
Ground Nero.
Unlike most artists of the current revival, Ground
Nero is a new band consisting of members who were also active in the original scene, in their case the world-renowned coldwave movement in Belgium in the early/mid-1980’s that gave rise
to EBM and ultimately rave culture. Whilst respectfully paying tribute to
their own origins and to their contemporaries across the English Channel from
that decade, they seek to create a post-punk “wall of sound” using twenty-first
century technology to create a new gothic aesthetic.
Their first two EP’s, Beyond (2016) and Scales
(2018) defined their distinctive signature sound, an atmospheric collage of pounding
bass, mesmeric guitar shards, metronomic drum machine patterns, swirling
keyboards and guttural angst-ridden baritone vocals. The opening chapter of the
band’s history was completed with the release of critically acclaimed debut LP Divergence
in 2019, this blog’s album of the year and a record which saw their fanbase swell
significantly, aided by rave reviews for their multi-media live shows as
festival bookings accumulated.
It seemed only natural that, after Then Comes Silence,
Ground Nero should therefore be the second band to face “Ten Questions to …” on an
individual basis, because like the self-styled "Swedish captains of post-punk”,
the Belgian band is so much more than the sum of its talented parts.
It is fitting that the first interviewee is Peter
Smeets, the guitarist and keyboard player with the band, who is also the
primary songwriter. My thanks to Peter for his detailed responses to my
questions.
Ground Nero’s releases are available via Bandcamp,
and their activities can be followed on Facebook. Interviews with Peter P (bass)
and Gwijde W (vocals) will follow shortly.
1.Although Ground Nero formed in the
mid-2010’s, you’d all been involved in music for many years. When did you
personally first get interested in goth/darkwave music, and which bands/artists
most inspired you?
For me, it started at university, so
when I was 18, and I guess that the first band that really struck me was Joy
Division. Before then, I had been playing some heavy rock and metal. But Joy
Division definitely led me into the coldwave & postpunk music, soon
followed by Siouxsie, Killing Joke, The Sisters of Mercy, Cocteau Twins, X-Mal
Deutschland, etc. And these are still the bands that inspire me today. Some of
them don’t exist anymore but some, like Killing Joke keep on inspiring me.
2.Before Ground Nero you were
involved in a band called Von Durckheim. Can you tell us a bit about them
please? Were you involved in other projects as well?
Yes, that was in 1983, and we did a few
interesting gigs and festivals, including one with Siglo XX and Red Zebra. But
it didn’t last as we were all planning different things at the time. I was
involved in some smaller things but nothing worth mentioning.
3.How did Ground Nero come about?How did you meet Peter and Gwijde and decide to form a band?
A few years ago, I got the idea of
starting all over again, so I looked out for musicians to form a band, which is
basically not a problem, but finding musicians for darkwave and gothic rock is
not that easy, especially when you are looking for people who have a similar
background i.e. who were part of the initial and authentic 80’s dark wave and
postpunk scene, which is quite different from what was made afterwards, e.g. in
the 90’s.
It all started off when I met Peter, our
bass player. That was the moment when Ground Nero was born. We started looking
for a singer who also had his roots in the 80’s postpunk and coldwave scene.
That’s how we found Gwijde, who had been vocalist in Portrait Bizarre in the 80’s.
4.Your huge guitar sound is an
integral part of the appeal of Ground Nero, and is sometimes compared to that
of Geordie of Killing Joke. Are you pleased by such comparisons?
Sure, I am most honoured. Geordie is one
of my most important “mentors” if you like. With his special way of playing and
creating sounds he evokes atmospheres and in doing that, he is unique. If you
listen to 10 guitarists, you will immediately recognize Geordie as he sounds
like no one else. I am not trying to copy his style or sound or anything like
that, but I follow the philosophy of creating atmospheric sounds that build a
song. More as a songwriter I will look into each instrument’s functionality to
fill in its part to create such atmospheres. And sometimes, I will play the
guitar in a rather restricted way, so only where it really adds to the song,
just a few notes, no more no less, whereas in other songs, I will create a wall
of sound with it.
5.Can you tell us a bit about your
guitar set-up? Which pedals and FX do you prefer?
Before I turned to Gretsch guitars, I
was mainly on Gibson Les Paul and SG. Don’t get me wrong, they are great
guitars, but in order to be able to create the sounds I have in mind, I need
hollow body guitars, with a great, massive resonance, coming from the body. You
don’t need this if you play metal on a high gain amp, but for the 80ies sound I
am looking for, with loads of delay, chorus, flanger and other modulation
effects, a hollow body guitar is perfect. My first Gretsch was that aspen green
G4520T, which is still great, but after that I got my White Falcon Billy Duffy
signature, which is my dream guitar, with customized high output pickups and a
number of other special modifications requested by Billy. It’s the best guitar
I ever had, but you really have to work on it. The Les Paul was a lot easier to
play. Previously I had 2 rigs in parallel, both with identical Mesa Boogies,
which were vintage amps from the 90ies, linked to 1x12 Boogie cabinets. Each of
them had their own pedal boards and they were linked by means of an ABY-switch,
so I could either play rig 1 or rig 2, or both together, to create that
room-filling wall of sound. But if you are touring, it’s a lot of material to
carry around and the Boogies weigh a ton. So, therefore, I have switched to
Fractal Axe Fx, which is a great amp modelling system, also used by Metallica
and other bands. It allows me to choose from hundreds of amps and speakers in
combination with all possible guitar effects you can imagine…and it’s all in
one single flightcase. For each and every song, I have created a dedicated
“patch”, which means a set up of 2 amps + 2 cabinets and a dedicated effects
loop. Each gig, I am using about 20 – 30 different amps and speaker cabinets.
You can imagine what this would mean if you would have all these things on
stage.
6.Unlike many darkwave bands, your
guitar sound is very varied: for example on the track Alacrity on the
Divergence album, you range from metallic chugging to a melodic, lyrical solo
that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Pink Floyd record. Is this a reflection
of the breadth of your own musical taste?
Many guitarists want to create their own
specific, and if possible, unique, recognizable sound. For me, it’s the song
that dictates me where my guitar sound needs to come from.Sometimes, I start working on a song with the
guitar, sometimes I get a bass line from Peter, but sometimes it can also start
with synths or even a drum rhythm. The guitar sound is then selected in view of
the song and its part in the song. So, therefore, my guitar playing will be
quite varied, and this of course is supported by the technology I am using, by
means of the Axe Fx. Alacrity is such a song, that evolved in a
direction that wasn’t planned in the first place. The arpeggiator synth was a
strong lead, that formed the opening for the heavy guitar to fall in and to
build up for the heavy metal-like riff in the verses. The Gilmour-like solo?
Well, we have been discussing this over and over again, as we always wanted to
stay away from typical rock-like soloing, but after having it re-worked
multiple times, we kept it in, as some pre-listeners liked it so much. At our
gig at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, I even played a faster, more metal
version of it, just for the fun of it. Apart from that, David Gilmour to me is
one of the greatest guitarists ever, and when I practice, I often play his
solos, like on Comfortably Numb. Same with Slash, another great guitarist.
7.You are also responsible for the
keyboards/sequencers which adds an extra layer which helps to build the
trademark Ground Nero “wall of sound”. Which bands influenced your keyboard
style?
Actually, I don’t know, but sometimes I
find myself playing synth lines and sounds, that I only recognize after having
them recorded. I now understand, how people when creating music are often
criticized for copying things from other artists, but you know, it sometimes
happens when you follow a certain chord progression, some melodies run out of
it automatically, without really knowing that this has already been played and
recorded by someone. As with the guitars and other instruments, I select the
synths and their sounds in view of the song. So I am never restricted to any
specific sound or style of synth. The same with the soundscapes we are using.
It’s the atmosphere of the song that dictates the keyboard style.
8.How do you go about writing songs?
Do you start with a melody, a rhythm or a lyrical concept?
As I said, it can start from a guitar
riff, a bass line, a synth melody, even a drum rhythm. We don’t have any rules.
But often it happens at night, when I am sleeping and then I have to get up
immediately and start playing and recording, or it is gone by the next morning.
9.For all Ground Nero tracks, a news
footage montage video is made and projected behind the band at live shows,
adding to the atmosphere at your gigs. Who makes these films?
Up till now, I have made them myself,
and it all started from the idea to create a complete thing, video and image
projections that support the content of the song, again creating the atmosphere
intended by the song. We wanted to present an audio-visual concept to the
audience, that was complete, round and supports and visualizes the story what
is told in the song.
A nice add-on, which we discovered after
the first shows, are the nice photographs, that are made by the photographers,
having these projected backgrounds. It takes quite a lot of work to make these
videos, but it’s worth it and we don’t have the budget to pay professional
video companies. And I see it as part of the overall creative work as well.
10.You’re
playing the Autumn Shadow festival in Liege and have been announced as the
second headliner on the Belgian stage for the Sinner’s Day festival which had
been postponed until Autumn 2021, the same day as Fields of The Nephilim,
Laibach and She Past Away are on the main stage, a sign of Ground Nero’s
growing profile on the scene. Do you have any plans for new studio material or
tentative plans for other live shows?
Since our latest album Divergence,
which was released last year, we haven’t stopped working on new material. We
have quite a number of new songs and will be recording in the next couple of
weeks. Pre-production is running now and again, diversity will be key, as we
have been experimenting with a lot of new sounds. For next year, some surprises
are planned as well…but that’s for later.
Goth’s longstanding reputation for miserabilism has its
roots in the earliest days of the genre, with the likes of Joy Division and The
Cure creating melancholy gloomscapes which counter-intuitively had an uplifting
effect for their many fans who found real solace in wallowing in what are
traditionally regarded as more negative emotions.
With song titles such as Awaiting My Death, Just Another
Tragedy and I Prefer To Be Alone, Slow Danse With The Dead’s eponymous debut EP
places the New Mexico artist right at the forefront of the “miserygoth” strand
of the current post-punk/darkwave revival, alongside equally introspective
artists such as Suffering For Kisses and Into Grey.
Johnny Ray M’s Albuquerque-based project was originally
named The Endless, under which name he digitally released a series of largely
coldwave tracks at a prodigious rate over the past few years, before changing
the project’s name to the more memorable Slow Danse With The Dead (one of The
Endless’ song titles) earlier this year.
The seven track digital EP, also released as a four track
cassette that is virtually sold out, showcases a winning combination of
lugubrious baritone vocals, strong melodies, and deceptively spartan
arrangements dominated by synths with a judicious use of dark guitar motifs that combine to create what Johnny describes as “the sound of the
dead rising”. Slow Danse With The Dead’s mesmerising mournfulness has quickly
attracted the approbation of the scene’s most respected connoisseurs, with
tracks played by Highway 7 and Frontiere Rock, highlighted on White
Light//White Heat and set to video by George Chlioumis amongst others.
With surprisingly little background info available online, I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview Johnny
to find out more about the inspiration and aspirations for Slow Danse With
The Dead, and would like to thank him for his full and frank answers.
Slow Danse With The Dead’s highly-recommended EP (and the previous releases initially released under the name The Endless)
can be obtained from Bandcamp.
1.How
did you into goth/darkwave in the first place. Which artists did you most
admire?
I was raised by a single mother in a Catholic family.
My parents split before I could even remember. I have two older sisters, one
was adopted by a family member and the other spent most her childhood in a
hospital. As a kid I was always alone, quiet and shy; my mother was either on
drugs or working and my father was absent and eventually serving out a sentence
in prison for drug related charges. As my mother was always away, I spent most
of my childhood at my grandparents’ home with my grandmother and aunt. My
grandmother lived in a part of town that was riddled with crime and violence
and most of my cousins who lived in that area at the time were in gangs. I had
no proper adult influence in my life other than my grandmother and aunt.
Instead of following in my cousins’ footsteps, I chose
music as a way to express myself and basically get away. My aunt was very much
into metal, gothic rock, and the more aggressive/darker side of music. She had
a major influence on me. She was usually in a leather jacket, band tee, and
always rocking her combat boots and always listening to something good! As far
as writing music, I think a lot of that has to do with my father. My father is
a musician and, in a way, I always looked up to him and it was he who gave me
my first electric guitar before he went to prison. Since he wasnʼt around, I
pretty much taught myself how to play it, that is, until my aunt met her love,
Dave a.k.a. “Uncle Feces” and it was Uncle Feces who taught me my first power
chord and how to produce music on a computer. He introduced me to bands like:
Ministry, Prong, Type O Negative, Revolting Cocks, My Life With the Thrill Kill
Kult, etc.. I think it was Uncle Feces that inspired me to look further into
the darker electronic scene. I was only 14 and very impressionable.
2.This
project was called The Endless until relatively recently. Why did you decide to
change the project name to that of one of your songs? Has there been a subtle
change in the music and lyrics?
I loved the band name The Endless however it was
already taken! I had to come up with a name on the spot and Slow Danse With The
Dead seemed like the perfect fit. In order to understand the light, one must
learn to appreciate the dark. Slow Danse With The Dead felt dark and romantic.
The name change had no affect on the lyrics.
3.In
that song (Slow Danse With The Dead), the word “danse” was originally spelled
with a “c”. What influenced that change, the UK goth band The Danse Society, or
Danse Macabre (either the Steven King novel, the record label or the classical
music piece)?
The title was
most certainly influenced by the classical piece, Danse Macabre!
4.So
far the debut album has been released as a twelve song Spotify list, a four
track cassette and a seven track download, all containing different selections.
Which do you consider to be the definitive list of songs?
The 4-track cassette EP is based off my 7 track debut
album on Bandcamp which is the definitive list of songs. The cassette EP comes
with a code to redeem the digital 7 track album.
5.Are
the plans for other physical releases of these recordings, such as CD and
vinyl?
Most definitely! Iʼm currently looking into a
production contract but the details are not set in stone as of yet!
6.Your
music has had a lot of support from the online community, such as DJʼs,
websites and podcasters. Have you been surprised by how quickly the project has
taken off?
Iʼm very grateful for all the support within the
online community! It has been great and I appreciate it all! The support has
given me motivation and such positive drive to keep producing! As for your
question, yes I am very surprised how fast this project took off! The musical
project was originally started in 2015, roughly. The fast progression has been
in the last year or so and it has been an amazing journey so far!
7.There
seem to be quite a few US artists independently producing coldwave
“miserygoth”, such as Suffering For Kisses and Into Grey. Do you think that
this is a reaction to the political situation in the US?
I think that might be a possibility. Who’s to say?
8.Youʼve
recently been advertising for other musicians to join the project. Is this for
studio work or just for potential live gigs?
Mostly for potential gigs and possible studio work
down the line.
9.How
do you go about the songwriting process? Do you start with the lyrics, a beat,
a melody or an overall concept?
When writing a song, I normally start with an idea or
concept. I like to imagine a story and how the story plays out, how it makes me
feel. I then compose a beat (usually a vintage drum machine). After I establish
that beat, I can add a baseline, either with bass guitar or a synthesizer
followed by guitar and synth strings. Once i have a solid instrumental, I
usually begin the vocal/lyric writing process. The instrumentals write the
lyrics for me.
10.Whatʼs
next for SDWTD?
hmm.. I think what’s next is working on merchandise
such as t-shirts, posters, pins etc. Also, I plan on releasing a new single
followed by a new album, and a potential music video or live web performance!
But ultimately the plan is to continue to write music, perform live and
eventually tour!
Well under a year after releasing debut album The
Widow, Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project return this week with
their sophomore effort, Kiss of Death. Unashamedly influenced by
the gothic sounds of Vowles’ own 1980’s youth in the UK, Black Angel’s debut
was a highly polished affair stuffed full of strong melodies and brooding
atmosphere, with earworms like Poison, Would I Lie To You, Christine,
She and Bullet In The Head still enjoying heavy rotation on goth
radio podcasts. Rarely has a debut album in the goth/darkwave genre sounded so
complete.
Announcing the new album, Vowles claimed that Kiss
of Death would be both “more goth” and “more punkabilly” than the debut
set, and referenced The Sisters of Mercy’s Floodland and The Damned’s Phantasmogoria
as the influences for the new record. Even a cursory listen reveals that once
again, he has comfortably achieved his aim.
Title track Kiss of Death kicks off proceedings
with a suitably brooding instrumental introduction before an epic Lucretian
riff reassures the listener that the sheer quality of The Widow in terms
of both music and production is going to maintained on what is far from a
“difficult” second album. Fans of The Sisters of Mercy’s more Wagnerian moments
will be in their element, as they will on other tracks like recent single Animal.
If your taste is more Shadow of Love than This Corrosion, then
the gothabilly of first single Put Your Lips On Me and the superb dark
goth-punk of Prisoner will delight in equal measure.
For me though, the stand-out track is the album
closer, the band’s eponymous signature tune Black Angel, with a
squawking sax added to a more nuanced mix over a traditional goth descending bassline
heard on everything from the “Poor Bela!” section of that Bauhaus classic to
Then Comes Silence’s She Loves The Night.
Vowles’ professional background in sound recording
and mastering in the TV and movie industries enables him to produce a
wonderfully sumptuous and multi-layered sound far removed from the scene’s more
two-dimensional norm, and new vocalist Corey seamlessly slips into Rob’s shoes
so successfully that most listeners will barely notice the difference. Whilst
Vowles understandably baulks at any comparison to the likes of Billy Idol or INXS
alongside more obvious influences like chart-era TSOM, the radio-friendly
strong melodies and powerful production on Kiss of Death have more
crossover potential than any other album I have heard this year and could be
the Trojan Horse to help the resurgent genre spread beyond its small but
enthusiastic internet fanbase.
To find out more about the genesis of Kiss of
Death, I contacted Matt and was delighted that he agreed to become the
first interviewee to face a second batch of questions to celebrate the album’s
release, and I’d like to thank him for taking time out of a very busy schedule
to produce such interesting responses.
1. You had another mammoth search for a new
vocalist before settling on Corey Landis for the new album. Did you despair of
ever finding the right person? How did you find Corey in the end?
I did. It seemed never-ending. I had
feelers out all over the place from small ads to personal contacts for months
and nothing seemed to fit. I heard some great singers and to all who helped out,
thank you. Corey answered an online ad and at first I thought it might not mesh
but he was cool enough to demo for Put Your Lips.. - and boom! It was a
fit.
2. The vocals are a very distinctive part of the
Black Angel sound, and Corey’s vocal style is quite similar to Robert’s on the
first album, partly because of the technique multi-tracking one octave apart.
Although not a vocalist yourself, you clearly had a very clear idea of the
style of vocal you were looking for, and I was wondering what influenced that
choice?
For me the most influential Goth bands
of the 80’s had an immediate and very distinctive vocal sound - it was a large
part of the magic that made them what they were. For me this is still a massive
part of the process and without a distinctive vocalist you don’t really have the
full package. It’s totally vital - listeners need a personality, a distinct
sound to connect to. Part of that comes from the music and the rest from the
very natural human nature of the human voice. And if it speaks to us, then we
remember - and connect with it.
3. Had you not found Corey, had you considered
approaching Goth scene legends to provide guest vocals on one track each for
Black Angel, having established your reputation with The Widow? If so, who
would you have approached?
I did. And it was really close to being
the next step. I’d spoken to a few legends from the 80’s and a few were open to
the possibility. I conversed with a few vocalists from the current scene too
and although it would have been awesome, Black Angel really needed their own
voice - it was imperative that we found a new vocalist that could tackle and
compliment all the tracks in the new album. Corey did that - and really well.
4. You said that the new album would be more
punkabilly and more goth influenced than The Widow, mentioning Phantasmagoria
and Floodland as points of reference, and the first two singles from Kiss of
Death (Put Your Lips On Me and Animal respectively) certainly bear witness to
that. Do you consider those two albums by The Damned and The Sisters of Mercy
to be the highpoint of Goth musical culture of the 80’s? Do you envisage
refining this “gothabilly” style more on the next Black Angel release?
I was really influenced in the 80’s -
and yes, I’ll probably mention that period a bunch more times - as it was so
important to me for so many reasons - I initially was introduced to The Clash,
The Damned, Sex Pistols and psychobilly bands like The Meteors before Goth
really kicked in so that was tucked away in my head. When I started writing KOD
I usually start with the bass guitar and if I find a strong riff I like I just
go with it. I guess that particular month when I first started writing, a bunch
of more punk and psychobilly energy came out. I am massively influenced by The
Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and The Cult so the other 2/3rds if the album is the
direction of more gothic rock. I like those faster tracks though and glad that
they are on there. For our next and third album Prince of Darkness it
will be even more gothic rock.
5. You mentioned in our last interview about your
love of Goth music stemming from your visits to clubs in your native UK back in
the 80’s – does your punkabilly influence stem from that time too, in other
words were you a fan of bands like The Meteors and the whole Klub Foot scene in
London?
For sure. My brother Dan (who
incidentally got me to this whole thing in the first place - from giving me The
Clash’s Give ‘Em Enough Rope cassette to listen to – we used to frequent
a club in Bristol called The Whip. It was mostly a goth club but it did share
some of its patrons with a group of Psychobilly Bristolians and so I was also
introduced to bands like The Meteors and The Cramps and heavier punk bands like
The Damned and The Sex Pistols.
6. You run your own studio in LA, mainly working
for your day job on re-recording sound for TV shows and movies, and the
production/mastering on Black Angel records produces a noticeably fuller sound
than many of your contemporaries. Would you like to get more involved in that
side of things, i.e. mastering and producing for other Goth/darkwave bands? If
so, are there any bands on the current scene who have caught your eye?
I would- given the time! I’ve been thinking about it over the last year - that
if I was approached, I would I do it. Well… I’d love to be able to, but at the
moment, juggling Black Angel and my film career takes up all of my time.
There’s family too - I’m not always locked away in the studio. You need to find
a balance. I would take on mastering jobs though! If it’s well recorded and
mixed, it’s a great feeling to master someone else’s work and they come back
with ‘Wow, how did you do that?!’
7. Last time around I was complimenting you on
the incredibly impressive trailers which you did for The Widow (and those for
the latest releases have been equally as good from a graphic and editing
perspective), but you also seem to have become quickly adept at using Bandcamp
and social media in an imaginative way to engage with fans, offering them the
chance to have their name feature as supporters of the project on the album
sleeve notes, asking them to do the vocal introduction to the album, reducing
the CD’s packaging to save massively on the otherwise prohibitive postage costs
to Europe etc. Has Bandcamp helped you to find a global audience more quickly
than just having your own website or using Spotify and other platforms?
Totally, Bandcamp has been a complete
amazing experience for us. With previous projects I’ve been involved in, before
Black Angel, I paid publicity companies to get us placed on Spotify playlists
in order to gain plays, but none of it was real- for sure lots of people listened but there was no human connection,
which is what I miss.The great thing
with Bandcamp is that I can connect directly with supporters and they are
really engaged – and they give me the enthusiasm to do this every day. Every
album or track sold I email each person directly to thank them, there is a real
connection between us.
I’m excited to offer the getting their
name on the CD - as a fan I would love to be able to do that. I was actually
inspired by Gary Numan, he lives just around the corner from me - I noticed he
was selling studio gear on his website and signing it, also doing meet and
greets at live performances - I thought it would be great if I offered
supporters to get there name on the CD sleeve notes - if I was a fan I’d think
that was pretty cool.
Bandcamp is so refreshing that there are
people out there that want to seek out new music and want to buy bands’
physical products. Streaming services, although have their place, are so
faceless and impersonal.
8. Talking about finding a bigger audience, many
of the “alternative” tracks on YouTube with a high number of views are littered
with comments like “(insert name of dark US drama series here) brought me
here”. Are you trying to use your contacts in the industry to see if any Black
Angel tracks might be suitable for use on soundtracks? Would you be choosey
about which shows you would allow your songs to feature on, or would you just
welcome the additional exposure?
I do work in the Film and Television
industry, that’s true – and I am connected with many great music supervisors.
I’ve had multiple tracks placed in films and TV shows over the years – but all
led by me (only natural, I guess) - these days I enjoy the musical process with
Black Angel so much, if its going to happen, it will happen organically.I worked on so many albums over the two
decades that were for commercial gain, it got kinda lifeless – the reason I
started Black Angel was so I could write and produce the kind of music I liked
and if nobody else did, that was ok – I wrote for myself – so I want to do that
with any outside sync considerations too – I’m hoping a picture editor or music
sup will call me up and say ‘Hey, I heard your music, I think it’s totally rad
– would you consider a placement?’
9. A lot of the imagery of the band on both
videos and artwork seems to have a strong influence of 1950’s film noir and
horror movies. Are these genres a big influence on you lyrically and visually?
I’m a huge film noir fan. Love Black
& White film and photography.I
actually studied photography at college back in the late 80’s and that was
going to be my career. Decided I didn’t want to do it for money, only pleasure,
so that’s what I do now. Then I went to film school and learned film theory -
all of that visually influenced Black Angel - I just wish we had the budget to
do things ‘bigger’ - it’s hugely expensive to make videos and promos (if you do
it right) and as we are not with a major label we are still very much DIY -
sometimes I like it that way -I have
100% control and the only one to blame is me - if it sucks visually or tracks
sound rubbish.
10. The singles released in advance of Kiss Of
Death have all garnered excellent reviews, and influential websites like Sounds
and Shadows and White Light/White Heat have selected them as “Song Of The Day”.
What matters most to you this time round – high sales or critical/fan acclaim?
Good question! Bandcamp sales help pay
for the album manufacturing and maybe some partial studio costs and other
sundry items - it enables us to move on with the next album - which I’ve
already started :) - so we need that.
The acclaim is awesome too. I have only
one goal. That is for listeners to feel how I did when I first listened to goth
music in the clubs of the eighties — if they get that rush of adrenaline that
makes them want to leap onto the dance floor because they heard one of our
songs, then we are doing something right – and we’ll keep on going……
Every now and then, a new band makes
you sit up and take notice: you feel the synapses in your brain charging with a
new creative energy, goosebumps appear on your arms and you feel almost
paralysed as a new song takes another unexpected yet pleasurable musical turn. For me,
Into Grey is one such project, an act which only begin releasing songs at the
very end of 2019 but has quickly become a name on everyone’s lips. Whereas most
of the bands featured on this blog so far this year (Sonsombre, Then Comes Silence,
Antipole etc) have already well-established careers developed over several
critically-lauded albums, Into Grey has so far released just one 5 track EP,
plus a further half dozen songs only available digitally (so far) on Soundcloud
and Bandcamp.
Based in the state of Indiana in the
USA, Into Grey is the work of just one musician, a thirty-something named
Jermaine, who creates a distinctive post-punk sound which is a perfect marriage
of lyrics of alienation and despair over a beautifully stark low-fi
darkwave/coldwave musical backing which has unpredictable twists and turns
melodically to elevate the songs well above the scene norm. The debut EP (available for "name your price" at Bandcamp), an
usually strong set of five songs, deservedly received rave reviews on both Jö Claverie and
White Light/White Heat websites as well as making many podcast playlists.
Jermaine’s deep vocal and the Joy Division inspired backing calls to mind a
more muscular and up-tempo version of Suffering For Kisses’ Forever Waiting debut, another classic of dark melancholia but with occasional added claustrophobia caused
by the more detuned, string-bending, atonal effects which recall classic Sonic
Youth/My Bloody Valentine musical alchemy.
Since the EP’s digital release in
February, Into Grey has released a further six songs at roughly monthly
intervals, with the latest two, Frailty and Bloom ample evidence
that as the project sound matures, the essential elements remain: a syncopated
drumbeat, a driving bass with a mind of its own and some shimmering guitar work
providing the framework for a reverberating, confessional baritone vocal, a
unique combination of the best the 80’s had to offer, with elements of the
classic sounds of the Factory, 4AD and Merciful Release record labels that were synonymous with the best music of the first generation.
I took the opportunity to contact
Jermaine to discuss how he writes these hymns of despair and to discover more
of his plans for the project, and was delighted when he agreed to take part in
“Ten Questions to …” for this blog.
With the likes of Antipole, Second
Still and Red Velvet Deception having created wonderful twenty-first century
guitar-based coldwave classic albums, Into Grey look set to join this elite
group, but for now we must be content with their excellent offerings available
from their Bandcamp site.
1.You’ve
been involved in the music scene for about fifteen years. What kind of projects
were you involved in before starting Into Grey towards the end of last year?
Before I started Into Grey I was in a few very
short lived Goth bands that never really got past the jam session period. After
spending a good ten years in a handful of bands like that I really just stopped
looking. The area I live in is not really making the music I enjoy either so I
decided to just make it myself out of frustration.
2.Your
influences list includes some of the usual suspects (The Cure, Joy Division)
but also French coldwave legends Asylum Party. What was it about their sound
that attracted you?
I feel what attracts me to the bands you’ve
mentioned, and specifically Asylum Party, is that their sound encapsulates the
atmosphere of a time I’m nostalgic for and a scope of emotions I think we all
can relate to in a way. These bands speak to me on a level that not a lot of
other styles of music really can.
3.The
Peruvian label InClub Records are going to release a CD version of the debut
EP. How did the link-up come about?
When I started releasing tracks, I made a Facebook
page and Instagram for the project as a way to engage with the community more.
InClub contacted me around the time my song Poison released; we’ve been
in touch ever since. They've been really helpful and I'm grateful they took the
time to reach out to me.
4.You’ve
been very active during the lockdown, releasing a new track every month since
the debut EP came out in February, six in total. The first four had the same
artwork on Bandcamp and were more up-tempo and dance-floor friendly, whereas
the most recent two songs are darker and feature different artwork. Do you
intend listeners to see the songs in groups like that?
I did not initially intend that when I was writing
them out. Once the EP was finished I felt like I needed to tell a different
story and express it from a different angle. Using different artwork to set the
new tracks apart felt like a good way to signify that.
5.Are
these new songs going to get a physical release as follow-up EP or is there an
album planned?
I do plan on the next release being a full album
and I would love to do a physical release for it if the opportunity arises.
I’ve just begun working on it, so I’ve got some time to figure that out.
6.You’ve
recently joined Josh Kreuzman on his Twice Dark project, which seems to be as
prolific as Into Grey in terms of new song releases. Do you prefer
collaborating with other musicians or having full control over a project?
Honestly all of it is very new for me, I enjoy
making music on my own, but I love working with other people as well. Having
full control is great but can also feel like a double-edged sword. When working
with others it feels like there's more opportunity to stumble across a great
idea organically, and it's always more fun to explore stuff like that with
other people and share the excitement. When you’re by yourself it's pretty much
just you being excited by yourself.
7.There’s
a dark thread through your lyrics, from melancholic musings about lost love to
tales of abuse and despair. Do you write from personal experience or do you
adopt different personas for each song?
Both, the EP was very personal, and it was from the
perspective of the person then and the person now removed from that time. I'm
not that person anymore, but they never really left. I just wore him for a time
to remember clearly what I wanted to share.
8.Your
vocal lines are deep, echoing, almost half-whispered and tend to range only
over a couple of notes, with a very distinct timbre and a distinctly
confessional tone. When you’re writing a new song, do you start with the lyric,
the vocal line, the backbeat or a guitar riff?
I start with a guitar riff followed by the bass and
then drums; vocals are always the very last piece I put down. I usually don’t
have a topic in mind when I start writing, the music always evolves and invokes
what I need to say.
9.There’s
often a beautiful melancholy in your songs, usually in the guitar lines which
contrasts with the occasionally discordant bass and the stark simplicity of the
drum sounds. Is your intention to make the music match the emotional
claustrophobia of the lyrics?
Honestly the music is the driving force of the
emotion of a track since lyrics are the last piece to be created. A lot of the
time I go in with a certain lyrical style in mind, but it always comes out
different because of what the music pulls from me.
10.You
have advertised on the net for other musicians to join Into Grey. Are you
hoping to take the band on the road? What other plans do you have for the
project?
Yes, a bit before I had an EP in mind I did look
for others to join the project, but it didn’t quite pan out. My goal is to play
live shows and go on tour. I really want to make videos for my songs as well
but right now playing live is the main goal.
Thanks to Jermaine for answering my questions, and watch out for new Into Grey music soon!
[NDLR Pour les lecteurs francais - l'interview se trouve en bas de la page, au-dessous de la version anglaise - merci!]
Glasszone have
made a distinct impression on the « wave » scene over the past three
years, with a series of impressive releases each offering the same high quality
mix of shimmering coldwave guitars with a pulsing backbeat. 2019 album Garden
of Glass raised the project’s profile further, with the driving guitar riff of
Loving Destruct in particular drawing attention to the strong melodies and
quality songwriting that have become the band’s hallmark.
Apart from the
fact that they are based in Orleans in west central France, little was known about
the band, whose physical and digital releases came packaged in stylish covers revealing
little about the project, much in the style of early gothic legends such as Joy
Division and The Sisters of Mercy, adding to the air of mystery.
With music very
much in the French coldwave style, drenched in lightly distorted/reverb guitar layers
and very broadly based on the highly original timbre of The Cure and And Also
The Trees, both incredibly popular in France in the late 1980’s, the Glasszone
sound with its low-key, non-descript vocals and drums is also reminiscent of some of the more
blissed-out elements of shoegaze.
The summer of
2020 has seen the release of a new EP, Restless Nights, whose title track
begins with a repeated bass note and builds up into a classic gothic rock riff
which will be familiar to those who enjoy The Sisters of Mercy’s up-tempo hits
like Lucretia, My Reflection or Train. Second track
The Lighthouse is equally powerful although despite being half the pace, with
beautiful yet powerful layers of reverberating guitar constructing a lush
soundscape. The Last Time is arguably the strongest of the four, with a classic
coldwave earworm of a syncopated chorus, with another strong melody bringing
the excellent EP to a close on As Darkness Falls.
Eager to find out
more about the past, present, future of Glasszone, I contacted them on Facebook
and was delighted to find that Judi (who is the sole member of the studio band,
although he has enlisted support for forthcoming live work) was only too
happy to become the latest respondent in this « Ten Questions to… »
feature. The interview was conducted in French, and so for the first time on
the Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog we are able to offer a multi-lingual
experience (with the original French version following the English translation below). My grateful thanks to Judi for his time and for his thoughtful
answers.
Glasszone’s
releases are available via Bandcamp and are very highly recommended.
1.You
have a very distinctive sound, with well-structured songs built around a unique
coldwave guitar tone, a more shoegaze low-fi vocal and powerful basslines over
a drum machine background, all done solo by yourself in the studio. Tell me
about the Glasszone sound : what is your process for composing the songs? What
comes to you first? And how do you get to your unique guitar timbre, in other
words, what are your favourite guitar effects/pedals?
I don't have a
particular songwriting method. An individual track can be created either from a
bass line, a guitar riff or a rhythm. I build the rest up as I go along. As I
compose, record and arrange everything myself, it is easier to structure and
find the right sound for each song.
As far as the "Glasszone sound" is concerned, I have several models of guitar and a six-string bass that
gives this very particular, very Cure-esque sound. I only use BOSS pedals:
distortion, overdrive, flanger, chorus, phaser, delay / reverb on an old H/H
transistor amp which has the distinction of having a very neutral and clear
sound. This allows me to obtain the desired sound more easily without being too
affected by the "grain£ of certain amps (like Marshall for example). 2.Your
music is often described as ‘coldwave’, undoubtedly in reference to the
“greats” of the French scene of the 80s, like for example Jad Wio, Tanit or
especially Mary Goes Round. Were you influenced by groups like these?
To tell the
truth, I haven't listened to too much French coldwave except for Asylum Party
and Corpus Delicti.
The major
influences of Glasszone are especially The Cure and Christian Death, as well as
the coldwave/post-punk/goth/batcave scene of the 80’s.
3.You
have just released a new EP, with a main track with a harder edged sound, which
is simultaneously more oriented towards the dance floor whilst also having a
« rockier » sound. Is this indicative of the future musical direction
of Glasszone songs?
Yes, it’s true to
say that the last EP seems more punchy, but it does not in any way reveal a new
musical direction. The fact that these songs are concentrated on the same EP
perhaps highlights this « rockier » side. In addition, songs like Loving
Destruct and Skeletal Bodies are also very hard-edged. But no, I'm
not going to harden the tone.
4.You
started a new project this year, Ex Visio, which played a more energetic style
of music, more punk than post-punk, but you've just announced that you’re
stopping it. Why will you no longer pursue this project? Will any elements of
that project make their way into new Glasszone songs?
Those songs were
composed and recorded very spontaneously. I preferred to release these songs
under the name of Ex Visio because being more punk, they were not in the
Glasszone style. I did not really try to push this project forward, it’s just a
kind of hobby for me.
There are still
some demos from this session that have not yet been used, so maybe they will
come out one day. 5.You
have also recently started a new side project, Urban Ballet, this time a duo with a female
Portuguese singer. Will these songs be released anytime soon?
I am actually currently
working on two side projects: Zone 73 and Urban Ballet.
Zone 73 is a
darkwave project composed of William (who is also Glasszone's bassist for the
stage) and myself. For this project, William composes and performs all the songs, as I only have the role of additional musician and arranger.
Urban Ballet is a Gothic rock project. For this project, Alexandrina writes
the lyrics and I compose the music. She has a powerful voice which gives a
certain charm to the compositions and brings a lot to them. The geographical distance and the coronavirus lockdown have meant that this project has taken a little longer.
For both projects,
the plan is to release either an EP or an LP. 6.You
decided to sing in English for the Glasszone project, as is the case for your
other projects. Why not sing in French?
The choice of whether
to sing in English or not did not really arise. Even though I realized that my accent
wasn’t perfect and that I wasn’t a great singer, it seemed obvious what to do.
And I think the songs would be different with lyrics in French. 7.What
do you think of the post-punk scene in France right now, with Closed Mouth, Je
T’Aime and Human among others?
There is a real
post-punk scene, but unfortunately it’s still a little too underground. It's a
shame, because we realise that there is still an audience out there interested
in this type of music. It must be said that in France, there is a real lack of
musical diversity. 8.You have said that some Glasszone songs have roots in songs you first wrote in the 90s.
Do you think you will revive more of those old songs in the future?
Some songs were
written in the mid-90s and early 2000’s, mostly demos recorded on cassette. I
also have riffs and unfinished demos lying dormant on my PC. I tend to record a
lot. I sometimes listen back to them and work on them to make more finished
songs. This is what happened for Pictures of the Past and Autumn Dusk
for example.
9.You
did a somewhat surprising cover of an Ultravox song, Dancing With Tears In
My Eyes, and also (less surprisingly) Crowds by Bauhaus. Do you plan
to do more covers in the future?
I like doing
covers, I think it's a good exercise in itself. And it also allows you to
discover certain songs from a different angle.
For example, for the
Ultravox cover, I used the rhythm of the original version on top of which I put
guitars and a fairly punchy bass. I realised that this song was much more post-punk
than it would originally appear.
I’m thinking of doing
more covers, in fact I already have a few ideas… 10.You’ve
done some interviews with a French internet radio station (Radio Arverne) which
has been a big supporter of Glasszone, and you will be playing ‘live’ for them
next month (July 19th). Are you planning on doing any more stuff online during
this lockdown period? And will there be a CD release for the new EP Restless
Nights?
In fact, the
radio show will be Glasszone's first live performance !
I also plan to do
one or more concerts online, which could be interesting. Glasszone remains an
invisible group for the moment and I think it's time to give it a real image.
A CD version of
the new EP is planned as well as a release on different online platforms
(deezer, spotify, Itunes ...).
1.Vous
avez un son très distinctif, avec des chansons bien structurées autour d’un ton
guitare coldwave unique, une voix plutôt shoegaze et une basse puissante sur un
fond de boite à rythmes, et vous le faites tout seul en studio. Quel est votre
processus pour composer les chansons ? Quels éléments arrivent en premier ? Et
comment arrivez-vous à votre timbre guitare, c’est-à-dire quels sont vos
effets/pédales de préférence ?
Je n’ai pas de
méthode de composition particulière. Chaque titre peut être crée soit à partir
d’une ligne de basse, soit un riff de guitare ou un rythme. Le reste est
construit au fur et à mesure. Comme je compose, enregistre et arrange tout
moi-même, cela est plus facile pour structurer et trouver le bon son pour
chaque chanson.
Pour ce qui est
du son Glasszone, je possède plusieurs modèles de guitare et une basse VI qui
donne ce son particulier très curesque. Je n'utilise que des effets BOSS :
disto, overdrive, flanger, chorus, phaser, delay/reverb sur un vieil ampli à
transistor H/H qui a la particularité d’avoir un son très neutre et clair. Cela
me permet d’obtenir plus facilement le son souhaité sans qu’il soit trop marqué
par le grain de certains amplis (comme Marshall par exemple).
2.On
traite souvent votre musique de coldwave, sans doute en référence aux “grands”
de la scène française des années 80, comme Jad Wio, Tanit ou surtout Mary Goes
Round par exemple. Vous avez été influencé par ce genre de groupe ?
A vrai dire, je
n’ai pas trop écouté de coldwave française hormis Asylum Party et Corpus
Delicti.
Les influences
majeures de Glasszone sont surtout The Cure et Christian Death, ainsi que la
scène coldwave/postpunk/goth/batcave des années 80.
3.Vous
venez de sortir un nouvel EP, avec un morceau principal avec un son plus
endurci, à la fois plus orienté vers la piste de danse mais un peu plus rock
aussi. Ce sera le sens des futures chansons de Glasszone?
Oui c'est vrai
que le dernier EP parait plus punchy, mais il ne révèle en rien une nouvelle
orientation musicale. Le fait que ces titres soient concentrés sur le même EP
fait peut-être ressortir ce côté plus rock. Par ailleurs, des titres comme Loving
Destruct et Skeletal Bodies sont eux aussi très durs. Mais non, je
ne vais pas durcir le ton pour autant.
4.Vous
avez entamé un nouveau projet cette année, Ex Visio, qui jouait une musique
plus énergique, plus punk que post-punk, mais vous venez d’y renoncer. Pourquoi
est-ce que vous ne poursuivrez plus ce projet ? Est-ce que vous en garde(re)z
des éléments dans les nouvelles chansons de Glasszone ?
Les titres ont
été composés et enregistrés de manière très spontanée. J'ai préféré sortir ces
chansons sous le nom d'Ex Visio car étant plus punk, elles n’entraient pas dans
le style de Glasszone. Je n'ai pas vraiment cherché à mettre ce projet plus en
avant, cela reste pour moi une sorte de récréation.
Il reste encore
quelques démos de cette session qui n’ont pas été exploitées, peut-être
sortiront -elles un jour.
5.Vous
avez récemment commencé un nouveau projet à part, Urban Ballet, cette fois en
duo avec une chanteuse portugaise. Est-ce que ces chansons verront le jour
d’ici peu ?
Je travaille
actuellement dans 2 projets : Zone 73 et Urban Ballet.
Zone 73 est un
projet darkwave composé de William (qui est aussi le bassiste de Glasszone pour
la scène) et de moi-même, pour ce projet, puisque je n'ai qu'un rôle de
musicien additionnel et d'arrangeur. C'est William qui compose et interprète
toutes les chansons,
Urban Ballet est
un projet Gothic rock.
Pour ce projet,
Alexandrina écrit les paroles et je compose les musiques. Elle a une voix
puissante qui donne un certain charme aux compositions et leurs apporte
beaucoup. La distance et le confinement fait que le projet prend un peu plus de
temps.
Pour les 2 projets, il est prévu des sorties soit en EP ou LP.
6.Vous
avez décidé de chanter en anglais pour ce projet Glasszone, tout comme pour vos
autres projets. Pourquoi pas chanter en français ?
Le choix du chant
en anglais ne s’est pas posé. Même si j’ai conscience que mon accent n’est pas
parfait et que je ne suis pas un grand chanteur, c’est paru comme une évidence.
Et je pense que les chansons seraient différentes avec des textes en français.
7.Que
pensez-vous de la scène post-punk en France en ce moment, avec Closed Mouth, Je
T’Aime et Human entre autres ?
Il y a une vraie
scène post punk, malheureusement elle reste encore un peu trop underground.
C'est dommage, car on se rend compte qu'il y a quand même un public derrière
qui est demandeur. Il faut dire qu'en France, il y a un manque réel de
diversité musicale.
8.Vous
avez dit que certaines chansons ont des racines dans des morceaux que vous
aviez écrits d’abord aux années 90. Est-ce que vous pensez réanimer encore de
ces chansons à l’avenir ?
Certains titres
ont été écrits dans le milieu des années 90 et au début des années 2000, ce
sont pour la plupart des démos enregistré sur K7. J’ai aussi des riffs, des
démos non exploitées qui dorment dans mon PC. J’ai tendance a enregistré
beaucoup. Il m’arrive de les réécouter et de les travailler pour en faire des
morceaux plus aboutis. C’est ce qui s’est passé pour Pictures of the Past et
Autumn Dusk par exemple.
9.Vous
avez fait une reprise un peu surprenante d’un titre d’Ultravox, Dancing With
Tears In My Eyes, et aussi (moins surprenant) de Crowds de Bauhaus. Est-ce que
vous entendez faire encore des reprises dans le futur ?
J’aime bien faire
des covers, je trouve que c’est un bon exercice. Et puis, cela permet de faire
découvrir certaines chansons sous un autre angle.
Par exemple, pour
celle d’Ultravox, j’ai repris la rythmique de la version originale sur laquelle
j’ai posé des guitares et une basse assez punchy. Je me suis rendu compte que
ce titre était bien plus post punk qu’il ne pouvait paraitre.
Je pense faire
encore des covers, j’ai déjà quelques idées…
10.Vous
avez déjà fait des interviews avec une radio internet (Radio Arverne) qui vous
a soutenu, et vous allez jouer en live pour eux le mois prochain (le dix-neuf
juillet). Projetez-vous de faire encore des trucs en ligne pendant cette
période de confinement? Et y aura-t-il une sortie CD pour le nouveau EP
Restless Nights? Merci!
D'ailleurs, ce
sera le 1er live de Glasszone.
Je pense aussi
faire un ou plusieurs concerts en ligne, cela pourrait être intéressant.
Glasszone reste pour le moment un groupe invisible et je pense qu'il est temps
de lui donner une vraie image.
Une édition cd
est prévue ainsi qu’une sortie sur différentes plateformes (deezer, spotify,
Itunes…).
