METAL.DE, March 2010 

A band-history which lasts for over 20 years now, six albums, but only now you release your first DVD? Thinking about certain bands, who put out a DVD shortly after their first studio record makes me wonder why you've waited so long? 

I don’t know to be honest. I don’t think we really reached the level where we needed one until recently. Or reached the level where we could do something professionaly that wasn’t simply a free festival recording.  

Which leads me to the next question: What do you think about it when a fairly new band, which so far only released one album, immediately records a DVD? 

I just think with the way sales are and how easy it is to make a dvd people see it as another way to try and make a little money. Any band who plays most festivals these days has their show filmed and releasing a dvd doesn’t cost much more then pressing an actual cd and you can often charge more for it. I mean, I don’t mind some bands releasing them as a companion to their last tour as a companion if people want that but it’s mainly economics.  

„All Empires Falls“ contain quite a lot of material. A concert, a documentation, several additional live videos, was it important to you to offer the fans as much material as possible for their money? I mean, I'm sure a lot of people would have bought the DVD even if it only contained one half, either the documentation of the gig in Dublin, haha.

Well I’m into quality not quantity. Personally I don’t buy many band dvds but for example today I watched the last Heaven and Hell dvd. You get one main excellent show, a documentary and some bonus material. Perfect. I really don’t need 10 hours of footage which are just the same show over and over again. Does anyone need 8 versions of ‚The Coffin Ships’. I don’t think so. 

Let's talk about the gig in Dublin. I think the show was a success in both, the cinematic aspect as well as your liking for authentic live-sound. It seems like the recording would be really in the middle of the action, spontaneous and not at all forced (although your boots do appear quite often). In that regard I'd like to know to what extant you, as a band, had a say in the chosen material and what you liked about the concert. Or was there maybe something that bothered you?  

Well my cousin filmed and edited the whole show and what we agreed on was that we didn’t want a typical metal show. The typical camera angles and cliched backstage stuff. I watched some shows from Nick Cave, Portishead, Leonard Cohen and even old Joy Division shows as well as classic 70s rock shows. This is the feel we wanted, very live and with an old school techni colour analog feel. We agreed on the concept and then gave my cousin a free hand editing. We just wanted something different that captured the atmosphere correctly. 

I again noticed, that your performances always appear to be very honest and in spite of the theatrical aspects it never feels artificial. Hence I'd like to know what you feel on stage and especially, how is it after the show? Are you worn out, full of emotions or did it become some kind of routine after all those years? 

No I don’t think so. We were never one of those bands that toured ourselves to death. We don’t make a living from Primordial so we don’t need to go on tour or make an album so things are a bit different for us. I was always drawn to more ‚theatrical’ bands, Bathory, Mercyul Fate, Venom, Sabbat etc. So Primordial was always going to be like that but never fantasy because we were always singing about very real things. I would really like to hope if it became routine that I would have the good grace to quit the band and move onto something else. 

Now, to the documentary, which is well worth seeing, and let's start with a not so serious question: Honestly, do you have an advertising contract with Guinness? There is always a glass of it at hand and I'm tempted to go to the next supermarket and buy a bottle, or better a whole crate. How many gallons of beer did you consume during the recordings? ;) 

Yeah that’s very true and Ciaran and I didn’t really notice it until we had edited it down and definitely does look like we are sponsoring Guinness. To be honest there was nothing else to do and Primordial is known for our drinking so we just did what most Irish do in the pub. Believe me there was a lot of editing done at the end of our interviews! 

Ok, back to the more serious part. Besides all the explanations of the lyrics, Ireland and the band itself, I think the archive footage is also very interesting. There are old flyers, pictures, etc. Did you had all those things stored in some cellar or did you had to ask fans, organizer and friends in order to bring it all together? 

We all had bags and boxes of old stuff hidden in the attic so we had to search long and hard to find all these things while making the documentary. It really is funny to look back on some of the old flyers from the late 80s and early 90s. I think most bands of the same generation would have these very similar hand drawn flyers somewhere. All adds to the charm I think. 

Besides the DVD, Metalblade also re-released your two records „Imrama“ and „A Journey's End“, a full serving one could say. But it could also be an indication that we still have to wait some time before a new album is ready, so how is the state of affairs? 

Well basically we got the rights to our old albums back finally. We own them now so the re-releases are licenses. We don’t ask for people who have them already to buy them again but for a whole new generation of fans that only know us over the last 5 years it was important to have them available again and this year we will also release the 3rd and 4th albums ‚spirit’ and ‚storm’. The new album looks like being recorded in June for an Autumn release. Things sound positive so far! 

When you took part at the Heidenfest Tour 1 ½ years ago, I noticed once again the gap between you a nd the currently popular pagan bands. This is also something which people, who saw you in other cities, pointed out to me, and so PRIMORDIAL seemed to be a little bit lost among the other bands at that tour. I think your gig in Berlin was excellent, but unfortunately the whole atmosphere was completely destroyed when Finntroll played immediately after you. Can you tell me more about your experiences during that tour and the reactions of the audience? 

Well I don’t know about that. 80% of the shows or more were really positive for us and the reactions were generally very positive. Ok, I know that a lot of our fans stayed away because of the bill and I understand that but we decided to try this out, to challenge the new kids and to also show that the whole scene has a dark side and that we can rightfully claim to be one of the founding fathers. It was something different for us and something I felt we had to try. Sometimes people don’t know the music so are just watching and listening which is also not a problem, you can do that to Primordial. As for Finntroll? I don’t like the music but have nothing but good things to say about those guys and maybe sometimes we made a good contrast to each other. I think probably what we needed was another darker or blacker band on the bill to draw out the older and more metal/underground fans. However, nothing ventured nothing gained.  

I have the impression that the Irish metal scene is – unfortunately – rather small, but every now and then there appear some new bands. Are there any recommendations you could give us? The last band I came across was ALTAR OF PLAGUES, which I like a lot. 

Yeah it is small and can throw up some odd things. We don’t have many of the scene standards here, no power metal bands to speak of, no goth metal crap, no female fronted outfits nothing. Odd mixture of bands. Worth checking out lately have been Darkest Era, Altar of Plagues, Overoth and Warpath among others. 

A while ago I read about an advertisement for metal-holidays and your name appeared as a tourist guide for Ireland. I realized that I definitively have to travel to Ireland, because unlike many other people I'm much more fascinated by your home country than for example by the Scandinavian countries. The landscape, the nature, the people, the history, the beer, all of it has a strung attraction on me. Is there a place you'd recommend to people who travel to Ireland and who want to experience the everyday life, the culture but also a bit of the metal scene there? 

Yeah it was an idea and I had several ideas to make it interesting but I think the recession finished it all. I think if you want some metal then visit Dublin, or rather some kind of nightlife and rock culture and I use culture sparingly but for a real view into Irish culture to also step outside of Ireland and see the natural side of the land. Visit the Ring of Kerry, the west coast, Boyne Valley etc. 

One last question: I was a bit surprised to see you at the Nuclear War Now Festival in Berlin, but it's also very likable that you are still traveling so far to see your favourite bands. How did you like the NWN and are you doing that kind of thing often? 

Yeah quite a few people came up to me and said ‚what are you doing here’ which I thought was kinda hilarious. Same as anyone else really. I’ve always been an underground guy and that’s where I feel home. There was a posse going from here, and I also get to hang out in a city I really like, like Berlin as well. Ok so a lot of the NWN roster isn’t exactly to my tastes but we got Dead Congregation one of the best new Dm bands, Ares Kingdom, Midnight, and of course Revenge! Of course there was a certain element of people trying to out-necro each other and out do each other which I found kind of amusing. Too many people with agendas and something to prove but it doesn’t bother me. I just do my own thing, as always! 

Ok, that's all from my part, I think the documentation will answer any other questions the fans might have. Thank you very much for the interview as well as for the great DVD. I hope to see you soon on tour in Germany again. The final words are of course yours. 

Thanks for your support. See you on the field of battle. Joy and Strength!