PRIMORDIAL QUESTIONS FROM METALIZED MAGAZINE (DENMARK)


Congratulations with your new album ”Redemption At The Puritan’s hand”! It really rocks!

You have been touring a lot since”To The Nameless Dead” and working on your DVD. Was it stressful to compose the new album, or did you find time to do some of it on the road? And how do you actually compose? Together or each by his own?

# it always takes us a long time to prepare a new album, I think fans of the band know this. We aren’t going to be on tour and play festivals every year with a new album, that’s not how we work. Things take time and when that time is right we book the studio and everything moves into gear. We compose the same way as we always did, we meet in the rehearsal room and argue about things, thrash out riffs and do things the old school way.


You have been having quite some hard times in the band recently, starting on the road with some bad gigs (Athens?) and some incidents that led to the firing of your drummer Simon. However, luckily he is back again now. But what happened? Normal frustrations after spending too long time on the road together?

# not really. We know each other 20 years. We all have our ups and downs. Unfortunately that night he was about as down as you can get. The gig was horrible and we will return to Greece to fix the situation this year but he bounced back and we all realized Primordial is the five of us, take on part away and it’s not Primordial. We are human after all and not machines, sometimes we falter along the way.


Do you sometimes feel like Primordial, after so many years as a unit, is almost like a marriage? You can fight and kick each other out, but in the end you feel like you belong together?

# Yeah this is true. Things are not the same like I said without one of us. Being in a band this long is really like some kind of marriage and you learn when to leave people alone, when to fight your corner and we often fight in ways that would break other bands up but we just continue as we always did. If you do x amount of shows in one year there is bound to be one or two where you get fucked up or whatever. I never said Primordial was a professional band o)


You say that the new album is the “death” album with themes about mortality and so on. Were there anything specific in your life that made you write about this theme? Or was it the usual influences?

# Just the thoughts I’d been having since the last album, travelling, meeting people having different experiences. Slowly I began to dwell on our relationship to death, our fears, the walls we erect to hide from it. Religion, sex, mortality all these kind of things. I’m not a spiritual person so some part of the album is my view of faith from a godless perspective. Of course there are other things in the mix as well but I guess I called this our ‘death’ album, which seems broadly to fit.


On the music side of things, did you draw from any new inspirations this time?

# I don’t tend to draw much from other artists but I guess this time I was quite inspired by some old country and western like of course Johnny Cash but also Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings and that kind of thing. The themes of redemption really appealed to me. Trying to tame the beast within. Also in other ways Woven hand again was an inspiration in some ways, also some old English folk like Fairport Convention. My metal influences have always more or less been the same old stuff.


You had all the rights for your albums back now, and it seems like you have been moving a step up on the ladder of metal stardom, he he. Last time I did an interview with you, you said that with the money you make on the band would only be able to live a miserable life without any other work. But at some point I guess the band will take so much focus that it will be hard to keep a normal job? And some of you also have children… Said in another way… how much are you willing to risk to climb another step up? Could you imagine touring 200 days of the year…?

# I would like to give it a try but I think it’s impossible really. We aren’t Behemoth for example. If we could be always paid properly and know there was a secure income the guys with kids might risk it but these are difficult risks to take when you have kids and without knowing where the next paycheck will come from you have different responsibilities. The band could do more of course but within the boundaries we have to work we do enough. It’s a shame but because of the way the music industry has gone it will be very hard for any musicians in the future to make a living from music.


You have been in Primordial for almost 20 years now. What have been the biggest change in the metal culture/scene from then and until now in your opinion?

# Has to be the internet really. I’m sure that would be the same answer from anyone in any walk of life. It revolutionized everything and made the world a smaller place. Behind that would be the advent of cheaper air travel which made Ireland closer to the rest of the world as well.


Now, with the release of the new album, what is the plans now? Touring the world again?

# We will do what we can. Some European club shows and festivals, a mini tour with While Heaven Wept and Alcest. We are still arranging things all the time so hopefully more will come in nearer the release date. I hope to get back to America this year again and also to South America for the first time.


Stupid, but interesting question: What Irish beer is your favourite?

# whiskey and it’s jameson o)…..


Anything to add? Any plans on doing a video for the new album?

# we are talking about that and hopefully something can happen over the next month or two. Seeing as Myspace is dead, youtube is the new way for people to check out bands so having a good video helps!


Thanks for your support


Aan