Daylight Dies w/Jesse - added - December 8th, 2006
Interviewer: HelveteKrieg
Last time you were in New York, you played with Emperor; this time around, you were with Katatonia and Moonspell. How in the world do you guys keep ending up on such high-profile tours, besides the obvious fact that you're amazingThank you for the compliment. The Emperor dates at least partially happened because we share the same label as Emperor and had just released a new album. Although we are not blackmetal, we do play dark music as does Emperor so musically it was pretty cohesive. Since we released a new album this year, we had been pushing for a full U.S. tour, which manifested into the Moonspell/Katatonia tour you referred to. We’re happy with how things have turned out post-release of Dismantling Devotion.
How did the tour go?
The tour ended a couple of days ago and overall it was extremely positive. We were well received at every show and picked up many new fans and spread our name, so it was certainly a success. To be able to tour with friends is also a privilege and made it a much more enjoyable experience.
What’s it like backstage at a doom metal show the usual hedonistic debauchery, or something a little more chilled-out?
I’m afraid it’s the usual hedonistic debauchery for the most part. Boys will be boys.
Doom shows aren’t really known for their high female turnout, so I won’t even ask about the groupie situation…
Honestly I don’t consider the tour a “doom tour” at all. I don’t consider Moonspell or Katatonia doom nowadays (even if they used to be). I don’t even really consider us full-out doom, but I won’t get into that. Katatonia and Moonspell definitely brought out a high percentage of females, but I’m glad you didn’t ask about the groupie situation.
Are you used to seeing a small amount of girls in the audience? I’ve been to dozens of shows where I was the only girl under 35 present - why do you think there is such a significantly smaller number of females than men at such shows, and in the metal scene in general?
That’s certainly a true statement for the majority of the metal scene. Most metal music expresses almost exclusively aggression and other testosterone-fueled behaviors. Metal that expresses a broader spectrum of emotions and isn’t afraid to showcase beauty along with the rough edges tends to fair better with the opposite sex.
Doom metal has a pretty small scene in and of itself; why do you think that so many fewer people appreciate it as opposed to more popular genres like thrash or death metal?
It’s been my observation that the average listener has a painfully short attention span. The more notes you can squeeze into a short timeframe, the more drum fills you can manage, the greater your appeal will be. We live in an attention deficit disorder culture where it’s hard for people to concentrate for very long. Slower music demands more of the listener a delay of gratification of sorts but ultimately, in my opinion, it leads to a much deeper experience.
You guys play a sound that’s been tagged death-doom; do you find this to be a fitting description of your music, and if not, how would you describe it?
I hate genres and being pigeon holed as most musicians do. I guess “death-doom” is a good extremely generalized description, but I’ve heard other bands described as such as sound nothing like us. I’d rather someone give the music a listen themselves and then define what it defines what it means to them. Genre descriptions are unfortunate because they can be misleading yet I understand they are necessary.
Which bands would you consider to be your peers? November’s Doom immediately springs to mind, but are there any others who you feel are doing the same thing you are?
I don’t consider Novembers Doom our peers honestly, although they are extremely nice guys doing their own thing. It’s actually been fascinating that their name has come up several times in interviews I supposed it’s the fact we’re both American bands playing slower metal with European influences, but I don’t think we sound much alike at all. We hadn’t heard their albums until very recently (a few months ago). We’ve been influenced by bands such as older Paradise Lost, Fields of the Nephilim, The Cure, Katatonia, Opeth, Saturnus, older In Flames, old Metallica, Sentenced, This Empty Flow and many others.
How well do you think you fit in on this tour as opposed to others you’ve been on? Seeing you guys with Emperor was absolutely amazing, but genre-wise, didn’t make much sense.
I think the Emperor gig made sense in the respect we were both playing dark music regardless of the fact they are blazingly fast and we are more mid-tempo. Variety makes things interesting. But it’s true we are coming from totally different genres. This most recent tour was fantastic. All bands are focused on dark metal, but in totally different ways. Moonspell is very theatrical, while Katatonia somehow makes sophisticated personal music completely accessible, and we’re playing some variety of introspective and melodic death/doom metal. I think it was something for everyone into dark music. It worked together very well.
So, the new album. It’s gotten rave reviews and served to really get your name out there; a few years ago, not many people knew who I was talking about when I’d rave about your last album, but now, you’re one of the bigger new names in metal today, especially when the death-doom phenomenon comes into play. Did you expect the album to do as well as it did?
It’s fantastic to hear things like that we’re pretty oblivious to how well the average person knows about us. We knew when we finished Dismantling Devotion that it was a much more polished album than No Reply. We felt that while it retained many elements which were very “Daylight Dies’, it was a big progression and had high hopes it would open us up to some new fans. It has certainly done that. I’m really proud with the album, and I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to hear how it’s been an important album to people. It means everything.
Could you share a few of the technical details who produced it, where was it recorded, how were the writing duties split up?
Nobody really “produced” the album except the band ourselves. Egan O’Rourke, our bassist, engineered the recording. We recorded some of it in a studio a couple feet from our rehearsal room. The guitars were recorded in our rehearsal room. The bass and vocals were recorded in Egan’s bedroom and bathroom. Then we sent the material to Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden to mix it. We had been talking to him for a while he had done a fantastic job on the Bloodbath and Opeth albums and we knew he could breath some life into the production of the album. Right after he was done with the new Katatonia record, he mixed ours and we couldn’t be more happy. He is a big reason the final production sounds as slick as it does, we are really happy with it.
Who did the artwork?
My good friend Jeff Brubaker took the photos. I had some specific visual ideas of the layout, so Jeff and I would drive to some location he’d shoot a bunch of photos, and we’d repeat this process for a month or so. Then Agni Kaster the girlfriend of our vocalist Nathan ended up putting it all together.
Speaking of artwork you guys have a very distinctive logo, one that doesn’t immediately scream METAL but is a bit different from the norm. Who/how did you come up with it?
That’s exactly the kind of reaction we’d want to the logo. Originally we had another logo, one that was extremely intricate yet somewhat clichι. It was important that we have a logo that wasn’t obviously definable by a particular genre, so we had it redone. Both logos were hand drawn by our former vocalist Guthrie Iddings. I can honestly say he’s one of the best artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet and he’s now in Hollywood designing shit for various video game and film companies. He actually hand painted our currently logo, and the “splattering” effect was done by throwing paint up on the canvas. So he’s entirely responsible for the logo we have now.
How do you guys usually go about creating new music? Jamming, or what?
We basically write the core riffs/ideas at home on our computers. Then we send these ideas to each other in mp3 format over email. Once we have a rough idea of the riff or idea, we’ll get together and jam on it to see what the full group can bring to it. Then we’ll begin arranging it with other ideas, then begin demoing it in the rehearsal room. We’ll go through this process several times and eventually we’ll come out with a song arrangement. We usually will re-arrange a song several times until we’re satisfied.
What are some of your favorite songs or parts on the new album what do you think you really nailed on this one?
I’m happy with almost everything on the new album, which I never thought I’d get to say. We had a lot of time to spend on it. We threw out a tremendous amount of material to end up with Dismantling Devotion, so what is left is really refined. The title track I feel especially close to, because I wrote almost all of the guitar parts. Even though I’m the drummer, I have a guitar and a recording setup so I can contribute material. While there is various riffs through several songs that are mine, the title track ended up being all my material.. so it’s extremely personal and important to me.. I feel like it’s a direct reflection of myself. I think "Dream Resigned" turned out excellent especially once you get to the part where the bass is soloed and the rest of the band builds into afterwards. We thought "Solitary Refinement" was a real risk, but it turned out great.
Would you change anything about it, or are you happy with how it came out?
Very happy with how it came out. I wouldn’t change anything.
How’s your label treating you? What precipitated the move from Relapse onto this one?
Candlelight is treating us just fine. The Relapse to Candlelight story is a bit long, but basically, our previous vocalist left after touring for No Reply, and we had a big delay. This delay caused us to drop in priority at Relapse, and thus the funds for the new album took forever. We didn’t want to wait and both parties agreed it was best to move on. We had offers from several labels, even negotiated with a few, but in the end it was obvious Candlelight was the right choice.
What’s next, touring-wise, for you guys?
Not sure yet. There are a couple offers on the table, but we’ll have to see what pans out. We’re still a little tired/hung over from the last one, so we need to recover a little to even think about it!
What are you guys listening to nowadays? Any bands you’d like to plug or tear apart, while you’ve got the chance?
Deleyaman “3” and “Second”, the new Haunted album, Memfis ‘The Wind-up’, Extol ‘Blueprint’, David Sylvian “Secrets of the Beehive” and Nine Horses. Not all metal, but it’s all extremely dark in its own respect.
What do you listen to to unwind after a show? You play such heavy, emotional music that I’d imagine you’d need something either a little more upbeat or chilled out to make up for it.
I personally listen to stuff like The Cure, Fields of the Nephilim, Lanterna, Early Day Miners, Deleyaman, Arcana a whole bunch of emotional yet non-metal stuff. I definitely don’t crank metal 24/7.
Who writes the lyrics? What are some of the most prevalent topics you write about, and what drew you to these particular subjects?
Nathan wrote the lyrics on Dismantling Devotion. The main theme of the album was the disintegration of relationships. We didn’t intend on having a theme, but that’s what developed. The breaking of bonds to those that are close to you. It’s something that is universal to everyone, so everyone can relate.
How do you feel about death metal bands who write ultra-gory, brutal, offensive lyrics just for the pure shock value of it?
It depends on who in particular you are talking about, but sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s a waste of time. It’s not something any of us are into.
Doom seems to be becoming the hip new thing nowadays; what’s your take on retro/doomy bands like Early Man and the Sword, and about ambient droney noisemongers like Sunn 0))) and Khanate? Do you like where the genre is going, or do you prefer the more traditional stuff?
No opinion because none of us listen to any of these bands or the retro/doomy bands. I’m just not into that and don’t follow that genre.
How closely-aligned do you feel that you are with the doom scene do you feel a kinship with other doom bands, or do you feel more separated from that scene?
We don’t feel closely aligned at all. We have been pegged as a “doom band” by many interviewers/reviewers, but that was never our intention. We just made honest emotional music and it ended up as you hear it. We don’t feel like we’re part of any scene. It’s not that we’re rejecting a scene either it’s just that we don’t pay any attention to that kind of shit. We just make music that comes from our heart and however it ends up, it ends up.
Before I go, I’ve just got to ask; last time I talked to one of you guys, there was mention of Daylight Dies-brand beer. Whatever happened with that do you guys plan to produce more, or leave it as legend?
Hahaha! We’ve done this several times now. Our friend Alejandro Nogales suggested it many years ago. He knew a local micro-brewery that you could chose what kind of beer you wanted to make, and print your own labels. So we did it once and it was an incredible experience. So we did it again and it again was an amazing experience. We’re thinking about doing it once more this February. It’s getting pretty ridiculous I guess, because it makes us all look like beer-nerds.. but whatever. It’s fun.
Any parting words?
Thanks for the interview take care of yourselves!
Thank you so much for your time!
