Funeral Fornication Interview w/ Winter Torments Zine
Posted by Nick Skog on Monday, May 10, 2010 Under: Interviews
FUNERAL FORNICATION INTERVIEW W/ WINTER TORMENTS ZINE
WT - Greetings vultyrous! how is your weekend going? Please tell the readers a little about yourself.
V - Greetings! My weekend is going pretty good, albeit rather busy. I am Vultyrous, founder of depressive black metal project Funeral Fornication. I reside in Vancouver, BC Canada where I am constantly working on music.
WT - When did you first get the idea to create Funeral Fornication? How did you come up with name of the band? For the readers who have not had the chance to hear Funeral Fornication, how would you describe the music?
V - I created Funeral Fornication in 2002/2003 just after I had graduated from college. Prior, I had just released a CD for a different solo project which received good praise, but for myself, it wasn't dark enough. I was getting more and more into bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Immortal and Emperor. I knew I wanted to create something similar, so I put the other project to bed and started Funeral Fornication. The name just came to me one day when I was at work. I thought it would make a great band name, so I went with it.. When I started out, Funeral Fornication was raw black metal with some pagan and thrash elements along the lines of Bathory, who at the time I worshipped. The natural evolution of this project has brought me to a more depressive sound, and thats how I'd describe this project, now that its matured: depressive black metal.
WT - You are the sole member of Funeral Fornication, When you started up the project did you want to work alone or have you thought of looking for more members to join? What would you say are the advantages and disadvantages to being a one-man band?
V - Originally I wanted Funeral Fornication to be a full band, but I found a lot of the musicians in my community either didn't want to play this kind of stuff, or were just flakey musicians. In the end I decided to make it a solo project. The advantages of being a one-man-band are that I can compose whatever I like and don't have to meet with approval of four or five other guys. It gives me the chance to make it a very personal, very emotional project, and it allows me to work at my own pace. As for disadvantages, I'd have to say the main one is the drum machine. I am a horrible drummer, and the drum machine has been good to me, but it still sounds like a drum machine. The other big disadvantage is that I can't play live. This has always been a recording project.
WT - If you had the opportunity to work with any musicians past or present who would you like to work/write with?
V - Well I am just finishing work on a split with Uruk-Hai from Austria. I have been a huge fan of Uruk-Hai for a long time, so for me, getting the opportunity to do a split with him is a dream come true. I am also starting up a new project called CANTICLE with Adrian Miles, a good friend of mine, and singer for British doomsters SOLSTICE. There are lots of musicians out there I'd love to collaborate with on something, but I don't think the result would fall under the black metal genre. I have a wide range of musical tastes, and a lot of my favourite musicians are from other styles of metal.
WT - You have told me you are currently working on Funeral Fornication's 4th release "Pandemic Transgression". How are things going with the writing/recording process? Do you have a "release" date set? How many songs will be included on the new CD?
V - The process is going rather smoothly. All the songs are written, I'm just half way through the recording process. There will be 8 songs, plus an intro, interlude and outro. There is no release date yet, but it will be released this year.
WT - Will it be released through the mighty Hypnotic Dirge Records? How did you first come into contact with the label?
V - Both the split with Uruk-Hai and Pandemic Transgression will be released on Hypnotic Dirge Records. Nick from HDR I had known briefly before signing, as he was a big fan of my music. We had discussed doing a split between Funeral Fornication and a solo project of his back then called Satanic Scums. The split never happened, but in the end I was pleased to discover that Nick was running HDR, and everything just seemed to fall into place. I signed, and haven't looked back.
WT - As mentioned earlier in the interview you play all the instruments yourself. Which do you feel was the easiest for you to learn to play? Which one was the most difficult?
V - Well guitar and bass have always come quite naturally to me. I had my first gig when I was in grade 8, shortly followed by a demo EP of the band I was in at the time. In high school I released my first demo of solo work, whilst at the same time playing in a rock band with three of the teachers at the school. Upon graduation, I left for college with the Jazz Musician of the Year Award and a district scholarship for Jazz. In college I learnt to play piano, and this one for me was moderately difficult. I still struggle with it from time to time. Somewhere along the way I managed to teach myself to play the theremin, which I don't use as often in my music as I'd like to. It's definitely the most difficult thing to play correctly.
WT - Which usually comes first for you the lyrics or music? What are some topics/subjects you write about?
V - I've done it both ways, but I find more often than not I write lyrics first, then the music...interestingly enough on the new album, I tried doing the complete opposite. All the songs on Pandemic Transgression had the music written first. My lyrical content is not bound to any one idea. Sometimes I'm venting emotions, sometimes I'm telling a story, sometimes I am merely trying to induce an emotional response in the listener.
WT - Speaking of writing music what brand of instruments do you use the most to create Funeral Fornication's darkend metal sounds?
V - For guitar I am currently using the Ibanez Jem Universe. The Steve Vai model 7-string...though I hope to get the Ibanez 8-string guitar very soon. For bass, I have my trusty MTD Kingston Z 6-string fretless! I love that bass! A lot of my keyboard sounds are generated from plug-ins in the recording software, but I do own a Korg Triton ProX. My drum machine is made by ZOOM, and I record everything using Logic Pro.
WT - You come out of the mighty canadian metal scene. What is your opinion of Canada's metal scene? Who are some of your all-time favorite canadian bands? Are there any new bands you feel the readers should watch out for?
V - There are a lot of good bands in the Canadian metal scene, but not as many as you'd think. A lot of the canadian bands I like are older, like Razor and Black Knight, though there are some great bands emerging like Black Lotus, Excommunicant, Mitochondrion, and Mother Died Today. Augury and Monarque are two other favourites of mine.
WT - Everyone has their own idea on what "black metal" means/stands for, so I was curious of your opinion on the subject what does the term "black metal"mean to you?
V - To me, Black metal is the most primal and emotionally violent side of human nature released through the medium of music. I don't pay much attention to these elitists who claim "unless your Venom or Bathory, your not TRUE." Elitism in black metal is stupid. These are the same people who have bands that record an album as raw as possible...but not for any artistic value...and release only 25 copies on 8-track tape. Like it or hate it, black metal is a style of music. Treat it like one. Don't try and keep it secret as if you're embarrassed by it. People who like it will always gravitate towards it. Those who don't, won't.
WT - Besides Funeral Fornication, are you currently working on any other projects or side bands? If yes please tell the readers a little about them.
V - I currently sing and play guitar for symphonic black metal band ARTEP, and bass and backing vocals for technical death metal band ARCHSPIRE. Artep is currently writing material for our next album, and Archspire is in the studio right now recording our 5 song demo. Archspire will also be going on tour late July/early August around British Columbia and Alberta. Anyone interested can check these bands out here: (www.artep.com) & (www.myspace.com/archspire). ;
WT - When not writing/practicing music or other band related busines, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
V - Spare time? What's that? (laughs). I suppose when I get the chance I like to hang out with my friends. When the mood strikes me, I can be a very social person. I like to go to concerts and do things like that. I like doing outdoorsy things like camping, though I don't get much opportunity to do so lately. When I'm at home, I tend to read a lot, though music pretty much dominates my life, and thats the way I like it.
WT - Well my friend it looks like we have reached the end of the interview. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to fill this out. Do you have any final comments for the readers?
V - Thanks for the interview, it was my pleasure! Also, there are still copies of my last album, Solitude And Suicide, available from Hypnotic Dirge Records - www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com, Buy or die!
WT - Greetings vultyrous! how is your weekend going? Please tell the readers a little about yourself.
V - Greetings! My weekend is going pretty good, albeit rather busy. I am Vultyrous, founder of depressive black metal project Funeral Fornication. I reside in Vancouver, BC Canada where I am constantly working on music.
WT - When did you first get the idea to create Funeral Fornication? How did you come up with name of the band? For the readers who have not had the chance to hear Funeral Fornication, how would you describe the music?
V - I created Funeral Fornication in 2002/2003 just after I had graduated from college. Prior, I had just released a CD for a different solo project which received good praise, but for myself, it wasn't dark enough. I was getting more and more into bands like Bathory, Darkthrone, Immortal and Emperor. I knew I wanted to create something similar, so I put the other project to bed and started Funeral Fornication. The name just came to me one day when I was at work. I thought it would make a great band name, so I went with it.. When I started out, Funeral Fornication was raw black metal with some pagan and thrash elements along the lines of Bathory, who at the time I worshipped. The natural evolution of this project has brought me to a more depressive sound, and thats how I'd describe this project, now that its matured: depressive black metal.
WT - You are the sole member of Funeral Fornication, When you started up the project did you want to work alone or have you thought of looking for more members to join? What would you say are the advantages and disadvantages to being a one-man band?
V - Originally I wanted Funeral Fornication to be a full band, but I found a lot of the musicians in my community either didn't want to play this kind of stuff, or were just flakey musicians. In the end I decided to make it a solo project. The advantages of being a one-man-band are that I can compose whatever I like and don't have to meet with approval of four or five other guys. It gives me the chance to make it a very personal, very emotional project, and it allows me to work at my own pace. As for disadvantages, I'd have to say the main one is the drum machine. I am a horrible drummer, and the drum machine has been good to me, but it still sounds like a drum machine. The other big disadvantage is that I can't play live. This has always been a recording project.
WT - If you had the opportunity to work with any musicians past or present who would you like to work/write with?
V - Well I am just finishing work on a split with Uruk-Hai from Austria. I have been a huge fan of Uruk-Hai for a long time, so for me, getting the opportunity to do a split with him is a dream come true. I am also starting up a new project called CANTICLE with Adrian Miles, a good friend of mine, and singer for British doomsters SOLSTICE. There are lots of musicians out there I'd love to collaborate with on something, but I don't think the result would fall under the black metal genre. I have a wide range of musical tastes, and a lot of my favourite musicians are from other styles of metal.
WT - You have told me you are currently working on Funeral Fornication's 4th release "Pandemic Transgression". How are things going with the writing/recording process? Do you have a "release" date set? How many songs will be included on the new CD?
V - The process is going rather smoothly. All the songs are written, I'm just half way through the recording process. There will be 8 songs, plus an intro, interlude and outro. There is no release date yet, but it will be released this year.
WT - Will it be released through the mighty Hypnotic Dirge Records? How did you first come into contact with the label?
V - Both the split with Uruk-Hai and Pandemic Transgression will be released on Hypnotic Dirge Records. Nick from HDR I had known briefly before signing, as he was a big fan of my music. We had discussed doing a split between Funeral Fornication and a solo project of his back then called Satanic Scums. The split never happened, but in the end I was pleased to discover that Nick was running HDR, and everything just seemed to fall into place. I signed, and haven't looked back.
WT - As mentioned earlier in the interview you play all the instruments yourself. Which do you feel was the easiest for you to learn to play? Which one was the most difficult?
V - Well guitar and bass have always come quite naturally to me. I had my first gig when I was in grade 8, shortly followed by a demo EP of the band I was in at the time. In high school I released my first demo of solo work, whilst at the same time playing in a rock band with three of the teachers at the school. Upon graduation, I left for college with the Jazz Musician of the Year Award and a district scholarship for Jazz. In college I learnt to play piano, and this one for me was moderately difficult. I still struggle with it from time to time. Somewhere along the way I managed to teach myself to play the theremin, which I don't use as often in my music as I'd like to. It's definitely the most difficult thing to play correctly.
WT - Which usually comes first for you the lyrics or music? What are some topics/subjects you write about?
V - I've done it both ways, but I find more often than not I write lyrics first, then the music...interestingly enough on the new album, I tried doing the complete opposite. All the songs on Pandemic Transgression had the music written first. My lyrical content is not bound to any one idea. Sometimes I'm venting emotions, sometimes I'm telling a story, sometimes I am merely trying to induce an emotional response in the listener.
WT - Speaking of writing music what brand of instruments do you use the most to create Funeral Fornication's darkend metal sounds?
V - For guitar I am currently using the Ibanez Jem Universe. The Steve Vai model 7-string...though I hope to get the Ibanez 8-string guitar very soon. For bass, I have my trusty MTD Kingston Z 6-string fretless! I love that bass! A lot of my keyboard sounds are generated from plug-ins in the recording software, but I do own a Korg Triton ProX. My drum machine is made by ZOOM, and I record everything using Logic Pro.
WT - You come out of the mighty canadian metal scene. What is your opinion of Canada's metal scene? Who are some of your all-time favorite canadian bands? Are there any new bands you feel the readers should watch out for?
V - There are a lot of good bands in the Canadian metal scene, but not as many as you'd think. A lot of the canadian bands I like are older, like Razor and Black Knight, though there are some great bands emerging like Black Lotus, Excommunicant, Mitochondrion, and Mother Died Today. Augury and Monarque are two other favourites of mine.
WT - Everyone has their own idea on what "black metal" means/stands for, so I was curious of your opinion on the subject what does the term "black metal"mean to you?
V - To me, Black metal is the most primal and emotionally violent side of human nature released through the medium of music. I don't pay much attention to these elitists who claim "unless your Venom or Bathory, your not TRUE." Elitism in black metal is stupid. These are the same people who have bands that record an album as raw as possible...but not for any artistic value...and release only 25 copies on 8-track tape. Like it or hate it, black metal is a style of music. Treat it like one. Don't try and keep it secret as if you're embarrassed by it. People who like it will always gravitate towards it. Those who don't, won't.
WT - Besides Funeral Fornication, are you currently working on any other projects or side bands? If yes please tell the readers a little about them.
V - I currently sing and play guitar for symphonic black metal band ARTEP, and bass and backing vocals for technical death metal band ARCHSPIRE. Artep is currently writing material for our next album, and Archspire is in the studio right now recording our 5 song demo. Archspire will also be going on tour late July/early August around British Columbia and Alberta. Anyone interested can check these bands out here: (www.artep.com) & (www.myspace.com/archspire). ;
WT - When not writing/practicing music or other band related busines, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
V - Spare time? What's that? (laughs). I suppose when I get the chance I like to hang out with my friends. When the mood strikes me, I can be a very social person. I like to go to concerts and do things like that. I like doing outdoorsy things like camping, though I don't get much opportunity to do so lately. When I'm at home, I tend to read a lot, though music pretty much dominates my life, and thats the way I like it.
WT - Well my friend it looks like we have reached the end of the interview. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to fill this out. Do you have any final comments for the readers?
V - Thanks for the interview, it was my pleasure! Also, there are still copies of my last album, Solitude And Suicide, available from Hypnotic Dirge Records - www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com, Buy or die!
In : Interviews
Tags: funeral fornication solitude suicide vultrous ambient depressive black death doom epic symphonic
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