Interview:Jamie Saint Merat
Gery.pl
muzyka.gery.pl/cms/29658,2,Ulcerate,wywiad.html
1. Hi guys! How is it going in New Zealand?
Hey man, things are going fine over here, we’re just gearing up for the album release, organizing a NZ release tour. Last week we supported Cannibal Corpse for the 2 dates they played over here, which were killer shows! Super packed venues, and a great response for both bands.
2. I have to say, that I never thought about NZ as a death metal country. How does the scene look like? Are there more so well playing bands?
The scene is pretty tiny, probably under 20 active bands that are actually doing anything worthwhile. Kinda fluctuates between being really busy with shows and activity, and periods of not-much-happening, and there’s only really a few acts that have had any sort of longevity. Bands worthy of mention: Asphyxiate, Creeping, Dawn of Azazel, Gomorrah, Odius Embowel, Vassafor, Diocletian, Skuldom, Backyard Burial
3. I’m judging your form thanks to the CD compilation ‘The Coming of Genocide’. Was it your idea or maybe The Flood Records was so amazed by your demos, that they decided to release both of them on 1 CD?
The Flood contacted us with the idea to re-release TCOG, and I proposed that we throw on the first demo as a bonus, as well as the CD-ROM component. The Flood guys are super supportive of Ulcerate, and I can’t say enough good things about them and our Italian brother band Nefas! Go check it out: www.thefloodrecords.com and www.nefas.it
4. What surprises me the most, is the quality of both demos. It’s not only technical and well played death metal, but also very intelligent and fantastically arranged stuff! How did you manage to create so advanced stuff? Do you have any recipe?
Advanced? Well I don’t know man, I don’t really find this stuff advanced, I think the thing that gives it a slightly different feel to a lot of bands is we don’t really repeat sections at all, something we’re trying to get better and better at – trying to maintain hooks and ‘catchiness’ without resorting to verse/chorus format etc. One thing we’ve always been super conscious off is maintaining atmosphere of sections with very smooth transitions and climax points, rather than sharp changes that can happen with songs with a lot of parts. So even if there’s parts that exist for only a bar or 2 – they have to count! No ‘filler’ is a big philosophy of ours, every riff and drum part has to be interesting, and to serve the song … and if a riff sounds like something we’ve heard before, it’s scrapped without hesitation hehe
5. Many reviewers describe you as a band with lots of various influences. How do you feel, when they describe you as a band paying tribute to Morbid Angel, Immolation, Hate Eternal, Deeds Of Flesh and many more?
Well, I don’t think we’re consciously ‘paying tribute’ to these bands, it’s just that we’re striving to create very dark deathmetal, which in and of itself is becoming kinda rare these days with the recent trend of super-clean and tight shred-style bands. So I think by virtue of that fact, we’re gonna come across as similar to the bands that are also trying to keep things very dark and oppressive. I mean, I guess it’s flattering to be compared to these bands, but at the same time, we never set out to write like ‘let’s throw a Deeds beat here, or an Immolation chord progression there’, we actively try to distance ourselves from that way of thinking - but what can you do haha! The new album material will hopefully distance ourselves further from our influences, and more towards an ‘Ulcerate’ sound, but who knows … it’s gonna be very interesting to see what people think of it for sure.
6. You started to play death metal as Bloodwreath. Why did you change your name?
Well, asides from Mike H and myself (the 2 founding and song-writing members) we had lineup changes, were finding our sound stylistically, and I got sick of the name to be honest, so just decided to change it.
7. While digging through your biography, I’ve noticed, that you suffered many changes in the line-up, however it never ruined your plans. Is it easy to find suitable musicians for a death metal band in New Zeland? Is Ulcerate’s line-up stabile after recording ‘Of Fracture and Failure’?
It’s a pain in the ass trying to find anyone over here remotely capable of playing well enough (or just competently at least!) and having the dedication to do a band with any sort of aspirations. We’ve been fairly lucky in that our last vocalist James Wallace and previous bassist Phil Kusabs were killer musicians, but for no-one’s fault just didn’t work out, so things haven’t been too frustrating lately, but in the early years shit was tough! The line-up at the moment is most certainly stable…
8. Unfortunately I haven’t heard your debut album so far. Is ‘Of Fracture and Failure’ different from the tracks known from the compilation CD? Is it true that you were composing the stuff for last 2 years?
The new stuff is just the next step, stylistically along the same lines, just a lot more dense in terms of the number of things that are going on. As a whole, the album is gonna be a tough listen, it’ll probably take a few listens to get into, but we don’t want it any other way! The production is a lot thicker and in a ways more chaotic and less ‘tight’ sounding than The Coming of Genocide, we wanted just a full on mindfuck of a sound rather than super clean and clear. At the same time, we’ve got a couple of very surprising things on this disc to break up the relentlessness, so very interested to see how that is received. And yeah, we’ve been writing and re-writing the album for 2 years, can’t see any other way of doing it really to get what we want out of the process…
9. You said, that ‘Of fracture and Failure’ ‘brings new meaning to the phrase 'linear song-writing', mixing pure rhythmic and dissonant extremity with an unnerving sense of melody and atmosphere...’. How should we understand that? Is it Ulcerate’s way of evolution or maybe a recipe for one album only?
Haha well as I said before, the material in terms of structure is very unconventional and purely linear, only in a couple of spots do the songs refer to other sections and involve repetition, so it’s almost like one continuous stream of music from start to end. This is certainly our evolving statement, kinda what we want to explore further in the future - we want to be as bludgeoning as possible, but also very repeat-listenable, so to do this we’re striving to use rhythm and melody in very unique ways.
10. You were signed by Dutch Neurotic Records, label having such acts as Spawn of Possession and Visceral Bleeding in their catalogue. So, do you have any expectations about their work and promotion of your debut album?
Do you think, that they’ll manage to promote you in Europe, which might be your main market?
Let me tell you what I think of Neurotic’s work for us so far – a killer label, with great promotion techniques, great presence, signing great bands and who genuinely believe in the music they are putting out. I mean, we approached Neurotic for a place in their roster, we actively wanted to be on this label over other labels as we saw the caliber of bands and the label’s great reputation. I have no doubts that we’re going to be getting great promotion in Europe, and the rest of the world!
11. Ulcerate isn’t – for most of you – the only band you play in. Probably the best known band you’re connected with is 8 Foot Sativa. But there’s more, right? Could tell us more about your other projects?
Well, the way that I personally see 8 Foot Sativa is as an opportunity to play a lot more drums in a style that I usually wouldn’t, and in that regards its great for chops. But there is also:
Asphyxiate: Bassist Paul Kelland’s killer deathmetal act which he does gats/vox for
Abystic Ritual: Paul, ex-vocalist James Wallace and myself - blackened deathmetal.
House of Capricorn: Our guitarist Mike Rothwell jams drums (killer drummer by the way) with our good friends in the House
Vassafor: Mike Rothwell again on drums with ex-Ulcerate bassist Phil Kusabs – pure extreme black metal.
There’s various other projects that we’re working on as well, such as Mike R’s project ‘I Am’ and a very somber acoustic project ‘Tides’ I am working on with some awesome cats…
12. I bet it’s hard for a band from New Zeland to think about concerts in Europe. Do you think, that the deal with Neurotic will change that? Is there a possibility to see you somewhere around?
It’s only hard to think about concerts over there because we want it so fucking bad haha! We’re saving like crazy to get over there hopefully next year. I got to tell you man, for us Europe will be like going home, I can’t fucking wait. The deal with Neurotic definitely involves us touring, its just a matter of time and funds…
13. Ok, that’s all for now. I hope we’ll get the opportunity talk after you next album. The last words are yours!
Thanks for a great interview Dooban, cool questions! Make sure to keep an eye on our site:
www.offractureandfailure.com
ulcerate at gmail.com
www.neurotic–records.com
www.thefloodrecords.com
Thx and cheers
Dooban
