Interview: Jamie Saint Merat
Hard Rock France magazine
http://www.hardrockmag.fr
Except your origins, your label Neurotic and the fact that you released demos and a MCD before this album, I don't know anything about Ulcerate. Could you tell us more about your story?
Sure - Ulcerate formed when myself and guitarist Michael Hoggard started jamming in high school 7 years ago, when we first decided to start writing music in an extreme metal style. We've been through several lineups throughout the bands history, but the core sound has never suffered as Michael and myself are predominantly the sole composers. In 2002 we put out our first recording effort which was a 4-song demo that sold well over here but never got us any international exposure. 2004 saw us releasing 'The Coming of Genocide' as a demo again, yet this time round, people started to take a little bit of notice outside of NZ. Italy's the Flood records then approached us with the offer to release the 2 demos as a single release, which so far has worked out for us very well. And in 2006 we recorded our debut album for Neurotic 'Of Fracture and Failure'. Throughout this time we've played extensively locally and supported some killer acts such as Suffocation, Incantation, Deeds of Flesh, Disgorge, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, yet we're still to get overseas...
In Europe, we don't know much about the New-Zealand scene. How did a brutal death band manage to emerge and sign with one of the best death metal labels, right between Spawn Of Possession and Psycroptic ?
Well, I mean we work hard, practise a lot and have a very specific vision in mind for how we think our brand of death metal should be played, and I think people pick up on this, Neurotic certainly did. The cool thing with this kind of music is its very universal, its not dominated by trends or any 1 sound which is 'in' at the moment, so I believe that so long as you work your asses of and strive to create something that is original, people will notice, and if there's some 'x-factor' about your sound, you will be successful. For us, Neurotic was the first label we approached regarding our full-length release, so you can't imagine how cool it felt to be picked up straight away, and I think both parties have a similar (if not identical) vision for the development and expansion of the genre.
I think that it took you seven years after your start in order to create the first album. If that's true, why so?
Well, you gotta remember when we started we were like 16, and we were certainly at no level to be releasing recordings, let alone full albums! And right from the beginning, we wanted nothing but the best for this band, there was never a doubt that we would release our first album on a label we were happy with. So, we put out demo ep's to test the water, and as the nature of demos implies, develop our sound up to a point where we thought we were competent enough to construct an album that wasn't derivative or technically uninspired. I mean, writing an album is a huge undertaking (for us at least), it literally took 2 years to write that stuff. Not that we were working 8 hours a day on it or anything, but you know, we don't include filler, and we certainly don't release music that we think is derivative of other acts (in our opinion anyway...)
Do you consider your sound as being really simple? In other words: Of Fracture... is very technical but it never goes into any excess, there are no useless technical elements. Everything seems to be logical and pure...
I definitely wouldn't call our sound 'simple'. One of our goals is to create an extremely dense, 'wall of noise' approach, with enough subtleties and nuances to keep you listening. Some of our songs have a seriously enormous amount of music written and condensed into a 4-5 minute space, we're not into repetition as a musical device unless it is completely necessary, so generally, with an Ulcerate track every part as you listen you won't have heard before. There are of course exceptions, but I like to think of hook-styled writing as punctuation to a composition, rather than the body as with most verse/chorus styled bands. But I guess what your getting at is that we maintain a sense of flow an naturalness, there seems to be a lot of bands around that like to think of 'technical' meaning everything has to feel 'technical'. But, to me that's fairly useless, the hardest thing to do when writing complicated music is to keep it feeling simple and with a lot of flow. Don't get me wrong, we love our odd-time phrasings, syncopations and disturbing note choices, but we always structure sections with clear transition points and bridges, so that everything moves through seamlessly as possible.
Maybe these seven years can explain your maturity; now you have a marked personality. Brutal, chaotic, technical, dense and then more ambiant and massive. The whole thing with an impressive drummer. Ulcerate makes me think of Hate Eternal and Cryptopsy as well as Necrophagist, Ion Dissonance and Crowpath. The US brutal death scene is an influence, but you went further. Was it hard to escape from your biggest influences if these previous bands were any of them?
Well thanks a lot, I'm very glad you think so. Hearing comments like that are the most inspiring, that people can hear some uniqueness in what we're doing. I don't think we've escaped our influences, rather than just taking their sounds one step forward as is the norm, we've stepped sideways and just thought 'what sounds cool' rather than 'is this more extreme than such and such band' or whatever. Basically, I don't want to play in a band like Ulcerate if it means we're just playing death metal, because there's always gonna be the genre leaders that will do it 100 times better. So, we diversify, start doing things that others haven't tried, and fuck it, if it fails, then it fails, but at least we're satisfied with giving it a shot. The older I get the less I listen to every single band I come across, I'm just interested in pure quality. Couldn't give two shits about who's the fastest, heaviest etc. I just want to hear cool inspired music.
Cheers for the drumming comment too :)
Your music is so dense that we may suffocate. There's this feeling and more, all lyrics talk about the end of the human race, which seems unavoidable, especially with our modern society. Could you shortly develop this Ulcerate "concept" or idea?
First and foremost our concept stems from how we sculpt our sound. We sculpt our sound out of the idea of 'what do I want to hear' - and in extreme metal I want to hear extreme, violent, dark soundscapes. Everyone in the band shares this vision, and when it comes to voicing an appropriate theme, our vocalist Ben set about creating words that matched the intensity and nature of the music. At the end of the day, the lyrics which grab us most are those of the human condition, our failings and successes. 'Of Fracture and Failure' speaks of the inevitable downfall of our species and the various stages that human nature will present. The failing of the populace to look out for and respect one another and the planet we inhabit brings, and always has, conflict. Extreme conflict. Conflict is an innate part of the human condition. Peace is an illusion.
I think Jamie created the superb visual. What does this creature represent? And does he work for other bands or does he expect to?
Thanks! Well the cover in my mind represents the eventual failing of mankind, an empty shell if you will, and the subsequent rise of the next domineering beings. Pretty much as I described in the last question, the art and words are intertwined.
I work for other bands, not on a regular basis though - I only work for bands who I respect...
When you offer such a complete work, in a visual, musical and a conceptual meaning, I guess you expect something great in return? At least, I suppose you hope that metalheads will completely understand the band even if metal fans aren't always really fervent of concepts and the importance of lyrics...
Well, I mean it would be awesome for people to really dig our concepts whole-heartedly, but its entirely not necessary. At the end of the day, we're playing extreme metal, and if people are into us purely for the blasts and 'fuck-off' quality then that is quite okay with us!
I read that you were influenced by bands such as Today Is The Day and Blut Aus Nord. I'm a big fan of TITD for example... these bands are unique, they've a very personal sound, there's an amazing work with sounds, instruments, chaos. Everything's precise. Is this kind of band very important in your mind, in Ulcerate's sound and is it an evolution you expect for Ulcerate's future: some constant development, experiment, to go as far as possible?
Yeah man for sure. To me, there's a select few extreme bands which are creating a sound that is unlike anything else in the scene, and fairly untouchable in terms of bands being able to mimic there sound etc. A certain spirit in how they write and perform music that defines them. We 100% fully support this line of thinking, that there is more to this genre than just brutality and speed, which seems to be the trap that 9/10 bands fall into. Take a band like Today is the Day for example - they are an indefinable sound, certainly not death or black metal, but there is no way that they can fit into anything other than 'extreme'. Some of there songs are some of the most fucked up stuff you'll hear, and certainly more acidic than the majority of the extreme genre. But there's a ton of promise within our scene - every now and then bands produce stuff that really drops your jaw - and that's all you can ask for! And for sure, to go as far as possible as you put it is the highest of our priorities, to create (hopefully) exceptional, challenging music is what we're about.
Thanks a lot for the cool interview man!
Jamie | Ulcerate
www.offractureandfailure.com
www.myspace.com/ulcerate
www.neurotic-records.com
www.thefloodrecords.com
