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Interview with A.A.
Nemtheanga of Primordial
March 2008 by Steve Green |
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To The Nameless Dead was one of my favourite
releases of 2007. Chomping at the bit to hear more about this
classic album, I had to bide my time, as the questions have taken a
couple of months to come back, which explains why the interview
reads like it was written just as the album came out. But it was
worth the wait as Primordial's charismatic frontman Nemtheanga
discusses their latest album and his views on Metal in general.
Congratulations on To The Nameless Dead. It’s
my favourite extreme Metal release of the year. When you were
recording the album, did you have the feeling you were creating
something a little bit special?
It felt no different to recording any of our albums really. We
rehearsed the same way we always do. I knew the songs were strong
and we knew what we wanted but its often in the lap of the gods how
things work out. Thankfully they worked out well.
Is it hard to be objective when evaluating
your own material?
It takes us such a long time to get round to recording that we have
often thought long and hard about the songs. We know what makes
Primordial Primordial. You do have doubts of course but you have to
trust in your own ability and focus.
I felt with the album that you drew the
listener in with each song and I personally felt like I’d been
transported into the actual songs. As Rome Burns, took me back to a
certain time in history etc… How do you go about creating such a
massive framework for your songs?
It's really hard to say. Over the years we have forged our own path.
We don’t copy other bands, we never set out to. We just knew we
wanted to create this epic and dark music. Its been this way for as
long as I remember so its hard to analyse. |
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The
sound on the album is huge, but it also feels warm and familiar.
Although your music is traditional in terms of folklore or history,
do you feel you also have a kinship with more traditional forms of
Metal, despite having your own distinct sound, which is a world
apart from straight up Heavy Metal?
For me at least its not a world apart at all, listen to Empire
Falls. This is a classic metal/rock song. It even has a chorus and a
dampened Metallic mid section and stomps along in classic Metal
triumphalism. Or listen to Heathen Tribes, you can hear Thin Lizzy
and Iron Maiden. I grew up with bands like Priest, Dio, Motorhead,
Sabbath and Maiden and they will always be an influence. We wanted a
warm analogue sound to the album. Far away from the usual 2008
pro-tools robotic sound. So we jammed most of it live with old gear
and instruments, fired up the old compressors and desk and let Chris
from Agents of the Morai who engineered it, loose with our ideas.
Who handled the production for the album?
There is so much going on within each song, yet the sound is clear
enough to give each instrument plenty of room to breathe.
See above. We did it in Foel Studios in North Wales with Chris
Fielding engineering and Dave Anderson who used to be in Hawkwind
and Van der graf Generator as our spiritual guru o) tell me a modern
album that sounds better then Mob Rules? |
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Metal Blade obviously believe in you as
they’ve conducted an active online campaign for the album, how does
it feel to be settled on a professional record label?
Great. Finally not to worry, not to be lied to and not to be ripped
off by. They know we don’t work always like a normal band but they
give us the space to do our own thing.
You’ve made your views clear when it comes to
downloading music, what, for you, are the more positive aspects of
the internet and the technology available today?
This has been taken out of context. A quote of context from me in
Zero Tolerance ended up all over the net. I am not naïve and I
understand what a tool the net can be for people to discover new
bands, such as us. I also think that fundamentally right clicking
and getting something for free that I pay from my own pocket to
record isn’t right and devalues music. What the answer is I really
don’t know.Does Metal still excite you in
the same way as it did in the 80s as a young kid just starting out
on a great musically discovery?
Sure it can do. I’ll give you an example. I travelled 2 weeks
ago from Ireland to Wurzburg in Germany to see At War’s first
European show. I’ve been into them since 1988 and waited til now and
when the intro went up I was excited. And when they played Ordered
to Kill and Eat Lead I was thrashing it up with everyone else….
What made you want to sing in a band?
In the beginning it was seeing bands like Metallica and Slayer live
in the late 80s and thinking I wanted to do the same and then being
swept up in the late 80s early 90s underground black/death metal
movement. Tape trading and editing a fanzine. It felt like the
natural next step joining a band.
The biog on your website is totally absorbing.
Would you ever consider writing a book on the struggles and joys of
being in a band?
I haven’t to be honest although maybe someday. Enough stupid things
have happened to us that it could be a funny and entertaining read.
You never know do you… |
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When you look back on the trouble you had with
recording Imrama, various record label problems etc… Has it all been
worth it so far? And what keeps you going?
Of course every minute has been worth it. It’s been a long struggle
but it’s defined us as people, helped us grow, deal with problems
and it’s taken us places I doubt we would have ever seen and at the
end of the day we are standing on a stage in another country
sometimes playing to thousands of people bringing some small part of
our lives and our culture to them. It’s a beautiful thing.
Do the band members all have day jobs? Is it
hard to fit the band in around other commitments?
Of course it always has been but we don’t make a living from the
band, we never did and it was never our intention. It is hard to fit
in things but Primordial was never a band that rehearsed all the
time for example. We have lives outside the band.
You played London in February and a slot at
Wacken is confirmed, what else have you got in the pipeline? Do you
feel the biggest year of the bands existence is about to begin?
I think it’s true this is going to be the biggest year yet since we
began. It hasn’t really dawned on us yet as we take one gig at a
time. We have tons of festivals now, check
www.myspace.com/fallentoruin for info of about 15
If you had the chance to play with any band in
2008, who would it be?
Heaven and Hell would be be nice before they pack it in…
Thanks for your time. Is there anything else
you’d like to add?
Strength and joy
N
www.primordialweb.com |
www.myspace.com/fallentoruin |
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