At the
first years of your existence, BLOOD OF CHRIST’s style could be described
as fierce and technical grind, while later it turned into atmospheric death
metal with obvious BM influence... What were the reasons for this change?
- When we
started, I was only seventeen years old of age. I also wasn’t a very good
guitar player, and just listened to brutal death metal. As I matured, I
gained interest in much more, atmospheric, dark, gothic, and so on, music.
It seems to me now, and at the time of writing «The Lonely Flower
Of Autumn» that much has been done, and going on in the same direction
of other bands is redundant. It is much better, I feel, and inspirational
when people are artistic and abstract, different and individuals - even
in music. It is expression, and should be what you feel inside. Naturally,
being a very morose person, my writing started to take a darker path (mirroring
my life and emotions). I feel in the early days we were just experimenting,
and trying to find our style, and it was more for fun, Grind is Fun! But
now we are serious, and found our sound. Epic Dark Metal!
If I’m
not mistaken, you’ve released three demo tapes, namely «Divine Requiem»,
«Frozen Dreams» and «The Lonely Flowers Of Autumn».
I doubt if everyone is familiar with these titles, so....
- «Divine
Requiem» and «Frozen Dreams» were both recorded and released
in 1994. We were very young band, and still learning. Those demo tapes
are more of the finding our own type of stage. Just for fun more than anything,
and to get our name known. Then in 1995 we released «The Lonely Flower
Of Autumn», a more eclectic release than our earlier works. It also
featured our new style and approach, much darker, intricate song structures,
and a lot more thought put into it. It was also much more poetic as opposed
to just gore and brutality. «Autumn’s Twilight», the first
song on the demo is for me, the defining song of BLOOD OF CHRIST. That
song, along with «The Raven’s Song» are two, perhaps, of my
favorite BLOOD OF CHRIST songs. They are very emotional. Both «Autumn’s
Twilight» and «Raven’s Song» will be recorded on our
second full length, which we hope to record in late 1998. Our newer material
is taking the coarse of «The Lonely Flower Of Autumn» demo
as opposed to «... A Dream To Remember» which to me was a brief
experimental faze in my composing (except for the song «Whispers
From The Forest» - an epic tragedy that is not unlike «Autumn’s
Twilight»).
Your discography
also includes «Le Sirene Cicatrice» 7’EP, which I consider
as a quite rare release, since I couldn’t find it in any distro-lists or
catalogues which passed through my hands...
- Actually,
this 7’EP was never released as far as I know. The guy, Luca Fini, who
owned Torture Records (Italy), apparently disappeared. I never saw any
copies and I don’t know if anyone else has either! The two songs that were
recorded, in May 1996, for the release were «The Raven’s Song»
and «Winter Tree... A Forest Of Tragedy» (which is re-recorded
on «... A Dream To Remember»). I actually prefer the production
of these songs as opposed to the CD, they are much more raw and atmospheric.
They truly captured our emotion in that I mixed those two tracks, where
as the album wasn’t handled by me. So next time I shall mix our next recordings,
selfishly I feel that we get a better result when we mix it ourselves.
What can
you tell us regarding lyrics featured on «... A Dream To Remember»?
Such titles as «Moonlight Eclipse», «Lonely Winter Morning»,
«Dreams Of Winter Landscapes» or «Whispers From The Forest»
sharply contrast with your fast, grinding version of black metal, and would
fit better to some typical «Norse» band...
- Yes, I
feel that lyrics is a strong point of BLOOD OF CHRIST. They’re more poetic
than most bands, similar to MY DYING BRIDE mixed with IMMORTAL if you can
imagine. I don’t compose any lyrics for our songs anymore, usually Conan
(Bulani - vocals), handles all that now. It is his expression, the lyrics
and vocals, his contribution to our music, so thus he should write them
anyhow. His newer material is more personal, questioning religion, dealing
with morose emotion and so on. They’re still very dark, and sounding very
much like BLOOD OF CHRIST material!
«...
A Dream To Remember» CD’s cover is really impressive! Where did you
take such a splendid piece of art?
- The cover
photograph was taken by Rossane Damore. She was a student at a local college
here in London (Fanshawe College). Marek (our old bass player) went to
that school in 1996, and saw the photograph posted in the photography department.
He approached Rossane Damore about letting us use the picture, and she
gladly allowed us the privilege. It is an amazing picture, and brilliantly
captures the essense of BLOOD OF CHRIST. However, sadly, the Die Hard version
of the CD has the same cover of the demo, because they felt that it should
have a different artwork, a foolish decision in my opinion. I was truly
disappointed to find this out.
«The
Ancient Battles» features a sample of certain war march, which somehow
reminded me of the Third Reich and stuff... Are you interested in nazi
subject-matter?
- That intro
is a sample from Schindler’s List (the movie). Yes, I am interested in
«The Third Reich» and both the Great War, and Second World
War, and so on. But we are neither a fascist nor nazi type of band. It
is purely out of interest as that I personally am fascinated by those subjects
of war. We don’t sing about anything to do with race or politics, and never
will. I don’t agree with racism or prejudice of any kind, it is just a
personal fascination of mine, that I can only say for myself. The rest
of the band have no interest in it whatsoever. It’s actually called «Act
IX... The Ancient Battles» and is a fantasy song, the lyrics have
no basis in truth or historical significance whatsoever.
For some
reasons I think that your music is more influenced by INTERNAL BLEEDING-alike
bands than by contemporary BM gods...
- I don’t
like INTERNAL BLEEDING much really, I’m not much into that style of death
metal with «slam» riffing. I can’t see the comparison of BLOOD
OF CHRIST and INTERNAL BLEEDING, really I feel that we sound nothing like
them. They’re a great band, and very heavy but just not my cup of tea.
We are definitely more influenced by death metal and grind as opposed to
black metal though, yet a lot of atmospheric element could only have been
inspired by such gods as EMPEROR or SATYRICON...
The word
«winter» can be often met in your song-titles... Honestly speaking,
I’m getting tired of seeing enormous number of black metal bands, who almost
worship this season... What is so attractive in winter, besides easy opportunity
to catch up a flu or be taken to the bed with pneumonia?
-
Yes, I too am tired of the redundant lyrics about winter, forests, moons,
and so on. But, have you ever heard an atmospheric death metal band such
as BLOOD OF CHRIST, do this? No. They all sing about gore, serial killers
and stupid shit like that. We sing about our emotions, true life, love
and how sad and disheartening it is in this pathetic and fairly cold country.
I personally love autumn, as opposed to winter, yet I like winter too.
I was born in December, so naturally how could I not flourish in such dark
seasons? I hate the summer, so who would want to sing about going to the
beech or playing baseball, or being all sweaty and stinky because of the
intense heat? No, the summer and spring are horrible seasons (yes,
summer is really disgusting... at least, in Moscow - ED).
I wish truly that it was autumn all year round! (I
believe, we all will face the eternal SUMMER, hot as hell, with global
warming possessing the earth faster and faster... - ED)
As far
as I know, no one in the band is over 19 years old. Therefore, can
I suppose that your rather young age appears as a point of contempt on
the part of various Norwegian idiots?
- Well, actually
I am now 21 years, and Greg (Idasz - bass, keyboards) is 20, Conan is 20
and Jason (Longo - drums) is 18. So yes, we’re very young still and it
does cause a lot of hate and jealousy towards us from our contemporaries
as you can imagine. It is hard being young musicians, as that we are much
better than the majority of people who are also much older, they must love
to make trouble for us and have an end to BLOOD OF CHRIST. But, jealousy
betrays them and their ignorance will only make us stronger.
Pulverizer
Records distributes «... A Dream To Remember» in USA, while
Diehard Music does the same in Europe. Are you pleased with their work?
- I am pleased
with both labels promotion and distribution, however, we are having problems
receiving our copies of CDs and it is very hard for us to promote our own
music. This is starting to anger me to a great degree lately. But, aside
from this I am happy. But for now anyway.
You played
few gigs together with KATAKLYSM and INCANTATION, so can you share with
us your impressions of associating with these guys?
- INCANTATION
are legends and it was amazing to play with them. They’re very cool guys,
and funny to talk with. KATAKLYSM were allright, but since we speak English
and they speak French it is very hard to be friendly, because there’s a
barrier between the languages in our country, unfortunately.
Why do
you call yourself as Tlfoa (The Lonely Flower Of Autumn)?
- Because
I am lonely, and always will be.
What do
you think of the present situation in my country? Have you ever heard any
Russian metal bands?
- I can’t
comment on politics, I pay no interest in them. For all I know that fucking
asshole Bill Clinton is going to bomb Iran and Iraq, and then we’ll face
pure nuclear holocaust. That’s about all the politic shit I know about
right now. I don’t know really any bands from Russia. Your country seems
to be one of very secret, and ancient with much culture on it’s own. I
would love to visit Moscow (your city), I have seen pictures and more recently
film (in the movie «The Saint»), and it looks like a beautiful
and interesting place. But I know not much else.
I heard
many people talking about ‘trend’ in black metal nowadays which I find
extremely stupid... In my opinion, these terms have nothing to do with
each other, since it’s impossible to sell 500 000 CD’s appearing as a member
of any BM band, consequently if you play this kind of music you do it only
for your own pleasure - nothing less, nothing more. Do you agree?
- I
agree 200%!!! I play guitar because I love it. I release all my emotion
through our music, and no amount of money can replace that. I wouldn’t
even sell my guitar for $10 000 000 (are
you sure?? - ED), never, because it has
so much emotion in it.
Do you
have any personal philosophy or, at least, life motto?
- No, I just
live day by day knowing that I am going to die a bitter old man (don’t
be so pessimistic! Maybe someone kills you, before you’ll get over 60 years
old - ED). Each day is as hard, even harder
as time fades away (I have the same feeling...
- ED). I don’t believe in following philosophies
or religions, just live and make do with what you’ve got.
What do
you think of an individual named Charles Manson? I know many people who
consider him as the outstanding person, 'a genius' misunderstood by narrow-minded
society...
- I don’t
know anything about him, and don’t care. Anyone who would spit in a woman’s
face (I saw an interview where he did this), is a piece of shit as far
as I am concerned. He is also a lunatic, why the fuck would you tattoo
a Swastika on your forehead?
I saw
one of your promotional photos, and frankly speaking, you’re more resembling
to members of some ‘oi’ or hardcore band, than to black metallers... Don’t
you think that you should work upon your image a bit, or else BLOOD OF
CHRIST don’t recognize corpse-paint, black clothes and other traditional
BM attributes?
- I do wear
black clothing, take a look at the picture in «The Lonely Flower
Of Autumn» demo (hmm, I’d take a
look if I had this tape... - ED). We look
very «gothic» back then, that’s also what I look like now.
It matters not what you wear or what you look like, but rather what lies
on the inside is most of importance to me. Our society is so fucked up,
we have little girls over here starving themselves just so they can be
«perfect», and getting breast enlargements - it is fucked man,
who cares? (well, it’s their own business, don’t you think so, my friend?
- ED) Image means nothing to me really, I just wear dark clothing so I
don’t look like a fucking jock.
Something
you want us to know about BLOOD OF CHRIST’s live shows? What do you prefer
- little clubs or big open-air festivals?
- We have
never played an open air festival, we don’t even have those in North America
for metal. Live shows suck here, but in Quebec and the States is excellent.
We prefer to play in a mid-sized bar / club, with like 300 or 400 people,
that’s the best atmosphere, because there’s just the right amount of people,
and not too many, and they’re all going nuts, it’s an intense feeling to
experience this. Our live show is much raw, faster and just pure grind
as opposed to the atmospherics of the recorded materials. I like to keep
the two separate, because live death metal should be fucking intense, yet
we are very eclectic and atmospheric and this should come out in the recordings.
If you
had a chance of getting 10000$ for one gig with PANTERA, would you agree?
- That would
be great exposure to play with PANTERA, a lot of people will go to see
them, and thus that’s a possibility of a couple thousand more BLOOD OF
CHRIST fans! I would also just love to meet PANTERA, I grew up listening
to them and SLAYER!
What can
we expect from BLOOD OF CHRIST in future? I hope that you won’t change
your style drastically unlike BELIAL or BEHERIT?
- You’ll
have to just wait and see, I suppose. All I can say is that I have put
myself back into the same mindset as when we did «The Lonely Flower
Of Autumn», and am following the direction yet trying to refine it
a little. The drumming is much faster and more powerful now too, with lots
of double kick drumming! And the vocals are lower now too, much more aggressive
on the whole. I also will be featuring my new Ibanez 7-string on the next
album, so I will tune much lower (about G#), so it is very grindy and low,
yet still atmospheric!
Would
you like to say anything in conclusion?
- Thank you
for this interview, and darkest wishes from the lonely flower of autumn,
Jeffrey Scott Longo! Anyone who’s interested can write to us at the following
addresses:
Greg Idasz
- 6 Ranson Place / London, Ontario, Canada / N6G1V6
Conan Bulani
- 26 Ford Crescent / London, Ontario, Canada / N6G1H9
Jason Longo
- 27 Century Place / London, Ontario, Canada / N6H4W9
Jeffrey Longo
- 27 Century Place / London, Ontario, Canada / N6H4W9
Email - bloodofchrist@mailexcite.com
Thanks again
Kai, I appreciate it with utmost respect!