Please begin by informing the readers about your first full length album. How well is it selling and how is Europe reacting to American black metal?

- We released our first album, "Til Ten Years", the Summer of 1996.  We haven't been in contact with Hammerheart for awhile, so I don't have any details on the sales.  But last time we checked it was selling well.  We've always had a good response from Europe.  I don't think they look at us as "American black metal" because we have more of our own style than most of the American bands, the majority of whom aren't doing anything too interesting.

"Til Ten Years" has taken DECEMBER WOLVES in a completely different direction since the "Wolftread" demo.  What influenced the change in your approach to black metal and why the addition of Erika?

- I wouldn't say all of the album is a completely different direction, but there's definitely some areas we didn't touch on out "Wolftread" demo.  I think a lot of the album has a Pagan / Celtic sound to it.  It was just the direction we went in after the demo.  Also, more of us became involved in the songwriting process so there's a variety of ideas on it. Some of the songs just needed a little something extra.  There were large portions of the songs where black metal vocals wouldn't really fit in.  So, we decided we'd incorporate female vocals to add what we felt the songs needed.

Is DECEMBER WOLVES currently working on new material?  If so, what kind of plans do you have for the future?  How is the music in comparison to "'Til Ten Years" and will Hammerheart be releasing your second opus?

- Yes, we released our Promo 1997 CD recently.  It features 2 new tracks entitled "We Are Everywhere" and "... Not Of Tainted Blood".  This material is completely different than most of " 'Til Ten Years".  It's extremely aggressive and raw sounding.  A minimal amount of synths are still used, but there are no more female vocals.  It seems like this material is what we'll continue to pursue in the future.  No, Hammerheart won't be releasing anything else by us.  We're currently sending the promo out to a huge
number of labels, so we'll see what happens...

Has the fact that Korea's Hammerheart Records is new label affected the sales of your album in a negative way?  How does Hammerheart treat DECEMBER WOLVES?

- I don't really look at it like that.  Obviously a new label isn't going to be able to sell as many copies as a larger label, and we knew that when we signed with Hammerheart.  Like I said, we aren't really in contact with them anymore.  They did a good job on the release, but they're very slow in the promotion / distribution area.

Do all the side projects of DECEMBER WOLVES distract the band in any ways? Please tell the readers about all of your projects and / or publications.

- There aren't really that many side projects.  Almost all of us have side projects we'd like to get together,  but they haven't really materialized yet. Currently I'm working on a new project entitled TURAGHAN.  The music will be a sort of dark, progressive & experimental style drawing elements from goth, industrial, black metal and progressive 70's bands.  A couple other D.W. members will also be involved - Devon is doing the vocals and Brian will be playing guitar / bass.  I hope to have a demo released in the next few months. I'm working on Curse of the Chains Vol. III.  It'll include interviews with ENDURA, BLOODING MASK, PARADIGMA, INTO THE ABYSS, NECROPHOBIC, AUTUMN TEARS, TARTAROS and many more...

What are your views on the black metal scene and its attitude in Europe?  Do you think the American black metal scene strives to be similar?  Some doubt that black metal can even be played if its not from Norway.  What is your opinion on that matter?

- There's a lot of great European bands and they have a strong scene there, obviously.  I know that some of the European bands and fans of the music won't even bother with an American band, no matter how good the music is.  I can understand this to some degree, because there's so many American bands that produce worthless music.  I think most of the American bands strive to be a little too similar to European bands.  There's very little originality and talent in the U.S. black metal scene.

In closing, please tell me your personal goals as an individual.  Good luck with DECEMBER WOLVES and all of your endeavours.  Thank you for your time.

- My goals are to continue on with DECEMBER WOLVES as far as possible; we all hope to establish our name even more so in the future, and to find a worthy label to release our music.  Other than that, I'd like to continue working on some other musical projects and release something officially, in the very near future.

DECEMBER WOLVES
16 Fordham Road
Lawrence, MA 01841-4806
USA

Email: CurseChns@aol.com