Greetings...
First of all, few words of the bands which preceded HEAVEN GREY - SCAFOLD
and DISGORGED...
- Hi, everybody!
Here's HEAVEN GREY from Latvia. In the beginning I want to tell you about
creation of our band. It was in the beginning of '90s. There were two bands:
SCAFOLD (death metal) and DISGORGED (death-grind). Vyacheslav N. and Vladislav
K. played in SCAFOLD, while Erwin O. (drums) and Janis (guitars) played
in DISGORGED. These bands were the first ones who played such kind of music
here in Latvia. After these bands' disbandment (by the way, DISGORGED was
reformed and still exists), aforementioned people formed HEAVEN GREY
in the beginning of 1993.
HEAVEN
GREY’s former tape («Under The Grey Clouds») featured something
that could be described as straightforward death / grind with few doom
metal influences, while your latest recording «Memory River»
is in the pure doom / gothic vein... What caused such change? Many bands
do the same in order to gain more popularity since playing CEMETARY / LAKE
OF TEARS-alike music is much more profitable nowadays than performing f.ex.
traditional death metal; therefore some may think of you as of ordinary
trend-followers...
- Money has
no way the reason that we changed our style. In the beginning we really
played death metal with elements of grind and doom. The confirmation is
our demo "Under The Grey Clouds" which wa recorded in 1994. The change
of the style is caused both by the line-up changes and by the changes of
our inner and outward ideology. The music on "Memory River" is more interesting
with it's structure; it's also more emotional in comparison with our first
tape.
How was
the response to your last demo abroad?
- I'm getting
a lot of mail from bands, 'zines and labels from all over the world. In
general, there're good responses and offers to collaborate in these letters.
Of course, there's some criticism in some of them but it's good also because
we analize it and try to take it into account in our next work.
You have
a tune «Upe» sung in Latvian, which I find as rather interesting
experiment! What is this song about? Don’t you think that recording whole
album in your native language will be undoubtedly original (and impressive)
move?
- Our song
"Upe" (The River) is about a relation between people, about life in the
world surrounding us, about love and different kind of problems that it
causes. I think that if the whole album would be in Latvian, many fans
won't be able to get it's sense and we'd have to translate it to everybody.
And I think that Latvian sounds less good than English. There're two songs
in Latvian in our new album "Northwind" and I think that they turned out
pretty nice.
There’s
some kind of «satanic» organization mentioned in «Memory
River» thanx list - could you tell us more about it?
- Satanic
organization (O.N.S.L.) that was meant in the inlay of "Memory River" is
just my good friends and it was only me who thanked them on the cassette.
But I have nothing in common with this organization. I have absolutely
another kind of business with members of O.N.S.L. But in general, they're
one of the leading organizations here in Latvia.
What is
your view upon satanism and various movements ("Churches", "Circles", etc.)
of this kind? If you want my opinion, I’d say that both, christiniaty and
satanism, were invented in Israel - hence it’s destined for jews, not for
Europeans! They’re two parts of the whole, siamese twins, and worshipping
satan (or «dark forces of Nature» in the shape of «satan»,
like some say) is nothing but an utter stupidity.........
- I'm totally
indiffirent to all kinds of religion (be it christianity or satanism).
It's just not interesting for me. I think that it's all is funny and foolish.
«Memory
River» possesses really tremendous artwork! Who is responsible for
it? What does the cover stands for? (B.t.w., I was a bit surprised to see
various reviews and distro-lists praising your COVER instead of MUSIC...)
- Our cover
was made by our singer Ansis. He and his mother are famous artists here
in Latvia. This cover was made only by him with
help of computer.
Maybe he wanted to show his inner psychical experience, passed episodes
of life through this picture... It's just
his memories,
I think...
Also
I’d like to mention decent production and sound - do you have the same
point of view? How much did you pay for the recording (if it’s not a secret,
of course)?
- We've recorded
and mixed "Memory River" in one of the best Latvian underground studios
(Phoenix Studio). In general, we're satisfied with the result. Professional
engineer was absent and it caused some shortcomings. About the price...
To tell you the truth, I don't remember clearly, but it wasn't very expensive
(depends on what is "expensive" to you...
- ED)
What can
you say about Latvian metal scene? When it comes to extreme bands from
that region, I’m familiar only with you, HERESIARH, ALFHEIM and SKYFORGER...
- There's
large and solid scene in Latvia. Here we have one big concert in 1,5-2
months and they usually gather 800-1200 fans from all parts of Latvia.
Small gigs usually take place once a week. All major bands are concentrated
in Riga (the capital of Latvia), like SKYFORGER (pagan black metal), NEGLECTED
FIELDS (techno-death), SANCTIMONY (brutal death), HUSQUARN (thrash-death)
and other young and perspective bands in other parts of Latvia. But HERESIARH
and ALFHEIM that were mentioned by you are very young and badly known bands
(ALFHEIM is a young band...??? Wake up!
- ED)
What are
your thoughts upon Internet, it’s possibilities and staggering enlargement
/ development? Are there any metal-devoted sites which grabbed your attention
recently (I mean, the ones located in Russia and ex-USSR)?
- I think
that Internet is a very good thing. For me it helps in contact and intercourse
with bands, 'zines and labels from all over the world. Internet is a future
of communication. I know that a lot of Russian musicians have no Internet
and it troubles communication and advance in musical world (do
you really know what you're talking about? I bet, you don't. 70% of Russians
involved in underground have access to World Wide Web - ED)
Beverina
Productions strikes as the most well-known and respected Latvian distro-company...
Do you collaborate with them in any ways? What are your impressions of
their work?
- Earlier
we cooperated with Beverina. They spreaded "Memory River". We also had
a good interview in their "Tales Of Beverina" zine. But now they have business
with black, folk and pagan metal only. That's why we don't have business
with them anymore. It's a pity that they work only with popular music styles
(i.e. black metal) because it was very nice to work with them.
Maybe,
a bit unexpected question - what do you think of bands with Black / Asian
members involved? Like MYSTIFIER, BLASPHEMY or SIGH...?
- I don't
like MYSTIFIER very much, but I like BLASPHEMY, especially their "Fallen
Angel Of Doom" album (although "Gods Of War" is not bad also). I'm not
familiar with SIGH....
What do
you think of Russian death / doom / black / gothic / ambient scene? What
bands whose music you’ve heard recently would you call as the most promising?
- To tell
you the truth, I'm not very enlightened about Russian scene. I know that
there's hell of bands there, but they have very small account of gigs and
there's a problem with good equipment (hmmm,
and again you say something that has nothing to do with reality. We have
enough gigs here, and those of them which take place with bad equipment
occur very rare - ED). I know such bands
as MENTAL HOME (doom), THRON' (black), TALES OF DARK NORD (brutal death).
I think that these bands are most perspective, but I'm sure that there're
a lot of interesting young bands also.
I called
«Memory River» as your «latest recording» a couple
of times, however it’s not quite right considering the fact that it was
recorded more than two years ago... Therefore; when will we be able to
hear your new creations? Did you get any contract already or you’re still
looking for a label?
- We've already
recorded and mixed our new album "Northwind". It features atmospheric doom
metal with keyboards and cello parts (10 songs, 48 minutes). We have already
three offers and now we're choosing more profitable label(so I hope it
will be released very soon).
What can
we expect from HEAVEN GREY in time to come?
- We also
plan to release our live album during 1998 (including songs
recorded
on various gigs). In this summer we plan small Euro Tour
and many
gigs here, in the Baltic States. So that's all for now.
Thank you
for interesting questions.
HEAVEN GREY
contact -
Email: heavengrey@usa.net