Greetings, Scott! Your debut CD, “Legend”, has been out for sometime now, how are your feelings towards it? Do you have any idea about the sales?

- Overall I'm happy with how the disk turned out.  The hardest part for me was drawing the line and saying "OK, this is how's it's going to be.  It's finished."  When you work on something you take seriously, you always want to keep going with it, changing it bit by bit, trying to get the most out of your original idea, but practically there has to come a time when you decide this particular work is done (especially if you're on a slim budget...).  Looking back now I see that there are things which could be done better, both musically and recording-wise, but it seems to me that this is the point of doing a stand alone project like an album.  It makes you ready to do the next one, and I already have several ideas for improvement on future work.

Do you have any new songs ready? What is the main difference between them and the ones, featured on “Legend”? Can we speak about any kind of musical progress or radical changes in your habitual sound?

- I do have some new material in the oven, as a matter of fact... so far the aren't any "radical changes" to speak of as compared to "Legend".  Lately I've been tending a bit more towards "battle-sounding" music, similar to what is found in the later parts of "Odin's Ride" off of "Legend", but this is just reflects the mood I've been in lately.  As time goes on I'll feel differently, write different sounding material, and end up with a mix of stuff as on "Legend".  Of course, this isn't the way to get famous: ideally one wants to choose a distinctive "sound" and stick with it.  However, since I've never planned on being a rock-star, this seems OK to.  I'd rather just write what I feel like writing and throwing it all together, rather than having to worry about things like "well, I wrote this song, but the black-metal fans won't like it, so maybe I should change it..."  One fairly significant change I've been thinking about is the vocals.  I'm not willing to give up on the death-metal style (I don't know what else would fit), but I'd like to find some strong distinctive vocals to compliment the music.

How would you describe the SOMBER BLESSINGS music yourself? Do you agree with the ‘dark metal’ definition?

- My canned response to this question is "it's kind of a mix of melodic death / doom metal combined with elements from classical, folk, and even new-age music", but this is really just so I have a response to give.  Everyone hears things differently, so the best way is really to take a listen for yourself.  This is the point of putting sound samples on our webpage (see URL below).

Can you explain me why therere six singers in the band? I can’t get into this fact since there’re only four types of singing featured on “Legend” that I could discover...

- Yeah, thinking about the amount of consternation this seems to have arisen in some people makes me laugh a little... I think that many people misunderstand the context of SOMBER BLESSINGS.  It's different from what modern society defines as a "band", which is a distinct unit made up of persona (and I do mean persona, not persons) each of which fans will sometimes elevate to heroic levels.  The public is always concerned with who's in "the band", who's getting along with who, what so-and-so thinks of someone else... it's a scaled down Hollywood, basically.  This is why I often use the word "project" when discussing SOMBER BLESSINGS.  Sure, it's something I started, but it's really just a bunch of people getting together to create something.  It's true, we had three people doing death-metal styled vocals on the album, but each person had there own style to add which better suited different sections of the music.  Everyone who did any vocals on the album is given a credit which just says "vocals" because... well, because that's what they did.  Distinctions like "back-up vocals", "background vocals", "chorus vocals" are in my mind unnecessary.  There doesn't have to be a "star" which gets all the credit. Lauren had the best singing voice, so she sang.  Maranda had the best voice for the "moodier" speaking parts, so she did the speaking parts.  I really enjoy getting other people involved, and hopefully on the next one there'll be an even longer list of contributing musicians (even if it does upset some people... heh!).

Unfortunately, “Legend’s” cover art startles with it’s hack-work... I wish I could say anything positive regarding it, however theres no such possibility. And don’t tell me that you’re satisfied with Jasmine’s work...

- Hmmm... I think your statements are a bit on the extreme side... I imagine you do some graphic design yourself?  People are typically more critical in a field they have some expertise in... that said, I agree the cover is not ideal.  I basically chose the wrong person to work with.  The recording was done in January, but it took several months to get the graphic design together because I couldn't get hold of the cover.  Typical excuses like "computer died", "been busy" even the good old "it's in the mail".  The cover was originally just the prototype, for which I requested some changes, which took over a month and still never got done.  Who knows, but when I finally got SOMETHING in the mail I said "screw it, this is what it's going to be."  I don't like it very much, but I don't think it's HORRIBLE (again, check out the webpage and decide for yourself!).  Anyway, if you know or any of your readers knows of someone who is reliable and can do a better job, feel free to contact me about possibly working on future releases.

Now quite a usual question, concerning your lyrics... Can we affirm that mythology is the main source of inspiration for you?

- Hmmm... your "usual question" has some unusual wording.  If affirming that mythology is a source of inspiration for me goes beyond my saying that it is so, then I'm not sure how you would do that. Certainly most of the lyrics are based directly on folk-tales of different cultures from around the world, and those which aren't are based on the concept of mythology in general.  So in terms of content the inspiration comes from mythology, although stylistically the influences come from different places (most notably romantic period poetry, Poe, Tolkien, Lovecraft, etc.)

Why does SOMBER BLESSINGS still remain an unsigned band? I consider it to be really weird, since even such crap as PROFANE GRACE finds its way on the market in the shape of CD...

- Good question!  I guess part of the problem is that we don't play shows.  Without doing this it's hard to build up a fan base, and without a fan base you don't make much money, and record companies don't want to deal with bands which aren't going to make them money (I hope it won't be a shock to too many people to hear that getting signed to a label has very little to do with how talented you are, but more with what social connections you have and, the bottom line, how much income you can produce for the company).  Also, I suppose I'm just not that concerned about it.  I mean, it would be great if someone gave me a bunch of money to record something, packaged it up and distributed it, but my focus is mainly on writing music, and I think it would take a lot of extra time "schmoozing" with people to get SOMBER BLESSINGS on a label, and I just don't have the inclination to bother.  With a rather time-consuming career, I hardly have enough time to write music!

I bet you can’t argue the fact that your vocals sound rather black metallish... Moreover, such song-titles as “Odin’s Ride” or “By The Light Of A Winter’s Moon” also suppose a music in the vein of IMMORTAL or SATYRICON... Therefore, I'm wondering if SOMBER BLESSINGS has any connection with black metal scene?

- Sure, I listen to several black metal bands: CRADLE OF FILTH, SAMAEL, EMPEROR, ARCTURUS… DARK TRANQUILLITY is one of my favorite bands, and some people refer to them as black metal.  In fact, I've heard some people refer to SOMBER BLESSINGS black metal. Fine by me. The definition of "black metal" seems to have changed a bit since I was a lad, but I've never been too worried about that kind of thing. In short there is certainly some influence there.

Are you familiar with any Russian metal bands?

- Not that I know of, although it's not uncommon for me not to know where a band I like is from.  Sticking by my old philosophy, the music is the most important thing to me.  The rest of it is just trivia.

What is your view upon christianity and religion in the whole?

- Well, this is kind of a deep question, Kai... in short I don't feel it's really different from anything else: there's good in it and there's bad in it. Christian organizations sometimes build houses for the homeless, feed the hungry, clothe the poor... the good thing about christianity (and many other religions) is that they're based on doing good in this world to be happy in the next.  This motivates people to help one another, and if believing that they'll receive eternal life for their work gives them a happier life without the fear of death, then great!  It's unfortunate that some people need the "fear of God" to behave in a morally respectable way, but religion seems like a reasonable piece of machinery for this purpose.  The odd thing about christianity is that it seems to produce a lot of fanatics.  Maybe it's just because I live in America, I don't know, but I've more than once been approached by someone trying to convert me to christianity, but never Hinduism or some native American religion.  You'd think that if someone was secure in their beliefs they won't be so adamant about converting everyone to their views.  As far as me personally, being a scientist kind of confuses the whole issue of religion, and, again in short, I'm kind of resigned to the idea that the question of a "higher order" is something I can't figure out, beyond the physical sense of the laws of nature, so who know? It could be so...

Weed and alcohol... What is your attitude to such kind of stuff? Im familiar with few people who consider aforementioned things necessary for the creating process; they’re able to compose truly an outstanding music only being drunk or stoned...

- I've never tried either of these things.  Having complete control over my faculties is important to me, and I feel that I am able to better function in all aspects without such inhibitions.  If others want to use such substances, then fine by me, so long as they don't endanger anyone else.  Although I can imagine that someone might think a work of their's _sounds_ much better if they are "under the influence"...

Do you have any funny memories from your time with SOMBER BLESSINGS?

- Recording "Legend" around a full-time job resulted in a lot of over-night sessions.  Things can get pretty wacky at 4 in the morning with no sleep and a stomach full of Mountain Dew.  The engineer threatened several times to hide some funk bass (which was the result of one such session) somewhere on the album.  Maybe he did, although I haven't heard it yet...

If you have anything to add, feel free to do it here...

- I'd just like to post some contact info:

Scott Randall
269 Colonnade Dr. #5
Charlottesville, VA
22903 USA

srandall@wesleyan.edu

http://home.ici.net/~randall/randall.html

We have one demo tape and the new CD available.  If you'd like to learn more about SOMBER BLESSINGS, try any of the above contacts (especially if you'd like to give me a stack of money for the next album!).  Thanks for the interview Kai, I hope things are going well over there in Russia.