…ned for this year? van Giersbergen: I am planning and working on something online-ish around the release of the album. Something beautiful to go online with. Other than that, I will continue playing my set and rehearsing until I can go out and play. I hope we can do something live in the summer – something outdoors. But proper touring and traveling, and traveling to the US – that will be 2022. But there are tours, in pencil, in the agenda. We are…
…out of control. It’s not only the price, but that you have to fill in the online form that takes forever. Then you have to go an embassy, and so I lose like two days because I have to fly to one. It’s really a huge effort before you can even get to the US. If you have to pay a huge amount of money for that, at a certain point it’s like – c’mon, it has to be worth it or you can’t keep doing it anymore. Dead Rhetoric: I don’t want to sidetrack too…
…and push themselves into the world. Dead Rhetoric: In an interview you did online a couple of years back for Decibel magazine, you mention that ‘I love Spain, but my Spain died in 1936.’ Can you tell us a bit more about your views on your home country, the government, and why things have been so different from that year forward in your eyes? Izquierdo: It’s quite difficult. With this information, I wanted to say in 1936 there was a civil war withi…
…my attention because the Dublin Simon Community had done a series of live, online gigs. A friend of ours Connor had done a gig, and when I did my homework they were doing amazing work when COVID hit. They were looking after people that were being affected worse than everybody. Lack of provision for people coming into the country, addiction issues, and they do an amazing job helping there. They were out on the streets every night, helping the homel…
…, they go absolutely crazy. I’ve got a couple of clips that I’ve posted up online – I’ve got a live montage that I am working on for another single and you’ll see some of that footage in there. Hanging from the ceiling, hanging from the air ducts, very crazy. Maybe it might be something in their town and the way they grew up, they are looking for a release and it’s just fantastic. Dead Rhetoric: What can you tell us about the New Zealand metal sce…
…ng in front of nobody, but if we have to do it, if the virus continues into 2021 – and people are suggesting already that it could be not until next summer when gigs start happening, we may have to do an online thing. I know Andrew is writing some more material, but we have no focus on any sort of release after the EP. We are just keeping ourselves busy. We are launching a My Dying Bride beer called Old Earth. That should be good fun. We are tryin…
…ds? Verbeuren: We are all in this unknown zone now. There are plans now for 2021, but who knows? I’m very much on the side of ‘let’s see if this stuff happens.’ But we are supposed to tour for Megadeth. There’s been a bunch of dates planned for the summer – July and August. The album is supposed to be coming out too, they are still working on the guitars but bass and drums are recorded. Dave will hopefully start on vocals soon. The album is going…
…their product since people aren’t working. I have seen a lot more traffic online, so it’s more of a battle this year more than any other year. There’s no shows, no tours, and you can’t really cross a border and work as a musician. That’s a big one. Dead Rhetoric: What goals do you have now that the first full-length is out there? Copeland: Post-album for us, we are still working and grinding. We have a lot of new stuff coming up in 2021. We are g…
…our full-lengths. We have released a couple of songs since the quarantine online that have been total re-envisioning’s of past songs with synths – that has its role, but not completely in the forefront. Where our interests lie as musicians, we are obsessed with them outside of the band. We like to use it to accentuate the song, but not go into full indulgence mode. Dead Rhetoric: The song “Rite of Passage” has special significance to you, putting…
…ng people in the audience in flesh blood to perform to. Doing live streams online was cool and much needed for everybody during the lockdown but I can´t really say I totally enjoyed performing a full set to two mobile phones…It´s just that nothing beats the live concert experience, hope we´ll get back to the traditional ways of performing and seeing people eye to eye without restrictions at some point. Dead Rhetoric: How important is nailing a big…
…hool days that we were going to be kicked out of school. So we switched to online so we could continue with GFM and have more opportunities. Now with the pandemic, nothing has changed. We did everything online anyways. Our hearts go out to those kids who are having to learn everything for the first time because it was difficult to figure out how to have that responsibility and time management. But it is possible. For anyone having those struggles,…
…time, I’ve been consulting and helping a lot of artists build their career online. Whatever they need me for, I’m there. I’m really enjoying it. But my big goal is finishing this album for Antiqva and then going into the studio for that. We almost have enough material for a full album and it’s just sitting there. I just can’t live like this anymore – we need to do something about this. That’s going to be the next chapter of my life. I’m very excit…
…s point forward? Hurd: We are going to be looking into doing some content, online mostly. Things to fill out the rest of the year, and we are crossing our fingers in 2021. I don’t see it happening until then. The rest of the year is out for that. But as soon as we can hit the road – otherwise we are putting together ideas for stuff we can fill out the year with. We might do some live streaming, so maybe keep an eye out for that. https://www.youtub…
…. So there wasn’t much of a difference between us and other people. People online were giving us a lot of inspiration and positive feedback. People were more active than usual and it gave us more of an opportunity to reflect over life and music. Dead Rhetoric: Have you reached the point with the band that you feel you can do exactly what you want in an album, such as tossing in a breakdown for instance, without fear of alienating people? Ryd: I fe…
…more respect from the metal community. That’s one of my sort of pet peeves online, I’ll see memes that have Bay Area thrash, and Heathen will not be included. I don’t know why the band is sort of the red-headed stepchild of the scene. That’s how we see it, the band somehow that doesn’t get the respect that it deserves. And it’s probably because there’s been such a big gap between these albums. We’ve been consistent, but not frequently enough – it’…
…rom somewhere. The training that we have gone through, on various channels online, has come down to seeking out your superfans. The ones who are crazy for your exact genre of music – bring them in and give them a culture to be a part of. Don’t just blast advertisements all the time. But invite them to support you through crowdfunding. It’s easy to say, but very tough to execute [laughs]. We’ve done a really good job of finding some really dedicate…
…ewtube (“Black and Huge”), Fistbook (“I’m in Love (With a Dead Dog)”), and Insta(g)ram (“Captain Crunch,” which featured a large rock of crack being tossed about the stage between GWAR and the slaves before a giant syringe made an appearance). As the band was celebrating 30 years of torment and domination, the setlist spanned their discography, including old favorites such as “Vlad the Impaler,” “Meat Sandwich,” and “Saddam a Go-Go,” with its upbe…
