here is a new
interview with a new one-man band from austria.the music is a mix of
depressive black,ambient.if you enjoy the darker side of these genres
defintly give garden a grief a listen.
regards,
patrick and winter torment
interview with sturmfels vocals,all instruments for garden of grief.done by patrick
1.hails sturmfels! how are things in austria? please tell the readers a little about yourself.
I'm
currently on holiday, snow returned once more, so I don't want to miss
the last chance to go snowboarding this year! Of course I'm still in
Austria because that's best for this purpose ;) Something about
myself...I'm 21 now, going to become a teacher next year. There is a lot
to do as a student but even more time to do something else, you know.
That's one reason why I can spend that much time on music. When not
creating new stuff or recording I spend much time with my girlfriend,
read something or do whatever there is to do...
2.when did
you get the idea to form "garden of grief"? for the readers who have not
had the chance to listen to garden of grief how would you describe the
music of garden of grief?
The idea was born back in 2008 when I
had already written too much songs that did not fit into the concept of
my band. At that time I didn't think that I would be faster in producing
albums than with my band because I were not able to play the guitar
myself. A lot of my plans have changed when I got my guitar last year.
The overall style of Garden of Grief is a mixture of depressive black
metal and dark ambient music. The first album was just raw black metal
without all the ambient stuff. The other part of this project has
developed while writing songs for the upcoming album.
3.you
are the sole member of garden of grief.when you started up this project
did you plan to work alone? are you currently looking for new musicians
to join?
When I first had the idea to start this project I wanted
session members for all stringed instruments because I were unable to
play any of them. Finally I decided to learn playing the guitar myself
which implied the desicion to work alone. I'm currently trying to built
up a live crew which is still lacking someone responsible for the drums
and maybe bass and synths. My songs do not contain any bass so far and
also not much synths, but it would be good to have someone in addition
to the probably three guitars then...you know when someone gets ill or
such things it's better to have someone in reserve.
4.if you
had the opportunity to work with any musicians past or present who are
some you would like to write with? what do you feel are the advantges
and disadvantges to being in a one-man band?
I think I would not
like to work with someone other than the people I currently work with.
Firstly I do not write songs together with anyone because I think it's
better to get an impression on the whole idea someone had even when
working together. So someone should always make the whole song and only
details be added by someone else - that preservees the unique style o
the writer. Also in my band this wouldn't work out if everyone added
everything to a song, because we all have some big diferences in style
although it's always black metal everyone would write on his own.
Secondly I could not name any person to work with that I don't know
personally. I might not know how this person thinks, which approach to
music that person has and so on...
The one major disadvantage of
working alone is that you are strictly limited to your own skills on
every instrument. In a band you have (hopefully) an expert for each
instrument. In my case this would be just drums and vocals, but still I
have to do all other instruments myself. I work hard on my guitar skills
but I'm still not yet able to play all songs without trouble that I had
written when thinking of session members playing all the guitars. The
big advantage of a one-man-project is that you can easily use every
spare minute to do something for your project...you even can record
spontaneously when you have some hours left, no matter what time it is.
In a band you alsways have to organise so many things. Still the music
will always be on a higher technical level in a band (if all members
practise as much as possible for them).
5.i know garden of
grief's new cd "the last days of the sun" will be released soon.please
give the readers some information on the upcoming release.how many songs
will you have on the release? will it be a self-released or have you
found a label to work with?
As my 2nd album "Novembernebel" is
already about to be released, the next full-length album will indeed be
"The Last Days of the Sun". There is not much left to record for that
release. Before I can finish that, I will have to record one more song
for a Split with Nibelheim Moonlight from Spain. Last Days will then
probably be released in late Summer or Autumn 2010, on CD. I have not
yet decided on which label to release the album but for the time being I
work together with Bleichmond Tonschmiede, a small label in Germany,
which offers a good opportunity to release an album without selling the
rights of all the songs on it.
The Last Days of the Sun will
contain 5 tracks with a total playing time about 60 min. There are 4
ambient songs and one black metal song with I think 23 min or so. The
vocals for that song have to be recorded yet but irst of all the lyrics
have to be finished...recording won't take long, probably one day and
then it's all done.
6.you come out of austria's metal
underground.what is your opinion of austria's metal scene? who are somme
of your all-time favorite bands? are their any new bands you feel the
readers should watch out for?
I don't know much about the
Austrian "scene" if you like to call it that way. maybe because there is
not much of interest to me. For example I do not like any black metal
with too much thrash influence, which is - as far as I know - popular in
the underground. I also do care about some technical aspect in
particular when it's about drumming - that's also rare among underground
black metal bands. And when it's not of high quality it has to be at
least creative...Austrian bands I can recommend are for example
Astaroth, who play symphonic black metal on a high technical level and
Asmodeus wich can be also set in the same genre. Austria lacks good dsbm
bands in my opinion, at least I haven't heard of too many up to now.
Yet I came across Nightforest recently, I can recommend that too.
My all time favourites are probably Peste Noire, Drowning the Light, Taake, Limbonic Art,
Nokturnal
Mortum, Kroda, Nyktalgia, Forgotten Tomb, ... bands where I can listen
to any song and I like it for sure. I'm also really into such
outstanding bands as for example Darkspace, Panopticon or Graveland, who
have a unique style that can't be mixed up with some other band.
7.is garden of grief the only band you are currently workin with? if no please tell the readers about your other bands/projects.
Garden
of Grief mostly exists because of songs that would not fit into my band
Winterblast. We play symphonic black metal and I'm currently
responisble for drums, vocals and synths. There are only two people left
of the original members and that's me and one of the guitarists. We had
always trouble finding musicians to fill the gaps but I think in the
future we will not try too hard finding new members but instead
recording the songs in the current line-up. We all could play bass if
needed and I could probably learn the songs on the guitar even though
they're still above my current level. next step will be recording the
long planned album.
I'm also playing drums in Locus Neminis, a
highly technical symphonic black metal band. The recording was already
done when I joined the band, and now we are preparing for upcoming shows
in 2010. I do really enjoin this because it's the only chance for me to
play drums live. With Winterblast I do the vocals on stage and with
Garden of Grief it would probably be guitars and vocals if I played live
someday.
8.everyone has their own ideas/opinions on what
"black metal" stands for.so i was interested in your thoughts what does
"black metal"mean for you?
That is a tricky question, because
it's probably already the answer. Almost everyone has different ideas of
black metal, and I think that is what it's all about. To me it is a way
of thinking. Thinking without limitations of social conventions or
political ideologies. I think Black Metal is somehow close to anarchy,
because it is all about thinking outside "normal" boundaries. Black
Metal is exclusive by definition because within it's concept you could
never say what the outcome for any individual person might be. After all
I'd really say that Black Metal is mental anarchy. That's the best and
shortest explanation I can come up with.
9.as mentioned earlier
you are the only member of garden of grief. so i was curious which
instrument was the hardest one for you to learn to play? which was the
easiest to learn?
The hardest was the guitar because I did not
understand the whole concept of the instrument before I was actually
trying to play. It took long to make my fingers do what they were
supposed to, but now after a year of training I can't understand how it
could have been that hard.
The easiest to learn was obviously the drums for that was my first instrument to learn.
10.you
also handle the vocals for the band.when did you become interested in
singing? do you do anything special to keep your throat/vocals healthy?
who are some of your favorite vocalist?
First of all we tried to
find someone else to do the vocals but this was impossible. We then
tried out who of was closest do do serious vocals and so I became
intrested in practising more. I do nothing special other than drinking
something inbetween...you shouldn't feel too much if you did it right.
Just be sure you don't make the distortion of the screams too deep
inside your throat because that will probably do some damage after a
while - after the first time you will surely notice that it's not
correct and change your technique...
my favourite vocalists,
that's hard to say...I think most of the vocalists who can do some sort
of high-pitched screaming such as Neige or the vocalist of Nyktalgia. I
also admire Jari of Wintersun and Hansi Kürsch of Blind Guardian for
their excellent clean vocals.
11.we have reached the end of
the interview my friend.thank you for taking the time to fill out this
interview.do you have any final comments for the readers?
Take care of yourselves and beware of molesting priests in your country. Thx for the interview, hails!
to contact sturmfels and garden of grief be sure to check out the bands "official" myspace page.
http://www.myspace.com/thevoiceofsuicide
