This month we caught up with the elusive WAS, drummer for rising Colchester band The Blood Divine and also member of the December Moon project along with Rob of Cradle Of Filth fame.
MOSH: Give us a sort of band/music history of yourself, when did you start with
the drums, who influenced, you, etc...
WAS: After a few initial months when I first began to play, bands were formed
here and there, just kids stuff really, I was only 14, and none really
amounted to anything. My first real involvement was with SOLEMN, a band
myself and a couple of friends formed.
We recorded three demos, the third and final one being the best of the three,
did a few gigs with the first incarnation of CRADLE OF FILTH, but SOLEMN
died when I joined CoF as a permanent member. I did about 7 gigs with them,
and it all came to an end just before 'The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh'
came out. The original plan was to precede the LP with a 12 inch, but that
never happened.
Nick then joined the rocking teen combo and I had lost all interest in extreme
music and went off to find myself for a couple of years, with the aid of a
pipe! Cradle went from strength to strength and I was chuffed for them,
then prior to the first 'Dusk And Her Embrace' sessions Rob left the group
(Replaced by Jon of Hecate Enthroned) and basically to cut a long story
short I met up with Rob again in an Ipswich night-club and he asked if I
was into starting this December Moon thing up. I agreed, and things took
their natural path from there. The other guys left Cradle, formed The Blood
Divine, they got me in as we all got on from before in Cradle,
and the rest is history.
MOSH: And who has influenced you as a drummer?
WAS: Well, drummers who I dig and inspire me are Vinnie Colauita, Bill Bruford,
William Calhoun, Tiny Williams, Neil Peart, Joey
Baron, Chad Wackerman, Stephen Shelton, and lots of others.
MOSH: How did the December Moon deal come about? Why Spinefarm?!?
WAS: Well, we recorded a demo in early '95, called 'Nocturnal Transcendency',
which we originally intended to put out for sale.
Anyway, just as we were about to do so, Mark from Beherit/Spinefarm Records
wrote to Rob just out of CoF interest. Marko was interested so we sent the
tape and he offered us a contract. After a bit of negotiating, we came to a
good agreement, and they've been good to us ever since So far!
MOSH: Have you been demoing any new material?
WAS: Rob and myself keep talking about the prospect of a second December Moon
LP, but it is just down to contracts and other bands. Cradle are his main
band and Blood Divine is mine, while neither of the other members mind us
doing another album, we are both signed to Music For Nations and are
dedicated to our bands. If the opportunity does arise and we get
permission, then yes, we'd love to do another. We've got some great ideas
and it's a great release just writing between the two of us.
What we say goes, and it doesn't need to be mentioned to four or five other
members. I can't see the second DM opus being very metal though for some
reason, but then everyone says that don't they?
MOSH: er... yes. Have you ever though about touring December Moon?
WAS: It would be hard, as we'd have to teach people to play the stuff. Rob and
me would have difficulty playing everything at once!
We would like to do a one-off gig in London or somewhere, just for fun, but it
all seems a little improbable with our current workload. A nice thought
though...
MOSH: What about The Blood Divine? Any tour dates?
WAS: We plan to do a European tour with My Dying Bride and one other as yet
unconfirmed band. It's going to most countries from early November to late
December, ending in the UK. I'm sure you'll find out more nearer the
time. Should be an absolute holocaust though!
MOSH: Are you completely happy with 'Awaken'? Looking back, is there anything
you think you'd do differently if you could change it?
WAS: The annoying thing about recording is that, for me anyway, after the LP is
done and you rehearse again, you find yourself playing things just a little
bit different and putting in little extra bits here and there, and you wish
that you could have had these ideas prior to recording the fucking thing!
That happened on 'Source Of Origin' (December Moon LP) as well as on
'Awaken', and I guess it will happen so in the future. Having said that,
I'm so excited about the new TBD material for the second LP that I'll go as
far as to say that I haven't played as dynamic or as fulfilling as this
before, and at this point only five tracks are in skeleton form.
MOSH: How did the Peaceville deal come around?
WAS: When Darren left Anathema, I think that Hammy (Peaceville Mainman) wanted
to take care of whatever he decided to do next, and then the whole band
began to take shape, and got dead excited and I guess he couldn't contain
himself. That and the fact that if you support a crap team like
Huddersfield Town then I guess you'll sign any old crap. Only joking Hammy,
about us being crap that is, not Huddersfield!!
MOSH: And how many albums are you signed for?
WAS: Probing Tabloid press!! The December Moon deal was originally a three LP
deal, but due to our other commitments we bartered them down to a one LP
non-exclusive deal. Good, eh? Oh, the TBD deal is for three LP's, and then
we will take it from there and see what happens.
MOSH: And do you have any other musical plans at the present?
WAS: I'm playing on the next Extreme Noise Terror album, whenever we get to do
it. They are VERY slow workers, and we've been at it for what seems like
years, with members dotted all over the place. The LP will be called 'Chaos
Perverse' and will be out on Earache when we finally get to record the
fucker! It's different to old style ENT, nasty death metal, but the old
style still seeps through at times. Quite a Carcass influence I must say,
but what the fuck, I'm only doing them a favour by playing on it, but
overall it seems like about two years too late. Anyway, when that's in the
can, and in the meantime, I intend to concentrate on The Blood Divine, but
about ten years down the line I'd like to do a solo album.
MOSH: Who do you rate on the UK extreme music scene at the present moment?
WAS: To be honest with you, I rarely listen to heavy bands, I've sort of gone
through it. I still like a few, but as far as UK bands go, I don't have
that much of an interest. I'll just say Dominion, 'cos they're nice people
and tend to get a bad rap everywhere, probably due to the fact that they
contain TWO Leeds United fans and one Huddersfield Town supporter!
MOSH: The latest 'thing' it seems, is Swedish Melodic death Metal. What do you
think of this burgeoning new scene? Do you think the next thing could be
Doom/Death from south-east England?
WAS: I don't know much about the scene, but the bands I hear here and there
sound exactly like the bands on the Swedish scene when it first began, like
early entombed, At The Gates, Dismember, Carnage, etc. Bands like Dark
tranquillity and In Flames don't keep me interested long enough, however
both are very good within their field, and if people dig that sort of thing
then more power to them. They don't hurt anybody. What I've heard of the
latest Pan-Thy-Monium stuff sounds really good and challenging, it moves
a lot, and Opeth are really fuckin' good. Their two LP's 'Orchid' and
'Morningrise' are two well-written pieces of music, and are about the only
thing that makes me think that there is a future in that type of music. We
played with them and they are great guys, they embrace the bands of the
'70's, and this reflects beautifully in their music. As for the next big
thing, well metal has been around for ever (Er.. has it? - Chris) and will
be around forever in years to come, so the way we see it is not to
pigeonhole yourselves, and to do what comes natural musically. Black metal
came and went, then returned and went again, and only the serious and
talented acts remain, as they evolved into something different from when
they started. But bands like Maiden and Sabbath etc. are still influential
and very much a part of today's scene. True metal and rock will never die,
but all the offshoot trends will whither. By reading Terrorizer, it seems
as if a lot of the kids are hooking into the hardcore trend again,
something once more from the early '80's. There seems to be loads of these
kinds of bands now, and again more power to them, but only the strong will
remain, and still a few need to do more homework. Bad Brains are a band seldom
mentioned anywhere now, but they influenced the U.S. hardcore scene sooooo
much that it hurts. One of my favourite bands, but you get chatting to
someone and you get the classic 'I've heard of them but never heard any of
their stuff'. That's rock 'n' roll though I guess.
MOSH: Hmmmm... so have you ever been fucked over by anyone in you musical
career?
WAS: Thankfully, myself and the bands I've been involved with have avoided
sharks and admittedly been very lucky. There was one guy though,
recently. Razamataz merchandise printed up December Moon shirts and sold
some without our permission. All we asked for was a contract we could look
over, but the bloke just went ahead and did it regardless. SO DON'T BUY ANY
DM SHIRTS WITH THE RAZMATAZ NAME ON THEM. THEY SHOULD ALL BE ERIDICATED
FROM SALE, BUT THIS GUY WILL TRY ANYTHING.
OFFICIAL SHIRTS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE NEAR FUTURE THROUGH PLASTIC HEAD
DISTRIBUTION (UK). CHECK THE BRAND NAME AND DON'T BUY LOW QUALITY
BOOTLEGS. IF YOU SEE RAZMATAZ SHIRTS ON SALE CONTACT ME OR CHRIS AT MOSH
AND TELL US WHERE YOU SAW THEM BEING SOLD. Cheers.
MOSH: Cheers mate. WAS: Ok Chris, thanks for the killer interview mate, nice one, it's appreciated. Just a little advertising now! The December Moon CD 'Source Of Origin' is available now in your local underground shop or just write to the address below, also available is the '95 demo, quality is Ok, not great, but you've heard worse. Just send a blank tape and sufficient postage. Official shirts available soon, two designs, top quality. No Razmataz rubbish! Write to - THE BLOOD DIVINE/DECEMBER MOON c/o WAS, 103 Richmond Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP1 4DL, ENGLAND. Send drugs porn and guns please.
