M: How are things in the land down under these
days?
R: Hopefully Australia’s crying out for
a Virgin Black fix since in the last four years
we have only done a small tour with Arcturus and
nothing else. Aside from that, we still have those
deadly creatures, friendly people, and miles and
miles of barren land.
M: One of the things that immediately come to
mind with the Requiem albums is the fact that
they have been released out of their intended
order. How do you feel about this and do you believe
it has affected/will affect the way listeners
receive it?
R: The relationships between the albums and between
the albums and the listener are too complex and
undefined to be able to draw any conclusions on
how they should, would have, or will unfold. Each
person will react differently. Personally, I believe
that there are certain musical interactions between
albums that may be partially dulled by people
not hearing them in the artistically intended
order, but who am I to determine that? Perhaps
the inverse order will bring people even greater
impact. Requiem – Pianissimo and Requiem
– Fortissimo do have a very special relationship;
and to hear a couple of particular Pianissimo
passages interpreted on Fortissimo as its brutal
counterpart is very special. The background knowledge
brings it a beauty that people may only find once
the series is complete. After all is said and
done though, I stand by the release order in both
a commercial and artistic sense. Unite first,
polarize later.
M: I’m struck by the fact that each time
you release an album, with the possible exception
of Trance, I manage to convince myself that there
is no possible way you can top it and then you
do. When you write and record for an album is
it your intent to expand upon the best elements
of the prior album or do you approach it as an
entirely new beast?
R: Requiem was a minor divergence that became
very major. It’s a specified project and
should be viewed as ‘Requiem by Virgin Black’
rather than ‘Virgin Black’s Requiem’.
At one point we were even hesitant to call them
our third, fourth and fifth albums as they seemed
like such a tangent. Some will view the Requiem
tangent as our greatest work while others will
find that it does not resound with them at all;
we always knew this and it was of no consequence
to us. I think the most common thing for a band
to lose is their fearlessness and one would have
to be a fool to not recognize the fearlessness
in this Requiem project. We’ve always said
that our only plan is to never have a plan, and
that still rings true to this day.
M: I’m sure you’ve been asked this
many times already but it must have been exhausting
making Requiem. How hard was it to deal with the
burden/blessing of making something this intense?
I would imagine that it would be exhausting both
physically and mentally but it also makes me wonder
if it wasn’t financially exhausting as well?
R: I can’t really expect people to understand
how hard it actually was. It’s easy to be
flippant in hindsight but there were some severely
crushing periods, and on many levels. It changed
me as a person. I can’t really adequately
explain it, and if I could, I’d be opening
up myself for ridicule, as again, I don’t
expect people to be able to understand. Financially?
We’re still coming to terms with that, and
probably will be for some time.
M: Not many “metal” bands work with
orchestras or choirs. Can you tell us a little
about how that was for you and if there was any
apprehension on their part with working with a
band that is known for dark imagery and often
harsh sounds and subject matter?
R: Taking it at face value one would see the
simple equation of composers who have written
music, and musicians who have been paid to perform
it. Read between the lines however and a raft
of complexities becomes apparent. We were always
destined to be treated at the very least, as an
oddity, and the more sinister side of it culminated
in us having to replace our conductor because
of his attitude, three weeks before recording.
Fortunately the replacement proved to be a magnificent
man who not only had the unerring respect of the
orchestra, but also had a deep respect for our
music. He warned us of how harshly we could be
viewed by the musicians and indeed on the momentous
day of recording, though paid for in full, not
all players showed. It was an extremely tumultuous,
stressful and daunting experience that ultimately
had a sickeningly Hollywood-esque ending with
the scores not only pleasing our ears but according
to the conductor many of the hardened, cynical
ears aside the musicians heads.
He was proud, vindicated, and probably quite surprised
by the players’ response.
M: The latest in the Requiem series is Fortissimo
and it’s sound may shock some longtime fans.
While early on, many new fans probably expected
to hear you growl because of your look and extreme
metal associations but overtime you’ve come
to be known for something entirely different.
What made now the right time to channel the ghost
of death and doom metal?
R: As previously alluded to, I feel we are often
no more than onlookers. Samantha and I began to
write, and within that writing process it’s
as if Requiem decided it had to cover an enormous
breadth of intensity and we had to facilitate
that. There’s no logic to going to such
extremes, as we spent a fortune on an orchestra
for one extreme, and may well lose fans for the
other extreme. But, it was just…right.
Most people wouldn’t know how natural death
and doom are to us. The writing process flowed
out so effortlessly. As for disillusioned fans,
if I’m being harsh I’ll tell them
that if they don’t like Fortissimo I don’t
care. Though if I’m being more diplomatic
I could point out that one needs to remember this
is all part of one project. It’s been less
than a year since the last release, and we haven’t
actually changed style. We don’t do that.
It’s all about context.
M: Can you tell us a little about how you feel
Fortissimo fits into the series and what it represents
to you personally?
R: Fortissimo is both the antithesis and the
close sibling of Pianissimo. They are both drenched
in emotion, but where Pianissimo is a sullen,
quivering-lipped lump in the throat affair, Fortissimo
is the screaming for reason, raw emotion hopelessly
pounding at fate story. If people can latch onto
the emotions behind the bludgeoning sound, they
will be moved. Once one understands why the final
track of the Requiem, “Forever”, is
the most brutal track on the album, then true
understanding has been reached.
M: “Darkness” is such a beautiful
and crushing song, especially with the victorious
sound that reveals itself near the end of the
song. Would you mind talking about how that song
came to be and the meaning intended within it?
R: We didn’t want to end with a contrived
or cheesy resolution. “Darkness” reminisces
both sonically and lyrically; and where Mezzo-Forte
featured the line “lifeless life cradles
lifeless death”, the equivalent line “lifeless
life cradles dust” in Darkness goes some
way to imparting the sense of finality that song
embodies.
…There is no resolution, yet within that,
there’s a cry from the deepest depth of
the soul.
M: As always, the cover art to the new album
is astounding. Can you tell us a little about
its intended representation?
R: It’s not my intention to be annoyingly
coy or pretentious but I certainly would prefer
to wait for the third and final piece to be in
the frame, before getting into plots and sub-plots
within the artwork.
M: Requiem:
1: a mass for the dead.
2 a: a solemn chant (as a dirge) for the repose
of the dead b: something that resembles such a
solemn chant.
3 a: a musical setting of the mass for the dead
b: a musical composition in honor of the dead.
Since all of these definitions point towards death
I am curious if this should be considered
Virgin Black’s final outing?
R: No, that kind of exit would be far too glamorous.
We plan on spiraling down with increasingly bad
and embarrassing albums until someone mercifully
puts us out of our misery.
M: Thanks so much for your time. This album is
amazing. Few bands are talented enough to even
dream of doing this and you pulled it off with
grace. Are there any parting thoughts you’d
like to leave our reader’s with?
R: See you in September.
|
