Interview с Dayal Patterson : DARKSIDE.ru

Hello Dayal! Let's start from the beginning. So, first tell me how it all began: when you came to heavy music, and how it happened? What were your first landmarks in the huge world of heavy music?

The original gateway was undoubtedly Guns ‘N’ Roses and the “Use Your Illusion” albums which I discovered as a schoolboy. A year or so later I moved onto the bands that were popular with young teenage metal fans of the era such as Megadeth, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura, Paradise Lost and Carcass. The latter led me onto bands like Bolt Thrower and Entombed, and then I became friends with some older guys in college who introduced me to albums by black metal bands such as Gorgoroth, Gehenna, Cradle of Filth, Hecate Enthroned, Emperor and it has continued to expand from there to the present day.

How did you come to music journalism? When did you realize that for you is not enough just listen music, but you want to tell the fans about it?

It was an accident really – I studied to be a photographer and I used to photograph bands and saw this as the way I would contribute to metal culture and express myself. But at the end of my photography degree I decided to make a paper fanzine, because I had bought them during the nineties and the internet had basically killed them off. So I created this zine and that led me to writing for Terrorizer

magazine (who I was already taking photos for). That was an important step but even more so was the fact that Metal Hammer UK asked me to do some writing for them after they got a copy of the second issue of my fanzine. I never planned to be a writer in a professional sense, I had no aspirations for that at all, so being asked to do that was really a turning point in my life you can say.

However, you hit the target and still cooperate with the most authoritative editions about heavy music. So, tell me about your further stages in journalist career, about main steps in this field.

Hard to answer that question because it was all an accident, the reason that I was taken on as a writer for magazines was because I’d done a very good job with my fanzine (if I do say so myself). But honestly I never did that as a showcase for my writing, I just wanted to create that for the sake of art or culture or nostalgia. So stepping up to writing for Terrorizer and even more so Metal Hammer were the big steps to actually writing in a professional sense. I don’t write for Terrorizer these days but I’ve been freelancing for Metal Hammer for a decade this year and for sure it has made me a better writer and taught me a lot.

Do you have indisputable authorities in the sphere of musical journalism? Someone like Geoff Barton or Malcolm Dome…

To be honest no. For sure I have been influenced by other writers but there really wasn’t anyone in particular who I looked to or based my work on or anything like that. My writing style was probably a mix of the writing voice I developed at school and college mixed with influences from the fanzines and magazines I was reading as a teenager, and it has developed since then, probably shaped by all the non-fiction I read, both music-related and otherwise.

Now let's turn to the main topic of the interview - your book “Black Metal. Evolution of the Cult”. How did you come to the idea of this fundamental work?

By 2009 I was really tired of seeing all these people from outside of the scene creating these documentaries, books and articles that just told the same story over and over again, talking to the same handful of people and always misunderstanding the same subtleties and complexities. It seemed that nobody else was going to try and do the job properly so I decided that I would.

Why did you choose Black Metal? Why this genre has a special meaning for you?

It’s the music form that I am most interested in undoubtedly. And it has the most complex meanings and story of any metal genre I would dare to say, if only because of the huge variety of bands, styles, philosophies and so on within it.

How do you think, Black Metal it's just a musical phenomenon, or something more?

Most musical subgenres offer a cultural phenomenon as well as an artistic one. What makes black metal different to, say, death metal or grindcore is the sheer scale and complexity of black metal culture and art. This is a genre that has been continuing to expand for over three decades and has a staggeringly wide spectrum of musical styles and personalities. So black metal is more than just music I would say, but it’s meanings are plural not singular.

Did you have a clear plan of what should be a book and its structure, or you guided in the process of writing? Maybe you discussed with someone the idea of this book?

No I worked that out for myself as I went forward and to be honest it was one of the hardest parts of writing the book.

Tell me, how was the process of writing this book? How did you get the information for your book? What were the stages of preparation you went through working on your book? How did you contact the musicians etc.?

There were about 100 interviews, so the first stage was working out a sort of timeline of the eighties and nineties and figuring out what had happened in that time and how it had been influenced by what came before it and how it influenced what came

after it. Eventually I had a list of bands and so the next stage was to try and get interviews with members of these bands – that was another very slow process. Some of these people I had worked with in the past in my zine, in Terrorizer or in Metal Hammer. Some were friends. Most I had never met or worked with and so I had to try and track down a contact address for them or a phone number. If I was lucky we had friends in common or they had a label or press person that could help. That whole process was tough because I had to convince them that my book was not going to be like all the ones that came before it, describe my concept and so on.

Did you make some unexpected discoveries in the process of working on the book? I mean, working on a book and talking with a number of musicians you saw the genre from the inside. Communicating with musicians, you apparently saw their personalities apart from their scenic images… What were your impressions?

Certainly. It wasn’t like I started writing the book with a fixed idea about the truths behind black metal and its personalities, I was learning just as much as those reading my book. In a way I think that’s why my books have been generally well accepted by longtime black metal fans – because I had already been a fan since the mid nineties and had read a lot of interviews etc, I could always be sure that I was digging

deeper for new material and information and bypass all the stuff that outsiders get fixated upon and which then becomes old stories. And obviously black metal has a lot of really strong personalities behind it, and I really try and communicate the personality of my interviewees to the reader.

Are you keeping in touch with someone of the musicians – the characters of your book?

Yes, a lot of them actually, but it could be to a lesser or greater extent. The relationships with the people in my books varies as much as it is possible to vary I think. I guess most are ‘friendly acquaintances’, a small number became real friends and there are a few that I don’t know any better on a personal level than before I interviewed them.

Do you realize that thanks to your book, you have become an integral part of Black Metal, in fact became its chronicler? What are your feelings in this regard?

Hmm, hard to be objective about this I think. I’m not really sure how people in the scene view me as a person or character and I try not to get too involved with that because it's a distraction. A lot of people make contact with me after reading the book but again I’m not sure what their perspective of me is, just that they like and are interested in the books and want to say hello.

Do you agree that Bl

ack was the last real revolution in metal that gave the new sound?

I think that could definitely be argued and not only that, but black metal continues to break convention. There are bands coming out each year doing original things that are nonetheless still within the boundaries of black metal. I think that’s why its just a fascinating genre, there are so many possibilities – compare for example Bathory, Gehenna, Deathspell Omega, Mysticum, Burzum, Master’s Hammer, Evilfeast, Strid, Emperor, Blasphemy, Watain, Necromantia, Outre, the list goes on, all black metal but all very different in terms of sound and concept.

What you think about modern metal scene and its main trends, its strengths and weaknesses? What do you like most and what is most annoying for you?

The modern metal scene is so big and varied that it’s hard to make generalisations. The internet has obviously changed a lot of things for good and bad – on the one hand it is great that you can reach dedicated people from all over the world in a direct way. On the other hand things are more disposable and taken for granted and there are a lot of spoilt children and bitter old men shouting their opinions when they have never done anything useful themselves. Of course one should not support poor bands and so on, but the herd mentality among people is far more evident in the digital

age, with people following a sort of unspoken international code as to what bands are ‘cool’ and ‘true’ and so on.

What are you working on now? And introduce, please, your recent works - “Black Metal. Prelude to the Cult”, “Black Metal. The Cult Never Dies”. Can we say that these books are continuing "Black Metal. Evolution of the Cult"?

Prelude to the Cult was released at the same time as Evolution of the Cult and contains the material that didn’t fit in the book, so that’s basically a short companion piece. Black Metal: The Cult Never Dies Vol. One is the first full-length sequel and features Satyricon, Manes, Kampfar, Solefald, Wardruna/Jotunspur/Gorgoroth, Xantotol, Arkona, Mastiphal, Evilfeast, Mgła/Kriegsmaschine, Strid, Silencer, Bethlehem, Forgotten Tomb and Total Negation. The second sequel is almost complete and is entitled Black Metal: Into The Abyss. More information and ordering is available at www.CultNeverDies.com

Are you really took part in the filming of "Game of Thrones"? If so, tell me about this experience.

Haha, yes but just as an extra. That came about because I did a couple of scenes in the last Pirates of the Caribbean film after someone approached me to be a part of it while I was walking down the street (funnily enough I was walking back from an interview with Melechesh) and the

same agency asked me to do a scene for GoT as an ‘undead wilding’. I didn’t do that stuff for very long but I’d recommend it to anyone to try it out for a few films/series (I did four in the end) because the behind the scenes stuff is quite interesting and you get paid quite a lot for basically dressing up and waiting around, drinking tea and talking to people while you wait to film. If you’re lucky you get a cool costume and a good weapon too, haha.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Well, your wishes to finish the interview...

Thank you for the interest and support! Check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/cultneverdies to get updates on new books and shirts.

Interview by Alias
18 мар 2016 the End


	( 3 )

Dayal Patterson

The Chronicles of Black Cult

Voin of Valhalla

Docuch

Voin of Valhalla