Interview с Moonspell : DARKSIDE.ru

Why did you decide that now it’s high time to re-release your old material: "Under the Moonspell" (1994) and your first demo-record "Anno SatanÆ", and besides the track "Serpent Angel"? And who came up with such an idea?

The main reason was that fans could not find our old stuff without paying a fortune on ebay or metal markets! Also the new fans never heard these old classics! SPV gave us the chance to do justice to these songs and even though we thought it would be hard and maybe a waste of time. The results will honor us and our fans for years to come! Good decision

Did you change the songs themselves and the arrangements of "Under Satanae" much?

We had to! The timing , tunning ,arrangements, all of it was a mess! We had to kinda figure out the puzzle and then put it back together the best to our abilities ! All the albums we´ve done have shaped us into a great recording act! We took advantage of that experience and let it roll in our favour! We had a great time doing it!

A question about producers. Why did you choose Tue Madsen as a producer for “Under Satanae”? Why not Waldemar Sorychta, which produced “Memorial” and some other albums of yours?

Well since it was not a new album we wanted to try something different! I think this was good for such an old album! Back then we did not know what to expect from studios and producers! Tese days we know how it go´s! This way it was a surprise that also could of been a disaster! Got to take a chance once and a while!

Fernando once said that there is no unity on the Portuguese metal scene, everybody is greedy and envious, nobody helps each other. Do you agree with him in this statement?

From our generation it is totally right! We feel that you can´t have anything with

out someone hanging over your shoulder with pure envy and hate! We felt this a lot during our career. But now everyone listens to us and thinks we can show them some secret to success. It´s still very poor our scene but the younger generation I think might change this! At least the kids that are now 12 to 14 look like they won´t take no for an answer and are willing to learn from others! This is still a dream but let´s see!

Last April a polish sociologist Ryszard Nowak accused Moonspell of propaganda of satanism. He claimed that your allegedly "scandalous" shows evoke "hatred, mass murders of animals, ruining of Christian churches and propaganda of death." He even addressed the mayor of Warsaw and asked him to prohibit the concert of MOONSPELL in the city. What did this story result in? And how often do you come across such accusations?

It was stupid and nothing really happened! We just saw him on tv with a Moonspell patch showing people how evil we were! Poland is one of the best metal countries with the most fans ever! I think it will be hard for him to ever take a show done! People just love metal too much and know this is conservative bullshit!

In your songs you often touch upon the problems of satanism. Do you stick to such beliefs yourself in you life? Do you believe in God for example?

Satanism for me will always be special! It´s more of a feeling that I get! So evil and mysterious breaking all laws and conceptions know to our civilized world! True freedom to explore with out prejudice. It also brought me to read more and do my own investigation and think for my self! I have taken that same feeling and been able to transform it to very positive things! Let´s say it was an extreme start to something a lot brighter! God is mans creation! I think what we think god might do is in all our h

ands! The closer we are. More you´ll feel it.

Let’s speak about your new album “Night Eternal”. You wrote that the lyrics of the albums tell about how people destroy and exhaust the earth and how it will one day take revenge upon all of us. Could you tell a bit more about this concept?

Everyday we see the revenge from the earth! All kinds of natural disasters have been going on! A lot more than in previous years! These last 200 years have accelerated like no other in any time before! I think we have taken too much and not given back the right amount of respect to were we live! World leaders should just stop what they are doing! We are all going to suffer in the end and many already have! Portugal is so beautiful and to loose that would kill me. Yet people only want more superficial things. Until all of us realize what we are doing no miracle will save us!

You said that the album would continue the line of “Memorial” musically wise, but in a more severe and hard manner. Weren’t you afraid of making the sound harder, stronger? The album “Memorial” surprised a lot of fans and was accepted quite ambiguously, especially after comparatively light works like “Wolfheart”, “The Butterfly Effect”, “Darkness And Hope”?

I feel that we have experimented with so many styles that we kinda know what we do best these days! Black metal, death metal is for sure what we know the best. But we have always loved more melancholic stuff and things that nothing have to do with extreme music. But that is Moonspell never know what to expect next! We do not calculate things. Tey sound in a way cause that is our way of coping with life at that moment in time! Each album tells a lot about what we have gone through as a band! Memorial I remember us being very angry and wanting to show who we were in a very masculine manner. But yet we had spac

e for songs like luna and sanguine. A goth songs in a Childish way. Maybe for our kids of the future! (laughs)

Niclas from AMORPHIS helped you with this record (as with some of your previous records as well) and recorded bass. Why him? (beside the fact that he is your good friend) Who will play bass on your tours?

Well he only did “Antidote” and this last one! Since he did the album and preproduction it was cool to have him play bass during the rehearsals. He was part of the band and had a lot of fun doing so! “Under” was done by Aires our current live bass player. That was a style perfect for him so he did it! “Night Eternal” needed something that only a man from the north with a special heart. Niclas had to do it I could not imagine it any other way!

Who worked at the cover artwork for "Night Eternal"? How much does it reflect the essence of the CD? Can we say that this girl symbolizes the earth which we are all destroying?

It was done by Seth Siro Anton and he is from the Greek band Septic Flesh! I am so happy with the result. I think he brought Fernando´s vision to life. We were all involved in the process of picking the direction. We just knew it had to have a woman on the cover! I always found it strange that she was holding nothing. But that is the point! The way we are heading our lives that is what we will be holding! Nothing!I also think it is cool for everyone to come up with his or hers theory! It was done by a Greek with Portuguese. Mediterranean power at it´s best!

Your band is often referred to as Dark Metal. Do you agree with this subdivision? To what style would you refer your band yourself?

I´m fine with dark metal also gothic metal is what we really started! We always were in between both. But these days it is too hard to put us

in just one category! We are a unique band with a out of the ordinary counld that comes from a far and isolated country! As long as peole see us as an hoest and original band i´m fine!

Fernando said, that the most difficult song on the album for him was "Scorpion Flower". And what track was the hardest for you? Why?

Night Eternal! It is really fast for me and I had not enough time to practice. I almost killed my self everyday, Running, in the gym, taekwondo, drums and more drums! I take things very extremely kinda like if I was going to fight some one but that one is always myself! No prisoners!It hurt but now I can relax for a bit!

How did it happen that your previous label released your compilation “The Great Silver Eye”? And did they ask you which songs to include or did they decide it for themselves?

It´s normal that a label releases best offs when a band leaves the label! Fermando helped pick the songs and did some notes for the release! It came out very nice and even though not our decision at least it was done with our help and approval!

What exactly happened with the releasing of DVD “Lunar Still – 13 Years of Doom”? Fernando once said that there were some problems with a lawyer. What happened?

Too messy to explain. Too many hard nights without sleeping and too much stress to recall! But it will be finally released in October with some fresh interviews from us! Finally! Shit!

What period of Moonspell do you remember with the most tender and affectionate feelings? Why?

All of them have been intense but like the first tour we drove all over Europe in a van and lived like gypsies ! For obvious reasons we had to stick tight to survive and not go crazy! I´ll never forget the long drive, coffee a

nd cigarettes all night long! What a discovery of life that one was! That feeling still stands until today!

Fernando said that when Moonspell was created it was created from a point lower than zero. Do you think it’s a right statement?

Does lower than zero exist? Pretty bad! Still today there is not one band that has followed us in the scene. That says a lot! The band only existed on paper for 3 years before the first rehearsal! Only ideas and no conditions or possibilities! We changed that!

Everybody knows that Fernando is a philosophic person. And what can you say about him as a friend as a band-member? Is he an easy person to communicate with? According to his words he is very demanding to himself and to the others…

Fernando is a world of personalities! He comes from a very hard neighborhood that had many odd figures. I think this made him a very understandable and open person. He is for sure the kindest and most helpful person I know! But also the ard life with all the disrupted social status around him made him want to fight and accomplish his dreams! He is obsessed with his art and will destroy anything sometimes to get it. Even if it is himself! I hope that with life he finds the right balance like all of us!

On your MySpace page there are some pics describing the creation of Ricardo’s new guitar with step-by-step description of the process. Who came up with such an idea?

It is custom made from a Finish company! He wanted something original and made precisely for is liking. It was a long process but he got a gem! It´s new but already belongs in a museum!

On the album Butterfly FX you experimented with industrial. Why did you decide to try industrial?

It was the end of the 90´s and destruction was on a

ll our minds! We also listened to NIN, Marylin manson. Rammstein etc. I think it´s a great album on it´s self but very far from Moonspells reality! I think so!

On the song “Scorpion Flower” we can hear the voice of Anneke van Giersbergen. How did such an alliance occur?

We go back for many years! The first tour we ever did on a real tour bus was with them! Since than we have always been good friends and always wished for the best for one another! She always brings a smile to my face when I see or think of her! Just the sunshine that you never see in Holand! He he So when we thought of a voice to go with Fernando it was obvious that we needed an original voice and from out generation! We were blessed for now!

Shall we expect video clips from you this time? What songs are chosen if there are any?

We went once more back to Servia with the production team of Ivan. They did Finisterra and it was awesome! Great hospitality and professiolism. So this time wanted more! But what to decide! We had to do Scorpion Flower because it was so special but still not representing the harder side of the album,.. so went went for 2 videos. Night Eternal! Scorpian will come out first followed by Night! It was a lot of fun and check our myspace for when it´s available it will blow you away!

How did an animation video “Luna” occur? It’s more characteristic of pop-bands… And some people even see in it a kind of parody for emo!

It happened out of necessity! Fernando wanted a second video for luna so we would have something for Portuguese tv. So he met a animator called Miguel Braga that was a metal fan and very proud to work with us! He did it almost for free witch was the main a idea since we blew our budget on the preveous video.We followed the process with many details and the

result is really nice. It was being showed at the wacken big screens and all the metal fans looked like kids after a couple of beers! I am a huge nightmare before Christmas fan so it was perfect for me!

What editions of the new albums do you plan to release? What special material will they include?

A double cd with 3 live songs shot from wacken , 2 extra songs , a dark version of Scorpian Flower and also a sticker all in a deluxe package! Great for collectors!

Do you think that it’s possible that one day you’ll release all bonus-tracks in one package? I think there are lots of such songs which were released only as bonus tracks to some limited editions…

Well some times some songs don´t sound good together and makes some albums boring and un exciting! To have them separated for the good listener keep a sense of surprise! These days it´s all about what the people want and are willing to buy. Downloads are usually the people that don´t appreciate collecting and having the real thing

A question about the album “Antidote” – on this album there was multimedia section where everybody could hear the same songs which were on the album, but in ambient variants. How did such an idea occur? In fact it resulted in two different variants of one album…

We did it for the book written by José Luis Peixoto. It´s ambiente music for the readers! Pedro took those loops from the album that he had created and gave it to Adriano Esteves that is our web designer and he put it together. Always trying to give more and more! That has always been our way!

If your life wasn’t connected with music, what profession would you choose?

Well I like to be around people and helping them! I teach Taekwondo when I can and I truly love being in the gym helping peoples lives. Also cooking is a passion of mine1 I could be all day in the kitchen cooking that I wouldn´t mind! But drums is what I do and until I can I will destroy anything you put in front of me!

Could you say a few words to the readers of our web-zine darkside.ru?

Well I love playing Russia and already have great memories and stories! But I can´t get enough ! Soon we will be back and let´s make the biggest party ever together side by side! Russia will never be the same after we go there! Metal is bigger than ever so lets bang until we drop!

We'd like to thank SOYUZ company and Maxim Bylkin for organizing this interview

Interview by Ksenia "Wolfin" Khorina
18 апр 2008 the End


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