I am happy to be interviewing – OXTONGUE – The brutal Sludge/Doom/Ambient Metallers from Canada who recently impressed me their recent heavy and bleak brilliant album – Where The Light Is Mute.
This album is bleak and heavy to boot. I wanted to get to know the people behind this great band. And now OXTONGUE have kindly granted an interview with me. So lets get started with these bleak dark overlords of Sludge Metal.
For people not "in the know" can you give them a brief history of the band and how it came about?
Oxtongue in it's truest-form started March 2012.
We recorded our first release "Where The Light Is Mute" in August/September 2012.
"Where The Light Is Mute" was released on January 15th, 2013.
The three of us have made music together for years now in different projects.
How would you describe your sound?As I would necessary call it as Post-Black Metal. You probably have a different slant on things.
Our "sound" is what is created when the three of us play together. We all have different influences and backgrounds in music.
We personally aren't into critiquing our own music, we feel that's for the listener to decide.
Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians?
We feel that any music influences you in one way or another.
Individually, there are several musical influences on us, some are even "out of our element" musically.
Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills?
Well, any way that you put it... it costs money to play music. We all have either jobs or school to attend to.
Are your family and friends supportive of your music?
Our families have always been accommodating towards us playing music, even though they may not understand the music itself.
What is the song-writing process in the band? Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual?
The writing process is definitely collective, We all individually have an influence on a song.
Your new album – Where The Light Is Mute – has just been released. It's a great album. But a very bleak and brutal experience. Was that the main objective for the album to release such a hard-going experience?
Thank you.
Not to sound "Cliche" but… lyrically it was written about how the three of us felt/where we were at in our lives.
Maybe on the next record we will have a different outlook on things and cover "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
Was it an easy album to record for? You have included a whole range of genres, Was it easy or hard to put them altogether?
We were very patient and took our time with the writing/recording process, which we weren't used to in previous projects.
The "vocals" that you hear were done by three people who have never tried that before.
We just write whatever comes to us, we felt that the songs were finished.
Are you happy with the final result or would you change certain aspects of it?
We're happy with the final result. We are looking forward to expanding and exploring further in the writing process.
You decided to release your album for free download via BandCamp and Mediafire. Is there going to be a physical release at some point?
Yes. There will be cassettes and LP's for sale through Holy Mountain Printing/Music. "Where The Light Is Mute" is his second release through his "new" label.
You can look at it through his website soon.
The man behind the curtain at Holy Mountain Printing/Music (www.holymountainprinting.com) has been an immense help to us and we can't thank him enough, as well as the two VERY talented minds from Fortifem (www.fortifem.fr) for doing the cover artwork.
Is there a scene for bands like yourself to perform in your home town on a regular basis? Or do you have to travel further afield to perform on a regular basis?
We all mutually have little interest in performing in our hometown.
Have you started touring yet? If so what is the live Oxtongue experience like?
We haven't played a show. We haven't really talked about it, yet.
What are your favourite bands around at the moment? Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom/Post-Rock/Post-Metal/Black-Metal?
Collectively, we probably listen to every Genre of music, or close to it.
I can find next to no information on you guys.... Just your website and BandCamp page, even that doesn't give much away. Is that part of the mystery for Oxtongue to stay as mysterious as possible?
We already get what we want out of it… which is making/playing music with each other. We don't care if people know we are in a band or not, we are just three people with the same goals in music and want to explore it.
When we perform in a live setting we're not going to wear masks or anything like that, if that's what you're getting at.
Does that mysterious way of being a band help you guys? Or cause a hinderance at times?
It's all in how you interpret it, to some people it's "mysterious" to some, it isn't. Some people are just satisfied with listening to the music.
What are your views of blogs featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines?
Any kind of publicity is great. The fact that anyone would want to review our music is a BIG surprise to us.
What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band?
There's nothing that isn't rewarding about being in this band. Chances are... if you think being in a band isn't rewarding, you're not in it for the right reasons OR you probably aren't playing with the right people. There's nothing more rewarding then being on the same page creatively and having the same ideas/goals as someone creatively.
Do you have any future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so? Anything we should be excited about?
We are talking about adding "things"...
Maybe members.. maybe instruments... We'll see.
The writing process has begun.
Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans?
- Thank you.
Well guys thanks for doing this. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord.
We recorded our first release "Where The Light Is Mute" in August/September 2012.
"Where The Light Is Mute" was released on January 15th, 2013.
The three of us have made music together for years now in different projects.
How would you describe your sound?As I would necessary call it as Post-Black Metal. You probably have a different slant on things.
Our "sound" is what is created when the three of us play together. We all have different influences and backgrounds in music.
We personally aren't into critiquing our own music, we feel that's for the listener to decide.
Which bands and artists influence you directly as musicians?
We feel that any music influences you in one way or another.
Individually, there are several musical influences on us, some are even "out of our element" musically.
Are you all full time musicians or do you have regular jobs to pay the bills?
Well, any way that you put it... it costs money to play music. We all have either jobs or school to attend to.
Are your family and friends supportive of your music?
Our families have always been accommodating towards us playing music, even though they may not understand the music itself.
What is the song-writing process in the band? Is it a group collective or is just down to one individual?
The writing process is definitely collective, We all individually have an influence on a song.
Your new album – Where The Light Is Mute – has just been released. It's a great album. But a very bleak and brutal experience. Was that the main objective for the album to release such a hard-going experience?
Thank you.
Not to sound "Cliche" but… lyrically it was written about how the three of us felt/where we were at in our lives.
Maybe on the next record we will have a different outlook on things and cover "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
Was it an easy album to record for? You have included a whole range of genres, Was it easy or hard to put them altogether?
We were very patient and took our time with the writing/recording process, which we weren't used to in previous projects.
The "vocals" that you hear were done by three people who have never tried that before.
We just write whatever comes to us, we felt that the songs were finished.
Are you happy with the final result or would you change certain aspects of it?
We're happy with the final result. We are looking forward to expanding and exploring further in the writing process.
You decided to release your album for free download via BandCamp and Mediafire. Is there going to be a physical release at some point?
Yes. There will be cassettes and LP's for sale through Holy Mountain Printing/Music. "Where The Light Is Mute" is his second release through his "new" label.
You can look at it through his website soon.
The man behind the curtain at Holy Mountain Printing/Music (www.holymountainprinting.com) has been an immense help to us and we can't thank him enough, as well as the two VERY talented minds from Fortifem (www.fortifem.fr) for doing the cover artwork.
Is there a scene for bands like yourself to perform in your home town on a regular basis? Or do you have to travel further afield to perform on a regular basis?
We all mutually have little interest in performing in our hometown.
Have you started touring yet? If so what is the live Oxtongue experience like?
We haven't played a show. We haven't really talked about it, yet.
What are your favourite bands around at the moment? Do you listen to modern day rock/metal or do you just listen to the classic era of Stoner/Sludge/Doom/Post-Rock/Post-Metal/Black-Metal?
Collectively, we probably listen to every Genre of music, or close to it.
I can find next to no information on you guys.... Just your website and BandCamp page, even that doesn't give much away. Is that part of the mystery for Oxtongue to stay as mysterious as possible?
We already get what we want out of it… which is making/playing music with each other. We don't care if people know we are in a band or not, we are just three people with the same goals in music and want to explore it.
When we perform in a live setting we're not going to wear masks or anything like that, if that's what you're getting at.
Does that mysterious way of being a band help you guys? Or cause a hinderance at times?
It's all in how you interpret it, to some people it's "mysterious" to some, it isn't. Some people are just satisfied with listening to the music.
What are your views of blogs featuring and reviewing your records, as opposed to mainstream music magazines?
Any kind of publicity is great. The fact that anyone would want to review our music is a BIG surprise to us.
What are the most and least rewarding aspects of participating with the band?
There's nothing that isn't rewarding about being in this band. Chances are... if you think being in a band isn't rewarding, you're not in it for the right reasons OR you probably aren't playing with the right people. There's nothing more rewarding then being on the same page creatively and having the same ideas/goals as someone creatively.
Do you have any future plans for the upcoming 12 months or so? Anything we should be excited about?
We are talking about adding "things"...
Maybe members.. maybe instruments... We'll see.
The writing process has begun.
Finally, Do you have anything to say your fans?
- Thank you.
Well guys thanks for doing this. All the best from ourselves at Sludgelord.
Official
BandCamp
