Hello again, from the wonderful world of The Sludgelord. Yes, it's 20 Questions time again and I think, but then again I'm biased, that we have an amazing interview for your delight today. None other that up and coming Danish doomsters Moonless, who have been making waves all year, since the release of their astonishingly great and critically lauded debut record, Calling All Demons, which I reviewed back in early May this year.
The album was also another triumph for the Czech label, Doomentia, who have released a number of stunning records this year.
I contacted the band awhile back now and Kenni (Vocals) and Hasse (Guitar) were very gracious with their time and were only to happy to talk to us. So here is the interview in full. Enjoy and I'll be posting further interviews over the coming weeks. All the best and thanks for reading. Aaron!
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| Live 2011 |
Hey
Guys, I’m stoked that you agreed to talk me; it’s a real honour because you’re
one of my favourite new
bands.
Kenni: No
problem. It would be arrogant not to answer a few questions
Hasse: no
problemo dude!
For those
people who are unfamiliar with your band, could you tell me a little bit about
the history of the band? Where you're from, band members, when you formed?
Kasper: I play
bass, Kenni does the vocals, Hasse is on guitar and Tommas sits behind the
drums. Hasse and I founded the ground stones for this band back in 2006 or
something, but it took a long long time to get it right. We went through two
other drummers before Thomas joined, but when he came in the band we knew we
had found the right guy. We then jammed around as a three piece, and at some
point the rumors about a stoner rock band in Copenhagen who lacked a singer
reached Kenni. He called me up the 1st of January 2009, still hazed out of his
mind from last night’s hell raising and told me he was going to sing in our
band... the rest is history, hehe
Kenni: I joined
Moonless in January 2009. I live in Helsingoer. The rest of the band lives in
Copenhagen
Is the band a
full time project or do you have to work too?
Kenni: We all have full time jobs. It's more or less
impossible to live from playing this kind of music. Especially in Denmark.
How would you
describe your sound?
Hasse: Rock
music
Kasper:
rock'n'roll worshipping stonerrock
Why did you
decide upon the name Moonless?
Kenni: That is
one of our few secrets. Well leave it up to our listeners to decide what to
make out of it.
Is there a
rock/metal scene in your hometown?
Hasse: I'm not
sure I’d call it a “scene” as such... There are bands of course, but it’s not a
scene where everybody knows each other and there’s metal concerts every weekend
or stuff like that. Not that I’m aware of anyway. There is still some cool
stuff happening once in a while though, like the heavy days in doomtown
festival.
Kenni: I guess
so. But it’s not huge. I don’t pay much attention to most of the Danish rock or
metal bands. But we do have a few worth mention. Bottom Feeder (Hasse's other
band) and Torchlight, but those are more like Sludge bands. Then we have
Fossils and Double space, which are my favourites when it comes to metal, they
are not from Copenhagen though.
What's it like
being a rock/ metal band there? Is it a struggle?
Kenni: It's
nice to be in a rock band, though most people don’t understand what it’s all
about. Can’t say it’s a struggle. But it can be plain frustrating once in a
while.
Your artwork
for the record is amazing? What does it represent and is there any meaning
behind it?
Kenni: Tue from
Kaspers band "Death Token" painted the cover while listening to the
record. I think it reflects the songs in a sort of way but we haven’t discussed
if there is a deeper meaning behind it
What are your
influences musically and artistically?
Kenni: I listen
to all sorts of music. The last many years I've been much in to punk rock, but
I grew up with blues and rock from the 50'ies to early 70'ies and I still dig
it. Theres also a lot of traditional metal from the 80's that I used to piss
off my parents with as a teenager. I always feel like writing songs when I
watch Dario Argento or Michael Findlay movies or when I read Dione Fortune and
other occult authors. The poems and paintings of William Blake can also be very
inspiring.
Hasse: Sabbath,
pentagram, the obsessed, saint vitus, sleep, kyuss etc. The usual stuff I guess…
But I listen to a great variety of bands of different genres, everything from
cryptopsy to beach boys. So sometimes it’s a bit difficult to tell exactly
where the inspiration came from.
Were you in any
bands before Moonless? If so, what were
they like and how has your style changed since then?
Kenni: I played
in a folk rock band called "The Village Idiot" and a stoner doom band
called Gilgongo. But I have never played with musicians as good as my friends
in Moonless.
I guess my
style has changed from hopeless to Doomed.
Tommas has played
with Gorilla Angreb and Amdi Petersens Armé which were Danish punk
rock/hardcore bands with Danish lyrics. Kasper has played in a whole lot of
punk rock bands and still plays with Death Token.
Hasse: Even
though the guitar has always been my main instrument I started out as a drummer
in a couple of punk bands called “Arrigt Antræk” and “Hjertestop”. Later I
started playing the guitar in a band called “leathervein” which was a kind of mix
between punk rock and 80’s heavy metal... Now I play the guitar in Moonless and
Bottom Feeder. I guess you could say my style has become slower and heavier for each new band.
Your record is
your 1st full length, do you feel it is your best work and why? You proud of
it?
Kenni: I'm very
proud of this 1st record and we all did the best we could, recording it.
Especially Jakob our producer. But we have learned a lot from this process and
I think it will benefit us on the 2nd record.
Kasper: This
record was a hard and long one to do, so I really don’t have a clue whether
it’s good or not anymore. I've listened too much to it, with all kinda
different mixes, vocal takes and what not. Sometimes it takes some years to get
an album out of your head, and when that time comes I can finally give it an
honest listen
Why should
people buy your record?
Kenni: I'm a
humble man and I don’t want to end up sounding like a car salesman. I think the
reviewers have much better punch lines when it comes to that.
Kasper: If not
for the music, then for the cover art. I think it looks fucking amazing
Your record
appears be getting a lot of good feedback? What are your thoughts? Are you
pleased with it? Do People get what you’re trying to do?
Kenni: I didn’t
think our record would get any feedback at all so that’s a kind of
overwhelming. Of course it’s a good thing with all this positive feedback. It
gives us new listeners and a lot of new people at our shows. Think that’s what
it’s all about. It looks like people get it when we play live.
Hasse: I was
really surprised by all the feedback as well. But it really makes me happy that
people dig our record. And I think a lot of the reviewers get exactly what we
were trying to do with the record. So that’s great.
Do you and your
band members contribute songs and arrangement ideas?
Kenni: I write
the lyrics but we all have some small inputs here and there. Hasse and Kasper
make the riffs and then we arrange the songs all together in the rehearsal
room.
How'd you hook
up with the Doomentia label?
Kenni: Banger
sent Lukas the premixes and asked him if he would like to have us on his label.
I think it’s a great deal for a band like us. We have a lot of freedom to do
what we want to.
What are your
ambitions for the band?
Kenni: I want to
tour and play some festivals. Party on, you know.
Hasse: I’d like
to play as much as possible for as many people as possible. And just have a
good time really.
You got any
interesting stories from your tours? Where you toured? Who are your favourite
bands to tour with?
Kenni: So far
we have only been on a small European tour and we toured alone. But we did get
to play with some great bands like Danava, Lecherous Gaze and Cannabis Corpse
on that tour.
What are your
immediate plans and plans for the future, any plans for new material?
Kenni: Making
new material for our 2cnd record has main priority right now.
Hasse: We’re
gonna tour a bit as well hopefully. We would like to do another European tour
and perhaps visit the states next year.
What do you reckon
to people downloading music for free? Would you consider releasing your album
for free to get more people listening to your music?
Kenni: you can always
get a mp3 song for free, but people like us loves vinyl and I think most of our
fans feel the same. I understand if people download a record to see if it’s
worth buying on vinyl. I don’t know if it’s worth releasing an album for free
when playing a sub genre like this. I think we’re better off with a few
dedicated fans. I mean quality/quantity.
Hasse: I have
no trouble with people downloading our album for free. You can also listen to
the whole thing from doomentias website or on youtube for that matter. I
download a lot of music myself but when I find something I really dig, I order
the record since you don’t get the same feeling from playing mp3 files from
your computer as you do when you put on a real vinyl record. I also try to
support touring bands I like, by buying their stuff at concerts, hopefully
people do the same with us. But all in all I’m just glad people like our music.
Kasper: Music
should be played from vinyl on a stereo and on maximum volume! Mp3 and file
sharing and all that shit is great too, but I can never replace the sensation
of holding a nice big record cover in your hands while listening to your favourite
band
Any plans for
shows in the UK?
Kenni: It would
be a blast playing in the UK but we don't have any connections. Who knows? Time
will show.
Last question,
you got anything you like to say to your fans?
Kenni: Thank
you for your support at our shows. STAY HEAVY!
Hasse: Listen
to Black Sabbath AT LEAST once a week!
Well I hope the interview was to your liking?! Moonless are a great band and I thank them very much for taking the time to do the inteview, specifically Kenni and Hasse who answered my questions. Please check out this band, they're great and their album is amazing. You can read my review here. Check the links below for more info on the band and their label. Thanks again for reading and keep you eyes peeled for more interviews over the coming weeks.
