Earlier this week I was given the opportunity to speak to legendary Italian Doomsters – Ufomammut – face to face at their gig in Leeds Brudenell Social Club.
I jumped at the chance to do this as I have been a massive fan of this great band for years now. Plus I had never interviewed anyone face to face before. So this would be my first time conducting an interview like this.
So here is my chance, I mean interview with one of the finest underground bands around.
Ufomammut are currently slaying Europe with their own – The Magickal Mastery Tour.
So lets get started with UFOMAMMUT!!!
Q1 – Hi guys. Thanks for doing this. How is the tour going?
Good so far. We are only on the first week of the tour. We do another week of the tour. But it's going good so far. We did a gig in Bristol last night and now Leeds today.
Q2 – How was the first gig in Bristol last night?
Very good. Happy with the response of the people. Was very nice.
Q3 – You're just focusing on Europe at the moment. Will you be travelling to other places such as USA?
Probably next year. We all hope. We have done a couple of gigs in USA in the past but the plan is to make it happen for next year.
Q4 – The Magickal Mastery Tour – Why that name and the reasons behind it?
Tour is named after a band or influenced by a band we all like called The Beatles. Trying to find a name that described the course or journey of our albums. Something that was a little magical and it's a tour. To make it a bit different we added a “K” into the Magical part so it's now Magickal.
The Mastery part is because we are teaching ourselves different things along the way. It's a great play on words. So that term was born. Name you remember.
The tour is a reward for people who discovered us through Eve and ORO albums. We could classify it as a Greatest Hits Tour. Also we are celebrating our 15th Anniversary as a band.
Q5 – I was surprised your doing another tour after the ORO Tour. As you have been touring quite extensively. I thought you would be having a break?
After this tour we will be having a break. But then again......
Q6 – 2012 was probably your best year as a band. Two acclaimed albums and tours.
Yes, that is true. That is another reason we did this tour. As when we toured with EVE and ORO, we played those albums in full. People didn't get the chance to hear the “classics”.
Some fans started shouting “Play Something Old” - We never had the chance to do this because this was too long to do. We prefer to play current record in full. We are not like other bands who play 2 or 3 new songs and then the old songs. We try to be different from those bands.
Q7 – Obviously it's your 15th Anniversary as a band. When you first started, did you realise you would be around to this day?
No. We started to play for the love of the music. 15 years compared to 8 years for The Beatles and Pink Floyd before Roger Waters. And that's why we are better. (Everyone started laughing at this point. Including myself).
We are kidding....
But 10 years as a band we were reborn with EVE. We changed our sound. We started to do different things. Our first album was made when we were more punk attitude. But we always try to do something different every time and album.
Another reason for 15 years is that we cannot see the end for now. We can go on for new albums and new tours. We are a young band. Not in age but definitely as a band.
We still love doing what we do. We love seeing people happy to seeing us perform.
Q8 – It's great you have Supernatural Cat Records to work with as well?
We wanted to take things our way with Snailking after The Music Cartel. We then decided to take control of our records until we got asked to work with other labels such as Steve Von Till at Neurot Records. We got asked by other labels, bigger labels, but we are not interested in changing too much. We are free to continue as normal on Neurot.
It's like belonging to a family. We are very lucky to be there.
Q9 – What are your plans after the tour has finsihed. New album or extended break?
We haven't recorded anything new yet. We have started recording songs with Incoming Cerebral Overdrive. We will finish that record and then understand what we need to do.
That's what's important about this tour. We are relaxing and having fun. We will definitely start again. Our main focus is to create our best possible album. Like every other band wants.
Some bands starting turn to pop music to earn more people at concerts. When bands do this they reach a goal. We don't do this as we play just for ourselves and the respect for our fans. We just want to be ourselves.
Q10 – The videos you're using tonight and for the tour. Are they new for this tour?
Yes, some are new but we are taking some old videos for ORO and Eve along as well. So fans can see them once again.
Q11 – The setlist for tour tour. Was it hard to decide what songs to include. Did you have any disagreements on what to play on the tour?
No. We agreed on all of them. As they were quite easy to decide. It was an easy choice as we consider them as classics.
Can we call them classics.
Sludgelord replied back – Yeah you can. As they are.
(Everyone in the rooms laughs)
Q12 – What is your favourite album you have recorded or is that too hard to ask?
Very good question. We have songs from Idolum that I love and like the most. Plus Snailking is a favourite as well. Godlike Snake was a learning curve. It sounded good at the time but it definitely has it moments.
Well guys thanks for your time in doing this interview. All the best for the tour. Hope it goes well for the remaining dates.
I want to thank Ufomammut for taking the time out to talking to me.
Thanks to Lauren at Rarely Unable for arranging the interview. And thanks to Aaron for asking and convincing me to do this.
Check This Brilliant and Legendary Band from links below:
Official
Supernatural Cat
