Blues Funeral,
a proto doom band from Houston, formed in late 2014 and play a unique brand of
60’s and 70’s infused music with a metal twist. The band name, inspired by the
1969 Groundhogs cut, “Blues Obituary”, is an ode to many of the group's
influences including classic bands like: Deep
Purple, Blue
Oyster Cult, Mountain, Black Sabbath, Jimi
Hendrix, Cream,
Through
many email exchanges over many weeks between myself and guitarist Maurice Eggenschwiler, his enthusiasm and passion for his band shown through, moreover his dedication to his craft
and his unabashed determination to get his band heard is a measure of the DIY
scene that has produced so many great bands over the years. Maurice's commitment to encourage the scene to take notice certainly won me over and
after recently being voted "album of the day" over at Roadburn.com, I
wouldn’t be at all surprised if the band scored a record deal before the end of
the year, not to mention a bunch of new followers in the process.
So, today
it is my pleasure to present a short interview with Maurice, not to mention a
full stream of their superb debut album “The Search”. Welcome to the procession.... Blues Funeral
SL:
Can you give us a brief history of your
playing career to date leading up to the formation of Blues Funeral and release
of your current record?
Maurice
Eggenschwiler: Absolutely.
3 quarters of Blues Funeral
(Jan, Cory, and I) have played together for several years in another band
called Sanctus Bellum. In November of 2014, Sanctus Bellum went on hiatus for a period of
time which allowed us to shift our attention and focus to Blues Funeral.
Cory knew Gabe from way back as they both went to Carnegie Mellon, and
luckily was able to recruit him into the fold.
The idea was to form a band that would allow us to incorporate some
musical influences that wouldn’t have been at home in Sanctus… but that are very much a part of the
fabric of our musical being. The
prominent inclusion of the Hammond
With Blues Funeral
we’ve had the chance to share the stage with bands like: Venomous Maximus, Night
Demon, Royal Thunder, Black Tusk, The
Obsessed, Sierra, Karma To Burn, Helstar,
Deadhorse, and Marty Friedman. The year and a half that we’ve spent playing
live shows has given us the opportunity to write and refine the 6 tracks that
ended up on the record (as well as a few others that are already in the
works).
SL:
What can you tell us about your debut record and where do you feel it sits
within the context of the current doom scene?
Maurice
Eggenschwiler: Having played together for more than 5 years, Jan,
Cory, and I have developed a natural rhythm when it comes to song writing. We’ve always been huge fans of harmony (both
instrumental and vocal) and that plays a vital role in these songs. The sound we were able to achieve on this
record is the product of using more complex chord extensions with the
instrumentation and then layering that over a rock solid rhythm section. Gabe’s bass tone, which is nice and punchy in
the mix adds another dimension to that.
Lyrically, the album deals with a range of topics that are both
introspective as well as reflections on aspects of the human condition that we
observe in the current state of our world.
In the context of the current doom scene, I think we
bring something to the table that certainly sits well alongside many of the
stalwarts in the scene because we share common influences. Simply put… we all owe Black Sabbath (and several bands that came
before them) a debt of gratitude for laying the foundation for this kind of
music. And if we’re being honest… the
most direct line you could draw between Blues
Funeral and the doom scene would use Candlemass
as the connector haha. Where Blues Funeral separates themselves from the
pack, however, is with the aspects of our sound that owe more to jazz and
prog. This goes back to the comment
about chord extensions. To my knowledge
there aren’t a lot of bands in the doom scene that play major 7 chords or minor
13 chords. The organ sound is something
else that I think creates a dynamic that connects us to bands like Deep Purple, Uriah
Heep, Atomic Rooster, and Procol Harum that I’m sure resonate with fans
of doom, but that aren’t inherently a part of the sound that’s most common to
the scene. The net effect is that I
think we are able to give fans something that they’re used to sitting squarely
next to something that’s maybe a little more of a surprise.
SL: How was the mood in the camp going into the
recording of the record?
Maurice
Eggenschwiler: Pure
unbridled excitement! For the last year
and a half, we have been incredibly humbled by the positive response we’ve
gotten to our music in our own local scene.
The biggest point of feedback that we’ve gotten at every show we’ve
played is that people were clamoring for recorded music that they could take home
and digest. Some people might have
rushed to get in the studio just to get something out, but we really wanted to
take our time refining the songs so that what ended up on the record was pure meat,
no filler. We really think we got
that. It had a lot to do with focus and
preparation. We spent a lot of time
before going into the studio on pre-production (this was a process that I think
was a bit newer for us) to make a lot of decisions on the front end about
tempo, layering, effects, and harmonies.
Before we even set foot in the studio, we had pages of notes for our
sound engineer and we had strong ideas about the direction of every song. With all of that front-end prep, the studio
process was actually fairly relaxed and allowed us to spontaneously give rise
to some new ideas in studio without pressure over time constraints.
SL: Finally then, what can
fans look forward to from you over
the next 12 months? How is your schedule shaping up?
Maurice Eggenschwiler: Well our next show is slated for 9/3 at
Rudyard’s British Pub in Houston Freak Valley
