- answered vocalist Zdeněk.
translated by Markéta, thank you!
Ave ET MORIEMUR! It
has been two years since you released your last album “Ex Nihilo in Nihilum”.
But people always say that if the band want to be known they have to release an
alum every two years. It is probably different in case of doom metal because everything
is “slower” but still…do you have any new material prepared? If so, in what
stage of a making are you?
Hi Jakub and greeting to all readers of Deadly
Storm! You right, doom is not that strict and fast at least this is our case:
we don´t make any pressure and try to be more cool:). To be more specific the new
material is almost ready, we record the preparation materials just so we know
how does it sound, what is missing and what we want to do with it. We have
started to rehears the new songs so we are ready for studio which is booked for
April.
You released your
album “Ex Nihilo in Nihilum” by the Russian label Solitude Productions. This is
a big label in the doom metal industry. And yet it is still an absolute
underground. How many albums were sold? Are you happy about this label´s
outcomes?
I have to admit that I have no idea how many
albums were sold by Solitude. But I will ask them, that´s a good idea! I don´t
even know how many we sold on e-shops. I just know that Herdon from Pařát told
me they had to order more albums because the interest was quiet high. We sold
like 200 pieces by ourselves. We are absolutely happy with this label. The
appointments are always quick and great, they are serious so we don´t have any
complains.
You are a band which
has member all around the Czech Republic. How do you manage to have rehearsals?
You each have own activities in other bands, do you even meet together?
Except the periods before going to the studio
or during the eras where we have more concerts, rehearsals are only
exceptional. Some of us have jobs, others have obligations with other bands and
the rest is just lazy (like me :)). But now we have to work harder so we are
ready for the studio.
How do you create a
new material? Who is the author of your music? I mean specifically, who
compose? Do you prefer more democratic attitude or do you have any “dictator”
who has the last word?
We do it like this. I am the creator of the
base of our songs. The drummer Datel applies his decorator talent and Aleš do
the guitar lines. Recently, our guitar player Honza left our band, because
there was a time-management problem and he didn´t manage to work in two bands
(us and PANYCHIDA). So we have a new member Pája from our beloved friends
SELF-HATRED and he will be creating our songs with us in the future. So I would
say that the final product is always a result of the group work of the whole
band.
ET MORIEMUR are very
interesting for me since they don´t underestimate lyrics which are sometimes
overlooked in metal. You lyrics are always perfectly suitable for your music,
they are logical, have an idea and make one stop and listen them again. I would
like to know how you create your lyrics. Where do you find the inspiration? Do
you write lyrics on music or the other way around? I personally think that it
is a very severe discipline.
Oh thank you so much for these kind words, too
kind I think J.
Although I try to write original lyrics, sometimes I just don´t manage to do
what I would like to. I am like an emergency poet. That is why I like to use
the quotes by the real master poets in different languages, because they always
save the song. Sometimes I had the lyrics and I change it so it fits to the
music. Sometimes we have a song and then we write the lyrics. Our new album will
be different because lyrics are more created for the rhythm. I experiment with
a deeper connection of language and music. We´ll see what happens. :)
I am originally death
metal fan and trasher and a lot of doom metal is boring for me. But I like you
guys. The first time I heard ET MORIEMUR was on concert in Pilsen where you
played with the German OPHIS and it was a great performance. I would never
believe how much emotions can you fit in one “slow” kind of a music. How about
you and playing live? Trash metal and death metal is OK with musician to do
some mistakes during concerts since they play a very fast music. But with you,
every mistake is going to be heard. Do you like live concerts?
Thank you for the award. We try to put all we
got inside of us to our live concerts. All of what music inspire in us we try
to put to our concerts. That is why every concert is different. You don´t feel
100% great, you can be tired or angry but people, who go to our concerts and
sacrificed the money and their free time to support us, deserve to have a
totally professional attitude from us. That is our absolute priority. Concerts
are great because when you manage to fit in the same frequency as your fans it
creates an amazing energy which makes you feel alive:). It´s rare but when t happens, it
is amazing.
Speaking about
concerts…you are not the kind of band which would do concerts too often. How
many people go on doom metal concerts? You play abroad so you can compare the
attendance in the foreign countries and at home? What about festivals? Usually
you have the schedule when you play during the afternoon when you have the Sun
shining right in your faces or you play after midnight when everyone is drunk
or tired.
Yes, we don´t do concerts too often but I have
to say I like it more like this. The experience is more strong like this and we
have a chance of people not to be bored with us :). About the attendance – Normally
there is only a few people on the Prague concerts (around 50 people). In Pilsen
we basically have around hundred and the atmosphere is cosier than in Prague.
So we love to play in Pilsen the best. The abroad attendance is quite similar –
always around hundred people, sometimes there is only 30 or 40 people. But
there are so many band and I have to say that we are happy with the attendance
on our concerts. I personally don´t go to concerts that much. Moreover it is
doom and most of the people go on concerts to dance and go crazy and not to
cry. :) I
like to play on festivals but I more prefer to play in clubs. I like the
atmosphere of clubs and it suits me the most.
Do you have any idea
about the doom metal scene in the Czech Republic? Do we even have any? There
has never been many doom trics on concerts and in a last few years I have been
seeing those less and less. Who listens to doom metal today? I mean, do you
think this style of music will get to the younger generations or is it only for
those who used to listen to it as teenagers?
I have to admit that I don´t know and I stopped
following what is happening around me. I even quit Pařát because I was not able
to manage to work out my own job. At home don´t really listen to metal, I
prefer jazz, ethnic and classical music – not to be seen as an intellectual but
mainly because jazz improvisation can open your mind so nicely and relax you.
Metal feels tighter for me, but it definitely depends on the moments because
there are days when I love to listen to it. But I like the old school bands –
BAD RELIGION, ENTOMBED, DEATH, VOIVOD, SICK OF IT ALL, OBITUARY, BURZUM. To go
back to your question, there is always less doom fans than other metal fans. As
I said in the previous question most of the people like to go crazy on concerts
after the week at work. But I believe that doom has the potential to get to the
younger listeners – there will always be someone who would try to find some
deep intimate experience in music. Someone who would use music as a mirror of
their own emotions such as loneliness, pain or desire and people would always
try to find understanding and comfort in music.
There is a lot of
musicians who don´t listen to the kind of music they play. How about you? Are
there any doom metal albums you would suggest to listen? I have to say that for
me that would be GRAVEYARD DIRT, MOURNING BEVOLETH, INVERLOCH, OCTOBER TIDE.
Same for me. I don´t listen to doom music. From
the albums you mentioned I listened just the GRAVEYARD DIRT and MOURNING
BELOVETH. But the latter was not for me and GRAVEYARD DIRT was an absolute
amazingness! I am in contact with Kieran (guitar) who really like EM which is a
great honour for us. GRAVEYARD DIRT are a legend and they deserve to play in
front of that many people as MY DYING BRIDE or PARADISE LOST do. But things are
what they are and people forget about them which is wrong! It is one of a few
bands who I would love to play with. But rather than doom I listen to PANYCHIDA:).
We are nearly in the
end and I would like to ask rather philosophical question. How do you define
the doom metal? What this music means to you and why did you choose it?
I would say it banally: we didn´t choose doom
metal, it chosen us. :) I allows us to express our emotions from all
of the styles and it happens somehow naturally. We are just like that! For
others it is like that with other genres. But for us, it is doom. Obviously, it
is not something eternal or unchanging – nothing is – it might be different in
one year, but now it is like that. When some doom metal catch you it is like
ecstasy, joy, deep satisfaction, you have tears in your eyes, goose bumps and
it is like a merging tao:)).
Finally, I have the
obligate question which is quite important. What are the ET MORIEMUR´s plans
for the future months? What concerts are you going to do?
We talked about the new album in the beginning
of this interview, we are heading to the studio in spring. We will record
everything and then we´ll see what will happen. It will be different – we try
not to repeat our works – in case of music or language and everything will be
topically connected. Let´s say we will go to the history. :) About the concerts: in the end of
September we play in Prague and Pilsen with Belgians MY LAMENT and local BLUES
FOR THE REDSUN. Then we have a concert in German Halle with DOOMED and a week
after we go on three concerts in Belgium. I don´t think we would play more
considering we have the studio work to do.
Thank you so much for
this interview and I wish you a lot of crazy fans, tons of sold CDs and sold
out concerts. I wish you luck in your personal lives and I am looking forward
to see you on some doom concert.
We have to thank you for this opportunity to
appear on the Deadly Storm blog and we also wish you only the best!
