Doodsdrek Interview

This Belgian duo caught my attention over the last month with their nasty and bleak bare-bones Black Metal. Not only is it pure underground but totally enjoyable. I managed to catch up with Barditus and Svein to discuss the band, what the future holds, the state of the scene and of course the most disgusting thing they could think of. Death and shit were right up there!

What was the thinking behind Doodsdrek? Were the two of you excited to get down to basics after the hefty and lengthy experimentation of Lugubrum or simply in need of a break?

Barditus: Once there was a longer period of inactivity within Lugubrum, which became rather annoying . So Svein and me decided to write some material of our own so we could jam a little to keep busy musically . The songs we made were that good in our opinion that we decided to release them as a project apart from Lugubrum . We needed a name for it as filthy as the music, so Doodsdrek was the right decision, meaning death and shit…

Svein: We didn’t need the break, but it was there before we even knew it. It was the right time to join forces. Both Barditus and I had been walking around with some ideas for a while and it was worth trying out these songs, as they really went well together. I think we have a similar kind of feeling about the oldschool dirty style of black metal, and this was a great way to canalize our own ideas into a project that reaches back to some good old past.

Is there an idea or a force that drives the material both musically and lyrically? A theology or personification of some kind that you draw upon to create your necrotic terror?

B:  No, I have to disappoint you . Our goal was to create some old fashioned black metal, with our own typical elements of course, we didn’t want to sound like thousands of other bands .

S: A force that drives me personally is the revolt and the strife against the mob, the mass, the millions. Naturally I make the music that I want to play and suits me best, but it’s most stimulating and satisfying when it has the capability to sicken others. Lyrically I’ve drawn my inspiration from very different levels of decline and wickedness. It goes from the smudgy pervert who preys on innocence to the mental case who defies all life and beyond. There’s an ode to the maggot-race that will devour the whole goddamn world and a hymn to a procession of men that sluggishly walks to its inevitable doom.
It’s generally a reflection of my misanthropic interest in all things going downward and falling apart.

Although this material is not complex did you find it difficult or challenging at any point to write it?

B:  It was a bit difficult because I’m not really used to writing songs, I used to make a riff now and then for Lugubrum but never complete songs . But it turned out quite all right I think . Playing guitar and drums is something I need to exercise a lot in order to play well . I don’t have the time often to do so, so… But the most important thing is that I can work out the ideas brewing in my head .

S: The most challenging point on my behalf was playing the guitar since I just started playing that instrument for about a year or so before
starting the band. But I don’t think it’s necessary to be the best guitar-player around to write a decent song. If you have the right ideas
you can make something worthwhile with a minimum of skills.

The overall sound of the album is perfectly underground and is as if you recorded it in one take. Were there any out of the ordinary methods you used to record this?

B: Most of it was indeed recorded in one take, because we’re very lazy and because that’s how we maintain the original atmosphere, like we were rehearsing the songs . We used pretty much the same recording gear as we used to record the older Lugubrum albums . I really like this kind of “lo-fi” production, something I terribly miss when listening to the majority of BM bands .

S: Every instrument was recorded on a different track, and that wasprobably the only professional decision we made in the recording
process. We wanted to do everything ourselves, but we scarcely had the experience of working with the recording-devices and handling the
knobs…
Needless to say it was a rather primitive way of recording, figuring out how to deal with the machine and various other matters. By moments it was just barbaric, loud as hell and earsplitting, because the volume levels were totally out of control. A real selfdestructive ritual that
by moments must have been hilarious to witness! And somehow we managed to nail down the low-fi nekro sound as you can attest to it.

I read a review of the album recently that said “the riffs here are simply too inconsequential” and “does little to innovate or thematically push the boundary”. Do you think the reviewer has missed the point of Doodsdrek and that ultimatley you will always be getting compared to Lugubrum by fans of Lugubrum?

B: It’s no use comparing Doodsdrek to Lugubrum, the only things in common are Svein’s drumming and my vocals, though sounding differently on Doodsdrek . You know that we switch instruments on the Doodsdrek album; I play guitar on the songs I wrote on the guitar, Svein plays the drums on them and I do the vocals . It’s the other way round for the songs he wrote on his guitar, there’s much variety .

S: We never teamed up to be innovators, that’s for sure! The one thing wedefinitely needed to do, was to throw all refinement overboard, in which we gloriously succeeded. There are no rules to create this kind of madness, but the good old motto ‘do what thou wilt, but make sure to do it like a madman’. Hence the inconsequences? Comparisons to Lugubrum were expectable of course. It’s rather irrelevant to me.

Personally I really enjoy the basic and raw natural atmosphere you’ve made. Are future works by Doodsdrek a reality and have you any ideas of how the music will progress, or was this a one off release?

B: If we come together again for Doodsdrek it won’t be for the first years to come, we’re busy with Lugubrum from now on, the beast is oiled again ! But if we eventually do it should have the same atmosphere, although I think we will write some more songs then, this album was a bit short .

S: Doodsdrek will definitely rise again sometime, now it lies stinking and sleeping, dreaming about ways to irritate and haunt people in the
future. I still have some material left that I could’t manage to play decently while rehearsing for the first album. But I’m learning, skills
are improving and I’m full of ideas. Although you never can be too sure about the future, so you may expect the worst.

Belgium has a good compact underground BM scene hammering away that is often overlooked. Would you like to see a greater exposure of it or do you think this might lead to popularity and eventually a mainstream bias?

B: I don’t care about such things, I never understood what all the fuss is about . All this nonsense about being true, not mainstream or too popular…A good excuse by the way for shitty bands; they don’t want to be “too popular”… LOL ! The only thing I would like to wish for is bigger sales, money is always welcome . That’s really the problem nowadays, people are downloading or copying albums instead of buying them . That was totally different during the first years of Lugubrum, if someone was interested we could sell them a cd . Some copied albums on tape, but that method was never too popular compared to this pc-stuff now .

What is your opinion of the internet and Black Metal? With the proliferation of sites like Myspace and blogging a lot of people think that the web killed the genre, you agree with that or think that it has helped the underground mature?

B: Like I said before, people are obviously looking for things to criticise, I can’t see how “exposure” on the internet could kill a genre . The whole Myspace thing is sick of course, too many assholes on it, but if there are good bands that have a nice page with good layout it has been useful to me a lot to get acquainted with their music . Like Patria from Brasil for instance, I listened to some songs and bought their terrific album .

S: Black metal is not dead but it lost a part of its magic and obscurity due to the internet. It used to be little information about the bands
and a lot of great atmosphere in their crafted works. Now it’s sometimes more like vice versa.
But actually it’s really not that a big issue, there still are great bands, and the internet definitely has its advantages, if you use it
wisely. It’s a tool for promotional use, you can easily check things out, order stuff, download stuff that you can’t order anymore (for some
grounded reason).
And nobody is obliged to log in all day and get lost in that fucked up digital labyrinth of massive amounts of (dis)information, making silly
friends, or picking a fight that you wouldn’t dare to do in real life. I’d throw my computer through the window and look elsewhere

If you could do a scratch and sniff album cover what smell would you use?

B: I remember a little story my father told me once about two old guys working at the cemetary in the village . They had to remove old graves and caskets, and dug in the soil so that they ended up aside the casket, breaking the boards to remove what’s inside . There was a brown stinking liquid which streamed over their hands and clothes, they wore no gloves or protective clothing, so you can imagine this must be a dirty job ! When they had their break they would simply eat their lunch and drink their coffee sitting on tombstones, without even washing their hands of course…
So the cover really should bear the stench of that liquid .

S: The smell of napalm in the morning.

Whats the most disgusting thing you can think of?

B: Apart from the liquid ? Pop music for sure . In particular (no capitals please) phil collins, brian adams, tina turner and the likes, I presume you know them… I really can’t stand hearing this shit, it makes me mad ! Of course there are a lot of other things that disgust me for I’m a very loathing fellow.
Well, typical ending : thanx for the interview, and to the blackbangers everywhere : check out the album and buy it even if you don’t like it . Eventually you will…

S: Homo Rattus.

Tags: 2010, Belgium, Doodsdrek, Those Opposed Records

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 21:16 and is filed under Black Metal Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.