Dead To This World Interview

With much expectation Dead To This World are about to unleash a new EP. We caught up with Iscariah to ask him about it and all things DTTW.

I’ve been listening to the new song on your MySpace and have tried to compare it to First Strike’s material, not easy. Tell us what, if anything, is different about your new stuff. Have you opted for a different approach in anyway?

Not intentionally. The approach towards creating new material remains the same as in the fact that it must be written without any limitations to previous material or what is expected of you. I can acknowledge the fact that it is different, but I cant tell you why that is.

To me it sounds like you’ve taken the music back to style of Audiopain split. Would you agree with that or is that unintentional?

I can see what you mean with this. For some reason it has more of an ancient death metal feel towards it as the split with Audiopain.

Band members seem to have come and gone fairly frequently in the last 18 months or so. Are you confident this current line-up will become a stable unit able to unleash savage and unpredictable assaults for years to come?

I feel that the lineup is very stable now and it has been for quite some time. Everybody offers a lot of energies to this and we all can feed off it and feel it. We have a special bond which serves a strong purpose to the band and the forces at work.

There’s a new MCD coming from the reputable German label Van Records. How did that come about, how many tracks are going to be on it and more importantly when can we get our claws on it?

Vàn got in touch with me back when First Strike came out asking if I had a label releasing the vinyl version of it, and since Iron Pegasus was already doing it, we agreed to work on a release for the future instead. It will feature 5 tracks and I hope it will be out during spring 2011. Its all ready to go.

What about artwork for the MCD? DTTW has always used original looking artwork, will it be of a similar style to that of First Strike and will there the compulsory goat on it?

The artwork for this release was created by Adam Zaars for Bells of Death under the guidance from myself and the visions I had for this release. It is totally different compared to the previous releases and fits the lyrical content perfectly. He really created something special for us and had a deep understanding of what was /had to be done. No goats this time.

Something that’s been on my mind since hearing the song for the first time and not having access to the lyrics as I bought the album off iTunes: what is Goatpower about? A newly patented energy system for negating Global warming? Or the empowerment of the underground to flip a rampant middle finger to mainstreram society?

It fitted the lyrics I wrote for the song back then, so my suggestion is to read the lyrics on for example metal archives. This is why I never buy stuff on itunes or settle with downloads since I need the full experience. It’s a good way to check stuff of course, but then I prefer to buy the physical format if I find it enjoyable.

I read some time ago in an interview that you said some journalists had slated First Strike for a lack of melody and being repetitive. That made me laugh because they’re obviously fucking retarded and listen to some shite like Nightwish or Cradle of Filth. Do you find it amusing when you read such reactions to your music?

Not really. It just proves there is a lot of trendies working in publications who don’t have much hindsight to this music. The underground is very much alive and well these days, but it is ridden with big bearded, thick glassed student geeks with Deathspell Omega shirts. Especially in the US and then of course it includes the UK…the tail of the American dream.

Bradford, I talked to you about this hellhole a few years ago. A dead and grey concrete anus full of mutants lingering on the fringes of the English hell! England has a terrible attitude towards Black Metal, a terrible scene and terrible bands, except a very very meagre few fanatics. Indeed what in hell prompted you to spend time in this place and do you draw upon memories of Bradford for inspirational grimness?

I spent about 18 months in the UK to complete/write the musical part of a small project which was based over there. It was to help out since they had no one to write music for them. After I left, it collapsed with good reasons. It proved to turn into some pagan “lets-all-get-along” bullshit. Not very metal at all. Apart from the music, which was superb.

Do you have any habits or rituals you like to invoke before during or after creating music or playing live?

Yes, but it is personal. Not of interest to the readers I’m sure.

How have the live shows gone? Are there a legion of swarming vulgar DTTW acolytes at every show and what is the reaction like to your live performance?

The live shows so far have been very good. Only the gig at United Metal Maniacs was amputated due to the fact that we only had one guitar at the show and we had not prepared for that since the other guitarist decided not to go just hours before the trip. He was of course replaced with Skyggen which is now with us. Apart from that the shows have been really good. We hope to do more gigs this year if the offer stands.

A few years back Dark Funeral did a scratch and sniff limited edition CD which stank of old tires. If you did one similar what smell would you have?

Something nice. Like those spray bottles for toilets with flowers on them. UK strippers use those when they want to smell nice for the weekend shows.

Finally the one we always finish with: What’s the most disgusting thing you can think of?

The asshole of the hooker I saw down the docks in Aberdeen which was in a wheelchair. You can keep those for yourselves. Thanks for the interview and support.

Myspace

Tags: 2011, Dead To This World, Norway

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 26th, 2011 at 13:32 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.