We spoke to Christy and Laurie of Ails back in Feb 0f 2017 for our women in Black Metal round table. It was high time we caught up with the band to talk about their killer new album “The Unraveling” read on!
* Congrats on the new album I feel you guys are yet again pushing the boundaries of Black metal and that’s a good thing – what was the songwriting process like on “the Unraveling” ?0
Sam- Christy had Bitter Past & Mare Weighs Down written when I joined Colby, Christy, & Laurie in the band. Since then it has been a back and forth between myself and Christy on song writing. For example I wrote Dead Metaphors, then Christy wrote The Echoes Waned, then I wrote Any Spark of Life, then Christy wrote The Ruin. Once we bring the riffs and arrangement ideas to practice, it becomes a full collaboration between everyone. Parts and arrangement such as riff order and length of parts will get tweaked according to any ideas anyone has. Really it’s the same with drums and Vocals. Colby puts drums to it and sometimes a suggestion to tweak a thing here or there will be made and we try it. Laurie writes all her lyrics and lays down the cadence. Christy does the same on any vocals she might be doing closely working with Laurie. Christy and I will write our solos and add our harmonies if there are any, and the inner rhythms and pulse of it all just fall into place over time through good old-fashioned feel.
* Where did you record the album? I love the production, it is raw but still has a great sense of song structure and melody something too many BM bands forgo in trying to be “grim and frostbitten”
Sam- Brad did a great job with that! I’ve heard other people referring to the production as raw. I agree its not a slick production but I don’t really consider it to be all that raw. One thing though is it’s pretty real. Meaning we didn’t use a lot of the standard studio tricks predominantly heard in modern metal, the main one being fully triggered drums. It’s amazing how much more organic it sounds with the lack of the “perfection” that a drum trigger forward mix brings. Colby plays a lot with different hits depending on the feeling of it all. He ebbs and flows with volume and intensity and I would hate to lose that. I think the album is a deeper experience over all because of that choice. To be clear I have nothing against albums with a ton of drum trigger or studio perfection. I like it on a lot of what I listen to, but I don’t think it was right for us on this one. We wanted it to sound like us as much as possible, and we got fairly close I think.
* Congrats on the new album I feel you guys are yet again pushing the boundaries of Black metal and that’s a good thing – what was the songwriting process like on “the Unraveling” ?
Laurie-Thank you so much, we are thrilled that you love it!! It was a slow but steady process. Christy and Colby started out mostly practicing a few songs that Christy wrote, then I joined and then when we got a 2nd guitarist (Sam) and bass player (originally Eli) to join, Sam wrote songs too, we started practicing more regularly and things became more cohesive and together. For me, after each song is mostly composed, I usually figure out the placement of where to put in the vocal parts and then complete the lyrics, because it works better for me that way and I want it all to fit in the song as dynamically and as uniquely as possible.
* Did you find that you and the rest of the band going through a period of heavily listening to a certain artist or genre before the writing of the album? if so who? I gotta think you guys have a pretty eclectic taste in music and I don’t just mean BM (I know some bands when they are in “writing mode” will not listen to anybody as they do not want to subconsciously pick up influences).
Laurie- For myself, I’m always listening to music daily and have my headphones on whenever I leave my front door, so every day involves some form of influence or inspiration, but over these more recent years I’ve mostly been rediscovering music I loved from when I was younger..I felt influenced and inspired from metal bands like Bethlehem and Ved Buens Ende, doom like Cathedral, Swedish doom like Runemagick, to revisiting my favorites from when I was still in youth, like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Deep Purple, Bowie, MC5, Neil Young, Patty Smith, Roxy Music, Nico, , Lee Hazlewood, Nina Simone, Bauhaus, Laughing Hyeanas. I’ve been currently obsessed with Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Algiers and Dirtmusic for weeks now…but I’m sure it will fluctuate again soon. Not very metal of me but I’m 48 now so I kinda don’t give a hoot. ha! And we all have very broad and diverse tastes in music. The list is never-ending for all of us I think!
Like the late great Martin Eric Ain of Celtic Frost once said – “There are more feelings to express than just aggression and destruction.”
* Where did you record the album? I love the production, it is raw but still has a great sense of song structure and melody something too many BM bands forgo in trying to be “grim and frostbitten”
Laurie- It was recorded by Brad Kobylczak at New Improved Studio and Moon Dog Studio. Mixed by brad at Condemned Studio and mastered by Dan Randall at Mammoth Studio.
I do agree with you overall and also like the production. There are a few things about the recording process I hope to try differently next time but yes it was a great experience. I don’t think that we are a traditional necro/atmospheric-sounding bm band with 100’s of layers, and I believe we are more comparable to a heavy metal/rock band sound, which is why it’s important to have all instruments, vocals included, equally heard, rather than a low-fi/pushed back deep and far away in the cave sound or as you say “grim and frostbitten” I think that type of production and mix wouldn’t work very well with our material. Much of the song-writing and guitars do have a great melodic almost organic quality that I too love a lot, I’ve always been a huge fan of how Christy writes guitar melodies. Like the late great Martin Eric Ain of Celtic Frost once said – “There are more feelings to express than just aggression and destruction.” There you go..
* Did you try anything new in the studio that you had not done before as Ludicra?
Laurie- For me personally, I wanted to to do more clean singing harmonies as I feel it adds a whole other layer of lush heaviness and somber sadness and dynamics, although this is basically the same thing I’ve been doing for many years in Ludicra so I’m not sure much has changed for me during the recording process.
The thing she misses the most is being able to see a mind-blowing bill of bands every other week here
* You and Christy are pretty much “veterans” of the Bay Area Black metal scene – how would you say the scene has changed for the best in the last 10 years?
Laurie- I think maybe there are just a lot more bands, most of which are incredible. There is a sense of pride here because there are truly so many really good local bands. A friend in Portland recently told me that the thing she misses the most is being able to see a mind-blowing bill of bands every other week here. And there are so many great musicians here, young and old! There is a great sense of community and support towards one another, it’s one of the reasons to try to stick it out and stay despite the insufferable rents and lack of affordable and fair housing for all.
* And in what ways has it gotten worse?
Laurie-Well we could go the opposite I suppose and say that since there are so many bands here, we have become spoiled in a way which could also lead to more “jaded” interpretations of the Bay Area metal scene.” I suppose music can sometimes also be a tricky thing here in our Bay Area and you can’t always satisfy or connect with everyone.
Tech, realtors, greed, speculation etc have definitely affected the live music scene in SF
* Speaking of getting worse – I love how an amazing music scene has flourished in the Bay Area for the last at least, 50 years but with all of the Tech money coming into town has that been much of a detrimental effect on the live music scene?
Laurie- As much as I try my best to support local shows in SF(I’m one of the few left living here), yes tech, realtors, greed, speculation etc have definitely affected the live music scene in SF. Some venues no longer exist and the ones that still do, often struggle to have well-attended shows. So many artists have had to vacate the city, it’s become a rather square and aloof “ignore thy neighbor” environment. There are still a few gems left in SF and even a few new ones despite the mass gentrification but it’s not the same and sadly never will be the city of freaks that I once loved so dearly. Oakland carries the torch for music, especially metal, I’m glad to be able to bart over and see all the good folks, good shows and of course my bandmates!
* We all know unless you are Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth Black metal is more of a labor of love than a career option – what does everyone in the band do to keep themselves alive? (day jobs)
Laurie- I’m working as a Supportive Housing Case Manager/Money Manager for formerly homeless folks in SF. It’s a labor of love as well. I’ve recently come to accept that I take on a higher level of vicarious trauma-related stress than I wanted to believe, so I’m working on better self-care and better health in order to continue doing the other things I love, mostly being in Ails. I try my best to stay afloat despite the frustrations of the “most expensive city now in America” and all the very complex social and political disparities that exist here. Hey at least I’m in still here, rather than somewhere like Alabama, it could be a lot worse!!
* Have you played the new songs live much yet? If so what song(s) have gone over live the best to date?
Laurie- Ha! We’ve been playing the same 6 songs for almost 3 years now! We hope to have new ones very soon.
* Have any of audience reactions surprised you?
Laurie- I may not be best one to know or answer but it seems that most of our songs seem to go over live pretty well, we’ve learned over the years that some don’t seem to have the same effect as some others though.
* Are we going to see you guys on the East Coast this year?
Laurie- At this point,it’s not very likely, but I’m sure we will get to NY and hopefully surrounding area for a short tour in 2019 at least.
We would love to play more festivals as well
* Any touring plans in place yet?
Laurie – We can’t do long tours due to life,work schedules, and sometimes for me personally, getting older.. but we will do a few short mini-tours up and down West Coast and hope to get over to East Coast and Europe properly and eventually. We would love to play more festivals as well! We just played the incredibly well-run fest – Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle and it was such a wonderful experience for all. We all try our best to juggle our schedules but it’s more challenging to do so for longer touring.
* Any final words?
Laurie – Getting to perform again and be in a band again, especially with people I love and respect as friends…it has been the most uplifting and enjoyable thing for me in many years, just grateful to keep doing it for as long as it can go. Thank you so much!
