Interviews

Been listening to these guys since their  album Black Hole Gods (2014) and figured it was time to do an interview with them. Here we go
Where does the band name come from?

PRANJAL TIWARI: It’s derived from the Wyrm Mythos works of the occultist, hallucinogenicist, obliteratus, and former British colonial functionary Godwinson Asquith Stanley. Who was once my next-door neighbor.

NATHAN A. VERRILL: Some people say Stanley was a curious fellow of many, many words.  Some say old G.A. can be seen sometimes, only at dusk, walking hooded and silent in the darkness.

What bands influenced you guys growing up?

PRANJAL: We’re all born in the 60s and 70s so maybe that will give you an idea. Up to a certain point it was whatever was on the radio or whatever you could get your hands on at the local store. In my teenage years I got into metal and punk but I’m pretty sure the first LP I owned was the Muppets doing Saturday Night Fever. I definitely think you can hear the influence of ‘Rubber Duckie’ and ‘C is for Cookie’ on our new record.

LEILA ABDUL-RAUF: I started playing guitar at age 13 and played in my first band when I was 15 but I had already at that point been playing trumpet for several years in the jazz, marching and concert bands in my school, so I had a strong classical foundation. I was exposed to all kinds of music as a small child – not just western pop and classical music, or underground western music, but also music my family played in the house from the Arab and Asian world. I had a religious upbringing (or at least my family tried!) and was surrounded by sounds of Quran recitals and calls to prayer, which definitely informed my musicality. Because of the diverse background I had from birth, I can’t really sum up my influences in a handful of artists!

NATHAN: I sang in choir and played cello as a child.  I picked up guitar at a similar age to Leila. I am influenced by so many people who’ve written or played western classical music, jazz, free improvisation, metal, gospel, punk, ambient and experimental electronic music, country, hip hop.  I’m sure Pranjal would agree that Animal of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem were crucial influences on not only future drummers but anyone who wanted to bring unbound exuberance to music.  And we all knew the direct line that could be drawn from Cookie Monster to Napalm Death and other death metal bands to follow.  And we saw that it was good.

Was it always your plan to sing and play drums or were you just going to sing until you guys “found the right person” to front the band?

PRANJAL: In the original Cardinal Wyrm lineup, I was playing bass and signing. Drums have always been my main instrument in terms of experience, though. When we parted ways with LK who was playing drums in the original lineup, I decided to take over and play drums and sing. I figured if Phil Collins and Don Henley could do it, so could I!

NATHAN: Pranjal was playing drums with me on guitar/bass in our pre/proto-Cardinal Wyrm two-piece lineup. The shift of instruments after LK’s departure felt like a welcome return home. When Pranjal then added singing to playing, it was like the clouds parted and the hand of Kelly Keagy reached down through the blinding light above to place his hand on our foreheads and give us His holy blessings.

You guys sing about depression and the occult a fair bit – Are you singing from personal experience?

PRANJAL: We try to evoke what is inside us through our songs, and the lyrics are a big part of that. Though the specific focus of the lyrics can vary from story-telling (as in “After the Dry Years” or “Grave Passage”) to straight descriptions of incidents such as in (“Dreams of Teeth” or “Ruin”), at the core of it the subject matter has dealt with the sense of wandering, being between worlds, being lost and not belonging anywhere. I think we all have personal experience with this in our lives. The occult stuff when it appears in our music is reflective of the desperate search for meaning, of grasping at straws, trying to find something to cling on to, a thread that will show you the way, a resonance that will orient you on a path. This has mixed results, both for the characters in the stories we tell in our songs, and for us personally.

NATHAN: We’ve known some dark times whose tentacles still sneak through our music.  Do we sing from personal experience about the occult?  I can only say, “JQ’GP’VH USEB N’DRACRO FL’WYM STI!”

Leila is in about 50 other bay area bands – how did you convince her to sing and play bass for you guys?

LEILA: It’s really just five bands – if you include my solo project too – and CW is a great band so it didn’t take much to convince me! I can’t think of any other band out there right now that sounds like us.

PRANJAL: Leila used to play with us doing live backing vocals on a few songs before she joined on bass, and she even joined us on our Southwest tour in that capacity. We’ve all known each other and played music together for a while and so when we needed a bass player we made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Well, didn’t refuse. Thankfully.

NATHAN: Pranjal and I have known them Vastums for several years, both bands having done time in different rehearsal rooms in the same building in the Tenderloin District in Downtown San Francisco. We’ve since all departed for Oakland, CA. Over the last couple of years, I’ve played music and provided visuals for Leila’s solo project.  I’m very happy that she’s been able to join us in this band and share her unique and considerable talents with us. This is dope.

The entire Bay Area is one of the most expensive places to live in the entire USA right now. that said why do you think there are so many good bands coming out of the bay Area right now? Usually you find a strong scene where the cost of living isn’t so harsh, Seattle in the 90s, Richmond VA anytime, NYC in the 70s etc.

LEILA: The bay area has had a solid underground music scene for decades. Certain underground scenes grew and shrunk and then grew again over time, but I think the solid foundation made over the many decades has had long lasting effects, even in the face of the worst gentrification we’ve ever seen. Unlike most areas of the U.S., the bay area also has rent control, which is the only reason why artists who have been living here for a long time are still able to afford to live here, myself included.

PRANJAL: I mean the cost of living in SF and Oakland used to be much lower too, and the hyper-gentrification we’ve seen lately has really only been in the last few years. In general I think you’ll find the underground music scene in the Bay Area is made up of people who have been here a while and have the networks to be able to survive in such an expensive area – friend or family connections for example, knowing who to contact for a room in a house or for work, or maybe they’ve lived in their apartment for a while and have rent control and / or know their landlords. It’d be a very difficult place to move to right now without those connections. That said, there’s still a lot of great bands from out here and a healthy music scene in 2016 – thanks to a lot of people who work very hard to keep it that way.

NATHAN: The recent fire and tragic deaths of over 36 people, friends and family in our extended community, at the Ghost Ship Warehouse in Oakland, CA was horrific.  It also illustrates in many ways where we are at now. This was a hazardous space similar to those most of us in the metal, punk, goth, electronic and experimental scenes have had to play at various times all of our working lives. If you are a musician or an artist, a writer, etc., a content creator and not a large shareholder in one of the top transnational media corporations, odds are you are struggling and planning your next inevitable move as your current niche habitat gets (once again) gentrified and you are priced out. In general, all of us who get our money to live from our actual work and not from dividends have the same problems.  We struggle to be fed, clothed and housed. We struggle to have and maintain “public” places that we can meet, commune, celebrate, and feel safe and support each other, especially if we are a person of color and/or a member of the LGTBQ community. Meanwhile, the CEOs of crony capitalism continue to try to drain the last drops of blood from us to sell for a dollar. We are nothing without the support of those we love, of our friends and of our communities.

Black Hole gods was one of my favorite records of 2014 – how would you say the band’s sound progressed over the next 2 releases?

PRANJAL: Thanks! There’s only been one record since “Black Hole Gods,” which is called “Cast Away Souls” and came out in October 2016 through Svart Records. I think the new record takes some more risks and branches out in some different directions to Black Hole Gods. To use the respective imagery of the albums, Cast Away Souls is less cosmic, and more like drifting on a river through dream islands encountering various tales and beasts along the way. There are plans for a split 7″ with our Finnish buddies Mansion either in December or in early 2017 which I think branches out even further than the new record does. A sign of things to come, perhaps.

NATHAN: We’ve had a steady path of growth and development between our albums as well.  After we released our first album “Another Holy Trinity,” we released a single, “The Persecuted Crone,” which remains one of my favorite songs to date. Prior to the release of our second album we released a cover of Rudimentary Peni song “The Enlightened Dreamer” that for the first time revealed some of our maybe hidden post-punk influences.  We had the opportunity prior, to the release of our latest album, to contribute a Bathory cover, “Enter the Eternal Fire,” to a local compilation.  We were able to refine what we learned on “Black Hole Gods” on this single release.  We’re currently writing towards our next release and we hope to deliver an even more focused yet diverse, intense, and likely, very weird experience.

How did your record deal with Svart Records come about?

PRANJAL: We released Black Hole Gods digitally in 2014, in order to have something to show labels who might be interested in releasing a physical copy of the album. After many months of reaching out and trying to elicit a response from anyone (it’s tough these days to even hear back from labels) Svart eventually contacted us saying they wanted to work with us. Being big fans of their work and their releases, we were very excited to get to work with them.

NATHAN:  We had an enthusiastic response to and many kind words spoken about Black Hole Gods that brought us to Svart’s attention. We were glad for the opportunity to release BHG as a double gatefold LP.

How much touring have you guys done to date? (I know you did a South west tour a few years back and I THINK you might have done the north west too)

PRANJAL: Not as much as we’d like is the short answer. I’d love to tour more, within the US and beyond, but it’s been a challenge to organize anything more than a short tour with all our differing responsibilities and schedules. We hope to go on at least a Pacific Northwest tour with ‘Cast Away Souls’ and I’d love to do the East Coast if we’re able.

Any good tour stories you can share?

PRANJAL: Jesus, there was that one-man power-electronics guy whose show involved him screaming “REQUIEM!” and masturbating furiously to remixed speeches from the Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha. What name did that guy go by again? Bread And Cervix or something like that? Anyway, this all happened while some sort of stuffed animal wolf / chicken puppet thing suspended from a wire flew about him on stage chasing a fucking dreamcatcher. I mean is that even a story or just a mental image, and one you didn’t need? Makes you think.

NATHAN: It DOES.

What’s been the best gig to date?

LEILA: For me it’s a toss-up between my first CW show as bassist (I played several CW shows before that as just a guest vocalist) at Katakombes in Montreal for Grimposium 2015 and at the Oakland Metro with Wrekmeister Harmonies and Bell Witch.

PRANJAL: That first Montreal gig was amazing for sure. I think I’ll always remember playing with the legendary Hobbs Angel of Death and seeing Peter Hobbs himself banging his head in the front and later coming up to me saying he really liked our set. Surreal.

NATHAN:  I love playing live and look forward to ever improving and feeling like the next gig will be our best gig to date.

As an Indian guy playing metal – have you any ambitions to take the band to India? From my limited knowledge, provinces like Bangalore are metal mad with potential audiences of over 90 million people.

PRANJAL: Well I should clarify that though I’m about as ethnically Indian as you can get, I have never lived in India, I was born and raised elsewhere. It would be an amazing thing to take the band there, though. There’s obviously a ‘going back to your roots’ sort of appeal to me, but beyond that the underground music scene over there seems to be pretty healthy these days like you say. I’d love to go there and check it out and to bring Cardinal Wyrm there would be a dream come true.

LEILA: That would be amazing if we went to India or anywhere in Asia for that matter.

Are there Any touring goals you guys want to aim for? Examples: Wacken Germany? Hole in the Sky Norway etc.

LEILA: A Europe tour around Roadburn would be great for us.

PRANJAL: Yes! A European tour around Roadburn would be awesome. There are also a bunch of other excellent festivals out that way – Doom Over Leipzig, Doom Over London, Mangualde in Portugal, Eistnaflug in Iceland just to name a few. I’d also love to go to Mexico as well as South America. Those parts of the world in particular because we’ve had a lot of support from Mexico and many countries in Europe and South America – much more so than in the US I’d say – and I’d love to be able to play for people live there.

NATHAN: Europe has been good to the band and I’d love the opportunity to play all of those places and events. In addition to those more earth-bound goals, I wouldn’t mind a gig on the International Space Station. Or Mars. Or to place ourselves onstage in a dingy bar of some other more habitable and friendly planet with fewer racist, authoritarian, homophobic pricks ruling over the real estate. This planet is a bit shit these days, innit? ONWARD.

Thanks for the great interview guys and hope to see you on the East Coast sometime soon!

check out Castaway Souls here:

I have seen Throaat play out in NYC a bunch of times in the last few years mainly at St Vitus and Lucky 13 and they never disappoint. I wanted to know more about the band and spoke with singer Impurifier Vilethroaat to get the down lo. Here we go

* So you guys have been going for a couple of years now – how did the
band come about?

Around November 2012 I started writing songs for a new project. I
wanted to be doing music much more raw and primitive than what I had
been doing before. So I started looking for people to play with by
placing some Craigslist ads because I didnt want to play with anyone I
already knew. It only sort of ended up that way, but those were the
beginnings.

* Growing up what were your musical influences? (I am guessing someone
is a huge Hellhammer fan)

At some point, maybe I was 6 or 7, I inherited my older brother’s
Black Sabbath Paranoid/Iron Maiden Number of the Beast cassette tape.
I was transfixed! Especially by the Sabbath side. Every instrument and
lyric seemed to speak to me, or even make me feel like I was in a
trance. Really powerful shit!

I was a little kid when 80’s heavy metal was blowing up, so I feel
fortunate to have been exposed to it during those formulative years.

I think I first heard black metal in the early or mid 90’s, I had this
compilation that had all second wave bands. In the 90’s I was also
getting into a lot of avant garde and “world” music. Stuff that had
nothing to do with metal but that has had a really lasting influence
on how I perceive sound.

Around 1994 I started getting very deeply into Mercyful Fate. In 1998
I even saw them play once while on LSD! In the late 90’s I got heavily
into Celtic Frost (To Mega Therion was first for me, then Morbid
Tales). When I first heard it I felt like I could really relate to it,
in that they were pulling off sounds that I was searching for in my
own material, but they were doing it so damn well, it was a real eye
opener. And yeah around that time I first heard Hellhammer as well, I
got the Apocalyptic Raids cd and heard a few other things. I thought
it was great but to me nothing could touch Frost, especially To Mega
Therion!

I’m into a lot of other kinds of music like psych, punk, goth, death
rock, krautrock, prog etc but that’s my deal growing up with metal.
Nowadays I also spend a lot of time seeking out unfamiliar or obscure
music, Im always trying to find some hidden perpective on sound that
might open up my mind in some way.

* Have you always been a drummer/singer – I imagine its got to be
pretty hard especially for the style of metal you play – was there
ever any plans to have some one else drum for you?

I started playing music a long time ago but drums are the instrument
I’ve played the least in my life. I never really played drums before
Throaat, just a little bit of tapping around on the kit when the real
drummer in whatever band it was went out to take a leak or sell some
weed to someone. I always played guitar or bass. I had taken some
piano and voice lessons during high school. I figure as long as you
understand rhythm and can produce a sound on an instrument, like how
to make the different notes, it’s not too hard to get into playing it.
I mean, you don’t have to know EVERYTHING about an instrument to just
make up some wicked parts for a song right? So when Throaat started to
come together, I knew I wanted to do the vocals and figured the
fastest way to becoming a “real band” was to pick up the drums; so
there would be a drummer from the start, however amateurish or
primitive it might be. I wanted to do something new and in an
unsophisticated style so it seemed like the way to go.

Throaat has seen some lineup changes recently, and each time there was
a change, the question comes up about whether or not I should switch
to another instrument. I really like playing drums though so I’m going
to stick with it. Also I think it would change the sound of the band
pretty drastically with a different drummer, unless he happened to
play with the same shitty pizzazz as I do, but that would be hard to
find! If there were an ad it would have to say something like SHITTY
DRUMMER WANTED. BUT NOT TOO SHITTY!

We did do a one-off show not too long ago where I played bass and did
the vocals, our bass player at that time played the drums and our
guitar player did his guitar thing. We called it Taorrh. There was a
booking conflict so we decided to switch it up for that one night. Our
friends from the killer band Conqueror Worm were in town on tour and
played that night as well.

* Right now the NYC metal scene is pretty concentrated in Brooklyn –
any thoughts on why Brooklyn and not say Queens or the Bronx?

Seems to me there are a ton of bands in Queens and the Bronx. I
recognize some typical aesthetic differences between bands from
Brooklyn vs other parts of NYC but I’m not sure I could elucidate what
those differences are without turning into a grumpy bastard.

* What’s your favorite place to play in NYC? Lucky 13? Vitus?

We’ve done plenty of shows at both places. Lately we’ve been playing
at Lucky 13 more, I love that place. Vitus is great too. We also
played at The Acheron a lot before it closed. I also like playing at
The Gutter.

* Is everyone born and raised in Brooklyn? if not where are they from?

I was but the other folks in the band (both past and present) come
from other locales. Native Brooklynites are somewhat rare in the music
scene here.

* You guys have done a bunch of demos and EPs – any plans for a full length?

Yeah in fact we have a full length LP called Reflections in Darkness
that was completed not too long ago. We’re figuring out a label
situation now but for some reason I’ve been extremely lazy about
making it happen. I think I got a little bit of burnout when finishing
off the record and needed a break. The business part of music isnt
exactly fun.

Since then we also finished a split 7” EP with a band from Lexington,
KY called Apocryphal Revelation. We each have about 7 minutes, for us
it’s two songs (“The Tannery” and “Purify Salem’s Lot”) and for them
it’s one song (“Graveyard Torment”). We are seeking a label for that
right now too.

* What’s been the best show you guys have played to date?

HMMM good question. I think maybe my favorite Throaat show ever was at
the September 2015 Wings of Metal Festival in Montreal. Another
favorite was opening for Venom, Inc. at Saint Vitus not too long ago.
They were amazing, really exactly what you’d want to see in a Venom
show.

* Have you done much touring in the USA? If not are there plans to for
the future?

We have been around a bit, and we absolutely have plans to continue
that. I’d like to get out to the west coast in 2017, we havent been
there as a band yet. Same deal with Europe, with some luck maybe we
can make it happen.

* What’s the best part of being in a metal band from NYC?

I find it really tricky being in a band here. The scene is probably
much more cutthroat (no pun intended) than many cities. Also everyone
has to work insane hours to make ends meet or is just broke all the
time.

On a positive (and music fan-based) note, something I enjoy about
being here is that so many great bands come here to play shows. Like
Manila Road. Or Nifelheim. Those were two of the greatest shows I’ve
ever seen.

* As a metal fan what’s your favorite format – for me day time at work
its Spotify/bandcamp/youtube and vinyl at night

I would say my listening habits are similar. When I want to feel what
I’m listening to it’ll need to be on vinyl. Cassette would work for
that too but my only cassette player is my trusty 4 track recorder.

Cheers, Alex. Thanks for the interview.

check out their Blackspeed EP here:

I first heard of these guys via the good people at Broken Limbs Records – I loved their sound and  wanted to know more about the band and what they were all about. Big thanks to Mattia and Chad for the interview.

* Does the band name have any meaning – who came up with the band name?

 Chad: Atrament is completely black, the blackest black, none more black. I think Mattia found the word and then we all decided it would be the best fit.

Mattia: yeah I can’t recall where I heard it but when I did it stuck. It was evil sounding in my head. I did some more research on its meaning and found out it also actually means ‘blackener’ – or anything that turns things black, like a die or black stain. The word ‘atrocity’ also comes from the word ‘atrament’. So, we all thought it stuck with the band’s reckless ‘mission’ pretty well.

* You guys do the perfect mix of dbeat and black metal – Were you guys crusty kids who got into metal or metal guys who discovered Discharge? 

 Chad: Crust to Metal

Mattia: Tough question, I’ve always liked punk and metal equally for as long as I can recall. I’ve known Iron Maiden longer than I have Discharge, so I guess metal to punk…

* What would you say are your biggest musical influences?

 Chad: Pete Sandoval during the early years of Morbid Angel. His drumming on Terrorizer’s World Downfall is untouchable. The Ramones, Discharge

Mattia: Filthy and heavy as fuck punk. The brutal stuff. Bands like Discharge, GISM, and Doom. The ‘metal’ sounds coming out of the music is just the inevitable consequence of just wanting to provoke widespread terror. That’s where stuff like Darkthrone, Beherit, Extreme Noise Terror, early Napalm Death and Dismember also play their precious role.

* There seems to be so many great bands coming out of the whole Bay Area these days – why do you think that is?

 Chad: Who knows…

Mattia: Perhaps a close knit community of musicians who share ideas and inspire and influence each other in positive ways….

* I know Chad used to drum for Vastum – anybody else have any bands outside of Atrament

 Chad: Necrot, Rude, Mortuous, Caffa, Disinihibition

Mattia: I’m aso in Abstracter. James, our guitarist, also plays bass in Abstracter. He used to be in Black September and Moral Void when he was still living in Chicago.

* How did the band come together?

 Chad: Mattia was responsible for getting everyone to jam. The first practice was pretty cool. The music naturally formed and we kept meeting up to practice.

Mattia: I wanted to play in a really angry and heavy punk band that played in the d-beat style, so I put an ad on Craigslist. James had just moved here to the Bay Area from Chicago and of course had to quit Moral Void to relocate, so was looking to also play hardcore in the darker vein as was Moral Void. He replied to my ad and sent me his recorded riffs. I thought he had some killer stuff going on.  We immediately realized we were on the same page, so we set out to find a rhythm section. Chad is a friend from great Bay Area bands like Necrot etc. and a sick drummer. I knew was also  into D-beat and crust punk, so it was a no brainer decision to try to ‘lure’ him into Atrament. I sent him James’ ideas and asked him if he’d be down to drum for the new project and he was down. Sam once jammed with my other band Abstracter, and although then he could not join full time I was very impressed with this skills, so when Atrament needed a bass player he was the number choice on my mind, so I invited him to play bass for us. Thankfully, this time around he had more free time on his plate. So here we are.

* I got my vinyl from the label Broken Limbs – how did that deal come about?

 Mattia: I liked Pete’s releases by Krieg, Cara Heir, Unsacred, Venowl, Lithotome, Human Bodies etc, so I sent him the record when it was done and asked if he’d be interested, and I guess he was! At the same time we asked Mike from Argento Records in the Netherlands if he’d like to handle a European version and he was down as well, so ‘Eternal Downfall’ turned out to be a co-release between Broken Limbs and Argento.

* You guys recorded the album at the infamous Earhammer studios – how was the whole recording process for you guys?

 Chad: The recording went well. Got the drums tracked in five hours. We were definitely ready to record. It was one of the quickest recording sessions I have done.

* What’s been the biggest gig you guys have played to date?

 Chad: I think it was our first show at the old Oakland Metro. Pale Chalice, False, and Gloam.

* Have you done much touring and if not was that intentional or are plans still in the works?

 Chad: We are all so busy in other bands and we work full time so it’s hard for our schedules to sync up. We definitely want to tour. Most likely when we finish writing the second record we will do a west coast tour.

* Have any of the band played NYC before? If so how does the scene compare to Oakland?

 Chad: I played NYC in May. I have a few friends out there (Trenchgrinder, Skullshitter). The night Necrot played it was Mother’s Day so only a handful of people showed up to The Acheron. Everyone in NYC i met during my stay was really cool! Cheers!

Mattia: I’ve toured Europe and the Southeastern United States with Abstracter, but never on the East Coast. One day hopefully!

* Any shout outs to friends? families? bands?

 Chad: Thank you to my friends and family for their continued support throughout the years. Slayer

Mattia: Our friends at Ghost Town Brewing for letting us rehearse at their warehouse for free!

Check out their latest album here: