PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Moss are attached to the weirder side of life, “peeling everything back to the core fundamentals of doom, how heavy and dark it can be.” and here they are celebrating their 13th year as a band! They are the doom band that doesn’t hold a bass player…odd, is the word you are most likely thinking, however these guys “…adequately fill that gap through the use of volume, tone, technique.”
LK – You’re influenced by the writer H.P Lovecraft, with the genre of dark horror fiction and the occult going beyond pure reason. What is it about H.P Lovecraft and The Occult that inspired you to create music around these themes?
Olly – We’ve always been attracted to the weird side. I’ve been reading Lovecraft since I was 12 or 13, around the same time I was getting into darker music. All that stuff goes hand in hand for me. I’d sit up at night reading Lovecraft really high, while I’d have Earth or something playing in the background.
LK – Moss have an average length of twenty minutes for some songs. You also mentioned you are a “reluctant ‘live’ band”. Would it be a difficult task to faithfully reproduce what you record in a live setting, and is this where the reluctance to tour comes from?
Olly – No, it’s not difficult… It is an ordeal, they’re long songs! But it’s not painful or hard to do or anything. Reluctant isn’t the right word really… Contrary to what people might think, we do like playing live, we’re about to go on our second headline tour this year. I do think our old stuff, the stuff previous to “Horrible Night” probably wasn’t the most fun stuff to play live.
LK – You are heading on your headline tour; what do you have planned for your performances?
Olly – This is our headline tour! We’re just going to do what we always do. There isn’t any flash stage happenings with us or anything like that. It’s gonna be heavy, that’s the one thing about our shows you can rely on.
LK – For your new album ‘Horrible Night’, you mentioned you’re taking ‘the blueprint of Black Sabbath’ and bringing it to a new dark age. What is it about this album that takes the song structure and satanic themes of Black Sabbath and develops them into a more “nightmareish conclusion” whilst modernising it?
Olly – I don’t think we’re modernising anything. Our style is a total regression. We’re just peeling everything back to the core fundamentals of doom, how heavy and dark it can be. Someone said it was like cavemen playing Sabbath covers… I like that! It’s always been us though. We’re our own biggest influence. We’re not aping anyone’s style or trying to get on a bandwagon or whatever’s cool, we’ve always gone to the beat of our own drum. I don’t really pay a lot of attention to what’s going on in music currently, save for a couple of bands.
LK – There is use of extreme bass frequencies within your music, however the band doesn’t feature a bass player. How do you fill that gap? Does this make song writing and playing live more difficult?
Olly – We adequately fill that gap through the use of volume, tone, technique. Adding a bass player in the future isn’t something we’re completely closed off to, but it’s not something that is missed in our sound.
LK – Moss are celebrating their 13th year, how have you managed to ensure longevity in your career?
Olly – Through not doing this all the time. There’s always a nice break between recording something or going on tour, sometimes that break is years… If we had to do this every day I’m sure the story would be very different.
LK – What are you most looking forward to a Damnation Festival?
Olly – Playing the show. That’s always the most interesting part of any gig.
LK – What are your thoughts on this year’s line-up?
Olly – It’s cool, there’s a decent slice of the UK underground on there. While a lot of it isn’t really my cup of tea, there are a couple of bands I’d like to see though.
LK – Cheers for your time Olly, see you at Damnation.
Band Members
Olly Pearson – vocals
Dom Finbow – guitars
Chris Chantler – drums
Band Links
https://www.facebook.com/mossdoomcult/info
http://mossdoom.bandcamp.com/
