PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
This is Lee Walker from www.PlanetMosh.com conducting an interview with James from the band Vader playing at Whiplash! Promotions at The Liverpool Masque.
Lee – How’s the tour going so far?
James – So far so good, touch wood and everything, well touch chipboard or whatever this is (he knocks the tour bus table). We’ve just had a couple of days off, we had our first show back yesterday so, for me I’m warming back into it again, coz one day off is good gives your ears a rest, gives your muscles a rest, one day off every now and then is perfectly fine, but two days of you kinda have to start from square one again. So we had a few teething problems yesterday with samplers and stuff like that, but really yeah, so far so good. I’m really happy with the reaction we’ve had so far and I’m really pleased with the setlist. Its going good.
Lee – For this tour what has been your favourite venue been so far to play in and why?
James – For me, personally I think Gothenburg which was Parken, its not the best venue but the atmosphere was just great, everything was just awesome. For that show the audience reaction was just so good, for a show so early in the tour its really promising. We didn’t really want to leave the stage.
Lee – What are your favourite tracks from the bands new album “Welcome To The Morbid Reich” ?
James – They are all so good, I think I Am Who Feast Upon Your Soul, erm Return to the Morbid Reich is a really, really good opener for the album, and I think The Black Eye adds a different kind of sound, it’s a bit more thrashy.
Lee – How do you think it compares with your other releases such as Necropolis, Revelations, Black to the Blind etc ?
James – its just more honed, every Vader album is obviously similar, but they are all actually quite different when you get underneath it I mean Black to the Blind is much more technical, much more fiddly time signatures, odd timings. Something like Necropolis or Litany is just a really fucking fast record starting off with Wings and carrying on from there. But how does it compare, I just think its more evolved sounds, there’s a mix of everything Vader have done before. There’s elements from Litany with the fast songs, there’s elements from Black to the Blind, with a song like Return to the Morbid Reich which is a bit more complicated or I Am Who Feast Upon Your Soul, but there’s new elements as there is every time. Like the addition now of the double vocals in some of the songs and a return to using strings iand samples those kind of ideas, and I think the main real difference is Spider’s song writing, its still in that Vader style but its very different.
Lee – How did you come to be part of Vader?
James – Well I toured supporting Vader in my thrash band Divine Chaos last year (on the Blitzkrieg 5 Tour) and I got to know the guys. I got asked to do a session for Paul’s (Pawel Jaroszewicz) band Crionics in Poland, while Paul was away with Vader, and then when Paul decided to leave, after I had done Crionics, Paul recommended me for the job coz I was familiar with the road crew and all the crew when I was on tour with Crionics. I actually met the Vader manager, he was running that tour, and he kinda came on the tour bus with us just for shits and giggles, so I got to know the manager, got really drunk with him a few times, there was a lot of drinking, I mean I can’t even start to describe the amount of drinking that was going on. But it just kinda happened when Paul left they said ‘fuck it we’ll give him a go’ so I auditioned and I got the job. When it was announced people we like ‘what the fuck’ but actually its not so exciting or interesting.
Lee – Do you have any plans to play any of the UK festival’s next year ?
James – All I can say for sure is that we’re doing Metalfest, its like a travelling festival in Europe, there isn’t one in the UK I don’t think, with Deathangel, Kreator and I think Behemoth have just been announced, so its going to be a fucking awesome few shows. I mean I’d love to come to Bloodstock definitely, I’ve done it before in my thrash band, it would just be fucking great to go back and do it on a proper stage. And I think the UK fans are definitely wanting us to, I’m sensing a real vibe for us wanting to come to Bloodstock, not so much Sonisphere actually, I think bloodstock is more our kinda sound, and I’m really bugging the manager to try and get us on that bill, but it depends on how it clashes or how it fits in with other festivals that we’re doing, I mean most of them are on the main land so if we’re too far away then we can’t.
Lee – Are there any bands from the underground/extreme metal scene do you recommend keeping any eye on right now?
James – Leprous, not from the uk, they are from Norway (www.leprous.net/band.html) Ihsahn’s backing band, but they are fucking incredible. I prefer them on their own, I mean they are these kids from Norway, about 21/22, and they just fucking tear it up. They are absolutely incredible, its just killer prog, just absolutely amazing. They generally supported Ihsahn as well, so when they tour they actually play two shows a night, which if you do that kinda stuff enough it makes you really fucking good, so they are getting a lot of practice in at the moment. They are absolutely killer, and their last album, Bilateral, which has just come out is just fucking incredible. They absolutely slay.
Lee – Are there any messages that you would like to pass on to your fans?
James – From the rest of the band, thanks for coming to our shows it fucking helps.
From me thanks for the acceptance into the band, especially the fans in Poland and Europe, thank you so much for making me feel so welcome.
Links:
Vader:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vader
Web: http://www.vader.pl/
Whiplash!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/whiplash4metal
Web: http://www.whiplash4metal.com/
The Liverpool Masque: http://www.facebook.com/themasqueliverpool?ref=ts
