UK Black Metal（英国圏BM）コミュの【個別トピ】ＡＫＥＲＣＯＣＫＥ（ｅｘ−ＳＡＬＥＭ　ＯＲＣＨＩＲＤ）

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◆出所：　
「Chronicles Of Chaos」
【http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/articles/chats/1-360_akercocke.aspx】
◆本文：　
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Satanic Art

CoC chats with Jason Mendonca and David Gray of Akercocke
by: Paul Schwarz

This will be brief, because explaining why I think you should pick up _The Goat of Mendes_ [reviewed in this issue] can be summed up in three sentences. I believe it's probably among the finest examples of extreme metal ever to be pressed onto plastic. Separated from it for a few days, my elation at putting it on again was comparable to the relief and joy of a deprived drug addict. _TGoM_ is a strong contender for ending up as my album of the year. And just as _TGoM_ speaks for itself, so do the members of Akercocke. The band' s sincerity belies the idea that they do what they do for any reason other than personal satisfaction, in a creative sense. This interview was conducted in the backroom of Glasgow' s Cathouse a few hours before Akercocke performed live, on the 1st of July.
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CoC: With the new record out and you touring Europe in September, what does _The Goat of Mendes_ represent as a document of Akercocke in comparison to _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_ [CoC #42]?

David Gray: _RotBN_ was really... it' s like an account of the early days of the band, of the formation of the band. We had a very isolated upbringing; all we knew was the music we had been into in 1990/ 1991 when Jason and I played in our last band, Salem Orchid. So we just got all the old stuff that we used to be into -- Celtic Frost, and all the usual suspects -- and just got together and used as kind of a template: that was all we...

Jason Mendonca: That was all we knew.

DG: That was all we knew. And I think _RotBN_ is a great document of that time, which was 1998, when we actually recorded _Rape..._. And after that then we became very, err... what' s the word? <pause as David looks over to Jason> -Spoilt-, by all the other kind of influences that were opened up to us.

JM: All the stuff that we missed out on, y' know, certainly in my time ' cause I was away from metal for a very long time. Suddenly being back in metal circles, there were so many great bands I' d missed out on. So I had a tremendous amount of stuff to go through. Fortunately, I had a couple of friends with huge CD collections. Ear candy! It was great!

DG: So that' s why I think _TGoM_ -- if anyone does think it sounds different, from our point of view it does, that' s because we had so much more to contend with. We were absorbing so many different things... Whereas before, y' know, we were just very into doing our own thing.

CoC: I think _TGoM_ definitely shows-off two massive differences. Firstly, the actual production of "The Blast", that particular sound, was much more powerful. _RotBN_ was like a good companion to seeing Akercocke live, but it didn' t really bring out your strongest aspects of being very powerful. It actually sounds kind of a bit dry because of the actual production of it, which really didn' t work. The other thing is that _TGoM_ is unlike a lot of records from the metal scene in some ways -- it's quite sonically complex and deep. If you listen to it more than four or five times or on headphones there are a lot of extra sounds and effects going on in the background which buff it out. In that sense, would you say it represents more of what you wanted to bring out sonically than _RotBN_ did?

DG: Martin [Bonsoir, in charge of Akercocke' s "electronics" and also _TGoM_' s producer -- Paul] had different tools to work with; I think that was the difference.

JM: That is the key difference, isn' t it.

DG: With the resources that we had at the time we made a recording of our music -- what was going on -- and that' s exactly what we' ve done second time ' round, but the tools are better.

JM: The thing with the first record is that we' re not procrastinators. We don' t mess about. We recorded that album live in six hours: the whole band playing live, y' know. No overdubs, no nothing. Yeah, sure, we dropped the guitar solos and vocals on afterwards. And then we spent a lot of time mixing _Rape..._, just purely because... I think there' s a quaint expression: polishing a turd. <laughs> We had to try and polish up what was a very rough and ready recording. But, we were and we are still of the philosophy that it' s better to do something than to do nothing. So, as David said, that' s what we did with the resources that we had to hand. But, we' ve been very fortunate in that Goat of Mendes studio is now much better equipped with some half-decent equipment. And so -- also the fact that it is our own facility -- we had a great luxury and were very lucky to have that to spend a lot of time with _TGoM_. Sure, sure it could be better, but we' re constantly striving to be better.

CoC: You never want to say you' ve hit the top of your game, of course.

JM: Of course.

CoC: But seeing _RotBN_ almost as a collection of demos is in some ways a more accurate way of looking at it that as a debut album? It' s certainly what a couple of people have said, but...

JM: I think that' s probably a reflection on the production alone, really.

CoC: True. I mean, from the kind of international perspective where everyone wants to cut up this or that, if someone wants to cut up your debut as being bad, it would be better to see the production as a demo-level recording, I think. _TGoM_ being on a label and having a lot more behind it -- plus the kind of hype and speech about you that you' ve had from _RotBN_ -- where do you think you can take Akercocke in terms of exposure and popularity?

JM: In terms of exposure and popularity...

CoC: And in terms of touring...

JM: Touring is something that we' re very, very keen to do. We' re very keen to get out to Europe and play for the European fans. We' re out touring period, y' know, wherever. But as far as the publicity and that goes we have no control over that at all. We just concentrate on blasting for Satan. We concentrate on what we do best, y' know, knuckle down, push the boundaries of music and keep writing. At the moment we're writing our third album. We just concentrate on that, y' know. And we' re lucky to be afforded the time to do that and we' ve grown to appreciate what it means to be signed to a good record label insofar as there is a team of people, now, taking care of all those other things, those other important factors that go hand-in-glove with any band.

CoC: Absolutely. One thing I just thought of: in terms of publicity, there is a -certain way- the band will be presented in advertising and in promotional spiel and how worried are you about being misrepresented one way or another?

JM: It' s totally honest, it' s who we are. Advertising is a tricky one, but as far as the visual representation, the printed matter, the material on the internet, the album sleeves, whatever: we take care of all of that ourselves. So, we' re very honest as a band; what you see is what you get, end of story. Spiel is a funny word.

CoC: You have a musical "blasting for Satan" thing and you do have what seems to me to be quite a sincere lyrical content. As opposed to a number of "Satanic", quote/ unquote, bands who may write things for what people will take from them or whatever. How much are you trying to bring in any message through that? What are you trying to give to your listeners?

DG: It' s totally subjective. Everyone takes something different home from it. As you were saying about you listening to the album on earphones: that' s different again from listening to it while you' re doing the washing-up, or smashing up your bedroom or whatever it is you want to do when you listen to it. <laughs, as do I> I would never tell anybody anything that they should do or what they should think. I' ve actually had kids say: "ah, I really like the band and whatever but, I read your lyrics, and I didn' t think they were very Satanic". <I pause, before laughing slightly incredulously>

CoC: That doesn' t make you wanna make them more "Satanic", obviously, for the next record.

DG: No, what it means is that maybe English is not their first language and they' re expecting to hear about blood rites and sacrifices and, you know, comic-strip horror or something. I don' t know.

JM: Comic Satanism.

DG: Yeah, but Satanism is not about that, because if it was about that then we' d probably be sat here in God-armour. <I laugh heartily> Y' know, doing the Glen Benton thing. There' s nothing wrong with that, y' know, that' s fine. But, we' re not preaching Hammer Horror Satanism. We' re not saying that. What we' re saying is: it' s very practical. It suits us, it could suit you, y' know, it' s up to you; I don' t give a shit. <moderate laughter> And as a very functional philosophy and also in the same respect that Christian art is wonderful. Everyone should enjoy Christian art. Churches, y' know, throughout history and also Satanism can create good art, it' s just that generally all you see is Glen Benton and all the rest of it. But great things, beautiful things, life-affirming things can be achieved, for non-Satanists to enjoy, from Satanism. That' s what I believe. But yeah, at the end of the day everyone interprets lyrics and music in their own way and that' s good. I don' t try to preach or confuse or whatever: it' s not really my job. My job is to try and communicate some sense of atmosphere or feeling for the listener to enjoy.

CoC: Not saying that it' s a task, but in choosing to use the word "Satanists" and things like that there will always be people who will misconstrue this and will read "Akercocke are Satanists" and think Glen Benton or whatever, but that doesn' t worry you? You' d rather, not exactly -reclaim- the word, but use it and let people get it wrong and then try to understand it rather than you shy away and use some sort of watered-down term...

JM: Personally, I don' t really care.

DG: It doesn' t really matter, I don' t think, really. It's just that I' m not responsible for anybody, and if people want to go and shoot themselves after they listen to our record, or fuck dogs, I don' t care.

CoC: Sure, but I was thinking more of the hassles that you might get, the kind of hassles that Sabbath got from -- not even from being real Satanists, but from having their record label stick their inlay in black and that sort of stuff. I mean, if you guys ever head out to the States, depending where you play, you might get into a lot of this and that...

DG: We' ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

CoC: Fair enough. So, musically, where are you headed for the next record? How far removed will it be from _The Goat of Mendes_, do you predict?

DG: I don' t think we contrive to move in any particular direction. I think it has to be natural, and I think it will be still pure Akercocke. We happen to have got three or four songs that we' re working on and we really believe that to get the best out of the material that you' ve got, work things and sleep on it sometimes and think, "Is that working? Is this maybe going on a bit long, a bit short?", whatever, so it is quite early days but we' ve got lots and lots of stuff floating about. More electronics. More of everything.

CoC: Taking into account what you said earlier about absorbing a lot of music in your years after you were away from metal, with that in mind, how much would you say Akercocke is made within your own sort of bubble? 'Cause one of things I like about Akercocke, personally, is that it doesn' t just come across as part of a scene or a band that has done this or that: it has got quite an individual character and that makes it more enjoyable, I think. How much would you say you try to avoid going with the times?

JM: I think it' s probably easiest to explain through saying that: when the five of us write together, everyone has an input, and whilst there are key bands that we all share in common as fans, we' ve all got really, really diverse, eclectic tastes in music. So, each member, in their own way, brings something different to the table. And when we set about to write, we write for ourselves, purely. And we just try to make the music that we' d like to hear. It' s as simple as that, and if that means it comes out sounding perhaps a little bit more left-field -- for want of a better adjective -- than some other more generic, kind of derivative bands that may be happening right now, then that' s just the way it is. It' s just how we write.

CoC: I have a few more questions. Specifically, I remember a year or two years ago when you guys talked to Terrorizer, you were talking about the -specific- lyrical content of _RotBN_. As an overview, what sort of subjects are covered on _TGoM_ apart from the general, catch-all term of "Satanism"?

DG: I' ve used the metaphor of the nun a lot, and that wasn' t intentional. 'Cause everyone thought -- well, not -everyone-, that' s a stupid thing to say. But, a lot of people in interviews have said, "So, what' s the concept on this record?", or whatever. There isn' t... if there is a concept other than Satan then it would be like an emancipation of feeling, of liberation, of celebration. And I used the metaphor of the nun about four or five times. Those songs were constructed over quite a long period. We had "Masks of God" and "...Menstrual Blood..." in 1999 when we talked to Greg Whalen [ex-Terrorizer writer]. We already had some of the songs for _The Goat of Mendes_ then. So, it was a very long period of time. We usually write in a very chaotic way. And, it just so happened that when I came to compile the lyrics I suddenly realised: oh, that' s about nuns; oh, that' s about nuns. But it wasn' t intentional at all. So yeah: mental, sexual liberation, y' know, the whole thing. I try not to work in any specific concept because I think the songs are different. I just try to use it as a table at a buffet, kind of thing, and say: well, this is what this is about, it' s not about that. And just kind of create...

JM: You always come back to food analogies, what is this!? You' re always presenting buffets to people and baking fucking cakes. <we all laugh as David struggles to begin an answer> You' re a fucking cook!

DG: Thing is, when people keep asking the same questions and I keep saying the same answer: it' s reliable.

CoC: And it' s consistent... if people read different interviews, I guess. Just finally, but, this is a bit of a cliche sort of question...

DG: Oh, go on, give us a cliche!

COC: I' ve probably come out with a few already but, do you think you' ll always be writing about Satanism?

JM: Yes.

DG: There' s no <something>

CoC: I' m not questioning whether you' d always be Satanic as people, but do you think you' d ever sort of feel like maybe, maybe that' s not a part or is it pretty much symbiotic.

DG: Well, let' s just think, yeah: we' re in this building now.

CoC: Right.

DG: And, it' s on fire.

CoC: Uh-huh.

DG: I' m gonna do what I can to get myself out of this building, first priority. Second priority' s gonna to get Jason out of the building because our livelihood, and all the rest of it, our interests are relevant to each other. Now, I' m not gonna get you out of the building, I' m not gonna get your man here out of building, and the reason why is ' cause I' m a Satanist. So, when I walk across the road and someone is going to get run over by a bus or something I have a decision, a moral decision, as to whether I think it' s -worth- risking myself to help somebody else. At the end of the day, is it going to be to my benefit to prevent somebody from being hurt? Anything I do in life is a Satanic decision ' cause that's the way that I see life, that' s how I view life. So if on our next album there is a song all about celebrating a particular woman or something, that' s about Satanism, because that' s my viewpoint. The band is all about Satanism. There could never be a non-Satanic Akercocke song.

CoC: I see what you' re saying. So you' d say that they' d be Satanic in the sense that they' d come from your worldview.

JM: No Satanism, no Akercocke.

DG: It' s not a jacket that you put on to then say: oh, right, now I' m being a Satanist, now we' re in a band. Either you are or you aren' t.

CoC: If you think what you' ve said about that is sufficient to describe what kind of Satanism you support in yourselves then that' s cool by me. But if you want to mention what perspective that comes from to do with what writers or what views, then you' re welcome to say that. Simply for the fact that some people read about you being "Satanists" and will construe it one way or another, and you may want to clarify it. By the expressions on your faces, I' d say you' re probably not too concerned.

DG: A lot of places we' ve been playing the last couple of days I' ve had a lot of strange people come up to me after shows. You get the classic ones that you tend to get in the street like, "how do I join a coven?". Oh, you' re wearing an inverted cross, oh yeah. If you' re not a Satanist already then why do you want to get into a coven? And if you -are- a Satanist why would you want to -get- into a coven: either it'll come naturally or it wouldn' t. It' s very difficult to explain to people that -- it' s almost like if you have to ask that question, then...

CoC: ...then you' re not really getting it right?

DG: Yeah.

JM: Yeah.

CoC: Fair enough.

DG: But, y' know, I don' t think there is anything wrong with people, like-minded, bands or people of that kind of interest, y' know, they should get together and do their own Satanic thing or whatever that may be, y' know, I think that' s healthy, to do what you wanna do and whatever. So I don' t really think it' s really my place.

CoC: Finally, this a stock question: why the suits?

JM: Oh no!

DG: <groans>

<I laugh>

DG: You were doing so well until the last question. <I laugh>

CoC: I really didn' t want to ask it, but then I thought: this is gonna be the first interview many people will read with you guys. And, if I don' t put in something about the suits, people will go: <I adopt mock-moronic voice> "why didn' t you tell us about the suits". If you' ve got a form letter I can use, about the suits, that would be fine...

DG: We should create one. <to Jason> You' ve got the standard reply about the suits...

JM: Stock question, stock answer.

CoC: How about I give you what I think -- what I can remember from when you talked to Terrorizer.

DG: Go on.

CoC: I remember you saying that there isn' t any -really- specific thing about it but that it' s what you guys wear in general...

JM: Pretty much, apart from when we' re unloading buses.

CoC: And that it' s what you wore in the covens, I believe, though I don' t know whether that' s the connection.

JM: There is a practical connection with regards to an organisation outside of what we discuss, but more than that -- not more than that, as well as that, it' s a symbolic thing. It' s symbolic of our discipline. We' re very, very disciplined people. We' re very disciplined in -all- respects. To be a Satanist requires discipline. To be a musician at this level requires discipline: we practice four times a week, -at least-, every week. The suits are just like a visual representation of our discipline. We' re not scruffy kinds of guys, we' re not jeans and T-shirts kind of guys in day-to-day life. We' re smart guys, we' re gentlemen.

[Note: After deliberation with people who actually live in the US, I have reconsidered my opinion -- as expressed to Akercocke in the above interview -- that Akercocke would likely get hassles if they went to the States. My opinion as I write this is that a band of their size with an esoteric name such as their name would likely not be noticed. Just as Norway' s black metal bands (including convicted arsonists in the case of Emperor) had few hassles when they made the trip over the pond, Akercocke should too. -- Paul]


(article submitted 12/8/2001)
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#N/A
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これまで見た中でも結構酷い部類のインタヴューですが、、、

◆出所：　
「Brutalisum」
【http://brutalism.wingsofdeath.nu/akercocke.html】
◆本文：　
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The bio is too fucking long and therefor you have to look at the Akercocke site or read the answers.
interview with David on 04-12-2003
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Twan: Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
David Gray: My name is David Gray and I Blast for Satan.

Twan: I read the bio on your site. Is it not better to make chapters and sell it as a novel?
David Gray: No.

Twan: Preventing on a long answer (previous question), write your bio in 10 words please?
David Gray: No, you are adopting the role of a journalist, YOU research your subject and communicate it in ten words, what am I, an author?

Twan: Are you tired of getting the same questions in interviews? What is the most asked question? And the most stupid one?
David Gray: I am not bored of doing interviews at all, but I am bored of un-imaginative questions, and so far yours are rubbish! You should be introducing the band to strangers, not me!

Twan: Explain your bandname? Has cocke(e) anything to do with the male "womanizer"?
David Gray: This is one of the most stupid questions, what does the band name mean? Look on any of the fifty thousand interviews that are already in the press and on line if you don' t know what the name means. People are going to be SO BORED with you asking the same old questions.

Twan: How are the girls on your site? And the nice ass on the album cover?
David Gray: How are they? I don' t know them personally. But the model from the cover of “Choronzon” wasn' t exactly stimulating company.

Twan: How big is the part for sex in the bandconcept?
David Gray: Sex is personal, and I tend to write lyrics about sex because its something that interests me as an individual. Sex and death are the main criteria that we investigate under our Satanic theme because they are the most important things in life to us.

Twan: Is that the reason you live in MiddleSEX? Or does it say something of your sexual knowledge?
David Gray: Are you fourteen years old?

Twan: You are also dealing with satanism. Do you wanna share your ideas with others? You wanna turn others into your beliefs?
David Gray: No, Satanism isn' t about being in a gang and having other people reassure you that you think the right things. Weak people go to a church where they can all decide in a huge woolly minded mass what they should all be thinking and doing. I would never tell another man or woman what to think and I would never expect any one to do the same to me. Very few AKERCOCKE enthusiasts are Satanists, they are individuals, who respect our right to be ourselves as much as we respect their right to be them selves. We are not anti- Christian in any way shape or form. Every body should be them selves.

Twan: What is the fun of mixing sex and satanism? Your fav ritual individualy or combined?
David Gray: Sex and Satanism are intertwined because they are a product of our basic human nature, our primordial instinct, our atavistic urges.

Twan: What is your fav museum and why?
David Gray: I am very fond of the Victoria and Albert in South Kensington.

Twan: Why did you do the photoshoot and live gigs all in suits? What is the idea behind this?
David Gray: Read the biography, I' m thinking of putting into chapters and selling it as a book.

Twan: Your fav brand of suits? Handmade? Who is gonna pay for them? Label or royalties?
David Gray: The suits are ours, but maybe we will spoil ourselves to record company suits in the future.

Twan: You played some shows with big names. Nervous? Afraid to talk to them or just feeling as one of the boys?
David Gray: Most of the bigger bands that we have played with have made it quite clear that they don' t really want to be familiar, just professional. Being nervous is for children and Christians, fear is irrational.

Twan: Prefer headlining in a pub or opening on a festival? Your philosophy about playing live?
David Gray: Pub gigs and festivals gigs are so different, both have benefits and drawbacks. We enjoy playing live whatever the circumstances, as long as you have the ability to hear the other musicians in the band, then we unleash a barrage of blood soaked necro butchery to upset the audience.

Twan: Do you share the meaning that people listen to death metal and not carring about the lyrical content?
David Gray: Do I think that people who listen to Death metal don' t care about the lyrics? I know empirically that a lot of AKERCOCKE enthusiasts take the lyrics very seriously. Some people just want to get into the violence and evil of the music and that' s cool as well, there should be room for everybody.

Twan: Is it frustrating that people don' t spend time to understand the lyrics?
David Gray: As I just said, I know from first hand experience that a lot of listeners do enjoy the lyrics, but I write lyrics to express myself, that' s the point of the exercise.

Twan: Why did you censored the fuck word in the guest book?, Are there some things you would like to censor?
David Gray: I have no idea about the running of the web site, there are a lot of people that I would like to censor though.

Twan: What news in the paper or TV turns your stomach up side down? Do you care about social incorrectness?
David Gray: Most newspapers upset me, unfortunately I live in a country where it is acceptable to rape women and abuse children, and I find that infuriating. However, we are not a political band, and choose not to discuss our personal politics to outsiders.

Twan: Do you think you can combine a family with the music business? What do your children think about the band?
David Gray: None of the members of AKERCOCKE have any children.

Twan: Does your grandpa have your albums? And is he playing them or ritually burning them?
David Gray: My grandparents are burning in Hell with Satan, listening to AKERCOCKE and torturing each other for fun.

Twan: Your change to say something promotional for Choronzon?
David Gray: It' s horrible, go and buy it.

Twan: Last rites?
David Gray: Worship Satan you miserable little oik.
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brutalz
Twan
http://www.akercocke.com/
akercocke@hotmail.com
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◆出所：　
「Music Street Journal」
【http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/akercockeinterviewjm05.htm】
◆本文：　
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Interview with Jason Mendonca of Akercocke
Interview by Mike Korn
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Music Street Journal: Your previous album Choronzon was so incredible...how much pressure were you under to come up with a follow-up?

Jason Mendonca: I don' t feel any pressure at all, really. That sounds arrogant but it' s not intended to be arrogant. We don' t really think too much about what we do, we just do it! We' re really just about getting four friends together in a room, having a good time and doing what we do best. I think the new album is a logical progression from Choronzon, we never stop writing. It' s a continuous stream of consciousness that gets divided into an album. From the first album we did to the most recent, we never stop, it' s a constantly rolling ball.

Music Street Journal: So the new record has been floating around for a while in your head?

Jason Mendonca: Definitely! We played some of the material from the new one on our U.S. tour last October. It' s been kicking around quite a while.

Music Street Journal: I' m of the opinion that Words That Go Unspoken is just as much a progressive rock album as a death metal one...

Jason Mendonca: Whoa! That's a very interesting thing to say!

Music Street Journal: My definition of progressive is a bit different than the norm. It' s not just imitating Yes or Dream Theater. To me, it' s more like pushing music into areas where it hasn' t been before. That' s why I think Akercocke is progressive rock, would you agree?

Jason Mendonca: Firstly, I have to concur with your description of prog. And yeah, I think the new record is kind of prog. We' re trying to do stuff that' s a little bit different, but I suppose as we' ve gotten older and become more experienced as songwriters and musicians, we' ve been in a better position to paint pictures with different colors. I guess some times they' ve wound up being kind of proggy, which is a good thing.

Music Street Journal: I can hear echoes of Rush and even The Mission creeping into your music. I also think your music is very cinematic, almost like a movie soundtrack.

Jason Mendonca: Wow, thank you, sir! That' s a really nice thing to say. It' s unintentional, actually. I' m very much into sound that goes with pictures, actually, but moreover I' m into sound that paints pictures in people' s minds. I view music in very visual terms. I personally use colors and pictures as reference points for sounds as I hear them. If the album is painting "sound pictures" for other people, then that' s a great thing.

Music Street Journal: Some of your instrumentals are effective that way. There' s a very Middle Eastern sounding one on the latest album. It sounds like there' s a pack of snarling wolves or jackals on that one?

Jason Mendonca: It' s fighting dogs! David and I have been talking about making that track for years and years and years! The only thing that ever stopped us from doing it was the fact that we couldn' t get our hands on the sound of fighting dogs. We managed to overcome that obstacle so we finally got to make that track but in all seriousness...I don' t know why except that we' re just weird...we' ve been talking about making that track for ages.

Music Street Journal: One obvious difference about the new CD is that the cover doesn' t have naked ladies and goats all over it. (Jason starts laughing uproariously) It looks very film noir-ish...

Jason Mendonca: I' m so glad you spotted that, Mike! That' s great, that was the intention all along!

Music Street Journal: I' m a fan of old films and I love stuff with Bogart, Robert Mitchum...

Jason Mendonca: Amazing! Me, too! I am definitely a fan of those films and also the imagery that goes with them as well. That was the exact intention of the cover, to create a noir image, and I' m really glad you picked up on that. We're all big fans of movies, period, actually. Personally I' m a big fan of really old movies, I love the ancient Hammer horror films but also film noir like "Quicksand", "Scarlet Street", Sinatra in "Suddenly". All amazing stuff and if you look at some of the stills from these movies, there' s such a high contrast of black and white...

Music Street Journal: The composition of the shot is intense.

Jason Mendonca: Yeah! There' s some fantastic film-making there and we drew some influence from that. We look at this album as progressing from album #3 and it seemed fitting to kind of push the visual envelope as well. Dave, our drummer, wasn' t too happy about that originally, because he' s obsessed with t**s and goats. (laughter) . He contributed to the final cover very greatly by drawing some wonderful illustrations of naked women and goats, so he kind of kept the yin-yang balance we were after.

Music Street Journal: I' m glad you haven' t given it up completely. (laughter)

Jason Mendonca: Wait till you see what it looks like on the actual release. He managed to sneak a few in there. We were trying to grow up a little on this release, but Dave went "Guys...no! Keep the f***ing goats and the t***s in!"

Music Street Journal: Going back to the film noir concept, if it' s not in black and white, I don' t consider it a true noir. The shadows and the contrasts make it so moody.

Jason Mendonca: Yeah, I agree with you. I think there' s only a couple of color films that successfully capture that mood and they' re not obvious attempts at it. In fact, I think the films that did that did it more by accident than by design. George A. Romero did a film called "Martin", I don' t know if you recall it, about a modern day vampire who did things in a medical way, not a supernatural way.

Music Street Journal: You don' t know if he' s a real vampire or just a sick kid...

Jason Mendonca: Exactly. But the atmosphere in some of that, especially where they have the weird dream sequences of him escaping up a huge staircase and stuff...it' s like whoa, that' s got a very noir vibe to it. But it' s not monochrome. Overall, though, I' m definitely with you, it should be in black and white.

Music Street Journal: I know you' ve had a line-up change in the band since "Choronzon". If you could give me a rundown of that and what does your new recruit Matt bring to the band?

Jason Mendonca: He brings violence to the table! Matt' s crazy, he comes from the band The Berzerker and I think Akercocke offers him the opportunity to show different sides to his playing. He' s a very, very talented guitarist and he' s very diverse in his abilities, but for us, he kind of keeps us grounded in brutality. Pete, David and I are really old friends, we go back more than two decades. The point about Dave, Pete and I is that we' d probably disappear up our own a**es in obscurity, experimentation and weirdness generally, because we have that bent. Well, Matt comes along and he says (imitating Australian accent) "Oh yeah? Check these riffs out guys!" And he just brings these riffs to the table that are so ridiculously violent that we have to include them! So I think he keeps us grounded in the good old metal brutality.

Music Street Journal: Technical ability is always something you look at when you bring in a new member, but Akercocke is known for having its own dark philosophy. Does a new recruit have to be in line with that? Is there a kind of "litmus test" as far as philosophy and mentality goes?

Jason Mendonca: Mentality, yeah. Philosophically, no. Completely by chance, Matt' s kind of aligned with similar ideas to ourselves. But there was no litmus test. It was more important for us to find someone we could communicate with very well and someone who could just fit right in. We were quite nervous about that, actually. We played for nine years with his predecessor Paul and to break up the original line-up was a situation we were all pretty down about. So we were very pleased to find someone who could get along with us. It must be pretty weird for somebody coming from the outside in to mix with these three guys who are really, really old friends. We almost had a telepathic link, I' m serious. We were not classically trained, you know, we had our own weird terminology to express musical ideas. We were like "My God, this must be so weird for somebody coming on board!" But Matt' s right up to the challenge and he's done a great job.

Music Street Journal: How do you, individually or as a band, see the devil? Is he a gentleman, is he a beast? There' s aspects of both in your music.

Jason Mendonca: To be quite frank, I don' t actually believe in the devil. To me, the Judeo-Christian idea of the devil doesn' t exist in that sense, but the image of that is a very strong one and it' s certainly one that David draws upon lyrically. He does write poetically about that horned demon, but the devil' s not actually something we believe in literally.

Music Street Journal: Maybe the devil is a symbol for a force that exists in man...

Jason Mendonca: Quite so, yeah...it' s metaphoric. Satan as an idea is metaphoric to us as people, so the essence of Satan in the many ways he is represented throughout literature and history is something we draw upon. There' s such a rich tapestry of different stories and images to draw upon. I don' t think there' s anything wrong with drawing upon elements of the fantastic even if the band' s personal beliefs contrast with that.

Music Street Journal: They say the devil does have all the best music...(laughter). You guys are really representing a kind of lifestyle. Immaculate suits, big cars, pretty women. It reminds me somewhat of the Hellfire Club, a real group that existed in the 18th century. On the outside they were prosperous businessmen, but inside, I guess they were sick as hell of the Church, the Crown, high society. All their rituals were a kind of catharsis. Is that what Akercocke is, a way to bleed out some of these negative aspects?

Jason Mendonca: Akercocke for me has always been a very, very cathartic thing, but I know where you' re coming from as far as the 18th Century Hellfire Club, Sir Francis Dashwood and the Order of the Knights of West Wickham and all that goes. I think they were aristocrats who were trying to shun the confines of the society of the time. My personal take on it is that it was just an excuse to have a whole bunch of perverted sex! (laughter) Whilst I' m all for getting really drunk and having as much intercourse with pretty ladies as possible...these are things to be celebrated and enjoyed...whilst we verbally and musically celebrate the spirit of indulgence, by contrast we actually have to be quite disciplined as people to do what we do. And by saying that, I mean we' re all regular guys, we have regular jobs, we have families, but we all meet up four times a week to do this weird thing known as Akercocke and we enjoy do it greatly.

Music Street Journal: Have you gotten any flack from mainstream society for your image and your views?

Jason Mendonca: No, absolutely not, actually, which is really odd. The United Kingdom has become desensitized in many, many ways. The Moral Majority has become the Moral Minority here; they' re not as visible anymore. Church attendance is really down over here. Churches are being sold off by realtors. I think subsequently we haven' t gotten any real official flack. We get the occasional nutcase who gets offended by what we do. When we toured America in 2004 and got to the Bible Belt, we thought "OK, maybe now there might be some folk who might object to us". But really, the only people we met other than the fans were really nice ladies in supermarkets who wanted to hear our English accents.

Music Street Journal: Things have gotten rather scary over here in the last couple of years.

Jason Mendonca: In what sense, Mike?

Music Street Journal: In school, they' re trying to teach stuff like "The dinosaurs became extinct because Noah ran out of room on the Ark".

Jason Mendonca: Oh no...

Music Street Journal: They are trying to put a plaque on the Grand Canyon that says "This was caused by the Great Flood"...(Jason groans "Oh,man...) Other countries are going to go past us because they teach real science, mathematics and engineering and we have religious kooks that have staged a coup of our country. It' s very much the opposite of what you described happening over in England.

Jason Mendonca: It' s a f***ing amazing phenomenon. I think here in the 70' s because we were in such a tremendous decline, Billy Graham led major missions to London and had a tremendous rise in popularity. He started filling up football stadiums, which was unheard of, and that persisted here through the 80' s. On my visits to the US, I' m always fascinated to watch the "God Channels". I find myself in cheap hotels watching the God Channels and watching some guy trying to extract money from people. It' s absolutely satanic! (laughter) And you know what amazes me? If anybody accuses me...and to be honest, it doesn' t happen often...of selling out with what we do...F***ing hell, get real! First, this is what we do, it' s just really weird. Secondly, if I really wanted to sell out, I' d be making Christian rock music because those guys are filling stadiums! (snorts) They' re selling loads of records and it' s pretty much off the radar of the accepted music media channels.

Music Street Journal: One of the credos that I live by is that I will watch no TV show with a phone number at the bottom of the screen.

Jason Mendonca: (laugher). That' s great! Your country is an amazing paradox of both mediocrity and extremity.

Music Street Journal: Do you guys have any plans to come over here and play?

Jason Mendonca: Oh yeah! I' m really hoping so, we had such a f***in' ball last time, it was great! We were privileged to meet the ordinary American people because we' re tainted by the propaganda we receive through the media about your country. It was amazing to come over and just meet ordinary people and chew the cud with them in regular places. My time in America last year was incredible!

Music Street Journal: That' s kind of what you have to do in any country, go out and meet the regular folk.

Jason Mendonca: Yeah, then you hear the voices of the people. I' m really confident that we' re gonna be right back over in early ' 06 and play some shows for you guys.

Music Street Journal: It' s cool to go off the music track once in a while and talk about other things...

Jason Mendonca: Totally... you can only rap about records for so long, right?

Music Street Journal: Well, let' s go back to movies! You talked earlier about Hammer horror films. My particular fave was "Brides of Dracula".

Jason Mendonca: Ohhhh, great movie!

Music Street Journal: You can' t go wrong with Peter Cushing, he was such a class act!

Jason Mendonca: Absolutely and he is perhaps my favorite actor!

Music Street Journal: It' s sad that they don' t have guys like him, Price and Karloff around anymore. I like a lot of the imagery in the old silent movies, too...there was a little bit of that in the cover of "Words That Go Unspoken", too.

Jason Mendonca: Yeah,yeah, yeah. There was a lot of great visuals from that period.

Music Street Journal: "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang...

Jason Mendonca: A work of genius without a doubt!

Music Street Journal: Has there ever been a memorable Spinal Tap moment from the history of Akercocke that you would like to share with the readers?

Jason Mendonca: Oh man, that' s really, really hard because our band IS Spinal Tap! We ARE Spinal Tap! To be put on the spot like that is really difficult...(laughter)


Music Street Journal: First one that hits you...

Jason Mendonca: First one that hits me! Ummmm.... all I can say is that we ate a lot of weenies when we came to America! (laughter) We were pretty horrified! We wound up calling them "satanodogs"!(more laughter) It seemed the only time we' d ever get to eat is when everything was closed after a show. Marty, our driver, would be insistent in knocking a big hole in our drive to the next state or wherever. We' d leave a show, we' d be starving and we' d stop for petrol and invariably end up eating "satanodogs".

Music Street Journal: Those kind they have turning on those rollers?

Jason Mendonca: Two for a dollar or whatever! They were just ultimately evil and it became a running joke with us. "Who is going to load themselves up on satanodogs tonight?"

Music Street Journal: When you come to Chicago, you do want to try and find a place that serves a good Chicago hot dog, those are a whole different world.

Jason Mendonca: My friend, I was in Chicago a few months ago and the same guy, Marty, took us to place and we had fantastic chilidogs in Chicago, absolutely awesome!

Music Street Journal: A Mobil station is not the place for hot dogs! (laughter) Any closing words for fans here in America?

Jason Mendonca: Stay brutal and don' t elect that p***k again...

Music Street Journal: Well, he' s not supposed to run anyway, but he might find a way around that...(laughter)
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akercocke大好きです

前に親の都合でロンドンに住んでいるときにakercockeがmorbid angelのライブで一緒に出ていたのですが本当に素晴らしかったです。

UK blackシーンはかっこいいですね！
あとはcofはもちろんのことhecateとかbal sagothも好きです。

akercocke大好きです

前に親の都合でロンドンに住んでいるときにakercockeがmorbid angelのライブで一緒に出ていたのですが本当に素晴らしかったです。

UK blackシーンはかっこいいですね！
あとはcofはもちろんのことhecateとかbal sagothも好きです。

こんばんは。DECAPITATEDコミュニティ管理人です。
以下のイベントがロンドンであります。

METAL UNITED FESTIVAL- A BENEFIT SHOW FOR DECAPITATED

DEC.10 2007 LONDON, UK @ THE UNDERWORLD

Benefit show featuring: AKERCOCKE, TED MAUL + very special guests tba.