Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 857 - Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) on "Ascension" and Their Next Chapter

Transcript

PODCAST: Episode 857 - Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) on "Ascension" and Their Next Chapter · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  As it became our, our profession, we sort of work as
• 0:02
  hard as we can. And it's not like that.
• 0:04
  We, you know, we don't have any other lines in the fight.
• 0:06
  We don't have day jobs. This is our professional, it's
• 0:08
  what we do for a living. So it's important to keep the
• 0:11
  plates spinning and, you know, do an album, get out there and
• 0:13
  tour and do what we, what we do, you know, so we've done that
• 0:16
  from a very young age and it's become hard coded into our
• 0:19
  mentality. So we kind of keep going within
• 0:21
  that respect. The last albums, the longest
• 0:23
  we've had between any album, which is five years, but two of
• 0:26
  that, two of those years with the pandemic.
• 0:27
  So, so that, but generally speaking it's 3 between 3:00 or
• 0:31
  4:00 depending. And then obviously in the early
• 0:33
  days you do an album per year, which most bands seem to do in
• 0:36
  the first couple of years of their existence.
• 0:44
  What's up everybody? It's Kefi at ghostcoldmag.com.
• 0:47
  I am once again honored to be joined by Nick from Paradise
• 0:51
  Lost and other projects. How are you doing today, Sir?
• 0:53
  I'll go, thanks. Yeah, I'll go.
• 0:55
  Thank you very much. Great to.
• 0:56
  Talk much, much appreciated. We're here to today to talk
• 0:59
  about the brand new album The Ascension.
• 1:01
  As we're recording this, it's coming out this week.
• 1:03
  This will run sometime after, but much appreciated.
• 1:06
  Coming out September 19th on Nuclear Blast Records, your
• 1:12
  longtime label for now as the business is interesting.
• 1:15
  You know, we were just hit with the news.
• 1:16
  I mentioned this off air that Thomas Lindbergh has been
• 1:20
  announced has passed away after his battle with cancer.
• 1:23
  I know you knew him. I don't want this to over shadow
• 1:26
  the rest of the interview, but I wanted to just, you know, while
• 1:28
  I have you here, I know you were, you know, you were fond of
• 1:31
  him. He was well liked and respected
• 1:33
  by everybody in all of that. All yeah, it's, it's, I mean, we
• 1:36
  had, you know, we've got a lot of friends in common.
• 1:39
  I mean, my social media platform is just absolutely swamped with,
• 1:42
  you know, tributes to him now. I mean, yeah, it's it's, it's a
• 1:44
  massive share. He was a great guy.
• 1:46
  I hadn't seen for a couple of years, but I heard he was, he's
• 1:49
  been a well for, for a while. But yeah, it's a big shock.
• 1:51
  I didn't realize he was that far along and with with his illness.
• 1:54
  And yeah, it's, it's it's really tragic.
• 1:56
  I mean, he's 52 as well. He was no age.
• 1:58
  So it's, yeah, very sad, very sad news.
• 2:01
  Yeah, of course. And you know, much like you had
• 2:04
  other projects and just generally immensely respected as
• 2:09
  a person, I got to meet him and hang out with him.
• 2:10
  I've interviewed him a few times, you know, so this has
• 2:13
  thrown me for a loop as we begin our interview.
• 2:16
  And I apologize, but you know this.
• 2:18
  We're losing our heroes, Ozzy and and a few others recently.
• 2:21
  And now Tomas, what a shame. You know, our mortality is
• 2:24
  something that we can't get. We can't, you know, death is
• 2:27
  undefeated, as I like to say. Unfortunately, it's my way of
• 2:31
  coping and you know, it cannot beat it.
• 2:33
  But on the plus side, to get us through, we have art and music,
• 2:38
  right? And Ascension, super interesting
• 2:41
  album. You know, I think the band has
• 2:44
  been on. I mentioned this to Gregor in
• 2:46
  our last interview over the pandemic that I felt like the
• 2:49
  band is on a tremendous roll, a very consistent streak of
• 2:53
  excellent records, and this is the latest.
• 2:56
  Just that curiosity. I wasn't sure if there was an
• 2:59
  overarching theme to this record or concept.
• 3:02
  It does seem unified a lot more than the last couple in terms of
• 3:06
  just a collection of music that just kind of belongs together.
• 3:10
  I think Paradise Lost has been one of those bands that has done
• 3:13
  many records and I feel like you always strive to make each one
• 3:17
  stand apart from the last, if that's if that makes sense.
• 3:21
  Yeah, there's, there's no overriding concept.
• 3:23
  I mean, we, we, we toy with concept albums every album.
• 3:26
  I mean particularly lyrics. I was, I was kind of toy with
• 3:29
  maybe doing a concert. But there is there isn't 11
• 3:32
  overriding concept. But I guess we've had longer to
• 3:36
  to more reflection over each song and each and each hand out
• 3:40
  the songs go together and how they diff, they different
• 3:43
  differentiate from each other. We've had more time to work on
• 3:46
  that aspect than perhaps previous albums.
• 3:48
  So we've we've definitely more time to think about the overall
• 3:52
  concept of of a song following another song following another
• 3:54
  song and how they differ in in each musically each in each
• 3:58
  song. So I guess time has helped us
• 4:01
  make the songs a little bit more varied, I think.
• 4:02
  For a second, sorry about that. I know there's been a drummer
• 4:07
  change and rather than talk about it, I know singer is back
• 4:11
  in for now, which is cool. I know you know people, it's
• 4:15
  hard. You've had a mostly consistent
• 4:17
  line up more than most bands, So I without, you know, delving
• 4:21
  into what happened. I imagine a lot of the new
• 4:25
  material will be interpreted by Singer his way, right?
• 4:30
  Is that fair to say? Yeah, I mean, see, it's not
• 4:32
  anything, if you take on you, you take on board some
• 4:34
  previously recorded material isn't yours.
• 4:36
  You've got to just make it as authentic to to the record as
• 4:39
  you can. And then that's exactly what
• 4:40
  Jeff intends to do. You know, every drummer has
• 4:43
  their strengths and weaknesses in various, various different
• 4:46
  elements of how they play. But I mean, yeah, I mean, Jeff,
• 4:48
  Jeff, no, it's nothing that Jeff can't handle.
• 4:50
  So. So, yeah, we're we're kind of,
• 4:52
  well, we're rehearsing this week actually for some of the new
• 4:54
  stuff. So.
• 4:55
  So yeah, he's kind of looking forward to getting his teeth
• 4:57
  into I think, you know, so. Yeah.
• 4:58
  For sure. And on the plus, it's nice to
• 5:00
  have that familiarity. Luckily you had somebody, you
• 5:03
  know, he's come back in, in and out of the band over the years.
• 5:05
  So Sir, surely he knows the classic material.
• 5:08
  He made some of it. And you know, he's a
• 5:11
  professional. Like I've seen him.
• 5:13
  He's marvelous as a drummer live.
• 5:15
  So, you know, no worries there. Yeah, I know.
• 5:17
  He's a great player. He really enjoys it still.
• 5:20
  It still enjoys as much as he's ever enjoyed it.
• 5:22
  You know, it's something that he's got a real passion for.
• 5:25
  He's very professionally. He makes sure he learns
• 5:27
  everything. He's, you know, anything he
• 5:29
  can't do, he just says I can't. He will not, you know, he's just
• 5:33
  and you know that he's probably tried about 1000 times, but he
• 5:35
  just sort of, you know, he's very professionally in that
• 5:37
  respect. He doesn't kind of string you
• 5:38
  along or anything. He just plays exactly what he
• 5:40
  can. And luckily he's got a, he's
• 5:42
  very skilled. So it's it's all good.
• 5:44
  Right on this is this is maybe a little bit of levity.
• 5:48
  You know, I have another podcast beside these interviews and
• 5:51
  videos that I do and we we do series on metal bands and we
• 5:56
  marvel at the output of Paradise Lost like 17 album full length
• 6:01
  albums in 3537 years as a band. 35 is a on record and you know,
• 6:08
  like I said, remarkably consistent, but at the same time
• 6:11
  also like it pretty impressive to, you know, keep it going,
• 6:15
  keep it rolling all the time, stay motivated.
• 6:17
  Again, a unified lineup most of the time with a few changes.
• 6:21
  And yeah, we're, you know, we're always like every time we do a
• 6:26
  year and we break down a year in rock and metal releases, like
• 6:30
  there's another Paradise Lost album and another and another,
• 6:34
  you know? And, you know, it feels like
• 6:37
  you, you folks have been, you know, remarkably creative and
• 6:40
  consistent. You and Gregor specifically, but
• 6:42
  the whole band as of the output. Yeah.
• 6:44
  I mean, we, we, we've started, we, we turned professional as it
• 6:48
  were very, very young. I mean, and, and, and as it's,
• 6:51
  it became our, our profession where we sort of work as hard as
• 6:53
  we can. And it's not like that.
• 6:55
  We, you know, we don't have any other lines in the fire.
• 6:56
  We don't have day jobs. This is our professional, this
• 6:59
  is what we do for a living. So it's important to keep the
• 7:02
  plate spinning and, you know, do an album, get out there and tour
• 7:04
  and do what we what we do, you know, so we've done that from a
• 7:07
  very young age and it's become hard coded into our mentality.
• 7:10
  So we kind of keep going with, in that respect, the last
• 7:13
  albums, the longest we've had between any album, which is five
• 7:15
  years, but two of that two of those years with the pandemic.
• 7:18
  So, so that generally speaking, it's three years between, I
• 7:21
  mean, 3 or 4, depending. And then obviously in the early
• 7:24
  days, you do an album per year, which most bands seem to do in
• 7:27
  the first couple of years of their existence.
• 7:29
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 7:30
  But it's still, it's gone remarkably.
• 7:32
  It's gone incredibly fast. I mean, it really is scary how
• 7:34
  fast it's gone, particularly the last 15 years.
• 7:37
  I don't know where the time has gone.
• 7:38
  It really is. Absolutely.
• 7:39
  It's terrifying, if I'm honest. But.
• 7:41
  But yeah, it's, you know, it's like you say you blink your eyes
• 7:45
  and you're in your 50s, you know?
• 7:49
  Don't I know it Blink and you miss it.
• 7:51
  My birthday is this week. I'm I didn't think I was going
• 7:53
  to be here past 40. And here I am in my 50s.
• 7:56
  So, you know, what are you going to do?
• 7:58
  But yeah, I, like I said, this latest era just feels very
• 8:03
  strong. And, you know, I always think of
• 8:06
  the band in error in errors, like most bands, but
• 8:09
  particularly your band. This this run of albums has been
• 8:12
  pretty tremendous. And we spoke over the over the
• 8:15
  break and the plague. And, you know, do you feel like
• 8:19
  putting out a record now is a little bit of better proposition
• 8:22
  than a few years ago when it was all uncertain?
• 8:24
  Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it's it's, I mean live,
• 8:26
  live music's come back with a vengeance, you know, I mean
• 8:28
  pick, there's more and more, there's more and more festivals,
• 8:30
  more people's people, people, people seem to be going out to
• 8:33
  gigs. You know, it's the, the live
• 8:35
  scene is, is alive and well. It's actually live and kicking.
• 8:38
  So it's, you know, it's it's great that aspect of it's great.
• 8:41
  It's great for bands. Get out there and do it.
• 8:44
  So, yeah, I mean, it's, I mean, this year we've been without an
• 8:49
  album out. We've been busier than we would
• 8:50
  have ever been this far on without an album.
• 8:53
  Now, I mean, usually when you start releasing your album,
• 8:55
  you're right, you're busiest in that first two years.
• 8:57
  But we've still been, you know, five years old.
• 8:59
  We've been busy as hell this year.
• 9:00
  So it's it's great. You know, there's more and more
• 9:02
  people are going out to gigs and that's, that's nothing but a
• 9:05
  good thing, you know? Right on.
• 9:06
  Yeah, I'm, I'm really impressed. It's it's certainly very vibrant
• 9:10
  over in Europe and solid. I would say here we are seeing a
• 9:13
  lot of tours get cancelled this year, but I think we have work
• 9:17
  visas and things like that both ways.
• 9:20
  Americans going overseas and other folks coming here, you
• 9:24
  know, I wonder what the future of that looks like.
• 9:26
  But at the same time, it does seem like the band is as busy as
• 9:29
  ever. And festival season just ended
• 9:32
  over in Europe and we're wrapping it up here as well.
• 9:34
  And America finally has a couple of festivals that I feel like
• 9:38
  are on the same footing as Europe.
• 9:39
  It took forever, but I think we're getting there now.
• 9:43
  And yeah, I yeah. I hope to see the band come over
• 9:46
  here more often in the next few years.
• 9:49
  It's been, it's been wild. It's been wild to watch.
• 9:52
  And then you know, I know, you know, it's, you know, I feel
• 9:56
  like every band has like, oh, you know, we it's time to go do
• 10:00
  that cycle, right? Like, I hope you take enough
• 10:02
  time for yourselves again, all this mortality wakening things
• 10:07
  for me, the reckoning, you know, if we don't take care of
• 10:09
  ourselves is coming. So, you know, at this point,
• 10:12
  many, many years into your career across many projects, you
• 10:16
  know, obviously you have to take care of yourself and your
• 10:18
  instrument to, to, to perform your sound and great voice on
• 10:21
  this record, kind of using the whole toolbox, if you will, I
• 10:25
  feel. So it's really nice to hear this
• 10:27
  record is so strong. Yeah, man, yeah.
• 10:29
  It's, I mean, it's, it's, it's like anything, I mean, you, you
• 10:31
  do slow down anywhere. I mean, you'd actually slow down
• 10:34
  or, you know, you should be slowing down.
• 10:37
  But but yeah, it's, it's, you know, I mean, it's, it's I, I
• 10:41
  definitely take care of of, you know, that when I do the
• 10:44
  concert. I'm aware that that's exactly
• 10:46
  the only reason I'm really there.
• 10:47
  You know, I'm not there for any other reason.
• 10:49
  It's not like in our 20s when it was getting with the party and
• 10:52
  was just as important as the concert.
• 10:53
  So I mean, those days are kind of long gone, you know.
• 10:56
  So it's, it's, it's important to get plenty of sleep, you know,
• 11:00
  no shouting, no kind of backstage shenanigans, you know,
• 11:03
  keeping the, the party, you know, went to an absolute
• 11:05
  minimum. But actually not in our case,
• 11:06
  actually non existent. I mean, a lot, half of our guys
• 11:09
  don't even drink anymore. So I mean, that kind of helps as
• 11:11
  well because even the ones that do, they don't drink as much now
• 11:13
  because there's not, there's kind of there's no kind of vibe
• 11:16
  or anything. So you're kind of drink
• 11:17
  naturally drink less anywhere if you're around people that
• 11:20
  already drink anyway. So so yeah, there's the kind of
• 11:22
  that whole element is, you know, it's just moist about the gig.
• 11:25
  That's what we're here for, you know, when we do shows and
• 11:27
  that's it, you know? Right.
• 11:28
  And surely it's a different vibe in terms of the day of a show
• 11:32
  vocally as opposed to the studio, right?
• 11:36
  When you know you're there for a task and you have to.
• 11:38
  Get a track right. It's totally different.
• 11:40
  Yeah. I mean, it's it's I mean, you
• 11:43
  kind of you do help me your voice on the studio.
• 11:45
  So I mean, I would only. I would only kind of do tracking
• 11:48
  from maybe like 10:00 AM till like 3 PMI don't I know, I know
• 11:53
  when I've had enough. You know, in the old days, you
• 11:56
  kind of do 8 or 9 hours and you throw a bit ripped higher.
• 11:59
  Yeah. And then it's just not, you
• 12:00
  know, it's just not the right way to do it.
• 12:01
  The next day you're kind of writing off.
• 12:02
  So so yeah, I know exactly when I need to stop my voice that my
• 12:07
  body tells me that. But that's from years of
• 12:10
  experience of doing it. But, and I guess when you play
• 12:12
  live, you got to kind of be careful you don't get excited
• 12:15
  and rip your voice out in that way as well.
• 12:17
  So. But I think talking and shouting
• 12:20
  as you would shout in a bar is far more dangerous for your
• 12:23
  voice than being on the stage we ever would be because, you know,
• 12:26
  you're not amplified and you're just shouting.
• 12:28
  And it's kind of, you know, I avoid anything like, I never go
• 12:30
  to bars after gigs, anything like that.
• 12:32
  I avoid bars like, you know, So yeah, that's for the days off,
• 12:36
  that kind of thing, you know? Indeed, and that's as a person
• 12:40
  that talks for a living. Believe me, I know it.
• 12:44
  I found the record, you know, particularly resonating with me.
• 12:48
  They a lot of them do, but I don't know tyrants serenade, the
• 12:52
  one of the first singles there really spoke to me about our
• 12:55
  current situation in the world. I know, you know, I thought it
• 12:59
  was a very prescient lyrically for me and and very timely, you
• 13:05
  know, easy to do to report on the world when that's been your
• 13:08
  your outlet for many years. But so just just hit me so hard
• 13:14
  and especially, you know, listening to the record a lot
• 13:18
  and, and, and listening to the the whole band's catalog getting
• 13:21
  ready for this interview. But yeah, what a what a banger
• 13:24
  of the track. That's the one.
• 13:25
  I think that's going to still stay with me for a long time.
• 13:27
  Well, I mean that song's I mean Tyron Tyron's showing a tyron is
• 13:31
  the Tyron is ultimately death in in this in this case.
• 13:34
  And it's just about kind of remembering loved ones through
• 13:39
  the seasons as they change. But then the tyrant kind of then
• 13:43
  it kind of comes back and hits you and you remember the initial
• 13:45
  pain you felt when you felt that lost.
• 13:48
  And that's what this song is about.
• 13:49
  The Tyrant Serenade is actually kind of metaphorical, I guess,
• 13:52
  in this regard, but it's about just kind of hammering home the
• 13:56
  feelings you initially had when you lost, even many years later.
• 14:00
  It kind of you kind of get used. You learn to live with death.
• 14:03
  I don't you ever get over it. You've just learned to live with
• 14:05
  it. I think you know, particularly
• 14:06
  someone very close to you. So, so that's what this kind of
• 14:09
  nudges towards lyrically, I guess, you know?
• 14:12
  Right on. And then a few other tracks that
• 14:14
  stood out to me. I mean, the whole record is very
• 14:16
  strong, but Salvation sounds like grave, of course.
• 14:19
  Deceivers, the Precipice, the final track, just very impactful
• 14:25
  all the way through. Vocally, musically, you know, as
• 14:28
  I expected, you know, as you do, but you know, you get surprised
• 14:32
  and and pleased when you still see a band this going this long,
• 14:37
  this strong. I don't think it's common.
• 14:39
  I think it's less common as we get older.
• 14:41
  Yeah, I mean, but as I say, I think the time we've had to riot
• 14:44
  has really helped us get out teeth back into into Ryan.
• 14:47
  And I mean every album you do you, you, you got a blank sheet
• 14:50
  and you just don't if you've obviously when you've done as
• 14:52
  many albums as we have, we are always kind of like wondering
• 14:54
  where we're going to go. And we usually always do a false
• 14:57
  start. We'll do two or three songs and
• 14:59
  we think, Oh no, this is shit or whatever.
• 15:01
  We need to go back to the drawing board and have a
• 15:03
  rethink. But I think with this and
• 15:05
  there's usually something that can tip the scales slightly.
• 15:07
  But I think when we re recorded the icon album not too long ago,
• 15:12
  I think that kind of give us a little bit of a shot to the arm
• 15:15
  in inspirationally reminded, reminded us how we used to write
• 15:17
  those songs when we were younger guys and and the spirit that we
• 15:20
  used to write them with. And it kind of definitely not
• 15:23
  all the songs, but there's two or three songs that I've
• 15:25
  definitely got that icon kind of spirit to it to it, that feel.
• 15:28
  And I think that definitely helped us kind of shaped some
• 15:31
  songs. They are way, way more than
• 15:33
  perhaps it could have sounded. So it's a kind of, it's a
• 15:36
  definitely, you know, that was that doing that re recording
• 15:39
  that was definitely beneficial more than just rerecording.
• 15:42
  We definitely got a bit of a kick kicking the ass, as we say
• 15:46
  over here. Nice.
• 15:48
  Yeah. Unnoted.
• 15:50
  I feel like it's rare for a band that, you know, kind of helps
• 15:54
  define a sound several times in their career so clearly as
• 15:58
  Paradise Lost has. I feel like it's rare for a band
• 16:03
  to, you know, almost transcend that in a way.
• 16:05
  Like to, hey, we can reinvent ourselves a few times and then
• 16:09
  be able to say we can do Paradise Lost music doesn't have
• 16:13
  to be even, you know, metal or do more death metal or, or, you
• 16:17
  know, anything else you've touched on in your career.
• 16:19
  I feel like the band has been able to kind of have many lives
• 16:24
  and then still be respected and consistent again, I keep coming
• 16:28
  back to that. So yeah, maybe or maybe it's too
• 16:31
  close for you at this point. But again, the Icon revisited
• 16:35
  was really lovely and and and super cool to hear in this day.
• 16:39
  Yeah, I mean, well, when we were asked if we wanted to do it, we
• 16:42
  initially said no. I mean, we always say no to most
• 16:44
  things that are asked upon us. But we we, when we did, I did
• 16:47
  it, it was actually quite interesting to do it because
• 16:49
  it's such a huge, you know, great deal of time passed since
• 16:51
  that album. It was 94, I think it was.
• 16:53
  So it's a long time ago, you know.
• 16:54
  So it was quite interesting to approach it again.
• 16:56
  And even now I used to sing on that album, you know, the whole
• 16:59
  listening back to it and how I did it.
• 17:00
  I mean, when I recorded it, I just basically listened to the
• 17:03
  line, I sang and then I sang it. Then I listened to the next line
• 17:06
  and I sang it. Then I listened to them both
• 17:07
  again to see if they were exactly the same as on the
• 17:09
  album. So I was being meticulously
• 17:11
  trying to copy it. So it's kind of interesting to
• 17:13
  do that and just how I, you know, did it.
• 17:15
  But I mean, it was like I said, the, the vast amount of time
• 17:19
  passed since that. It's always interesting to go
• 17:21
  back and see how you did it then.
• 17:22
  And even the writing process was a lot different.
• 17:24
  You know, we didn't have the Internet, we couldn't do file
• 17:27
  share, nobody had a DAW, one of that stuff.
• 17:29
  You were used to sit in the room with a big ghetto blaster as
• 17:32
  they used to call them at the time and and record stuff.
• 17:35
  And then they just play in the car with the cassette recorder
• 17:37
  in my mate's old car. So, you know, it was a lot
• 17:41
  different time than it is now, but it was, it's always
• 17:44
  interesting to go back and see how you used to do things, you
• 17:47
  know? Right on.
• 17:48
  I also often think about the choice of producers.
• 17:51
  I'm surprised that the band doesn't just produce themselves
• 17:54
  more. You know what you sound like,
• 17:56
  but maybe you need that outside influence to help guide the band
• 18:00
  or, you know, drive the band to not, not that you would ever
• 18:04
  rest on your laurels, but maybe hear the things you don't hear
• 18:07
  because the songs are new and you wrote them.
• 18:09
  But I always, you know, I love the records that you did with
• 18:12
  Reese Filber, who we interviewed and he talked about what it was
• 18:17
  like to work with you because of course I asked and he loved that
• 18:20
  experience. So I'm always curious about, you
• 18:22
  know, choosing producers and, and what they bring to the table
• 18:25
  for a band like yours that you know, you know what you're
• 18:27
  supposed to sound like at this point.
• 18:29
  Well, I mean, do do I mean Greg, Greg, you know, did it this
• 18:31
  time. I mean, it's, it's like you
• 18:33
  said, I mean, you know, exactly what you the sounds you want.
• 18:35
  I mean, producers generally speaking abroad, if there's a
• 18:38
  song arrangements or just adjusting the songs to make
• 18:41
  them, you know, in many in in the world of pop, I guess it's
• 18:45
  to make them all radio friendly or edit them in the right.
• 18:47
  It's it's that kind of level. Whereas in our in our
• 18:51
  experience, we just need a very good engineer, someone who can
• 18:53
  engineer the songs and record them really well and somebody
• 18:55
  who understands the music, understands what sounds.
• 18:58
  We're trying to get producers more an external force to come
• 19:02
  in with the more the arrangement side of it, I think generally
• 19:05
  speaking. So yeah, I mean, we don't really
• 19:08
  need that anymore. I mean, we haven't needed it for
• 19:10
  a long time. I mean, by the time we get in
• 19:12
  the studio, we know exactly what the song's going to be.
• 19:14
  The arrangements, particularly the arrangement, they definitely
• 19:16
  sorted by the time we get in the studio.
• 19:18
  Lyrically, I might change the word here and there, but
• 19:21
  generally speaking, it's 9095% there.
• 19:23
  So. And by that point, Greg's
• 19:25
  probably already recorded his guitars at home anyway and he
• 19:28
  knows exactly what he wants to sound like.
• 19:30
  So it's, it's, yeah, an external force.
• 19:33
  But it's always good to get a, you know, an outside opinion of
• 19:37
  what you're doing. I really, that's important as
• 19:38
  well. But you get yourself a good
• 19:40
  engineer. He's going to do that anyway.
• 19:41
  Especially he's in the music, the genre means that you're into
• 19:44
  as well. So, you know, in our case,
• 19:46
  Lawrence McCrory did the album. He's, you know, he's from our
• 19:49
  background. He's also a very good vocals as
• 19:50
  well. He's in a band, so he thought he
• 19:53
  gets the band. He was great in an engineering
• 19:55
  role, you know. Nice.
• 19:56
  Out of curiosity as we wind this down, I want to give you back
• 19:59
  your time and your evening. I'm always super interested in
• 20:03
  side projects and whether they're a good outlet in terms
• 20:06
  of helping you sort of, you know, keep Paradise Lost pure
• 20:09
  for yourself. And I loved host.
• 20:11
  I thought that was genius and I hope you do more of it and I
• 20:13
  love. Gregor's other project.
• 20:15
  So I was wondering if there's anything you learned from those
• 20:19
  experiences or you personally from, from the host project that
• 20:23
  you know helped, you know, sort of separate your your talent out
• 20:27
  from paradise loss. So Paradise loss can be better
• 20:30
  or more unique from, you know, anything else you've worked on
• 20:33
  like Bloodbath. Or anything.
• 20:34
  I think it's, yeah, it's good. I mean, it's great.
• 20:36
  So it is an outlet and it's not the same, quite the same thing.
• 20:40
  I mean, when we did host, it was kind of a bit of fun, but then
• 20:42
  we started to take it as seriously as can do.
• 20:44
  That's lost. But I mean, you know, obviously
• 20:48
  when I do bloodbath, it is definitely fun, a lot of fun.
• 20:51
  It's great. It's great.
• 20:52
  I love doing, but I mean, I've been doing it for 10 years now.
• 20:53
  I can't believe it's that long. But but yeah, no, I think it's
• 20:55
  very beneficial. I think you could probably, you
• 20:57
  could possibly spread yourself too thin, have too many irons in
• 21:00
  the fire. I don't think that's necessarily
• 21:02
  a good thing. But I think, you know, I suppose
• 21:05
  it's like if you're primarily a tennis player and you decide to
• 21:08
  play a little bit of badminton, you know, I mean, there's
• 21:10
  there's nothing wrong with that, you know?
• 21:13
  That's funny, I was sure you were going to say cricket there.
• 21:18
  Any case, my cultural bias is a forgive me, please or soccer, of
• 21:22
  course. Just Speaking of bloodbath
• 21:25
  really quick. I know.
• 21:26
  Obviously the next year of your life is probably going to be
• 21:28
  dedicated mostly to Paradise Lost.
• 21:30
  I know Jonas has stepped down from Bloodbath now.
• 21:34
  Are there, you know, as their future plans?
• 21:35
  We're a few years on from that last record and tour.
• 21:38
  We're still, I mean, we're booking gigs in for next year.
• 21:40
  It's as far as the new round goes.
• 21:42
  I don't know, you know, how long it's a piece of string as I
• 21:44
  always so usually use that phrase.
• 21:46
  I mean, I I don't know, we'll see what goes.
• 21:48
  But we're still booking shows. I mean, it's always, it's always
• 21:51
  been about the festival. It's always been about playing
• 21:53
  in the summer. I've been, I've been, I've been
• 21:54
  a laugh at the gigs doing the death metal shows up and down
• 21:56
  Europe, around Europe, wherever we get asked to do it.
• 21:59
  But but yeah, I mean, we still, we still really enjoy doing it.
• 22:02
  You know, it's good fun and it's nice to kind of step into that
• 22:05
  world that we used to be in when we were kind of in our teenage
• 22:08
  years. You know, it's, it's always fun
• 22:09
  to step back into that for, you know, order a weekend period.
• 22:12
  You know, it's great. Right on, we'll be looking
• 22:14
  forward to more Paradise Lost shows and those bloodbath shows
• 22:17
  and anything else you want to work on again, I was quite a fan
• 22:20
  of that host prep project, so maybe that'll make a a return at
• 22:23
  some point. I would love it.
• 22:24
  It was really fun. As you say, just, uh, you know,
• 22:27
  for a last question, I was like to end these with a wild card
• 22:29
  question and I wanted to ask what was the last good book you
• 22:32
  read? Probably the autobiography of
• 22:35
  Werner Herzog, the filmmaker, his autobiography.
• 22:38
  That was great. Some great stories about Klaus
• 22:41
  Kinsky in there that I really enjoyed that.
• 22:42
  That was a great read. I mean, I, I like to, I like
• 22:46
  autobiographies. I'm quite a fan of, you know,
• 22:48
  particularly if I really admire the person.
• 22:50
  Yeah. But that's, that was a really
• 22:53
  good book. I really enjoyed that.
• 22:54
  Ben Herzog's autobiography. Yeah.
• 22:56
  Right on, I look that up. I'm quite a fan of biographies
• 22:59
  and autobiographies myself. Nick Holmes was the 3rd or 4th
• 23:03
  time we've chatted over the years and and it's always a
• 23:06
  pleasure. Man.
• 23:06
  I really appreciate you. And congratulations on Ascension
• 23:10
  coming out September 19th from Nuclear Blast Records.
• 23:14
  Thanks man. Appreciate all the thanks.
• 23:15
  Man, take care, we'll see you soon.
• 23:17
  See you buddy. Thank you.
• 23:18
  Bye bye.