Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / PARADISE LOST’s GREGOR MACKINTOSH On Producing Ascension, Imperfections And Staying True

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PARADISE LOST’s GREGOR MACKINTOSH On Producing Ascension, Imperfections And Staying True · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am Greg from Paradise Lost.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: You've produced Ascension yourself. How in wearing both the guitarists
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: and producer had to shape this record differently from past albums.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It was remarkably similar because over the last few records,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I've kind of done most of it, a lot of it. Anyway.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: The producer is not producers these days are not really
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: like producers of your of like the seventies, eighties, early nineties, however,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: where they kind of got involved in the song structures
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: of the songwriting. There was shitloads of pre production. For
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the last however long, it's been more like you're just
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: asking someone to find the sound that you've got in
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: your head. Ye. Over, I don't know how many of
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the last few years I've known how to gets that anyway,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you know, So it's like it was just taking a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: person out of the mix. Really. The only difference being
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: it's a bit more work and there's a bit more
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: responsibility on your shoulders because you know, if it's wrong,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: people can come to you and say you fucked up,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you know. But apart from the workload, not that not
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: that much of a difference.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I guess it totally makes sense as well,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: for someone in the band to produce the album, you've
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: already got a clear sense of what how things sort
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: of should sound.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Like, I suppose, yeah, And I mean again, last few albums,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: most of the guitar parts and things like that, or
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: keyboard parts or backing vocals, things like that I've been
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: done in demo stages and just end up getting used
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: on the album. So it wasn't a great stretch. And yeah,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've had my own studio for quite a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: few years, and it's nice to have the time to
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: spend to do all everything how you want it to
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: be done. But it's a double edged sword because you
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: can kind of disappear down rabbit hole and end up
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: chasing your tail and come back to the initial idea
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: after months of messing around, you know. So with this one,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: like about three years ago, I had half the album
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: written and I just scrapped it all because I wasn't
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: feeling it. It took a year ago and then felt
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: inspired again, so started again and this time around it worked. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: But you know, you can't you can't force it. I mean,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: all the all the all these production tools that have
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: cropped up in the last twenty years, or whatever. They're
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: still only as good as whatever you put in it,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: you know, so we still have to have the ideas
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and the the spark there to make something, you know. Yeah, definitely.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: And do you find producing your own music makes you
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: more obsessive over little details or do you find it
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: liberating to have that control?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Well, a few years ago I would have said it
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: was liberating because it took a lot a lot of
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the financial sting out of recording. You only had to
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: go in for the studio to record your drums, maybe
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: a nice big drum room or something. The rest of
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: it you can do at home. So in that respect, yes,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: But like I said, I think people can get to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: anal about it and music, I mean metal music, especially
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: the music that was supposed to scare your grandparents, that
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: was supposed to be so rebellious, is now more sanitized
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: than pop music. Pop music is more daring, you know.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of weird that it's gone like that,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and is I think the reason it has is because
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: everyone's chasing perfection, so everyone sounds the same. It's all
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: of us, volume wive, it all has the same similar sounds,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: and the problem with that is you get rid of
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: all the character, and character stems from imperfections. So bands
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: back in the day, the reason they all sounded so
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: different is because they were limited by budget, what the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: guitar pedal was, what the guitar was, your you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: circumstances where you grew up, you didn't have lots of
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: external influencers hitting you, lots of different factors. And I
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  Speaker 1: think it's just with modern day metal production, it's become
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: everyone's almost copying each other and it just sounds very safe.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And it's hard to break that actually, because people don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: want to hear things that aren't safe or perfect as
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: it were. But on this record, A he tried my
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: best to get some character in there. For instance, with
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the rhythm guitar sound and the lead guitar sounds. I
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: did the opposite of what most metal producers are doing now.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: They're trying to get rid of all this mid honk,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: this boxiness and the guitars. And I like that. I
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: like it, like it's been mite from the back or something.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: You know. It's so yeah, I tried to get on it.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how successful it was. I guess time
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: will tell, but the intention was there, you.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Know, Yeah, well, to me, it's successful. I've heard it
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: all and I love it, of course. And do you
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: find did you find that creating this album felt more
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: like you were creating it, especially in regards to playing
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: it live, Like does it sound like more like how
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: am I trying to say, like an album that would
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: transplate Weld live?
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I would say for the most part it is. I mean,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: with all our records, we do a certain amount of
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: songs where we think, oh, this will be great to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: play live, and then other ones that become more of
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: a studio thing where it's more about the atmosphere. You think, oh,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: this would be good to listen to on headphones and
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: get lost in it. Escapism, you know, it's something that
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: paints a picture in your mind. So it just depends
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: on the song. I don't think as an albums it's
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: any different live. What maybe there's a couple of songs
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that are kind of more up tempo, you know, that
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: would whip you up in an audience, up in a
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: live situation, which is kind of unusual for us in
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: a way because we do like our slow stuff. In fact,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: my favorite song the album is the slowest song, usually
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: called Salvation. So I say yeah. I mean when I
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: when I start getting this album together, the core of it,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I thought, I really want this to sound like an
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: autumn winter Christmasy album. Yeah, and that's kind of what
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: it's shaped into almost.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely I get that from listening to it
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: as well. There's definitely you guys have balanced that. There
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: is still some slight heaviness there, but you've definitely balanced
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: it with that harmonizing more melodic.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, it's getting the catchy points across. I mean
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: a good example of that is the opening track Serpent
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: on the Cross is there's a recurring melody in that.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: That's what's it now? Well weird, like I can't remember
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: it right now. It started off as a vocal thing
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I was, I was mess around doing vocal lines. Yeah,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I came up with that and I said, I said
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to Nick RSin, I said, can you try this out
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: over over this this riff, and he said, oh, it's
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: going to sound better on your guitar. So I did
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: it on guitar and he was right and it just
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: worked that way. So we kind of throw things back
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and forwards melody wise, and it's all about that eoworm,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: you know. Yeah. So the structures are very important, that
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the dynamics are very important, because if everything's heavy, nothing's heavy,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: you know. So we try and do all that, but
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: we always try and get and this comes from listening
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to a lot of film soundtracks in my youth. I
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: think there's also a recurring theme that pulls you back
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: into this. Even if the music totally changes, You've got
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: this recurring little melody that comes back and draws you
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: back to the main point, you know.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And do you ever feel pressure to top
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: a previous album or is it more about exploring what
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: feels authentic in the moment.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I don't feel like we need to top artistically because
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: each album is different. We've always tried to when we
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: come to write album, think right, forget everything else. What
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: would we do if we were a new band now
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: and do that? But I think from a people that
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: surround us, management, record label, maybe even some fans have
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: certain expectations and it's on them, unfortunately, not on us.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: You know, we we do our thing. If it doesn't resonate,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: then that's just the way it is, you know.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, definitely good answer.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: I think you're so right.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: You're creating music for yourself then as well, and obviously
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: you know your fans in that as well.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: But for yourself and what feels right for you, guys, well,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: it's actually not for the fans at all. Yeah, you
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: can't think like that. I don't believe you can think
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of because if you do, you'll just end up repeating
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: yourself or doing something that's a parody of yourself, you know.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: And that's something we've always been very aware of, given
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: from when we're like, first record is treading this fine
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: line because what we do is kind of pompous in
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: a way. So so we've always had this line where
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: we said, weep openly at the shea pomposity and it's
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: so it's mournful and bombastic, which is good, but there's
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: a fine line into cheese and parody, which we're more
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: aware of than anyone of any listener. I say we're
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: doing to the nth degree. We're like, is this crossing
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the line territory? Get rid of it? You know. So yeah,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: so that's that's one of our things. Yeah.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And your lind guitar work, especially on tracks like
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Tyrants Serenade, always carries so much emotional weight. Do these
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: melodies come in intuitively or through experimentation.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Kind of a bit of both. It's usually just messing around,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: so experimentation, but then it's I know, what feeling I'm
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: trying to evoke, and if it doesn't do that for me,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: then it's not doing it. Yeah, I still have to
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: work on it till it's doing the thing that I
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: wanted it to. And like I said, some start, I
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: was just humming a tune along. You know, you hear
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: a bit of music, you hum along to it, it's like, ah,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: that would make a good lead line, or you know,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: sometimes the lead line actually comes comes first and then
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: you think what will go over that. Yeah, I've not
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: been I'm not really into widly widdly stuff. So it's
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: always been about less is more. Yeah, and again that's
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: that's that's down to the listener, whether it is successful
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: or resonates or not.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: You know, was there anything you guys scrapped that you
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: now think back on and go, oh, maybe we could
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: have made that work.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: No, No, we're actually that's one of the things that
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: we do is getting rid of the So for instance,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: we I mean it's five years since the previous record
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: to this record. It's quite a long time. But about
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: three years ago I had half of it written. It
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: just wasn't sitting well with me. I kept trying different
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: iterations of these songs. I had about six songs, and
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: it just wasn't sitting. I was driving myself and saying
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: with it. I just said, look, I'm just gonna scrap
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: it all. And I scrapped it and deleted the whole
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: lot so that I could never use it again because
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: it was doing my heading. And then I took her
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: out from writing completely because I wasn't inspired. And then
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: we did a re recording of an older album, It's
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Icon thirty thing, which was thirty years since one of
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: our records, and it kind of put me in a
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: different headspace and I felt all inspired again. And then
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: it was just like bang bang bang over autumn winter
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: last year. All came thick and fast, interesting.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So it really was that was like a physical thing
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that gave you inspiration at that time, because I was
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: going to ask, you know what made you suddenly have
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: that inspiration back?
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. I don't know. I can't say it's
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: all that, but I know that it definitely tripped something
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: in me and gave me a clearer idea of what
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do, and also with the whole package,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: the artwork, the titled that what the songs are about,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: we kind of went right back to brass tacks, which
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: is the aim of Paradise Lost came from the book,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the themes of the book, the religious psychonography, the striving
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: for enlightenment or ascension or whatever, you know, this struggle,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and the whole thing is kind of centered around that.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: You know, Yeah, definitely. I like that you mentioned the
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: album Arn't there as well? It's incredible. Can you tell
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: us a little bit more about that.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's a painting that I liked for quite
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a while. I think I've got a print of it
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: on my wall. Actually, well, I can show it, guess
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: Oh there. It is so beautiful. I love it. I
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: love this piece of artwork. And when we were decided
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: on Ascension as a title, that kind of sprung to mind.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: But I know that the painting isn't about that. It's
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: called The Court of Death by George Frederick Wats, who
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: was a Victorian painter, and I well, I just said,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: you know, I looked at the painting and I was
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: listening to some of the demos that I did, and
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: I thought, this actually really fits because the central figure
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: looks really calm, like they've achieved this enlightenment, and the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: figures around looked kind of full of grief or in turmoil,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and that kind of rings true with the album, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the album. And also the colors to be a bit
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: little more based. The colors, the baroque reds and greens
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and gold were just this christmasy feel the album. And yeah,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: so I got in touch with them a girl of
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: our management office, Vicky, and I said, look, this is
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the I really like this image. I don't know if
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: we get rights to anything. She said, I was actually
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: at the Watts Gallery about three weeks ago on holiday.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: She sent me a picture of her like this in
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: front of the painting. The original is fucking huge. It's massive,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: hanging from a ceiling, and she said, I know to call,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: so she called and it was really smooth. Usually we
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: have trouble getting artwork together on packages, but yeah, just
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: everything clicked in the place. So wow, we're really pleased
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: with that.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy, that's awesome, and it does it fits
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: so well and kind of leads me into my next
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: question as well. Actually, which we have spoken about a bit,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: but the new album has moments of stillness and reflection
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: alongside heaviness. How important is that contrast to your songwriting
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and songs.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it's important in general any band to
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: have light and shade because if everything's heavy, nothing's heavy,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: it's all just on a level. So it's important for that.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: I think it's extra important for us because we're trying
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: to evoke imagery. It's escape. So I mean, I've always
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of people like this, but a lot of
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: people aren't. When I listen to music, I think a
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: bit in visual terms, So where someone would say, oh,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that's really heavy, I will think, oh, it sounds more
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: like a storm coming over the horizon, you know, things
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: like that. So I try and do that when we're
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: making music. So to do that, you have to have
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: light strokes with the heavy strokes, you know, and it
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: makes all everything more dramatic and everything more effective when
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: you do that. If you have these real, somber, low
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: key parts and then you have this in tobacco almost
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: type thing, you know so well. I mean the first
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: single that sounds like the Grave is exactly that's It
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: sounds bombastic, almost like war like at times. And that's
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: why Nick the song about the rise and fall of
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: empires and war you know, so yeah, so yeah, it's
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: very important to us. But in general, I think to
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: listen to music, you need that light and change. Yeah. No,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you're definitely right.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: I think if songs like you were saying, I just
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: say heavy for the sake of being heavy, it just
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: gets not repetitive, but too consistent and there's no balance.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean that stuff like that has its place,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but usually just for a time like yeah, I feel
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: like you're in an air panmdesto, or I really feel
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: like hearing a motor Head song or you know whatever,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: that's true. You know it has its place. But I
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: think for pure escapism, if it because our music is,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: it's not it's not meant to be about a certain
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: time and place or challenging anyone's perception of any issues.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: It's just it's to take you away somewhere and you know,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: there you go.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the band has always embraced evolution. Is there
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: anything you haven't tried yet that you'd still like to
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: explore musically?
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I always like to. I mean, I think we've done
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of stuff within what music I like, which
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: is just the darker side of music. It can be
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: anything as long as it's dark. It can be traditional
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: folk music, it can be classical music, it can be
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: goth music, it can be electronic music, it can be heavy,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: but it has to be dark, sad, somber. You know.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I have gone through lots of stuff, different styles covering
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that type of stuff, and these days I have like
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: different outlets. Back in the day, I used to put
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: it all into Paradise Lost, which sometimes worked, sometimes didn't,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: depending on who listened to it. I don't really and
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: it regrets with that. But these days I have kind
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: of we did a project called Host which is more
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: the electronic side, goth electronic side, and then I have
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: a thing called Strigoy that's like kind of horrific and unsettling,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and then it kind of clears the woods for the trees,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you know, so you can see I can see the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: core of Paradise Lost in the middle of all this,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: you know. So I have a healthy balance, I think
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: these days.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And you've seen gothic and do metal trends
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: come and go. What do you think has helped Paradise
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Lost remains? So timeless through it all.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Well, it depends on the time you're talking about, because
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: we've had our period ups and downs, you know, where
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you your music doesn't it's not as relevant in a
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: certain time, or maybe it comes a little bit too
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: early or a bit too late for that period. But
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: I think doing our own things helped, not being part
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: of a crew like a lot of American bands are.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: You know, we kind of I mean years ago we
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: used to festivals. I remember doing a festival, Dynamoor Festival
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and all naturally, and there was loads of American bands.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: There was a time around the time when funk metal
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: came in Yet and always band the high five in
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: each other backstage and whooping. And I saw an interview
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: afterwards and someone's asked one of these guys and they said, oh,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Parados Loss. Isn't that English band who just sits in
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: a circle in a corner talking to themselves? And It's true.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: We're kind of very insular. We're just beside observing, you know, studiously.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: We don't really get involved in that. So yeah, I
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: think doing our own thing was a big part of it.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Not being part of too much of any scene. Yeah,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And I can't the rest of it is down to
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the fans. I guess whether they dig it or not.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, funk metal.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of funk metal band that sounds awful.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Let me think at the time it was a Dog
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: eat Dog. A few bands went funk. Yeah, a little
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: bit of funk element into it. It was sort of
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: early to mid nineties. It was about ninety four ninety five.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Lots of bands went down that route, and then shortly
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: afterwards the new metal thing here. Yeah, exactly.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And as after so many years as a band,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: do you ever get sick of playing certain songs or
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: a certain song? Uh?
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: In general, there's a few way you just go, yeah,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: we're a bit tired of playing this or a bit
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: tired of playing that. But then you can play it
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: on a night, Oh and I and the whole audience
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: are loving it, and then you completely forget that you
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: go into it with the audience that you're actually liking it.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean these songs that become part of
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: your staple thing that were popular and eighty percent of
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the audience would be annoyed if he didn't play it. Well, yeah,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: you know, so there's so yeah, this is the old
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: song is the odd song that makes you think oh no,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: not that again when you But then when you play it, yeah, certain, nice,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: it goes down a storm and you're like, why was
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: I questioning this? You know? Yeah? Yeah, oh nice.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Nice to know that, you know, you can have a
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: different perspective or take on a song even if you thought,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: you know, you're sick of it, and then you play
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: it and as you said, the crowd loves it and
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: you're like, oh, okay, maybe I don't hate it anymore.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, true. It's it's one of them things that
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: you have to be in the mood for it, don't you. Yeah. Yeah.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And what's the coolest or weirdest thing a fan has
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: ever given you?
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, there's been quite a few. I mean I remember
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Nick getting a painting and it was a really good
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: painter and they've done a painting of him. Oh it
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: was like an old master. They've done an amazing job.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: And it was in our rehearsal room for years. Wow.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Then it disappeared, so someone stole it. My my my
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: weirdest is not something that given me. But it was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: a tattoo and that I was at a festival somewhere
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and I was just walking around the audience and I
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: was standing talking to someone and they sort of looked
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: over my shoulder and went like that, look at this.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: And I turned around and a girl had I don't
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: like the phrase, but it's the tramp stamp, the landing pad,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, but it was my face. But I
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: have devil's horns. Oh that's cool. I have no idea
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: why there was no reference. I've never you know, held devils. Yeah, yeah,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: kind of strange. And I just thought, wow, that's weird.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Some guys got to look at that.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Oh that's pretty cool though. I mean, I guess it
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: would have been weird if it was bad.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: In my head, I was thinking maybe she had a
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: picture of me done and then regretted she turned it
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: into a devil. No beautiful.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: And are there any plans to do Ascension in Australia
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: that you know of?
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Plans? Plans, Yeah, best made plans. It's it's ongoing at
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the minute. I know they're talking to promoters and I
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: know that they're roughly trying to pencil it in for
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: early next year, so hopefully it's going to come off.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: As of course, you'll talk to lots of people in bands.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It's getting increasingly tough because logistics of yes, you know,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: who do you pass the cost onto? Things like that?
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: You have to with Australia being kind of far removed
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: from everwhere else, you have to tie in with places
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: on the way to make it viable. So yeah, yeah,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: we're fingers crossed where we should. I mean, the iron
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: something out and we get there early next year hopefully
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: hope soorry That would be awesome.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: And is there a memory from your pastime touring here
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: that sticks out to you?
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot. Actually, I remember touring there with
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Cathedral Ones and we have just it was all fun.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: It was all mental every night, really weird. I can't
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: think at one particular incident there, No, there was, there
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: was lots of It's mainly stuff I can't talk about
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: fair enough get canceled these days. Probably just crazy antics
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: will put it down to that. You know. At the time,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: we were all in the prime, and you know, we
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: had endless amounts of energy and drink and drug fueled
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and things going and you know, yeah, so a lot
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: of fun. Yeah it was great, but I actually really
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: enjoyed it. I remember the first time I came and
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is the best parts of England
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and the best parts of America. It really is. And
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: then over the years I've come back and I've got
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: different places, and I've realized that I like some places
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and not others. Yes, some are too and hot for me.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Somewhere more leafy and green and a bit nicer temperature
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: for me, and things like that. You know. Yeah, from
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: northern England, heat doesn't mix well with me. You know. No,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I don't blame you.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: It's funny you say that because I've never been to
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: the UK, but I really want to get over there,
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: and I sometimes picture like, there's areas in Australia obviously,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: as you know that do remind me of what I
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: think like England especially would look like with its greenery
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: and rolling hills. But then obviously we have the contrast
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: of like desert that wouldn't look a thing like the UK.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's definitely bits that remind me of of the UK.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, but if you come to the UK, basically,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: don't go to London. Everyone goes to London. It's like
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: the worst place to go. Yeah, there's lots of other
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: places to go. Go to the Lake District, or you know,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: there's lots of areas that you can go to. The
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: more traditional what you think of a picture book from
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: England from the Victorian times, there's lots of you know.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad grew up in Oxfordshire and actually doesn't
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: like London either. Like he's like, it's so it's too
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: busy and packed and it's gross.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Oxford is good. It's similar to York.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I live near York, York, very similar area where it's
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: like battlements from Roman times and then yeah, and then
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: big big cathedrals and things like that. You know, it's
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: it's very nice.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Beautiful, beautiful and finally, last question, misery is still at
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: the heart of paradise Lost sound. Why do you think
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: dark music remains so powerful and strangely comforting for so
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: many listeners.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Because he's evocative? You know, it's many times all of
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: you have been asked, why do you like this music?
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: But doesn't it doesn't it make you miserable? It's like, no,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: if I some really dark music, it makes me very
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: very happy. It's evocating, it makes you feel something, It
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: tugs at your heartstrings, it gives you the shivers. Happy
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: music doesn't do that for me. At all. You know,
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: it's fortunate for me that it's a it's a side
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: thing as well, that it's not a mainstream thing, because
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I don't think I like it if it was a
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: mainstream thing, any of this. You know. I like the
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: fact that ninety percent of the population just like dancing
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: in a field in sunshine and happy music. Good get
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: rid of them, you know, corner over here with all
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: the dark stuff, you know. So yeah, yeah, I think
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: it's because it's evocative and certain people are drawn to that,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, I definitely agree. I'd much rather listen
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: to like the heavier, darker stuff from like The Cure.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: They've got happier stuff too, but I like their darker
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: stuff rather than anything pop that most people like these days.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we're talking about the day and airport. I
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: can't talk to her about Oh our drummer, Jeff, I've
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: certainly been you see The Cure recently. I'm not really
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the Cure, but I thought it was an amazing show.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: He said, I really liked that early stuff. Yes, said, yeah,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the early stuff is great. And he said, you heard
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the new album. I said no, I said, the new
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: album is great. It's more like the early stuff. Yeah,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: so I didn't like the harpy stuff, but that's what
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: made him popular, I guess.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, no, definitely, Oh Greg, I can talk to
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: you forever. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: We love Ascension. We can't wait to hopefully see he soon.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Stuff. Yeah. Thanks,