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The Ritual Cometh: MORTIIS Warns Australian Fans Of Impending Doom · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, this is Morris. I'll be heading over to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Australia in November with Nitland and Teed for about five shows,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: two of them in Sydney, then a few other cities.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: So hopefully I'll see you there.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Fantastic, mate. Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: My pleasure.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: So as you say, mate, you're headed to Australia in
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: November for a run of shows as part of the
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Southern Ritual Tour with Nick Lord and TR kicking off
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: in Sydney with two shows on November 18th and heading
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: to Melbourne or Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide over consecutive nights.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: So it's not really that far away, mate. Are you packed?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Ready to go?
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm actually heading out to Latin America on Monday,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: so I got to get that done first. But yeah,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: we're pretty much ready to go. Anyway, I mean, got
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: everything set up. So it's really just a matter of,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you know, waiting until it's time to go.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, cool.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And this still marks your first time bringing a
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: full band line up to Australia, mate. So how does
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: the energy and preparation for a full band live show
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: differ from just your solo Dungeon Synth performances?
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: In Morris' case, these days, not that much because, you know, Um,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the two guys that are joining me on this tour, um, uh,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: John's a drummer and he's toured with me a few
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: times now. And then, um, we got Nero from Cyclone 9, uh,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: they're both out of the US. So they're actually rehearsing.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Nero's over in, um, Vegas. So he's rehearsing on his own. Um,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: John's in LA and he tours all the time. So
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: he basically just drums on some pads on tour. And
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I'm alone with a microphone and some backing tracks in
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the studio, just yelling into that. And we have a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: group on WhatsApp, and we kind of talk. And then
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Nero's been sending me some guitar playing videos. And it
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: sounds awesome, man. So it's not a very traditional way
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of doing it. But then again, I'm not sure if
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: it's that unusual either. A lot of bands have members
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: kind of spread across. you know, the country or even
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the world. So, you know, at least we have the
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: technology to help us along now.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: True. And I guess that's a good point too, right?
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Because, like, you're old school like me, so you'd be
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: used to being there with people doing it. Like, how
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: does it differ, I guess, like learning your sets over
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: the video and everyone doing it individually?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Is it much of a difference?
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean, I've always created my albums.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: in at least to a certain degree in solitude as
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a solo artist. And so when like Nero, the guitar
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: player at the moment, needs to learn parts, I just
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: send him the separated tracks because the albums are already recorded.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: And I have access to everything. I got all the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: multi-tracks and all that stuff on my drives. So I'll
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: just send him everything. Like, OK, here are the riffs.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: that's the, that's, this is the way the riffs go.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: So he just kind of like, so he can sit
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: there in his own time on his laptop, whatever, and
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: kind of learn it. Um, whereas in the past, um, sometimes,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know, the members would, would have been, uh, in
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the studio recording as well. So they would already know
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the riffs. So that was probably, it's always easier to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: be in the same room, but, um, to be honest,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: it's not really something I thought a lot about. I don't,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I don't feel like the way I do it now
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: is a struggle or anything. It's just different. It still works. Yeah.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Nice. And on the subject of bringing the band over, mate,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: like I could imagine the whole performance side of things,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: much grander and visual element. It's magnified as well, but
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: are you able to bring the full production over here? Like,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: can you, can you run us through what to expect
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: or is it a surprise?
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like more, it's just never been, it's, it's,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: it's a visual thing, but you know, We're not huge
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: like certain other bands, so we don't have all that
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: much production value. You know, we'll see what we can do.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, usually I do like video backgrounds and, you know,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: some banners and backdrops and shit like that. So obviously
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: there's going to be some stuff, but it's not our maiden,
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Australian audiences have been highly receptive so far, right? Like
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: your first indie show sold out, forced a second date
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: to be added, but As an artist, man, what does
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: selling out shows more than a couple of months out
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: from your tour do for your confidence?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Does it make much of a difference?
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Well, it does more than being told that ticket sales
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: are low.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: That's true, I guess. So, of course, it's positive.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, I love hearing that. I think it's good
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: for any musician's ego to once in a while be
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: told that, hey, man, that show actually sold out. So, yeah,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: it makes me fucking happy. And then they're putting out
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: another one. I mean, I hope– I don't know if
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: that's going to sell out or anything, but, I mean,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: you know, it's cool.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sweet.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: That's good news.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is, man. And looking through the promo materials, man,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: like it highlights that you're going to be showcasing material
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: from the Smell of Rain album. Like that album marked
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: a bit of a massive polarizing transition from the dark
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: ambient to the industrial synth pop. when it came out
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: in 2001. So how do you feel about those songs today?
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Because you've moved on a little bit since then. And
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: what's it like reinterpreting them with the band so far after?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I've reinterpreted those songs many times. I mean, there was
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: a time, I mean, around 2010, 2015, where I'd actually
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: rewritten those songs to be much harder and more aggressive.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: But the thing is, for the tour we did in
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the States earlier this year, which is very similar to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: what we're going to do in Australia, pretty much identical set-wise.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I actually went back to the more sort of classic
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: versions of those songs. So we're sticking pretty hardcore to
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: the way they sound on the album. I just want
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to do it that way. And I don't need another reason.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: If I feel like it, I'll just do it that way.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: But so yeah.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I kind of went full circle with them. It really
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: kind of depends on what kind of mood I'm in really,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: you know, that year, what I want to do. But
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: at the moment, it's sort of like a classic sound.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Yes, right.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: There's an interesting one for you, mate.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Like the Australian tour is called the Southern Ritual Tour
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: and you're sharing the bill with Nick Landon here.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: So it's a very cinematic lineup in some respects.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: So if this tour was a movie, how would you
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: describe the atmosphere and what role would Mortis play in
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: the narrative?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I would be, oh, I can't believe it. It's embarrassing.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: I can't remember his name now. He would have to
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: be Mad Max, wouldn't it?
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, awesome. That's so cool.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: What's the dude with the cool mask? It gets ripped
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: off when his old jaw comes out at the end
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of the movie. It's fucking awesome. He's a toe cutter
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: or something like that in the first movie.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, yes, yes.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: That would have to be me, right?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And denying people drinking water just because I'm an asshole.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: There's your slogan for the tour. Get your own fucking water.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: In the.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Desert.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: The genres across those bands, like various of dark electronic
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: to pagan folk, but there's a bit of a shared
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: dark atmosphere between them.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: So what do you think.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Binds the fans of Mortis, Nitland and Tia for something
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: like this?
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, I think probably there's a visual aspect, I think,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that has similarities. And I think also sort of atmospherically.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I think musically, it's eclectic on this tour. It's three
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: different sounds. But a lot of times, there are but
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: when you have eclectic lineups like this, and this has
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: happened to me before, for example, when I told with mayhem,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: there's always going to be this invisible sort of red
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: line running through it. And, uh, I, I think with this,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: it's obviously the whole mystique and just a visual aspect. Um,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: you know, you could almost say like a spiritual kind of, um,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: red line going through the whole thing. Um, But that's
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: just my sort of emotional response to it. I can't
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: necessarily put better words into that. But yeah, I think
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: there's like an atmospheric sort of connection between all the bands.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: So I think it's going to be like a pretty
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: cool segue between bands. The way I think one project
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: slash band is going to slide into the next, I
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be actually fairly seamless and nice,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: as opposed to this one You know, massive three-hour fucking
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: block of the same thing happening for the whole night.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: That might be what some people prefer, but I mean,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to me, that sounds a bit like a sonic drag.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Sounds like making your ears bleed unnecessarily.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: You know, everything kind of sounds the same, you know
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: what I mean? A little bit of variety never hurt.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I agree, I agree.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: Yep. Looking back, man, you've evolved through several distinct eras
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: over the decades, from the early ambient fantasy eras to
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: industrial metal and back again. But when you look back
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: at the trajectory of Mortis, do you see a linear
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: story or do you view each era as a completely
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: different project?
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I feel like everything I've done has happened organically. It hasn't,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: with the exception of the transition from the Stargate to
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: The Smell of Rain, which was almost like a planned
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: move because it was by necessity for my own sanity.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I needed to change my musical direction. Um, beyond that,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: everything that I've done feels like it's happened. Not so
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: much by design, but more, um, by inspiration and following ideas, uh,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: happy accidents, being experimental and open-minded and willingness to simply
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: see where things go, uh, as long as it feels right. So, um,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that sense it's it's very natural and um yeah you
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: know organically i like to use that word.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Okay i guess how do you know when it's time
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: to move on to a different era or a different
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: state like is it is it a gut feeling or
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: do you get bored with what you're doing and and
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: you want to move on like what sort of what
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: dictates the transitions.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Um I don't think I've ever gotten bored, which, and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: there's a simple reason for that. It's because I haven't
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: stuck around long enough to get bored. You know, um, I,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I sort of keep moving and, um, once again, it's,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: it's not so much by design. It's more by the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: fact that I'm very experimental. I like to try things
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: out and see what happens. And that usually takes me
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: into new places. And, um, Sometimes I realize after a while, oh,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I guess I'm sort of moving away from what I
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: did previously. But that's okay because I'm inspired by what
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: I'm doing now. So the whole point is if I'm
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: inspired and I feel good about it and I'm excited
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: about what I'm doing, then, you know, I don't need
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: another reason. I don't need any additional reasons to do it.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? So, yeah, I just go
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: where the music goes.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, sweet.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: And Maud has released your latest album, Ghost of Europa,
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: in June of this year, man. So it's only been
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: a couple of months, but how's your response been to it?
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: It's been great. I mean, I'm sure there's bad reviews
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: out there, but I haven't seen them yet. And pretty much, yeah,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I was a little, you know, when you make the music,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: when you're in the process of making it, you're just
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: excited about the music and you're like, wow, this is cool.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: I'm very satisfied with this. You don't worry about what
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: the rest of the world is going to think until
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you're in this sort of marketing process when everything's been
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: handed in. You've sent off your master tapes and you've
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: delivered your artwork to the label and everything's kind of
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: like too late to stop now. It's like this is
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the point of no return. That's kind of like when
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: you might start thinking, well, I like it. Is anyone
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: else going to like it? So these little microscopic concerns
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: might start to make themselves known at that point. But,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: you know, and they did, obviously they did. But everyone
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: I've spoken to, you know, when I was doing press
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: and the reviews that I've seen, the fan response that
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I've seen has all been really, really positive.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: So, yeah.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Can't ask more than that, my friend.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: You said you can't ask for more than that.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Nope.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I could, but.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Well, you could, but you probably won't get it. No,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: that's it.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: So no point.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: No point.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: I won't. Your music's always been significant for creating like
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: a cinematic and seductive atmosphere, but are the musical and
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: the cinematic components two separate entities that come together when
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: you are creating music, mate, or do you develop them
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: both at the same time?
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: I think, I think everything just happens. You know, again,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I don't really plan for something. Oh yeah. I want
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: this to sound super soundtracky. But I mean, having that said,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: maybe I contradict myself.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: A little bit.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I do like it. I like music that sounds big
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and expansive, you know, not expensive, but expansive as in large,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you know, sort of like Blade Runner, that type of
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: soundtracky vibe, the Dune soundtracks and, You know, with the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: faraway strange voices and all the mysterious percussion and all
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: of that. That really kind of appeals to me. It's
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: one of the things about music that appeals to me.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: So perhaps I do sometimes make music sound that way
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: by intentionally or semi-intentionally. I'm not sure, but I don't
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: feel like I planned. anything to sound okay. So the
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: end result is going to be exactly like this. I mean, I've,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I've not been trying that because like I said, before
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I experiment so much, not try so many things, uh,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: that no matter how much I plan for something to
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: sound a certain way, it always ends up being different.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: You know, I, I, I just don't have the discipline
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: to just stick to one ID. I just, I branch
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: off into all weird kinds of directions real quick.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: As a general thing like you mentioned experimentation which you
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: do a lot in your music like if you had
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: to put a percentage on it like how much of
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: what you experiment with actually makes it to the finished
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: product and how much of it sort of you go
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: through and just go.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Nah nah nah oh like nine out of ten things
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: you try you throw away yeah right it's mostly shit
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean, that's the whole thing. I mean,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: I'm sure if you ask a scientist, you know, like, well, okay,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: so when you experiment with all your chemicals and all
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: of whatever you do in the lab, you know, do
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: you create gold every time? I mean, you don't, you know,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: it's mostly failures. But, you know, nobody needs to hear that. So,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you know, you get to hear the stuff that actually
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: came out cool. And that's what you got to do.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: You know, you've got to turn every stone and usually
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: there's just a bunch of shit on the room, you know,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden there's something cool.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Do you keep all the shit and put it aside
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: for future reference to come back on?
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Or once you've finished with an idea, it's gone.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Um, I keep it as a warning to myself.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: No, I mean, don't do that again.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Um, nah, I mean, Usually the experimentation is something that
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: you kind of do in real time and it just
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: kind of go, Oh, well, this sounds like crap. And
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: it is move on to something else. So it's not,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: it's not like you sit there and you create like a,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of songs that are failures. You know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I never let it go that far. It's more, more
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: about experimenting with sounds and certain, it may be some
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: combining melodies and things like that. And just realize, well, okay,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: that was shit. So, okay, let's move on. So there's
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: really nothing to keep, you know, I don't let it
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: go that far.
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: All right, man.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks very much for your time. Well, it's been
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: a pleasure speaking with you. The Southern Ritual Tour kicks
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: off in Sydney on November 18th. Tickets are moving quickly.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: So if you want to head along, I suggest you
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: shake your ass now to avoid disappointment. Yeah. Good advice.