01. When did the idea for MEMORIAM come about? Why the band name MEMORIAM?
Memoriam came about at the end of 2015, after the death of BT’s drummer Martin Kiddie Kearns. BT decided to put the band on hold whilst we all came to terms with the tragic loss. It was a real low point for me in my life personally and a dark place to be in. I decided that I could simply not sit around and wait for the future of BT to be decided, I had to do something to express my feelings of sorrow, and loss. This is the reason I approached Whale and asked him if he was interested in going into the rehearsal rooms and jamming out some cover versions of songs that had influenced us back in the late 1980’s we BT was formed. We got our mate Frank involved as we had always talked about doing a band together for many years and also got Scott Fairfax who had recently completed a tour of South American playing guitar with Benediction, so we knew that he got on well with Frank.
We had our first meeting in the Pub in January 2016 where we discussed what we would like to do and what songs we would like to play cover versions of and it all has grown from there. We started rehearsals in February 2016 and the band has developed at an incredibly fast pace over the past year!
Initially we where struggling to come up with a name that fitted what we where doing, it was like you’d come up with an idea, Google it and find that the name had been used 20 times previously. The name kind of organically grew from what inspired us to form the band in the first place following the death of Kiddie. The music we are creating is a form of Memoriam, a way to express my feelings of grief and loss lyrically the only way I know how.
02. How would you describe the music of MEMORIAM?
To Be Honest its a mixture of A lot of different styles. Death metal/Grind/punk and Hardcore, we’ve just done what we like with this Album. We’ve just had a lot of fun with it!
We are putting the ‘Old’ back into Old School Death Metal! The band builds on our collective strengths. It sounds killer, like a hybrid mix of Bolt Thrower/Sacrilege/Benediction which in turn has created its own distinct sound.
03. You are going to investigate the war topic again with MEMORIAM (like with Bolt Thrower). What are you going to express through them?
Although the lyrics are War based, Karl always gives them a modern message, its like “War Rages On “ for instance.
For many people, life feels like a war, it’s a constant battle .
“Last words” is a letter to from a soldier from the trenches, knowing there would be a good chance he’d never see his family again.
04. Lets talk about the upcoming album ‘’For The Fallen’’, tell us a little bit about ‘’For The Fallen’’... Is the studio an environment the band enjoy? How different are final, studio results of your songs from previous rehearsal versions? And how does the process of your studio works looks like?
It was like all the albums we had recorded, parts of it was fun, some was very stressful.
And like any tracks we have recorded, they changed slightly from rehearsals. we had ideas that worked well, ideas that didn’t. The end result is we were happy with the final album !
05. How many songs are you arranging for the album ‘’For The Fallen’’? Do you have a tentative release date?
There are 8 tracks on the Album, it’s just under 45 minutes. We had 1 track that wont be on the Album,we decided the album would be a bit to long with the 9th track,its now an exclusive track on the 2nd Hellfire 7 inch.
The release date is the 24th March”.
06. Do you think fans will be as excited when you finally release the debut? What should we expect?
As always we hope everyone likes the Album , there is a good buzz about the album from both fans and Nuclear Blast. we’ ve done stuff that we like! .and do well”, Simply in your face heavy music!
07. How has it been working with such a well-established group of musicians like you have in the MEMORIAM?
Its good, none of us has anything to prove. We are just doing it because we enjoy it, and have fun.
We lost that buzz from going through the process of making music.
We work well together. and get stuff done quickly.
08. Aside from music, how are you doing these days? Any new hobby or passion?
We Have families to keep us busy nowadays. Some of us are into football, rugby.
Scott likes a bit of Fishing. We are all a lot older, but no less stupid!!!!!
09. What is the difference between the Memoriam, Bolt Thrower, Benediction and Sacrilege sound? What's changed?
All the bands have a different sound / outlook .
Memoriam has a mix of everything we have done before, but also has a fresh direction.
We decided we wanted to do tracks we like, instead of just knocking out an album of straight Death Metal for instance. When you hear the Album you will understand!!!
10. Death Metal has been hitting new heights in the last couple of years, mainly because of the commercial success of Deathcore and younger audiences getting into this genre. What is your opinion about the modernization of Death Metal?
When we got into bands 30 years ago we never imagined it would be as popular as it is now, but with any music it goes through good times and bad!!! Let' s just hope there is a generation of people willing to keep going, and trying to push the scene to new heights!!!.
All I can say there has been a lot of changes, it’s all good!!!
11. ‘’For The Fallen’’ album will be release through Nuclear Blast? How are these guys treating you?
Nuclear Blast have been great , we have known/been on the label for a long time..
They saw the potential of the band, and have supported the band.
We only have good things to say about them!!!
12. As one of the now elder statesmen of the Death Metal scene, do you eve feel that with age comes an unreasonable weight of expectation from fans?
Yes and NO! .It’s a lot to do with the bands we have been in for many years. for us personally we don’t really worry what people think of the band.
We love the fact that people have got behind the band. But it’s the same for anyone who has been in bands for as long as we have, you just make music you like
Its not rocket science, keep it simple and stick to what you like doing!!!
13. Cover artwork on ‘’For The Fallen’’ is act of well known DM designer Dan Seagrave. Can you tell us something about the cooperation with him?
Scott always wanted a Dan Seagrave album cover, we asked him. He was happy to do the cover, our ideas and his ideas for the cover weren’t a million miles apart.
The cover is great, it fits what we are trying to do with the music.
14. Let’s talk about the lyrics of every song from ‘’For The Fallen’’ album separately...
01. Memoriam -
Memoriam is an intro song and sets out our intentions, this song is dedicated to Kiddie and is really a eulogy to him,
02. War Rages On -
War Rages On is really about getting on with life, and dealing with the issues that life throws at you.
03. Reduced To Zero -
Reduced to Zero is a comment on the world in which we live in with the rise of right wing nationalistic xenophobia
04. Corrupted System -
This is our punk/hardcore track - again about the world we live in influenced by things such as Brexit and Trump etc.
05. Flatline -
Flatline is about the experience of dying, and the journey it takes.
06. Surrounded (By Death) -
Surrounded (by Death) is about being surrounded by death literally, I wrote this in the wake of Lemmy’s death, it just seems that we are constantly in life
07. Resistance -
Resistance is kind of anti establishment in its focus - its about not taking any shit from anyone.
08. Last Words -
Last Words is the closing track on the album, it is an epic sounding song that is written from the perspective of a letter home from the trenches, exploring the feelings and emotions that a soldier has before he faces death by going over the top.
15. What can you tell me about your gig last year in Obscene Extreme Fest?
Our first Show.it was great, people were interested in what we were doing. There was a big crowd when we played, we played a few covers just to fill out the set, we didn’t want to play all of our own tracks ,as we knew it would be awhile until wed get any thing out.
It was good fun,
Its great promoters gave us a chance on an idea of what we would be like, in this day and age its great. I have a lot of respect for them!!!
16. Are you planning a tour this year as a (headlining) band or gigs only in a festivals (Blastfest, Lords Of The Land, Dark Easter Metal Meeting etc)?
We aren’t sure yet , the honest answer is we have had offers, we are going to decide later in the year!!!!
Lets wait and see if there is any interest in the Album!!
17. Do you have some last word to our readers, or anything about future plans of the MEMORIAM?
Thanks for the interview, Thanks to everyone for their support over the last year.
We have just started on new tracks for the second Album!, more shows for 2017.then after that we will see what we want to do””””””
Thx for the interview , good luck and more albums of MEMORIAM in the future
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