Interview with Pete of Druid Lord 2011

By Bradley Smith

Your debut album, Hymns for the Wicked is finally out, can you tell me about it?  What should people expect from it in regards to its style and mood/atmosphere?  What themes guided its creation?

Hymns for the wicked is 8 tracks of total old school Doom/Death metal. Just plain and simple. The cd is out now on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions and we have an LP version on Witches' Tone Records. The album is nothing technical or complicated. It's just written with mood and melodies that haunt the senses. We had horror master "Putrid" do the album front and back cover. The guy does total cult work. Just plain black and white cover to capture that pure cold feeling. We keep the theme of the band around old horror type lyrics. We are into those cult horror movies. We take a lot of themes and ideas around those older movies. Anything that deals with Dark Times, castles, witches, rituals of the occult. This is what inspired me to play heavy music. I knew I wanted to form this type of band years ago. I was always into bands like Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Celtic Frost, Sabbath. So when I was forming this band I realized that it was very hard to find a vocalist who could actually sing. Especially one that was from our area. I then quickly decided to change the course of the sound a bit. Go for more of the rough vocal style but have feeling and expression. This really fit the band well and we went with it. We also just had a split 7"ep with Wooden Stake come out. We have one track "Black Candle Seance."

Doom death metal, what feelings does that style conjure in you and why do you think it is such an effective technique for delivering the moods you are aiming for?  What are some of the worthy death doom bands out there that people should be familiar with?

Man, I've always been into heavy music. I like the music to have that crushing effect. When the drums/guitar strike that first beat/chord it's like pure magic. I can't explain it. It's been that way ever since I was a young kid and first heard Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep. Since the lyrics deal with creepy subjects and have that cult/vintage feel the music should compliment that. I can't imagine playing anything else but doom/death metal with this writing style. This is coming from a guy that has also been listening to blistering fast Death Metal and Black Metal for ages. I'm a huge fan of music so honestly I listen to everything from metal to classical to 70's electronic and ambient music.

Well, of course you have the classic bands like Sabbath, Death SS, Witchfinder General, Cirith Ungol, Candlemass, St Vitus, Trouble, and of course Pentagram. Those are essential. There are also great bands around now that should be mentioned or have been around for at least 10 years like Abysmal Grief, Coffins,  Asypyx, Winter (total classic), Hooded Menace and tons others.

I notice a lot of inspiration for Druid Lord is derived from old horror movies.  What movies in particular and what elements within a horror movie appeal to you?  Do you feel there are any new horror movies that are worthwhile?

The new horror movies are pretty good I guess but sometimes with all the modern technology it loses something. Those old late 60's early 70's flicks have that grainy feel to them and truly capture the essence of the word "SCARY." The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is classic, Baron Blood was a huge influence on our song of the same title. Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadist, The Tombs of the Blind Dead Trilogy, all the old Hammer Horror stuff, Vampyres. There are way too many to list.

Speaking of that, you use the word “occult” a lot when referring to Druid Lord’s music.  In what aspect do you think the music is “occult?”  I mean, lyrically or is there a deeper meaning you are trying to evoke from the listener? 

We are not trying to go for some deep meaning here. From a lyrical stand point the people or events we write about are somehow tied into the occult, the hidden knowledge that drives men to seek more power. Whether it’s the conjuring of spirits, gathering of witches or whatever, it's the aspect of the paranormal that one cannot explain. Within the meaning of the occult there are so many meanings to write about. It may not be so apparent but the underlying meaning is there.

You were also a member of Acheron and Equinox.  How do those bands differ from Druid Lord?  Is it easy to separate your creative juices between two or more bands without the music bleeding into one another?

It's funny actually as Acheron is similar in some ways to Druid Lord. Not the Doom aspect but keeping it old school death metal. I feel Equinox was a totally different band altogether. Equinox was a way to tie in the older Death Metal style with European Black Metal influence. We were not trying to sound like Mayhem, Darkthrone, Beherit or anyone else. We were just writing music we enjoyed. So, Druid Lord is a completely different beast all together. You might hear a bit of the slower Equinox style in our music to some degree but that cannot be helped since we were all members. It's not that much anyways..haha .

You made an appearance in the book Glorious Times regarding the time you spent with Incubus, can you tell me about that period?  What was the Moyses brothers’ reaction when they heard you playing your Abhorrent material?  Were you in the band instantly?  How did you feel when they signed with Nuclear Blast after quitting the band?

Well it's kinda funny how that whole situation happened. I was in Abhorrent Existence with Kam Lee, Mark LaVenia, and a few other guys. I was at a friend of mine's house flipping in some metal mag. Kerrang I believe and there was an ad for Incubus "Serpent Temptation." I thought, holy shit this is damn cool. I must own this album. At the bottom of the ad was their personal PO box in Louisiana. If I remember correctly, I ordered some merch from the band and sent a personal letter stating who I was and I really liked there music. So, they responded by saying there were relocating to Tampa, FL and were looking to reform the band. They were also looking for a guitar and bass player. Mark and I thought "we gotta do this." Abhorrent was falling apart as our drummer left so this was a good opportunity to do something different. I remember myself, Mark, and my girlfriend at the time drove to Tampa to their rehearsal spot. We played our material and they played their music to be featured on the "Beyond the Unknown" album. We were blown away. I really liked their new music and they also knew the Abhorrent material was technical enough that we could play their material. We were offered the spot a few days later. You know, I mentioned this in the book to some degree. After rehearsing a few months I became tired with driving to Tampa. It had been about two months and it seemed they didn't have a record deal and we weren't' playing any shows. I heard Massacre was reforming and thought..maybe I can try out for those guys. So I quit. Of course Massacre did reform and I was left without a band...Incubus got signed, recorded the album, and toured Europe for almost two months. They asked Mark to stay but figured it was easier to as play as a three piece. I don't blame them really. I blew it but a valuable lesson was learned. I was kicking myself for years after.

When it comes to writing your leads, what are you normally aiming for?  I mean, what influences and how do you want your leads to sound?  How do you feel that a lead enhances a song?

Just feeling really. A good guitar solo can really add some sort of emotion to a song. After the song is written I just sit at my computer and start jamming. I play over and over until I come up with something that brings feeling to the song. Maybe evil or dark sounding. It has to bring something to the song or it's not worth playing. I also try to bring some 70's guitar influence into my playing. After all this is Doom and some bands of today don't even play solos. Since we also incorporate the old school Death Metal influence it's mandatory to have killer solos.

Being spawned from the Tampa death metal scene, can you tell me some of your favorite memories from the late 80s/early 90s period?  What made that period so special to you?  Do you think there will ever be another scene that has that same sort of atmosphere and energy like Tampa back in that period? 

You know, there have been some great metal scene's over the years. San Fran thrash scene, New York Metal scene, Swedish Death Metal scene, Norwegian Black Metal Scene. What made the Tampa scene special was that we were a part of it. I mean it just blew up in a short time and it seems that every band wanted to move to FL. We had the sun, women, and then Death Metal. Why not??? Seriously, what made it special is that we saw the birth of some of the most killer Death Metal bands ever. Morbid Angel, Obituary (then Xcutioner), Massacre, Nasty Savage, Death, Nocturnus, original Incubus, Atheist, Amon/Deicide. Actually Nasty Savage and Savatage where the first two that really took off. I mean there were shows every weekend and all the bands used to play together. Man, it was a great time and that time will never be captured again. The best memory I had was going to an outdoor gig in some old airplane hanger near some farm pasture area. I mentioned this in the Glorious Times book. It was around summer of '89. It was Amon, Nocturnus, Obituary, and Morbid Angel. First the stage was about 7 feet in the air or more. We walk in and there are these Rottweiler's walking around. Amon is playing and no one know what the hell to do. I was amazed how tight the music was and Glen Benton was just leading the whole gig. I knew they were going to be big and this was before they got signed. They were breaking statues of the Virgin Mary (which had raw meat inside.) The dogs then were eating the meat out of the broken statues once they hit the floor. So, they play, then Nocturnus, then Obituary came out. They just tore it up playing all the songs that would go on the "Slowly We Rot" album. Morbid Angel never did get to play as the cops showed up but I did get to meet Trey and David for the 1st time. The only problem seeing the FL metal scene take off was that you had every fucking band copying each other then the Death Metal scene got damn ridiculous and burned itself out in the 90's. At least that's my opinion.

Since you are a true old schooler do you feel a sense of disconnect to what’s going on with the new scene in the underground or do you feel it has stayed pretty much true to its roots?  What do you feel remains good about the underground and what has changed for the worse over the course of your many years?

To some extent. I think I'll never like the popular bands again..hahaha. I tend to listen to all the classic stuff. Love the old Death and Black Metal, 70’s rock. One thing I do find interesting is all the killer newer bands coming out and keeping it underground again. Bands like Cemetery Urn, Grave Desecretor, Acid Witch. True old school feeling. I will at least take the time to listen to a lot of metal out there and then decide if I want to pursue buying their stuff. There are so many bands now and everyone is copying everyone. I can be selective and decide for myself.

I know you recorded everything yourself with Hymns For The Wicked.  What sort of experience was that?  Did you take any valuable lessons away from those sessions that you will use in your next recording?

Yeah we did the recordings ourselves. We originally only planned on this only being a self financed demo or ep. Then the whole thing just took off and we decided to make it a full length. We are really pleased with it. My only regret was that we had to record in stages. Different recording sessions mean different sounds, different mixes so we had to work really hard to make sure everything sounded similar. It was nice not to be under the clock as far as time constraints.

What are some of your upcoming plans for Druid Lord and your other projects?  Can we expect some new recordings?

We are recording a split CD with Monster Metal band Kaiju. This will have three new tracks. There will also be a separate 7" that has one song off the cd and a fourth original track. Killer artwork by the mighty NEV as well. Kam Lee will be doing guest lyrics/vocals on one of our tracks.

We are also working on a track for a split 7"ep with Skeletal Spectre. This will be on Horror Pain Gore Prod . The songs are coming out great as we are recording them now.

We got some gigs coming up in FL for the next few months and then the Day of Death fest (NY) in July. I'm hoping to starting writing new material by April for the next full length.

Any final message you want to pass on from your chamber of ghastly horror?

Hail to you Brad and Nocturnal Cult. Thanks for the interview. We appreciate the support brother. Keep an eye out for the DRUID DEATH CULT in 2011. We'll have new merch so check out our myspace - www.myspace.com/druidlordz

 and facebook under Druid Lord and Druidlord Lives.