Interview: Krieg
March 25 2009 at 06:58:07 AM  Intolerant and intolerable, Neill "Imperial" Jameson can be heard officially returning this month, after a four-year hiatus, to the creation that brought him little fame and much infamy throughout its 10 year existence by way of a new split EP with UK’s Caina. As Krieg’s founder and main songwriter, Imperial hasn’t exactly been quiet since putting the group to rest, appearing on the odd posthumous disc and releasing albums under the monikers N.i.l and March into the Sea, both a far cry, however, from the frequency shifting savagery of his first and most quarrelsome offspring. Krieg's early releases were cobbled together from various sessions and circumstances, the results unspooled, still hissing, ugly, unlistenable. Dementia lived in indecipherable howls, distorted chords grating on every nerve, sound and brain waves tracing out the same mental-house sketch. Later years brought on a more “musical” appearance but yielded no less unflattering results for what remained an unbound celebration of the lizard brain. Like a bloodied fist, Krieg's songs never begged for much understanding. Confronted with this dripping black mess one had only to act and react. Thinking about it came much later, and not just any reaction could do. Not to follow, not to hum, but to clash and scream and loathe the time you even spent considering it was ones role in this stubborn conflict: the war against you. The Left Hand Path: Krieg was already such a different band by the time it was put on hiatus after Blue Miasma. After taking time away and moving into new outlets, why return to Krieg at all? What is there left to do? What does it represent today? Imperial: Because Krieg is the most personal extension artistically of myself, I felt a natural craving to return to that setting. I found no musical project I've been involved with or am currently involved with has the satisfaction Krieg holds for me. That is not to say I haven't found great value in other work I've done, but nothing matches my oldest child in terms of pride. Krieg is the only project which I truly am at the tyrannical helm, so to speak; everything else became a collaboration, which holds merit in its own right, but with so many new ideas of what I could build onto Krieg's music. Krieg represents what it has always represented: War against the outside and the inside. Describe the situation that led to putting the band on hold. A total nervous breakdown on my end, which I handled very poorly; it cost me the loss of my record label and years worth of work. I can't say it ever really got much better but I handle things a lot differently these days. I think I was also burned out on the underground at the time, which seemed to be more of a fashion show with slogans and merchandise rather than integrity and artistic creation. Is it still that way today? Who knows? I don't pay attention to the underground anymore really unless it's a band or label truly worth supporting. I pick my battles a lot more carefully than the past. Up until the last two albums you had a reputation as one of the worst sounding, most unapproachable bands in the country. Maybe that’s even putting it gently. The albums were usually so stripped down – in sound and appearance – that they forced one into confrontation, lacking reference of something knowable: What you have is just that and then, well, trying to put a finger on what that is. How much of this do you think was due to your intentions versus your budget and knowledge of recording music at the time? I remember one of Krieg’s touring guitarists defending the band by explaining something to the effect that, yes, underneath everything, there were actual songs to learn. If Destruction Ritual was recorded again with how I work currently people would be surprised at the songs since my writing style hadn't changed very much. But the majority of it would lose its impact because I intended to have confrontational and abrasive recordings. Being hugely into bands like Beherit and Profanatica who relied more on feeling than recording skill I really felt restrained with the need to have a studio perfect sound. I will grant that some of it had to do with my knowledge of recording, the majority of my first five or six years of Krieg were done in isolation in an area where there was no one to really teach me these things. It was very unrestrained for me and I feel I accomplished what I needed to accomplish with those records. Obviously it didn't hurt me much since Krieg toured Europe twice before releasing "listenable" music and I still get mail from people today who feel because you can follow the music I am a weaker writer now than say 10 years ago. You’ve never included lyrics to any of your releases. Why? Do you in fact write with a specific piece of music in mind or do they combine arbitrarily? How do you think having no lyrics affects the way the music is received? I intended to have my lyrics printed with the last two records but budget killed it for The Black House and Blue Miasma's design didn't allow for it really. I take a lot of different paths when I write lyrics, either constructing them around the song or the song around the lyrics or neither. I don't think it has much of a role in how the music is received; I don't feel the need to have them printed to direct the listener on how to feel about the songs. Some people, myself included, thought that Blue Miasma was in a way only a diluted version of the previous album, being more conventional and lacking identity and also the powerhouse feeling you achieved on The Black House. In short, that Krieg should have ended earlier than it did. What are your thoughts on the album today, the use of so many guest musicians and all that went into it? The recording process took a lot of the punch out of the songs. My second experience at that studio was not a pleasant one to be honest and a lot of mistakes were made. As a whole I still feel strongly about the album but the songs come off stronger live than on recording. Some songs could be shorter but there's not much I can do about that five years after, so it stands as a document of Krieg at that time. The use of guest musicians has been greatly overstated, as most of them with the exception of STW had been live members of Krieg for years. Most musicians on any given Krieg album are guest musicians from other bands I'm close to. This instance was just that I wanted to work with people whom I truly respected for what I saw would be the final Krieg album and circumstances made this possible. Krieg was one of the first Black Metal bands to talk openly about drawing inspiration from music outside of the genre. Specifically, American music/musicians like Lou Reed, The Stooges. and Earth, although these weren’t always immediately perceptible in the music itself. Others like Wrnlrd and Nachtmystium are often praised with doing the same, but in the latter case the parallels are drawn more to bands outside of the States (Pink Floyd, Death in June etc.). What do you make of this connection? I assume your listening habits are not bound to one area of the world as in the past you’ve mentioned being drawn toward a lot of different ambient music released outside the country, but it’s interesting that even within Black Metal, Krieg places more in the lineage of “homegrown” bands like Profanatica or even The Misfits as far as a general style, fluctuating as it is, and attitude. Of course I don't restrict my personal listening habits geographically; anyone who does is fucking stubborn and may have a learning disability. Nachtmystium is very obviously influenced by psychedelic music which really came more from across the pond than the U.S. in the 1970s since we were being overrun by bands who wanted to have an area presence melded with a country music attitude. But again I don't place much value on geographical inspiration musically. Krieg is mostly linked to the old USBM scene mostly because of my strong support for it; the fact the band is fucking old by today's standards, and because I'm American. I don't give much consideration to it anymore; the global Black Metal market has expanded into so many corners of the world that there isn't much need unless you're patriotic or nationalist, which I am neither. What about yourself then? Krieg releases have usually traversed this interesting line of gothic architecture, fin de sciele painting (Moreau), Doré engravings, B&W photography and Bret Easton Ellis. Would you prefer to keep it more conceptual in the future, as on The Black House, or do would you rather not over think it? And what other novelists, artists, thinkers do you draw inspiration from or whose works you feel perhaps better express ideas or feelings within you? It solely depends on what I'm working on. All of the albums have themes to them but I hate using the terms "concept album" to describe them, that really brings to mind Emerson Lake and Palmer type shit and feels too pretentious. I'll continue to work with themes but they'll change from album to album. Authors that come to mind for me would be Bukowski, Bertrand Russell, Knut Hamsun, Herman Hesse, Thomas Mann, a great deal of the beat writers, Irvine Welsh and existentialist writing like Sartre etc. In terms of painters/photographers (physical artists) I'm not as well educated on this subject as I'd like to be, I just know what sort of art draws me in. Nick Blinko is an artist who I really admire, his drawings and writing are both exceptional views into mental illness. I've been lucky to grow up with some interesting artists like Ralph Stewart who did the N.i.l and Krieg/Caina covers and J. Marcheski (N.i.l) who's done the bulk of the photographic art in my releases, plus I've met some interesting people along the way. It seems like some of them are beginning to get gallery support now as well. I’ve been using Black Metal in reference to Krieg for the whole interview now, but what do the words mean to you, the significance of genre vis-à-vis the will of the artist? Having started playing in different Death Metal bands, what drew you toward it that was different, viable, vital to you? Black Metal to me is more about thought, emotion and philosophical ideals than Death Metal. Those connections drove me to create Black Metal and keep me creating it today. That isn't to say Death Metal isn't important, well thought out music (though in a lot of cases it isn't…and in a lot of cases Black Metal isn't either) and especially for the early U.S. scene a lot of us were born from that genre. The Death Metal band, Abominus, I played in originally was called, Funeral Fog, and played Black/Death Metal but the other members’ interest drifted more to the Fear Factory/Philip K. Dick school of Metal. These were the only musicians in my area who played any kind of Metal when I was younger, without transportation etc., so I had to go on my own and do what I felt was correct. What philosophical ideals coincide with or are commonly expressed through your music - not just with Krieg, but the work you did in N.i.l? Nihilism, and a bleak view of how life will turn out. Lack of faith in humanity and myself. Most of my written thoughts are metaphors for this. Looking at Death Metal, which I see as America’s last great contribution to music (as much as it was a worldwide phenomena, American bands had an earlier and hugely influential foothold in the genre), there’s a clear difference in the way bands from the States and Europe approached things, especially if we look at their lyrics; Europeans being far more apt to use romantic language when describing death, specifically as sleep or a dream, while American bands tended to be more colorful and grotesque. For example, there are clear musical similarities between Autopsy and Dismember, but take a look at their lyrics side by side and all but the most general comparisons break down. I prefer Finnish and Swedish Death Metal to a great majority of American Death Metal save for Goreaphobia, Incantation (Pillard era), Immolation and some others. I'm also of the school of thought that Deicide was better than Cannibal Corpse etc. in the early 1990s and that Hip-Hop's inclusion into "Death" Metal is the fault of American bands. That being said, I do agree that a lot of American Metal like Autopsy, Possessed and the early Crust/Grind helped get the international ball rolling. But like most American things, others in other countries do it better. If you look at it from a cultural standpoint, Europeans have a richer history of literature, art and philosophy to draw on for inspiration than Americans simply due to age and quality of education. That obviously holds a large roll in lyrical construction. It’s not that this way of thinking or form of expression is absent in the history of our art and literature or even in the work of contemporary artists (Slayer) but that it was altogether rare at the time and eclipsed by the influence of popular media. Plus, we have swamps and shit. So what we get is two different ways of approaching the same taboo. It's what made Floridian Death Metal (the high quality bands like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary, etc.) different and special from something like Entombed/Dismember, etc. At this point in time there truly was a geographical divide in sound between the countries since music was only spread through tape trading and paper zines. Now I don't see it at all; you can have bands from Indonesia that sound like they're from Ohio and bands from Ohio that sound like they're from Gothenburg. But as far as I can tell (until the old-new school arguments) there wasn’t this widespread attitude where one was considered superior or more authentic than the other. What were the main differences you noticed between Black Metal in Europe and America while touring, whoring around places like Germany, France, Texas? Did it surprise you that bands from Europe were fans of what Krieg was doing? In a similar way, can there ever really be an American style of Black Metal? What would characterize it? What could it contribute and is it even an end worth pursuing? Has it already been achieved? Black Metal has more elitist overtones and less of a community feeling than Death Metal, Thrash or Punk, which created the pseudo-feelings of superiority in scenes. When I initially went to Europe it was a large change because the crowds were larger and more responsive than American ones but as the ability of the U.S. underground bands to get to Europe and vice versa expanded, the crowds seemed to get weaker and less interested in anything but showing off their new Moonblood shirt. Eastern Europe is the only place that really retained the feeling of urgency as well as Finland. I think people were given so many tours and shows constantly there that they were mostly going out to socialize. I wasn't surprised Europeans were into Krieg; most of the people I corresponded with in the early days were European and the U.S. Black Metal scene was stretched so thinly across such a large landmass that there wasn’t much of a sense of a growing scene for shows, etc. The Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child fest changed that to an extent but I don't think that sort of thing is effective anymore since Black Metal in this country now has a larger following, shows are easier to book, and now people are too lazy to travel beyond a few hours. So we've caught up with Europe in that respect. Even special fests aren't as packed as they used to be. U.S. Black Metal is now a different style than it was originally: early on we were categorized by aggressive noisy and nasty sounding music, now it's all about the California Xasthur school which has eclipsed most any of the original bands as far as the Metal press is concerned. I don't think any style is worth pursuing unless it's what truly drives you, then it's YOUR music irregardless of similarities to others (unless you're a band that tries to copy note for note another band, claiming it to be your own invention, and use a modified version of their logo as your own, then you've got a learning disability or are in a cover band and should own up to it). There are two generations of American Black Metal "style" out there now so I guess it's been achieved. Is it choice or circumstance that keeps you living here in America? Living in Jersey, for fuck’s sake. I think the circumstances of the current economy keep everyone firmly in place. Before that? I don't mind where I live and I've traveled enough to get a feel for living in other places. Krieg was one of the few bands that I feel comfortable calling unpredictable. You can trace a path from the earliest material to the present and say yes, gradually it became more “musical” but on the other hand you followed The Black House and the material on Death Glorification with the Patrick Bateman EP. You’re currently planning to record a new album, The Isolationist. How would you describe its place in your discography and what will be the lineup, number of persons on the record? When do you expect to have it wrapped up by? Writing began when we gathered for rehearsals of the second Twilight album in 2006. Since that never happened I kept working on my songs for it, one appearing on the split 7- inch with Caina. The music is a lot uglier and alienating than Blue Miasma, which I’m sure will please some people and it keeps with Krieg’s theme of being a fluid and constantly changing endeavor. I'd say about half of it is ready to record; we're aiming for the summer depending on contract negotiations which have been going on for a bit now. If everything goes according to plan, the label to release it won't really surprise anyone. The lineup will be my live lineup from our last four shows: Morgul (Sanguis Imperem, Nachtmystium, Sumeria) on drums and Joseph Van Fossen (Noctuary) on guitar. Bass will hopefully be done by Marcus Kolar (Sarcophagus) but it depends on scheduling. It will be completed and released by the end of the year. .jpg) Explain your connection to and/or thoughts on the following: THE RED CATHERDRAL Andrew from Caina mentioned he wanted to do a project in an old, filthy style and needed a bassist/vocalist. That's where I'm to come in. Until we have more than just a few ideas floating around I'll decline to comment on it. TWILIGHT A second album with one vocalist and based around the core of Blake, Wrest and myself sure would be interesting. When the first record came out I wrote the following: Twilight seems to offer its members a chance to act on the influence they hold over each other without defeating the uniqueness or boundaries of their initial projects. The future of Twilight depends on how those bands develop in the future, what new catharsis builds from within, and ironically we might expect a change [in their main projects] because of the experience itself. Thoughts? How do you feel about how the first album was marketed and what it accomplished? It’s kind of weird how almost everyone involved either returned to a low profile or in some cases put their main acts to bed, changed up completely or disappeared entirely a year or two afterwards. That album was a great personal experience even if, as a listening experience, it's not as cohesive as an album should be. Marketing wise, I didn't pay a lot of attention outside of doing interviews. It was one of the first U.S. Black Metal albums to really catch a lot of more...mainstream I guess, press. But that was right at the time when Black Metal was slowly evolving into hipster digestible music. I had someone at Nachtmystium's show in Philadelphia last December come up and ask me if I ever heard the album before. They had no idea when I told them how I was involved with it, who I was or that I had my own band(s). I guess I was written out of most of the press. Heh. We all stayed active after the album, just some of us at a slower pace I suppose. RUNNING A LABEL/DISTRO Blood Fire Death launched Xasthur. Blood Fire Death also failed Lugubrum which is probably my biggest regret as they're an incredible band. Outside of that it's constant work that I just did not possess the stability to do properly for an extended period of time. I had some interesting releases lined up too, but after two labels (BFD and earlier Profanation) I'm positive I don't want to ever enter the business side of things again unless it's a small scale 100 copy 7-inch or something. SCION FESTIVAL Come see extreme metal! Stay and buy a car! Is that band national socialist? Fuck ‘em; off the list. Personally I see any sort of marketing shit like this to be pure comedy considering how poor the Metal community in general is. If these corporate pricks want to do a free show and pay these bands, well then fuck ‘em; it won't help their business model one bit. As for Nachtmystium getting kicked off (which is what I'm guessing you're referencing) I'm hoping it won't cost Krieg its Volkswagen endorsement. I meant in general. But you’ve been accused of the same thing before, although with less at stake professionally at the time, I guess. So you weren't surprised by what happened? No, these sorts of companies have departments full of fact checkers to make sure their asses are covered. In a time where no one is buying new cars they want to make sure they don't have any sort of negative connotation to their public appearance. It's what happens when any sort of outsider culture is mixed with mass-market consumerism and didn't really surprise me as much as most. These sorts of accusations will follow most any Black Metal related band around. It's kept me from shows and thrown me on watch lists and I was a lot more offensive to all sides of politics when I was younger than most bands who are having to dodge AntiFa now. It made me disinterested in the combination of politics and art, at least through my own work; I don't give a fuck if anyone else is dealing with political subjects as long as it's done in a well thought out manner. I’ve seen people question who could have instigated the whole thing, and granted Judd has made some enemies (which doesn’t necessarily imply any real danger at all these days), but I think it could just as easily have been some ultra-sensitive, liberal blogger-type journo who felt like the world could be made that much better by alerting Toyota to…whatever. We spoke about it and have some ideas on who it could be if it was not an internal check. I wish Nachtmystium well with their fight against this situation. There’s been a lot of controversy lately about whether Black Metal bands (or ex-Black Metal bands) can realistically a) become accepted and b) hope to retain their integrity while courting a larger audience. Watain being the most vocal in support of this view and I think in their case, especially the shows they’ve done in America, its something especially needed, just because too few are willing to cross certain lines here. But I also think that it’s ultimately doomed as this and other extreme or “outsider” thinking will ultimately be looked upon only as a curiosity and will be pushed back into the dark once the majority tire of it or it becomes imitated to lesser effect. Your thoughts on this as a writer/performer and how comfortable are you with Krieg’s current profile and how far would you be willing to take it given your views and well, as noted above, your physical/mental state? Remember Euronymous felt this way, at least in terms of Black Metal bands getting paid well. I think many bands will have to sacrifice a certain amount of whatever element makes Black Metal something frightening to the outside (normal) world. Very few cases, like Watain, will a band be able to be successful without compromise. I could also look back 30 some years and mention how Punk was originally viewed as a threat to the majority and guide you to how current "Pop-Punk" like Green Day is about as much of a threat as a wet tissue to the establishment now. Black Metal will never be accepted in a religious work as a majority art form, but there are definitely going to be attempts made. I don't have any fear about it because it doesn't have any impact on my life. Krieg cannot maintain a massive touring cycle due to session members and I doubt I'll be asked to appear at a corporate event any time soon. I will take it wherever it leads me, but I've got a strong grip on guiding that path to make sure it goes where I'm suited. I don't have any sort of delusions that if I get onto a larger label and do interviews with glossy loud rock magazines that my life is going to change or that I'll have to start making music people can easily get into. I haven't had to compromise myself yet and I don't see that being an issue in my future. PAUL LEDNEY I just got the Profanatica angel tattooed over my heart. For me the greatest vocalist in music and, next to Judas Iscariot, the best creator of Black Metal from the United States. The shit that came out after last year’s SOTNC was unjustified drama and petty. I fully support Profanatica and Havohej. Ledney is one of the most interesting people I've become friends with through my involvement with this music. One collaboration (or even a split) I'd definitely like to hear... I wouldn't rule it out. I did vocals on a song for John Gelso's (Profanatica) Royal Arch Blaspheme project and might possibly work with Ledney at a future time. ASIA ARGENTO Strangely enough I was reading up on her current activities last night. I haven't kept up since Land of the Dead, which was fucking horrible. I suppose here I'm supposed to talk about either her artistic merits or what position I'd like to fuck her in? MOM Yours or mine? Mine's fucking dead so there’s not much to discuss. [Todd DePalma] Comments (1)
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