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By: Andy Little
Monolithic crushing doomsters Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard are all set to release their new excellent second record Y Proffwyd Dwyll, on September 30th, again on the New Heavy Sounds record label. An album which boasts rather proudly their evolving creative nature. While still maintaining their two worlds collide heaviness they have expanded their sound, which has resulted in the band having to make a line-up adjustment to enable them to transfer the new record from the studio to a live setting successfully. To explain this further, the how’s and why’s of the making of the new album, and the band’s future plans to promote it, guitarist Paul Davies provides the lowdown and lets drop a band member’s tight- lipped mysterious journey, which Paul promises all will be revealed at their next gig at the Summer of Love festival in Wrexham on September 10th.
(((o))): First of all, I hope you all had a good summer. The band played at a few festivals. How did they go?
Paul: We had a blast this summer. The only issues were that we were very busy and had to turn some festivals down. Turning down the Psycho Festival in the USA was a killer, but we couldn’t just do it. We did get to Doomed Gatherings in Paris to play with Trouble and Crowbar and that was ace. We were surprised at the size of the crowd we pulled on a Sunday! It was a cool venue as well. We also got to Devilstone in Lithuania and that was something really special. It’s like the furthest we’ve gone to play a gig and the country was beautiful. We flew but we took our driver (Stu Sinclair from the band the Stereo Virgins and who now plays in Branch to Root and Shadowweaver). Why would we take a driver? Cos Stu is such a blast that we invite him on most band activities!
(((o))): Did the band road test any of the new material from the forthcoming album at these shows?
Paul: We road tested ‘Osirian’ and ‘Gallego’ in Paris 2 weeks after we recorded them. For me ‘Osirian’ was a bit nerve racking as it was Wez’s song and I didn’t want to fuck it up, but I got away with it… just. At Devilstone they both went down a storm.
(((o))): The new album, Y Proffwyd Dwyll, arrives just 9 months after your debut album, Noeth AC Anoeth. Were the band creatively bursting out at the seams so it seemed appropriate to catch the moment and record?
Paul: I like to set challenges for the band. The drummer (Carrat) hates me doing this, but I think we always come up with stuff we are happy with. If I feel we can write and record an album in less that 9 months then I’ll do it. I like a small amount of pressure as it tends to focus me. And it sorts out the men from the boys. Human babies are made in 9 months so an album is a piece of piss. Ha. I’m always writing and Carrat fucking loves to play drums every night so up to now we are pretty productive.
(((o))): From a previous interview with yourself you said songs from the debut album mainly started with an idea/riff and you jam it out with drummer James Carrington before the rest of the band join in to develop it further. And fellow guitarist Wez also works in this way. Did the song writing process for this new album also start in this way or did the process develop differently? If so, how did it differ this time?
Paul: Wez has always been writing stuff, but due to his shift patterns in work he couldn’t really allocate a lot of time to this in the past. With this album I thought having another person writing would be the way forward so he came up with the track ‘Osirian’. We kinda arranged stuff so him and Carrat could spend time down the rehearsal room and work on the track and we are all happy with what he did. We think it makes for a better album, this is the way we are gonna write in future.
(((o))): The new album definitely sounds like a natural progression. There are more nuanced additions to your sound, for example, a bigger spoonful helping of Jessica’s vocals. Also, you have dipped into using a variety of different musical instruments for example, cello, Moog/synths etc. They definitely add even greater atmosphere to your sound. What initiated the idea to have more vocals as well as explore/add these musical instruments into the mix? And was it creatively fun exploring these musical possibilities?
Paul: Well to be honest we always wanted to make tracks like this, but with recording our debut we had time and financial constraints so we couldn’t go to town on in. It took us a total of 4 days to record and mix our debut album. This is the benefit of label backing. We got to make the album we wanted to make. On some levels you could say this (Y Proffwyd Dwyll) was our ‘debut’. Having a decent amount of time was crucial to really getting everything spot on.
(((o))): The structure of this album is also different to the first record. There are double the amount of songs (6) – no 30-minutes epic like ‘Nachthexen’ this time. Were there pre-conceived intentions to have shorter length of songs (although all the six songs are 8/9 minutes long, which is epic standards for many bands) this time?
Paul: Yeah. We didn’t want to be ‘that band that does 30 minute tracks’. It’s cool and we love doing it, but it could be a bit ‘gimmick-y’. We thought it would be a nice progression to do more of an album with different flavours. Hopefully the fans will like it too. It’s still us but now with more tracks. We aren’t ever gonna do 3 minute pop songs so don’t worry. Our next album may well be a double vinyl with 4 songs on it. You never know.
(((o))):Can you tell us where, and how, it was recorded and if Chris Fielding was at the helm again?
Paul: We recorded it at Skyhammer with Chris again yeah. Chris is great. He listens to what you want to achieve and tries (and succeeds) to make it happen. He also offers constructive criticism as well, which is good for bands as most people think their songs are perfect little babies, but we listen to ideas. Obviously the tracks were written months in advance using our own gear and Chris recorded and mixed us. People have said that as we recorded in a studio belonging to Conan then what we do is going to be heavy, but come see us live. We are Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard and we are heavy as fuck inside or outside of any studio!
(((o))): As well as all the band members possess an eclectic mix of diverse musical influences you all have interests in geography, art, science. How, or did any of these influences inspire and seep into the new album? Can you explain more about the album title, Y Proffwyd Dwyll, and if there is a concept or theme, can you explain the ideas/thinking behind it?
Paul: The title is Welsh for ‘The Profit Fraud’ or ‘False Prophet’. People can read this as a potential metaphor to anything contemporary or see it as just a cool title. We like the listener to make up their own minds. We feel although live music is a communal affair, sitting down to an album is a personal thing. We wouldn’t want to put any kind of empirical elucidation on the songs. It’s cool for listeners to make their own minds up. If we never give any information nobody can ever be wrong.
(((o))): Andy Garside did the design for your debut album and it was linked to the title, Noeth AC Anoeth, and its meaning of a plane of existence. Did Andy Garside design the art work for the new album? Does the design also link to the title and concept/theme, if so how, or what was the thinking behind the artwork?
Paul: Andy Garside is our De-Facto album artist. We put a lot of thought into the art yes. Our debut album is a symbol. The symbol is the visual representation of band and the band’s music manifesting itself into an album. Now for the 2nd album, the band have evolved and grown. Thus the symbol representing the band and the band’s music manifesting itself into an album has also evolved and grown. It’s a pictogram. Pictograms were used pre-historically to convey subjects or ideas in a world devoid of written language. Pictograms transcend language both verbal and written. Plus, they are cool as fuck. Everything you want to know about the band are in those pictograms. You just gotta look.
(((o))): Due to the enhanced Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard sound you created in the studio, there has been a band re-jig and a new member to the band. Would you like to give the lowdown on how this happened and an introduction on the latest addition to the band?
Paul: We felt we needed to use Jess more productively so now she is on guitar and synth duties. We put out a message on social media for a bass player and we had a great response. After a few auditions we decided on Peter Edwards from Wrexham. This guy is a superb player and his pedal board is the size of my fucking sofa!
(((o))): Have you found it easy or difficult to transfer this new sound from the studio to a live experience?
Paul: When writing we always jam the songs first so it’s not too difficult. We’re working very hard now to get what album tracks we do live to be solid. We always like to fuck about with songs live anyway as we feel a live representation of a song can’t just be a carbon copy of a record.
(((o))): Can you tell us your plans on how you are going to promote it? Is there going to be an European tour? Would you love to, or already have plans, to bag a support slot with a bigger band to broaden the band to a larger audience?
Paul: Well. This month Jess is doing something ultra-secret and over-seas that is band related so our next gig at the Summer Of Love Festival (September 10th, Wrexham) will be something a little different. As for the album our label is sorting out a UK tour in October, but as yet we don’t know if this is gonna be a co-headliner, headliner or a big support. We have signed with Dead Pig Entertainment who are doing our European tour in 2017 so that will take care of the Euro promotions. As to the summer of 2017, well, as per usual we just wait for the offers and hope we get some! Ha.
(((o))): Are you planning on taking the cello on tour with you?
Paul: No cello as yet. We are looking at options but no concrete plans as yet.
Y Proffwyd Dwyll will be released on September 30th through New Heavy Sounds and is available for pre-order through here.
