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By: Martyn Coppack
Welsh doomsters Spider Kitten recently released their new album Behold Mountain. Hail Sea. Venerate Sky. Bow Before Tree on Undergroove Records, which Martyn Coppack very positively reviewed naming the band “something special in this crowded genre.” Martyn asked drummer/singer Chris West a bunch of questions to find out more.
(((o))): How are you keeping? How’s the world treating you?
Chris: Very good thanks! The world is good with me, I know the actual world seems to be falling apart at the seams around us (hasn’t it always?) but I really can’t complain! I have an amazing wife, 2 beautiful children, awesome friends and the best band in the world!
(((o))): You have a new album out. After numerous releases over the years is this now finally the point where you can look at your work and think, “yes, this is the sound we have been looking for”?
Chris: Well I can’t speak for the other guys necessarily, but I think they would agree that we don’t actually know what our ‘sound’ is, and maybe never will. I think that is what makes Spider Kitten us. We will never rest on our laurels and that is what will make every album sound different and unique. Sure we are beyond happy with the way Behold Mountain. Hail Sea. Venerate Sky. Bow Before Tree has turned out, I personally have never felt more proud with a record in my career, but it’s just one facet in the jewel. Our next album has already been written and is just waiting to be recorded, in fact it was pretty much ready before Behold Mountain… had even been thought of! And it will be a very different beast altogether, we can’t wait to unleash it!
(((o))): It’s quite a diverse album, which is rare in the doom genre. Is this something you look to do or is it just the way the songs happen? How do you write them?
Chris: The thing with this album is it just all fell into place by accident, I’ve stated in numerous interviews already and it’s in our bio as saying it was really a mistake. It’s just the way it happened, it was essentially all made up on the spot. The end product had more thought going in to it though, we do always try to push ourselves, but try not to make anything seem forced at the same time. Recently myself and Chi (vocals, guitar) have been really buzzing off writing together, we share a very similar passion for music and are able to bounce crazy ideas off each other to the greatest effect. The main thing about Spider Kitten is there are no rules, I know a lot of other bands will state this too but it seems no one really takes advantage of that y’know? We really can do whatever we want, we have the ability to play any style we want, we take influence from a whole range of different styles in music, so why not utilise it and be as different as you can be? But still, after saying that, we also don’t force ourselves to try to be unique, it’s just the way it ends up sounding is maybe different to a lot of the bands in our genre.
(((o))): Where did the idea for the cello come in? It’s a match made in heaven for that moment in time on the album.
Chris: We have always wanted to use it, we were thinking of maybe using it on the next album, but we when we originally started recording Behold Mountain… and specifically the last track, we knew it would fit so well with the feel of the album. We recorded the last track ‘Gore Swan’ and knew we wanted it to be in 3 parts. So we had parts 1 and 3 down and thought about what we could use for the middle part to tie it all together. I think originally we just wanted an acoustic guitar kind of thing. But after I came up with the main riff of the song, and in particular the busier version of it played on the bass in the short bass and drum only bit of part 1 of the track (if that makes sense?), I thought it already sounded very much like a cello. So we asked our friend Chipper (who I knew from Bristol and when she played for Crippled Black Phoenix) if she would be up for playing on it and she was. I then set out over the next month or so to compose and arrange the whole piece. It was very different to anything I’d done before, but also one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done as a musician.
(((o))): The album has some very pagan aspects about it with nature being evoked a lot. Is this a path you like to tread? It seems a lot of doom bands are inspired by more ancient things such as paganism etc, why do you think this is? Is it something the tone of music inspires and where do you stand on this sort of thing?
Chris: It is a path I personally tread, but very carefully haha. I would never consider myself to actually be pagan, but paganism in all its forms certainly does interest me, particularly Norse paganism. My mother is Danish so I have had a lifelong interest in anything and everything to do with the Viking period of history. But as a band we are as far from a pagan or Viking band as you can get really, it’s just on this album that we are using it as a subject matter. I am constantly in awe of nature and the cosmos surrounding us, it really does blow my mind on a daily basis when reading about something to do with astronomy or the world around us. So it’s no wonder pagans thought the same way back then, when nothing had an explanation like we do these days, to them it was magic, pure and simple, and I find it almost sad that we have lost that childlike wonder of everything around us. But equally it is that that probably makes me not be a modern day pagan, as I don’t believe you really can be these days, because of science and there being no real magic anymore y’know? No one alive today truly knows what it was like back then, there was no other way to be but the way they were, and the things that made them the way they were cannot be repeated. Trying to get ‘back to nature’ is all well and good but a lot of it doesn’t wash with me, you can’t truly worship Odin or Pan or whatever other god from back then because they were of the time, of the place, and of the people.
As for it influencing a lot of bands, of course! It’s such a vast well of subject matter to pick from, it’s an eternal soundtrack for an eternal film! I think doom itself as a genre is steeped in ancient feelings anyway so why not take from pagan or Viking stories and ideas? What I wanted to do with this record though was to do it properly, with the utmost respect, and hopefully open people’s minds to the beauty of this period of time and not just the typical violent aspect we all know about (although it does obviously seep into the record on numerous occasions haha!).
(((o))): Which brings me on to the environment. As a fellow Welshman (from Wrexham) it is interesting to see how bands are influenced by their surroundings, particularly in this country. Is this something that inspires you? Does it bring in a more cinematic or organic nature to the songs?
Chris: I think it maybe has in a way, although not directly. I essentially grew up at the bottom of a mountain, there is a place in north Cardiff called the Wenallt, it’s kind of the start of Caerphilly mountain, so I always had that as my backdrop and always used it as my back yard when I was old enough to be able to go out exploring by myself. I guess it’s the same for a lot of other Welsh people because Wales is so mountainous. On the other hand we also have some of the most stunning coastline in the UK, in particular the Gower region and West Wales in general, so we are kind of spoilt in that aspect. If you take away the politics and small mindedness of a lot of the people here you could see it as a perfect place haha! Parts of the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia could have easily been the backdrop of the Lord Of The Rings films! So yes, it is in me, and therefore I guess seeps into everything I do and has maybe helped with this album in particular.
(((o))): You are known to have a love for vintage equipment. What equipment do you use when working on your music and do you feel it sounds better than new equipment?
Chris: I think that maybe more of a question to ask the other guys in the band as all I do is hit things with sticks haha! But yeah I know they do love their vintage toys, but to be honest, and they’d probably agree, the older things are the more they blow up! Sure we use some vintage stuff but it’s not like we are a throwback band that exclusively uses it. For the last few years Al (bass) has been using my Peavy MKIV bass amp I used to use when I was in Taint, no valves, all solid state, and the most reliable thing I’ve ever owned!
(((o))): Doom as a genre seems to have exploded this year. What is your take on this? Do you see it as a good thing or maybe a bad one as the hipsters start to invade our music?
Chris: When I was younger I had that kind of feeling with the genres I was in to at the time. I didn’t want anyone to know about ‘our’ thing y’know? It’s a feeling I think all people in subcultures go through, and the more obscure they are, the stronger the feeling! But then I grew up, haha, and it truly doesn’t bother me. If anything it can only help! How can you stop someone from listening to something because you think they are not worthy to be in your ‘gang’? Its bullshit and akin to school yard politics! I’m nearly 40 and quite a bit older than the other guys in the band, so a lot of the things they are into I was there the first time round, but it doesn’t make me more ‘real’ or genuine in my love of doom as a genre. I think it’s amazing that bands like Saint Vitus and Eyehategod are big now. I remember to this day the first time I heard them back then, they changed the way I looked at heavy music, and they were truly underground, but they deserve to be able to take it to the world now, and to sell out shows, they have worked their asses off! Same with Orange Goblin, those boys are my brothers and I am so proud and happy for them that they can make a living out of doing what we all started years ago by just sticking to it and working their fingers to the bone! Hipsters will always be there in one form or another, all you can do is be true to yourself and hopefully they will die a horrible death…sorry…I mean leave our stuff alone…sorry…I mean choke on their own beards…joke!
(((o))): Are there any other bands we should be aware of from your neck of the woods?
Chris: For sure! I’d highly recommend Haasts Eagled, who sound like a cross between YOB and Soundgarden, heavy as hell but with the most amazing clean vocals soaring over the top! The Death Of Her Money have been around for 10 years now, but may not be known to all, they are awesome, heavy hypnotic noise. Also check out Homoh, Hogslayer (featuring members of Zonderhoof and Shaped By Fate) and Ironbird. Of course if you haven’t already been listening to Sigiriya and H A R K you should do yourselves a favour and let them into your life!
(((o))): You’re given a festival to curate, who do you choose?
Chris: Luckily we are annually in that position as we curate our own festival called Loserpolooza! This year saw its fourth instalment. We get to choose our favourite local and not so local bands, and also play ourselves every year. It’s been getting bigger and better every year so I can’t wait to see how next year will shape up! But if you’re talking a fantasy line up it would be Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Motörhead, Iron Maiden and The Beatles as headliners, then as for the rest of the line-up…Saint Vitus, Trouble, Pentagram, Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Black Flag, C.O.C. Allman Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Sleep, Neurosis, Celtic Frost, Type O Negative, (early) Megadeth, (early) Metallica, Danzig (original line-up), Goatsnake, Eyehategod, Burning Witch, Clutch, Crowbar, Melvins, Harvey Milk, Iron Monkey, Cathedral, Acrimony, Orange Goblin, YOB, Soundgarden, High On Fire, Cursed, Knut, Keelhaul, Unsane. That’ll do won’t it?
(((o))): A question you have probably been asked many times….Spider Kitten? An amalgamation of the scary and the cute, is this how you see your music?
Chris: It has an esoteric occult root that is only known to the band; I know it’s not for everyone as a band name but if only people knew what it meant it would silence them forever. Although we do love kittens, and collectively hate spiders…go figure…
(((o))): Back to your older releases. Do you still have plans to continue the cover version series? Llanrumney sticks in mind with its great take on State Trooper, how about covering the whole Nebraska album?
Chris: Haha, I don’t think we will have time to do that, although Chi has covered the entire White Album by The Beatles. As for cover versions, we will be breaking out a few obscure ones on the next album, and you may well be hearing another few sooner than you think with something we have in the pipeline. I know it’s cryptic but you’ll just have to keep your eyes peeled in the next few months.
(((o))): What is your favourite biscuit?
Chris: OOOOH! That’s hard, it’s got to be the holy trinity of digestive, malted milk and nice as I can’t decide which one!
(((o))): And finally, do you have a message for our readers?
Chris: Live, love, riff, create…but most of all…don’t be a dick…seriously…don’t!
