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By: Owen Coggins
With a new album The Boats of the Glen Carrig coming out soon, and recent shows in the UK and elsewhere, Christian Hector from AHAB took the time to discuss books, slowness and being an octopus with Owen Coggins for Echoes and Dust.
(((o))): The new album, The Boats of the Glen Carrig, is a development of the band’s sound. What was the intention with the record, and how do you feel about how it turned out?
Chris: I do not really know, if we had an intention with the record besides interpreting The Boats of the Glen Carrig and to write an album we would like. The book inspires much of the music and the lyrics even more. Only boundaries are within us, as we of course can only write music that comes out of us. So of course it’ll always be AHAB. On the other hand, we’re a bunch of very open-minded people. So if we play something and do think it fits the book, we’ll do almost anything we are into at that very moment. I’m quite happy with the album, because (at least for me) we managed to have the music work within the story of the book and not to do another The Giant, nor another The Call of the Wretched Sea or The Divinity of Oceans. So yes, we’re feeling good with what we’ve done to the book.
(((o))): The album seems to slightly broaden the different aspects of AHAB’s sound while still retaining the slow heaviness. Was that something you were specifically working on?
Chris: No, I think you can only plan to some extent, what you’d like to write. Most of the time, it just turns out to be an AHAB song, even though you try to experiment a bit. Other songs were just thrown away. We liked to play them for some time, but then realized, this is not us at that very moment and it just doesn’t fit the book we’re working with.
(((o))): I was at the recent concert in London, it was great to see a rare AHAB show in the UK. The support bands Esoteric and Darkher in different ways really complemented AHAB’s sound too, with a mixture of heaviness and almost psychedelic atmospheres. How was the show for you?
Chris: Well, we loved it. The promoter Paola of Funeral Of Mankind is a friend of ours by now. She was the first to book us in London in 2012. We stayed at her and her husband’s place. No hotel whatsoever and we had big fun. The cool thing also was, she asked us who we’d like to play with. As Esoteric are buddies by now as well, it was a fast decision when Paola proposed them. I proposed Darkher, because I thought they’d probably be a very intense live band and also not that typical metal or doom outfit. Well I was right, I guess. Great performance! Our gig was fun as well. Only the world première of ‘Like Red Foam’ was a bit exciting for us. So for us it was a perfect weekend. We met old friends and made some new ones in London.
(((o))): Someone afterwards had a copy of Moby Dick for you to sign… does that happen often?!
Chris: Yes from time to time we sign some of the books we interpreted for fans. I think that’s a nice compliment, if people get to read because of our music or vice versa. But we even signed some books about Mathematics as well. Didn’t quite get why, but well, the guy was into Maths, I guess.
(((o))): If you were shipwrecked, which Melville-inspired heavy record would you take? Mastodon’s Leviathan, Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick, or Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain? Any other watery-themed music you’d recommend?
Chris: Not exactly Melville-inspired, but I’ll take the story of The Essex, which actually inspired Melville for Moby Dick. So it has to be Motorpsycho’s The Death Defying Unicorn. These great guys interpreted The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex on this album in a totally different way we did on The Divinity of Oceans. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but when Stephan (our bassplayer) showed me that album in 2012 … What can I say?! They did a hell of a good job – at least for my and Stephan’s taste. It’s an extremely well crafted jazzy, proggy and psychedelic rock album – somehow in the vein of art rock of the 70s and to some extent it reminds me of Alan Parsons Project as well. I haven’t listened to it for some time, which I will do so now.
(((o))): Along with Moby Dick, you’ve also used Edgar Allan Poe’s nautical tale The Narrative of Arthur Pym of Nantucket in previous album The Giant. You’ve been described as nautical doom, and I’ve even heard ‘shipwreck funeral doom,’ but maybe ‘literary nautical doom’ might be even more appropriate! Why is that particular period of literature (mid-late 19th century, early 20th century) and its representations of the sea so inspiring for the band?
Chris: Probably because of the stories, that were told in a different way than in today’s novels. You can compare it to modern films – they’re much faster than the old ones. You need some time, muse and patience for these kind of novels. Same goes for our music – it’s slow food. You need to take your time, otherwise you won’t get into it. Of course the language is important as well. It’s more poetic in a certain way. Which is great for me when it comes to write lyrics.
And regarding genre names, we don’t care too much, actually. We once defined it as nautik funeral doom back in 2004. But nowadays we just call it nautik doom. But anything else is fine as well: whatever the listener sees in our music.
(((o))): You’ve also recorded a cover of an Alan Parsons Project song. How did that come about?
Chris: Our label Napalm Records asked us to record a bonus song for a seven inch release. Of course we can’t record another song within the concept of interpreting a book. That just doesn’t make sense for us. Anyway, we couldn’t imagine how to write an AHAB song with under 5:30. So we declined to do so. But as Napalm Records kept asking, we thought, we could do a cover song instead. We had quite some other songs on the bill as well – from Portishead to Jefferson Airplane. But as Daniel and me already talked about doing a ‘The Turn of a Friendly Card’ cover some years ago, we all finally agreed on that one. Olav from Sahg was the perfect singer for it, as it turned out to be quite an epic doom song.
(((o))): The Alan Parsons Project also did a literary-nautical album based on the Rime of the Ancient Mariner… is that a text you’d consider working with?
Chris: No. Since The Call of the Wretched Sea we try to interpret novels and texts that haven’t been done too often already. So no Ancient Mariners and no Lovecrafts from us.
(((o))): Have there been any books or stories you’ve considered, but they haven’t worked for some reason, or you’re waiting to get round to?
Chris: Yes, we read quite some stuff: from Jules Vernes to Das Boot. They just didn’t fit to us at this time of our career. But that doesn’t mean, we’ll never do these. We’ll see.
(((o))): I loved the poster/shirt design with the slogan “Campaign for Musical Deceleration”. What is it about slowness in music that you want to support?
Chris: That was an idea I had when we were in Greece. There was a very nice and complex poster with a metronome on the wall. I thought: “It’s a pity this metronome is so overwhelmed by the rest of the very detailed illustrations”. I also had this idea of a “doom metronome” with only the slow tempi on it – you can see that, if you have a close look – you just can’t play fast with that metronome. So that’s how the doom metronome came to life. “The campaign” idea is of course stolen by Napalm Death’s “Campaign for Musical Destruction”. But actually there’s really an idea behind that, too. I came across this movement called “Entschleunigung” or “Slow Movement” – I really like the idea of slowing down your life, business, etc. It’s actually not quite about being lame as a tortoise, but doing things at the right pace. Same goes for our music. Not necessarily concerning the speed, but to take your time and getting into the albums and understanding the whole concept. I think, most of the people nowadays live in a much too fast life. So do I, and I sometimes hate that a lot.
(((o))): Speaking of your t-shirt designs earlier, which would you rather be: a monstrous crab, a giant squid or a whale? And what would doom sound like underwater?
Chris: Neither, I’d go for an octopus, which are the most intelligent molluscs around. It’d probably be interesting to know, how these creatures think. And doom would sound almost the same underwater. There’s a hot springs resort/thermal bath nearby my place and they play music underwater. It’s interesting, but it’s nothing sounding totally breathtaking. Sorry to disappoint you.
(((o))): What’s coming up next for AHAB?
Chris: A little tour in Germany and France this year. Eindhoven Metal Meeting. And early next year, we’ll try to do the second part of our tour. This time in the UK. So, see you soon.
Thanks for your interest in AHAB, Owen! Take care!
