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By: Sander van den Driesche
This year Ghold released one of the best sludge, noise-rock releases of the year, Of Ruin, through Ritual Productions. They played with Årabrot on a long tour in the US, wrote and recorded a new album (which comes out next year), expanded from a 2-piece to a 3-piece and played Damnation Festival a few weeks ago. Enough reasons for Sander van den Driesche to ask Aleks Wilson (bass, vocals), Paul Antony (drums, vocals) and Oliver Martin (guitar, vocals) some questions when they played Damnation.
(((o))): You guys have had quite a year. It’s been good for you guys with the release of Of Ruin and the US tour and now Damnation Festival. Are you happy with how the album is received?
Aleks: We got very good reviews, yes. We got the odd one where they didn’t understand it, which is great. We like that. That’s good. We like the bad reviews when it’s misunderstood. If someone gives us a bad review and it’s really, really like, well they get it, then fuck it. Too right, we deserve being told off then. But it’s nice to shape things up a bit.
(((o))): How do you take these reviews on board? Do you just have a laugh?
Paul: I don’t know, you can’t read too much into it. I mean, they definitely don’t influence what we make. I kinda read everything as it’s interesting, but I suppose there’ll come a point where I won’t want to anymore, definitely.
(((o))): Do you think the wrong writer would have picked your release in some cases when they wrote bad reviews? Like a black metal expert thinks like ‘hey I’m going to review some noisy sludge for a change’?
Aleks: That happens, which is interesting as we try not to stick to any kind of genre based platforms, so we like to keep it as free as we can. We certainly don’t like going down the path of this kind of metal or this kinda anything. So, it’s nice we get put in boxes by the reviews, for sure, but it’s interesting to see what people come up with in descriptions to what we do. We’re all well musically versed. We all like different music that spans a lot of different genres. That’s what influences us, like everything basically what we’re into.
(((o))): How did you guys end up on Ritual Productions?
Paul: We played a show with 11Paranoias in Bristol at St. John The Baptist’s Crypt that was put on by this guy Adam who runs Cacophonous Sarcophagus, he operates under this name. We played with 11Paranoias and Gonga and we met Adam (Richardson) from 11Paranoias and Mike (Vest) and Nathan (Perrier) and then we got to know them and the label’s roster. This got the ball rolling and all that.
(((o))): I think it’s a great label. Their releases are all great, they look after the packaging of the records really well, and release high quality vinyl pressings. They have a couple of big names behind them as well, such as Bong and Ramesses.
Aleks: They don’t pick up crap, which is nice and flattery. They check out everything thoroughly before they agree to anything. It’s good, it’s a great place for us.
(((o))): This brings me to my next question… you’re working on a new album. How’s that going?
Aleks: Yes, we’re in the mixing stages at the moment. It’s currently untitled, but we see how things are going. We got the potential for it to be a double LP.
Paul: Yeah, it’s very hefty!
Aleks: Yes, it’s very hefty. We went into the studio this time with a bit more of a free kinda way of thinking. We used to just write and make sure when we went into the studio we had everything done on time and on this one there was more freedom in the studio to experiment. There’s a lot more space in it, with a lot of fast changes. There’s a lot more freedom and distance and a bit more room for people to get their heads around it we hope. It is still marching on very progressively and it’s changing all the time.
I’d like to introduce Oliver Martin here, who’s now on guitar and the multi-instrumentalist he is, so we’re gonna be changing things as we go and see evolving basically.
(((o))): Oliver, did you just join the band then?
Oliver: Yeah, very recently. I’ve been playing live with the guys since this summer. Though I did have a guitar solo at the end of the last record. Yeah, so just joined this summer, playing the live shows and I did some bits on the new album as well.
(((o))): You never had a guitar player before I think?
Paul: No we never had one. Just me and Aleks, so just bass and drums really. Because when we started it was just a convenient way to operate. But now we can spread a bit more. We played a few shows last summer I think which were more collaborative. We did the Yob and Pallbearer gig and we did some work with an artist called Charlie Woolley as well in a cinema with a soundscape thing with Oliver. And we played with a saxophonist, Austin Milne, he was on Of Ruin as well. He played on a couple of tracks on that. We did some live stuff with him as well.
Aleks: We’re also working with a vocalist and cellist Rose Dagul and she’s on the next record. She was on on an EP of ours called Galactic Hiss, and she was playing cello on that. She’s now doing some vocals on the next record to give a nice female touch, which should really be a very impressive record.
(((o))): Oliver, did you now also got to write for the new record?
Oliver: No, I joined when stuff had already been written. I came along and just decorated it. But the next record yeah, for sure. Who knows.
(((o))): The new record will be released on Ritual Productions again?
Aleks: Yes. They took us up on it as soon as we sent them the really rough demos from the studio, so that was again flattering, they have the trust in what we’re creating. We’re really happy there so we would like to keep going with those guys. Playing with that roster is really great. The bands are great. We had a great show playing at Ritual Productions’ birthday party, which was at The Black Heart, with Bong and 11Paranoias, which was amazing.
(((o))): My friend Rich Collins from Cosmic Carnage was at that show as well I think. He’s a huge fan of the Ritual Productions roster. Do you guys go to the Cosmic Carnage shows Rich and Lins put on at all?
Paul: (Looks at Aleks) We played a few haven’t we?
Aleks: We played the one with Årabrot which led to us playing with them and supporting them on their US tour. But we’ve been speaking to Rich for a while. I was putting on shows at the Windmill before he did. And then he started putting on great shows.
Paul: And we live just down the road as well.
(((o))): I think most if not all Cosmic Carnage shows have been great successes, or not? They seem to have a very loyal crowd.
Aleks: They just put on wild bands, you know. That what makes them great.
(((o))): So, what was touring in the US like then?
Aleks: That was really incredible. We joined forces with Årabrot, Paul played drums, I played bass and we basically played 2 shows per night and we didn’t leave the stage. And we had some amazing shows, and we had some very dead shows, but that’s the nature of being such a large tour.
(((o))): How long was the tour?
Aleks: We did 24 shows in 27 days. So double that, we did 48 performances over that time.
(((o))): So basically because of a Cosmic Carnage gig you guys got to play in and with Årabrot, on tour in the US?
Aleks: Yes! I talked to Rich on the tube and when he told me he was putting on Årabrot I said you get us on that bill, and he said alright. So yeah, that worked out very much so. But I followed Årabrot for years, I’ve seen them in several incarnations, so it was a great privilege for us to join them.
(((o))): Was that Årabrot gig at Cosmic Carnage not rescheduled when their singer Kjetil Nernes got diagnosed with throat cancer?
Aleks: Yes, luckily he’s all good now. But he’s a very, very intense musician and he’s constantly touring. It’s great to work with him, we’ve seen a different world as well. Paul and I work in very different ways, which is nice to see how somebody else operates on that level. So yeah, it was absolutely great. We’re hoping to get back out in North America next year. We got plans to tour in June in Europe, and in May we’re hoping to do some UK dates.
(((o))): How did you guys go down in the US? Did people know you there at all?
Aleks: Not really, but we had a bit of press out there on the Of Ruin record on Ritual before we went over. We have some friends on the West Coast which was easier as we have some friends out there who play in bands. Like Bell Witch which we played with in Seattle at Dylan’s bar, which was one of the highlights as it’s an amazing place. And just as we travelled down the coast we hooked up with Rabbits from Portland, which are friends of ours and just kept going along the way.
Paul: It was crazy though, because like in some places there would be one or two people that come specifically to see us. They knew the Ritual stuff. Like we would be in San Francisco and there would be some guy in a Ritual Productions t-shirt, who’s like obsessing over these albums. So yeah, some people do recognise Ghold, which was pretty crazy.
(((o))): Touring in the US isn’t easy right? Like getting your visas sorted etc?
Aleks: We have a one year visa, so that’s why we’re trying to get out again before it expires. But we got chased by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) the entire time we were there for 40% of our earnings. They don’t tell you that when you apply for a visa, but that’s what happens!
(((o))): But you got so much more exposure over there now and probably got a lot of new fans since the tour as well.
Aleks: Yeah, yeah, hugely. We got fans who now want to know what’s going on, we have people chasing our old releases on Discogs trying to get them sent to America. We got a lot of good feedback from people. But as you know we are in a small scene, and it’s a very big country. But it’s a great place to tour, all the venues we played were amazing.
(((o))): You recently released a split LP with Dead Existence, which was self-released and not on a label?
Aleks: Yes that’s right. People don’t want to touch stuff with covers, but both bands wanted to do some covers of some bands we’re influenced by, and a lot of labels don’t want to touch it as there’s too much royalties to pay. But we released ourselves and paid the royalties off straight away, and now it’s fine basically. But a self release is good for the bands as we just get all the money straight away.
(((o))): Talking about influences, what are Ghold influenced by?
Aleks: A wild mix. I like a lot of the Austin noise-rock stuff. There’s a band called Cherubs that really made me want to start doing this. They released something recently, which is good and powerful. Then there’s Captain Beefheart. (Looking at Paul) We got a Darkthrone fan here, he’s into lots of black metal. And also Kate Bush.
Oliver: Ascension by John Coltrane. And The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charlie Mingus.
(((o))): What do you think of all the recent chat you hear about vinyl being delayed at the pressing plants and so?
Aleks: Of Ruin was supposed to be with us in March and was with is eventually in May. That was Record Store Day again. It’s always them. But for the next record we know our deadlines, the mixing is going to be finalised before the end of November, sent off to be mastered by James Plotkin again and once we get that back it will be sent to the plant.
(((o))): Is there anything you want to add?
Paul: Of Ruin is still available and we also the recently released split with Dead Existence. And look out for the new album, which should be out around March. We’ll make some announcements soon.
