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When the clock hits the witching hour, do you ever wonder if the spectres are having breakfast at the dinner table or the creaking walls and floors are in heavy conversation, ever-while the bats squeaking outside are just vampires waiting to be asked in? If so, then Daniel Ouellette might make perfect accompany music to your thoughts. His latest album El sal​ó​n (A Happy Home Is A Haunted Home!) summons your everyday and makes it a little more ghoulish. Of course the salon is a rather old fashioned and wonderful parlour, to have tea and simply talk. This is an interview with Daniel and what struck me the most is his love of conversation with those around him. To that end, the album has songs in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, extending that idea of not limiting your ability to converse. With this in mind, please imbibe and sup the wondrous words of this conversation and don’t let the Mothra bite.

Welcome to the retro 80s room Daniel, where we use Japan’s David Sylvian’s vocals to clean the crystal, Duran Duran is life and the ghosts of yesterday haunt us with gay abandon.

Thank you so very much for having me! How nice to be around Japan, Duran2, and gay abandon!

You are a resident of Chesapeake Beach. Have you always been in this area and how do you think it has influenced you as a musician?

I am new to this area as of May 2021. I have lived in several places, but I am originally from Massachusetts. Honestly, I cannot say Chesapeake Beach has influenced me as a musician, however much of the oddness of growing up in New England has and there is that type of feel here in Maryland… The outdoors are vast and spooky and full of bats and birds and other winged creatures.

What is the post-punk scene like in Chesapeake Beach and surrounding areas?

Hmm… I am not sure if there is one here in Chesapeake Beach as I have been here for only a year. However, I am very excited to be playing my first performance of the year here at the grand opening of Dusk and Willow Designs in North Beach, MD which is a metaphysical boutique. It is quite beautiful and Jenny , who is the proprietor of the shop, is a very kind and wonderful soul to work with on this event which will be the weekend of the most wonderful Halloween. It will be October 29th. One can check for the details. However, perhaps we will bring a post-punk scene to the Chesapeake/North Beach area. Maryland has a lovely scene in Baltimore and around with so many grand promoters, musicians, DJs. I often feel like an outlier to most scenes which is not bad because I have been blessed by the wings of Mothra to have been part of everything and nothing. Heh. Very philosophical.  

Your solo project has been around since, about, 2018. What was Messer Ouellette doing previously musically and what is Shobijin (do not release the Mothra as the curtains could not take it)?

Before there was, Daniel Ouellette and the Shobijin, there was simply me solo and most of the time even when I performed with that name, I performed solo. The Shobijin was my backing band of singers and players who joined me on various performances and tours from 2010 to 2017. After that, I did a short project with a dear friend Deirdre McLaren called The Countess Zaleska, but unfortunately it was just a temporary project, but now I am mostly completely alone, but I work with a wonderful group of cohorts and conspirators like Jenny Rae Mettee of Fun Never Starts, Jason Mendelson, Elizabeth Lorrey, Don Zientara, Peter Linnane. Incidentally, the Shobijin are characters from Godzilla/Mothra films… which I see you’ve caught the wing of that reference.

Going to creep out on a limb here and say that you like to write music that you can have a jolly good giggle over…..

Why thank you for noticing! So very thoughtful and true. I love the idea of humor, horror, storytelling… making songs that can mean what I want them to, but can adapt meaning to anything for the listener… I like making songs that have a hint of wondering what is happening, but letting go and loving the experience. Some people don’t always get it and that’s ok with me. It wasn’t for them. Sometimes I am laughing the whole time inside whilst I perform or write… it is good. One should always laugh during the volcano explosion.

You released the album “El sal​ó​n” at the end of July, so how long did it take for you to complete the writing and recording?

I am not quite sure of the amount of for the writing part. It was very quick. I think it took 2 or 3 weeks of non-consecutive recording and writing. I tend to write the skeleton of the songs quite quickly. I had recorded it in September of 2021, but then some life issues happened. I was very close to leaving the planet, not by my choice, and had everything to set to be released for a posthumous release. Is there anything like an album from beyond the other side?

But I made the videos from January to March. I wrote the songs by writing the drum patterns and then recording vocals with no other instrumentation. Then I, Jenny, and Jason played the synths. I went back to touch up anything I felt like, but not much. Everything was done quickly. One song was re-record from my 2012 album The Enchantment, I made English lyrics unrelated to the original version in Spanish for the song “The Kitchen Witch…” I don’t like to translate, but I loved the sound of that song and felt like it needed a new version.

I envy people who speak more than one language and you sir speak French, Spanish and Portuguese on top of English. From what I understand, you have family members that speak Spanish but how did you end up learning the other two?

Oh no no, no one spoke Spanish in my family. I learned Spanish on my own from school, making loved ones, and living/studying in Spain. We spoke English in the house.

However, my mother’s side of the family is of Azorean Portuguese background and there were some relatives who spoke it from the extended part of our family. My father’s side is French Canadian and the same with his family.There were members along the extended part who spoke French. I learned Spanish after English, because I thought I would rebel against Portuguese and French, seeing Spain is in between France and Portugal. Heh!

I studied in Madrid for my MA. I have an M.A. in Spanish with concentration on…Drama. However, I learned French and Portuguese at school and through loved ones and travel like I did with Spanish. Sometimes, I feel shaky with all four languages, but it is like riding a unicorn when you get back to speaking a language that you do not speak all the time, it comes back, plus there is technology to help us. But many words are buried in my head.

You represent all these languages in the album and I was wondering if you see these as different parts of you, this being one reason to include them?

Yes, definitely! Language is for communicating and when we start to use any language it becomes part of us if we may have the chance to let it happen. It is gradual and takes time. When I write in a particular language it is because that song’s message and feeling requires the words, cadence, and nuance that the language contains. I have learned that after teaching, writing, and singing in multiple languages, that all language is personalized to who we are and how we express ourselves. There are grammar rules for formal writing, but for communication, especially in friendship, love, poetry, music, there should not be such rigid rules, I think. Language is constantly in flux for new expressions. We all sound how we sound because we are our sparkly selves with a need to be deliciously heard.

What I like about singing and writing in multiple languages is that it is a beautiful way to share with more listeners something that they may enjoy. It is a delightful form of connection. I am sure I sound funny in every language that I have learned to speak to someone else including in English.

As I had mentioned, I have never done any direct translations, however “Kitchen Witch” on the “El salón” does have a Spanish version called “Te odio” which is on the album “The Enchantment”. The lyrics are unrelated in theme… the recent English version is more about escape from some place and the Spanish version is about telling an ex-partner that you now hate them, and you hope they are some place crying.

Again, thank you for asking about the inspiration and artistic desire to write and sing in multiple languages. So often I have been scolded for “showing off” when I speak to someone in a language other than English and have even been criticized for the use of a language other than English in my music because the reviewer feels that it is a bit chichi if you will. It is sort of odd and a disappointing point of view to me that that is how one would look at being multi-lingual. I want to create a wonderful, supernaturally artistic, and divine ambiance of performing and singing to others about all the things one might need like vampires, ghosts, and jewelry.

The album has your tongue set firmly in cheek, as you describe everyday life but from the perspective of ghouls and legendary horror creatures of the night. How ever did you come up with this concept?

Like language, such things are what I feel a grand affinity for, the other worldly world of what may not necessarily have a definition. I like what I feel is an artistic freedom that imagination and storytelling of supernatural and other offbeat subjects that may be beyond what we only see with our eyes gives to performing and writing music. Ever since I have been writing songs, the idea of monsters, the Netherworld, cryptozoology, the spirit world, have been placed as signs and themes in my songs. So for this album I wanted to make the whole album and each song flutter around these ideas whilst making references to a haunted house in both positive, neutral, and negative manners.

Do you have have a favourite monster child off the album?

Not really. I feel like each monster needs each other. The English songs contain titles about the house and the Non-English songs contain the monsters. Hmm…But if I went on a program, I would sing “Duérmete (una noche lupina”, “O Lindo Sonâmbulo (Um Fantasma Na Minha Casa)”, and “Velvet Divan (Why Do You Always Have to Punch the Furniture?)… This is hard.. maybe I would just sing any of them.

Could you tell us about some of the people you collaborated with such as Pam Ant?

Oh Pam Ant!!! My heart dances just seeing her name! We are siblings from cosmic mothers! She is an amazing playwright, actress, and musician. She was a singer with the pop-punk band “The Toes” from Burlington, Vermont. She is a divine artist in the truest sense of the definition. We met when I was on tour in Vermont.

Jenny Rae Mettee is another supernatural sibling from another mother. She is an amazingly talent artist from Baltimore. She is a singer, songwriter, and video editor among other grand things. She heads the fabulous industrial synth band Fun Never Starts and plays bass with the equally smashing Nahja Mora. She has the same penchant for the macabre and monsters. We met through the internet by mutual friends. Check out her band Fun Never Starts.

Jason Mendelson is sweet, talented, superbly stupendous musician. He can play any instrument like the heavenly being he is. Talking and working with him is like a gift. We met whilst I was on tour in DC. He created an amazingly creative project a few years back called “MetroSongs” and as he says it was “a goal to increase awareness, appreciation, and support for public transit by writing, recording, and performing a collection of songs all about Washington’s Metro station locations, beginning in 2010 and completed in 2017.” It’s such a great project! Go check this and all his work out.

The 4th collaborator on this project was Bob Murphy who plays the synth on “The Kitchen Witch Who Stayed in the Living Room to Fold Laundry (Take me with you, Mothra!)” and he is a darling friend that I met through playing music with one of my previous cowriters and longest standing cosmic friend who is a great talent and support, Scott Harrison. Bob is a wonderfully delicious grand wit too. When he is able to come to performances, he always sweetly whispers in my ear…”Don’t f*** up!” and then he walks away. Those are the guest players on this project!

Elizabeth Lorrey and Peter Linnane deserve mention as they did the engineering, mastering, and mixing with me. Elizabeth always makes me feel confident and justified to do what it is I like to do, and Peter takes such care in making it feel the best quality it can be.

From time to time, my dear husband, Ron, guest stars on the accordion in recordings and he needs a big thank you and a vampire bite sized kiss! Hehe…

I hear not only the music, but I believe I can hear a lot of love for the written word. What genre of books or writers have grabbed your imagination?

I like that you have heard that love. I would like to think it a surprise, but Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving are two who speak to me. I love reading books of Buddhist philosophy, autobiographies of musicians, and variety of writers, poets, and playwrights like Miguel Cervantes, Maya Angelou, Federico García Lorca, Pío Baroja, Pedro Calderón de la Barca… I sometimes write songs that contain inspiration from a poem or novel, never am I as good, but like the way Kate Bush would do such things. There is no one genre that intrigues me to read or write from whence inspiration grows.

Why do you think you are so attracted to the old fashioned horror legends and stalwarts?

The sense of the other world, the supernatural that is or may be. I think of making music as expression of an escape. I find it far more interesting and natural to sing about a specter under the couch than to sing a love song or one of those “I did every thing right and you did everything wrong” break up songs.

Who would you say influenced you musically, early on in life?

It’s a rather eclectic and maybe surprising collection of artists. In no order of one being better than the other:

Very early on: Donna Summer, ABBA, Blondie

Early on: Eurythmics, The Pointer Sisters, Siouxsie and the Banshees/The Creatures, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Sade, Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Tina Turner, The Human League, B52s, Yoko Ono, Peter Gabriel, Thompson Twins, Whitney Houston, Bjork, Eartha Kitt, Marlene Dietrich, Duran Duran
Not as early on: Alaska + Dinarama/Los Pegamoides, Celine Dion, Big Country, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Miguel Bose, Isabel Pantoja, Ofra Haza, Desireless, Jacques Brel, Françoise Hardy, Mecano

Are there bands or solo artists that catch your ear now?

I have love Ida Maria, HK119 and Dua Lipa. I love to find music new and old that I may not have heard before too. As of recent, I have been enjoying playing classical music around the house.
A grand treat of touring and being in the music business is that in the past 20 years I have been exposed to so much music in the colleagues and contemporaries that I have done performances with: Fun Never Starts, Prima Primo, Winkie, C8bal, The Spearmint Sea, The Osyx, Kelly Spyglass, Nahja Mora, The Pilgrims of Yearning, Jason Medelson, Elizabeth Lorrey… There are so many more, but these are some recent acts that I know who end up in my mixtapes.

If you had a Ouija board, would you want predictive text on it and whom would you use it to talk to?

I think I would skip the predictive text! It likes to make up what it wishes! Wouldn’t that be a great little movie short? An impish ghost that takes over someone’s predictive text in their phone and causes funny little traumas and relationship woes for the phone user. I am sure this has happened in film.  

Now, “IF” I had a Ouija board? Hehe… it’s right over there! Hehe. I would love to talk to Ofra Haza and Juana la Loca.

Ofra Haza always seemed like a dear and would be nice to have a discussion about singing. Juana because I think her name needs to be cleared of “loca”. I don’t believe she was crazy, but a victim of men wanting to take her power for themselves.

So, when using a seers ball, what is next in the future of Daniel Ouellette?

There is a performance for October 29, 2022 in North Beach, MD for the grand opening of the Dusk + Willow Designs metaphysical shop. I am excited work with Jenny Jimenez. I will release a limited-edition compilation at the show of the songs from my last two digital releases, “Avemetatarsalia” and “El salón” as a physical printed work. It will be titled “A Corvid in the Living Room (Come on, Louise! I’ll Buy You a Drink”)”.

For 2023, I am planning to release a single in February or March and then, I think I will begin the recording of the full length follow up to “El salón”… It is already written and tentatively titled “Otherworld (When the Wolfbane Blooms)”…  

A tour would be nice. I would like to play places new and familiar. I once heard Siouxsie talk about how they like touring to places where the Banshees have never been and I like that. The unknown with a drum machines, a microphone, and a jingle bell.

Thank you for hanging in the Onyx lair!

The pleasure has been all mine and thank you for having me. May something grand and perhaps supernaturally wonderful happen to you!

El salón (A Happy Home is a Haunted Home) | Daniel Ouellette (bandcamp.com)

Daniel Ouellette

Daniel Ouellette | Facebook

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This year saw Belgium project, Psy’Aviah, celebrate twenty years of music, with the label Alfa Matrix releasing a huge best of, called Bittersweet, that had been re-recorded with guest vocalists. On September the 22nd, Yves Schelpe, founder of Psy’Aviah, is asking “Is Everything Going OK?“, a maxi single/EP of the highly successful single “Ok“.

Huong Su takes on the vocal duties for “Ok” (rediscovered), so very sweet and sentimental, with classical instrumentation. After this version, the gloves come off, so to speak, as the HeiG trance mix takes hold, onwards and upwards, followed by the magical Miss Suicide mix, which is also guaranteed to hold a crowd on the dancefloor. There is the beautiful trance mix by LLM, Digital Factor with their slow burn electronic mix and the After Dark remix from Am Tierpark that builds a world of lightness encased in darkness plus some stellar synths. But wait there is more….. Pulse Mandala remixes into an ethereal glow, the trippy Nethermere breakbeat remix before the ALUCVRD breakbeat mix that glitches and lunges with a Middle Eastern soul and then there is the stripped back version with Huong Su and violinist Irina Markevich.

I am not even going to get into the 12 inch remixes, of which there three. Yes, you are going to get bang for your buck on this single/EP. “Ok” has been lovingly handled by each musician, shaped into tracks to ignite the soul from heartbreaking sensuality to dance floor fillers and it started with a song from Schelpe’s Psy’Aviah. Good music does not age and this is a corker of a release.

Is Everything Going OK? EP | PSY’AVIAH | Alfa Matrix (bandcamp.com)

Psy’Aviah | Facebook

Alfa Matrix Records (alfa-matrix-store.com)

Alfa Matrix | Facebook

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September 30th sees the Irish songbird, AILSHA, unleash her latest single “RIP (Dead To Me)“. Her pop inspired darkness, has taken the 2020 release, “Ghosted” and given it a revamped new lease on life…. or should that be death……..

It starts like the tease of a tango, a tale of a modern age love, where things go back and forth, until one party drops off the face of the planet and you have been ghosted. The tune plunges into a catchy electronic pop fusion, as AILSHA cajoles the errant lad for playing with her emotions, whilst sweetly telling him that it’s fine because she never needed him.

Coming up to Halloween, this is diabolically, a rather cute track about an issue that has come about in these times of social media and mobile technology. So get a bit of dark perkiness in your day with AILSHA and her “RIP (Dead To Me)“, because honestly, who doesn’t like a bit of ghoulish verbal body bagging?!

https://www.ailshadavey.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ailshamusic

https://www.instagram.com/ailshamusic/

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Ireland’s pMad has released a single, on the 31st of August, called “Sisters“. Paul Dillion is pMad, a member of the bands The Suicidal Dufflecoats and The Greeting, now turning his hand to this solo post-punk, gothic inspired project.

There is a pervading, shrouded veil of seriousness and mourning. The shoegaze dirge of loss and bereavement penetrates all, with the guitar work driving in the nails of sorrow and Dillion’s vocals low in reverence.

“Sisters” was created in reference to loved ones, who have past away far too early, leaving others to grieve them, but also to be thankful for being in their presence. It’s nice to have a track that both highlights the sadness of death and also wants to say that every moment counts. It shows a deft hand to be able to express yourself in a track like this. So, pMad encourages you to hold your “Sisters” close, even if it is just in your heart.

http://www.pmadtheband.com/

https://pmad.bandcamp.com/

https://m.facebook.com/pMadtheband/

https://www.instagram.com/pmadtheband/

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James Lees’ project, Ghostwoods, began in the Covid lockdowns of 2020, gaining members and releasing an EP. Based just outside of Brisbane, Ghostwoods is back with a new single, “Terminal Bliss” and with the rather exciting news, that they have been signed to the label 4000 Records. Lees provides drums, Mark Angel on electric guitar, Karl O’Shea on bass, Andrew Garton & Andrew Saragossi sharing the duties with saxophone/clarinet/flute and James Halloran & Rohan Seekers tickling the keys/synths.

Photo by Sam Scoufos

There is a finality to “Terminal Bliss“…. it could be slow and steady beats or the saxophone that wails its discontent with the world. The guitar strums its way gently through the demonstrative sax, courting the piano along the way, wending until its ultimate demise.

In contrast, “Brighter Soon” is a more ethereal affair, creeping beautiful darkness, echoing in pulsating loops of electronics that caress your ears, luring you into another plane of existence. The piano hypnotically runs up and down, keeping you rooted in the here and now.

Dark electronics, fused with jazz sensibilities, makes up “Terminal Bliss“, while “Brighter Soon” is a sophisticated track, that catches you off guard with a certain degree of crystal clarity. As always, Ghostwoods paints emotion filled pictures without words or boundaries. The best bit is that in the new year, a new album should be ready.

https://ghostwoodsau.bandcamp.com/

https://4000records.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ghostwoodsmusic

https://www.facebook.com/fourthousand

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US five piece, Candy Coffins, have released the second single off their forthcoming album, Once Do It With Feeling. The single is called “Seaside Girls” …… not the regular place to find night creatures but then these days, who can tell.

Photo by Lauren Ellis

Those beach babes with their long legs is a rock classic however in this song, it seems that only horror can be found with these pin-ups, as they drown you in their world. There is a taste of the vocal punk styling of Elvis Costello in the beginning and seemingly always the jangling whirlwind of guitars sweeping you up, and bearing you off, while the piano dutifully lights the way.

The vocals are great but the guitar work really seals the deal, layered, giving a rich texture to “Seaside Girls“. Maybe they are the human equivalent to the Greek mythos Sirens but you are safe listening to the dark attraction via the Candy Coffins.

https://candycoffins.bandcamp.com/track/every-day-a-fresh-atrocity

http://www.facebook.com/candycoffins

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When I received the new Bow Ever Down single, “Undercover“, I thought, oh yes, I’ve heard about this. Have to say I was not prepared for it to be so big as it is. I mean it’s generous enough to be called an EP. Kimberley Kommeier with her co-conspirators, John Ruszin III and Wess Fowler (Silence In Machine) have created a synthpop driven collaboration with an interesting crew, whose talents lay from darkwave to industrial.

There is the delicate and yet forceful “Trail Of Tears” that features Silence In Machine and produced by Ruszin the III, which is followed with the electronic overhaul by replicant rme remix of “Burn You Alive“, off the previous album Let It Burn, released in May. Fiction 8 and The Bleak Assembly have created The Cure like “Slow Down Time“, full of wandering guitar and beautiful sadness with Kommeier’s vocals. Next is the slow and melancholy dirge of the Spungee written track “Human Emotion“.

Okay…. now we come to the cover version of Madonna’s “Oh Father“. I am not the biggest Madonna fan and the name didn’t ring any bells until I heard it, jogging my memory. Ah, yes, so you have the original cover with the music supplied by Artificial Zero which is a far more industrial interpretation. There are nine…. yes 9… remixes for your listening pleasure, from a plethora of talent giving their spin to this track, from acts like Sys Machine, Addambombb, Raygun Girls and others. Oh, you want to know what they sound like? Well then you might just have to go to Bandcamp and give it a little spin

UNDERCOVER (the singles) | Bow Ever Down (bandcamp.com)

Bow Ever Down 0fficial | Facebook

Music | silence in machine (bandcamp.com)

Music | Fiction8 (bandcamp.com)

Music | Artificial Zero (bandcamp.com)

Music | dj addambombb (bandcamp.com)

Music | Steven OLaf (bandcamp.com)

Music | Dread Risks

Music | SINthetik Messiah (bandcamp.com)

Music | The Raygun Girls

Music | .SYS Machine (bandcamp.com)

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History Of Guns (HOG) has been around in different incarnations since the mid 90s. A gothic/future industrial group, they caught the ear of goth guru, Mick Mercer in the early 2000s, and he named them as an act to watch. We last heard from them in 2011, and then they went on a hiatus. Come 2022, HOG have a core three members plus the drive to create under the moniker again, which brings us to the latest album, Forever Dying In Your Eyes. Del Alien (vocals) and Max Rael (keyboards, programming) are the two original members joined by Jamu Knight (guitar) and the new release is full of future punk angst, loathing and screw the world attitude. Max, never go the full Marillion, I think Jamu deserves extra cake/beer and if you want to know why, then here is an interview…….

Welcome to the portals of light and darkness which are situated in the Onyx lounge room for convenience. Not sure what exactly they do, but they make a great lighting effect for parties.

HOG: Thank you for having us! We love a good portal. We’ll try not to get distracted by them.

History Of Guns has been around in one form or another since 1996. How did it all kick off for you guys?

Max: Del and I were both recruited by a madman called Stagger Lee into a band called Pre-Hate Machine and History Of Guns kind of evolved out of that…

Del: History Of Guns was something I had been looking for, for years. It all started in a pub over a chat to a stranger about his painted Sisters of Mercy jacket. We got talking and a few weeks later he introduced me to Max in another pub. We then spent every weekend in the studio, often all day, and often all night. We have boxes and boxes of tapes from those days that would take years to get through.

What was it like for in those heady days of youth (and excess as the 90s seemed full of that), playing to large crowds and pulling the attention of one Mick Mercer?

Del: We had some amazing times, and you don’t just walk away from that… When we started gigging, that was bloody great for me, the adrenalin buzz, WOW, I was being me for the first time and have never remembered a gig, not because I was pissed or anything like that but because that moment in time seemed to separate itself from reality.

Max: It all seemed so limitless. Jamming, partying, clubbing. Looking back, we could’ve maybe tried to things a bit more seriously earlier on, but we were having such a great time just playing and staying up all night talking. Playing Whitby Gothic Weekend was a highlight and the Futurepunk events in Camden in London. We have a lot of love for Mick Mercer, he’s supported us right from the beginning.

Do you think there has been a change in the goth/industrial scene since then?

Max: That’s a tricky one, as there’ve been times when we’ve been more involved in the scene in the UK than others. It’s sad there’s less clubs around, but then we’re not as young as we were… being out late-night clubbing isn’t compatible with having a family. We used to go to every Whitby Gothic Weekend, and keep meaning to get back there, but it’s been a while. It’s great that Joel’s running the Goth City festival in Leeds. I’d love to go back to Wave Gotik Treffen again in Leipzig. I guess thinking globally, we’re even more out of touch than we are here in the UK so not best placed to comment.

Del and Max, you are founding members. What is it like for you both to have been involved in this project for this amount of time?

Max: We’ve been through so much together over the years, both in the band and in our personal lives. When we don’t see each other for a while, I have to remember that Del’s internet persona on Facebook is very different to the Del I know in real life. Like many long-running double-acts we love each other, but we argue and fall out a lot. Things can escalate really quickly. We’ve both made many mistakes over the years, and at some level blame each other for History Of Guns not having been more successful or making any money. Basically, I do all the work, and then Del criticizes it, and I don’t take criticism very well and get upset, and then Del calls me a snowflake, and I say he lacks empathy, and it goes from there… But then these days we make up pretty quickly. I think Jamu wondered what he’d gotten into when he first joined.

Newest member is guitarist Jamu. How was he lured…into the fold so to speak?

Jamu: Del knew I was a guitarist and by hook or by crook, we ended up trying to start a project called “Mystery of Graves”. After hearing the sort of stuff I could do he called Max, and he popped over with his ivories, and it kicked off from there really, but I was very, very drunk after that…

Del: It always happens in pubs and clubs, people find out you’re in a band and they tell you they can play. Well, I have often given people a chance and met some bloody laughable characters that probably in their mind could play, and Max and I have paid studio time and just looked at one another, no words needed! Jamu is a strong character, he’s likeable so I gave him a go and he blew my mind, so I rang Max and said you have to hear this, and so that was that sorted! I think if we get to spend more time in the studio he will let rip more. I think he holds back (don’t tell him I said that… Oh damn! Odds are he may read this interview!)

Daniel Vincent is a member of Decommissioned Forests with Max but also appears on the new album. Can you tell us about the these shadowy fellows in the background?

Max: Daniel Vincent is best known for The Resonance Association (which I’d heartily recommend to anyone who likes instrumental music that pushes genre boundaries). I’m lucky enough to have been friends with him for many years. He’s been into the guns world and jammed and collaborated with us before and just about survived, we’ve remixed each other, and Del guested on vocals on a TRA track some years back.

Also, we have Jason Knight who used to play guitar in Deathboy and was our live drummer for a bit, and then our long-term collaborator and my oldest friend, Gary Hughes, who has, I think, made an appearance on every album we’ve done. We’re very lucky to have Bob Barker back for the artwork. Bob, alongside the stunning photographer Scott Wylie, was responsible for the artwork for our third album, “Acedia” that I’m naked in, so we know we can trust him.

The new album is “Forever Dying In Your Eyes” and it has been 11 years since your last full release. How exciting was it to get the new album out and what prompted you to do so?

Jamu: The album “Forever” was, I thought, supposed to be an EP, but we just kept writing more stuff, it grew into what we have released. I personally am very proud of how it turned out.

Max: When I came back to music after taking a break to do a horribly demanding college course, I was going through phases of enjoying playing and writing but kept found myself questioning everything, and doubt is poison for trying to mix or finish anything. I kept questioning what was our motivation for releasing new music. There had to be a valid reason and I wasn’t sure what it was. It’s not like we’re doing it for the money, and posterity is just as vulgar as money. And if it’s for validation or hoping for good reviews to prop up a struggling ego or hoping for a little self-esteem boost then that’s all wrong. History Of Guns has always been a universe co-created by Del and I that we invite other musicians to join and then we create a world together. Sometimes that’s just for an afternoon jam session that never gets heard after the session, but sometimes we create a world and feel some kind of urge to communicate it outwards to see if it connects and lands with any listeners out there. It’s been a while, but, “Forever Dying in Your Eyes”, is our latest communication to the outside world.

Del: Bloody life gets in the way. What are we doing? Why have we stopped turning out music like we used to? Depression? Work? Relationships? Society in general? Who knows but they are all my enemy that stops me doing what I want to do.

Your last release was “Whatever You Do, Don’t Turn Up At Twelve” which came out in 2011. How do you think your sound has progressed between these two albums?

Max: The wheels were coming off after the collapse of the “Acedia” tour and the rest of the band quit. Looking back, we should have stopped and taken some time out, then maybe split the album 4 material into two separate EPs as we were very much disintegrating and falling apart as I was trying to finish it. I pushed on past breaking point to get the album done and decided to include our own collapse as a key theme of the album. At some level I knew it was destructive, there’s a lyric that goes, “these songs aren’t making you better, these songs are making you worse.” I couldn’t get sober vocal takes, so after many exasperated tries I decided to include the drunken takes as part of the disintegration, which in retrospect I don’t think I’d do again.

Our two most successful albums have been the first and third, “Flashes of Light” and “Acedia”, and although one is electronic, and the other is full 5-piece band, they’re both focused in one coherent style of music and self-contained, whereas albums two and four genre-hop and are pretty chaotic to listen to. For the new album, it was clear we should try and focus again. Ground ourselves with a solid foundation which could either be a final album, or a starting point for a new chapter. This was made a lot easier by having Jamu on board, it helped us form a solid sound and style which I was able to take into the sound design stage for the album. In keeping with the theme of communication, the vocals and lyrics are quite prominent in the sound design, to get that sense that the whole piece is intended as a communication.

“You Wanted To Live” was the first single off the album, which is a very heavy and dark affair. Tell us why you chose this as the kick off track for the world?

Max: “You Wanted to Live” seems to be doing really well out in the world and we’re proud of it. The origins of the song were created by Daniel Vincent for an idea he had for a possible The Resonance Association / History Of Guns collaboration eight or nine years ago, but Del and I were in a bad place (again!) and it took a long time for us to actually do any work on our side of it. Before Jamu joined, we had a session just the two of us in Bishops Stortford with a bottle of vodka and this was the only thing we had to work on, and that’s when Del improvised the main lyric, then we wrote the verses together.

There’s a nod to Wendy O. Williams’ suicide note in there. After the session we went back to Del’s house, and I remember the night ended in a very bleak and dark place, and we didn’t see each other for a while after that. The track became very important to us as we both went on to suffer through some very difficult times, and we’d play rough versions of this track to each other when we were particularly struggling, so the track became an anthem for us, a reason for carrying on. It had to be the first single we released if we ever managed to get back to releasing anything again.

Who came up with the video for “You Wanted to Live”?

Max: That would be our fabulous video director Video Rich from Round Window Media. He also did the follow-up video for “Running in Circles”.

Your second single, “Running In Circles”, has pretty raw vocals. There seems to be a lot of angst in the album?

Del: The reason for the vocal was it was taken from a live jam that was borne at that moment. It was not a good time for me and I wanted the vocals to reflect that man’s pain. Sometimes I listen to it and cringe and wish I re-did them in tune, but would that pain come across? Who knows?

I know Max is very influenced by Coil, but who, musically, have you found influenced you into creating History Of Guns in the first place?

Max: I only got into Coil after we’d already been doing History Of Guns for eight years or so! I think Del and I originally bonded over Killing Joke, Pistols, PIL etc. Stagger Lee was very into Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Itself and looking back now I can hear all these things in our sound. Going back to Del’s flat after those early rehearsals was the first time I’d properly heard Sisters of Mercy, Alien Sex Fiend, Bauhaus etc. There were also plenty of bands we didn’t agree on and would argue about.

Will HOG be playing live any time soon?

Jamu: I do love the live experience with the guys, and hope we get out there again on the back of this release.

Max: It’s a tricky one. As Jamu says, we’d like to. Ideally, we’d take out a full 5-piece band on tour but that’s a lot of rehearsal time when we don’t live that close and have to juggle jobs, families etc. I guess if the right offer comes along, we could hopefully look at getting a band together and doing a couple of dates.

Who is the motivational force in the band and is there the mopey goth type?

Max: I do everything, and Del complains about it… Jamu tries to keep the peace between us!

Do you guys enjoy the recording experience?

Jamu: The recording process was quite a challenge as bit were recorded all over the place, along with lockdowns, bankruptcy of various studios we went to, it was hard to get a lot done in one hit, but next effort I’m sure we’ll lock ourselves into a studio for a week, with more beer and cigarettes than would be deemed healthy and smash out another kick-ass sonic battering ram.

How do you go about writing these tracks for the album and is it easy or a labour of love?

Max: Most things come out of jamming, so writing is easy. Writing and playing are the fun parts that I absolutely love and the reason why I do music. Recording, mixing, releasing an album and doing all the promo involves a lot of work that I like a lot less, which is part of why it’s taken so long. We’re very fortunate to have Michel from UTM Music Group onboard this time around running the promo. We talk about maybe getting someone else to record and mix so I can just focus on the playing and writing, but then I’m a bit of a control freak and probably need to work a bit harder on letting go of some of the responsibility as it can get a bit overwhelming sometimes. It’s why being in Decommissioned Forests is such a joy for me, because Daniel (Vincent) is the producer, and I don’t have to stress over it.

How much of your own life experiences and moods inhabit these songs?

Del: For me personally, all of the songs I have written, are bits of my life. I try to play with words so it’s not too painfully obvious what the song is about. That’s for the listener to decide. We did a song called “Conspiracy Theory” that sadly did not make it to the album just before the PLANDEMIC started. I’m sure you can see why! The music to it is bloody good, so I’m re-writing the lyric to make it a lot broader because let’s face it, you can’t keep up with this shit show musically, so I think its best just to point at the obvious and let the listener decide.

Max: We’ve always been interested in exploring the human psyche and the human condition, starting with ourselves, and then seeing what’s relevant to others. For me, and Del would disagree with this, but I think in many ways the last track on the new album, “Eyelash”, is a culmination of everything we’ve tried to do up to this point. Part of Del’s genius is to open up and access a completely subconscious layer of his own psyche whilst we’re jamming and improvising, and sometimes quite extraordinary things come out. So again, I’ve kept the original vocal from the original jam because it’s completely open and honest and raw. When he sings, “I hate me” it feels to me like we’ve cut through all the nonsense and construction of self and personality and reached a very core, often hidden part of the self, which I think everyone has to a greater or lesser degree, that part that hates themselves… and finding that, and shining a light on it, for us, for everyone, is one of the reasons why I’m in this band and have released this album.

There’s a lot of talk in the press and society currently about these alleged “culture wars” we find ourselves in, and people questioning the toxicity of things and then seeking to censor or “cancel” things that might be difficult or don’t hold up to a new standard of ethics. But, and this is just my personal opinion, to me that’s going about it all backwards, and censorship is never the answer. The only way to get to a world with less hate and more kindness, empathy, and respect, is to understand that hate, and to stop running from it or trying to just shut it down; we need to allow ourselves to feel it, and only then can we start to heal it. Ultimately, a lot of hate for others stems from an initial hatred of the self.

If History Of Guns were to record an album of cover versions, what would you choose?!

Max: We always used to say in a snooty, pompous voice, “History Of Guns are not a covers band!” But then we did some covers so can’t really say that anymore. I’d like to anything bleak in a minor key perhaps that doesn’t come from the goth/industrial world… maybe “Chelsea Monday” by Marillion.

Jamu: I know Del doesn’t like covering other artists, and I’m not overly keen on covers myself, mainly because I can’t be arsed to work out how the songs go.

What is in the future for HoGs and you good gentlemen?

Max: We have an electronic album which is done musically but just needs a couple of vocal takes to finish called, “Half Light” which is kind of a sequel to our first album “Flashes of Light”. Then I think, if we continue, we’ll build on the writing relationship we’ve started with Jamu and really push things and see where that takes us next. We’ll improvise and jam and experiment and it’ll form into some kind of shape without us trying to consciously make anything preconceived. We’ll keep pushing ourselves to keep evolving and keep trying new things and go in new directions. We sometimes talk about doing a follow-up to our most successful album ‘Acedia’ to be called ‘Anhedonia’ but I’m not sure we, or anyone else, is ready for us to go back there just yet.

Thank you for joining us in our existential crisis, which we never rush because, honestly, how can you enjoy a crisis in a rush!

HOG: We are one big existential crisis, but if there’s one thing that anyone can say about us, it is that we are History Of Guns. Thank you very much for having us, it’s appreciated.

Forever Dying in Your Eyes | History Of Guns (bandcamp.com)

History of Guns | Facebook

UTM Music Group UTM Music Group | Public Relations Agency | Facebook

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The album PASSIVE, is a gift that keeps on giving, with JE T’AIME releasing the single “Blood On Fire“, with a music video. The album is out on Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records, and it it always interesting to see what this French goth rock trio are doing.

The video depicts a girl in a never ending cycle of drinking and partying, though she doesn’t seem to enjoy it all that much, with the single as her theme track on a cassette walkman (oh my…. do people still use those?). A song about self destruction, all set to a fast pace rhythm, those bright synth lines and post punk, jangly guitars.

It is a slick looking video, beautifully shot in the streets of Paris at night and the story line fits in perfectly with the music. It is a really good little track, bouncy and lively musically, dark lyrically. Have a listen to “Blood On Fire” and get a bit of JE T’AIME in your life.

PASSIVE | JE T’AIME (bandcamp.com)

JE T’AIME (facebook.com)

Music | JE T’AIME – Music (jetaime-music.com)

JE T’AIME (@jetaime_music) • Instagram photos and videos

Manic Depression Records & Events | Facebook

Icy Cold Records | Facebook

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Danish electronic artist, John R. Mirland, is back with a new album, Motor Romantik, under the guise of his solo dark/synthwave moniker, M73. Mirland is also known for his other musical labours such as Mirland, Am Tierpark, Mirland & Larsen and I could go on about his forays into rhythmic power noise, synthpop, Eurodance, techno and even black metal. September the 1st, saw the release come out on the Læbal music label.

The super cool “Take It All” with electronic vocals, graces out ears. The synths are lovely as the techno leeches through the synthpop cracks. Mirland’s melancholic vocals are at odds with the bright and glittering keyboard lines in “Wrong” and this leads into the stellar “Obsessed“, with its piano intro that breaks into a Eurodance style hybrid, which is a lot of fun. The sliding electronics in “Vampire” entrance your senses, a story of a vampiric type that lives off the fear and sadness of others. “Inside You” gives a glimpse of Mirland’s deft talent with industrial noise, crafting it to fit into a darkwave form, with fuzzed tones and glitched rhythms. Also pretty creepy and maybe about a parasite with lyrics like I’m inside you Wearing the perfect disguise.

The title track “Motor Romantik” is just a fantastic techno influenced track, which means the beats are free flowing and the vocals are low, luring you into the futuristic world where everything has been engineered, including humans. I wonder if “Empty“, is about mental health, burning bridges and spurning those who love, unreasonably destroying everything. The vocals reflect the emotional hollowness of a life that has no purpose. “Empty” was originally released in 2021 as a single.

There is something spine chilling in the icy synths of “Crucify“, as they run up and down your spine and a very oppressive tone of electronics that almost sound like christian chant in the background. The cyber world is wonderfully encapsulated in the music of “Perfect“. A cyber stalker or antisocial miscreant, living their fantasy world through a screen. “No Light In Sight” is another track previously released as a single. A drug induced stupor, though deep inside, the electrical synapses crackle still, slowly dwindling away.

There is always the beautiful synth graduations that Mirland conjurs up, running through each track, like silken fingers that shimmer across your skin, while the lyrics are about degeneration, dark lusts, eroticism, lost dreams and a future designed by others. I love that he combines his different music styles subtly to create something that is evocative and utterly enjoyable, either on a dance floor or driving on a dark night, down atmospheric roads. Yes, Motor Romantik is a treat for the ears with M73.

Motor Romantik | M73 (bandcamp.com)

M73 | Facebook

Laebel | Facebook