USBMS would like to thank Ancient Wind for their time
Interview done by
Daemon Black
1. Id like to start the interview by having you introduce the members of Ancient Wind and their roles within the band?
Duuie Diamond - Lead guitar and backing vocals.
Girth Brooks - Drums.
Jizzy Jake - Guitar.
Gavtron - Bass
Roberto Inferno - Vocals and lyricist
Girth Brooks - Drums.
Jizzy Jake - Guitar.
Gavtron - Bass
Roberto Inferno - Vocals and lyricist
2. When was the band created and how did the concept for Ancient Wind come about?
Girth and Diamond had been playing music together already for years, most notably in their thrash band Dessekrator. Girth Brooks played guitar and was the main vocalist for that band, but after two drummers came and went only the two of them were left, so he hopped on a drum kit and started teaching himself how to play, eventually changing instruments altogether. We come from such a small mountain town that the number of metal music fans is horribly few, with the number of metal musicians being even fewer still. It wasn't till late 2011 that old friend of the duo Jizzy Jake came on as second guitar and Inferno was recruited for vocal duties. We actually stayed a four piece until very recently, and we caught endless flak for our lack of bassist. Though two years worth of concerts and a critically acclaimed EP and music video proved the joke was on them. Despite popular opinion, we actually wanted a bass player, yet due to the location the band is based out of were unable to find one until the summer of this year.
As
for the band name, it was originally a tossup between 'White Fire' from
a favorite song of ours from the band Rankelson, or 'PowerStrip'
because well...that's metal. Eventually we decided to call the band Forn
Vindir, which is Old Norse for 'Ancient Wind', but after deciding that
bands who's names are hard to pronounce are annoying we just settled
with the 'Merican version Ancient Wind. It's interesting to note that
while the Ancient Wind name was picked from more of a tribute to the
memory of the old Gods and ancestors, we at first we didn't realize how
cheesy it actually sounded, and also that its a clever way of saying
grandma fart. Now that's it's all said and done and we've come so far
with the name it actually fits us rather perfect in every
aspect of the name so in a way it was fate.
3. What inspired the members to be involved in a band that makes this extreme style of music, and is what your playing now the original sound intended for the band or has it evolved that way up to this point?
3. What inspired the members to be involved in a band that makes this extreme style of music, and is what your playing now the original sound intended for the band or has it evolved that way up to this point?
Before
Jizzy and Inferno joined the band and it was just Duuie on guitar and
Girth on drums, they had switched from a more aggressive thrash sound to
more classic speed metal in the vain of old Blind Guardian, X Japan and
Riot. When they brought Inferno in to do vocals, it was with the intent
of him singing power metal style vocals to compliment the new speed
metal sound. It wasn't until Inferno tried his Black/Death style vocals
on some of their more aggressive speed and thrash songs, and Jizzy
bringing his black metal guitar influence that our signature sound
started to form.
As to
what inspired us to play extreme music, there's a war going on in metal
right now, and we were all eager to join the front lines and fight for
true metal. We're all so passionate about the music that formed who we
are, all the Thrash, Death, Black, Speed, NWOBHM, and even pornogrind,
noiscore and everything in between. Being an extreme metal musician in
today's musical landscape you can just go with the flow, play nice and
feed from the scraps of the scene faggots table that are dominating the
scene right now, even if you are against everything they stand for both
musically and ideologically. Or you can take the hard road, stand up for
what you believe in; fuck their god, fuck their positive love everyone
energy and fuck them too. We prefer the road less traveled, the road of
honor.
4. Tell us what are some of the lyrical concepts that you cover within the music, and do
they coincide with the Blackened Battle Metal theme?
Inferno writes all the lyrics, except Eaters of the Dead which was written by Girth inspired by the Michael Crichton novel of the same name. Most of the lyrics cover themes such as Norse mythology, Viking conquests and the heroes of Northern European tribal culture. Breaking from normality he also like to delve into some of the more darker themes of the culture, not all our songs are about victories and Valhalla. Being a heathen and keeping to the old ways, Germanic mythology and culture is Inferno's life passion, and it really shows in his lyrics. It's interesting to note however that the rest of the members of the band are Atheists, and Jizzy cares more for Satan and hate than ancient warrior culture. This is why at our core Ancient Wind is not a Viking Metal band and have never had an interest in heading down the local larp convention to play viking dress up. The lyrics are used mainly as a medium to get across themes we can all get behind and are passionate about, such as honor, violence, death and war.
5.
The music of Ancient Wind is loaded with lots of guitar thrashiness but
I found a lot of the riffs and solos had more of a Heavy Metal vibe to
them, can you tell us what are the musical backgrounds of Ancient Winds
member's and what bands have influenced them?
The five of us come from for the most part wildly different
musical backgrounds and tastes. Instead of working against us, this has
actually helped us achieve our unique sound, bringing the best of 80's
heavy metal and modern extreme metal together seamlessly. Duuie Diamond
is definitely the main songwriter from the guitar side of things, and
his main influences range from KK Downing and Dimebag to more obscure
artists such as speed metal greats X Japan. He's always been interested
in writing solos that flow best with the song instead of just adding in
sweeps and technicality needlessly to be showy. As a general rule,
you've probably never heard of Jizzy Jake's favorite bands. Anal Cunt,
GG Allin, and Immortal is a good place to start. His more black metal
style of approach to melodic guitar is a nice counterbalance to Duuie's
style, breathing some grimness and evil into the music. Gavtron's main
influences are punk and thrash, while Roberto Inferno
brings the most modern metal influence into the band. Listening to
mostly Melodic Death and Black Metal. Girth Brooks drumming is as
classic thrash and speed metal as it gets, but is also influenced by
Horg from Immortal and Fredrick of Amon Amarth. The drumming comes as a
result of wanting to keep things straightforward and simple. being a
guitar riff centered band we've always thought that for our particular
approach blast beats and jack hammers muddy up the riffs too much, and
the thrash style is our way of maintaining the speed we wished to
achieve. A personal note; all of us are big fans of outlaw country such
as Waylon, Jennings, David Allan Coe and Hellbound Glory, and listen to
it just as much as we do metal.
6. Your last
release Blackened Battle Metal was released in 2012, you guys recently
have been in the studio recording and are set to release a new CD, can
you give us a date and is the new release titled yet?
We have actually run into some funding issues and have not been able to record anything as of yet. Currently we are on track to record by the end of the year and are shooting for a spring 2014 release. Our debut full length isn't title yet, but we are eager to show our fans how much we have grown and evolved as a band since recording our EP last year.
7. The bands tongue in cheek style is evident everywhere
down to the names of your members, but you guys back it up with some
solid song writing, vocals, guitar work as well as brutal drumming and
bass, my question to the band is, what are your opinions about bands
that might take there image to seriously and then produce less inspired
music in the end?
In a weird way, it's kind of our way to just say fuck you to everyone. We love the preconceptions people have going to one of our shows, they've seen the video and the band's demeanor and assume we're just some joke band, then we fucking shred their tits off with a straightforward and intense live show. There is no limit to the passion we put into our music, but we also like to celebrate the individuality of our band members. Our front man really is just an obese shit talking asshole, and our drummer is a damn redneck that plays in cowboy boots for fucks sake. Why would we all take a bunch of pictures in an abandoned warehouse, arms crossed and grim faced? That's not who we are. Lets drink gratuitous amounts of whiskey, fuck some sluts and kill each other instead. At our core that's really what Ancient Wind is all about.
8. There are a lot of good local
bands that come out of Colorado, can you tell us what Ancient Wind does
to
separate themselves from the rest of the other acts, also how has the
feed back about the band been by people in other states and worldwide?
There are indeed a lot of really great local acts here, and it can be tough to stand out at times. The main thing for us is to always keep our live shows over the top with energy and professionalism. We work very hard to keep our songs tight and accurate, which allows us more freedom to go nuts on stage and throw a good performance. We've seen some just plain flat out phenomenal bands that are like statues on stage and actually look kind of bored. That may be OK for some, but we think the majority of people come to a show to see a fucking show, and we deliver. A great compliment we've gotten a few times is that no matter if we're playing in a bar for 5 drunks or a theater for hundreds our live show never wavers, it's consistently good. For us it also helps that our music can appeal to so many different fans of metal's sub-genres. Thrashers, Black and Death metal fans, Heavy Metal die hards and speed metal freaks can all take something away from our music. This has resulted in an extremely positive response to fans not only here in the states, but Europe and Asia as well.
9.
You guys have played a decent amount of live shows, how are the
turnouts and support from your fanbase, and can you recall a highlight
of one of your performances?
We are whores for hire, and have traveled far and wide to sometimes only play for 7 people and the other bands. That's the life though, and playing live is our absolute favorite thing about being in a band. Big or small we always make new fans and have a blast. It took us a couple of years, but we finally have a good following in our small hometown, and play bigger and bigger shows around Colorado. So many highlights from so many shows; whores, tits, whiskey, pigeons, crazy cafes and redneck shenanigans. A couple major highlights would have to be opening for Iced Earth and playing for a packed house, and having some kid smash avocados on his face in the pit.
10. Ancient Wind is currently
searching for a label, have you guys received any interest from any
notable labels thus far, and whats the bands take on self releasing
Ancient Wind's material, is that a consideration at all?
We are currently going over a couple of indie label options to help us release our upcoming album, but self releasing in definitely not out of the question either. We've done everything ourselves so far and have done reasonably well, but if we can find the right partners to help spread the hate far and wide we're all for it.
11. Can you give the readers a hint of what the band has coming up in 2014?
A new full length album chalk full of more brutality, grimness and face shredding gnarlyness then every before. A new music video, countless live shows and numerous trips to the abortion clinic are all on the slate for 2014. Should be a great year for us.
12. Before we
conclude the interview are there any final words that you would like to say about Ancient Wind?
Much love to the fans and everyone who's been with us since the beginning, keep the black flame burning and fuck the others. Ride The Wind You Fucking Faggots!
You can download Ancient's Winds Blackened Battle Metal EP for free at their bandcamp link!!
http://ancientwind.bandcamp.com/
For band info contact
https://www.facebook.com/AncientWind
http://www.reverbnation.com/ancientwind
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ancient_Wind/3540350496
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