THEOKTONY – Med drahjelp fra Anaal Nathrakh
- Posted on 23-06-2008
Britisk extreme metal har i mange år bestått av en del kjente band som Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Venom og Anaal Nathrakh. Plateselskapet Earache Records har vært den største drivkraften i England på akkurat denne typen metal, men i fjor fikk Eternal Terror kontakt med Feto Records, selskapet til Mick Kenney (Anaal Nathrakh) og Shane Embury (Napalm Death). Det er via dette selskapet vi oppdaget et ungt extreme metal band som kalte seg Theoktony. Etter å ha fått sjekket ut bandets debutskive "I" fant vi ut at det var på tide å finne ut mer om dette extreme bandet. Det er bandets vokalist Paul Morgan som er informant.
England has always been known by its music, guess you grew up with lots of influences to choose from, I would like to know more about this…
Yeah where would we be without sabbath and priest! I do have a lot of influences. I got into metal at about the age of 11 when I used to sneak into my brother's room and borrow his WASP and Megadeth LP's. Around the same time he was playing bass for a UK punk band called Discharge so I had that thrust upon me as well. One of the first extreme things I heard was probably Bolt Thrower as my brother knew they and I remember him bringing the double gatefold LP home and showing it me… it was the "Realms of Chaos" album with the amazing games workshop artwork. I didn't really get it at first but I thought it was cool and used to annoy my school friends by making them listen to it. Shortly after I got into other bands on the Earache label, Napalm Death was and still is one of my favourite bands and the first heavy band I saw live.
How would you describe your music? Tell me why people should listen to it.
Our music is dark and extreme; hopefully it strikes a nerve with others. I find extreme music is a positive medium of cathartic release. However there's no point in being too serious about everything, it has to be fun or what's the point. We play music we like and that's it, we cant do no more.
What motivate you guys to form the band and become musicians?
We all came together with a genuine love of this music. It gives you a good feeling creating something that is personal and that we would want to listen to. The best music is always honest music, whatever the style.
What's your lyrical concept all about? Do you care for the lyrics at all?
My lyrics are all quite personal. Usually about emotions in one way or another, there is a lot of negativity but I don't think any good lyrics ever came from happy situations. I do use metaphors a lot, the lyrics aren't meant to be taken too literally.
You guys are with Feto Records ,together with Anaal Nathrakh , Lock up (last release) … I mean is a tiny label with lots of great quality bands and your bosses are Shane Embury and Mick Kenney, I think the only fact they though you were good enough says a lot about your band ,well before someone get the chance of listening. Guess they must decide very consciously which bands to sign with. How you guys managed to get a deal with them in the first place? Was it easy?
It is great that they liked us. We recorded a demo with Mick Kenney back in 2006 and I think he liked us straight away, seemed surprised there was another extreme band around the area. Shortly after that he recruited our Steve to play drums for Anaal Nathrakh at live shows. Him and Shane both came to a few of our gigs around the Birmingham area and next thing we knew they offered us a very reasonable deal.
How is it to be in such hand picked environment, I think a little label for a band implies some spoilment, because you got all the attention, I know often big labels focus just in the one who sells more the others get far behind when it comes to priority…so, how is your relationship with the label in this attention/priority matters?
I was worried initially that we might get overlooked but FETO have been good to us. Shane has obviously been fucked over by the 'music business' a lot of times and I think the whole point of the label was to give everyone they sign a fair head start. Having one of our members in Anaal Nathrakh obviously gives us a great deal of attention as well.
I would like to know more about England's scene nowadays, I mean some days ago I read Angela Gossow tour blog where she is complaining about the low sales in some of their shows while touring US, she blames it on the rise of other trendy genres and people turning their backs to metal , so how this works in England? Is the metal scene getting stronger or weaker, or is it the same as always?
The UK scene is a strange beast… there is a lot of people here into extreme music but it seems people are only willing to come out if it's a high profile band. I went to see Vital Remains at a local gig and there wasn't more than about 20 people there. A lot of this is down to lazy promoters just in it for money and not caring about the music. There are people here; they just need to be reached.
What are the future plans for you guys? Any summer fests?
We are trying to get on as much as possible to promote the album… unfortunately its still hard to get shows, it involves me doing a lot of pain staking emailing. I managed to get us on the local support for Morbid Angel this month which should be cool and fingers crossed we'll be sneaking on the bill for Bloodstock Open Air.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Personally I am really pleased that our music is being so well received by critics and metalheads alike. I never imagined this would mean anything to anyone other than us. I'd like to thank everyone who has helped us or just took time to listen to us or even to give up one of their evenings to see us live.