IMMOLATION – II/IV – Deepthroat

Eternal Terror og Imhotep gir denne uken sine trofaste death metal lesere en uke med IMMOLATION. Mandag til fredag! Dere får et intervju fra 2005 i tillegg til ett 3 delt fra 2008. Bli med på en ugudelig reise i Immolations verden!

Andreas Aubert of Imhotep and Kai Åsvik of Eternal Terror met up with Immolation in Oslo this April to speak with the gods of chaos. Ross Dolan (Bass/vocals), Robert Vigna (Guitars) and Steve Shalatay (drums) all appeared as enthusiastic and friendly guys. They were actually talking so much, in such an erratic manner, that the interview may appear slightly chaotic. On the other hand, the entertainment value is on the same level!

Ross: The tour has been good. Four weeks, 26 shows so far. Sickening Horror is from Greece, it is their first tour. I was not familiar with them until we started the tour, but they are doing good every night, I like them. Melechesh from Holland are really good guys, they add a different flavour to the tour. Goatwhore are friends of ours, we have toured with them twice in the states already. This is their first tour in Europe. So it is a good lineup, very diverse, everybody is having a good time, and it is fun.

Melechesh is from Israel?

Ross: No, they are all pretty much from Holland (laughs)

Robert: Don't believe the hype!

Steve: They like to ruffle their feathers. Everybody asks them that, they had posters saying they are from Israel etc. They are "so not from Israel".

Steve is wearing the Hole In The Sky shirt(a Norwegian metal festival in Bergen), and says it was good to play there.

Ross: It was really good. I saw the lineup for this year, and it is on fire (yeah, gotta agree with that – Carcass and At The Gates are coming!")

deepthroat (on vocals)

Ross appears very friendly and open. We announce that he will do a session of Eternal Terrors' "Deepthroat series" with him.

Ross: The deepthroat series! That's fun.

The guys laugh.

Originally it was "ask a series of questions to a vocalist, and ask "who do you want to be the next guy to answer the questions?" But then it evolved more into "ask anybody with cool vocals, and you certainly have!"

What made you start doing extreme vocals?

Ross: I think it was what I was listening to at the time, which started to get gradually heavier and heavier. I went from Ozzy, Van Halen, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest – more of a singing voice, then things started get rougher and rougher, like Slayer and early Dark Angel, Kreator and Sodom, Stuff like that. Early Whiplash from New Jersey. Stuff like that had a very raspy heavy overtone, it was very fucking sick sounding.

Steve interferes: Obituary and Death were totally over the top when I heard them. They were totally whacked out, as far as alternating your voice from your normal voice. Obituary – no lyrics and shit.

Ross: Yes, so I think it just gradually progressed. When I started singing it was not very deep, it was more like a raspier kind of style, even the demo stuff and the first album

Steve: Compared to what you are doing now.

You have pretty much maintained your voice.

Ross: Luckily! (laughs)

Can you describe the technique or the techniques you are using?

Ross: I can't tell you man, I don't really know if there is a technique.

Steve: Is there a belly god, or a chest god?

Ross: Definitely belly, most guys are. It definitely comes from the gut, and you kind of finetune it with your throat.

Steve: You fine tune it with dinner! (Laughs)

Ross: I never thought about it, I just kind of do it, but it is definitely from the gut. If we do not rehearse for a couple of months, and I start doing it, I start feeling it here first (belly), and then feel it in my throat. It takes a couple of voice weeks…
Other than that it is what it is, it is no fancy technique.

Do you consciously use the stomach in a specific way?

Ross: Consciously I don't do anything, haha. It just happens. But that is what drives it, from the stomach, that is where the power comes from. I use the throat to articulate, pronunciation, but other than that…

It seems like your technique is similar to hardcore, just that it is deeper, because you have a kind of tone?

Ross: Yeah, you could be right.

Steve: That sounds good!

In extreme vocals, people usually use rasp voice or a kind of tone voice. Have you always done it the way you are doing it?

Ross: Pretty much. I did get deeper over the years, and less raspy, but that is just a natural evolution, going with the music.

Have you ever hurt yourself doing extreme vocals?

Ross: No. Once I get into the groove, once we start touring, I do it every night, I never had any problem.

Any regular thing you do, rehearsals?

Ross: No. before a tour, I start a few weeks before, I just start playing along to my stereo, start singing along. It takes about three days. I do half the set one day, half the set the next day. And by the third day I can run through the whole set without a problem. By the time we get together at Steve's house, we have a couple of days together to rehearse as a band, and it is fine.

No warmups?

Ross: No, never. (Laughs.)

Can it be dangerous to do extreme vocals?

Ross: I am sure I'll find out in a couple of years. (laughs) It has already been 20 years. I guess in a couple of years I'll find out!

Robert: In the studio, that is obviously when we hear the voice the most. It sounds like two different voices at the same time. It is kind of weird. Our producer said "what the hell is that? Listen! It sounds like two people".

There was a guy who did a technical analysis of extreme vocals, and he found that one of the hardcore guys was basically doing the same as throat singers/ overtone singers; two different tones at the same time.

Ross: Crazy!

What is most important to you, to make cool sounds and rhythms, or to have a clear diction/pronunciation?

Ross: Definitely pronunciation is important. I try to pronounce it so that you can understand what I am saying. But it has to work as an instrument to, it has to flow together and accent what is going on with the music. So even though I see it as a separate instrument, it has to go together with everything.

Many people, when they hear metal, they suppose that the voice is supposed to have a kind of melodic role, but it is more like a rhythmical instrument. It supports and works together with the drums you could say.

Ross: Yes, absolutely. I could not see anything else fit with this kind of music. It is very dark, just the subject matter alone, you need that kind of deep heavy twisted vocal style.

You are pretty much the only guy with this style, where one can actually hear what you are singing.

Ross: That's cool, we try!

Do you think extreme vocals could be made into a science, speaking of techniques etc?

Ross: I think everybody has their own technique. There is no guideline, no vocal training school for death metal. Hopefully you do it correctly so that you do not hurt yourself. But it is a very weird thing, which I think people who are not into this kind of music don't get, they don't understand. I always like it, it was always sick to hear the deep vocals.

You do not think you could study it, analyze it?

Steve: I am sure you can.

I say that there is a woman called Melissa Cross, who is actually making dvd for extreme vocals. Kai corrects me, saying that it is actually quite basic vocal training, packed into metal.

Steve: I am sure that if you talk to the guy from Meshuggah, he can give exercises and what not. But some guys are more organic, they just go up and do it.

A woman said these kinds of vocals are produced due to a lot of force coming through a lot of constriction, like you constrict with the throat. Like a volcano trying to erupt through a small hole.

Ross: Possibly. If the monitors are not great, I overstrain myself, and I can feel it. After ten songs I start to lose steam, so it is probably right.

Are your vocals loud?

Ross: Not extremely loud,

Robert: He is not screaming at the top of his lungs either.

Steve: When I am on stage, I can hear him growl – whether there is PA or no PA.

Can you do it now?

Ross: No. (Laughs) I do it only on stage. I think it is gay to sit and go "roooarrr". I do it on the CD, on the stage, that is it.

Any advice for people who want to start doing extreme vocals?

Ross: Go to college!

We all laugh from Ross' comment. Would that be to build up the frustration?

Ross: Stay in school and get a career. You might actually do something with your life. No, all kidding aside. If that is what you are passionate about, do it. We are all passionate about music, so this is what we do. We all have jobs, we do not make a living of this, but we enjoy doing it. That is why we are here. So my advice to anyone starting out is to be realistic in their goals, and understand not to get into this thinking they will become a superstar, making a lot of money. Get into it for the right reason. If you have some success, great.

Can you mention three extreme vocalists whose style you admire? Why them in particular?

Ross: I like Chriss Gamble from Gorophobia, it is very obscure. We know them, we are friends of them. He had a very cool, deep, clear vocals. I like even the demo stuff – the vocals were so fucking powerful, deep and sick sounding. I liked Zak, who used to be in Rigor Mortis before I joined and we became Immolation.
I like chuck too, from Death. Even though it was not as deep, it was a really cool, special sound. Especially on "Scream Bloody Gore". That album – to me – was like, the vocals were just phenomenal – the screams, they were sick, like bloodcurling.

It is kind of similar to Obituary, in a sense?

Ross: yeah yeah! Similar, but different. Chuck was unique, he had the scream – "Scream Bloody Gore" and "Leprosy" tops, after that it was different. "SBG" was just bloodcurling. Those are the three that really come to mind, but there are tons of guys with really cool vocals.
And the singer from Paradise Lost – but the old stuff. The demos, and "Lost Paradise", he had some fucking great vocals, man. Did you ever hear the "Frozen Illusion" demo? Dude, just fucking heavy! It is not even the same band now. But if you ever get the chance to listen to the "Frozen Illusion" demo, listen to the voice on that! (demonstrates his fascination by making a strange sound with his voice) Just crushes! The demo itself is one of the heaviest fucking demos!

Steve: Chris Reifert from Autopsy too. He had the really deep shit, and the screaming style too.

So far in this series, we have interviewied Napalm Death, Suffocation, Kreator – their answers are all very different.

Ross: Oh yeah, Barney had some sick stuff, especially on the Benediction stuff.

You are taking care of your health while on tour, you do not drink etc?

Ross. Yeah. It is an individual thing. I do not really drink or smoke or anything.

Robert: I think we make up for it by eating crap, fastfood. We start off on a tour, saying "I really want to watch what I eat this time", but then you just end up eating a lot of crap. It is so hard. It is not like you can go out shopping everyday. Whatever they feed you, you usually eat. Whenever there is time, go to a bus station. There is nothing open late except burger king, mc donalds, kebab places, pizza. At this point we do not mind, we need to eat something after the show.

Steve: It is good to strive in the direction of eating healthy.

Ross: Even I may have a couple of beers some days, just for the hell of it. Steve smokes. But nobody gets too oblivious… (lots of laughing). Nobody is excessive

Steve: It would wear me out to drink every night, after a certain amount of time.

Robert: It is not like we are a mess everyday. We are many bands on the same bus for a long time. When everyone is on the same bus for a long time, you really have to watch out, you get the submarine syndrome. Everybody is in that contained environment, one person gets sick…

Ross: We were with Rotting Christ and Belphegor in the US for a month, and everyone got sick, for the whole tour.

Steve: I think the saving grace is the way we are taken care of over here. We get showers everyday, there is always fresh fruit there etc. That helps a lot.

Ross: In the US there are totally shitty conditions. In the US there is just burger king and pizza hut every night, instead of fresh fruits etc.

You often go to bed straight after show?

Ross: It depends.

Robert: We'll hang out on the bus. Sit down, everybody hangs out, talks, slowly someone goes to bed. We are never the first or the last to bed, you know.

Steve: If you had a long day, sometimes jump to bed to read or listen to some music.

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