1. ON YOUR WEBPAGE IT SAYS THAT SOMBER BLESSINGS WAS FORMED FROM TWO DIFFERENT BANDS. WHICH TWO BANDS WERE THEY? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? and WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? The two bands from which Somber Blessing sprang are Delusion and Epitaph, both local MA bands which have since broken up. The whole episode of how this happened is confusing, and really not very interesting, but I'll try and sum it up: originally there were two separate bands, Delusion and Epitaph, which had nothing to do with eachother. I was in Epitaph, a band which played more up tempo death metal, reminisent of early Coroner with what are nowadays called "atmospheric parts" (Dissection reminds me vaguely of Epitaph). Our singer left to join Delusion, and they wanted me to join them as well, which I did since I love to play and find it hard to turn down a decent project, however I also stayed with Epitaph. I was in both bands comfortably for a while, and eventually Epitaph broke up completely. It was then I started Somber Blessings, with some of the old members of Epitaph and some new musicians. We began to record the demo "The Winds of the Earth", but never finished since the band broke up (dissention between the drummer and bassist). Since I had written all of the music anyway, I decided to continue, or rather, start over the recording project, playing what instruments I could myself and getting other players to come in, such as the drummer from Delusion. During this second attempt it came time for me to go to college, which slowed down the project significantly since it was being done in a different state and I was no longer earning enough to support it financially. Eventually it got done, and released in the "homemade" demo format I sent to you. That's that, in a nutshell.
2. WHAT IS SOMBER BLESSINGS CURRENT LINE-UP? Somber Blessings is currently a recording project, as you are aware. The tracking for the new release is very near completion, and the players are as follows: Lauren Spooner: vocals, Dave Belleville: vocals, Maranda Kuse: vocals, Larry Young: violin, Deya Denova: cello, Dan (can't remember last name): vocals, Daryl Swet: vocals, and myself on guitars, bass, and keyboards. We are considering re-tracking some of the cello parts, perhaps with another player or even as a bowed stand up bass. The are many other important people contributing to the production, engineering, artwork, and layout of the project, all of whom will be mentioned in the final project. I'm attempting to draw on all resources I have availible to make the project a success.
3. WHAT STYLE(S) OF MUSIC WOULD YOU DESCRIBE SOMBER BLESSINGS AS AND WHY DID THE BAND CHOOSE TO PLAY THAT STYLE? When asked I usually describe the style of music Somber Blessings does as a mix of death and doom metal. If I have to describe it to someone who knows very little about metal, I describe it as an odd blend of heavy metal, classical music, tradtional folk music, and even new age. As always, I stick with my belief that the best way to get a feel for the kind of music we play is to hear it.
4. DOES SOMBER BLESSINGS TRY TO SEND A MESSAGE OUT THROUGH IT'S MUSIC? IF SO, WHAT IS IS? "The Winds of the Earth" is loosely conceptual, focusing on nighttime as a kind of altered reality where things take on a more mystical aspect, so to speak, and particularly on the transition and/or contrast with normal daylight existence, which is why there are many references to sunsets/fading light/dawn/ect. My main goal with this is to try inspire imagination and a creative way of looking at things in the listener/reader. It seems to me that nowadays people are struggling to find meaning in their lives. Some people turn to religion to fill the void, which might work for some people but isn't necessarily the best way to handle the problem. I'm trying to get people to see "magic" in everyday things, so that they are able to take an evening stroll in the woods and look up at the moon and stars and feel the power and presence of nature, to realize how incredible things really are, if they stop and take the time to look carefully. For myself, and it seems like for many people, the night represents the unfamiliar, and is a more likely setting for unlikely things to occur. This makes it a good starting point for imagination, and, like I said, a good place to look from to see things in a different way. I know it all sounds very new-age-hippy-ish, but I'm not able to get my ideas across very well verbally, which is why I use music.
5. I READ THAT ANOTHER DEMO (A CD) CALLED "LEGEND" IS SCHEDULED TO BE RELEASED BY THE END OF 1997. WHAT CHANGES ARE BEING MADE WITH THE MUSIC? As I mentioned above, we are currently working on a project entitled "Legend". Of course, the release has been postponed. We found ourselves rushing to meeet the mastering deadline, and decided to take another month and do it right rather than screw up a project which was coming out quite nicely in the final stages. The final product should be sent of to be reproduced by the end of January and availible for sale soon afterwards. A lot of time, effort, and money has gone into this project and I am excited about it's release since it will be up to date with what the band is currently doing, unlike the demo which contains material over five years old. The idea of encouraging imagination persists, although this time the focus is more on mythology and folklore (hence the title) and just stories in general as fertilizer for creative thought. The production is far superior to that of the demo, and, with the extra experience under my belt, I was able to blend all aspects of the music together much more solidly, creating many levels of complexity as to how things are interrelated. There is much hidden within the music and lyrics of the newer material, even some flat out riddles in the lyrics, most of which no one will be paying close enough attention to to notice, but will be there none the less. The music itself is in general slower and uses "alternative" instruments (violin, female vocals, ect.) both more often and more effectively, since these parts were written as part of the musics for this project, whereas they were more "add-ons" for "The Winds of the Earth" project.
6. AFTER "LEGEND" IS RELEASED, WILL SOMBER BLESSINGS BE DOING ANY LIVE SHOWS? Remains to be seen. It would require my getting more string players (guitar, bass), which I could do, however I'm not sure that there is enough local interest in the kind of music we do to warrant putting together a live act. If anyone out there has a good sense of the local scene and has an opinion on this, feel free to contact me..
7. IF/WHEN YOU PLAY OUT, WHAT KINDS OF BANDS WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH? Hmmmm...really popular bands who attract people who like the kind of music we play? Seems unlikely, huh? Well, I think it's important to have some style overlap, so probably a death metal band. However, as I mentioned above, live metal seems to be energy oriented, and I'm not sure there's a place for the more somber stuff (no pun intended). Playing with a death metal band would certainly be less catastrophic than us playing with Richard Marx, but if someone goes to see a band like Deicide, I'm not sure they'd be in the right mental state for Somber Blessings. You never know, though.
8. HAS SOMBER BLESSINGS HAD MUCH SUPPORT LOCALLY? THROUGH OTHER ZINES? Not really. There have been some local 'zines and stuff, but not more than from any other place. Most of the interest seems to be coming from Canada and Australia, actually. I think this is because no one really knows about Somber Blessings yet. I advertise mainly on-line, which significantly limits my target audience as far as the percentage of metal fans. Myself and others are working hard to better publicize this new release, particularly locally, and I'm hoping the name will become much more familiar in the next few years. We'll see what happens. Anyone with any information on distribution, advertisement, ect. should feel free to contact me, I could use the assistance.
9. ANY FINAL COMMENTS, WORDS OF ADVICE, ECT.? Besides buy the CD? Well, I could get up on my soapbox and go on about what I think the right thing to do is, but I think it's best to spare you my rhetoric. Well, maybe ONE word of advice. Just don't give up. Whether it's playing the music you love, going back to school, getting your dream job, whatever. It's one flop and technical difficulty after another, but eventually things will work out if you keep at it. It's easy to end up in some dead end job you hate to pay the bills, trade writing music for your favorite tv show, ect., so easy that one day you're 50 and it's almost time to retire and you never did finish that song you were working on and you get a headache when you try and remember what happened to the last 30 years. Again, I know, new-age-hippy, right? But it's important. Imagination is important. OK, I'm done. Thanks for the interview, and supporting all kinds of music, it's good to know that there are still people out there doing things because it's what they enjoy doing (at least I assume that's why you do it, I can't imagine the financial rewards, or burdens, as the case may be, are much different from my own). Take care!
Somber Blessings c/o Scott Randall; 10 Lakeview Ave.; Danvers, MA 01932 USA.
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