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We were blessed by the presence of the Reverend Charles, during the deflowering ceremony of DiS
I'm nervous...Can you tell me a joke?
Okay, well, I don't know how at ease I can put you, as my jokes tend to frighten and disturb people, as I really like jokes that are offensive. I don't know, maybe it's just that I always enjoyed pushing people's buttons, but whatever. For example, I remember going to these theme park and they're this safari place where you can drive through and my friend told me not to antagonize the monkeys, so that they would attack the car. I told her I had no plans on doing that, but she was just, like, "I’ve known you for six years. I know you'd think it was hilarious if the monkeys attacked the car! Don’t do it!" and, you know, she was kind of right, as I would think it was funny if they attacked us, but she's my friend and I respect her car.
Anyway, here goes, child molester and a little boy are walking in the woods, and the little boy looks up at the child molester and says, "it's dark, I’m scared." the child molester looks down at the little boy and says, "how do you think I feel? I have to walk home alone?" For those of you bothered by that joke, just make it a catholic priest and a little boy and it's all good.
What is your band all about?
We are about creating ritual onstage. We don't write songs, we make spells. 'Three dog night'write songs.
To me, the band is about the union of male and female and darkness and beauty and heaviness and elegance and metal and punk and Goth and industrial and sex and religion and violence and all those things that make us who we are.
To me, this band is about energy. It’s about energy and indulgence. With our music, we create this dark little world, and offstage, we're all just indulgent deviants. Especially me. I’m just a bad example, all around.
How did you all get together?
Well, our parents met at various places and copulated, resulting in their sperm and eggs getting together and forming the individual members of dark Eden, who, through various circumstances and incidents, ended up in the same band together.
Where did you get such a cryptic band name?
The name comes from the union of male and female and the wish to start something new, a new genesis of something. At the time, grunge was all the rage and it wasn't that Dana (the original co-founder of this band) and I disliked the music, even though I wasn't very found of any of the bands of the genre, save Nirvana, it was just the "oh, I am a tortured rock star" attitude of the scene.
Eddie Vedder played at Madison square and some girl in the audience yelled, "We love you, Eddie," and he turned to her and said, in an 'I’m trying to be deep' voice, "You don't love me. You love who you think I am." We just thought, "What a dick!". We were tired of what the music scene was like at the time and wanted to create a new style, if you will. I think it's appropriate that this current line-up is getting the attention we are getting now, because I think that, once again, the music scene has become tired and stale and it needs something to shake it up a bit.
The other thing about the name was that we wanted to emphasize the sexuality of our union. Dana and I liked the idea of she and I in this dark, erotic paradise, where all the sins forbidden in the bible's Eden were encouraged. Then there was the guy who made the Adam and Eve comment.
The Adam and Eve comment?
Yeah, we were in this diner and we had been there for a while and this guy came out of the bathroom and just turned to us and asked, "What are you guys supposed to be, Adam and Eve?" and then he left. Now, the thing is that we had been there for a while, and we were right next to the bathroom, and we hadn't seen him enter. It was pretty creepy. But it was just like everything fell into place at that moment.
How would you describe your music to the uneducated?
We’re a unique brand of jug and bagpipe based R&B lead by a Lionel Ritchie look-alike-midget named Ralphus!
Although some people, who obviously don't understand our intentions, have said that we sound like dark wave mixed with black metal with a punk attitude and energy behind it. Those people have referred to us as a black wave band, which is a term I don't understand. I prefer "spoon."
What makes you different to other metal bands on the scene? The fact that we don't really consider ourselves a metal band, as when I think metal band, I think of Pantera or something. I don't really like referring to us as that. Because when you use the word "metal," people expect a particular thing and when you deviate from that particular thing, everyone accuses you of selling out. That’s why I have referred to us as a black wave band, ooopss, I mean, why those other people have referred to us as a black wave band, because I think it sums up our sound fairly well.
There are definite black metal influences in our work. You can't listen to a song like, "kiena,"
and not hear metal. On the other hand, a song like,
"3 years, 10 months, 8 days,"to me is not really a metal song. It’s fast, it's got a definite energy to it, but I think of it more along the lines of something like Samhain or Alien Sex Fiend or something like that, just with black metal styled vocals. We like to mix a lot of different things, too many to really make us fit into the "metal" category. Although we're definitely too heavy to be "Goth," we don't use enough synth to be "industrial," so that's why I hate genre terms so much. We’ll just say we're a "black wave" band for now.
What would we expect at one of your live shows? Any rampant theatrics? Our shows will basically be about whatever energy we create at that particular show. We’re never going to be gwar or anything, so you shouldn't expect paper mache dinosaurs or something. But, I am very much into a stage show. I am very much into visuals being part of the ritual. So, some shows will be blood and nudity and all sorts of disturbing things, others will be more a straight ahead performance, others will be a good time, where we're all kind of being snotty and having fun. It will all depend on the energy present.
But I will say that I could never do a show where I just stand there and don't interact with the crowd, and I just play the songs one after the other, like they're being pushed out as automations or whatever. I can't do that.
I remember seeing this band play at this club that used to be on St. Marke's place called Coney Island High. I don't remember the name of the band, but I remember they were alright musically, but the singer wouldn't even look at the crowd, he just kind of did the song and then moved to the next one, as if he was afraid of people seeing him and this is not the type of thing one should do if one is afraid of being seen. I hate being in a room where I am not the centre of attention. So, that's what I’ll say about that. And as for the other members, I hired them because of their energy as much as their abilities on their instruments, so let's just say that we will be creating something special.
And what should we expect on your up and coming records?
Well, we do want to re-record the songs on the demo with an actual producer and in an actual studio. I was a bit upset about how poor the sound quality of entartete kunst was. I love the songs and I think they stand out on the own as just strong, strong music, but I would've liked the songs to have a more professional sounding edge to them. I want the guitars to be heavier and I also want real drums. I hate using a drum machine with a flaming passion, but it was either that or wait around for a drummer to magically appear in our laps. That and we've got some interesting covers up our sleeves that we can't quite tell you about at this very moment. But you'll be pleasantly surprised when you hear them.
What are your influences?
My influences are everything from Slayer and Samhain and the Misfits to Jerry Lee Lewis, who was just an insane, insane man for his time. He was so shocking for his time and he didn't seem to give a fuck. I loved that about him. His attitude is just so fuck off that I respect him a lot. Plus, if you ever saw his performances...now, everybody's smashing their instruments. It’s become a tired cliché, but he was setting his piano on fire in the 50's. That’s a showman. But back to my influences, I am influenced by a lot of different things. My vocals, I would say are influenced by Mike Patton and Glen Danzig, just every vocalist who I have ever heard who I felt I could learn from. Even though I write the music, I think, since I’m the vocalist, those are the influences I should concentrate on.
Who would you like to work with on your record?
Producer-wise, I can't think of any better producer than Rick Rubin. I love the way he makes the instruments sound, especially the drums and guitar. He just gives the albums that extra heaviness that I love hearing. I mean, you listen to, say, Slayer's last album and, I believe, he had gotten back with them for that one and I just can't say enough good things about the way the instruments themselves actually sound on the CD. I think you have to sign with his record label to have him produce you, but I just know I love his production. See, I don't want our stuff to have that typical too high bass, too low super down tuned guitar, sound that you hear too much these days. For example, Tool are a very talented band and I wouldn't mind seeing them live, but I hate the way the instruments sound on their albums. It just sounds really weak to my ears. Musically, I’d love to do some sort of collaboration with Diamanda Galas or Glenn Danzig or Mike Patton as they are just amazing, amazing vocalists and I would be honoured to create music with them.
Any new bands that you think I should be looking out for?
'Sick of the Abuse' is a really awesome all-girl death metal band. They’ve just got such a cool sound. We’re thinking of playing some shows together. Also very big on the 'Skabs', but I am not sure if they are still together. But if they are, they have this really unique feel and sound about them, and I totally respect them. Their singer, Helen, was best described by my friend as siouxsie rotten. I'll leave it at that. I also like P.T. Grimm, although they opened with some shitty rap-metal song that almost made me miss their set, but then they did their cover of "people are strange" and i was hooked.
What are your hopes for the band in the near future?
That we can use our music to, somehow, convince everyone in China to jump at the same time, so that the Earth will be thrown off its axis and we'll have a new Ice Age. I'm not a big fan of the hot weather.
