Moonspell
A Taste Of Eternity

20.12.2007

There are some people you want to talk to because they’re great musicians. But there are others whom you dream of interviewing because they’re great personalities. Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell is both of those, and moreover, he’s a great storyteller. You can talk to him all night and don’t get bored for a second. And though we didn’t have that “all night”, the interview lasted for only 40 minutes and was marred by one of the worst connections ever (Fernando’s voice would disappear for a few seconds completely at any given moment in time), it was an experience I would not forget. And the main theme for the interview was quite intriguing as well – after more than 10 years Moonspell decided to excavate their earliest material (the first EP, demo tracks and more) and re-record it with new sound and arrangements…

Let’s start with a trivial question – why did you decide that now is the right time to re-record the old material? Bands usually do it on some anniversary – 10 years, 20 years since the band’s formation, etc., and why did you do it in the year 2007?

You’re right, normally band to do projects like these on a special occasion or on an anniversary. But for us it’s more important to be active than to celebrate the 10th anniversary or 20th anniversary. We have actually never done it, we never measure our time like this. It was more of a gut feeling, of having a little time now in between touring and a new album, and of having everything together. We set ourselves for some weeks into searching through into these very old songs and ways to fulfill the potential we always felt they had, but it was overshadowed by faults in production and lack of technical skills that the band had in 1992-1994. Probably this isn’t the right time, but we never know which the right time is. We just keep doing things as they show themselves interesting to us.

For those who haven’t heard the album yet – how much did you change the songs and arrangements? And did you change anything in the lyrics?

For “Under Satanae” we had a plan, which was “not to spoil the original feeling and message of the song, but rather make it brighter, stronger and in a way more powerful.” Basically that’s what we succeeded in doing with under “Satanae”. We didn’t corrode our songs, we didn’t change them radically, let’s call it this way, but we tried to correct the mistakes in playing and production and have this big epic sound. The general idea behind “Under Satanae” was always in the back of our minds, and if somebody had asked us back in 1992-1994, “Do you want to re-record the stuff?”, we would have said “yes”.  We knew the songs had a lot of potential, but we knew very well that we were not ready as musicians to show this potential to the crowd. Also recording metal in Portugal at that time was something very hard to do. Metal was not seen as an important genre, and when it came to production, the producers didn’t care, they acted like everything would do. We were very frustrated about the songs when they originally came out, but ever since 1995 we were always busy creating new sounds and touring. But now it’s like in magic – all the elements came together to perform a magic ritual.

First and foremost, we solved all problems with our ex-bass player (Ares), we had to do this, because we had to get his permission, and the same goes to all the old members of Moonspell. Then Adipocere Records wanted to sell rights to “Under The Moonspell” (1994) to another label in order to release this CD again, and it’s something that we didn’t want to do – to have another edition from Adipocere adding absolutely nothing. They already did the first edition, the second edition, a picture disc, a vinyl album, and sometimes I had to write to the label myself in order to get copies. It wasn’t very cool, I think. On the other hand, during all our travels, the people, especially new fans that joined the Moonspell community around “Darkness And Hope” (2001) or even “Memorial” (2006), have always been asking us to remaster this CD, get a better sound and repackage everything. And we went one step ahead of them, we said, “Why mix it again, when we don’t have a lot of the original tapes? Why remaster it? It’s not fair, it’s not what we want to do. Let’s rather spend some more time on it and re-record the whole thing.” That’s how the project of “Under Satanae” was born. It’s not a new album, just a project meant to show the people that these songs are really good, and given a better production, they will be more powerful and better done. In the end, the product turned out to be very good, very real for us, so that’s why it’s going to be released.

Your labelmates Sodom are also releasing a re-recording of their very first EP (“The Final Sign Of Evil”) this autumn. Have you heard it, and if yes, what do you think of it?

I heard people speaking about it, and it’s a bit different from what Moonspell did. I’m curious to listen to what Sodom has done, I’ll get a copy from SPV. As far as I know, Sodom went even more back to the roots and recorded something more amateur. But what we wanted to do is a clash between the old and the new - the old way of making music versus the new sound, and I think this clash turned out great. Sounding like that allows the songs to shine, while they were very muddied when it came to the original production. At that time things were very different, and talking about this in 2007, it sometimes feels that we’re speaking about pre-history. In fact, it was only a few years ago, but things have evolved so much when it comes to music production. One of the faults of “Under The Moonspell” was that we were trying out a studio for the first time, we were like a test for that studio. They were trying out a new digital system, and that’s why the sound is so out of balance. Then we were kicked out of the studio because of another band who were bigger than us. (laughs) After we went to the studio three weeks later to continue recording, things were already different, the studio was different. And at the end of the recording our producer’s grandfather died, and he had to be there. Some other guy came in and said, “I don’t like the sound, I’ll do it again in one night.” The whole recording session was a big collection of problems. This time the sound is much more open, the problems are solved in a way.

When you re-do something from the old days, it usually means that a lot of memories come to your head. What are your brightest memories about the years 1993 and 1994? Do you ever feel nostalgic about those years, or are you much happier at the present time?

It really depends. In some aspects I’m more grown-up today, I’m happier. But those times were probably the best times that I had – listening to metal, and also being a musician, because it was a lot about daydreaming. Me and Ares, when we were not playing or practicing, we were imagining a T-shirt, a poster, a gig, and this all nowadays is reality. We do have gigs, posters and T-shits, so the world nowadays is very different. But I believe those times were magical for us, those were times of discovering our own voice, our own message, our own way of building and doing things in metal. Some bands started from zero, and I think Moonspell started from below zero. We didn’t play, we just had a big imagination, let’s call it this way, and we were trying to transform this imagination into black metal. I have some very positive memories of those times. They were hard, of course, but they were very spiritual and full of hope.

Let’s talk about producers now – why did you choose Tue Madsen to work with on “Under Satanae”? Why not Waldemar Sorychta, who recorded “Memorial” and your classic albums?

I think Waldemar was never into our early stuff, he started liking Moonspell with “Irreligious” (1996), to be honest. We had a lot of troubles recording “Wolfheart” (1995), because he was never attached to our past. Obviously we could have worked with Waldemar, because he did a great job on any Moonspell album he has worked, but I felt that as “Under Satanae” was a kind of project, it was time for us to discover the work of other people. We were already on the lookout for Tue Madsen, we knew his style, I knew that he was more into death metal and metalcore, but I found his sound really good and powerful. We wanted to try it out, do a little bit of a clash between this Lusitanian black metal and a new approach to recording. When we were recording with Waldemar, it was great, but stressful, and the reason is not Waldemar, but rather the studio environment, and we didn’t want that again. We wanted to be more relaxed, to have a better atmosphere. We didn’t really know what to expect, but I think we found everything that we wanted in Denmark. It’s a very laid-back way of recording, it’s a very relaxed atmosphere in the studio, and the album sounds killer as well. For me it doesn’t sound any way less produced that “Memorial”, so this time around for the forthcoming album we are using Denmark again, but we are using both Tue Madsen and Waldemar. When you can have the best of two worlds, it’s a great thing. With “Under Satanae” we changed a lot – we got a new designer, a new photographer, it was a good time for experimenting with different looks into our sound and image. I’m very happy with experimenting, because this time we have enriched our span of collaborators, and it was really good for us.

More about the old material – there were a lot of speculations that you were going to release a DVD called “Lunar Still – 13 Years of Doom”. But what happened to this release?

It was not speculation, actually it was true. What happened is that we recorded it during the “Antidote” tour (2003), everything was set up to do the DVD, I worked for hours and hours on that stuff to create a double DVD that would include not only the “Antidote” show, but also many extras. And then Century Media, because of some interpretation or some lawyer bullshit, delayed the DVD up to the point of absurd. Sometimes it happens in music that labels are not concerned about the band or the audience, but rather about the stuff that is quite unbelievable for a musician. (laughs) We wanted to have a DVD, we did a lot of work for that DVD, the fans were eagerly expecting it all around the world, and nowadays we have nothing better to tell them than that a lawyer stopped us from doing this DVD. In my opinion, he couldn’t handle his job right, he was making a fuss out of things that are not important or that do not prevent the release of the DVD. Fortunately Century Media have changed their opinion a little bit, so I’m working with another guy on this. I’ve helped them with the “best-of” CDs and the re-releases of “Wolfheart” and “Irreligious” that will be coming out soon, and in return they gave me a chance to talk about this DVD again and try to make it happen. I think everything is going to be alright, and probably not this year, but at least up to mid-2008 the DVD will be out. I also have plans of doing a DVD with songs from “Under Satanae” and “Memorial”, I’ve talked with some people about it, and if everything goes right, the fans will have the “Lunar Still” DVD, and in a couple of months they will have this other DVD with newer songs and the “Under Satanae” show. Let’s see if it happens.

The Moonspell compilation called “The Great Silver Eye” that Century Media did this year, only contains album versions, while you have a lot of rare songs, single mixes, for instance, songs like “Mr. Crowley”, that were only on limited editions. Are you saving them for the deluxe re-releases you have mentioned?

It’s not my fault really. I think it would make sense to have all these rarities on one CD, but Century Media said, “We will only go just with album versions, because it’s a best-of, and we will have “Memorial” songs anyway, because it’s your new record.” But al the extra material that I’ve been compiling is probably waiting for the re-issues. You can look at it in two ways – you can just boycott the stuff, but you will not be able to stop it anyway, or you can help them out and make things a little bit better for the fans. The fans always have the choice to buy it or not. For the re-releases of “Wolfheart” and “Irreligious”, we didn’t have any bonus songs, so I’ve searched my archives of tapes and researched online to see if there was something from those days – you never know. And we managed to create a bonus CD for each album with live shows. They’re very good, and they’re really what they are, they’re very natural. They have mistakes and everything, but it’s Moonspell live at that period. For “Wolfheart” we chose the gig recorded in 1995 when we toured with Morbid Angel, and for another one the gig from the 1996 tour with Type O Negative, Samael and some other bands.

In many interviews you said that there is no unity on the Portuguese metal scene, and that every band stands for its own, they don’t help each other. Has the situation in Portugal changed over the years? Especially now as your albums top the national charts, metal must be quite big in your country…

In my opinion, the situation has changed, but not as much as it could. You can still find a lot of rivalry between bands, a lot of backstabbing as well, so it’s still a bit of a weird scene. Probably it happens in every scene, but I’m from Portugal, I live here (laughs), so I can only speak about what I see here. For instance, you go to an Internet metal forum, and still the most hated band here is Moonspell. Some people say good things about us and others are saying terrible things, but when I look at it, I say, “Yeah, everybody can have his or her own opinion, but if you compare Moonspell’s career and achievements to all the other Portuguese bands, you’ll find that it’s totally senseless and ridiculous.” The Portuguese scene still has this feeling of envy, of fighting, of craving for what other people achieve and being frustrated about it. The best example is that we don’t have any other international bands apart from Moonspell. It’s not because there are no other bands, it’s not because they’re all of poor quality, it’s not because the scene is suffocated. It’s because people not only have to be talented, they have to give their entire lives to this cause, as Moonspell did. And I think that’s the main difference.

Take a band like Sacred Sin, for example. There was a time when they were really happening, they were on “Headbanger’s Ball”, and when they supported Manowar, I was banging my head at their shows. I never thought they were a great band, but they were a big band at that time for the Portuguese scene. But I never saw them going on tour in a van, I just saw them in bars with people around them saying, “Sacred Sin are gods!” (laughs) Nowadays you can’t even compare Sacred Sin and Moonspell. I know a couple of these guys, they are nice fellows, they are devoted and into the scene, but they’re a typical case of a Portuguese metal band. With us it was a bit different – when we went on tour in Europe in 1996, we never thought, “OK, we’re supporting Type O Negative, it’s the biggest tour in Europe, and when it’s over, we can go home, stay in bars and wait for people to praise us.” For us it was always about work. “Memorial” was number one in the Portuguese charts, and for me it’s really cool, but I’m still practicing every day, I’m not on an island or in a bar just drinking with my friends. I’m here doing interviews until late, and I’ll be doing some work for the new album after I’ve done with this interview, and tomorrow at 10 o’clock I will be practicing. Some Portuguese people don’t like to hear it, but it’s true – we have achieved what we have achieved because we always thought that music is something very special, but it’s also something that you have to work on.

You know, I could be here all night talking about the Portuguese scene… When death metal was popular, there were Portuguese bands that wanted to be like the most popular death metal bands – Death or Obituary. When Metallica was really big, up to the “black album,” everybody was trying to be like Metallica. Then everybody tried to be like Sepultura, then everybody tried to be like Paradise Lost – these were the biggest trends on the Portuguese metal scene. And speaking about Moonspell, when you listen to our early stuff, you can hear our influences such as Bathory or Celtic Frost or Sarcofago, but we were trying to do our own thing. Even though it was very naïve and reminded people a lot of the bands I’ve mentioned, they already recognized that we were trying to do something different. And it worked.

I see that you’re quite skeptical abut the scene, but at the same time, you do quite a lot of guest appearances on CDs of various Portuguese bands, such as Assemblent, Volstad or Thragedium. What makes you do it? Are these bands friends of yours, or are you a fan of their music?

I do it when I like it. I don’t do that many guest appearances anyway. Especially for Portuguese bands, I’ve done some to help them out. First, I have to like the music, it has to be an interesting project. To me, my best guest vocal performance is for the Czech band Root, on the song “Salamandra” from their album “Black Seal”. I’m a big fan of this band. Nowadays I’m not doing that many guest appearances, because I think it becomes vulgar after a while. Nevertheless, I always have a couple of invitations. For instance, when we were touring in Finland, I was invited to do guest vocals for Swallow The Sun, but I couldn’t make it because I was a bit sick. It was something I could have done, because I like this band a lot, but in a lot of other cases I am basically not interested.

With Volfstad, I did it because it was a totally different thing, and I really love this project.  We did the song “Apart”, it came out on a compilation, and a lot of people liked it. Assemblent were very much inspired by Moonspell, and guitar player Daniel was really forceful, and he fought a lot to have me there. I liked that, I liked that attitude. (laughs) I just went there and did it, it was very simple.

With Thragedium it was more than just doing the vocals, I was really helping them out. I believed they were a very talented band, but like many of the Portuguese bands, they failed to have the right attitude. They never knew how to keep the band together, how to be a band rather than just one guy’s vision. They split eventually, even though they were a great band that had a lot of potential. They were following our steps in Lusitanian metal from where we left this path, they still have this influence, and it was great, because no one else is mixing metal with Portuguese folk music anymore. I helped them out a lot, I even offered to produce their record if they wanted to, it’s a shame that they don’t exist anymore. But at the end of the day, you have to tie your own shoes, if you know what I mean (laughs), you cannot tie the shoes for anyone else.

I’ve heard that apart from singing in Moonspell and writing poetry, a couple of years ago you translated into Portuguese a fictional biography of HP Lovecraft written by Hans Rodionoff. How did you like this experience?

(laughs) I love books and I love literature. For me metal and poetry are two things that go hand in hand, and I’ve always loved the fact that bands like Iron Maiden or Celtic Frost always used poetry in their songs. Basically these are two big passions for me. I’m more involved in poetry now, even though I don’t have much time. I’ve released three poetry books so far, I write short tales, I write for a metal magazine here in Portugal, and right now I’m translating a book by Richard Matheson called “I Am Legend”. It’s a great classic for contemporary science fiction, it was written in 1954 or 1955, I think. It’s a lot of work, believe me, translating is even more work than writing your own stuff. It’s something that I feel good doing even though I don’t have enough time. Sometimes I don’t have any time at all, but still I go and do this kind of stuff. It’s in my blood.

When it comes to Lovecraft, I am helping a publishing house here in Portugal. First, I translated this book for another publishing house, it was a lot of hard work, translating it is terribly difficult, especially from English and Portuguese. And I also wrote a kind of introduction for Lovecraft tales that came out in two volumes. The first volume is sold out already, and a reprint is in progress. I love Lovecraft, it’s my favorite horror fiction writer.

You mentioned that you’re writing for a Portuguese metal magazine, and writing about metal means that you have to listen to a lot of contemporary metal music. How much do you listen to other bands? Can you name a few records that you really liked recently?

There is plenty of stuff. I’m very impressed by Katatonia, the way they have progressed since “Tonight’s Decision”, I think they’ve become a really good band. I also have to mention the bands playing in other styles, like Isis from the United States, for me it was a big revelation. Anathema’s “A Natural Disaster” is a complete masterpiece, though it’s a very underrated album. I listen to a lot of stuff. When it comes to new stuff, there’s this band called Before The Dawn from Finland.

Speaking about the metal scene – usually bands get softer to become more popular, but you did it a totally different way. “Memorial” is much heavier than the two previous CD, but it’s more successful. How did it happen? Do you have an explanation?

No one has. (laughs) It just happens. Moonspell were very successful with “Wolfheart” and “Irreligious”, we didn’t expect it. “Sin / Pecado” (1997) was a very successful album as well. Then “The Butterfly Effect” (1999) cut the sales, but that was exactly what we wanted to do, there was no way around our brains. When we did “Darkness And Hope”, the sales went up again, and with “The Antidote” and “Memorial” they continue to increase even higher. I think it doesn’t depend on the music we do, it depends on what people are interested in giving to your band. There are great albums that don’t sell a shit, and there are bad albums that sell a shitload. Nowadays there’s no formula. The music can be heavier or lighter, it doesn’t matter. This is not in the hands of the band, this is in the hands of the audience. Being in the band, we just try to be honest with ourselves. If we want to make a song about blood, we will do it, and if we want to make a song about water, we will do it as well. We don’t try to guess what people want to listen. We can’t do it, and no band can, whether they play metal or anything else, at least I think so. When a band tries to do it, it becomes a fake, and it often turns out a disaster, rather than an achievement. What I want to do with Moonspell is to put the ideas we have into music and hope that people like it, not the other way around. I respect the bands that do the same, for instance, Paradise Lost. I was not a big fan of “Symbol Of Life” (2002), and “Paradise Lost” (2005) was also just an OK album, but their newest one “In Requiem” (2007) is very good! A lot of people are listening to Paradise Lost again. Success is a combination of different contents and factors that don’t only depend on the band.

I only have one question left, and it’s very traditional – do you have any plans to come to Russia again after the release of the next regular album, or probably even before that?

I do hope so. Every time we’ve been in Russia, it’s been very special. Last time we packed Tochka Club in Moscow and the venue in St. Petersburg, so it’s natural that they want us back. I’ve already told our agent that I would love to do a more extensive Russian tour, not only Moscow and St. Pete, but also Siberia, because I know from other bands that have done it that it’s a very good experience and that you get to travel around a lot. So far we don’t have anything booked, and we have ended the tour for “Memorial”, because we have to compose a new album, but we are still open to go to the countries where we haven’t been with “Memorial” and “Under Satanae”, and for sure, Russia is on top of our list. We do hope to get back to Russia as soon as possible, maybe before the end of the year, and if not, after January, when the new album is recorded.

Moonspell on the Internet: http://www.moonspell.com

Special thanks to Maxim Bylkin (Soyuz Music) for arranging this interview.

Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
October 2, 2007
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