Our regular readers already enjoyed sophisticated and ingenious answers of Simon Iff? As we did an interview with him about two years ago speaking about his occult and ruffian doom project The Lamp of Thoth. Now the time has come to tell the story of Arkham Witch. This band was born in Keighley, England in 2008, it’s well-known with glorious full-length album “On Crom’s Mountain” which represents solid and catchy tunes in vein of heavy doom metal. Nowadays the band is finishing their second release and it promises to be an interesting one, Simon is here again to tell us about it. He who stared straight into eyes of Ancient Ones and keep his mind sane (at least most of it) has some knowledge to share with you.
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Good day sir Simon! It’s not a secret that Arkham Witch has signed the pact with Metal On Metal records and you’re ready to unleash full-length album “Legions of the Deep” in October 2012 – congratulations! Do all things go smooth enough with release?
Hi Alex! Yes all things are going smooth with the release. We are on schedule for a November release - the album has been recorded and just needs to be edited, mixed and mastered. We feel very honoured to be releasing this with such a respected label as Metal on Metal. The contract was signed in Malta after a hearty banquet of snails, steak and whiskey, and after spending a few days in the sun with Simone and Jowita of the label I can confirm that not only are they very dedicated to the cause heavy metal, but they are very cool people as well! We are hoping that our new album will do them and the label justice!
I’m asking because it’s said that you and a crew of Arkham Witch spent in studio 8 days having only “312 lagers, 82 whiskey, 2 cigars, 4 babychams and a packet of Haribos”. There’s no word about amps, guitars and drum-set. Do you remember what you do there besides that binge?
Dodo Doom recorded his guitar through a Marshall JCM and a Matamp, Saxondale Demaine recorded on a Treburn active bass through an Ampeg, and Emily's drum kit is a Pearl Export I believe! We spent a couple of days recording the drums, only to find we had too many songs and had to whittle them down to a more manageable number! We are hoping to release an ep also this year that will feature the remaining songs that did not make it on to the album.
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Arkham Witch recorded a special song for “Compendium of Metal” and its name is “For Metal”. Don’t you fear to step on true metal road singing about “Metal Swords of Metal Warriors”?
Not really! There is no mention of metal warriors or swords in that song. It is more a diatribe against the posers that you meet not just in the heavy metal scene but also in life in general. The song ascertains that the poser should not be sliced with a sword but should be punched or kicked to death! I hope that our listeners are not too literal minded to undertake such a suggestion, but to take the lyrics in a metaphorical sense - to kill the poser within, to treat people with respect and to realise that one person's elixir is another's poison. It's a frustration with people who act like cocks moulded into musical form - some people take things far too seriously - some don't take things seriously enough!
Your album has a name which refers to a brilliant song from your previous work “The Lord of R’lyeh”, so we can conclude that “Legions of the Deep” leitmotiv refers to Lovecraftian mythology. Which other subjects will you disclose in new songs?
On the new album, we have the title track Legions of the Deep, which some will remember from our first demo. This is, of course, inspired by Lovecraft's brilliant tale The Shadow over Innsmouth. Other songs included are 'Iron Shadows in the Moon' which is based on the Conan story of the same name. 'Infernal Machine', which is about a homicidal cyborg laying waste to a far off planet! 'On a Horse called Vengeance' is the tale of a resurrected zombie cowboy out for revenge and is inspired by Robert E. Howard's ghostly Western stories. 'The Cloven Sea' is inspired by Poul Anderson's amazing book The Broken Sword, 'Gods of Storm and Thunder' is about a warrior who loves his job, 'David Lund' is about quarreling magickal orders - We're From Keighley speaks for itself! The song The Lord of Rl'yeh is a riff on Brian Lumley's novels of Titus Crow, which is kind of 'English science fiction type heroes versus the Cthulhu Mythos'. It's real pulpy b-movie type stuff but good. I think Brian Lumley gets a bad rap from S.T. Joshi - a lot of his Mythos stories are entertaining. Dagon's Bell is named after one of his tales too, although the lyrics are more Shadow over Innsmouth inspired.
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What kind of version of Lovecraftian myths will you represent in “Legions of the Deep”? Will it be something canonical? Or do you have a kind of variations on themes?
Our other Lovecraft inspired songs on the album are 'At the Mountains of Madness', which is a take on the tale of the same name. It concerns a fellow who has just returned from the Stark Merryweather expedition to the Mountains, and the effect the mind-blowing knowledge has had on his relationship with his woman! We also have a song called 'Kult of Kutulu which is inspired by Alan Moore's brilliant take on the Lovecraft mythos, The Courtyard and Neonomicon. These two comicbooks need to be read to be believed and are certainly not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. He takes alot of what is relegated to the background of Lovecraft’s tales - especially the repressed sexuality and overt racism (the stories are based on The Horror at Red Hook I believe) and brings them to the fore. Our song does not deal with these issues, but is inspired by the setting of the Club Zothique that features in the story.
Yes, Simon, I remember that you’re fan of comicbooks. What do you read now?
At the moment I am once again reading the Dark Horse Conan book. I had not read it for a while – it had become stale and just as clichéd as the bad issues of the old seventies Marvels, but the combination of the awesome talent of artist Becky Cloonan and the writing of Brian Wood has just reinvigorated it – you have got to see the way Belit is drawn – it’s awesome stuff! Having Belit meeting Conan’s mother in a later issue is also a stroke of genius! - I think this is a must read for any Conan fan – it pays faithful tribute to Howard’s original Queen of the Black Coast, whilst making the character seem fresh and alive. It’s just the little touches that make Brian Wood’s writing and Becky Cloonan’s art so great, and make Conan seem like a fully rounded man rather than just the one-dimensional superman in a loincloth the comic version has a danger of straying into.
Unfortunately, Becky Cloonan does not draw the whole tale, but James Harren is a great artist too. I am hoping that Dark Horse keep up the quality of the title and do justice to Howard’s creation in the future, but right now it kicks arse! I am also reading Scott Snyder on Batman (which incidentally, in the latest issue features Miss Cloonan again!) and the continuing saga of Grant Morrison’s awe-inspiring run on Batman that is Batman Incorporated!
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Simon, you’re true patriot of England – songs like “Let England Prevail” and “The Phantom Bowmen” show it even better than participant of The Lamp Of Thoth in split-album “Hail Britannia”. For me England isn’t only Victorian style or Jack The Reaper and Dr. Jekyll, or Robin Hood, it’s not only Dickens and Dickinson… There were colonial and opium wars, real legal piracy (not that deals with mp3) and a damned lot of dirty political tricks as each respected civilized country may proud. What make you proud of your land, good sir?
It's not really a patriotism for England as it is now, but I think but a patriotism for the England of the past, most probably it is a patriotism for the England of the imagination! The historical stuff is all conjecture - history is written by the victorious as they say, and all my life it seems has been written by those who decided that nothing good has come of our colonial past. I think we have a lot to be ashamed of but also a lot to be proud -Shakespeare, Tennyson, Football, Industrial Revolution and Heavy Metal ain't bad for a little island.
Dickinson? - Do you mean Emily Dickinson? Think she was American. If you mean David Dickinson - that's a bobby dazzler!
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No, man! I was talking about Bruce Dickinson, you may be heard about him.. he is a good swordsman and pilot, and I believe that he also sings in a band. Don’t you heard it?
Oh yeah! That’s his son – done well for himself in some pop group hasn’t he?! Have not heard them myself, but I am told they are frightfully good!
Do you demark for yourself English folk and English government? English past and present?
You get stupid people in all countries and all walks of life – unfortunately sometimes they also get into government!
I think as a society, here in England we are steadily becoming more intolerant, impolite, stupid and materialistic. I don’t know whether this is the logical conclusion of the kind of individualism the western way of life encourages or whether I am just getting old and cranky, but the decline of morals and decent behaviour is ever more noticeable, even in the so called middle classes who were once the bastions and champions of such things. I think it is a case of desensitization. We are so used to hearing swearing, witnessing countless acts of sex and violence, pornography seeps its lustful tentacles Kutulu-like into every area of life, that life has become cheap, unspiritual and centered on the flesh. It is hard now to shock. We are weary and apathetic. We used to know how to queue for things; we never used to complain as much as we do now, and we didn’t demand things as our right – we asked for them. Television has conquered every area of life – first it ate cinema, then it devoured rock and roll, and now it has its sights on books. Aside from the Kindle – television is present in public libraries in the country in the form of the Internet. Soon new books will only be available on a TV screen. People now, will go and watch a live band and instead of soaking up the experience, will stand, phone aloft and watch it through a 3 inch screen. Life is being compacted into two dimensions. You can’t enjoy yourself in public anymore without ending up on Facebook! We have lost the will to use our imaginations and memories, and are becoming slaves to technology, trading in the mundane through social networks, selling our memories and experiences for the validation of our peers – the whole world is being uploaded to the Internet – including you and your personality, and soon countries will exist only as long as the server upon which they are stored. The only thing that can save us is heavy metal!
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I’m sure the same thing could be said about each modern “civilized” country or even about Russia… But look – comics lead people to more simple way too, most of them are quiet primitive and readers do not need to make their imagination work as in a case with books. By the way I wonder how much of dirt in this industry – a damned lot of primitivism, of violence, of sex, of sex and violence. Though there was a great examples of such art as “Lone Wolf and Cub” by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima… What do you think about destructive aspect of that problem?
I think I would have to disagree there! As there are good and bad books, there are good and bad comic books, but a good comic book would make your imagination work overtime. The things you level at comics have also been said about Heavy Metal! It’s better to judge something by the best that it can be, than the worst it has to offer, so I shall retract my ill thought out and mean comments about English society and technology - we are doing our best!
As I’ve mentioned before colonial ambitions of England… well, I can’t miss a questions about literary image of Ctulhu in your songs which of course represents metaphorically a monster of colonial and capitalistic world which spreads it’s tentacles all over the modern world. How does this image develop in Arkham Witch songs?
Well - you have something there! I have never thought of Cthulhu as representing capitalism before! We have always used him as a symbol of the subconscious mind, but of course that does tap into the unthinking way we all consume in the modern world. Maybe when the stars are right and the old one rises again that's how he will conquer the earth. Cthulhu brand televisions, toothpaste, confectionary, and condoms! ‘Got Cthulhu?’ Tom Cruise asks, as he looks straight into the camera, his perfect white teeth shining in the sunlight and his newly acquired tentacles glistening against the spray of the rumbling ocean.
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How often do you play gigs now with Arkham Witch and The Lamp of Thoth? I don’t watch your tour-list so I only know that you and Arkham Witch played at Malta Doom Fest in 2011. Were there any other big venues?
We don't play as often as we should, but here in England the scene for our music is quite small. If we play locally it is usually to apathetic audiences. We are actually playing our first hometown gig next week after three years of being formed! The Lamp of Thoth only played there twice, and the last time we had two people watching us - one of them was the sound guy! We are usually more successful abroad - our gigs in Malta and Germany were both great! I hope we get to return to both places! I myself would rather record than play live - it's not that I don't enjoy playing live - it's just I am keen to crack on and get the albums recorded!
Well, would you like to play in Russia? We have spices, rum, caviar, furs and elephants tusks for trade. A good offer for shining CDs indeed!
We would love to play in Russia!
Why do you keep on hold The Lamp of Thoth? Did Randy Reaper return to Iron Void or Solstice? Or does he start another doom-cult growing seeds of heresy and witchcraft somewhere in remote places of Albion?
The Lamp is unfortunately a victim of the worldwide recession that has engulfed us! I am now a homeowner and can’t afford to play in two bands at the moment unless I give up my comic book and beer addictions! That’s not going to happen! Randy is doing well in Solstice – one of his favourite bands. I always meant to pick up on the Thoth stuff – just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Both Arkham Witch and The Lamp of Thoth perform a great examples of true English metal, can you name few more bands of that kind?
I think there are a lot of great True English metal bands out there, but the thing I like in a band is evidence of the good old English character – one of my favourites at the moment is a guy called Paul Roland – who, while not heavy metal, comes close to it on a few tracks. But it is his subject matter and delivery that may interest fans of the above two bands – he is a true English eccentric, obsessed with the weird and the occult, who has some brilliant songs, with quirky lyrics, great sounds and strange vocals, such as Walter the Occultist, Come to the Sabbat (not the Black Widow song, but just as good!), Witchfinder General, and Nosferatu. I would recommend his brilliant HP Lovecraft inspired album Reanimator.
Thank you for your time Simon! I believe that this information will help for our readers to stay tuned as both of your bands work with new releases. Best regards man!
Thanks Alex.
Don’t take drugs!!!!
It’s more polite to pay for them.
Interview By Aleks Evdokimov
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Myspace
Blogspot
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Good day sir Simon! It’s not a secret that Arkham Witch has signed the pact with Metal On Metal records and you’re ready to unleash full-length album “Legions of the Deep” in October 2012 – congratulations! Do all things go smooth enough with release?
Hi Alex! Yes all things are going smooth with the release. We are on schedule for a November release - the album has been recorded and just needs to be edited, mixed and mastered. We feel very honoured to be releasing this with such a respected label as Metal on Metal. The contract was signed in Malta after a hearty banquet of snails, steak and whiskey, and after spending a few days in the sun with Simone and Jowita of the label I can confirm that not only are they very dedicated to the cause heavy metal, but they are very cool people as well! We are hoping that our new album will do them and the label justice!
I’m asking because it’s said that you and a crew of Arkham Witch spent in studio 8 days having only “312 lagers, 82 whiskey, 2 cigars, 4 babychams and a packet of Haribos”. There’s no word about amps, guitars and drum-set. Do you remember what you do there besides that binge?
Dodo Doom recorded his guitar through a Marshall JCM and a Matamp, Saxondale Demaine recorded on a Treburn active bass through an Ampeg, and Emily's drum kit is a Pearl Export I believe! We spent a couple of days recording the drums, only to find we had too many songs and had to whittle them down to a more manageable number! We are hoping to release an ep also this year that will feature the remaining songs that did not make it on to the album.
Arkham Witch recorded a special song for “Compendium of Metal” and its name is “For Metal”. Don’t you fear to step on true metal road singing about “Metal Swords of Metal Warriors”?
Not really! There is no mention of metal warriors or swords in that song. It is more a diatribe against the posers that you meet not just in the heavy metal scene but also in life in general. The song ascertains that the poser should not be sliced with a sword but should be punched or kicked to death! I hope that our listeners are not too literal minded to undertake such a suggestion, but to take the lyrics in a metaphorical sense - to kill the poser within, to treat people with respect and to realise that one person's elixir is another's poison. It's a frustration with people who act like cocks moulded into musical form - some people take things far too seriously - some don't take things seriously enough!
Your album has a name which refers to a brilliant song from your previous work “The Lord of R’lyeh”, so we can conclude that “Legions of the Deep” leitmotiv refers to Lovecraftian mythology. Which other subjects will you disclose in new songs?
On the new album, we have the title track Legions of the Deep, which some will remember from our first demo. This is, of course, inspired by Lovecraft's brilliant tale The Shadow over Innsmouth. Other songs included are 'Iron Shadows in the Moon' which is based on the Conan story of the same name. 'Infernal Machine', which is about a homicidal cyborg laying waste to a far off planet! 'On a Horse called Vengeance' is the tale of a resurrected zombie cowboy out for revenge and is inspired by Robert E. Howard's ghostly Western stories. 'The Cloven Sea' is inspired by Poul Anderson's amazing book The Broken Sword, 'Gods of Storm and Thunder' is about a warrior who loves his job, 'David Lund' is about quarreling magickal orders - We're From Keighley speaks for itself! The song The Lord of Rl'yeh is a riff on Brian Lumley's novels of Titus Crow, which is kind of 'English science fiction type heroes versus the Cthulhu Mythos'. It's real pulpy b-movie type stuff but good. I think Brian Lumley gets a bad rap from S.T. Joshi - a lot of his Mythos stories are entertaining. Dagon's Bell is named after one of his tales too, although the lyrics are more Shadow over Innsmouth inspired.
Our other Lovecraft inspired songs on the album are 'At the Mountains of Madness', which is a take on the tale of the same name. It concerns a fellow who has just returned from the Stark Merryweather expedition to the Mountains, and the effect the mind-blowing knowledge has had on his relationship with his woman! We also have a song called 'Kult of Kutulu which is inspired by Alan Moore's brilliant take on the Lovecraft mythos, The Courtyard and Neonomicon. These two comicbooks need to be read to be believed and are certainly not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. He takes alot of what is relegated to the background of Lovecraft’s tales - especially the repressed sexuality and overt racism (the stories are based on The Horror at Red Hook I believe) and brings them to the fore. Our song does not deal with these issues, but is inspired by the setting of the Club Zothique that features in the story.
Yes, Simon, I remember that you’re fan of comicbooks. What do you read now?
At the moment I am once again reading the Dark Horse Conan book. I had not read it for a while – it had become stale and just as clichéd as the bad issues of the old seventies Marvels, but the combination of the awesome talent of artist Becky Cloonan and the writing of Brian Wood has just reinvigorated it – you have got to see the way Belit is drawn – it’s awesome stuff! Having Belit meeting Conan’s mother in a later issue is also a stroke of genius! - I think this is a must read for any Conan fan – it pays faithful tribute to Howard’s original Queen of the Black Coast, whilst making the character seem fresh and alive. It’s just the little touches that make Brian Wood’s writing and Becky Cloonan’s art so great, and make Conan seem like a fully rounded man rather than just the one-dimensional superman in a loincloth the comic version has a danger of straying into.
Unfortunately, Becky Cloonan does not draw the whole tale, but James Harren is a great artist too. I am hoping that Dark Horse keep up the quality of the title and do justice to Howard’s creation in the future, but right now it kicks arse! I am also reading Scott Snyder on Batman (which incidentally, in the latest issue features Miss Cloonan again!) and the continuing saga of Grant Morrison’s awe-inspiring run on Batman that is Batman Incorporated!
It's not really a patriotism for England as it is now, but I think but a patriotism for the England of the past, most probably it is a patriotism for the England of the imagination! The historical stuff is all conjecture - history is written by the victorious as they say, and all my life it seems has been written by those who decided that nothing good has come of our colonial past. I think we have a lot to be ashamed of but also a lot to be proud -Shakespeare, Tennyson, Football, Industrial Revolution and Heavy Metal ain't bad for a little island.
Dickinson? - Do you mean Emily Dickinson? Think she was American. If you mean David Dickinson - that's a bobby dazzler!
No, man! I was talking about Bruce Dickinson, you may be heard about him.. he is a good swordsman and pilot, and I believe that he also sings in a band. Don’t you heard it?Oh yeah! That’s his son – done well for himself in some pop group hasn’t he?! Have not heard them myself, but I am told they are frightfully good!
Do you demark for yourself English folk and English government? English past and present?
You get stupid people in all countries and all walks of life – unfortunately sometimes they also get into government!
I think as a society, here in England we are steadily becoming more intolerant, impolite, stupid and materialistic. I don’t know whether this is the logical conclusion of the kind of individualism the western way of life encourages or whether I am just getting old and cranky, but the decline of morals and decent behaviour is ever more noticeable, even in the so called middle classes who were once the bastions and champions of such things. I think it is a case of desensitization. We are so used to hearing swearing, witnessing countless acts of sex and violence, pornography seeps its lustful tentacles Kutulu-like into every area of life, that life has become cheap, unspiritual and centered on the flesh. It is hard now to shock. We are weary and apathetic. We used to know how to queue for things; we never used to complain as much as we do now, and we didn’t demand things as our right – we asked for them. Television has conquered every area of life – first it ate cinema, then it devoured rock and roll, and now it has its sights on books. Aside from the Kindle – television is present in public libraries in the country in the form of the Internet. Soon new books will only be available on a TV screen. People now, will go and watch a live band and instead of soaking up the experience, will stand, phone aloft and watch it through a 3 inch screen. Life is being compacted into two dimensions. You can’t enjoy yourself in public anymore without ending up on Facebook! We have lost the will to use our imaginations and memories, and are becoming slaves to technology, trading in the mundane through social networks, selling our memories and experiences for the validation of our peers – the whole world is being uploaded to the Internet – including you and your personality, and soon countries will exist only as long as the server upon which they are stored. The only thing that can save us is heavy metal!
I think I would have to disagree there! As there are good and bad books, there are good and bad comic books, but a good comic book would make your imagination work overtime. The things you level at comics have also been said about Heavy Metal! It’s better to judge something by the best that it can be, than the worst it has to offer, so I shall retract my ill thought out and mean comments about English society and technology - we are doing our best!
As I’ve mentioned before colonial ambitions of England… well, I can’t miss a questions about literary image of Ctulhu in your songs which of course represents metaphorically a monster of colonial and capitalistic world which spreads it’s tentacles all over the modern world. How does this image develop in Arkham Witch songs?
Well - you have something there! I have never thought of Cthulhu as representing capitalism before! We have always used him as a symbol of the subconscious mind, but of course that does tap into the unthinking way we all consume in the modern world. Maybe when the stars are right and the old one rises again that's how he will conquer the earth. Cthulhu brand televisions, toothpaste, confectionary, and condoms! ‘Got Cthulhu?’ Tom Cruise asks, as he looks straight into the camera, his perfect white teeth shining in the sunlight and his newly acquired tentacles glistening against the spray of the rumbling ocean.
How often do you play gigs now with Arkham Witch and The Lamp of Thoth? I don’t watch your tour-list so I only know that you and Arkham Witch played at Malta Doom Fest in 2011. Were there any other big venues?
We don't play as often as we should, but here in England the scene for our music is quite small. If we play locally it is usually to apathetic audiences. We are actually playing our first hometown gig next week after three years of being formed! The Lamp of Thoth only played there twice, and the last time we had two people watching us - one of them was the sound guy! We are usually more successful abroad - our gigs in Malta and Germany were both great! I hope we get to return to both places! I myself would rather record than play live - it's not that I don't enjoy playing live - it's just I am keen to crack on and get the albums recorded!
Well, would you like to play in Russia? We have spices, rum, caviar, furs and elephants tusks for trade. A good offer for shining CDs indeed!
We would love to play in Russia!
Why do you keep on hold The Lamp of Thoth? Did Randy Reaper return to Iron Void or Solstice? Or does he start another doom-cult growing seeds of heresy and witchcraft somewhere in remote places of Albion?
The Lamp is unfortunately a victim of the worldwide recession that has engulfed us! I am now a homeowner and can’t afford to play in two bands at the moment unless I give up my comic book and beer addictions! That’s not going to happen! Randy is doing well in Solstice – one of his favourite bands. I always meant to pick up on the Thoth stuff – just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Both Arkham Witch and The Lamp of Thoth perform a great examples of true English metal, can you name few more bands of that kind?
I think there are a lot of great True English metal bands out there, but the thing I like in a band is evidence of the good old English character – one of my favourites at the moment is a guy called Paul Roland – who, while not heavy metal, comes close to it on a few tracks. But it is his subject matter and delivery that may interest fans of the above two bands – he is a true English eccentric, obsessed with the weird and the occult, who has some brilliant songs, with quirky lyrics, great sounds and strange vocals, such as Walter the Occultist, Come to the Sabbat (not the Black Widow song, but just as good!), Witchfinder General, and Nosferatu. I would recommend his brilliant HP Lovecraft inspired album Reanimator.
Thank you for your time Simon! I believe that this information will help for our readers to stay tuned as both of your bands work with new releases. Best regards man!
Thanks Alex.
Don’t take drugs!!!!
It’s more polite to pay for them.
Interview By Aleks Evdokimov
Myspace
Blogspot
