Here's our interview with UKMU!
Who are the members of Ancient Ascendant and what part of the overall
sound do they contribute to?Alex Butler – Guitar and Vocals
Dave Moulding – Drums
Alan Webb – Bass
Nariman Poushin – Guitar
For those not familiar with the band, how did Ancient Ascendant come to
be? Did you always know each other?ALEX: We
formed the band out of a love of and will to create this kind of music.
Nariman is the newest edition to the lineup, the rest of us have been
here since the start.
WEBB: Yeah, I walked into this bar
in Basingstoke and sat next to a guy with a handle bar moustache and a
Grand Magus t-shirt, he said “hey dude, have you eaten?”, I said “no,
are you coming on to me?”, he laughed and we got talking about Prince
and our love for funk music. I’ve known Alex and Dave for years, they
just always seemed to around, being sarcastic and apathetic.
How would you describe your sound and who would you cite as your main
influences?WEBB: Satan father of course. Haha, not really, just awesome riff based death/black metal.
DAVE: The
AA sound is pretty much a modern take on progressive death metal. We
have technical parts to satisfy our egos, and clean 'get all the girls'
bits and neck-destroying riffs. Obviously we each have our own
influences, but collectively we love Bloodbath, Carcass, Opeth,
Decapitated etc.
What was
the first song you wrote? Is it one that's currently up on your MySpace
page (or perhaps waiting to be featured on an upcoming album/ep) or is
it something that's been left back in the band's past?WEBB:Ascend is one of our oldest songs which you can hear on The Heathen
Throne EP. It’s been reworked a little since the first iteration I ever
heard which was written before we even formed Ancient Ascendant, when
it sounded more like an amalgamation of Pantera and Sepultura.
How
does an Ancient Ascendant song take shape? Do you start with a (visual,
musical, lyrical) concept for the whole song, or do you save up riff
ideas and fit them together?DAVE: We always start
with the music, usually with a riff. Then it's sent around each of us
and we all start adding to it, drums, bass etc. We are pretty brutal
when it comes to what we keep and throw away. It's a quality control
thing really, if one member of the band is not happy
with something its dropped or made better.
NARIMAN: Sometimes
I try to write a riff but it either gets deflected to the "too much
doom and ambient noises of the sea" bin or the "unadulterated German
techno" bin, so I tend to share my opinions on riffs, small tweaks here
and there, and I write the solos. It's a very
open process and we are all very thick skinned, and all know that every bit of criticism and tweaking leads to better material.
Enlighten our readers about the array of musical gear you useDAVE:Tama double kick set up, 3 rack toms 8" 10" 12" and a 14" floor. A mix
of Sabian and Zildjian cymbals and a Alesis Dm5 trigger module with a
couple Ddrum kick triggers.
ALEX: A slightly rusty Jackson KE3, with EMG pickups, and a Mesa/Boogie Dual rectifier.
NARIMAN: A Gibson Nighthawk Special and a Bugera 333XL head
WEBB: Musicman Stringray/Fender Marcus Miller Signature Jazz and a Mesa/Boogie Walkabout. And the all important Fulltone Bass Drive.
What’s your favourite song from the album?DAVE: Archpyromancer for me. Its impossible not to headbang whenever I hear that song.
WEBB: Dunno,
changes all the time. Probably “Clawing...” or "Archpyromancer”, the
only song where you can actually hear my bad ass bass tone.
NARIMAN: Currently it's Fear and Fury.
ALEX: The Heathen Throne!
What’s the buzz been like about the album so far?ALEX: Reactions
to 'The Heathen Throne' have been excellent. Although, we've still got
a lot of work to do publicising this EP and getting it into as many
ears as possible.
The Heathen Throne showcases some of the finest fusion of professional
songwriting,
using melody, harmony, rhythm and structure together with savage death
metal technique. Are you trying to compete with, or be better than, the
newer styles of death metal-hybridised popular metal? What have the
successes and challenges of this approach been?WEBB:We’re not really trying to sound like anything, our rules for
songwriting are along of the lines of “does everyone like it?”, “can
you headbang to it?”, “can we play it tight?”. If all the criteria are
fulfilled then it must be a pretty good song. A lot of “modern” death
metal bands don’t really sound like death metal to me, they're usually
too “scene” for me, too much about appealing to young kids with stupid
haircuts and tight jeans. We just want to play old school death metal,
but keep it fresh I guess.
NARIMAN: Well for me the
challenge is not to sound derivative, but as Pitman from Xerath said in
the studio the other day when I was noodling; "Malmsteen called, he
wants his licks back" ! In all honesty it's important to be vigilant
against purely derivative sections, but that said there is definately
no shame in being influenced by other bands when you write, I mean if
there was; Bloodbath would be really really ashamed (to paraphrase
Pitman "Dismember called , they want their riffs back!").
Which do you think is a more accurate portrayal of Ancient Ascendant, a
live show or a recorded album?DAVE: Live. Its how we started and its how we will continue.
WEBB: Yeah,
we’ve always said we’re a live band first. We just want people to come
to our shows and bang their heads, and occasionally give them enough of
break to go get a fresh pint. That’s what metal’s about right?
So
what's next for Ancient Ascendant? Do you have long-term plans beyond
the next couple years, or are you just taking life as it comes?DAVE:We are currently finishing off the songs for the full length album that
we will be releasing, hopefully with some label backing. Gigs of course.
ALEX: After we release our full-length album, planned for later this year, we'll start work on the next and stop when we're dead.
Have any labels woken up and signed you yet?DAVE: No! But we are working on that..
NARIMAN: No
doubt Webb, being the romantic he is, would like to awaken them with
breakfast in bed and a kiss on the cheek, whereas I think the rest of
us guys want to wake them up by dropping anvils on their houses from a
menacing looking zeppelin in an absinthe fuelled vaudevillian
extravaganza.
How do you
feel about genre categories and labels applied to music (such as death,
black, thrash, power, progressive, etc.)? Do you feel that they force
music to be perceived in a certain way and unnecessarily categorise
both the bands and the fans, or do you feel that they are a necessary
evil?DAVE: Deep... Well, labels help me avoid
shit. Pop punk for example, and generally anything described as "post
emo screamo core beatdown". Bands tend to be created and then a label
is put to them. It's up to the band whether or not they keep doing what
they want or follow the direction of what people want to call them.
WEBB: We
say that we’re progressive death metal, but I guess you could say we’re
a lot of things. We always try to use as many different ideas as we can
to keep it interesting, otherwise you just get a CD of songs that sound
the same. To be honest, we’re not that progressive, but it just makes
it clear we’re not gore/grind/boring, haha.
What
do you think of the current state of the UK underground metal scene?
How easy/hard has it been to get exposure for your band?*DAVE:The scene is pretty good. There are a lot of chances for unsigned bands
nowadays to play pretty good festivals and gigs. If your willing to
promote your ass off, I think you can get pretty far.
ALEX:There are some absolute gems to be found, if you can dig through the
shit. Its hard for almost any band to get exposure, supply far exceeds
demand. The solution is just to work harder.
How important are communities like UK Metal Underground to bands such
as yourself?ALEX: Quite simply UKMU and similar communities, are the difference between being known and being unknown.
NARIMAN: Communities
like UKMU are crucial in cultivating good bands, the support of UKMU
for us has been immense and we really appreciate it!
Out of the UK scene at the moment, which bands have grabbed your attention as being particularly good?ALEX: Xerath are an easy pick. They bring a level of production and professionalism to their music that puts most others to shame.
www.myspace.com/xerathEchovirus are another great choice, and should be better known.
www.myspace.com/echovirusBoth these bands have new albums coming out soon, if you're reading this check them out!
NARIMAN:Seeing as Xerath and Echovirus have already been pimped I want to point
out Chimp Spanner (which is more of a one man band but amazing
nonetheless) and Imperial Vengeance which are awesome !
Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there?DAVE:Well we don't have any till fuckin October! Focusing on labels and new
material at the moment, so be ready for us live soon and get working on
your neck muscles, you'll be needing 'em!
Now,
a question from forum member Joey Deacon - what album by someone else
in your collection, do you wish had been recorded by your band?WEBB: Decapitated – Winds of Creation. Especially if we had been 16 at the time too.
NARIMAN: Monument by Grand Magus!
DAVE: Heartwork-Carcass.
British metal at its finest. Or maybe Appetite For Destruction so I
could use all the money from it to buy a fat studio and Ancient
Ascendant base.
ALEX: I'd hate to have my name wrongly
associated with music I hadn't created......but I guess if no-one found
out; Death – Sounds of Perseverance, haha.
If you could tour with any two metal bands in history, which would they
be?WEBB: Death & Judas Priest. We could all come on stage together and play Painkiller. That’d be awesome.
DAVE:Pantera, do you need a reason why?! and probably Opeth if just for the
number of dates they do on a tour, we would be out for like 5 years!
They get all the gigs.
NARIMAN: Meshuggah, because they
are awesome and seem to know how to have a really good time and Opeth
for the same reasons Dave wants to.
What do you normally listen to in your time off from being death metal
terrorists?DAVE: Loads of Clutch and Grand Magus, maybe some Spinal Tap if I'm feeling reflective...
NARIMAN:
As a lot of the guys will attest to I don't actually know much metal,
but I listen to things like Lynyrd Skynyrd alot, and Prince. Like Dave
I listen to a decent size chunk of Clutch, Grand Magus and Black Label
Society as well.
WEBB: All kinds of stuff, anything from Johnny Cash to Flower Kings to Taake.
ALEX:This is the bit where we show how well rounded and varied our tastes
are right? Lets see; I love Death, Opeth, Bloodbath, Emperor,
Decapitated.............................shit.
Thanks for being our Band of the Month, any last words, thoughts, genital gurglings?/b]NARIMAN: How do yo say in English .... I forget .... "Bring me your hottie women so I can have fun time" ? Is correct? Yes?
ALEX: Just
let me give a big thanks to those people who bought our EP, come to our
shows, help spread the word and generally give a shit about Ancient
Ascendant. Cheers!