PROFESSOR BLACK
First of all, congratulations on the new album Hard to Stop. There iss a lot to say about
this album but one thing that kind of blew me away was that Dan Swanö produced it.
When I saw that it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks, because I had not considered the
very obvious common threads you guys share as songwriters, multi-instrumentalists,
prolific musicians, etc. Did you guys already have a prior relationship, and what led to
this surprising yet appropriate collaboration?
Thank you for asking. Yes we did have some prior contact I guess in 2018,
when I interviewed Dan for the upcoming BATHORY book. His band Edge of Sanity
was basically the no.2 band on Black Mark after BATHORY. So he had some good
things to say there. Fast-forward about a year to 2019, when I was getting ready to
start the High Spirits recordings, it was the same as you said, the proverbial ton of
bricks, lightning strike, oh damn! Obviously, Dan would be the perfect guy to mix it. He
was well up for it too and brought everything to the game that you would expect based
on his experience and talents.
Diving into the album, the first track Since You've Been Gone definitely kicked me
into gear in a similar fashion as the opener on Motivator (Flying High), with a bit of Full
Power vibes going on too, which is always a thrill for those like me who love to hear
your trademark high-energy rock peppered with the flavor of power/speed metal. On the
other hand I hear a very clear progression and I am wondering how you feel about that
particular song in context - having come this far in your songwriting, playing, recording
performance, etc.?
I am glad you asked because I have been meaning to crack open my old hard
drive and check just how old “Since You’ve Been Gone” really is. And I found a
complete demo version stamped April 2015. So it’s easily the oldest song on the album
and would have been written around the time of the writing period for Motivator. But it’s
obviously an album opener, and I already had an album opener for Motivator, so in the
meantime I pitched it to Pharaoh. Matt didn’t show much interest in it, but meanwhile I
still thought it was a bit too metalized for High Spirits. Then when I did the song
“Escape”, I realized that “Escape” was kind of a reverse-prototype for “Since You’ve
Been Gone”, and that I should just go ahead and throw that old log on the fire for this
album. All I had to do was take the double bass out, everything else is unchanged from
the demo. But yeah, it’s a blazer. We’ll need a lot of practice before we uncork that one
on stage. It’s hard to sing too but probably doable, with a really long break in the middle
like “Full Power”.
Skipping ahead quite a bit in the album, one song that really stuck with me is the 8th
track Now I Know, and largely because of the drum beat you chose to use for that one.
Knowing that my first exposure to your music was (somewhat incredibly) the side
project MetalUSAfer, you have to know that I was reminded of Metalucifer's trademark
drum beat - as simple and effective as it gets. Was that aesthetic present in your mind
when you made that decision?
Maybe in a way. That particular drum beat seemed like really the only option for
that song. The strumming quality of that riff is maybe more connected to the Sunrise
album stuff, I would say, lots of open strings flying the whole time. Like a banjo song, or
an acoustic guitar song. Our guitarist Mike writes a lot of that kind of stuff on his own,
so maybe I picked up some influence there. It’s a certain way of playing, a certain way
of holding the guitar, and being able to mentally disconnect from your picking hand and
let it just become a pendulum. That’s the rhythm of the song right there, the drums just
keep time. So in that way the answer is yes. But I don’t think I had any “aesthetic
present in my mind” other than the aesthetic of “Now I Know”. And there wasn’t really
any decision to follow a certain path either, with the drums or with any other instrument.
It’s a pretty “gut” song I would say, not much give-and-take there.
What can you tell us about the use of simplicity in metal songwriting
arrangements? Metal is rather infamous for overdoing it with double bass, trem-picking,
etc. and adding that almost competitive vibe to the song, which unfortunately leads to a
lot of material that is hard to distinguish beyond the genre the band is slavishly paying
homage to.
Yeah there has been that tradition of musical one-upsmanship or showmanship I
guess. It doesn’t really work out so well for me like that, so I just try to make the most of
what I do have. I think I did manage to wank the drums a bit more on this album.
People have mentioned the bass too, but I’ve been taking a lot of liberties with the bass
for a while now.
Another excellent song on the album that stands out in a different way is Voice in the
Wind. Taken on its own it's an outstanding rock song, and challenging in the sense that
it is not necessarily metal and could easily have fit on an album of a different flavor. And
yet, it's classic High Spirits through and through. You have a talent for this which I
admire a lot - the courage to think outside the box and explore your true potential as a
songwriter without feeling overly concerned about the impressions you might be giving.
Thanks, yeah in hindsight I think especially on You Are Here, and in some ways
also on Motivator, I was trying too hard to control things and being overly cautious about
certain boundaries or expectations. A few years later I realized that was stupid, since
some of my most popular (arguably “best”) albums were the result of the exact opposite
approach. Not really thinking outside the box so much as not believing in the box at all.
The cover art for the second album You Are Here is another example of that spirit in
a way. Does this confidence come naturally? Is there some part of it that's linked to the
idea that your resume speaks for itself and therefore you can do whatever the hell you
want?
It comes naturally if I allow it to, yeah. But sometimes I need reminding. That
album cover is almost universally disliked but I think it’s cool. That’s definitely a flawed
album but not because of the cover.
And now for a more personal question: One reason I have always strongly related to
you as an artist is due to our common situation of having to balance fatherhood and
family life with our passion for music. You've inspired me in that way because you
remain prolific, engaged, and charging full-steam ahead at the pace that works for you.
On the other hand, do you ever feel discouraged by your situation? Having friends who
spend much of their lives on the road and living the rock n' roll life, is it something you
long for or are you content with your own adapted approach? Do you feel that you're
able to satisfy your creative needs naturally at home, or are there circumstances that
require you to get creative in order to get creative, if you get my meaning. For example,
I record vocals in my parked car and have tracked guitar laying down on the floor in the
dim light of my laptop while my family slept. Not exactly Unisound, but it gets the job
done!
That’s good. Yeah you really have to search for those openings sometimes, or
at least be patient until they appear and then hope you’re in the mood. Because in
order to do the best work, I think the time and motivation have to present themselves at
the same moment. The balance is a sliding scale – a little extra time can make up for a
lack of motivation, and vice versa. But you need at least some of both, and the hardest
thing is to wait and not beat myself up meanwhile when I think I’m falling behind some
imaginary schedule. That’s what’s discouraging, when I am not kinder to myself.
Everything else is great. And no I do not long for the touring lifestyle, even if there are
certain aspects I enjoy very much. Many of the drawbacks I can tolerate in short bursts
too, or they aren’t even drawbacks for a 9-10 day run, but I think 6 weeks of blasting my
ears and eating restaurant food and sleeping in a different place every night… that
would be about 4 weeks too much for me.
Another way that I've felt very inspired by you is that you have managed to achieve
and realize so many great releases on your own. When I met you we talked a bit about
your guitar playing, and how you've played to your strengths while humbly accepting
your limitations to create the best possible melodies and riffs, and in doing so achieved
your own distinct style as a guitarist. You commented that someone once likened it to
playing the guitar like a saxophone, which does seem an apt comparison. The way you
layer your guitars and compose riffs also seems aimed at bringing out the best in the
song, rather than embellishing or hogging attention (likewise with bass, drums, vocals).
How has your journey as a songwriter (who feels most at home on drums and bass)
helped you to recognize your strengths and goals musically?
Yeah I think flaws and limitations are a part of anyone’s art and in many
examples can be a certain part of the appeal. But it’s important to play to one’s own
strengths I think, or at least make an effort. There are musicians who try to get better all
the time on their instrument(s) and are more dedicated to practicing, versus those who
do the minimum and let their time be absorbed by other aspects of creativity or other
aspects of life. I suppose it’s inevitable that you’ll improve a bit over time, whether
you’re trying to or not. But with High Spirits on album, I think everything has to kind of
improve all at once, or not at all. Of course that’s partly because it’s all coming from
me, rather than a group, but also because I’m not thinking about the instruments
individually. They’re useless except as a whole.
Lyrics play a big role in the success of High Spirits in my opinion. The themes seem
universal by design, and the whole vibe of the band is at once familiar, inclusive, and
powerful. There is a unique lack of ego and pretension, too - the band feels very
approachable and you personally are very down to earth. When you started this project,
how did you envision the lyrics and what tropes did you purposefully avoid? Do you feel
that the lyrical themes are crucial to the spirit of the band?
Yeah the lyrics and the band name. There’s always been a lot riding on that. I
didn’t set out with any lyrical direction or guidelines in mind. It all formed very naturally
along with the music. Generally I like to keep the lyrics a bit vague actually, leave some
space for the listener, draw them in. Sounds cheesy but makes sense. That goes
along with the lack of ego you mentioned, I guess.
You're known as Professor Black, a moniker that speaks to your expertise and
experience in the scene. You're also a thoughtful and well-spoken metaller. Your
journalism has arguably been as valuable a contribution to the scene as your art,
thought surely your passion is creating songs. As a cerebral songwriter, how do you
break down the songwriting process in this current chapter of your musical life? Are
there habits and routines that you have consistently maintained? How do you balance
the analytical side of creating songs with the more sublime "magic" that good
songwriting can conjur?
I think my goal at the moment or my strategy or my wish is to be less analytical,
at least when it comes to the songwriting itself. Just say the first thing that comes to
mind, then say the next thing, keep going. Where I am trying to be more analytical is in
the overall process, and the sub processes, such as the production techniques and
thresholds of a particular album, where my blind spots are, where the holes are in my
voice, stuff like that. But also looking at how I am managing my time, how I am dealing
with the ever-growing reservoir of song ideas kind of year to year. I decided a few years
ago that my plan would be to write 500 songs. So if I visualize that, I can then work
backwards from there to the present and kind of pace myself that way.
You're well-versed in all genres of metal, and so I'm interested to know your take on
other styles that have very different aims and purposes compared to your work, which I
see as being very focused on evoking the purest spirit of rock. What have you to say
about some of the more obscure genres that have gained enough recognition to inspire
entire scenes, such as "Slam" Metal and Porno-grind, or Depressive Suicidal Black
Metal? These styles have always intrigued me because they are so extreme and evoke
such extreme emotions, and yet I wonder how long such expressions can remain
satisfying to an artist and/or listener. Do you yourself ever marvel at how far the
spectrum of heavy metal has been stretched?
I sometimes marvel at it but I am no longer surprised by it. About 20 years ago, I
worked at a heavy metal record store for a while and there are a few moments at the
register that were memorable. One was when a guy bought Nightwish and Judas
Iscariot together. And I remember it because that’s the last time I was ever surprised by
something like that. I realize that’s not precisely what you’re asking, matters of taste are
a different topic. But working at the store, we had a deep selection of every possible
genre at the time, and I do remember being surprised how much of this stuff there was
in some cases. Like the super brutal X-rated death metal stuff, I guess some of which
would be called porno-grind nowadays, or maybe not, there was just so much of that
stuff, and I hadn’t really been aware of that until I moved to the Midwest and then
worked at the store. Anyway then 10 years or so later along comes the internet and
that’s not really a catalyst so much as maybe it sped up the process of all the sub
genres and sub sub genres congealing within the soup. Especially the more DIY/vanity-
level stuff that makes up most of the genres you seem to have in mind. The internet is
obviously the connective tissue for those practitioners and fans.
This blog is and always has been mainly focused on interviews with songwriters
from the Ramones-influenced style of pop punk, and I wonder if you have any interest in
our world? Are you familiar with, for example, some of the bigger names from the
Chicago scene like Screeching Weasel and Vindictives? Do you have any personal
favorite punk bands?
There’s only one good punk band so that’s kind of a trick question. Just kidding.
The correct answer is I don’t know.
A final thank you to you, Chris, for offering to respond to my questions and for being
such an inspirational figure to me. I also want to compliment the high quality of all of
your releases and the standards you set for all the work you do. What's next for you,
High Spirits, and your life in general?
Thank you too, and keep up the good work. Gigs are on hold as you know, so
right now we are just making some tentative plans for 2021 and hoping they will be
fulfilled. Meanwhile as I mentioned way back at the top, I have been writing a book
about BATHORY, together with my co-author Kola Krauze, and it’s my intention that we
will finish that before I undertake any new business musically. Let’s see how it goes.
