[this interview was originally printed in Cimmerian Shadows Issue 2; 2012]
Well met by moonlight Mark. I hear you've been locked away in the studio recently, working on new projects – you're a heavy metal workaholic! How about beginning by revealing what it is you're brewing up; can we expect yet another full-length album hot on the heels of Playground of the Damned?
Yep you can expect a new album from us before the year is out I think. Since Neudi has joined the band now we wanted to get right onto another album with him on it. We have six songs written for it at this moment but more are brewing in the cauldron as we speak. We don't even really have a working title for the album yet but there is sort of a conceptual Scottish thing going on through a few of the songs. Neudi will be joining us in our studio (Midgard Sound Labs) in June and July to lay down his drum tracks for the album. We should be pumped about that time because we will be coming off of touring in Europe and Co-Headlining the Warriors Of Metal festival in Ohio with Helstar. I'm really looking forward to doing this album with Neudi. He is just the type of shot in the arm that this band needs to head on into the future with.
One of my favourite things about MANILLA ROAD is the sense of epic storytelling that your songs possess, so I'd like to explore this further. One recurring theme is history, often infused with myth and magic. You clearly still have an appetite for the mysterious past, as some of your most recent lyrics prove:
“Fire of Ashurbanipal Hides behind black temple walls All who dare touch this gem fall Under the black demon's claws”
You seem to be referencing a real historical figure here (Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria 668 BC – c. 627 BC) but using a demonic, fantasy twist. Can you shed some light on this concept? Elsewhere you have dwelt on Viking tales, Joan of Arc (“hail to the Queen of Victory!!”), and characters closer to the present (e.g. 'Whitechapel'). In liner notes you have stated that MANILLA ROAD's message is “the voice of the past”, so what draws you to write about these earlier ages in the way that you do? Is there any particular historical epoch closest to your heart?
First of all I think the king you are referring to is Ashurnasirpal. And the concept of the story is from a Robert E. Howard short story of the same name Fire of Ashurbanipal [I've not yet consumed this one, to my utter shame! -Ed]. I'm sure that Howard was aware of Ashurnasirpal and derived the name from that character. It is a Cthulhun type story of an adventurer that goes in search of the gem the Fire of Ashurbanipal and ends up in a horrific mess with bandits and a monster. It is a great story but I did not think it up I just embellished upon it.
I am a huge history buff. But I am intrigued by all eras of this planet and not just one specific period in the earth's history. Over time our story lines have reached as far back as pre written history into the times when the gods walked the earth to almost present day history. One of my favourite sagas is that of the Trojan War. It was considered nothing more than a myth until a German self taught archaeologist found the actual ruins of Troy. All of a sudden the stories of the ancient Greeks became more important historically. It just goes to show you that you have to keep an open mind about these things because we are unearthing new truths about our history everyday. I love the mixing of truth with fiction and that is what legends and myths are made of. Even in recent times legends can grow and become bigger than life and anything like that is of great interest to me.
A second lyrical current which seems to pervade all your work is weird/horror fiction. It's probably true to say that every MANILLA ROAD album references dark literary themes in some way... but none more overtly than 1987's Mystification. The artwork itself of course references Edgar Allen Poe's 'Masque of the Red Death', and fully half of the songs are based on Poe stories. So let's talk more about Poe – how did you first discover his writings? What is it about 'Mystification' that makes it your “favourite” Poe story (according to your liner notes)?
I was first introduced to Poe when I was in school. He was required reading in many of my literature classes. I love his stories. They are really different from most horror or strange story writers but almost all writers in this genre love his work and have, in some way, been influenced by him. Mystification has the most appeal to me because it seems to have a lot of Poe himself in the story. I really believe that Mr. P__ in the story is himself. It is a great story that is more strange than horrific but behind it all is the black book of Baron Von Juntz. What I am sure was the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon and Robert E. Howard's Books of Skelos. It just happens to be a story that seems to have a little more of Poe's personal approach to it than many of his other tales. I am still so in love with Poe's stuff that we still do songs based on his stories. 'Shadow' on Spiral Castle is one and 'Into The Maelström' on Playground of the Damned is one also.
As an aside, why was a new painting done for later versions of Mystification? I like both, but what the original may have lacked in execution it made up for in eerie atmosphere!
I agree about liking the original and that is why you can flip the CD booklet around and use either cover art for the front. The new version was just so cool we had to use it and since the album got a new mix to it we thought that an entire makeover was the way to go. But we did not want to disappoint anyone that really loved the original art also. So we decided to make the booklet so that you could use either piece of art for the cover.
A similar question now regarding H. P. Lovecraft, whose mythos has shaped a large swathe of your lyrics. How would you describe HPL to a newcomer? What are your favourite tales of his?
I think it would be hard to describe Lovecraft to anyone...hahaha. You almost have to just read his works to realize that anyone could write like that. Ethereal would maybe be the best approach at telling someone about the style. Things that always deal with the magikal and primordial roots of mankind. Or maybe better said to be the ravings of an estranged lunatic. He was a bit of a weird chap. Sort of a racist and that shines through in some of his stories but not usually. He was a secluded bloke with very little respect for his own creations. He really did not think that his works were worthy. My favourites are From Beyond and his Herbert West Re-animator stories.
Without wishing to dwell in veils of negative existence (groan), have there been any particularly low ebbs or dark years in the lifespan of MANILLA ROAD? I ask because traditional heavy metal seems to be enjoying a new vogue worldwide (which has translated to several big festival appearances recently for MANILLA ROAD), so I'm interested in hearing about the flipside of this... Has anything ever prompted you to consider giving the band up for good?
I sort of did give the band up for about 3 years. Got married. Had kids. Started playing golf and working at a golf course and just did the normal American dream thing for awhile. It drove me nuts I tell you. I have to have music in my life and that is all there is to that. Metal was not very high up on the cool things list in those days. I'm talking about the mid to late 90's. It was a bad time for metal in general and especially the underground movement of said genre. We had no label support during those days and it seemed like we were doomed to fade away into the lost bands of the 80's. But thank the gods that when 2000 came around there was a resurgence in classic metal and also a resurgence in the popularity of Manilla Road's unique style of epic metal. That is when I put Manilla Road back into action and I have not looked back since. The thought of not playing music just does not even come into play any more. As long as we have supporters that want another album from us I will keep making them.
This may be a bit of a flawed question, but which do you prefer between studio recording and playing live, and why?
Oh I get it. You just want me to piss someone off...hehehe. That is a flawed question. Or maybe I should say a loaded question. I love both of course but to tell you the truth I think I love the process of creating the music just a little more than I do that of playing it live. Don't take me the wrong way here though. I love playing live and seeing everyone getting all fired up about the Road. Man it is the best high in the world to be in the middle of a show with an audience that realizes that we are all there making magik together. It is fantastic and maybe the biggest rush that I have ever experienced. Although falling off a two story house was a pretty big rush also. And the half a dozen car wrecks I have been in were up there on the list as well. Oh did I mention falling through the ice on the Arkansas River and barely making it out alive. Yeah that was a bloody rush.
Oh yeah back to the question right? Hanging out in the studio and coming up with the riffs and story lines and everything is just so cool to me. I have always been totally intrigued with the creation process of music writing. In order to be a good composer you have to also be a good musician and lyricist. To be a good lyricist you have to be a good poet. To be a good poet you have to have a good knowledge of writing and a good sized vocabulary. Man when I finish a song I feel like I have conquered so many quests and goals in my life that it feels incredible to me. The live aspect of the music would never exist if not for the creation process and so that is why I feel that the making of the music in the studio is the most important. It is what you are putting down for the rest of the world to see and hear even after you are gone and can't perform live any more.
Great answer! Many creative minds would claim to be most satisfied with their most recent output – is this true for you, or will there always be an old album you're most attached to? Do you find you can assess the MANILLA ROAD back-catalogue in terms of 'peaks', or do you naturally find yourself looking 'ever onward'?
You could get a different answer from me on any given day with that question...haha. I pretty much just keep looking onward and upward most of the time. I do have my nostalgic moments though. There are a few albums that will always have a closer place to my heart than others. The Deluge was the fist album that I did that I really thought was the total package. I still think it is one of our very best efforts. Atlantis Rising is on that list also but mostly because of the concept and the enormity of the story line. Gates of Fire is also one of my very favs being another album (like The Deluge) that I love every single song on. Besides I spent 2 months reading and translating The Aeneid by Virgil in order to write the 'Out of the Ashes' trilogy on that album.
But it's the new music in front of me that always keeps me going. It's the search for the lost chord that keeps me on the quest and I will never lay my sword down. There will always be peaks and valleys in ones music career but as long as I have the love of my Manilla Maniacs out there I will always feel like I'm living on a peak moment. They are the true reason this band is still alive and kicking.
MANILLA ROAD is a band often spoken of in the same breath as CIRITH UNGOL when it comes to the great names of epic US metal. How much kinship have you felt over the years with those Californian blokes? You certainly both trod a similar path thematically, drawing equally heavily on Sword & Sorcery. Do you have any CIRITH UNGOL related memories to share?
I have known about CU since the dawn of time it seems. Sure I have a huge respect for the band and their achievements. I was in contact with their lead singer some months back talking to him about a possible MR / CU tour. But unfortunately he said that he was done with touring and that the band was totally inactive. It was worth a shot. I thought it would have been a cool tour.
I can't let the phrase “Sword & Sorcery” pass by without further comment, so why not ruminate a bit on this particular breed of fantasy? In my view, fantasy in general – but particularly S&S – is something that either chimes deep within one's core, or passes by utterly unheeded. Personally, I can't imagine not being moved into shuddering awe by the thought of forbidden jewels smouldering behind darksome draperies; of the clatter of unearthly armour across snow-clad wastes; or of toppled empresses pining in exile for their sundered, exotic thrones. You?
Hell that is why Robert E. Howard is my favourite author. He gives you all of that in his stories. Man the Conan stuff is so just what you said. And yes it is an incredibly cool genre of authorship. I can't get enough when it is well done. Whether it be cinematic or written or musical, adventure fantasy always tugs at my soul. It does not necessarily have to be sword and sorcery (but it helps) to be great and there are so many cool authors and styles of portraying adventure fantasy themes that it is a great time to be alive and able to absorb these types of things. With the technology that we have in the cinema today visual representation of the genre is totally doable nowadays also. I just wish someone would do a Conan movie that represents the stories closer. And please find a guy that can be a believable Conan.
I fear I have already tested the Norns too much Mark, so I will put an end to our parlance. Fare well friend!
My friend when talking of such topics one can never tire. I just wish you many thanks for doing this parley with me. Also I would like to thank all of our supporters for their undying faith in us and the music. We can't do it without you. There is much more to come from the Manilla Road camp in the future so keep your eyes to sky and your ears to the ground because the revolution is upon us. Up The Hammers & Down The Nails and of course May the Lords of Light be with you.
Mark Shelton / Manilla Road
(2012)
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