Killers
By Trade
This the second interview
that I do with Jack Green and this time it was more like a friendly conversation.
We start talking about the music and in the process we talked for many
other things that interest us. Also there is a weird coincidence in this
interview, but you have to read it until the end to find it out...
1. HELLO! ONCE AGAIN, I FOUND OUT THAT YOUR
MUSIC FITS PERFECTLY TO MY TASTE?. BY THE WAY, WHY DID YOU NAME YOUR CD
“ANCIENT RIDER”? DON’T YOU THINK THAT IT’S A QUITE EPIC TITLE FOR A CD
INSPIRED MAINLY BY HORROR THEMES?
Ancient Rider stands for a lot of things.
I belong to a group of motorcycle riding pagans called “Ancient Riders”,
meaning bikers who practice the Old Religion. It is also a euphemism for
the personification of Death, the pale horse and all that.
2. I WANT TO STAND A LITTLE BIT ON THE INTRODUCTION
OF YOUR CD “SOUNDS OF HELL”. IS IT A PART OF THE DOCUMENT THAT SOME PEOPLE
CONSIDER THAT IS A REAL RECORDING OF HELL? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
I did encounter a recording that was allegedly
a recording of the sounds of Hell itself. I took it into the studio and
did a restoration on that recording and that is an excerpt. You can hear
a voice but what it says, I can’t make out. It’s not English or German.
3. SINCE WE TALK ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL, DO YOU
BELIEVE IN THEIR EXISTENCE AS THEY ARE DESCRIBED IN THE HOLY BOOKS OR DO
YOU THINK THAT IT’S A KIND OF SYMBOLISM? DO YOU BELIEVE IN GENERAL THAT
LIFE CONTINUES TO EXIST AFTER DEATH AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT?
Heaven or Hell…Being pagan myself, I don’t
ascribe to conventional views of Heaven or Hell as literal places, more
like a state of existence itself that follows us in this life and between
lives. If you’re a miserable bastard and are trapped in that throughout
time, I guess you can say you are in Hell. I do believe in alternate planes
of existence and I suppose some of them could be quite hellish. Once someone
has advanced and outgrown a use for things of this world, I believe we
can arrive at permanently lucid state and exist on the plane of our choice.
Not Heaven, but which heaven would be the question there.
4. LET’S LIGHTEN UP A LITTLE BIT OUR CONVERSATION
AND TALK ABOUT MUSIC. SOME OF THE SONGS ON THE ALBUM WERE PREVIOUSLY RELEASED
AS DEMOS OR MINI-CDS. HAVE YOU CHANGED THEM A LITTLE BIT HERE? WHY DID
YOU CHOOSE TO INCLUDE THE SLOW VERSIONS OF “LOUP GAROU” AND “STEEL”?
I have not really changed the songs themselves.
It’s more like they finally found their true home. As different as the
songs on this EP are, it was almost uncanny how they all seemed to fit
with each other and all the other craziness that goes on between the songs.
The singles or demos were there to break the ice for people and give a
name to this project. I was impressed with how people reacted to them.
I even got a review in a national magazine and though it wasn’t the greatest
review, KBT was holding its own next to bands that are 1000 times more
well funded and on national labels.
5. FROM OUR PREVIOUS INTERVIEW, I KNOW WHICH THE
THEME OF THE SONG “STEEL” AND “LOUP GAROU” IS. NOW I WOULD LIKE YOU TO
TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT THE LYRICS OF “SOLSTICE” AND “TEARS OF BROKEN
GLASS”…
Solstice is about a pagan fire festival
in ancient times. Things were rougher and meaner back then and the “harm
none” ethic of neo-pagans today had no bearing at all. I think a part of
all of us desires to stand in front of a raging fire with a horn of mead
and the heads of our enemies hanging from a belt. When you reviewed the
song, you mentioned it being a perfect song for a party. I couldn’t agree
more!
Tears is a hearkening to my metal days.
The music is a thrashy, industrial death sound. Listening to some old Darkthrone
and Blood Ritual era Samael inspired the vocals I think. I’ve heard people
say some Rotting Christ influence too, maybe Triarchy era, when they were
a 3 piece. Those lyrics are pure pain and suffering. I wrote those during
one of the darkest times in my life. I just think those lyrics begged for
a raw metal sound.
6. YOU HAVE A COVER VERSION OF THE SONG “RIDIN’
THE STORM OUT”. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO COVER THIS SPECIFIC SONG? WHO IS
THE ORIGINAL ARTIST THAT COMPOSED IT? WHAT CHANGES DID YOU BRING TO YOUR
COVER IN COMPARISON TO THE ORIGINAL VERSION?
On the first two singles, I recorded covers
and they went over well. I decided to make it a KBT tradition to include
a cover song on each CD. REO Speedwagon, a ‘70s band that was actually
known more for resurgence in the early ‘80s, originally did that one. Ridin’
the Storm Out, especially the live version was a signature cut for them.
The song itself echoes a respect for natural things and focuses on a cold
winter in the mountains, nothing could be more Killers by Trade! In the
original, musical focus was put on the excellent guitar work and REO’s
vocalist, who really defined the sound for that band. In mine, I make it
trudging and dark, almost a doomy feel and focus on the A minor groove
that makes the song!
7. SO DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO ADD MORE MEMBERS IN
THE BAND, IN ORDER TO DO SOME LIVE SHOWS WITH KILLERS BY TRADE OR WILL
YOU KEEP EXISTING AS A STUDIO BAND? WHAT KIND OF ELEMENTS DO YOU WANT A
MUSICIAN TO HAVE IN ORDER TO COOPERATE WITH HIM?
I’m going to keep things as they are until
next year. I plan to do an acoustic EP next with all new songs. I’m releasing
a Killers By Trade/Finsternis Split Cd too. Next year I’m going to release
the Finsternis full length CD (Gods willing) and get in the studio for
an actual KBT studio album. It will be then that the first makings of an
actual live band will form. Keep your fingers crossed! What I need from
musicians is simply professionalism, pride, and respect for their craft.
Some people think I’m too harsh but in today’s world you need every edge
you can get.
8. HAVE YOU SENT YOUR CDS TO LABELS? DID
YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST FROM A LABEL SO FAR? IS IT PERHAPS THE FACT THAT
KILLERS BY TRADE DOESN’T HAVE A SPECIFIC STYLE AN OBSTACLE FOR A LABEL
TO SIGN YOU?
I’ve talked on and off with some labels, but
I don’t consider getting signed a priority, not yet anyway. Right now,
I write, record, publish and distribute myself. I have total creative license
and little by little, it’s getting out there. From what people are actually
paying for, I’m seeing that having a CD out is really only a formality.
What is mattering increasingly is making songs available for sale as individual
downloads. In this way, having songs that reflect a variety of styles only
helps you penetrate more markets. I’ve got a big ass suitcase full of CDs
in my closet. Right now, I’m typing and listening to a mix of Goth tunes,
I ripped onto my computer. “Having” a CD doesn’t necessarily mean physical
possession of an object anymore.
9. IN ONE OF YOUR NEWSLETTERS YOU SAID THAT PEOPLE
IN EUROPE UNDERSTAND BETTER THE KIND OF MUSIC YOU PLAY. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE
THAT THIS HAPPENS?
Mainly it is because in Europe, people aren’t
so glutted with radio garbage and pop culture bullshit that their attention
doesn’t evaporate in three minutes and thirty seconds. The “next big thing”
here in the States gets overplayed and crammed down people’s throats until
they puke it all up and open their mouths so the industry can shove more
down. If it isn’t on every station getting raved about, in every car commercial
and there aren’t a hundred loud voices to reassure them that they like
it, it just gets ignored. Things work on a different time line in Europe.
Not to say that the aforementioned things don’t exist in Europe, they’re
just…different. People there like what they like and don’t see as much
of a need to justify it.
10. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO SHOOT A VIDEO-CLIP?
IF YOU HAD THE MONEY TO DO AN EXPENSIVE ONE, WHICH SONG WOULD YOU CHOOSE
AND HOW DO YOU IMAGINE IT TO BE?
A video would be great! I’d love to do one
for Loup Garou and do some real violent Le Pacte des Loups kind of theme.
11. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOU’RE A BIG FAN
OF B-MOVIES. HAVE YOU SEEN ANY NEW ONES RECENTLY? PLEASE PROPOSE US A B-MOVIE
FILM THAT YOU LIKE A LOT AND YOU THINK WE HAVE TO SEE…
I don’t consider it a B movie, but I just
watched The Machinist with Christian Bale. It was surreal and very artistic.
Big on my mandatory viewing list is Battle Royale; a real messed up Japanese
flick. I guess the American variant would be Series 7-the Contenders, Both
movies are excellent!
12. BY THE WAY, HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW GEORGE ROMERO
FILM “LAND OF THE DEAD”? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT? I PERSONALLY LIKED IT
A LOT, CAUSE IT’S FULL OF SYMBOLISMS…
It may shock some, but I haven’t! And I’m
a Romero fan! I promise to see it and deliver a full report. Does Behind
the Veil have a movie review section??
13. I THINK THAT NUMBER 13 IS THE RIGHT NUMBER
TO CLOSE THIS INTERVIEW ?… THE LAST WORDS OR SHOULD I SAY THE EPITAPH ?
OF THIS INTERVIEW BELONGS TO YOU…
Thirteen is the perfect number. It is the
number of the card of death, which represents change and revolution! Inverted,
it means somnambulance and lethargy. Behold the Ancient Rider…HaHAHA!
Nick "William_Kidd"
Parastatidis
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