Keller: Ares Kingdom is busy rehearsing the material for our debut album A Dream of
Armageddon for Merciless Records. In a few weeks we'll also be recording a
live-in-the-studio rehearsal session for a 7" to be released on Samhain Records
this fall; it will have two originals plus a cover of Detente's Vultures in the
Sky. Apart from that I'm also preparing to assemble a final Vulpecula 7" called
In Dusk Apparition for Invictus Productions (who also released the Slaughter
Lord Lp!) later this summer/fall. It will be culled from an un-released
pre-production demo of all-new material Chris and I had recorded in early 1998..
2. What would you say are the stylistic differences between Order From Chaos
and Ares Kingdom? Some would think that you could have continued OFC using Ares
Kingdom material.
Stylistic differences are negligible really - we're essentially carrying on from
where we left off six years ago. Since I wrote about 90% of the music and left
my stamp on the rest of it for Order From Chaos and wrote a fair amount of the
lyrics as well, Ares Kingdom isn't much of a stretch for us. And at the end of
Order From Chaos in 1995 we had talked about taking some time off and then
getting back together to start anew. With Ares Kingdom Mike and I have made
good on this promise to ourselves..
Even though Ares Kingdom is the direct offspring of Order From Chaos and
contains 2/3 of the original band, Mike and I never even considered using the
old name; we're not usually in favor of reunions - whole or partial. The legacy
of Order From Chaos stands on its own and now belongs to the ages.
3. Order From Chaos' last album, "An Ending in Fire" had several songs from the
band's discography re-recorded. Was this to sort of chronicle OFC's history in
one grand finale? To show the growth over the years?
Exactly; we wanted to record what we felt was the "culmination" of the band's
progress. Over half the album consists of all new material. Much of the
Conqueor of Fear series had been released on Dawn Bringer and Plateau of
Invincibility, plus An Ending in Fire even contains a track, Nucleosynthesis,
from as far back as 1989's Will to Power 7" ep. Come to think of it, it contains
tracks from just about every year in the early '90's.
4. I've noticed something interesting about the cover design of "An Ending in
Fire". The "Capricorn goat" appears to be cut from a picture of the moon's
surface, while the background looks a lot like that of the "Triumph of Death"
painting. I took this to mean that the foreground represented your future with
Vulpecula, and the background, Pete's future with Angelcorpse (as the "Triumph
of Death" artwork adorns their debut album). Am I just crazy, or is there
something to this postulation?
I wouldn't call you crazy because that is just the kind of close attention I've
always paid to my favorite bands! I've always tried to decipher what they meant
by certain things in their music and such. Unfortunately none of the stuff on
the album meant anything like you thought. When Order From Chaos drew to a
close we were all completely drained. Relationships were strained to a breaking
point, and I no longer wanted to do a band 24/7 like I did with Order From
Chaos. None of us left Order From Chaos in order to do other things. Angel
Corpse was yet to be invented, and I was so sick of the business I just wanted
to do Vulpecula part-time and (in the beginning) alone.
Actually the cheesy Capricornus goat was added by Pete long after Mike and I
were gone and without consulting us - it certainly would not have been approved
by us. Likewise he hijacked and changed the song order on both An Ending in
Fire and Crushed Infamy without consulting us. Recently he tried to "explain"
it away as since we were no longer in a band together or friendly that he didn't
feel he should have to "consult or cater to us" (his words) - even though it was
our band too. The overall layout was not what we had designed as a band; the
basic cover was right enough - we had decided to use a portion of "Triumph of
Death" for it as far back as 1993 - but there were subtleties we had all agreed
upon that he abandoned once we were gone in favor of his own ideas. Not the
most honor bound bloke in the world.
5. Your interest for 'space music' and soundtracks is obvious in a lot of the
stuff you have done (f.ex, such killer tracks as "Down Among Them" ((SHIT, I meant "Astride the Darklands"! -ed.)) and "De
Stella Nova"). What processes go into creating these songs, and have you ever
considered doing an all ambient project?
For a while in Vulpecula Chris and I had discussed doing an all ambient release
sometime in the future, but it wasn't a priority. Chris was a master at putting
that stuff together and in fact did an excellent all-ambient side project called
Vasari with the Ares Kingdom bassist Doug back in 1997. Usually what would
happen was that one of us had an idea for a piece and would spend hours upon
hours developing it in his parent's studio. My pieces, like De Stella Nova and
Phoenix of the Creation were layered and precisely spaced sound effects.
Chris's were usually all composed on the synth and used electronic looping and
memory techniques.
6. How do you and Pete Helmkamp get along these days? What is your opinion of
Angelcorpse and his subsequent noise project, Terror Organ?
Mike and I are not on good terms with Pete. He remains arrogant, condescending
and contentious regarding us. Unfortunately, in the late '80's and early '90's
he developed a habit of 're-inventing' himself every couple of years and this,
coupled with him changing his mind on what he liked and didn't like - back and
forth so often - made it such that by 1995 he bore not the slightest resemblance
to the bloke Mike and I put Order From Chaos together with in 1987. Who knows
what he's really like now?
Angel Corpse I thought nothing more than rehashed Morbid Angel and quite
unremarkable - but that was all Gene could write apparently, so there you are.
As for Terror Organ, you said it, "subsequent noise."
7. What is your connection to Quorthon (I've noticed you are thanked on his
"Hammerheart" album)? You've mentioned that you once wrote lyrics for Bathory?
Yes, Quorthon is an old and loyal pal; we've been writing since late '86 or
early '87. Sometimes a bond grows between fan and band like what I have with
him and that I have with a few Order From Chaos, Vulpecula and Ares Kingdom
fans. Seeing it from both perspectives as I do, I consider it a privilege. It
is really a matter of respect and certainly an even exchange. As a fan you get
to glimpse into the world of your "heroes" and (hopefully) come away with a
greater respect for what they do and how they do it; I know this isn't always
the case - I've had my admiration balloon burst by some bands I've met... But
as the musician I come away with the satisfaction of seeing how dear some of my
music - an emotional extension of myself - is embraced and interpreted by the
fans.
In 1996 I was in Denmark visiting my future wife when Quorthon called her place
from Stockholm - ironically only a few hours after we got home from a trip
through Sweden. We were gabbing about our future projects when he mentioned he
was struggling with lyrics. I volunteered some and sent them on over. In the
end he declined because he said they just didn't sound like something he'd
write. Since Bathory is his band I agreed it should have him stamped all over
it no matter what. Anyway I used them in what became Solis Lacus and The
Undying Fire.
8. I understand Order From Chaos were banned from several venues for throwing
bones on stage(?) What's the story behind this?
Yeah! Local venues anyway. It had as much to do with Pete's fire breathing as
my bone throwing though. About the only types of bands middle America produced
in the late '80s and early '90s were spikey haired glam and Anthrax clone bands
and we felt it incumbent upon us to offend everyone we could. We succeeded -
infamously. Since they were local venues we were really proud of the hatred
against us. About every time we played live around here the local rags would
fall over themselves to slaughter us - and we fucking loved it. I still get
misty over those ripping days...
9. What's your opinion of the metal bands of today? Are there any new acts you
like?
The majority of the bands around today are only underground clones of crap radio
bands like Godsmack, Tool and other such rot - I don't really know too many
names honestly. I'm bored stiff by most black metal and death metal with very
few exceptions seems just as stagnant. But there are still plenty of bands Iove
and consider perfectly relevent. For starters there is THE greatest band in the
world Iron Maiden, plus demi-gods like Gamma Ray, Iron Savior, Sodom, Helloween,
Bathory, Artillery, RU Dead? (RIP), and more underground acts like Varathron,
Mournful Congregation/Stargazer, Abigail, Pentacle, Cianide, Scepter, Sigh,
Rotting Christ, Incantation, and Carpathian Forest (black metal! gasp!) and even
more.
10. How often does Ares Kingdom rehearse? What's the average AK practice like?
Lots of alcohol? Excessive humor? Discussions on Nietzsche and the face on
Cydonia?
At least once a week. The average rehearsal is 2 - 3 hours of the most ungodly
noise you've ever heard. Lots of alcohol? No, that we save for weekends; I'll
usually only drink Jaegermeister now, but also some Danish or Finnish liquors
whenever I get over there to buy them or my family brings some over for me.
Nordsoe is great...
Excessive humor? Oh yeah, three smart asses like us? Nietzsche is interesting
if you are into studying madmen, and the "face" on Cydonia we now know to be a
natural mesa of little consequence compared to other places on the red planet;
which, by the way, is that bright red "star" low in the south during these
summer months...
11. What do you think of old metal bands reuniting (such as the upcoming
Sodom/Destruction/Kreator tour in Germany)? Should classic bands remain in the
past to avoid damaging their legacy?
Generally I'm against it. Fortunately their legacies are so strong (in my mind
anyway) I don't think they can damage things in the long run. I think this
reunion tour is legitimate enough, Kreator and Sodom have never really broken up
- and Sodom still crushes 99% of the bands out there, so I'd be curious to see
that - if it happens; last I heard it was suffering organizational problems.
Conversely I thought the Exodus reunion cheesy mainly because those guys spent
years after Bonded By Blood putting their early material down as naive and
childish - only to realize years later oops! its loads better than their 'more
mature' albums. At any rate, we don't see our old images of them tarnished or
their albums diminished by what they've done recently, do we? I certainly
don't.
12. Finally, when will the Ares Kingdom debut be out? When can we expect to
see some AK shirts?
Ares Kingdom should be ready to record this fall, so I'd look for a release date
sometime next spring. Merciless Records is very meticulous with their release
schedule and insist on having plenty of lead time so we have to take that into
account as well. As for T-shirts, we're working with Samhain Records on a
limited run.
13. Thanks a million Chuck. I leave you here with any final words.
Our website is up and running; my wife is the webmaster, so you know we're in
complete control and will keep it updated. So all you legions stop by and have
a look! ARES KINGDOM Stay metal. \m/
