Towards Global Holocaust Interview is up

http://scatteredtothewinds.com/bands/details/towards_global_holocaust

1.      With Feuersturm this is your 1st proper full length after serveral eps or splits are you have with the output it seems the most focused if you can even use that word with TGH?

Hmm, I think that we are somewhat pleased with things overall. We seem to be making slow progress and have semi-competence in our sights as a long-term goal. Perhaps we are on that path now or maybe we are simply deluding ourselves. As is usually the case, things sound better and appear to be right when we submit the discs for replication and during the production turn around waiting period we begin to have second thoughts and these naturally give way to serious misgivings across the board. Overall though, I think that we are not totally dissatisfied with the results. Focused could be the right word, but I have also heard the word coherent to describe the progress that is found on Feuersturm. In other words, everything prior to this release is incoherent crap on stick. The next one should show marked improvement in most or all areas. Having said all of this, I seriously doubt that either of us ever imagined that we would be able to make something nearly as good as Feuersturm when we first got start back in 1996. So it is a success in that regard at least.

2.      Is Scattered to the Winds your own label ? The packaging for Feuersturm is brilliant as a digipak. Is Packaging very important in todays digital age?

Correct, Scattered to the Winds is our own label. It is small currently and basically exists as a vehicle to release our own projects and my solo projects. We do have vague plans of releasing things by other bands in the future and we already have put out “Black Wings, Grey Skies” by In Death I Become.

Thanks on the Feuersturm design/packaging front. I think that it turned out quite well, even if it is not metal enough in appearance for some. I don’t think that packaging is nearly as important as it used to be. Now, one can simply listen to a 30 second preview or illegally download songs or entire albums before deciding to actually purchase anything. In the good old days, oftentimes packaging would catch somebody’s eye in a record shop and lead to a purchase.

Regarding metal and other underground music genres specifically, I do think that packaging still has some value especially when dealing with vinyl.

For me personally, packaging is quite important because if we are bothering to spend all the time and money writing and recording an album, it should be something that we like the look of too. I do all of the design and layout and nearly all of the photo manipulation etc. Next year, I plan to start drawing and painting again and will gradually start to integrate that into the artwork for the albums.

3.      TGH seems to be a duo with a pretty stable line up over the several releases I have. Is it hard to record being across the country you on east coast of USA and your Drummer in Arizona?

We have gotten used to it out of necessity as we haven’t had a practice space since 1997 or so. It is a problem in the sense that it is far more time consuming to trade files online rather than being able to bring riffs and songs to rehearsal and hammering out the details as we both learn the material at the same time and through endless repetition.

The way things are now, I tend to kick around some ideas in my head, figure out a rough tempo and start to arrange things and make corrections. Once that is done to the extent that I can make a mock-up of the song, I send that out to the FMoH for any comments and criticisms and evaluate everything myself during the waiting period. After that, I write all of the drum parts and make an actual demo version of the song, sans vocals, for the mighty FMoH to use for rehearsal purposes prior to the recording of acoustic drums in the desert wastelands.

Basically, it tends to be a rather long and drawn out process and it usually takes two months minimum for us to write and record one song, without vocals, once we actually commence that part of the process. We usually talk about ideas, themes, lyrical content, stylistic elements etc. for a long while before I ever start to record anything.

So…it takes forever and we then have problems making things sound like they belong together on a single album rather than three separate EPs.

4.      How is it working with Blaash on the Kit and doing some vocals. Being he is in a well known BM act on Moribund as well. The Ideas seem to work well ..

Well, we met and got started with Holocaust SS, Adrift and Eternal Ice Storms before Bahimiron was started in its current incarnation, so I can’t really say too much on that part of things. I was not awestruck in the least as we had shared many a long night in our cups, crying into our beards and either bleeding all over the place or reeking of charred flesh before he became a bonafide rock star.

Obviously, any and all notoriety that we have gained to this point, however minimal, is due to FMoH’s membership in Bahimiron and their association with Moribund. Our releases are carried by Moribund as well, which is another perk. Additionally, he also does the vast majority of trading and networking as I tend to be far too despondent to do much besides bellyache about our current state while regretting a plethora of self betrayals past, present and future. I think that things have worked out well to this point and will only continue to improve and bear ever more vile, blackened fruit as time goes on.

5. TGH is one of the most Chaotic projects I've heard in yrs goes from Noise to BM to Melodic Metal to acoustic and ambient moments sometimes in the same song. How hard is it to create?

Although it probably seems like a random amalgamation of crap haphazardly mashed together to form a somewhat rancid musical paste like substance, I actually do spend quite a long time trying to write most of the songs. Obviously, some are straight forward metal songs and are less time consuming for me, but overall it usually is a real struggle to get something that I am pleased with. It should only become more difficult as time goes by as I have many ideas already for future songs and albums that seem like they are more complicated to write and record. All told, I think that it took about 18 months to get Feuersturm written and recorded and a few weeks more to go through the mix/listen/revise process before I did the final mastering.

6. Would TGH ever want to perform live of is this not even a thought?

There have been several discussions about playing live, but I really can see no viable way to make it happen anytime soon. We would need to either change songs rather drastically in order to be able to play them as a two man outfit or we would need to start adding members specifically for shows/touring. Neither of those seems like a good plan and I don’t know how we would be able to do the vocals if we were performing as just a two man band.

So, for now at least, we will keep things as they are and see what happens in the next year or two. Since the project has a history, even if it is not documented or known outside of our small circle, it would be exceedingly difficult to find competent musicians that share the same ideology as well as not being annoying to the point of causing the Department of Death to summarily execute them or to have said offenders detained and tortured to death by certain unnamed cabinet members of the State.

7. If you are asked now how would you explain Towards Global Holocaust to someone that has not heard it? (Be complete don't just say Noise or BM its so much more)

Honestly, I really try not to describe it and avoid that subject if at all possible. When cornered, I usually say self-deprecating things about the music and overall product, if you will. I have come up with a couple of weird ways to describe it when putting it into its own niche or sub-genre. At its heart, tgh is a conceptualized project with an ever expanding lore that we use as both inspiration for the music and tortured sounding vocals as well reference material for the lyrical content. This process is self sustaining, somewhat like a perpetual motion machine of sorts...and we do consider ourselves something of a ramshackle machine of genocide and war. It is fundamentally “metal” and has been described by others as being black metal, thrashy, death metal and a couple of other things as well.

Pretty much it is a way for me to try out different ideas and experiment somewhat with the melding as well as juxtaposition of various disparate musical ideas as it pertains to genres. It is overall, to me at least, dark and unsettling, which is what I enjoy most in music. I think that since we started in the old days, that we have stayed true to our convictions while at the same time expanding and experimenting, that is to say that we have not sold out, but that the music from Feuersturm is fairly different in approach and results than what we were originally doing.

As you mention, there are several things going on in the music and it is difficult to label it as being one thing…aside from being subpar that is. Although others have tried, I think that they have failed when lumping us into a generic three sub-genre category or simply saying that we sound like a combination of four different bands that I have either never heard of or do not listen to. It is dark and miserable and weird…and at times maybe even a little artsy?

8. Will there be any videos for the project could be impressive?

Definitely we have some ideas for a couple of videos, but we lack the technical expertise to make it happen anytime soon. Additionally we have some preliminary write-ups of a proposed line of action figures to depict us in all of our glory as we tour the world exterminating all life that crosses our path…adversary sets and gore packets sold separately mind you, and don’t forget the FMoH’s personal command tank that he leads the First Guard Panzer Armee from during field activity heh.

9. Whats your thoughts on the Digital age of Audio for Artists?? Pro or Con??

Overall, it is a huge benefit in that bands no longer have to go through labels to get professional recordings done at expensive studios. It is now possible to make albums in a home studio that stand toe to toe, given proper mixing and mastering, with far more expensive releases. The downside is that now there are seemingly millions of kids with bands out there making two or three songs and trying to drum up interest in their decidedly non-serious endeavours. This creates more competition for an ever decreasing number of slots on label rosters.

Normally, this could be viewed as a good thing, however, in this instance the competition does not weed out the inferiors, it only seems to breed homogeneity and unimaginative, derivative detritus that is subsequently passed off as being kvlt or grim or elite.

For us though, it is a good thing as we no longer are using a 4 track tape recorder and four cheap mics from Radio Shack to record our masterpieces…and we get to put our music online amongst the sea of crap on itunes, amazon, emusic, napster and many, many others, which is then subsequently ignored and then buried and forgotten. So that is pretty cool, I guess.

10. Do you feel your myspace page is enough TGH doesnt need there own site at all (Esp with the way Myspace is turning these days)?

Myspace is pretty shitty right now and is not cutting it. We will leave that up as a tombstone for passers by and gawkers to take notice of if they so choose, but we plan to get set up on reverbnation, bandcamp, last.fm, and a couple of other things that slip my mind at the moment. Also, we have a band profile up on the SttW label website as well as links to the releases with songs from the albums.

I doubt that we will go the route of having a site specifically for tgh though. Although that might happen depending on the response we get in the future.

11. If your not working on TGH what are the other things that interest you ( Music, Movies,Books, Art etc)

The usual things I suppose. Listening to various types of music, reading books (mostly crappy ones), used to exercise and play sports…need to start that again. Do some reading about music theory once in a while. I have a notion to start drawing and painting again and perhaps sculpting. Playing games is good too. Nothing very interesting really. I am a good daydreamer and thinker of weird thoughts most of the time. It is probably one of my best life skills, probably that is.

12. Where do you see TGH reaching with future releases and songs?

Going forward, I see us making albums that are far less optimistic, life loving and upbeat than what we have done previously; no more jaunts through the daisies if you will…time to get serious about things. I imagine the music becoming ever colder, darker, stranger and  more off-putting and unsettling. Some of the previous elements that we have incorporated will be discarded and new ideas and parts will be integrated into the sound and approach. Currently, we are still in the idea phase for the next full-length so it is too early to say anything for certain, although I have an overarching theme/concept to work from and there are already quite a few riffs brewing. Maybe it will see the light of day in early 2012 if we manage to pull it together.

Eventually we will morph into a deep space drone ambient jazz band with robotic voices and annoying clicking sounds, metallic clanking, groaning and fuzz to simulate the drums that were left behind on planet Earth after we were done turning it into nothing more than dust to be scattered; drifting eternally through the vast gulfs of time and distance that constitute the omniverse as we currently know and understand it.

13.Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here

Thank you for taking the time and effort to listen to the releases, write reviews and do the interview. Good luck with your own musical projects and with AZM. Genocide Worldwide. Burn This Fucking World!!! And whatever other random, silly things might be said to wrap things up.