A sense of melancholy pervades throughout the music AGALLOCH plays, much like the steady drizzle of the weather that persists through the Pacific Northwest for much of the year. But just like the region they live in, there is a great deal of beauty to be found within the music that they create. With four years between the release of "The Mantle" and AGALLOCH's third album, "Ashes Against The Grain", a great deal of anticipation has been built. Metal fans from around the globe have been waiting patiently for the next masterpiece from these young, talented artists and it does not disappoint in the slightest.

Tell us a little bit about the writing process for "The White EP".

Don - "A lot of things AGALLOCH does usually starts with one of us, then we sort of collaborate on it. 'The White EP' was a lot of leftover stuff from earlier projects we'd been working on. Some of them were just things I was doing on my own with an acoustic guitar that I'd show John and he'd have ideas for. For the most part, it was a really collaborative project with John. I mean, there are some songs that are mostly me and some songs that are mostly him and some that we went back and forth on."

John - "Plus the songs had been written and recorded over a four year period, so some songs were kind of rejects from earlier albums or projects we had in mind that didn't really go anywhere and some were written specifically for this EP like 'Sowilo Rune' was a song that... I had that three bar riff kind of in mind and I just kind of took it to the studio and Ronn (Chick) and I sat down and we just kind of mapped it out and just kind of... it was built from the ground up, you know, I laid down the riff and we were like 'okay, what should we put next?' It's like, let's try this, let's try that and it turned out being one of the better songs on the EP, I think. So I like that process of just sort of a free, 'whatever happens happens' kind of idea, which usually doesn't happen when we're recording an album, you know."

Don - "The EP is just very mixed like that - some things are spontaneous, some have been around for a long time, some things were developed specifically for it, so it's really kind of mish-mashed, but I think it comes together in a cohesive mold really well."

Why limit it to only 2,000 copies?

John - "First of all, 'The Grey' EP was limited to 1,000 and it took a long time for it to sell out and I don't want to compare 'The White EP' to 'The Grey' EP in terms of popularity, but obviously 'The Grey' EP was not very... it didn't go over very well because people didn't really get it, nothing wrong with that, whereas 'The White EP' is more, I guess, what people stereotypically expect from AGALLOCH. But I like the idea of having more of a limitation on it to make it feel more like a special release."

Don - "I've always thought about it that we don't want these to be major statements in our discography. They're meant to be... sometimes I think of them as little indulgences for us, you know, so we do things really drastic on these. Like 'The Grey' EP being more a noisy/experimental rock and 'The White EP' being more of the folk stuff and also experimental, so we don't want them to be thought of on the same level as 'The Mantle' or 'Ashes', so I think the fact that they're limited makes them appear and get to the right people and then that's it."

What do you think of the second life a lot of the limited merch has taken on eBay? Like, just two weeks ago, I saw a copy of "Of Stone, Wind and Pillor" sell for $187. 50 and copies of "The White EP" are already selling for seventy dollars. What do you think about all that?

Don - "It depends on what it is. What we all hate are people who buy numerous copies for the sole purpose of selling them. 'Cause that's really taking advantage of not only the band, but the fans. I mean, eBay... I guess fair is fair, if you have something you want to sell, you know. I sold some AGALLOCH stuff on eBay and it made me feel really guilty, like I was taking advantage of someone's passion for my music and I didn't want to do that, so like here, I sold some vinyl's that I had stuck in my closet - I put a fixed price on them. To me, that's more honest."

John - "I have a different philosophy. For me, it's the rule of supply and demand and how much people want it. I mean, I've spent two hundred dollars on a record before, you know - I know how that is as a collector and I'm happy to do it. When I was in Copenhagen I found a record that was about two hundred dollars and I'd been looking for it for years and I was just like 'I would pay five hundred dollars for this', you know, no problem, so I kind of understand that mentality. Also, I think so many people talk about how the band should be making the money and all this stuff - 'the money always goes to the label, blah blah blah and the band's always getting ripped off'. Well, it kind of justifies us by saying 'hey, are you willing to pay eighty-five dollars for a record, there it is' and especially if it's coming directly from me, you know, they’re getting a legit mint copy. We paid for 'The White EP' with money from items I put on eBay and I clearly stated it."

Don - "I liked that idea."

John - "And we stated 'this is for a recording that we're doing' and it was really successful because people knew that they were supporting art, they weren't just supporting some eBay pirate. And the same goes if I need some new equipment or something, you know. It's like 'I've got these 'Pale Folklore' records, I know I can make two hundred dollars to buy whatever I need', a pedal or whatever. It all goes back into the art in one way or another."

What is the possibility of increased live activity in the future?

Don - "The way it's always been. It's just so hard, you know, because now Jason lives in Wisconsin. I'm living in Seattle, John's in Portland, Aesop's in San Francisco and me being a school teacher, Jason being a family guy and Aesop also having a family, it makes it near impossible, 'cause you can't just play live - you gotta rehearse, you gotta buy rehearsal space, you've got to travel - we’ve gotta pay for plane tickets just to rehearse, so there's just so many factors that get involved that I don't see that ever changing. We don't resist playing live; we'd like to do it more because it's another way of being a musician that we don't have access to. We kind of rewrite the songs a little bit live. When we record in the studio, you can't really feel the music, but on stage, you just, like, feel the music."

John - "Almost too much sometimes."

Don - "Almost too much, you know and that's a wonderful feeling and I wish we could have it more, but... I think we still always value and privilege recording."

Last time I interviewed you (Don), I asked you what you thought of illegal downloading and based on a lot of the things you said, I'd like to ask you what you think of about the legal downloading, like iTunes and such, where you can pick and choose songs and blah blah blah and pretty much a lot of people think this is going to lead to the extinction of CD's and LP's and all that...

John - "Conceptual albums for sure."

Don - "I definitely mourn the potential loss of the concept album - I was raised on it, I still value it. I don't see it as a change in music, I see it as a change in culture. My eighteen year old students, it's normal for them to download. The idea of buying a CD... none of them buy CD's anymore - it's become the norm and that's more of a cultural thing, that's how you learn to listen to music, how you learn to interact with it. It's nothing about being a fan of music, it's just how they access it. So they're already learning and adapting the idea of a single song and they're learning to appreciate MP3 quality, because that's what they're all listening to, right? And so what we're seeing is a cultural idea, not necessarily to the music itself, but the way we're trained to think and listen to it. I like the idea of capitalizing on that because I think as an artist, you can record a song and make your money straight without a middleman or label, then I think that's an ideal situation. But I still love packaging, I still love concept albums."

John - "It's interesting on the same token that vinyl is coming back, though."

Don - "I think it's a resistance to this. The rise of vinyl in itself a certain resistance to this process, you know, and I support that. That's why we do vinyl."

John - "Yeah, exactly. Vinyl is really the only true way, because you can't just go to the store and buy a bunch of records and then make copies, you know."

Don - "It's more organic."

John - "And as far as the visual and conceptual stuff is concerned, if it ever gets to the point where you can't really have it, like a concept album or anything, then AGALLOCH's the type of band that would spitefully put up a sixty minute MP3. It would be one giant file and you'd have to pay fifteen dollars or more for it and that would be that." (laughs)

Don - "Yeah, I agree. We both grew up listening to 'The Wall' front to back, listening to IRON MAIDEN records front to back."

Tell us a little bit about the new SCULPTURED album.

Don - "Well, it's a true labor of love and I've been working on it for awhile. I think after I've done so much AGALLOCH it was nice to go back to my own little world. I think after doing 'Ashes', after doing those tours, I felt like it was time to open up and try it and I think it's the best thing I've done musically with SCULPTURED. The album features some good people; I mean, Andy Winter - it was kind of serendipity that he got involved and same thing with Dave Murray. It really just kind of came together on it's own. I almost felt completely disconnected from it. I started feeling like I was more an effect of it than it being an effect of me in a weird way, 'cause it's this huge collaboration. So I think it's good and I'm glad it came out now, 'cause I think the success of AGALLOCH undoubtably helps it."

Is there any possibility of ever doing a live show? Now, I realize this would probably be just a one time thing, like maybe at a European festival or something, but is that a possibility?

Don - "That's even more impossible than AGALLOCH. I mean, that would take finding another musician or two, 'cause I play all the guitars, whereas with AGALLOCH, it was just a matter of getting a drummer. And also, with me now, I'm really fine with seeing SCULPTURED as a project - it's something I do when there's time." [FIN]