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One of the Peaceville three alongside ANATHEMA and MY DYING BRIDE, PARADISE LOST have long been considered among the godfathers of today's Gothic Metal scene. Ignoring what others would have them do, PARADISE LOST have never been afraid of being true artists, doing what they want to do with their music regardless of what anyone else thinks. While that has not always sat well with some of their casual fans, anyone who has even the slightest inkling of what it means to be a true artist will respect and admire them for their dedication.
Do you think there is a possibility of more frequent U.S. tours now that you're working with Century Media?
"I would certainly hope so. It's always something that been neglected because of label problems or the fact that maybe we, in the early days, didn't decide to come to America as much as we could have done. But if you haven't a label behind you, you're pretty fucked from the offset, really. So yeah, we really hope we can do. It's a pretty new market, we haven't got a great deal to lose here, so we really want to start doing something here, you know."
How's your working relationship with Century Media been so far?
"So far, so good. The label's said everything they've promised is going to happen, great support in Europe; it's been fantastic and in America seems pretty good, as well. We haven't actually met any reps from the label yet, I think they're in Los Angeles... so far great. It's certainly beneficial being on Century Media right now."
Tell us a little bit about your eleventh album, "In Requiem".
"We kind of wanted to make the album a lot heavier, more of a raw album perhaps than the ones. We've cranked the guitars and the drums way up, changed the song writing a little bit from the previous albums. It was mainly, we wanted to get a Metal production, as opposed to a Rock production. We kind of cranked the things that make it Metal, really."
How would you say it holds up to the rest of your back catalog? As far as some bands will say "this is our best work ever", others will say "this is a very good album, but it's not our best work".
"You cannot say which is your best album, I mean, unless can look back in retrospect. The album isn't old enough to look back in retrospect yet, so for me, it's still our best record. In another two years, then I can think 'okay, well maybe it's in second place to another one', so for right now, we're very happy with the album. I think the production sound is great on it, we're really happy about the way it sounds. It's heavy and melodic and I think we've actually combined the two pretty well and I'm really proud of that fact. But it's kind of too early; you need some distance before you can retrospect something."
There's been rumors of a limited special edition of the album with four extra cover songs on it - can you tell us a little bit about that?
"Oh, Century Media did lots of versions - I can't keep up on how many versions there is. I think the limited with the four extra tracks was originally for Japan, but I don't know if it actually got released, but there's an EP version which is really nice. But I never opened that - I kept it sealed, so I see some guys have that, but that I think was a limited edition - I think it was 25,000 of that. But that sold out pretty fast, so beyond that, right now, I'm not the right guy to ask. (laughs) Sorry."
I understand in Greece and Germany especially, you guys are extremely popular, to about the point where you're actually mainstream. Tell us a little bit about that.
"I don't know. I think, particularly in Greece, yeah the band is very popular in Greece. I mean, our last album went number two in the charts, went up to five, then went back again, went up again, which is kind of very strange for a Metal band to do. That was pretty cool. I don't know… as long as I can remember in Greece, it's always been really good for the band. Germany's… kind of up and down in Germany, like everywhere else in the world, but I think once people kind of lock in on what you're doing, they kind of stay with you and they're very loyal and even if you kind of change, particularly like we have done, they kind of say 'okay, we'll stand by you regardless', whereas sometimes people will say 'ah, fuck off!', you know and go and listen to somebody else. (laughs) But as I say, as long as your core fanbase in those countries… they're very loyal fans."
Are there any plans for a DVD compiling the video clips the band has done over the years and maybe some live performances?
"We've recorded a live DVD in London near a year ago which we will be releasing early next year. That's a full live performance, about an hour and a half show and it's kind of spanning the whole cross-section of the band's history, really. I mean, people are still moaning that they didn't hear this song or this song, but I mean, it could go on forever. So that's come out really good. That's being put together right now. I don't know if all the video clips will be on there, but there'll be shitloads of extra footage and stuff, but it's still being put together right now, so that's early next year."
What are your thoughts on a lot of the controversy regarding the band's constant evolution, augmenting the musical style, constantly changing, isolating some fans - tell us your thoughts on that.
"Everything that's happened has happened over twenty years - it's not overnight. We haven't suddenly said 'okay, this band's doing this music style we like, let's go and copy them'. I mean, we never, ever thought that about any music. Everything's kind of gradual and everything's happened for a reason. When we dramatically changed our style around the late ninties, we'd been touring extensively for like eighteen months; we did two eighteen month tours on two albums - we were so fucking tired of the 'fist in the air' Metal stuff, we just wanted a break from it. I mean, it's not like we're not into it, 'cause kind of in the blood, really, but we just wanted to try something else, you know? And think a combination of that and we cut our hair, I kind of feel that it pissed a lot of people off, so I mean… it's just one of those things, these things, they didn't happen overnight, you know? It's like, some bands, they just Metal guys and the next minute, they've changed. Well, what in the fuck is that? We were still in the same music, really, I mean, we've never not listened to Metal music or anything. We just kind of wanted to work our platform and just change the platform a little bit to make it more interesting. But I mean, some people site, particularly the 'Host' album seems to be the main offender. I mean, I probably would name it in the top three albums we've ever done, regardless of what people think, it was a very good album and I'm really proud of that album, so it's not one I'd want to bury under the carpet, you know? But I mean, in the same way CELTIC FROST were always pioneers at what they did and lots of people didn't like the 'Into The Pandemonium' album and I regard it as an absolutely amazing record. I like to see bands trying to do different things within Metal music, but they did the 'Cold Lake' album after that and it was like, 'okay…' (laughter) I said 'you can't combine Glam with Metal - no fucking way'. (laughter) No, no, no, no - that's too offensive. But even if you stay the same, you get slagged off, you change, you're going to get slagged off - you're going to get shit whatever you do. You've just got to follow your heart."
What are your thoughts on the current state of the Doom/Death scene? Because I know PARADISE LOST, ANATHEMA and MY DYING BRIDE were huge influences on the genre and basically spawned it, so what are your thoughts on the bands that are carrying on that tradition?
"I don't really listen to a lot of bands from my genre. The only band I like from our so-called genre is TYPE O NEGATIVE, REALLY. I actually listen to those guys. I can honestly say in our so-called genre, that they're the only band that I listen to as a fan. It's difficult to say, really - I've kind of never heard MY DYING BRIDE… I mean, we're friends but I don't really listen to that music. And ANATHEMA, I kind of like their new stuff better than anything they've ever done, personally. They'll get shit off the old school guys 'cause it's not Metal music, so it's like 'oh, whatever', you know, but I think what they do now is more up my kind of street. But then I was talking to Danny on Messenger earlier on - we kind of go way back, everyone liked CATHEDRAL, we're all good friends and so you don't have to listen to the music to be friends, you know - it makes no difference. I'd rather a guy be a nice guy and his band sucks than his band's good and he's an asshole, so that's the way we work." [FIN]
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