Monday, July 24, 2006

Elysium fanzine issue 2.0 AOS interview

Thanks to Christian Schrodel at Elysium for the interview.

1-Doomed Salutations, my friend! Please lead us into your musical world. Introduce Apostle of Solitude all those still non-followers.

Chuck - Apostle of Solitude is 4 guys who for one reason or another tend to lean more towards the somber things in music and art and musically are in no big hurry to get there.
Corey - Chuck sings and plays guitar, Brent plays bass, Justin plays guitar, and I hit the drums.

2-Im deeply impressed by your first announcement of pure and proud Doom Metal. You did herald the true essence of downfall and of bitter fate. There are not great many bands which create such an authentic feeling of misery. Each riff pressures me more to the ground and the vocal lines let all hope and daylight die. Whats going on in your minds when you compose your soundtrack of the end?

Corey - First off thank you for the kind words, my friend. The words always come last, and we usually start with a single riff and just build from there. Once we lock into the same wavelength mentally, the song basically takes shape on its own.

Chuck - Honestly I think when we write songs we're just trying to write the best songs we can but we're also trying to convey an overall sad/somber even ominous feeling to the music.

Justin - Also I think there is as much emphasis on the tone of a particular riff itself as there is on the actual notes being played, we are all pretty big fans of really thick sounding guitars and lots of volume.

3-I totally love the intensive solo at the beginning of Surrounded By Snakes. Thats full of passion and soul. Are those solos an integral part of the Apostle sound?

Chuck - The same thing really applies with that solo in particular that I was trying my best to give the impression of a somber feeling with out being really busy with a ton of notes. So to answer the question yes we do try and make the solo's match the feeling of the overall song.

4-Can you describe your musical vision? What is a perfect song for you?

Chuck - A perfect song is one that takes you somewhere else for those few minutes and even maybe gives you a sense of nirvana. Not saying we accomplish this by any means but it's definitely something to strive for.

Corey - Playing songs like these is like the best form of therapy, and it becomes a very cathartic release of sorts that is done primarily for personal reasons. However, the perfect doom song not only does this for the musician but also for the listener.

5-By what are you influenced, lyrically and musically?

Chuck - Influences really vary within the band but I think I can safely say that bands like Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, Metallica, etc...are all big influences but obviously there are a million other less recognized bands that equally influence us but we'd be here all day listing them if we were to name them all.

6-Are your lyrics just a kind of artistic expression or is there more behind it? Faith, an attitude to life, a world view or something like that?

Chuck - Some of the lyrics are very personal and reflect an overall opinion of something and some are just a topic we are interested in and want to sing about.

7-How is your relation to the (doom) metal scene? Do you feel a natural affinity to some special bands?

Justin - Its a very honest scene, you cant BS. I think thats a fairly common bond in the Doom scene.

Chuck - We definitely have a sense of connection to the bands in the Doom Metal scene because of influences and the simple fact that what we're doing isn't something that is going to sell a million records and really isn't even understood by a large group of people but we do it anyway because we love this type of music and for no other reason.

Corey - Label mates Heroes Laid To Rest and The Dockers. Although the doom scene is a bit smaller compared to the rest of the underground, there is a definite sense of brotherhood here among the local metal and hardcore scene in general. Theres no real division between the legitimate bands of different backgrounds within the scene.


8-Did you already composed new stuff? What can you tell us about the coming doom? And do you have enough songs to celebrate your sound live?

Chuck - We're always writing new material so having enough to play out live is never a problem, in fact we hope to get into the studio in the next few months to record again and maybe if we're fortunate enough we'll get over to Europe sometime next year to do a small tour. That's the plan at least.

Corey -The next release will most likely be on Necrology Rekordings, like the demo.

9-This is the end. If there is something unmentioned you have now the possibility to spread the word All the best, stay proud and Doom!

Corey -Thank you for the interview brother, it is much appreciated. When you're walking through hell, keep walking.

Chuck - We hope people like what we do and we want people to check the band out and if you like what you hear let us know. We hope to get a full length out soon and do some touring because we want to share our music with as many people as possible and hope that they enjoy it half as much as we do. On behalf of the whole band thanks for the interview and thanks for supporting the Doom Metal scene and the working class/struggling bands that live in it. Doom First and Forever.