WOLVEN ANCESTRY INTERVIEW: May 2010
Interview by: Lord Defiler (vocals/lyrics)
1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that are not familiar with your music?
LD - Wolven Ancestry plays Pagan influenced Black Metal and hails from the Northern Ontario community of Sudbury in Canada.
2. How would you describe your musical sound?
LD - Our sound varies on each album, as we do not believe in making the same album over and over again however our roots lie deeply in the Black Metal spectrum. We try to experiment with each album and this perhaps makes our style unique, which is exactly what we are trying to accomplish. Dark and melodic Black Metal.
3. What is going on with the band nowadays?
LD - The band has been quite busy catching up with our personal lives since the release of Silence of the Boreal in 2009. We did some tours to support the album in Canada and a few US dates and fests, and now we are currently preparing for some smaller tours of the US and Canada this summer to be included with our co-headlining appearance at the 20th annual Michigan Death Fest.
4. What is the meaning behind the band's name?
LD - It has many interpretations to each individual, but personally I believe it to mean or translate metaphorically perhaps, into the meaning of life itself. An ancestry of Wolven descent, and as we know the Wolf is the dominant species in their habitat. We too, hold the throne for this in retrospect to the planet as a whole so a Wolven Ancestry would be a group of individuals connected that have passed knowledge to future generations, ensuring they remain the dominant species. Most men are capitalist murderers however, and therefore the Wolves are the ones who see this threat amongst their own habitat, one which they have helped maintain and create through the ages.
5. What are some of the best shows that you have played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
LD - I cannot personally describe my own stage performance, however many people have said we are among the best live bands out there. We believe that if someone is paying Federal Reserve notes to get into a show, then they should at least get the experience of their life so we try to achieve the best live performance possible with each show we destroy.
We have shared the stage with many great bands to date, including Mayhem, Rotting Christ, sigh, Impaled Nazarene, 1349, Goatwhore, 3 Inches of Blood, and an onslaught of other bands we hold in high regards.
6. Have you had an opportunity to tour Europe?
LD - Sadly no, but we are patient wolves..someone should send us an offer :)
7/ Out of all the bands that you have played with or toured with so far, which one did you enjoy the most?
LD - We get a great response from our Sudbury Metal fanbase, and therefore I would have to say shows in our home town are always the best shows. Many great bands have had the opportunity to play in Sudbury and its always good to show these bands what our community is made of and how much support metal gets. We have played much bigger shows and festivals in other cities but nothing beats hearing the crowd chant and sing your music back to you, overtop of the music. Many souls joining and sharing such energies together is epic and powerful.
8. Are there any bands that you would like to tour with but not had the opportunity yet?
LD - Many bands yes. We are a younger band and still quite underground so we have mostly toured with Canadian bands we are friends with but if we had the chance to pick a band to tour with, I would have to say I would choose Negura Bunget (come to Canada already Negru)
9. How would you describe the lyrical content of the music?
LD - Very deep stuff. The sort of stuff that may change the way you view yourself, and the world around you.
10. I read in one interview that you where going to add Canadian Mythology to your lyrics, how would you describe the mythology of the country, and how is it different from the Canadian Native American tribes who have a mythology of their own?
LD - Yes, that must have been an older interview for our first album The Wrath of Gaia. Our newest album, Silence of the Boreal is a concept album, each song being based around historical Canadian subjects in relation to Pagan and earthen beliefs for the most part.
The mythology of Canada lies within its Native peoples, who were enslaved and killed when the Europeans came here. Some allied with the French or the English, however most were killed and forced out of their lands by the early European settlers. Back then there was no borders of countries, or at least it was not hard to go from Canada into the United States so many fled North or South, even West. There are still tribes today, however most were forced into what is symbolic to a Nazi concentration camp, and are living on Native reservations in order to still practice their traditions passed down to them from their elders.
11. How would you describe your musical progress over the years and what direction do you see the band heading into on future releases?
LD - We have certainly and purposely progressed over the years and this will continue to show in the music we create. There was alot more clean singing and less keyboard focused parts on our latest album however it was much more technical in comparison to our demo The Wrath of Gaia.
We are very passionate about our music and each member brings alot to the table in regards to creativity. The next album which is currently being written, should be out in late 2010 or early 2011.
12. Out off all the albums and demos that you have recorded so far, which one are you the most satisfied with?
LD - Every album has a soul, or life force about it. Its like creating a child. Wolven Ancestry would never release anything we were not proud of so anything we put out in my opinion is a monument.
13.How has your music been received so far by metal fans worldwide?
LD - The response has been really well, even since we released our first album. We have put out all of our albums through Archaic North Entertainment and have sold albums all over the world so it is really great to see that the Wolven sound is not isolated to Canada, or North America solely. Alot of bands have support in their local area and that is where it stops, so it gives us a great feeling of accomplishment to know that our albums are being played all over cyclical earth.
14. What forms of paganism are the most inspiring to your music and philosophy on life?
LD - I do not practice the religious aspect of Paganism, however this does not mean that I do not believe in some or all of its viewpoints. The thing I find most inspiring about Paganist viewpoints is perhaps the most vital to the system, and that is the realization that the earth and cosmos are the most fundamental aspects in all existence. We, as a species are included in this cyclical spectrum and depend on its energies and elemental powers completely. The common individual takes this for granted, and therefore takes their own life for granted and in most cases does not understand the power of nature, and their own relation to the flow of these energies. This is perhaps Animism, a topic which I wrote about on the Silence of the Boreal album. The inuit peoples believed that even a stone on the ground had a soul, or energy about it and played an important role in being there. To most, it is just a stone at their feet but every stone has a history and origin.
I believe that Paganism has evolved radically and is no longer a religious viewpoint as it is perhaps considered by many as common science. Spirituality and powerful earthen energies perhaps differentiate the religious aspect from the scientific now, and to understand this is vital to understanding the ancient and original Pagan beliefs.
15. What is the metal scene like nowadays in your home country of Canada?
LD - There is great support for metal here in Canada, and some of the larger scenes include Montreal and Quebec of course, Toronto, Sudbury, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, Vancouver and this little place in Northern BC called Prince George. It is a far drive between cities in Canada, but the scenes are very strong and each seem to have great rising bands at the helm.
Canada has always had a very strong "scene" and has given birth to countless innovative bands. I will admit that there is an over-saturation of bands in alot of countries around the world including Canada, and only a handful are really doing something original and will continue to function and progress as a band. Too many people want to be in a band nowadays and make it big, but in the metal world only the strong survive. One must understand that when they get into a metal band, 98% of the time it will remain a hobby, and not a job and this will happen until their lives expire.
16. I have seen some of your videos on YouTube, which video have you filmed so far that you are the most satisfied with?
LD - A fan from Turkey made a video for "Ourstarguided Journey to the Realm of Neverending Life" using clips from the King Arthur movie which can be found on Youtube. I stumbled upon the video and thought it was really cool that a fan would take the time to create that for our music, and synch the parts with the crescendos and builds of the song itself. Must have taken him some time to complete it. Currently we have just one video that we have produced ourselves, for the song "A Bloodline of Immortal Pasison Bestowed The Harmony of Man and Wolf". That is my favourite video of course as we made it ourselves, and our drummer Guyzus did all the editing and construction of it. It turned out really well for our first home made music video and he did a really great job editing it all and getting it the way we wanted it. We wrote a story line out for the video to accent the lyrical content of the song and we all believe it turned out really well.
At the moment we are planning out ideas for the first Wolven DVD and will be working on a new video for a track for our newer album Silence of the Boreal. At this time, all our non-live videos on Youtube are from our first album so we still have to catch up with our videography.
17. Who did the artwork for both of your albums?
LD - When we put out an album, we like to use original art such as paintings or images designed by artists depicting wolves in their natural habitat. Our first album cover, The Wrath of Gaia was an oil painting by a Canadian artist by the name of Maurade Baynton and the cover art for Silence of the Boreal is an image called "Nightspell" and was created by a British artist named Geoff Taylor. The album booklet art for Silence was done by myself, and the Wrath of Gaia was done by Tim Boughton from Dissonance Studios.
18. Where do you see extreme metal heading into during this decade?
LD - I wish that question was changed to "What" do you see it heading into. Extreme metal is where it needs to be now, but we have some very important issues at hand which I think the metal community should be uniting to confront, and that is the New World Order. Fans all around the world can feel the oppression this force has inflicted upon humanity for centuries, and using music can be a very effective way of uniting the metal fans around the world to speak out against it. That would be a great evolution, turning to a revolution...
19. What are some of your interests outside of music?
LD - I mostly study outside of music to be honest. I spend much of my time researching several different topics and not wasting my time with what sports team is winning, or what celebrity is fucking who. I spend my time wisely and have recently got into documentary film making. I have just completed one entitled "The Formation of Resistance" which deals with war, religion, new world order corruption and human spirituality in retrospect to the control the government has upon us all. Ironically if you split the word governmental into two, you are left with two common words. "Govern" or control, and "Mental" or the mind. Therefore Governmental agencies are only existant to control our minds and I find it quite strange how most people would never realize this simple word. There is many secrets in our world, and these secrets lie hidden deep in the Occult. The word occult actually translates to "hidden", so the occult is also something I have been studying quite alot lately.
20. Any final words or thoughts?
LD - Wolven Ancestry albums are now available worldwide through Century Media Distro. Help spread the Wolven word and we hope to be touring outside of North America soon. See you all on the road. Until then
