1. Since you ate a new band can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before and introduce your self?
1. We are Summanus. What more of an introduction is needed? Our music should speak for itself.
2. What is the sound that you are working on achieving with the band?
2. We are going for a crushing, atmospheric sound with the music. We are also seeking a balance between aggressive, fast-paced sections and slow, doomy, melancholic passages.
3. What is the inspiration and meaning behind the bands name?
3. Summanus is the Roman god of night thunder and one of the Great Old Ones in the H.P. Lovecraft universe ("The Terror that Walketh in Darkness").
4. What are some of the lyrical subjects or matters that you bring across with your music?
4. The lyrics explore various dark, violent, and misanthropic ideals. Anti-Christianity and Satanism are also heavily prevalent, due to the vocalist's (who writes the lyrics) Satanic beliefs. However, anti-Christianity is strongly advocated by all members of the band.
5. You have a show scheduled for September, is this going to be your firsr show, and what can we expect when we see you live?
5. Our show on September 25 will be our first show, which is surprising because we are not opening. Our fundamental goal is to smash our music into the skulls of all present. The corpse paint and other imagery is really just a minor supporting role. Do not expect there to be any stage banter. We all have a lot of energy so our stage presence should be powerful, with plenty of headbanging and the like.
6. I have noticed that when I listen to your music you have a very powerful bass tone, how do you achieve this sound?
6. When the band was first founded, we were missing a bassist. The third bassist we tried out, Thurisaz, had a full stack of two 4x10 cabinets and a 550W bass head. Our guitarist Dread only had a small 2x10 combo amp. Thurisaz's musical influences feature many bands with very strong bass presence, so naturally he emulated somewhat during the audition, with his equipment already overpowering Dread's. However, the resulting tone was crushing, powerful, and somewhat unique, and when Thurisaz was accepted into the band, the loudness of the bass was left unchanged, even when Dread got a full stack of his own. The resulting atmosphere from such loud bass work is quite interesting to hear live, as it can be felt through one's entire body, while the guitars expand upon the sound and fill out the higher audible frequencies. I'm not sure we did a very good job of capturing that on the demo, however.
7. Right now that band is currently unsigned, are you looking for a label, and if so what kind of label do you feel that would do the best to support your music or message?
7. We have not even discussed the idea of getting signed among ourselves. We aren't a bunch of commercial black metal pussies, however, so if we do sign to a label it will be a mutually beneficial relationship, focused on the development of our music and not about money.
8. How has your music been received so far by black metal fans worldwide?
8. I think a whole five people have heard our demo, and they're all from around Colorado. So it has not been received at all!
9.Do you have any touring plans for the future?
9. If we were given the opportunity to tour, I'm sure we would.
10. What direction do you see the music going into during the future?
10. At this point it's uncertain. Both Thurisaz and Nocturnus (the vocalist) arguably have the creative leadership of the band, and they oppose each other on several points, as they both have very different musical influences. When Thurisaz joined and started writing songs with Anders, they were much longer than anything written before, and generally had more atmospheric, doomy overtones as opposed to the angry maelstrom of traditional black metal. So the future musical sound is unknown - but likely it will combine many facets of black and doom metal. But who knows. Dread has a lot of punk influences and Thurisaz has a lot of neofolk influences that have so far not been expressed in the music, and maybe they will make an appearance. We are also trying very hard to avoid commercialism and bullshit of that sort, which would only happen if the entire band quit and was replaced. One more important thing: We are striving to have a very unique sound. We are not going to be another Darkthrone-worshipping black metal band that seems to be the norm in the scene.
11. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music, and do you have any influences outside of black metal, also what are you listening to nowadays?
11. Obviously second-wave Norwegian black metal and bands similar to that have been a large influence, especially to Nocturnus, who founded the band. However, Thurisaz's influences range from doom metal (Draconian, Esoteric) to more melodic and folky black metal (Moonsorrow, Drudkh, Thy Serpent). Dread is actually from a largely punk background, but also is inspired by the likes of Bathory and Immortal. Kulten's influences come from all over the metal genre, but like Dread, largely black metal. Thurisaz has played in death metal, neofolk, and gothic metal bands around Denver, and also has a black/folk/doom metal solo project, while Dread used to play in the punk band "N/A," so there is a wide spectrum of different musical tastes in the band.
12. Does Satanism, Occultism or Paganism play any role in the music or lifestyle and if so how would you describe your views on these topics?
12. Despite the pentagram in the band logo, Satanism is not an overwhelming theme reverberating through the band's members. The Satanism in the band's image come from Nocturnus actually being a Satanist himself. We are trying to avoid making it a large part of the band as far too many black metal bands have done it to death in an effort to become "evil" and "kvlt." Satanism in black metal is cliche, overused, and meaningless in the genre to the point of comedy, but Nocturnus is Satanic and his lyrics reflect that. The band as a whole is not Satanic. An interesting thing to note is that Thurisaz is actually a Pagan, and wears pentacles frequently. Some who do not know this may think he is failing miserably at wearing Satanic symbols, but that is not the case since he is not even Satanic at all.
13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
13. Music is the main interest of everyone in the band. When we are not practicing together, we are usually hard at work in our free time getting better at our instruments (and other instruments too) or participating in other musical projects. Combine this with alcohol and/or drugs and you account for a large majority of our member's spare time. Thurisaz also spends an exorbitant amount of time in the wilderness, and is involved with some radical environmentalist groups.
14. Any final words or thoughts before we close this interview?
14. Make sure your support the bands that don't sacrifice their musical integrity for anything. Music keeps our lives afloat and without bands that give all they have for the greater cause of music, we would be at the mercy of our plastic society. You can thank Christians and other pathetic religions for creating such a mess in the first place.
Thanks for the interview!
www.myspace.com/
Summanusband
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