Pergale Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Rehearsals and parties. That’s what basically is going on since we released “Antropologija”. We are trying now to catch up with our musical skills that we used to have before and the main goal is to put up a decent live show or a few.

2.Recently you have released a new album,how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
The first album “Horizontalios maldos palaima” was a more raw and a straight forward approach to the music genre as we saw it.”Antropologija” is constructed with a quite different attitude but still we tried to sustain the main sound of Pergalė. The second album comes with lots of evident musical influences from what we’ve experienced while creating and recording it

3.This is the first album to be released in 5 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time span?
Lots of things actually. First of all our drummer was touring in Canada and the US with his other bands. Gusmanas, the guitarist, he works for the government so the had to live abroad in Spain for a while. During that time we also decided that we need another guitarist in the band so after big auditions Simonas from Au-dessus was aknowledged to be a full time member of Pergale. Somehow we managed to put the album in one piece and release it.


4.The band labels it's music as victorious psycho black rock' can you tell us a little bit more about this term?
That’s more than simple. We had to think of something since our genre is hard to describe with one word. The main influence comes from metal of course. Black metal to be exact. But we do not play black metal nor rock. As we do not want to offend the ‘only true believers’ we call ourselves ‘victorious’ cause of our name – Pergalė (Victory in Lithuanian), ‘black’ because of the black metal influences, ‘psycho’ – well that’s just a word we thought to make it sound more cool and ‘rock’ – cause we like the actor.

5.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
Our main topic on this album is us – people. That’s why it is called “Antropologija”. Basically we do not try to protest or ‘obtest’ anything. We sing about love as it is – dirty, ugly, violent, influential. All we do is mock people, music, lifestyles, attitudes, opinions.

6.I know that the band name means 'victory' in Lithuanian, how does this name fir in with the musical style that you play?
To be honest that is just an ironic name. This band’s name is a satiric statement towards other bands that take it too seriously. Veni.Vidi.Pergalė.

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
There were two shows that are the most memorable. First one was in the year 2011 I think in Vilnius a festival called “Velniop!”. We did not evaluate our capability of how much we can drink and do stuff. Later on we got onstage and it was just like a circus. Keyboardist fell into the drums, everyone were fucked up as hell. So it had to look like a really miserable performance then. We had our faces painted as clowns back then.The other one was in Tallinn, Estonia. Well not the gig perhaps, but the after party for sure. Our song „Estonian lesbians“ was born after this gig there.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album? We would love to do Japan. We heard we have some quite few fans there. So yes, Japan would be great.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?There are two kind of BM fans. The ones who despise us and our music (these ones we love the most) and the ones who haven’t had any concussions in their childhood and can take a good dose of irony.

10.What has been going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these day hat some of the other band members are a apart of?
Our drummer has some few projects. He is making guitars on his own to people who want custom made instruments. Also he plays in a rock band who are as famous as Pink Floyd in the US I think. One of us in Au-dessus (these guys are gonna be the next Behemoth – so people talk). And our keyboardist is a power electronics genius quite known inside Europe and beyond.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? We will try to keep it simple. As long as we can enjoy each other’s company we will do music. We have some ideas that the next album could even be neo-folk or synth electronics. Time will tell.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Well if one listens to our stuff – lots of influences can be heard. From Finnish black metal like Horna, Satanic Warmaster to shoegaze or even stoner rock. All six of us are very different. I can say that at the very moment such bands as Batyushka, Graveyard, War on drugs, Cult of Fire, Mgla or the Editors are tops for me personally.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes we do: love your moms and dads & don’t be assholes!

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