A: We started recording the album in October/November of 2022 and we received the final masters at the end of February of this year. Since then, we’ve put the majority of our effort into finding a good label to partner with on the release, as well as planning a *currently unannounced* tour for this fall. We made an appearance at this year’s Treefort Music Fest, which is held annually in our hometown of Boise, ID and will be appearing at Crucial Fest 12 later this month in Salt Lake City, which we are very excited about.
2.In September you have a new album coming out, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
A: The most apt description would be that this album is much more focused aesthetically and tonally than our previous releases. Our last album, ‘The Fate of Kings and Men’, was more varied stylistically as we were playing with working the ‘medieval’ influences into some more traditional black metal riffing and exploring how to incorporate those compositional elements and orchestrations to the best effect. ‘Realm’ is the culmination of everything we learned on ‘Fate’ and the result is a record that has a very specific sonic identity, paired with a visual aesthetic that is something we’ve been chasing for years. It is beautiful and aggressive, joyful and forlorn.
3.A lot of your lyrics cover fantasy and history themes, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics, how long you have been exploring theme and which aspects of these topics did you bring into the songwriting of the new album?
A: Jeff has had an affinity for history and especially medieval and fantasy since at least his early teenage years. His brightest memory is seeing Fellowship of the Ring in theaters in 2001, and he has been down that path ever since. There’s something very alluring to him about dragons, knights, swords, you-name-it, and this was exacerbated through his youth by different video games and books that he experienced. When he went to college as a history major, there were a lot of opportunities to explore the Middle Ages further and he consumed all that he could. The pageantry, sense of ‘honor’, fighting for your king or lord and the elevated romanticism of it all was a big influence. It was probably a terrible time to be alive, but fascinating. Lyrically, we try to stick to the existential elements that are (in our opinion) universally relatable. We don’t really want to sing about dragons or magic. They’re fun, but we’ve never met a dragon or used magic and are not sure how to relate those ideas. Instead, at least on this album, we chose to explore the ideas of honor and death and if our lives have purpose, what is it? How do we ensure that we are remembered? Objectively not as fun, but something that resonates with us. We think dragons might be best kept for more visual mediums. Ha!
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Weald And Woe'?
A: This is not as great of a story as we wish it was. In our early days, when W&W was a solo project, Jeff was looking for a name that was memorable and indicative of what you could expect musically and he really liked the word ‘woe’, which was already taken by the really excellent NY based band. The phrase ‘weal and woe’ came to mind, meaning ‘both in prosperity and adversity’ and he liked that idea so he played around with it a bit on the internet and came across the “Justice of Weald and Woe,” which is a prestige class in D&D. He liked that, too, so he ran with it. It was close to ‘weal and woe’ and ‘Weald’ meaning forest or heavily wooded area appealed to him as someone from a very mountainous/forested region.
5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
A: The cover piece is a 1911 painting by English artist Edmund Blair Leighton titled ‘Stitching the Standard’ that Jeff ran across one day while browsing online sometime in 2021. We were immediately enamored with it and knew we wanted to use it for something, so we saved it. When it came time to title the album, we knew that piece would be perfect as the cover so everything kind of unfurled from that choice. Now that the album is finished, there really was no other option. We all love it.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
A: The highlight of our career so far has been opening for Rotting Christ and Borknagar, as well as Ghost Bath and Imperial Triumphant. Boise gets passed over on a lot of the bigger tours in the Pacific Northwest, but we have a very strong scene and have been lucky to get a lot of opportunities to open for some major acts when they do roll through. We are very honored to be included in this year’s Crucial Fest in Salt Lake City, where we will get to share the stage with Portrayal of Guilt, Mizmor and Unreqvited and more. That’s pretty big for us as well. Our stage show is an aural assault of equal parts beauty and violence. Very little talking and its 30 or 45 minutes of constant music. We are focused on creating an experience that evokes feelings of sorrow and elation with brief moments of bloodlust.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
A: We have some local appearances planned in Boise, and we will be announcing a US Southwestern tour for the Fall right around when the record drops or shortly after.
8.All of the band members also play in other bands, what is it that you bring into the music of 'Weald And Woe', that you have not been able to do with your other groups?
A: Jeff and Zak and also play in the power metal band By Fire & Sword, of which Jeff is the main songwriter as well, and that is a very different experience than playing black metal. W&W is a much more visceral endeavor and has a profoundly cathartic effect. The physical demand of playing W&W songs is much different and allows us to focus on different guitar styles, strengthen different songwriting techniques, and scream our hearts out. We feel, (depending on who you talk to) that black metal is a genre that is uniquely suited to extreme experimentation, whether that be with bands like us, Obsequiae and Véhémence, or on the other end of the spectrum with bands like Imperial Triumphant and Portal. Black metal has no rules (again, depending on who you talk to) so everything goes, and we don’t think we’d be able to achieve our artistic vision as fully if we were working within the imposed confines and rules of another genre. For Brent, the more primal and melodic nature allows him to engage fully in the material when performing live. Weald & Woe affords Isiah the opportunity to play the kind of music that got him into metal. In his formative years, he loved the European folk metal bands — Ensiferum, Finntroll, Wintersun. Weald & Woe makes him feel like a kid, and he gets to beat the shit out of the drums with childlike bewilderment.
9.In 2020 you where also a part of a split with 'Candlewolf Disciple', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?
A: The individual behind Candlewolf Disciple is a dear friend of ours and we were thrilled to get to work on a release with him. His work was inspirational and we are proud to be associated with CD. Knowing that we were going to be on the same cassette really pushed us to perform better than we ever had up to that point and we think that showed in the two tracks we contributed. We still play one of them live, occasionally.
10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
A: Globally, the response to our previous work has been great, and we anticipate that to grow tremendously with the release of the new album. Everywhere we go, we make new friends and fans in droves who are excited about what we are doing. We’ve been very fortunate to sell a lot of merchandise, give away a lot of stickers and meet a lot of great people. We’re excited to hopefully get onto more of a global stage with this new album, as our experience so far has been centralized mostly to the US and even more locally to the Pacific Northwest. This new album and tour should go a long way to introduce us to even more people.
11.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
A: By Fire & Sword is releasing a new album, ‘Glory’, later in September of this year on No Remorse Records out of Greece, and already the response to that has been amazing. We are anticipating some exciting things to arise from that. A: Brent and Isiah’s experimental death/black metal project, Aterrima, has just finished production on a new album mixed and mastered by Stefano Morabito, to be released soon.
12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
A: On ‘For The Good of The Realm’, we think we really nailed the vision that we had in mind. It was years of writing and refining that really encapsulates what Weald & Woe is about. Now that we’ve achieved this and we know how to create the sound we’ve been hearing in our heads for years, we anticipate that we will continue to explore this more ornate ‘medieval’ style. That could all change if Jeff wakes up one day and decide that swords are bullshit, but 20+ years of fascination tells us that’s unlikely or he has developed neurological damage.
13.What are some of the bands or musical styles the band members are currently listening to nowadays?
A: Jeff: Obsequiae (always), Enya, Inexorum, Majesties, Véhémence, Moulin Banal, Sinmara, Monastery, Agriculture, Mariya Takeuchi, Maniére Noire. I could go forever. A: Brent: Exocrine, Kardashev, The Zenith Passage, Imperial Triumphant, Wormwitch. A: Isiah: Blut Aus Nord, Herbie Hancock, Aesop Rock, The Zenith Passage, Anomalous, First Fragment, Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree. A: Zak: Vale of Pnath, Inferi, Bayside, Chon, The Ritual Aura.
14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
A: We are really grateful to you for having us and supporting us like this. For everyone else, our record ‘For The Good of The Realm’ releases on September 1st via the amazing Fiadh Productions. It would really go a long way towards helping us if you shared the album with even one other person. The power of the network is immense in helping underground bands like ours. Of course, be sure to follow us on social media as well. @wealdandwoe on all platforms
Weald & Woe is: Jeff Young: Guitar and vocals
Brent Ruddy: Guitar and backing vocals
Zak Darbin: Bass Isiah Fletcher: Drums
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