The Words that Crawled…
Long lost Mourning Beloveth interview from 2008 finally appears
"Sometimes we were too drunk to play...." Mourning Beloveth's Darren Moore. Photo: Ryan Marron
Back in May of 2008 I did a little interview with Darren Moore of Mourning Beloveth for a forerunner to Paddy Metal. ‘A Disease for the Ages’ was just coming out and it was the band’s first album since the departure of Adrian Butler. Before I got to post the interview however, I decided the look, feel and name of the Blog was all wrong and I abandoned it. So the interview never appeared.
Given the recent announcement that Brian Delaney has left the band, I thought I’d resurrect the interview and post it on Paddy Metal, rather than tormenting Darren Moore again for an interview that might never see the light of day. As you’ll see, its not all that bad either.
The new album seems to be getting great reviews from some of the big magazines around Europe? Do you want to tell us about some of these?
Darren: “Yeah the response has been amazing in magazines so far with 10/10 on metal.de, 9.5/10 in Rock Hard Germany, 10/10 the -pit.de, 9/10 in orkus, 5.5/6 in Zero Tolerance with journalists saying it is the new genre benchmark….but hey i think every album is like that so what do they know?”
How do these compare to how the last album was received?
Darren: “Well A Murderous Circus got some mixed reviews, some people thinking the songs and album in general was overlong, but if you are going to listen to doom you should expect that, no? After we went on tour for the last album, a lot more people seemed to be enjoying AMC than when it first came out, I think it is a definite grower and I am still very proud of that record.”
What are the main differences between the two albums? What were you looking to do differently when you went into the studio?
Darren: “Well we have done four albums but the differences between A Disease for the Ages and the last one, I hate comparing albums, but we intentionally went out and stripped down our sound and the emptiness of the sound creates its own barren and painful atmosphere. This album is a lot more in your face and although it is a lot heavier than the previous album it is also very raw, an open sore left to be infected. While A Murderous Circus dealt with the melancholic thoughts of our excessive lives and trying to find a beauty in this struggle, A Disease for the Ages is the infected gut, the raging torrent which we must face and the realisation there is no escape from it. There is little discussion of where we are, where we were or where we are going as a band and going into the studio is just the same, everyone has their thing to do and they know how to do it. One of the few decisions we made about this album was we needed more guitars, more of an assault on the senses than something meandering beneath.”
With the reviews that are coming in there must be a strong case for going out on the road and making hay while the sun shines, so to speak. What plans have you got?
Darren: “Well we had planned on touring in March but it had to be pulled due to a personal issue. This should now be happening in October in places like Finland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Germany, France along with another show at Day of Darkness in July, Metal Maniac fest in Romania in July and I am sure a few more will happen by the end of the year.”
This is the first album you’ve made without Adrian Butler who had contributed a lot to the band in terms of writing, direction and leadership. Was it hard to create a new dynamic in his absence and what do you feel Brendan has brought to the band?
Darren: “Yeah, Adrian had been in the band since after he recorded our first demo as a student and we were all friends and in various bands together before MB so it was hard for us to see him leave. But life goes on. Adrian and myself started writing to people in the underground when he first joined the band and we even released a fanzine called Dark Skies Ahead where we were swapping our demo for other bands to review in the mag….good times and so we both had the same contacts over the years. Aido being the corporate whore he is, has gone on to develop this into a business and he now promotes bands, books tours etc and MB is his first customer. It is called Lugga Music and anyone wanting to book us should go through him.
We didn’t have anybody playing bass for a year when Aido left and so when Brendan fell into the band it was good to see and hear a bass player at rehearsals again. Brendan is of our kind, a bitter, twisted individual, just like ourselves. We have known him for over 10 years now and I think if anybody was going to join the band after Adrian it was him…for better or worser.”
From the track I’ve heard, Frank’s vocals are very different - not different from his Old Season stuff but different from what he has done with MB all along. Is this part of a natural progression and experimentation or is it an actual new direction in terms of what the band wants to be?
Darren: “As i said previously we don’t plan too much of where we were, are or are going, we just take it as it comes. As long as we are happy with what we produce then we will continue. Franks vocals are very different than what he has done in MB previously and he has a lot more confidence in his vocals now. I remember hearing the singing first and immediately it hit me they were great, I wasn’t sitting there thinking “shit thats a bit different, i wonder what the fans will think” hahah. It definitely brings something else to our road weary brains.”
How many more albums do you have left on Grau? What is the relationship like? How do they expect this album to do?
Darren: “Two more, the relationship is ok, as long distance relationships go. We do our thing and they do theirs with as little arguing as possible. Expectations are “as long as everybody is happy”…..simple as that.”
Some of the reviews have pointed to how the album might in fact be the best doom Death/Doom recording produced in recent times. Who do you see as the competition? Who else is making good Death/Doom?
Darren: “There is no competition. We are music fans and we just happen to be in a band. So people we meet, tour with or drink with are our friends. The doom scene is small enough so everybody knows everybody and it is good that way. Check out Graveyard Dirt….Irish doom reborn, the new Saturnus album I am liking a lot and Esoteric never out a drum beat wrong…….”
Thematically whats going on in the album? What sort of things influenced the writing?
Darren: “It is a slow crawl through the gutter, a reflection on the rottenness of mankind and the deconstruction and degradation of the body and mind, something that eats away until there is nothing left. We are all the disease and we are the cure. It is about pushing ourselves to the very limit of excess the heaving mass that is left when we have come to a certain point in this deconstruction. It is our bitter, inner caustic bile that bubbles to the surface, it is an open sore just gathering poison from all around.”
The band’s somewhat hedonistic outlook and alcohol related antics have been commentated on in the past. Has this had any impact on the band’s progression? Where do you want the next two years to take the band?
Darren: “Sometimes we were too drunk to play….so yeah but if we didn’t do it then we would have nothing to do. I don’t think it has affected us as a band as we do have sober moments. We now tend to save the drinking for after the show, when there is a lot more time to enjoy it. We will just continue recording and trying to get on bigger festivals, tours etc etc and see where we fall.”
Primordial are currently riding high internationally, Gama Bomb are about to release an album on Earache that by all accounts is a little thrash classic, Waylander are back on a decent European label, Altar of Plagues have been signed recently, Mael Mordha are with yourselves on Grau, Cruachan on AFM, Glyder are making some traction internationally and there are plenty more Irish bands that in time will make the step up to this level too. Is this the strongest Irish metal has ever been?
Darren: “Yeah it definitely is. There has always been a lot of Irish bands, but the quality has increased over the last few years and the Irish scene seems to be at its biggest ever, witnessed by the 700 people at Primordial recently….5 years ago we would have been laughed at for suggesting it. I think with Graveyard Dirt coming back and now Thy Sinister Bloom it is a great time to be involved in the Irish scene.”
Over the next couple of years who are you tipping to make a real impact?
Darren: “Dustin”
You sang in Morhposis for a little while, including their comeback show at D.O.D. 2006. Do you have any other plans outside of Mourning Beloveth?
Darren: “….get drunk etc haha…that was just an opportunity to help a few friends and you always learn from those experiences, doing something the complete opposite of MB… it was enjoyable. I think MB will be it for me now for a while to come.”
Anything you’d care to add?
Darren: “Tanks”
Tags: Doom metal, Irish Metal, Mourning Beloveth