Talking with . . . Woods Of Ypres
Interviewed 2/16/2003 by Brett VanPut
Interview with drummer David Gold
Canadian black metallers Woods Of Ypres are one of the most exciting bands to come this way in recent times. Their debut, Against the Seasons, is an open minded disc which is more diverse than you would expect. Woods Of Ypres are creative and have no limitations of what they are presenting musically and vocally. They are currently writing and preparing to record their debut full length. Here is drummer David Gold to introduce us to Woods Of Ypres.
Explain the personal philosophy behind Woods Of Ypres.
Woods Of Ypres is a celebration of what you have learned in times of sadness. Making good out of a terrible experience by paying tribute to them in music in hopes of being better understood by others and within one's self. It's a reflection of modern life, from an emotional perspective.
Briefly discuss the place you are named after.
The actual Woods of Yres is Memorial Park which lies at the end of Ypres Road here in Windsor (at the end of Aaron's street as a matter of fact). It is trhe only wooded area of its kind here in Windsor amongst the industrial areas. The woods part represents our black metal element, while Ypres represents our citizenship as Canadians with Ypres having significance to Canadian involvement in WWI, and hence the naming of Memorial Park on Ypres Road. It was really important to us that we had a name that represented us as a Canadian black metal band, and not a Norwegian rip off band living in Canada. Woods=black metal, Ypres=Canada- black metal from Canada.
What does the term black metal mean to you and your band?
We use the black metal term more of just as a place to meet us, and let us take you from there. We are attracted to black metal because musically it is the most varied of all styles to write in. It can be aggressive and heavy while emotional and melodic all at the same time. The guitars, drums, and vocals can all the extreme at times but appropriately minimal in others. Content wise, we relate to a lot of what traditional black metal is based on, through it's based from a more modern context and expressed through a slightly more positive outlook. We relate to the woods element, but in more of a metaphoric way. Not necessarily meaning a sanctuary of an actual wooded area but instead representing time spent alone, in reflection, away from society.
Why does the physical landscape and nature play a role in your lyrics?
The reasons for the presence of nature can be deceiving. It's as if I take a terrible real life experience, describe everything about it and then take the terrible part out. What you're left with is a tribute to the surroundings, the season, the smell, the temperature, the feelings- basically everything else I can associate with it or that I can remember about it, and everything that I hope the listener can see and hear through the feeling of the music. Each one of the songs is about a situation that I could describe extensively. The lyrics are what's left after I remove the events that would otherwise leave nothing to the imagination.
Is the weather cold in Ontario this time of year? Do you prefer this weather over summer's heat?
Very cold right now. As cold as Sweden according to an exchange student I go to school with. I can't say I prefer either really, I just don't know anymore. The fact that Windsor is bitterly cold in the winter and miserably hot and humid in the summer does play into our creativity as we are very sensitive to the changing of the seasons. We write and even listen to certain music exclusively at different times of the year. This then turned out to be a cool little theme of ours as we see our Against the Seasons c.d. as like a blizzard in the woods on a humid summer night. Basically, winter metal, filtered through the influences of the summer. Lots of blue, a little bit of green, all dark.
For your debut recording, Against the Seasons has a professional quality to it, what goes into making your band's presentation such high quality work?
An obsession. When we started this at the beginning of the summer I even broke up with my girlfriend (who was pretty cool) so I could devote all my time to the band. Seriously, I wanted to do this that bad. I just had so much to write about and so much inspiration to draw from that it just took over. From then on I grew a beard and put all my efforts into writing songs and practicing drums. I couldn't focus on anything else. Even the margins of my University notebooks from the semester before were filled with lyric ideas and song arrangements so I knew it was the right time to start this. I guess I could just attribute the results to being passionate about what we were doing.
What limitations do you have to place upon yourselves as a black metal band? Do you feel clean vocals are appropriate?
No limitations at all. We don't really think too much about it, or debate what's black metal and what's not. It's more like most of what we do actually comes naturally, and at the moment it just so happens to resemble black metal. What we have done was a reflection of us and our moods at the time. Clean vocals are a very useful tool for a band like ours who wants to draw attention to a wide span of emotions.
Why did you choose not to wear corpsepaint? Do you feel visual aesthetics are important to Woods Of Ypres?
We never wore corpse paint for the simple reason that it's not us. There's nothing evil about us. I guess what I mean is that very early on we realized that we were more Woods Of Ypres than we were black metal or Norway, or whatever. We are a serious band who likes to be taken seriously and we'd rather the focus be on our songs. You can't even see our faces in our original promotional photo of us standing in the actual Woods Of Ypres. It's like selling songs with shadows; consisting of only our silhouettes amongst the trees.
Do you care that many people will have a hard time pronouncing your name?
Ypres is pronounced "E-Pray". It has been misspelled in the press as Ypser, Yores, Pyres, etc., but we're not too worried about it. If anything, it sparks curiosity and adds appeal to the band which only compliments the fact that our name has meaning.
What is the next step for Woods Of Ypres? Any label interest? If so, what do you expect a label to provide for your band?
At the time of writing this, we are still unknown to the labels. We thought it would only be fair that we prove ourselves in the press before we went bothering them. The response has been unanimously good so I hope to get things started very soon, especially with summer approaching as we would like to record a full length of all new songs and go on tour.
Why do you think black metal's popularity has seemingly peaked with the Norwegian scene in the early nineties? Do you think it will always remain underground and if so, how does that affect what you are doing with your band?
I think we need to define what underground and popularity means in Canadian in order for me to answer that. What I mean is that, most all metal is underground here in Ontario. No one here even knows what black metal is. We'll probably be able to continue to follow our hearts creatively because there's nothing here to influence us other than our moods (and maybe the weather). It is inevitable to us that we will grow progressively creative as we grow old and wise.
Do you care that bands like Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir call themselves black metal while incorporating keyboards and seemingly care more about physical appearance than the music?
I have actually paid my money to see both of those bands and had a good time. I think they use the black metal term the same way we do where you use it as a description to an audience who is unfamiliar with the genre.
What makes Woods Of Ypres more than just another black metal band?
We aren't another black metal band at all in that sense. We are not bounded by rules or tradition. Black metal is just a hint. If you get into it, read the lyrics, you'll see that what we do goes so much deeper than that. The response has been so unanimously good amongst metal listeners that we might just end up being that band that people can agree on.
Final comments?
I encourage people to check us out. Songs from our Against the Seasons debut can be downloaded from
www.woodsofypres.ca as well as
www.mp3.com/woodsofypres. The last of the original first print of Against the Seasons can still be ordered by sending $10 (shipping included) to: David Gold, 359 Ouellette Ave, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, N9A 4J1. Contact
woodsofypres@hotmail.com or visit
www.woodsofypres.ca for more info.
Discography:
2002... Against The Seasons
woodsofypres.ca
