[imgleft]http://www.russell.ultimatemetal.com/Interview/DD.jpg[/imgleft]By Sam Brokenshaw
For the uninitiated, where have you been? It's about time more people got to know Daylight Dies and appreciate their advanced and unique take on doom/death metal. The band's debut release, "No Reply" stands out as an unusually well developed and professional sounding debut album, few bands manage to actually nail "their" sound first time around but Daylight Dies managed this with an uncanny ease and knack for the standing on their own two feet. With a new album "Dismantling Devotion" right around the corner, we at Ultimate Metal thought it wise to quiz drummer Jesse Haff and guitarist Barre Gambling on the comings and goings and the future of Daylight Dies.
Hello Jesse, how're things going for you and the band lately?
Things have been going great lately. Our album is mixed and mastered, the artwork is finished and the release date set. We have two big gigs confirmed and some serious touring being planned. The momentum is finally building back up again, after such a long hiatus....
Just to get one thing out of the way, what's the deal with the Daylight Dies beer? It sure looks tastey! (That COULD be a hint)
Yeah, kind of weird we did that, right? A long time friend of the band, Alejandro Nogales, suggested we give him a visit in Washington D.C. and book a local brewery to make some Daylight Dies beer several years ago. We all had such a fucking great time and the beer turned out to be such high quality we wanted to do it again. So a couple of months ago we did. The beers even had custom Daylight Dies logos. The first batch was an English nut brown, the second a German Dunkelweissen. Unfortunately we can't share, as there simply isn't enough. I'll drink one for you, how about that..
Daylight Dies recently announced the addition of Charlie Shackelford to the lineup, when I last saw you guys play, you had Bob from Dreamscapes of the Perverse on second guitar, why did Bob cease to be a part of Daylight Dies and could you explain Charlie joining and tell us what he brings to the band? Also, it's been a while since Guthrie left and Nathan joined, but how is that working out?
Bob was a live session musician, he was never a member of Daylight Dies. He did a great job with us on the No Reply tour and we are thankful for his time and talents, but once the tour was over.. that was it. We started jamming with Charlie Shackelford afterwards and he initially was our new live session guitarist, but things worked out so well that we asked him to join the band as a full member. We're glad he accepted. He brings a lot of energy to our live show and has real dedication, so he fits in great.
Nathan is working out wonderfully. We were sad to see Guthrie go, but Nathans vocals are totally top notch and everyone will hear that on our new album. He's actually been a friend of all of ours for many years, so he also fits right in.
On the new album you went with getting someone else to mix it, the job falling to Jens Bogren, he also recorded the new Katatonia album, why did you pick him in particular and what do you think he brings to "Dismantling Devotion"?
After we were done recording No Reply, it became very apparent what mistakes we made production wise. One of the most major mistakes was trying to mix the album by ourselves directly after recording it. We were way too close to the music and sound to really have any perspective whatsoever. Our ears and minds were fried. So this time around, we decided to focus our energy on getting a solid sound and then sending it off for someone to mix, as their ears would be totally fresh.
We picked Jens Bogren because of his ability to hone in on what sound is best for a particular band. Unlike other high profile mixers or studios, he doesn't give the same exact production to every band. Each band has their own unique production which best suits them. We thought he did brilliant work on the latest Opeth, Bloodbath and Katatonia as well...it was a pretty easy choice.
We are all satisfied with the work he did on Dismantling Devotion. It sounds fucking great. He brought a very modern and professional sound to the album -- very heavy and punchy yet shimmering with depth and clarity.
You guys are supporting Emperor in NYC in the new year, wow, that must be a great opportunity and an honour for Daylight Dies?
You bet! We're all totally excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll secure a good tour beforehand to warm us up.
The new album will see the light of day on Lee Barret's old label, CandleLight Records. What precipitated the move across the Atlantic and how are things working out with Candlelight? Do you see it as a step up from Relapse?
Daylight Dies is proud to be a part of Candlelight Records. All my correspondence with the label so far has been fantastic and they have a healthy US office as well. They are serious about Daylight Dies and are really excited about our new album. It's definitely a step in the right direction. It took us quite a long time to get the ball rolling again and to secure just the right vocalist after Guthrie left. He left for art school in California before we were necessarily done with touring for No Reply.
We had other high profile tours we had to turn down, so we decided to focus our energy on writing a new album. By the time we had the perfect new vocalist and a finished album, Relapse was understandably in a totally different place -- focused on the super active bands that were getting into the charts at the time. We wanted funds to record and it kept getting delayed. We didn't want to wait forever, so both the label and the band decided it's best to split and find someone else. They were cool about it and there are no hard feelings.
We had offers from a couple of different labels and almost went with one of them.. until it became clear Candlelight would be best for us. In the end, it all worked out just fine.
On a personel note, your drumming always strikes me as somewhat emotionally charged, the way you interact with the flow of a song. Some people might doubt that drums can be made to express emotion, but to me your drumming fits into the emotional context of a Daylight Dies song and helps convey this. How did you discover this style of drumming and make it your own? Do you look up to any drummers as idols? If so, how have they influenced you?
Thanks a lot, that's very flattering. I just play with a passion and hope it comes across. I try to keep things solid and compliment the rest of the music. So I don't know if I ever discovered any style except my own.. it's just the way I play. I don't think of any huge influences, but I love Gene Hoglan, Daniel Erlandson (Eurcharist material specifically), Martin Lopez, Peter Stjärnvind, etc.
I remember seeing you guys supporting Katatonia on the UK tour, I'd already gotten into "No Reply" at that time, but I was blown away by the coherency of Daylight Dies in a live context. You seemed to me to be a band that'd done the hard work and were reaping the results as a live act. How does the live xperience fit into the music of Daylight Dies? Any tours planned for the near future? Also, will you please come back to the UK soon?!
That's fantastic to hear. It's always been important for Daylight Dies to have a very energetic live show. We want our songs to have the maximum impact possible in a live situation and the way you do that is by sinking into the songs as much as possible. Our show would fall completely flat and be boring if we just stood around. We want to put on the best show we can that night, so hopefully to leave with a few new fans and a couple of satisfied old ones.
As far as coming back to the UK or Europe.. we hope so, but it's expensive. Perhaps if enough people email Candlelight and tell them to get us over there..
Barre, you seem to have a really unique grasp of melody, to me. What's your take on that?
Thank you, I develop the melodies until they sound fresh to my ears or unique in some way. It seems sometimes that however interesting the melody can become is predetermined by how 'out there' the chord progression is, so we try to make rich and strange chords and combinations as well as melodies in the writing process.
Well it's nearly Christmas, so I have to ask, what do you want from Santa this year?
uhh..
Any famous last words?
Thanks for the interview. I hope anyone who has read this far will pick up "Dismantling Devotion" out March 7 in the U.S. and April 10 in Europe, on Candlelight Records. Visit our web site at www.daylightdies.com.
Daylight Dies Official Website
Candlelight Records Official Website
For the uninitiated, where have you been? It's about time more people got to know Daylight Dies and appreciate their advanced and unique take on doom/death metal. The band's debut release, "No Reply" stands out as an unusually well developed and professional sounding debut album, few bands manage to actually nail "their" sound first time around but Daylight Dies managed this with an uncanny ease and knack for the standing on their own two feet. With a new album "Dismantling Devotion" right around the corner, we at Ultimate Metal thought it wise to quiz drummer Jesse Haff and guitarist Barre Gambling on the comings and goings and the future of Daylight Dies.
Hello Jesse, how're things going for you and the band lately?
Things have been going great lately. Our album is mixed and mastered, the artwork is finished and the release date set. We have two big gigs confirmed and some serious touring being planned. The momentum is finally building back up again, after such a long hiatus....
Just to get one thing out of the way, what's the deal with the Daylight Dies beer? It sure looks tastey! (That COULD be a hint)
Yeah, kind of weird we did that, right? A long time friend of the band, Alejandro Nogales, suggested we give him a visit in Washington D.C. and book a local brewery to make some Daylight Dies beer several years ago. We all had such a fucking great time and the beer turned out to be such high quality we wanted to do it again. So a couple of months ago we did. The beers even had custom Daylight Dies logos. The first batch was an English nut brown, the second a German Dunkelweissen. Unfortunately we can't share, as there simply isn't enough. I'll drink one for you, how about that..
Daylight Dies recently announced the addition of Charlie Shackelford to the lineup, when I last saw you guys play, you had Bob from Dreamscapes of the Perverse on second guitar, why did Bob cease to be a part of Daylight Dies and could you explain Charlie joining and tell us what he brings to the band? Also, it's been a while since Guthrie left and Nathan joined, but how is that working out?
Bob was a live session musician, he was never a member of Daylight Dies. He did a great job with us on the No Reply tour and we are thankful for his time and talents, but once the tour was over.. that was it. We started jamming with Charlie Shackelford afterwards and he initially was our new live session guitarist, but things worked out so well that we asked him to join the band as a full member. We're glad he accepted. He brings a lot of energy to our live show and has real dedication, so he fits in great.
Nathan is working out wonderfully. We were sad to see Guthrie go, but Nathans vocals are totally top notch and everyone will hear that on our new album. He's actually been a friend of all of ours for many years, so he also fits right in.
On the new album you went with getting someone else to mix it, the job falling to Jens Bogren, he also recorded the new Katatonia album, why did you pick him in particular and what do you think he brings to "Dismantling Devotion"?
After we were done recording No Reply, it became very apparent what mistakes we made production wise. One of the most major mistakes was trying to mix the album by ourselves directly after recording it. We were way too close to the music and sound to really have any perspective whatsoever. Our ears and minds were fried. So this time around, we decided to focus our energy on getting a solid sound and then sending it off for someone to mix, as their ears would be totally fresh.
We picked Jens Bogren because of his ability to hone in on what sound is best for a particular band. Unlike other high profile mixers or studios, he doesn't give the same exact production to every band. Each band has their own unique production which best suits them. We thought he did brilliant work on the latest Opeth, Bloodbath and Katatonia as well...it was a pretty easy choice.
We are all satisfied with the work he did on Dismantling Devotion. It sounds fucking great. He brought a very modern and professional sound to the album -- very heavy and punchy yet shimmering with depth and clarity.
You guys are supporting Emperor in NYC in the new year, wow, that must be a great opportunity and an honour for Daylight Dies?
You bet! We're all totally excited about this opportunity and are looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll secure a good tour beforehand to warm us up.
The new album will see the light of day on Lee Barret's old label, CandleLight Records. What precipitated the move across the Atlantic and how are things working out with Candlelight? Do you see it as a step up from Relapse?
Daylight Dies is proud to be a part of Candlelight Records. All my correspondence with the label so far has been fantastic and they have a healthy US office as well. They are serious about Daylight Dies and are really excited about our new album. It's definitely a step in the right direction. It took us quite a long time to get the ball rolling again and to secure just the right vocalist after Guthrie left. He left for art school in California before we were necessarily done with touring for No Reply.
We had other high profile tours we had to turn down, so we decided to focus our energy on writing a new album. By the time we had the perfect new vocalist and a finished album, Relapse was understandably in a totally different place -- focused on the super active bands that were getting into the charts at the time. We wanted funds to record and it kept getting delayed. We didn't want to wait forever, so both the label and the band decided it's best to split and find someone else. They were cool about it and there are no hard feelings.
We had offers from a couple of different labels and almost went with one of them.. until it became clear Candlelight would be best for us. In the end, it all worked out just fine.
On a personel note, your drumming always strikes me as somewhat emotionally charged, the way you interact with the flow of a song. Some people might doubt that drums can be made to express emotion, but to me your drumming fits into the emotional context of a Daylight Dies song and helps convey this. How did you discover this style of drumming and make it your own? Do you look up to any drummers as idols? If so, how have they influenced you?
Thanks a lot, that's very flattering. I just play with a passion and hope it comes across. I try to keep things solid and compliment the rest of the music. So I don't know if I ever discovered any style except my own.. it's just the way I play. I don't think of any huge influences, but I love Gene Hoglan, Daniel Erlandson (Eurcharist material specifically), Martin Lopez, Peter Stjärnvind, etc.
I remember seeing you guys supporting Katatonia on the UK tour, I'd already gotten into "No Reply" at that time, but I was blown away by the coherency of Daylight Dies in a live context. You seemed to me to be a band that'd done the hard work and were reaping the results as a live act. How does the live xperience fit into the music of Daylight Dies? Any tours planned for the near future? Also, will you please come back to the UK soon?!
That's fantastic to hear. It's always been important for Daylight Dies to have a very energetic live show. We want our songs to have the maximum impact possible in a live situation and the way you do that is by sinking into the songs as much as possible. Our show would fall completely flat and be boring if we just stood around. We want to put on the best show we can that night, so hopefully to leave with a few new fans and a couple of satisfied old ones.
As far as coming back to the UK or Europe.. we hope so, but it's expensive. Perhaps if enough people email Candlelight and tell them to get us over there..
Barre, you seem to have a really unique grasp of melody, to me. What's your take on that?
Thank you, I develop the melodies until they sound fresh to my ears or unique in some way. It seems sometimes that however interesting the melody can become is predetermined by how 'out there' the chord progression is, so we try to make rich and strange chords and combinations as well as melodies in the writing process.
Well it's nearly Christmas, so I have to ask, what do you want from Santa this year?
uhh..
Any famous last words?
Thanks for the interview. I hope anyone who has read this far will pick up "Dismantling Devotion" out March 7 in the U.S. and April 10 in Europe, on Candlelight Records. Visit our web site at www.daylightdies.com.
Daylight Dies Official Website
Candlelight Records Official Website
