The book should be out in November. It has around eighty interviews to Black Metal bands, among other things, so it should be a very interesting reading.
How
did your life as a metal writer started? Besides Metal Hammer, Record Collector
and The Quietus, where else have you been working? What has been your path?
I was (and still am) a photographer originally and fell
into writing by accident after creating a fanzine (Crypt) and then being asked
to write and/or photograph for bigger metal magazines on the strength of that.
I worked regularly with Terrorizer from about 2003 to 2010 and for Metal Hammer
since 2006 (originally for their extreme metal imprint but branching into the
main mag soon after). From there I guess I expanded somewhat more consciously, hence
The Quietus and Record Collector (and some others). I still take photos and do
retouching/design work though.
Why
a book about Black Metal, and not another genre? Is this your favourite kind of
music? Your favourite kind of metal music?
Both, probably. I listen to a lot of different styles of
music – both within metal and outside of it - but black metal is probably the
one I spend the most time with. I also felt that there was more to say about
black metal because of the huge variety of music and ideas the genre contains, and
also that someone needed to write an
accurate book, if only to balance and counter some of the misleading written/filmed material out there and highlight some of the
more overlooked artists.
How
was it to write Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult? How long did it take?
It was certainly easy to motivate myself to write it because this is a passion, and I really
enjoy digging up information that hasn’t been told before. The practical side
of writing a 600 page tome covering over thirty years of activity and evolution
wasn’t easy at all however, and it has been a four year journey to bringing
this book to the readers (plus another decade or so preparation as a fan I
suppose).
In your book you feature so many bands,
there are so many interviews to renowned bands, was it “easy” to reach all
these musicians? Did you meet them all in person, or did you have to contact
them more remotely?
It varied hugely to be honest. Some of the bands and
artists I already knew on a personal level, some were friends of friends and
others were complete strangers (and a few still are). Black metal musicians are
not – generally speaking – the most forthcoming or organised people and so that
obviously presented a challenge and required a huge amount of patience, not to
mention a fair bit of detective work at times. Surprisingly perhaps, the bigger
bands were maybe the easiest to hook up with I guess because they have press
agents and managers to organise things, it was the bands who were smaller or
inactive that were more of a headache. A big factor in getting them involved
was the collaborative approach I took I think. In terms of the actual
interviews, some I did some in person, lots by phone, some by online
conversations and even a few by email.
What
was the band/artist that gave you more pleasure to interview? Why?
There are about eighty interviews and it would be very
hard to choose one to be honest. The first meeting with the founders of Mayhem
(Necrobutcher and Manheim) was very memorable, and was kind of where the book
started. But finally interviewing all of Mysticum was also very rewarding, talking
to Cronos and King Diamond for such a long period of time meant a lot, reaching
Snorre Ruch of Thorns meant a lot at a personal level, Kristoffer from Ulver was a pleasure to
interview… etc etc. Too many to choose basically.
Is
there any part of the history of Black Metal or phase of Black Metal history,
if we can put it that way, that you think is missing in your book? Was there
any important subject or were there any remarkable bands you left behind for
any reason?
I would hope not actually. Of course, even in a book with
some 210,000 words you have to be as concise and selective as possible, but I
don’t think anything important has been left out. On the contrary, unlike those
writers and film makers which focus solely on either Norway, the early
nineties, or the contemporary scene, this book looks extensively at bands from
the last three decades. The emphasis for this particular book is evolution
(hence the name) and influence, so I have chosen to focus primarily on bands
that broke new ground musically or culturally. So it wasn’t possible to report
on all the good (but perhaps not so original) bands out in, say, South America or
Asia at the moment. But there’s plenty of time for that I guess.
What
do you expect from the public with this book? Do you expect to instruct them,
or do you think it will be something people will consult when necessary? It is
a massive work, hard to imagine someone having it on their bedside table :)
That depends on the size of your bedroom table ;)
I think this book is capable of both educating and
entertaining those who are new to the genre, while also being packed full of
new information for people who have (like me) followed this movement for the
best part of two decades. There is a lot of new stories and that was one of my
main concerns; digging for the truth and offering new perspectives on events
that have been much reported (and misreported).
If
you had different conditions (let’s say for example different budget, different
deadline, different timing/era), do you think you would change anything on your
book? Any regrets so far?
I regret nothing! :) I only started shopping for a publisher two
thirds of the way into the book and I can say from the bottom of my heart that
I would not have released this had I not been completely satisfied with it. A different
era? No, I would say this is actually the perfect time for writing a book like
this, because most of the main protagonists are still alive and creating music,
but have also had the benefit of time to reflect on the real meaning of things.
There was no deadline for the project (or I sure as hell
would have done it in less than four years!), I just worked until it was
complete. Unfortunately there was also no budget, and if there had been I might have hired an assistant
to send all the millions of emails necessary and do the other boring admin
stuff.
Music
apart, what are you reading right now? What is your bedside table book?
To be honest, I only read non-fiction, mainly biographies
and books about music, politics, philosophy, crime and so on. The last book I
read was a compilation of Nick Kent articles. Lately there is no bedtime book due
to being caught up in book promotion duties!
What
is your favourite writer? Music or other, doesn’t matter.
I couldn’t name one actually, would be like naming a
favourite band. Boring answer but an honest one!
Have
you thought of writing something different, other than music related?
I think a time may come when I do look at branching out a
bit, yes. I’m not a writer whose interviews focus solely on chords and song
structures anyway, I’ve always looked a little deeper into digging out the
character of the musician and touching upon subjects outside of music. I’m fairly
sure I could do the same with people of other walks of life.
What
about new writers, people starting their journey as a music writer, what is
your advice?
That’s a hard one because my route into writing was a bit
unusual – I mean, I’m sure creating your own paper zine/magazine would still be
a good way to catch an editor’s eye but it might be of a time-consuming way of
doing it. I think these days you’re probably best off getting some work
experience at a magazine for a few weeks (I didn’t do that, but most people I
meet in the music journalism business seem to have) and writing for online mags
until you get a chance to contribute to a printed magazine. Maybe keep your
best examples of your work and send them periodically to people you’d like to
write for.
Anything
else you would like to add to Lachryma Christi readers?
The book is out 12 November, you can preorder it now at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Metal-Evolution-Dayal-Patterson/dp/1936239752
and/or sign up to the facebook page (www.facebook.com/EvolutionOfTheCult)
for updates and other information. Thanks for the interview and interest, and
for supporting black metal bands on your site!
Read more about Dayal Patterson and his book on:
https://twitter.com/DayalPatterson
- http://
www.dayal.co.uk
- https://www.facebook.com/EvolutionOfTheCult?fref=ts
