Ola Hugo, thank you for doing this ad hoc interview! Hope you have survived those unusually cold winter days, at least for Portuguese circumstances?
“Hi guys, indeed the weather is in a doomed mode. It seems that the erosion process will not end, at least around here.”
Let's directly talk about your actual release, which picks this out as a central theme. Where do you purchase the inspiration for this back-crushing album, which is one of my personal highlights of 2009?
“Around the time when we wrote «Erosion» all were dwelling upon strange times. We weren't sure about many things concerning our future both as individuals and as a band. Everything that we planned to do just seemed to be delayed for ages and sometimes this worked as a major turn off. Nevertheless we just decided to record a new album and booked the studio. The tricky thing was that we didn't have lots of new stuff ready to be recorded. Then, for a period of two or three months, we just played some riffs until they felt right and connected, suddenly everything started to make sense and all happened almost at the same time. The music, the lyrics and the artwork were developed almost simultaneously and I believe doing things this way helped a lot to the sense of tightness that we wanted ‘Erosion’ to have. Looking back to this period I believe ‘Erosion’ is definitely a fine portrait of how we felt back then and perhaps that was the main inspiration for us - our own feelings towards music and life.”
That's definitely to be heard when listening to your songs, very emotional and mystical stuff indeed. Please tell us about the album's lyrical concept.
“The ‘Erosion’ concept, and its circle, is something we can relate to, both as individuals and musicians as most parts of the lyrics are based on very personal feelings towards a given moment or thought in my everyday life. Therefore the lyrical concept is built upon erosion and everything that surrounds this action both from a physical and a personal way. It consists of a quest for a sense of completeness between words and music, in order to achieve a whole, where notes and words flow into each other. We just felt this concept would be adequate to the way in how we saw ourselves back then as the different meanings behind the erosion concept seemed wide enough to provide us with the necessary surroundings towards our music.”
That obviously turns out in the cover artwork as well, which was painted by you. How would you categorize your sound that for me is a mix of Death Doom, Sludge and Post Rock elements?
“That could be a description for it. We've definitely a Death/Doom background from our first years that evolved into something different around the time of the release of ‘Renounce’. Nowadays we're into a lot of different stuff and we do listen to a lot of old and upcoming sludge, some Postrock and other stuff like industrial, straightforward Death/Grind or even acoustic and moodier stuff. So I think it's natural to include such influences in the music we're producing nowadays, as we feel there's more to it then only the melancholic Doom tag. We aren't afraid to experiment with whatever riff that sounds great to our ears while rehearsing. If in the end it sounds good and cohesive for us we'll use it.”
The album was mastered by Collin Jordan at Boiler Room/Chicago. Why you chose him?
“When we first made plans for ‘Erosion’ we decided that we wanted a more live and warmer presence in this recording. As we were already familiar with Collin's work, mainly through Minsk’s or Rwake's latest releases, we felt this cooperation would suit our intentions. As a result we got in touch with him and then it all happened pretty fast. The workflow between us and Collin was really easy and definitely helped to define and shape the overall sound of these recordings. Looking back to it now, we still think working with him was the best choice for ‘Erosion’.”
How are all band members involved into the song writing process, starting from the first idea until a song is completed?
“It usually starts with a riff or guitar line that me or Nuno takes into the rehearsal room. Then, progressively, we start to play around some drum and bass patterns until we reach something that works to our ears. By then this is pretty much a band effort, as we try to focus on the stronger riffs which we are confident and satisfied with, while we're building up the actual song structures. It's mainly a process of trying to obtain the right feeling throughout this somehow minimalistic approach, musical and lyrical wise.”
The band constellation has been existing since 2002 without any changes. How did you find each other and where lay PROCESS OF GUILT's roots?
“Our roots lay definitely in our hometown Évora, in southern Portugal, where we still have our rehearsal room, even if half the band (myself and Nuno) doesn't live there anymore. In the mid nineties I met Nuno at the college of Évora and soon we realized that we shared some common ground musically, given our mutual taste for powerful and depressing sounds. By then I was into extreme music for a while, since early 90s or so, but I had never been in a band before. Later on, around mid 2002 and after some hesitating efforts, our first demo came out, which was mainly a project featuring myself and Nuno. In the same period Gonçalo (drums) and Custódio (bass) joined us, as I already knew them from the local scene. It turned out that we really get along together and the only line-up changes were due to Custódio’s injuries in his arm. Right now we're definitely satisfied with the way things are within the band, so I' don't foresee any line up change in the near future.”
Besides your "Erosion" full-length album there was released a split w/Caïna in 2009. How did this cooperation come together and why did you cover a song of This Empty Flow?
“The idea of a split release goes back to the times of our initial deal with MLI, as part of a plan of releasing something in a true cult format, like vinyl. As we were into Caïna's music it seemed to be a nice way to move a little over the Doom boundaries. After getting in touch with Andrew we quickly established the basis for this release, trying to achieve a somehow similar approach music wise, provided by our own different styles, not limiting ourselves to the standard Black or Doom moniker. As for the This Empty Flow's cover, it was mainly part of a decision to revisit a band that meant something to us and whose relation with our own sound was not so obvious. At that moment, being sort of a Thergothon reincarnation with a kind of 'The Cure'/Shoegaze vibe, it seemed an appropriate choice. Back in the days when Magenta Skycode was released I was deeply into the kind of sound that they were playing and '(But) I Am Still' definitely had a vibe that fitted our intentions concerning this release. Looking back to it, when this cover was recorded almost three years ago, it really meant the end of the ‘Renounce’ cycle, nevertheless we're still pretty much happy with it.”
In addition your "Renounce"-album of 2006 and a Best of/Compilation were curiously re-released on cassette via Bubonic last year. Why that and who are they?
“After the release of ‘Renounce’ we got in touch with Daniel from Bubonic Productions (also the mastermind behind Bosque) an underground Portuguese label known for this kind of cult releases within the Black/Doom sphere. In early 2009 we started working on the layout for the ‘Renounce’ tape and somewhere along this process the re-edition of our first demos on tape was also brought to the table. As our first demo ‘Portraits of Regret’ was long unavailable, releasing it together with ‘Demising Grace’ in the same tape seemed to be, both to us and Daniel, a good way of making this material available again, even in a small pressing. From a distance, it seemed to us as a fair way to make our first releases available again. Now we have a sense of completion regarding the demos and I believe that was the last time we've worked on them.”
I do not know much about the Portuguese underground scene. Is there existing somewhat like a Doom movement working together and supporting each other?
“As far as I know, like in every other place, there is not a big Doom scene around here. There are perhaps a handful of bands within the Doom specter that are active as well as one or two labels like Major Label Industries and Bubonic, which support this type of music. I can mention some bands like Bosque, Profan or Before the Rain as the ones worth of checking out; they released some great music recently. As for the general underground, outside Doom, nowadays there are plenty of bands within very different genres like The Firstborn (a kind of ethnic progressive metal) or Bizarra Locomotiva (an industrial landmark around here) that are definitely worth listening to. Apart from that you have the same old story: a lot of nice gigs with few attendants and one or two major festivals that regularly feature the same mainstream Metal bands thus attracting a lot more people. To my knowledge it’s not so different from what we get in other places around Europe.”
That's a major problem of the Doom/Underground scene at all. How many gigs were you able to play in Portugal until now, are there enough possibilities to spread this kind of music?
“Given our own possibilities and the country's own dimension we played a fair amount of gigs around here, around 30 or so in seven years. Nevertheless we try to focus our live performances only around some concise periods of time and in different places thus avoiding playing several times in the same venues for the same crowd. But every now and then we manage to find some decent venues and there are one or two festivals, like SWR or Vagos Open Air, where we've already played at, which are getting bigger every year, attracting wider audiences within the extreme field.”
How about Process Of Guilt touring foreign countries as for instance Germany?
“Touring foreign countries is definitely one of our main goals, as we truly enjoy performing live on stage. However, given our music nature as not mainstream (or Doom in general), and being in this corner of Europe it's not easy to play in other countries. Nevertheless, we're always looking for a chance to play abroad, so let's see what 2010 unveils.”
Are you already planning a new album?
“Right now we're crossing kind of creative strain and a lot of new ideas are coming up. Nevertheless, our writing method is more of a slow runner as we need to be fully confident and pleased with every riff, structure or concept presented in our music in order to move further into the creative process. So let’s see what happens in the near future as it would be awesome, if we manage to record something along 2010.”
Thank you very much for your time, the last words of this interview are yours:
“Thanks for your support and for helping to spread the word about Process of Guilt and the world of Doom! Be sure to check us out and, if possible, attend to one of our gigs.”
text: Slowmas
fotos: Pedro Roque (www.myspace.com/sonicflashes)
