Interviews

Interview with Rivers of Nihil

Published

6 years ago

October 23, 2018

Rivers of Nihil have been touring relentlessly since the release of their 3rd full length album, Where Owls Know My Name which dropped in March 2018. Rivers of Nihil have also hit the top 100 in US charts with a peak position of #9 for the US Hard Rock charts. The band is currently with Revocationand Exhumed on the first leg of the Revocation tour, which will meet up with Archspire and Soreption later next month for the second leg to go across Europe. I was able to sit down the band to learn more about Where Owls Know My Name, and the process behind the album.

GA: I saw the band live with Enterprise Earth earlier this year, this was about the time when the new album was released. How has the reaction been to the new album?

RoN: It has been pretty sick, a really good reaction. There has been a great response on all the tour stops we have been doing.

GA: The new album Where Owls Know My Name, has more of a progressive feel to it than your previous release Monarchy which was more of a death metal album. What sparked this shift of musical styling for the band?

BU: We just wanted to do something different. We all thought we said what we need to say on the previous two records, and we wanted to broaden our horizons. We wanted to introduce a bigger sonic palate, with more sounds and textures, to express things a little better than what we have done in the past.

GA: Can you tell me a little about the themes behind this album and what the studio recording process was like for the band?

BU: We recorded a lot of the guitar and bass at my home studio.Then we went to Atrium Audio to record drums and vocals, and to do mixing there. I would demo out whole songs at my house, then send it out to the guys. They would give their feedback, and then we would make changes accordingly. A couple of months before going to the studio we started to record the guitars and bass, so when we hit the studio it was a fast process. I think we were in there for two weeks, and just knocked everything out. It was nice because we have everything done beforehand. As far as themes go Adam can speak more on that.

AB: We are continuing the seasons concept that we started on the first album. This record is the fall record, so it has more tones of decay and death, but in a way not like other death metal bands explore this theme. It’s not all fun and games Halloween stuff, its more about the reality of getting older and facing the end of your life.

GA: When writing new material do you have a system, or is it a free for all on ideas to the table? What is your writing process like?

AB: Usually we will talk about what we want to do first. We will discuss what types kinds of moods and atmosphere we want to put towards the music, and make sure it all works cohesively. This is to make sure we are all on the same page first. It is usually Brody who starts the whole thing. He has his home studio set up, so he will crank out songs or bits of things, and we will put our input on it and add flavors. Brody will usually knock out the writing process then we will come in and add our little details.

GA: The band just released a video for the single Where Owls Know My Name, it’s a very trippy video with a nod to 60’s prog style music videos. Whose idea was it to make the video this way?

AB: It was my idea, I have always been a fan of early progressive rock music, and classic rock stuff. All those bands from back in the day did videos like this, like Top of The Popsor BBC. It was just live performances of them in front of a green screen, with trippy images. Usually the camera work was pretty bad, the chromakey looks pretty bad, all the transitions look very hand done, and very cheap, and I kind of wanted that. Initially we wanted a serious video, but as we were shooting it; the goofiness of it started to come out, and it turned into this whole other thing.

JT: It was fun, but a little awkward at first, because we couldn’t grab a tone, and we were just standing there. It was just basically us performing quietly in front of a green screen, then everything else is after effects.

GA: I have to ask whose idea was it to feature a saxophone on the track?

AB: It was my idea, but it was kind of happy accident. We have a friend Zack, who I recorded his band a few years ago,and found out he was a killer saxophone player. When we wrote the record, we found that we had these big open empty sections that didn’t have anything on them. I thought we could either put long guitar solos on these to fill them up, or maybe try something else. I am not a fan of meandering guitar parts so, I thought it would be cooler if we hit Zack up and see what he could do with it. What you hear on the record is what he sent me, he asked, ‘does this work, is this ok’, and it was amazing. We took a chance, and it was a happy accident that worked out pretty well.

GA: What gear is the band currently using for their live set up?

BU: We use Keisel guitars, Kemper amps, Mesa Boogiecabinets and power amps, and Ernie Ball strings.

JK: I use an Acrylic DW Classic drum set, Sabian Cymbals,Vratim drum shoes, and Trick Dominator pedals.

AB: Spector basses, and DarkGlass for my preamp, and a Mesa bass head.

JD: I use a Shure SM 57 microphone.

GA: What is next for the band after this tour?

JD: We have the second part of this tour which will take us to Europe, that will be with Soreption, Archspire, and Revocation. That is the next thing, and it will take us up to the end of the year, then we will come home and prepare for next year.

GA: Where can people go to keep up to date on the band and if they want to support you by buying merch where is your online store located?

BU: We have an Indiemerch store that carries most of our merchandise. If you are in Europe, you can get our stuff through Impericon. For our social media we are on Facebook,Instagram, and Twitter.

Be sure to check out the Rivers of Nihil’s latest release Where Owls Know My Name out at your local music stores and streaming online.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riversofnihil/

Twitter: @riversofnihil

Instagram: @riversofnihil

Indiemerch: https://www.indiemerchstore.com/b/rivers-of-nihil

Impericon: https://www.impericon.com/us/rivers-of-nihil.html

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George Archibald

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

1 week ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

3 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.