INTERVIEW 1991
Taken from Baphomet zine #7 (Italy)
CATHEDRAL is the new doom sensation of the underground. After the
release of their trst demo "in Memorium", Lee Doman's new band is
actuaIly recording their debut album on EARACHE. We will soon see on
RISE ABOVE (Lee's own label), another long awaned doom debut, the
REVELATION one, I want also to remind you that Rise Above released in
the beginning of '91 a great compilation of doom/ dark acts, 'Dark
Passages'. Their style Is slow and doomy as few others and it's easy to
foresee a bright future for this band. A friend who had the occasion to
see them live in England said that the band sounded boring after a
while. Anyway I'm like St- Thomas (I don't believe in what I haven't
seen!) and still consider this band as one of the few promises of this
year. Lee Dorian has been so kind to answer a bunch of questions.
Would you present your first album and the songs it will contain?
At the moment it's pretty hard to give you a full run down of album contents, because we still have stacks of ideas floating around, but I can say without a doubt that some people are going to be surprised with some of the material. There are a few ideas for the titles, one is "FOREST OF THE EQUILIBRIUM', which seems most likely to me at the moment. It will be released on Earache sometimes in October, and the only old song to be featured will be 'Ebony tears'. Some newer titles include 'Reaching happines, touching pain', 'Comiserating the Celebration', and 'Neophytes for Serpent Eve'.
What moved you to do a PENTAGRAM cover ('All your sins')?
Well, we wanted to do a demo really fast, and didn't really have too much material of our own at the time, and collectively Pentagram is one of our very favourite bands. So being as though the song was pretty simply structured I suggested we do it, mainly because it was easy to learn, and of course secondly as a tribute to a great band.
What's the difference (if it exists) between the extreme Grind core and the heaviest doom ?
I think the differences are very obvious. To me GrIndcore these days Is very empty sounding and extremely unconvincing, and un original. I'm not saying that Doom is highly original, but it does tend to have a feeling and attitude that simply doesn't exist In GrIndcore, or whatever silly label it is called.
As you've sung with NAPALM DEATH what are your remembrances of that period? Were you conscious that you were creating a new style, something that has Influenced so many bands ?
To tell you the truth I get very tired even thinking about NAPALM DEATH, a lot of shit went down in that band, and I was glad to get out when I did - end of the story.
We can often hear when peoples are talking about doom bands, that because this music needs only few chords the musicians aren't able to play... What are your thoughts about that ?
That is utter nonsense. One of the main appeals of Doom Is its simplIcIty. It has a very non egotistical style, despite often being sometimes extreme, but I will not accept the fact that most Doom bands can't play, because the music is of a rather basic formula, It gives the musicians much more scope to show their real talents.
What's the atmosphere of your live shows? Do you use any special effects or the music is before all?
No, we have no effects, we just suffocate peoples with depression.
Will you produce other doom material ojn your label 'Rise Above'?
Yes, my next release to be out shortly is the debut Lp from Maryland's REVELATION, and It's great, so look out for that! After that, I have several plans, and yes I want to concentrate that label solely on slow, heavy bands.
Did the new Labourist victories change something In England ?
What victory is this ? The Conservatories are still in power I'm afraid pal, and oh, how beautiful k feels !!
What are the new 'waves' of englIsh music? How do you consider the Madchester scene (I'm a fan of some of those bands)?
It's ok, I quite Iike some of it, the HAPPY MONDAYS aren't too bad, I prefer 70's dance/ disco myself. Anyway the whole Madchester thing seems to be pretty much dead now, from what I can gather.
As the last question I'd Ike to know what we have to do to stop the New Kids on the Block invasion.
Why stop them? It's only harmless fun for Pot Smokin' little kiddles...
'Forest of EquIlirium' has finally seen the light. It's a really Interesting one, with long, slow songs and it has a nice cover, quite unusual; the only reproach is about the recording too much 'close' in my opinion.
