SMOULDER come back to Greece on January 25, for a unique show in Athens that will finally fullfill the wisful of epic/doom metal crowds to watch them perform live.
On this occasion, frontwoman Sarah Ann answers our questions and explains in detail what the band went through the last few years and their desire to play in Athens.
TICKETS: https://www.more.com/gr-el/tickets/music/smoulder-live-for-the-first-time-in-athens/
RockOverdose: First of all we would like to know the whole feedback you received for “Violent Creed Of Vengeance”, which soon turns 2 years old. Most people I know considered it a step to the higher level possible. Have you come to understand its importance yet, or is it something that will show more in the future?
SMOULDER – Sarah: Thanks, that’s very kind. I think the band understands how lucky we are to be well received by our fans; I also think we know that Violent Creed of Vengeance was simply a stronger album than Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring. We love them both, but the second album felt more deliberate, more cultivated, and more impactful for us personally. I hope we can continue stepping things up artistically. We love making art via Smoulder.
RockOverdose: Smoulder has a great element in my opinion, though people will mainly tag you into epic/doom stuff, I tend to think you’re more than that, as you enhance your music with many aspects. Is it something happening naturally or do you try to add as much things as possible in your own personal way?
SMOULDER – Sarah: I don’t think we’re trying to add as many things as possible. That, to me, implies that it’s a hodgepodge or rushed. Instead, everything we do within the band is very deliberate. When something does not work, it is removed. Overall, we approach being in a band as being a multi-media creator. Being in a band entails music, visual art, merch, and live performance. Because we love fantasy, sci-fi, trad metal, doom metal, power metal, speed metal, and visual art, we aim to make every piece of those things work as a functional whole within Smoulder, emphasizing above all consistency in all elements. We think every piece is essential to the success of the band.
RockOverdose: Both albums end in an epic way with the longest songs, circling around 10 minutes. Είναι ένας τρόπος να ενσωματωθεί όλη η ουσία του άλμπουμ, αυτό το κάπως μεγαλειώδες κλείσιμο και κάτι που δείχνει το δρόμο για το μέλλον; Πώς νιώθεις όταν παίζονται ζωντανά και δημιουργούν τέτοια ατμόσφαιρα;
SMOULDER – Sarah: All of the member’s of Smoulder consider long form albums to be the best way to enjoy music. The best albums are those that tell a compelling story (and that can be applied in very broad ways). In this sense, we’ve deliberately made our albums as journeys that ebb and flow, cultivating an explosive ending to the journey. Live, “Black God’s Kiss” and “Dragonslayer’s Doom” are very interesting to play. We personally love playing them live, as they feel purposeful, and you can tell the fans feel the same way. Incidentally, those two tracks are my personal favourite songs by Smoulder. On album three, I think we’ll have several of them!
RockOverdose: The million dollar question of Smoulder fans, with the anticipation high enough for the third album, is when it’s coming forth and how much of it is ready. Do we have a hindsight of the whole direction? Any chance of playing something new in Athens, or will you stick to the known material?
SMOULDER – Sarah: We’ll be sticking to the known material for Athens, but we are currently writing album three.The album will continue in the same aggressive direction as Violent, although new elements are being introduced in the sense that we’re starting to integrate more atmosphere and space into the music. Two big and obvious references will be the latter era Bathory and Siouxsie & the Banshees.
RockOverdose: You had a daring decision of relocating from Canada to Finland. We would like to know how much it affected you personally, what bettered your lives in total and how much it helped the band. As Greeks we have a high picture of the organisation both in Canada and Finland, could you give us a clue?
SMOULDER – Sarah: Moving to Finland has been unbelievably life changing in every single way for us. We didn’t expect it to be such a huge improvement over Canada, but it truly is. Finland has so many things that work so much better, ranging from healthcare, to public transit, to the work life balance, to its proximity to the rest of Europe, where most of our fans reside. Of course, it’s not perfect, but all of these things have made us happier and far more creatively productive than we were previously. That’s not to mention that Canada has really struggled these past few decades with the same thing as their neighbors in the USA: misinformation and social unrest is skyrocketing. Social progress is aggressively reverting. Public healthcare is being dismantled. Now with the inflation in Canada being as truly terrible as it is and no end in sight, we will do everything we can to remain where we currently are.
RockOverdose: People often stick to what they think is “true”. Now, we know Smoulder doesn’t play just to sound “true”, but the word accompanies every effort you make so far. Is it both of acknowledgement or a “trap” for a band? Does it raise expectations, or creates some stress? Or in the end, nothing matters but the core of the essence, based on the decisions you take after hard work?
SMOULDER – Sarah: It’s an interesting question, but my instinctive response is that this phrase and what it means doesn’t matter. Art is so aggressively interpretative and subjective. We will continue to make the art and music that we feel good about. When it stops feeling good, we will stop making it.
RockOverdose: We are curious to know what happened from 2013 when the band was formed, up to 2018-2019 with your first demo and album. Which was the course of things and how much easy or difficult was for you to have your first releases?
SMOULDER – Sarah: Vincent and I formed the band in 2013 and the first five years was simply myself and him jamming in a basement. I was learning to play drums, he was learning to play guitar after being a bassist for a long period, and he was learning to sing. As the songs and the band progressed, we started to realize that a strong theme was coming together. I had been writing lyrics and they came from female characters, and started to feel odd to have him singing certain first-person parts. I started singing alongside him. Drumming and singing simultaneously was a struggle, and it was limiting my abilities to write complex beats and sing complex parts simultaneously. So, we made an executive decision and I switched over to vocals exclusively. It was after this decision that everything started falling into place very quickly. Collin and Kevin joined, we recorded the demo of the songs Vincent and I had written, the demo exploded, Adam joined, and everything has just continuously snowballed since.
RockOverdose: We can officially say you are somehow “tied” with Greece due to the misfortune of not playing to Up The Hammers because of the pandemic. You played on Horns Up and finally we’re seeing you in Athens. How shocking was to not be able to play and stick for some days here? I believe such difficulties strengthen the bands, was this the case with you too?
SMOULDER – Sarah: I’d like to start by saying that we love Greece, we love our Greek fans, and I have not been this excited to play a show in the entire history of Smoulder. Athens is one of my favourite places. We have many close friends there who we simply love and we can not wait to see again.
Now, for the much darker reality of what happened. We’ve reflected on that trip a lot. At the time, those few days where three of us were trapped in Athens and had to turn the other two members back mid-flight felt really traumatic and devastating. The band lost a ton of money, and at the time, it also felt like we’d lost all that momentum and hard work. I was so stressed out trying to coordinate everything that I called one of my friends in Canada, screaming and crying. But then, the truly traumatic thing happened two days after we got home to Canada. We had been scheduled to play during that week we were in Greece with Riot/Riot V, and their guitarist Louis Kouvaris contracted covid and died the day before we were supposed to play with them. Riot are one of those bands that Vincent and I formed a very strong bond over, and the finality and severity of what actually was happening really put things into perspective and made the money and momentum thing completely irrelevant.
I don’t want to speak to the rest of the band’s exact feelings, but I spent months after that in a state of shock. I was unable to make any art and was just so angry and simultaneously so afraid about what was going on. I’m chronically ill myself and was at high risk for death from covid, so his death and how fast it happened really triggered something dark within me. After several months of artistic block, the well opened and it’s never closed since. I am not exaggerating when I say that was one of the most impactful events in my life. It’s a big part of why we moved to Finland; I knew I needed better healthcare to live a long and healthy life and did not want to be derailed by something random (such as Covid). This is why I think we’re so looking forward to coming back to Greece. What happened in Athens ended up changing our entire lives, and I think it’s going to feel like a triumphant homecoming of sorts.
RockOverdose: Returning to the upcoming gig, we know your material is highly sought after, as many people can’t find it always available. Will you have your albums and EP for sale, would you like to let people know of the whole merch available so they can arrange themselves to purchase them?
SMOULDER – Sarah: We’ll have CDs and vinyl of all our releases, as well as patches and several different shirts, including an exclusive Greek shirt with a really cool design by Vincent. Come to the merch table. Talk to us. We can’t wait to see all of you.
RockOverdose: We would like to thank you deeply for your time. We wish you the best for the future. Could you tell us what follows the gig in Athens and which are your goals and expectations for the years to come? All the best to you all, see you soon.
SMOULDER – Sarah: Next up, hit 100 shows, and record album three! Thank you for your time!
On behalf of Rockoverdose,
Aggelos Katsouras
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