BLACK METAL SPIRIT: A FOREST OF STARS

Good afternoon, thank you so much for answering these questions. How's everything going in Leeds?

The Gentleman: Thank you for having us, things are going quite well over here. Spring is in the air, the album is nearly out, we're gearing up to play our comeback/album launch gig, and we seem to be stuck on a non-stop carousel; but, it's very flattering to have people spend so much time on us.

1. You've been active for almost twenty years and have managed to keep most of the lineup with hardly any changes over this time. When did you decide to form the band? Why did you choose the name A Forest of Stars? How would you describe this twenty-year period of activity?

The Gentleman: The first kernel of an idea started back in the early/mid nineties, when Curse & I first met as teenagers. We lived through that second wave of Black Metal as it was happening and it was a truly wondrous and strange time. We talked a lot of starting our own band, but for various reasons it just never happened. Then, in 2007, we just decided to give it another go; for no other reason than the fun of doing a project with friends. The band name came from a notebook I carried around with me at the time. We were sat in a pub, trying to come up with a name, when Curse leafed through my notebook, and stumbled across the phrase as part of a poem I'd written. Immediately, we knew that was it. Sometimes, things can be very simple, and finding a (good?) band name is hard, so I count ourselves very lucky. Finally, describing nearly twenty years is impossible! So much has happened that I can't even remember it all. I suppose the best way to sum it up is that it has been an most unexpected journey; we have achieved and experienced so many amazing things, met lots of wonderful people and had a lot of fun doing it. We're extremely lucky.

2. Your sixth studio album, "Stack Overflow in Corpse Pile Interface," is about to be released. This album comes almost eight years after its predecessor, something that hadn't happened with any of your previous releases. How did you approach the songwriting and recording process for this new album? Why this longer gap between albums?

The Gentleman: There are a few components to this. About eighteen months after our last album was released we sat down to write the new one. This developed into an idea to write a concept album. We set about researching and writing, and then eventually we ended up with about 90 minutes of music. It was an extremely fertile period of writing. We demoed it up and were at the point where we ready to go into the studio, and then the pandemic happened. At that point, we weren't sure how long it was going to be before we could proceed, and that gave us the time to reflect on what we'd written. Some of the band started expressing concerns about the album, and very soon that snowballed into a lot of arguments and nastiness, largely due to the fact that we were all isolated and couldn't communicate with each other effectively. Things gradually got worse and it really looked like we might split up. As the pandemic was coming to an end, we were able to meet up in person and after one afternoon of us all chatting, we'd begun to rebuild the relationships within the band. As a part of those discussions, it became clear that the only possible way to move forward was to scrap the album we'd written and start again from scratch. So that's what we did! As a result, we spent time figuring out how we wanted the writing process to work from the ground up. That took quite a while, but it was a deeply fun process and once it clicked and we had a way of working, everything flowed worryingly smoothly. It worked so well and was so creative that I can't wait to get going and do it again.

3. Your music has always had a very distinct identity within extreme metal, and your blend of black metal, folk, progressive rock, and theatrical elements is quite unique. Perhaps with “Stack Overflow in Corpse Pile Interface,” you've finally broken free from limitations and reached maturity as a band, while simultaneously achieving a recognizable sound of your own? How would you describe the sound of the new album? What bands or styles have influenced your songwriting?

The Gentleman: I honestly don't know how to describe it! I guess the best way to unpack this is that the only rule we have for writing is “do we like this?”, there's no consideration beyond that. For this album, there was a definite, palpable energy that began to form around the writing and recording; we tried to focus and capture it. At no point have we tried to say “is this AFOS?”, though. I find it difficult to judge our own music because I'm too close to it; beyond close, I'm at the centre of it (along with the rest of the band). It's impossible for me to impartially observe or comment, but we're all immensely proud of the album, so at least we have a unified vision and I guess that helps? This question is hard to answer, apologies.

4. A Victorian and decadent aesthetic and lyrics laden with symbolism, philosophy, and occultism are hallmarks of your music. Why are these aspects important to you? What specific themes do you explore on the new album? Do the lyrics adapt to the music, or vice versa?

The Gentleman: Interestingly (or, maybe not at all!), as part of our rebirth as a band, we decided to no longer use the Victorian imagery. There were several reasons behind this, but one of them was that we just didn't feel there was anything more we could do or say with it. But, as it turns out, this is not much more than a side step for us and doesn't fundamentally change the core nature of the band. Just a bit of tinkering. The lyrics are usually written separately, and we don't try to fit them in until after we've finished the music. It's quite a complicated job to get the balance right and to figure out where the vocals will go. Curse's performances are so powerful, we have to make sure they don't overbalance everything else! It's a great problem to have.

Curse: Indeed – lyrics are written in their own space. Often full songs at a time (edited later), sometimes with large gaps in writing due to the old muse being down the pub or somewhere. We fit lyrics to music when it comes to recording time, though there are also many instances where a riff will put a rhyme in my head and it builds from there. Another regular occurrence is that we will find we either have too much or not enough written for a given song, at which point cut-ups happen, and very often entirely new sections will be written on the fly. This scattergun approach seems to work surprisingly well, so I ain’t fucking with it.

5. The complexity of your music suggests a somewhat laborious process for recording, mixing, and mastering one of your albums. However, there isn't much information available about this process. How did you approach all these aspects of the new album?

The Gentleman: It is definitely a complicated process! As the main producer, it was my role to oversee all of this, and plan out how to do it. On paper, that didn't take too long. In practice, it was a crazy juggling of time, money, resources, locations and people. Super stressful, but the experience of the album was so fun, it didn't matter. After recording, we sent the album to Rob Hobson who's mixed nearly all our albums and is a great help, in that he a) knows what we do, b) is a fantastic fresh set of ears and eyes on the project and c) is extremely talented. Working with him was a great process, he did a lot of crazy research into how to achieve the sound we wanted. And then, as part of that he also did the mastering, which gave the perfect finishing touches we needed. All told, I think it took from October (start of tracking) until May (final masters), so about 6-7 months of work. And that was after we'd already written, rehearsed and planned the project; that was just the execution. We certainly don't do things by halves, I guess.

6. You're still associated with Lupus Lounge, now under the label Prophecy Productions, a relationship that began with the release of your third album, "A Shadowplay for Yesterdays" (2012). What did this album mean for your career? What does Lupus Lounge offer that has allowed you to maintain this connection over the years?

The Gentleman: Gosh, that all seems so long ago now! I guess that Shadowplay was the watershed moment, really. It opened us up to a wider audience and made people sit up and pay attention to us, which was very nice. We're still extremely underground (even today), but it did give us a nudge up the ladder. Its hard to say why, really. It is most probably a combination of our writing style improving with practice, the band having worked together for longer and Prophecy's influence as a label (not on us, but as in they have clout and reach). Most of all, I just think there was a large dollop of luck with being in the right place at the right time. Who knows?

Prophecy / Lupus Lounge are – simply put – more than a label, they are a family. We are genuinely, proper, fully friends with many of them. They treat our art with great respect and allow us the freedom to do things our way (even when they advise otherwise and are actually right, much to our stupidity). We are so lucky to work with them, and I'm not sure we'd enjoy doing this if we were at (say) a larger label, where there would be more pressure to confirm to cycles, promotions and industry practices. We very much do things at our own pace and take great care over our music and imagery. These things take time and Prophecy let us have it; that alone is invaluable to us.

Curse: In a world where music industry is often a term filled with ill-omen, Prophecy are like a light in the dark.

7. In addition to the digital and physical releases, the new album will also be available as a double CD edition that includes the EP "Ticket To Writhe." What can we expect from this EP? Why isn't it being released as a standalone EP, and why was it included in this special edition?

The Gentleman: The EP is a collection of three tracks that didn't really fit with the rest of the album either musically or thematically. They are their own little club of “something”. So we made an EP out of them. It's kind of our fully self-indulgent side, basically. For the CD Special Edition, we've always tried to give extra value and meaning to it and the one way we can do that is by adding bonus tracks. But we don't like doing demos or remixes, we'd rather have fully written new songs. We've done it for every Special Edition from “Shadowplay” onwards and it's a bit of a tradition now for us. We wouldn't release it as a standalone because it isn't properly representative of us; instead it's a chance for us to be more experimental and push some weird envelopes; do things we wouldn't normally do on an album. In real terms, it's a collection of bonus tracks, but we like to tie things up and so we call them EPs, and give them a proper collective title.

8. The cover of the new album also follows a somewhat different pattern than previous works, with a more avant-garde and abstract character. Where did the idea for this image come from? Who developed the design, and how does it relate to the album's content?

Curse: The paintings for this album are all my own, both covers and booklet. The cover is loosely intended as something of a study of a lost soul; the stack overflow of the title going on in their poor little brain. The artwork inside the record is generally tied to each song it sits with in some way, which I prefer to leave open to interpretation. Some are more obvious than others. The idea came from my having zero self confidence in my own work for years, having not picked up a paintbrush in a long time. I finally got around to asking the rest of the band if they would be willing to allow me to make an attempt at creating artwork for the record, and surprisingly, they agreed. So here we are. Self effacement not-withstanding, I am deeply honoured to have been able to do this, and very proud of the work, too. It came at a time in my life when I really needed to reacquaint myself with painting, and the fact that this has happened in tandem with the album means the world to me.

9. I imagine the live performance has to be an immersive experience, where the visual aspect also plays an important role. What can your fans expect from the live presentation of the new album? What dates do you have planned for the live presentation of “Stack Overflow in Corpse Pile Interface”?

The Gentleman: So far, we have four dates in the UK confirmed for late November; we'll be doing a about a similar amount in the EU just after, but they're not quite ready to announce just yet, I'm afraid. Live, we love to have lots of smoke, heavy lighting and projections – it needs to be an all-consuming atmosphere that let's the music be the focus of attention. We're hoping to play as much of the album as we can, although as it's a long LP, it won't be possible to do all of it, especially if people would also like to hear song from other albums too! But we'll do our best to strike a balance.

10. When you started back in 2008, did you imagine that your career would lead to releasing six studio albums and becoming a recognizable band within a style like avant-garde? What do you miss most about those early years?

The Gentleman: Oh gods, no! We had no clue whatsoever. The time we spent making that first album are – hands down – the most fun I've ever had making music. I've often wanted to replicate that feeling but you can't go back, only forward. It was just four friends wanting to make a black metal album on a shoe string budget. We were so caught up in the fun of it, we honestly had no idea what to do afterwards. We just thought it would be a one off thing. We didn't even promote it; There was no intention of ever playing live, so I think we posted a quick thing on a metal forum or two (ah, those were the days) and left it at that. What happened after that took us quite by surprise and then some! We've often talked in recent years about how strange it is that decisions we made off the cuff, for fun, are now effecting us nearly twenty years later. Weird!

11. How did you get started in music: the first concerts you attended, the first albums you bought? What event in your lives inspired you to become musicians?

The Gentleman: From the earliest age, my mother had the radio on 24/7 basically. I became obsessed with sitting next to it and working out the patterns of songs; the song structures. And all I wanted was to be a drummer, for forever. I was fascinated with it and it was a powerful driving force inside of me. That was it, it's always been with me. I started formal lessons when I was nine and have been going at it ever since. I also self taught myself the piano, simply because my next obsession was song writing; I didn't just want to play, I wanted to compose too, and I need an instrument that produced notes. It also explains why I am not very good at keyboards; I can get what I need out of them and that'll do me fine.

First album I bought with my own money: Live After Death by Iron Maiden (I realise this sounds improbable and some retroactive time shifting to make me look cool, but it is the honest truth; I was lucky to have three much older cousins who were all metal heads who guided my musical tuition).

First gig: Guns n' Roses, Faith No More & Soundgarden. Again, this was a lucky break: it was a gig that had been rescheduled and someone couldn't make the new date, so I was gifted the ticket. And the rest, as they say, is history...

Curse: I had been writing prose type rubbish since I was sprouting legs, but had never applied any of it to a band format until A Forest of Stars began. I had sung in the school choir (ha ha) as a child for some time, but abandoned that once I arrived in senior school. This band (and the others I have been involved with since) are the only outlet for my writings.

First album bought with my own money: I believe was Metallica’s Master of Puppets. That was a tape. First CDs were a quick one-two punch of Nuclear Assault’s Handle With Care, and Skyclad’s Prince of the Poverty Line.

First gig: Genesis! First Metal gig: Paradise Lost, then The Almighty, or vice versa.

12. Which album represents the essence of black metal for you? What are the most recent albums you've bought?

The Gentleman: I've had to think long and hard about this, but then realised it was very obvious: “In The Nightside Eclipse”. That was the moment when everything clicked for me; the first time I heard it it sounded like an apocalypse and I had never heard anything even remotely like it before. The only other BM album I'd heard was “Principles of Evil...” and that just couldn't hold a candle(light?) to it. Bearing in mind this was the early-mid nineties and there's no internet or anything. Hearing “Eclipse” was when everything changed for me, musically. Blew my tiny little mind. And it was all downhill from there...

Last album I bought was Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII. I'm currently on a quest to hoover up all the missing bits of Floyd I don't have. It is, of course, fantastic, and their releases of old concert recordings in the last few years is most commendable.

Curse: A very difficult question. Ved Buens Ende’s ‘Those Who Caress the Pale’ is probably the one that does it for me, though Burzum’s ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’ is neck and neck. I can’t not mention Mayhem’s ‘De Mysteriis dome Sathanas’ here, though. There are so many facets of so many albums that make a cohesive whole for me that I can’t properly answer this. A Blaze in the Northern Sky was the first Black Metal song I had heard, on the Peaceville Volume 4 sampler. Once that worked its way through my defences, there was no going back.

Last albums I bought were King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Polgondwanaland (it’s on repeat in my Crumbling Castle) and a very belated copy of Skag Heaven by Squirrel Bait. Trying to fill in the gaps in my collection were various Slint members and associates are concerned.

13. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit. If you'd like to add anything for A Forest of Stars fans, this is the place. I hope you enjoy the questions.

The Gentleman: Nothing more to add, I'm afraid, save to say a great big thank you for having us!

Curse: Thank you for your questions!

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