Интервю с Mike Browning (NOCTURNUS A.D.)

Hello! Tell us about the current situation around the band’s status? Can it be considered as a successor band of Nocturnus or is this a brand new band?

IT is a little of both actually, it is a succession of Nocturnus in the fact that it will continue with the story of what was on The Key, but it’s also a brand new band because the only original member is myself and I created Nocturnus, so it has elements of both and the true lineage of the name. Right now we just played the Maryland Death Fest and in 2 weeks heading to Europe for Hellfest and Dokk’em Fest and another show in Antwerp Belgium. After that we will start on writing new Nocturnus AD material.

Would you introduce the band’s members? There are musicians that have played in the dawn of death metal, like Daniel Tucker from Obituary?

Yes well we will start with Daniel Tucker our bass player then, he is the newest member of the band, but he has been in the band about 2 years now and he played on the first Obituary Record, Slowly We Rot. And our guitar players are Demian Heftel who has played in Brutality and Contorted & Belial Koblak and he has played in Incantation and Lethal Prayer. Our keyboard player is called Nocturnal and he is from Bolivia originally.

For what purpose does Nocturnus AD reunite in 2013 – playing only old material or making new one as well?

We will be doing both, when I would do shows just as Nocturnus, they were always outside of the US so there would be no problem with the trademark, but we were never able to take it farther than that, so in October of 2013 I decided to come up with a new name that would encompass the old stuff, but be able to do new stuff as well, so Nocturnus AD was born.

You recently performed at Maryland Deathfest which is a big event in extreme music’s world. How did the audience accept you there? Are there any more planned concerts for the next few months?

We had an amazing show there, the crowd was incredible, no doubt the best crowd I have ever played in front of so far! We even got mentioned in Spin Magazine as one of the top 15 best things at Maryland Death Fest, so that is awesome to hear that! In 2 weeks we head to Europe to play Hellfest and Dokk’em Fest and in November we play the Nuclear War Now Fest in Berlin and we are currently working on a few other US dates in some of the bigger cities on weekends.

Nocturnus can be called a “death metal pioneer band” in many aspects. Do you see yourselves as innovators in the genre in using keyboards and electronic effects? Do you see a projection of your music ideas and their development in the material of some bands that came after you?

When it was happening in 1988 and we put out The Science of Horror demo, I really never was thinking that what we were doing was something pioneering because I grew up in the 1970’s and a lot of the heavy rock and metal bands that were around usually had keyboards, so for me it was just something I wanted for intros and atmosphere for the band and it developed into a full time instrument in the band. I think so, but not directly. A lot of innovative bands have a long string of bands that sound just like them coming after, but even though we became an influence on other bands and what they used and did, we still haven’t been copied by anyone. I have still never heard anything that sounds like we did until now with my new band.

Who were you influenced by musically and ideologically in your early years? Which bands in your opinion are the founders of modern death metal?

There were lots actually, but back then I would say musically I always liked Tommy Aldridge as a drummer and then it developed as time went on to people like Dave Lombardo to people today like Derek Roddy. Ideologically it started with Anton LaVey and The Necronomicon and progressed to Crowley and Kenneth Grant. Probably like Morbid Angel, Death, Venom, Slayer and stuff like that because it all progressed and got heavier from these bands.

Mike Browning is one of the few singing drummers in extreme music – along with Chris Reifert from Autopsy. Is this an easy thing to do – singing and playing the drums at the same time? What is the reason for a drummer to be the vocalist as well – a common practice for vocalists is to be closer to the audience, leading the band? Do you think that this makes a band less popular?

It’s never easy, but it is just what I do when I play. When I start playing I get in a zone and whatever happens happens, it’s almost like it’s not me controlling myself anymore like a runaway freight train full of demons! I don’t think it’s so much as having to have someone up front, but really someone who connects with the crowd and even though I am behind a set of drums, I think I still connect with the crowd through the energy that I release when I am playing. What I do is essentially the oldest form of magick chanting to a drum rhythm and the people can connect with that, you feel it more than see it.
I really only started singing back in 1986 with Morbid Angel because we couldn’t find the right vocalist that could really convey what we wanted to do live and once I started playing and singing it almost just like tapped into that ancient form of magic for me to use.

Why did Nocturnus remain in the underground scene regardless of the band’s unique style, skillful music and pioneer innovations?

I think because we changed the band around between The Key and Thresholds! We were doing great, the album was selling well and the 2 tours we did the Grindcrusher with Napalm Death and Godflesh and the Bolt Thrower tours went really well, then all of a sudden it was like everyone was against me and wanting a singer and to change the whole style of the band, I was against it, but everyone else wanted the change, it was 4 to 1 vote and even the label Earache wanted us to have a frontman, so we got one and Thresholds sold less than 1/3 of what The Key did. I just didn’t understand why when the band was not broke why try to change something to fix it? But if that hadn’t of happened and I was still singing and playing and writing most of the lyrics and continuing with the story from The Key, I think things would have turned out a lot different!

What is the concept in the early Nocturnus albums? Why did you choose exactly this space theme in your music? Can your style be considered as space death metal?

Although The Key had a concept to it, the real part of the concept was just the last 4 songs, Andromeda Strain, Droid Sector, Destroying The Manger and Empire of The Sands, the 6 other songs were all about different subjects from evil and occult stuff like Lake of Fire, Standing In Blood and BC/AD and even history like Neolithic. When I came up with the time machine and going back and destroying Jesus in the manger it was very blasphemic and sci-fi at the same time, so I was able to mesh both things together and it formed it’s own story basically. I don’t know about our whole style, maybe a few of the songs themselves definitely, but not our whole style, that is undefinable!!!

No matter how trivial it may sound: back in the time Nocturnus had many fans in Bulgaria, I myself have been listening to you since 1992. I am sure that there are connoisseurs today too. Would you like to say a few words to your Bulgarian fans?

Yes I just want to say that I think it is so awesome that the music itself has brought people from all over the world together and even though we have different languages and ethnics and customs, that it is the factor that unites us all and I really hope to be able to play there in Bulgaria one day, it is so cool to go to different places all over the world and actually meet the people who enjoy your music and what you do!
And until then you can always keep up with us through our website and Facebook pages.
www.afterdeath666.com