| Interview by Burt Wolf with Hirax, lead guitarist of LUNATIC GODS. Interview done February 7th, 2005. |
| YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE 1993, BUT COULD YOU GIVE US A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND? WHY THE NAME CHANGE FROM BESTIALIT TO LUNATIC GODS? Yes, the change of name was the actual beginning of LUNATIC GODS. We released a split CD under the name BESTIALIT before, whic was more brutal Death/Grind issue. When we recorded the debut album we decied not to go under the former moniker anymore. As LUNATIC GODS we released four albums, the latest one being "MYTHUS", out last year. There have been some changes in the line up as well, at the moment we had a stable line up for two albums & I hope the course we have taken will stay as it is. If you are interested in any details from our history, you are welcome to visit our web page. WHY WAS THE NAME LUNATIC GODS CHOSEN FOR THE BANDS NAME? Well, as I hinted above we were in need for aname when the release of the debut CD was about to happen. I don't even think I meant anything. I had come up with this one at work & the guys liked it. Now, when I come to think of it, it suits us & our music. We even applied that when asked for the style we play - Lunatic Metal! WHO OR WHAT HELPED INFLUENCE YOU INCREATING YOUR SOUND & IN LIFE IN GENERAL? On top of everything there is our love for music & our need to express ourselves through music. Second comes the fact that we are individuals with out own experience, opinions & ways of thinking & we are happy to be such. Now, does that answer your question? |
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| HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE STYLE & SOUND OF LUNATIC GODS? Ha. There it is. Of course it depends who you describe it to. You know, some people will judge us by using electric guitars & screaming vocals, for them we are simply Metal. Diehard fans of each genre, be it Black, Death, heavy, melodic what not will accuse us for sounding much like anything else, but their genre. And those who like everything, best in fusion & with creative attitude might find our band interesting, because we want to make |
| music that is interesting & original & reflects our individuality & expresses what we want & feel at a time. Now yes, that's chaos, but we do play a mix of Death, Black, Heavy, Thrash, Doom, Art, Psycho, Experimental anything Metal. It's easier to listen than explain!!! I ONLY HAVE YOUR "THE WILDERNESS" ALBUM, WHICH CAME OUT IN 2002. HOW WELL DID THAT RELEASE DO & WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE LIKE? "THE WILDERNESS" is our third album & it was indeed a big step forward. The band went through some changes in line up before it's recording & we were all eager to make a great record. Other than that, we made a lot of effort promoting the record all over the world, our sales being about 7-8 thousand copies on all formats, which I think is good for an underground band. I can say that this record has won us recognition. WHO DID THE ARTWORK FOR THE CD & COULD YOU EXPLAIN IT A LITTLE BIT? Oh yes, we had an idea of portraying the wilderness of human soul in more of a symbolic way. We asked an artist to sketch some ideas & then we chose one to be completed. Unfortunately we did not have time to consult the eventual result before the covers were printed, otherwise we would not have used this picture. We eventually found that welike the sketches better than the final artwork. Anyway, we had an artist to make the cover for our new album 'MYTHUS" & this time we took the pains of revieweing everything properly & guess what? There is a prepratory sketch on the CD cover! We did use the final picture as well for a cover of an LP version, as the full colour paint looks great on a big format, but some how loses the power on a CD size. THAT DISC WAS RELEASED ON SHINDY PRODUCTIONS, HOW DID YOU GET HOOKED UP WITH THEM & ARE YOU STILL WITH THEM? The cooperation with SHINDY was great given the conditions we agreed upon. However we decided to make a step forward as far as record promotion goes & I released the new album on my own label HROM RECORDS. Now I'm running all the promotion activities, it's of course a lot of work, but I'm happy to take care of my own child myself & I believe I can do it properly. DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW RELEASES THAT CAM EOUT AFTER "THE WILDERNESS"? So, the new album "MYTHUS" has been out for some time, being widley promoted. Also, since our first "INHUMAN & INSENSIBLE" & second "SITTING BY THE FIRE" are no longer available. I made a new edition also on HROM RECORDS, with enhanced graphics, remastered album material & two rare bonuses on each record. COULD YOU LIST ALL YOUR OTHER RELEASES & EXPLAIN A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THEM & THEIR AVAILABILITY? "INHUMAN & INSENSIBLE" was our debut on ITALIAN POLYPHEMUS RECORDS in 1996. Very successful especially in Czech Republic & at home in Slovakia. This was the album that set our experimental & uncompromising direction. "SITTING BY THE FIRE" was released by METAL AGE, Slovakia in 1998. We did a very experimental record with lots of keyboards & complicated arranges. Both of the above are long sold out in their original additions, so hence the re-releases as described above. "THE WILDERNESS" is the third & so far best known record. Our most straightforward yet innovative in many aspects. And the current one 'MYTHUS" the extremest of LUNATIC GODS records, with all heavy, fast, hard, melodic, doomy, experimental & even ethnic passages. The whole concept of a very gloomy history of human & underground worm communities fighting for world domination with not a very happy ending, I can tell you! We also have a limited vinyl 7" EP "CUCKOO", aslo sold out, the tracks being the bonus part of one of the re-releases. |
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| DO YOU GUYS PLAY OUT A LOT? WHERE ARE SOME OF THE PLACES YOU'VE PLAYED? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU'VE PLAYED SHOWS WITH? We try as much as we can. Of course we play big majority of shows in Slovakia & also neighbouring Czech Republic. |
| It's not very easy to arrange 7 people so that their schedules meet, but of course we love live playing & relize it's importance for the band. Since autumn we have played two shows almost every weekend in promotion of our new record! As for the bands, we had the honour of playing with KING DIAMOND, KREATOR, TESTAMENT, NIGHTWISH, MALEVOLENT CREATION, IMMOLATION & others, but let me tell you that I prefer small club shows much more, the energy & atmosphere are much better!!! COULD YOU SHARE SOME INTERESTING ROAD STORIES OR LIVE STORIES WITH US? Well, nothing comes to mind. We are actually a bunch of funny guys, especially when together, but most of the fun cannot be transferred to anybody outside the circle. mWe always rely on our drummer Psycho to cheer us up, because he makes the most stupid things & jokes, unless he is depressed! WHAT IS THE SLOVAKIAN MUSIC SCENE LIKE? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BETTER BANDS, LABELS, ZINES IN SLOVAKIA? Yes, despite being a small country, Slovak scene is constantly developing & I believe we have some bands that can compete with the world elite. Only, our geographical & economic position makes it harder for everyone. Anyway, there are bands that have already made it, it only depends how much they try. An example is brutal Death Metal combo SANATORIUM & their joint label FORENSICK MUSIC. From labels, you can also know METAL AGE & than the one I run HROM RECORDS. Under it's joint title HIRAX RECORDS I run the biggest mailorder distro. in Slovakia, so direct all trade offers to me. Bands worth mentioning are for example ETHEREAL PANDEMONIUM - Slavonic Blac, ORKRIST - atmospheric Tolkein Black/Doom, WAYD - Jazz Death Metal, ABSTRACT - instrumental Technical Metal, SUNGATE - instrumental Atmo Metal, EDITOR - HC/Metal w/ LUNATIC GODS members, PROTEST - Grind, PORTIKUS - Progressive/Melodic, now I guess plenty others in any style. Just search! HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE SLOVAKIAN MUSIC SCENE TO THE SCENE HERE IN THE UNITED STATES? Hmmm, this is an interesting topic to persue. Actually, the countries are pretty different in many aspects & what we get & know here are the most famous bands which make a record deal & tour internationally. Slovakia is a very small country so maybe it's the same if you compare Florida to Georgia, there are more bands in one & less in the other, one style is more popular the other is weak. So, in Slovakia, we do not have world famous bands, but we do have promising underground. Most popular styles are Death Metal, either brutal or technical & also Progressive styles of Metal. On the other hand, there have never been so many Black Metal bands. So, find us a match among the 50 U.S. stars, hehe. ARE YOU INTO ANY OTHER STYLES OF MUSIC BESIDES WHAT YOU PLAY? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOUR CURRENTLY INTO? Well, yes. I also play with EDITOR, originally Thrash Metal, now more into hardcore. I am a big fan of the underground Punk/HC music. Where I appreciate the energy & sincerity. On the other hand, I look for quality & originality, so maybe bands like YES, KING CRIMSON or from Metal maybe EMPEROR. WHAT DO THE MEMBERS OF LUNATIC GODS DO WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE BAND? I have a record label & a music distro, so I live off it. Psycho works in a pub, Luboslav is a railway dispatcher, Richard & Emil work in a factory & Horar is a computer network administrator in a big company. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES & OR TV SHOWS? Yes, I am big into independent small budget alternative films, especially those coming from smaller countries, like Balkans or Scandinavia & of course our own. Czech TV has a channel where they show non-mainstream films, also plent American independent production. Cool. I hate the boring commercial crap that leaves you know space to think for yourself. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR VIEWS ON THE WAR & STUFF AMERICA IS DOING IN THE MIDDLE EAST OR ON THE TSUNAMI DISASTERS? It's hard to judge. U.S. is a big & strong country, so it can help a lot - economically, for example. On the other hand, sometimes the proud & disrespectful attitude of the Americans is hard to swallow. You know, we come from a small country, one of the smallest in Europe, so our history was a history of being mistreated by other stronger & bigger nations, so I am very sensitive to the issues. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE NEXT FROM LUNATIC GODS? Well, the promotion campaign for "MYTHUS" is still underway, so i guess more of it. Other than that we started to put some new songs together, we are curious what comes of that ourselves. It's gonna be lunatic anyway! I'M OUT OF QUESTIONS. FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO CLOSE OUT. THANX FOR DOING THE INTERVIEW! I thank you for your support. It was a pleasure to introduce our band. If anybody wishes to buy or trade our records or inquire about the band or my country, feel free to get in touch!!! PEACE & FREEDOM! |
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| LUNATIC GODS C/O PAVEL BARICAK GORKEHO 52 / MARTIN / 036 01 / SLOVAKIA hirax@stonline.sk www.LUNATICGODS.sk ALL PHOTOS & IMAGES COURTESY OF LUNATIC GODS INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |
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