Interview with Primordial

Metal Director Andy sat down with Primordial vocalist Alan Averill at the recent Paganfest show in Seattle. Here's what he had to say:

How has the tour been going?

Very good, very positive. There’s been lots of enthusiastic people. It’s our first time in North America so you have to take the rough with the smooth. Some of the venues are a bit different than what we’re used to. Some smaller, but an awful lot fucking enormous like theaters which you don’t get back home.

Has the crowd been reacting well?

So there’s been some days where the crowd is a little younger and usually the younger they are the less knowledgeable they are about what we’re doing. But I think we’re perfectly positioned between Korpiklaani and Moonsorrow. Some of the kids who come to see Korpiklaani will get challenged by something a bit different.

I’ve heard you say you aren’t really a fan of the whole ‘pagan metal’ scene. Do you think you’re making an impact on the kids who are just coming for the drinking/party/fun aspect of it?

Oh, definitely. That’s what we’re here to do, is to challenge people in that respect. We’re in a position where because we’ve been around for so many years younger people are beginning to realize that we have 6 albums and a 20 year history. Even some of the magazines are starting to say that Primordial is one of the founding bands in the whole genre. For the kids who maybe will like Enslaved for example, a band we would find a bit high brow, would also get into what we’re doing. Also because our live show is very aggressive they seem to get into us.

If you could tour with any 3 bands, who would they be?

How about…Heaven & Hell, Neurosis and Iron Maiden or AC/DC. That would be cool.

How’s the metal scene in Ireland; now compared to when you started?

Wow, that’s a big question. We started in 1991 and have our roots in the whole 80s metal thing. The second wave of black metal is what we were a part of. At least in Ireland, the bands who were around all wanted to try and make it; to be the next Metallica. They all wanted to get signed to a big label and all that. Bands like ourselves came along and we were making demos for £50 and we were in the tape-trading and fanzine thing so we basically killed that whole rock star scene as we called it. The people involved in that scene are still doing distros or magazines; some are running shops and record labels. And a few of the bands who had the willpower like ourselves are still around.

I think whenever you try to define a scene between now and then it’s simply pre-internet. That’s the easiest way to say it. Back then it was about writing letters and sending your demos to South America, Malaysia, Middle East, Scandinavia or whatever, and that’s what we did. I did a fanzine from 1990 to 1996. So it’s very different. I think the younger people now have a different view of…I think it’s symptomatic of music as a whole that maybe it’s less important to some people. Now it goes hand in hand with your gaming or social networking sites or that kind of thing. In the late 1980s it was just this violent second world in Dublin. Our affiliation with this music was a statement against what was going on. I would like to think that there are still people feel who way towards music, but the instant nature of this electronic age allows people to be lazy about the music that they like.

When you started Primordial in the early 90s, did you ever think it would last this long?

Not really. We didn’t start the band as friends, I just answered an ad. The bass player and guitar player just walked over and said we play, why don’t we start a band? We didn’t start as friends so it was impossible for us to fall out as other bands do. Now Primordial is like a constant in all of our lives, but it’s not the only thing that we do. We all have other things going on. We don’t rehearse that much, we don’t operate often as a band, we don’t even socialize that much. But when it comes to making music, that’s a thing that’s a constant in our lives.

Do you think being influenced black metal band helped set you apart when you got started?

Definitely. At least when we’re put into this whole pagan metal scene, which I think has more similarities to power metal. We came from that second wave of black metal and we will always have more of an affiliation towards Mayhem, Darkthrone, Master’s Hammer old Samael or Rotting Christ. That more aggressive, darker and harsher sound is always what we felt nearer to.

Can you talk about your art, I know you’ve designed some backdrops for bands over the years.

Yeah I used to do that a lot, but I haven’t had time to much lately. I still make a couple every once in a while for somebody or other.

As a vocalist, who are your biggest influences?

That’s a good question….when I was a kid I just wanted to be like Bruce Dickinson or Rob Halford, you know all the traditional metal vocalists. But over the years I’ve gone beyond the interest of technique. I’m more interested in the emotions people convey, whether it’s in tune or out of tune. But there’s nothing worse than another Michael Kiske Helloween copy with cut and paste power metal vocals. I can’t stand that kind of thing. I would much rather listen to the vocal stylings of Neurosis or something that tries to show more emotion. I would rather listen to Fenriz sing then someone like Angra.

But, that all said and done my favorite singer is Ronnie James Dio. He can just make the most over the top lyrics seem the most real thing you’ve ever heard; it just sounds like he means all of it. And to still be singing at age 65 is incredible. Especially Mob Rules and Heaven and Hell stuff. But I also like the old heavy metal singers; the old 1980s Eric Adams and David Defeis from Virgin Steele kind of stuff. But I also like the old-school obscure black metal vocals. Generally anything that doesn’t use that screamo/emo “RAR RAR RAR, whoaaaoooaa” shit. All those metalcore bands have the same vocalists, it sounds like the same guy signing for every one of those bands. Also, if you’re using the vocals as a monotonal instrument than I’m not going to like it either. I don’t want a cookie monster sound, none of that does anything for me.

So what’s next for Primordial?

Immediately we have a couple festivals in Europe. We’ve done two tours for this album and we played 20 or 25 festivals last year. I think everybody just needs some space and time off and then we’ll start writing new songs. For the first time ever we’re under a bit of pressure to live up to the last album. Before we always kind of surprised people because we were never a big band in any respect but now it’s obvious the level of the band has risen. 

And I can see the enthusiasm in this crowd. We’re bringing out all the old metal people. There are a lot of black metal people in America, and there’s a lot younger crowd, especially in Canada. But America is a place you can tour, people will discover you and buy your album an then show up with more people the next time. In Europe it can be like we might buy your album and we might see you but maybe not. We never wanted to be one of those bands; Primordial is never going to be Behemoth. As much as I respect those guys and like their work, I think we couldn’t do that. We would just kill each other. But we don’t make a living from Primordial so it’s not compromised in anyway. We could go home and quit the band now and that would be it, we wouldn’t have any regrets.