Interview with Christian Mistress

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 22:07

The american metallers Christian Mistress are excited to release their second album, 'Possession', and we got in touch with the guitar-players, Ryan McClain and Oscar Sparbel, to have a little chat with Riff-Mag. Honesty and heavy metal is what runs in their veins.


A lot of heavy metal bands are stuck in the 80s and early 90s, the genre needs a revigoration. Do you feel that "Possession" is one of the keys to revigorate the scene?

Ryan: It could be. It has never been my goal to invigorate any scene. It's more about playing and writing music that I like. If other people get excited about it too, it's just a bonus.
Oscar: I feel that our creative intentions were based on making "Possession" for ourselves to enjoy first and foremost. I always felt like our band didn't quite fit in to any one scene really. So I never planned changing anything. We end up not paying any attention what's going on and write what feels good to us - it's that simple.

"Possession" is rich in all that heavy metal needs, like twin guitars, memorable passages, quick pace. Do you truly think Christian Mistress should have all of these elements to be successful?

Oscar: I'm sure the heavy metal/hard rock elements are there as a products of musical upbringing. Ryan and I were doing the twin guitar stuff for fun before we even decided to be in a band with each other. I don't think that's what makes this band work however. If there is any success due, it's to the fact that we enjoy making songs really. That has been our goal since we started the band. don't get me wrong I'm a sucker for all that shit but it's no good if there's not substance behind the music we make. The songs have structure and are designed with vocals in mind. Christine's lyrics are also an element that makes us what we are.
Ryan: Sure. We love all those things. But you don't necessarily need a quick pace for every song. Look at the title track. It's all about how you do it.

Most of the female voices in heavy metal are quite generic, but Christine Davis breaks some standards here. Do you think Christine's voice is an important asset for the band's success?

Ryan: I don't agree with the first part of the statement, there are plenty of great female vocals in Metal. But Christine's voice is most certainly unmistakable. That gruff bluesy edge seems to really get people. And I like that.
Oscar: I don't agree with the the first part of the statement, but I see what your try to get at and with gender out of the way, if we had a copy-cat singer trying to sound like Bruce Dickinson we would suck ass. Christine's vocals are unique and cool, she doesn't sound like anyone else and that rules. This element allowed us to grow into our own band, to not have a generic singer used to be status quo when bands actually gave a shit.

What are the aspects you would like to highlight in "Possession"?

Oscar: A lot of new concepts were flying around with lyrics and song writing, this really had a different direction from the last record. Some songs are darker, more gnarled than its predecessor. There are also some good drinking tunes as well. Another cool aspect was the freedom to record how we wanted to, this was all made available via Tim Green at Louder Studios. we had 24 tracks to work with rather than 4 this time around without having to compromise our analog sound. It really shows at the end of the record during the fade out in "All Abandon".
Ryan: All around it's a huge improvement. One thing is the guitar solos, Oscar and I spent a lot of time practicing to make sure they were what we wanted. Also, Christine had time to add vocal harmonies to certain songs.

The album will be released in March, in Europe, and the reviews have been already great. How excited are you to have the album really on the streets?

Ryan: It's great. I didn't think about it til just now. It will have been 6 months since we recorded it, so I kind of went through this thing of finishing the recording and saying to myself "I can't wait till this comes out" every day. Then 3 months go by, and right when I forget about it, it's about to be released!
Oscar: Totally, I can't wait for the release It feel like an aeon's since the first song on the record was written. Stoked about the reviews as well. It's cool that were getting this much attention over it!

I guess the next step is to promote "Possession", right? Any plans for Europe?

Ryan: We are touring Europe in April 2012. Keep an eye out for us at Roadburn festival as well.

How do you see yourselves being the traditional side of Relapse's catalogue?

Oscar: The Relapse catalogue is all over the place and that's I'm totally fine with our label choice. We don't have to be anything we don't want to be to fit in. They have bands like Pig Destroyer and Red Fang whom sound nothing alike. We don't sound like any band on that label and they understand that. They liked our band and wanted to help us put out this record.
Ryan: There's nothing "traditional" about us, we're fucking HEAVY METAL.

How does the NWOBHM scene influence Christian Mistress?

Oscar: I wish I had a pie chart to explain our influences when ever this gets brought up. There a good chunk of those band that helped this band become what it is. However, there's so much other music in the guitar playing that gets swept under. Yeah we listen to Saxon and bands like X, ZZ top, Van Halen, Alice Cooper, AC/DC, Burzum, Carcass, Deicide, Emperor, the list goes on. I learned a lot of riffs and I think the blues has a bigger hand in all of it.
Ryan: All of us love music from that movement. We were listening to a lot of stuff like that in the beginning and I suppose the influence can be heard here and there ;) Great stuff, top notch.

Unfornately, traditional heavy metal is seen today as the older side of metal, and kids nowadays are more into death metal, for instance. How do you think the heavy metal bands can captivate new generations of fans?

Oscar: We know some kids that are fucking up some good death metal. They're in a band called Bone Sickness, they sound like Autopsy and Master. They're really young. But also look at Iron Maiden they have a new generation of little denim mullets hanging out at there shows every tour. I saw some 13 year olds running around last time I saw them and there about as heavy metal as it gets.
Ryan: I think what people are into greatly varies depending on location. In some cities it's really one thing like death metal and you drive to the next city 200 miles away and everybody is seemingly freaking out about black metal or crust or whatever. The easiest way to captivate the listener is with Melody. Maybe you don't even like a song initially, so you dismiss it and 3 hours later that melody has got your number! You might not remember what it is right away... but now you like it. People like things they can remember.


Interview by Diogo Ferreira

-/-

You can read the "Possession" album review HERE.









Post: Diogo Ferreira







Metal Genres: Heavy Metal |

< Prev		Next >