Metal Psalter Immolation Interview Page 1

The night of the Immolation and Vader show, tropical storms were “ravaging” the east coast. Despite the fact that all of the bands on the tour were there and ready, the show was called off by the venue. The New York based, nearly 20+ year metal veterans, guitarist Bob Vigna and singer Ross Dolan of Immolation, were nice enough to invite me on their trailer to conduct the interview anyway.

Lynora: How has your process for making music changed over the years?

Bob: The process has changed as thus. This was the first time we ever used the computer for writing, so that made a big difference. Being able to write on the computer. Basically, our drummer Steve lives in Ohio, Bill lives in Florida, me and Ross live in New York. It made it a lot easier for me to write everything on the computer musically, have something that we’re kind of pretty much happy with, and then I would send it to Steve via email as an MP3 he’d listen to the music. Basically what it would sound like is almost what would be on the album, the drums are there and it sounds like a song from beginning to end. So he learns the parts, learns to play with it and then eventually adds his own stuff and we get together. The first time we went to go rehearse in Ohio for the new album we played five songs right off the bat, cause we all knew the songs already. We’d all listen to the song; Ross would be practicing to the same thing that I would be practicing to as well as Steve so when we all got together it was like we were playing the song for years. So it was really cool. And then we get the kinks out and stuff. But that was a really good help because not only did we play to that and Steve play with it, but when we went to go to the album to record I actually made a copy without the drums. I pulled the drums out so he had the scratch tracks for guitar and the same exact timing and for everything he had been practicing for weeks. And now he’s in the studio playing it and it was great because we didn’t have to sit there and play along with it! He just played to it once, he was comfortable with his parts then we would add our parts afterwards. So the process was much better.

The writing went into the mixing as well cause another big thing that was done differently because though we did record with Paul Orfino for the sixth time, at Millbrook Studios, this is the first time we got someone different to mix it. So getting everything to tape or to hard drive was great with Paul, because he’s very experienced and we love going up to Millbrook Sound Studios and enjoy that process. But now you have Zack Orhen, who although we didn’t meet but dealt with mixing it through email, cause he’s in California and we’re here in New York.

Lynora: [laugh]

Ross: Yea. It’s a weird process.

Bob: But it was good because we explained to him what we were looking for and he’s more in tune with stuff that’s going on with death metal. Paul, although he’s done a phenomenal job in the past, he’s just not as in tune with our sound.

Ross: Paul’s an old school guy, he worked with a lot of rock and roll guys like Simon Kirke from Bad Company, and Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) he’s done a lot of Jazz stuff. He’s a phenomenal producer. Zack Ohren is a younger guy and he’s coming from a different place, he’s more up on what things sound like today, in the metal scene and in the newer music scene in general. So, it was just cool to go to someone different and get a different ear and a different flavor and see what they can inject into what we’ve written. And he did a phenomenal job.

Bob: Yea it came out really well, the music came across better. The feeling of the music came across. Now the punch that we needed was there the clarity was there.

Ross: Yea in the production.

Bob: The production had a more powerful sound that we really needed, so it came out really good and getting back to what I was saying before. While he was mixing it in the now (which we never had that opportunity in the past) he would send us a mix and then we’d listen to it and be like “you know what we need a little something over here.” So I did a lead or do whatever and then emailed it to him and then he added it in there and gave it back to me.

Ross: It’s crazy, right?

Bob: So now, we’re writing into the mix too, which is great, and now I was even able to do some intro stuff which I was never able to do before, one because of the computer because I never had the means in the past, and two because even while it’s being mixed he can throw it in after the fact, say ok I want this and that before this song, so the whole raw process was so different and it shows I think on the record.

Lynora: It seems easier.

Ross: Oh it was much easier because when you’re trying to craft the song as you go cause in the past once we were done tracking that was it. He’d shut down shop and get ready for the mix. And it is what it is, and you can’t add things after the fact. This time was great like Bob said there were a couple of points in certain song where we thought wow that’s great but it could use a little something. Bob would just come up with something and say let’s try to fit this in there. He’d send it out and he’d put it in the mix and it would be great. So there were no limitations.

Lynora: Yea it seems way more flexible than how it was.

Ross: Yea and with the email it was great he’d send us mixes and we’d come home from work and there would be four different mixes. And we would listen to them and pick and see what we like and what we needed to tweak so yea it was a cool experience.

Lynora: Being seasoned veterans how do you feel about the state of the metal music scene now?

Ross: I think it’s good, I think it’s strong. I mean, I’m a little out of the loop cause I’m more old school you know. When I was 15 I knew everything. I knew all the new bands, I knew all the new demos and I knew what was going on. Now it’s a little different, I get caught up in life, and work and responsibilities and stuff. So I’m not as familiar with probably like 80% of the newer stuff that’s coming out but I see there is a thriving scene. The scene has gotten bigger, I mean there’s a lot more to pay attention to, there’s a lot more recognition in the press and the media. And you see bands like this on bigger tours like the Mayhem tour, Ozzfest, Sounds of the Underground; bands like Behemoth and Nile getting on Ozzfest. It’s very cool to see it get to that level. Because people in the past never thought this music was going to achieve a certain level, and whether it’s going to go beyond where it is now is a whole other issue, but as long as people still come out and support the music then that’s all that matters. I think it’s healthy.

Lynora: Why do you feel the need to still make your music now; what are you motives now as opposed to when you were first starting out?

Bob: It’s the same. It’s almost like we started back in ‘88 and you’re constantly looking to improve yourself. Alright, new record to work on, we want to try something cool and want to make the best stuff you can and always have that drive. You want to see how creative you can be, how far you can push this kind of music, what you can do with it or what we can do as a band. We just love it so it’s that anticipation to be like “Wow what can we pull off this time, what can we create?”

Ross: But honestly, I think I can speak for Bob, Phil and Steve, it’s something that we found in our lives that we feel really passionate about, it’s something we really enjoy and it’s something that we’ve been able to continue for twenty plus years. We love it. I mean yea sometimes it sucks, like the business end is shit, and that kind of taints it for us. You know what I’m saying when you gotta deal with a lot of nonsense like that. But, just when you strip it right down, we do it because we enjoy it and we love it, and not just the musical aspect of it. We love creating music and writing music and trying to kind of push ourselves. It’s also about just the whole journey too and all the great people we’ve met over the years, all the places we’ve been. How fortunate are we all to be able to do this? So we never lose sight of that, we always keep that in mind whenever we have a real shitty show or a shitty day or when things are miserable you always gotta say well we could be doing a 9 to 5 gig and do the same thing. But we have something unique and we recognize that and we’re fortunate to still be able to do it and we love it.

Lynora: That actually ties into a question I was going to ask way later, but why do you think that you guys have been able to do it for twenty years where other bands will fail in the start, or other bands will give up? What is it, is it persistence is it...?

Ross: It could be that, it could be drive, our motivation.

Lynora: What keeps your fan base so strong?

Ross: I think our fans are really sharp. I think that people who are into music see that we are as passionate about it as it seems on the surface. I think when people meet us at shows, we’ve always been hands on, we’re not inaccessible as people, cause we’re fans too. There’s nothing different about us, or you, and anybody else that’s coming out to the shows. When we started out going to shows and seeing our favorite bands it was like wow it’d be cool to express ourselves through our music and create something unique and I think that’s what it’s about for us. I think the fans see that and I think we’ve been consistent too. I think we’ve gotten better with each album, we haven’t strayed too far off the path. It’s not the same album. All of our albums have a common thread running through it and I think our fans see that and respect that. And they look forward to our releases - maybe they don’t I don’t know but that’s what I’m told. [laugh] We can hope.

Lynora: Which crew from the other bands that you used to play with do you still play with or that you’d look forward to playing with again?

Bob: Older bands that started with us? Well, we’re on tour with Vader, a prime example. I mean, I have been writing to Peter since the demo days in the late 80’s. We used to trade demos with each other; we were pen pals back in the day. I first met Vader when they came here in ‘92 or ‘93 with Deicide the first time I got to meet the guys. And then we toured again in ‘96 and then we toured with them again in 2002 and again in 2006 and now we’re here with them again and we keep crossing paths and we’ve been friends. Going back to the last question, one of the many cool benefits about doing this and you have friendships that last forever and we respect Vader, they’re great people. First and foremost you want people who are good guys - good people - no-bullshit guys. They’re great musicians; great talent and we love their music. Them, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, we’ve known all these guys, Krisiun, so many bands since back in those early days that we’re still in touch with, that we still play shows with whether it’s a festival or tour. Grave, Nile, you name it, I mean we pretty much know anyone who’s been in the scene for as long as we’ve been friends with them on some kind of level. We’ve shared the stage with just about everybody so, it’s cool, you know.

Lynora: Where do you think you want to go next?

Ross: Dinner [laugh]