Fernando Ribeiro: vocals
Ricardo Amorim: guitar
Pedro Paixao: keyboards & guitar
Mike Gaspar: drums
Aires Pereira: bass

Brandoa, Lisbon  PORTUGAL
Label: SPV/Steamhammer Records
Genre: Gothic / Black Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Moonspell has been around for more than 10 years and has persevered through several lineup changes, music style changes, and even a record label change or two.  For the band, that’s just life, as they continue to soldier on.  On their Night Eternal tour, Metal Psalter caught up with drummer Mike Gaspar to talk about all things Moonspell, an update on their current record label situation, and their attempt to bring some Halloween spirit to their native country of Portugal.

Peter: Would you mind giving us an update of the tour so far?

Mike Gaspar: So far, we started with a goodbye show last year at the Hard Rock Café in Lisbon and the proceeds from the show went towards cancer victims and research. We also did a special ceremony at the Hard Rock in which we gave some of the Moonspell memorabilia to them, so we’re going to have a wall of stuff at the Lisbon Hard Rock, where you can go eat and see the things donated by Moonspell.  Things such as Fernando’s cape, my cymbals and snare drum, Ricardo’s guitar, and ten passes from different countries over the years collected by Pedro.  That gave us a great start for the tour and the show was awesome.  We started the Night Eternal tour in Tampa, Florida and haven’t had a day off since; this is like our twelfth show or something like that.  The only day off is a travel day from Denver to Vancouver, so we’ll be in the bus resting a bit, but so far, we’ve had the most amazing fans that have followed us over the years: people that have wanted to see Moonspell, but have never had the opportunity or those who have seen us at festivals, but have never seen the full set.  Overall, I think it’s been real positive for us, especially since we’re coming from Europe and not having such a huge fan base here over the years, but I think it keeps growing so much more every time we tour here, and America keeps opening their views on music and all different kinds of influences to where we don’t mind being so strange with different accents or influences.  There was a time in the mid ‘90s when we had our best albums, like Wolfheart and Irreligious, and music was very concentrated in the Americas and not so much from other countries.  Now, it’s become more global each time and fans we talked to have made their way to European festivals or festival here in the States, however few they are here.  Overall, it’s been great and we’d like to come back and do bigger stuff.

Peter: Originally, Samael was to be on the tour.  What happened there and how has the current configuration worked out?

Mike: It was a bummer when they cancelled.  It was a last minute thing and it’s good to have Divine Heresy on the bill, as we’ve known Dino (Cazares) for years from Fear Factory, but Samael is closer to us in terms of genre and is a European band like us, and Secrets of the Moon, who is from Germany with one of the members being from France.  Samael is from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and it will have been thirteen years since we’ve toured with them in Europe, when they toured in support of the Passage album.  We would have loved to have them on tour, but they’re not.  That’s the reality of life and this tour, so we have to go on and put on the best show for the fans that came to see us.

Peter: This tour is in support of Night Eternal, which was released last year.  The tour also marks the second time the band has toured in support of the album.  How would you compare the two tours?

Mike: Last year was different because we were on the Blackest of the Black tour with Dimmu Borgir and Danzig, so a lot of the attention was definitely on them. On one hand, we got to play in bigger places to bigger crowds, but on this tour, we get to play longer sets and most of the crowd will come to see shows on this tour to see Moonspell.  They’re there from the first song to the last song, so that’s a really good feeling for us here in America, since we haven’t had that opportunity as much.  In the beginning, when we would come here, some people would be wary and some would be curious and check us out, but not know the songs.  Now, we can play the old songs, as well as the new songs, since more people are into it and know it.  There have been fans for years that bring friends and family.  That’s the difference between the tours we did in support of the album; of course, on the bigger tours, they were much more adventurous, more excitement, and more commotion, but it’s like I said, we weren’t the main band on the bill, which takes some responsibility off of us.  On this tour, it is up to us to leave the fans happy with the performance and so far, it’s been hard to find a fan that’s been disappointed with our performance.

Peter: Speaking of Night Eternal, how would you compare it to all of the other Moonspell albums?

Mike: Night Eternal can represent all the years that we’ve been doing this and influences from the past to the present in a more modern and compact delivery when it comes to the music.  We go for some extremes, some melodic, and we brought back the female vocals that were present on the first albums, but had been absent on the more recent albums.  From the artwork to a new producer, there’s a lot going on with Night Eternal.  As you said, it came out last year and this is the second tour of North America for this album.  We also did two tours of Europe with Cradle of Filth, as well as shitloads of festivals, so the album’s brought us a bit of good luck in the same manner as albums such as Wolfheart and Irreligious.  This album reminds me a bit of that spirit, in that we’re in the cycle of what we lived and felt in ’95 and’96, being a new band at the time in Europe and having this whole new generation and opening them to new kinds of music, whether it is extreme, sensitive, or romantic, it’s whatever drives you the most.  We’ve finally started to feel that we belong after 10 years of touring here; through the ups and downs, disasters, bus breakdowns, etc., we’re finally beginning to feel more comfortable on this tour.  People are coming out to see us, want us here, and to see us continue to be more successful and bring in more fans, so we’re going to bring it all back into our next experiences, whether we play back in Europe, back home, or on our next album; tours like this sometimes makes a huge difference for us.  It gives us inspiration and the will to be better and to make sure fans are happy because these days, you get a lot of bullshit from those who are in it for the money. Moonspell’s always been about what’s in the heart and soul and we do everything genuinely.  We’ve been doing this for 17 years, so for us, it’s like family, with the fans and people we work with, even though things can get testy, but in the end, we all have the same goal and want to get to that point.

Peter: Just like family…

Mike: Just like family. [Laughs]

Peter: You mentioned female vocals.  For Night Eternal, you recruited the services of ex-Gathering vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen.  How did that come about and how do you feel about the results?

Mike: We’ve been friends with The Gathering for many years. We toured with them back in ’96, and the first tour bus both of us had, we shared together, and we’ve been connected ever since.  Whether we go to Holland or they come to Portugal, we try to stay in touch.  On “Scorpion Flower,” when Fernando came up with the lyrics and Pedro came up with the riffs and music, and Ricardo and I put our touches on it, there was a special feeling about it and Anneke’s name was brought up.  Immediately, the four of us went, “Yes!” because we know she can bring magic to a song and she has a special talent that is hard to find in the metal community.  She’s always been associated with the darker side of things, but she’s also like a flower in the middle of it all.  On the European shows, we invited her to do the song with us and even we get nervous when she gets on stage because she takes over.  We go from a normal Gothic metal band to something special because she elevates our musical performance.  We wish we could have brought her on this tour, but she has her own life with her family and other music projects.  To bring her over on a tour here would be dream come true because in Portugal, we’ve been using friends of ours to handle female vocals.  They’re usually on risers behind us.  They bring about life to our music with natural acoustic sounds.

Peter: It’ll happen someday in America, won’t it?

Mike: I hope so.  We try to kick ass to do better.  On this tour, we have a special light show with a projector that synchronizes with the music.  It impacts the show in a positive manner in that it makes them bigger and it brings something special to the fans.  It helps that we have our own guys on sound, lighting, and production, and it’s all been step by step.  Of course, if we were in Europe, it’d be easier to travel.  Coming to America, we’d have to pay for visas, flights, and other extras that have to do with helping the bands, which are in the plans.  For the next tour, we’d love to play bigger places, get a choir, and even bring in some people from America to do backing vocals.  We’ve done that before in Greece in January, when we got in contact with a girl from Thessaloniki and another girl from Athens, and did “Scorpion Flower” and “Luna.”  It’s cool for both us as a band, and them performing in their hometown.  They bring in friends and are excited to perform.  It’s a special feeling for all, so maybe one day, we’ll do something similar over here.

Peter: Is there a new album in the works and if so, would you mind giving us an update on that?

Mike: Well, that’s been in our minds for a while, but we’ve also been touring a lot.  I know Ricardo and Pedro have been writing some stuff, and and Fernando has been writing lyrics and coming up with ideas for concepts for the next album.  It’s important to get an idea of what we want to do for the album.  I’m all ready to do the album, but I’m always ready to do something when it comes to creativity, and that’s the easiest thing for us right now.  At this point, we have some things to resolve with SPV Records, which went bankrupt and we still have one more album to release with them, so we’re seeing how that will turn out and of course, we’ll need a new label.

Moonspell's Mike Gaspar

December 9, 2009

Interviewer & Photographer: Peter

DISCOGRAPHY:

Goat on Fire / Wolves From the
Fog EP (1994)
Under the Moonspell EP (1994)
Wolfheart (1995)
Irreligious (1996)
2econd Skin EP (1997)
Sin/Pecado (1998)
The Butterfly Effect (1999)
Darkness and Hope (2001)
The Antidote (2003)
Memorial (2006)
The Great Silver Eye: Best of (2007)
Under Satanae (2007)
Night Eternal (2008)
Lusitanian Metal (2008 - LIVE)

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