Pete Jay:  Vocals and Bass
Donnie:  Guitar
Colin "Cody" Keyworth:  Guitar
Eli:  Drums

Portland, Oregon  USA
Label:  Forest Moon Records
Genre: Pagan Folk Black Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Oakhelm's Eli

June 5, 2009

Interviewer: Peter

DISCOGRAPHY:

Demo (2006)
Betwixt and Between (2007)

Portland, Oregon’s Oakhelm is a band that has its share of loyal fans.  While they remain relatively unknown to most people, the live shows that they do play have a habit of winning over new fans.  Currently on Forest Moon Records, the band is anticipating a new album to be released later this year.  Metal Psalter caught up with drummer Eli a few days prior to the band’s show as an opener for the Seattle date on this year’s Pagan Fest to discuss all things Oakhelm.

Peter: For those who are unfamiliar with Oakhelm, would you say a few things about yourselves?

Eli: We basically started Oakhelm when Fall of the Bastards broke up. We kind of got to a point where Donnie, Kody and I were still really into what we were doing, and Jason and Lucas were more focused on Menacer and Splatterhouse. I had recently moved to Seattle and met Pete Jay; we were already planning on playing some music together, and it ended up working out great with him playing for Oakhelm. I think we started by asking him to do vocals on our demo since we hadn't found a singer, and we were all really stoked on how it came out and on working with Pete in general.

Peter: What are some of the band's influences?

Eli: The Frogs, Big Lurch, alcohol and money.

Peter: The band's first album Betwixt and Between was released in 2007. What was the mindset at the time, and how do you feel you have grown from that point?

Eli: We wrote Betwixt and Between over a long period of time, so I can't say we really had a particular mindset when we wrote it. Two of the songs (“Immram” and “Of Wood and Blood”) we actually wrote with Fall of the Bastards just before we broke up. At that point we had already kind of shifted directions, and as Donnie, Kody and I were doing all of the songwriting, we decided to keep the last few songs we'd written for Oakhelm (I should mention that Lucas Danner of FotB helped with the writing of those two songs and was really cool about us continuing to play them). The rest of the songwriting was done fairly quickly.  At that point, Pete and I lived in Seattle, and Donnie and Kody lived in Portland; one or both of us would just drive down there a couple weekends every month to write stuff.  It's kind of funny; we never actually played together as a complete band until about two weeks before our first show, which was a few months after that record was released.

Peter: The artwork for the album was done by Kris Verwimp. How did you get in contact with him and what did he bring to the table?

Eli: We got in touch with Kris Verwimp through a friend of ours named Britton Dicks. We had asked a few people to do the cover art prior to contacting Kris, but they all were either too busy or just flaked out. Britton had reviewed our demo and has stayed in contact with us since. At some point, I mentioned that we'd been having problems with the cover art; I think he had recently interviewed Kris, and suggested we contact him.

Working with Kris has been great. Pete came up with the cover concept and Kris nailed it. The only gripe I have is more our fault than his. The cover art encompasses a lot of Pete's lyrics (from “Immram” in particular) which are heavily influenced by the Celtic Book of the Dead, and are strongly metaphoric. If you read the lyrics, you can see why we asked him to paint what he did, but the truth is most people didn't/don't take the time to do that, and it kind of gives the impression that we were just trying to jump on the “Viking metal” bandwagon. He's doing the cover art for our next record, and we're all really excited about it.

Peter: Is the band working on any new material and if so, what are some of the details that can be given at this time?

Eli: Yes. We just finished mixing our second full-length with Billy Anderson, and it should be out on Forest Moon in late 2009.

Peter: Are there any plans to sign with a larger record label at this time?

Eli: No. We talked briefly to a bigger label, but it was kind of funky and I'm not sure how serious they were, anyway. We wouldn't be opposed to working with a bigger label, but we aren't really going out of our way to find one. Working with John (Forest Moon) has been awesome. He's a really cool guy and treats bands well, so we were really stoked when he wanted to do our second full-length.

Peter: For those who either haven't seen Oakhelm or are planning to see the band at the Pagan Fest show in Seattle, what can they expect from an Oakhelm live show?

Eli: Leather, HELLA grease, and a big drunk Irish guy threatening you with violence.

Peter: Are there any other shows lined up in the near future?

Eli: Not specifically, although we are probably going to tour the West Coast and Southwest with The Funeral Pyre in August. We've been talking about touring Japan at some point late in 2009 or sometime in 2010, but that's all really up in the air still.

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