(Answers by: DD (Dr. Death) and MC (Madame Champville)
1. Greetings to all of you, would we start with the origin of the band, both in terms of ideologically and musically, your aims in shaping the direction of the band?
MC: Salutations! Thank you for daring to approach us with this interview! Our tear on
society began in 2013 in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) with a first group of libertines. We
parted ways when Dr. Death and myself had to move back to Ontario where we finally
settled in Hamilton, Canada. Ideologically we seek to embody a modern day image of the Libertine social group as described more specifically in the Marquis de Sade’s 120 days of Sodom. The notion of sadism is carried out during public performances by way of costumes, staged theatrics and in the style of extreme death metal that we play.
DD - Sonically, the music written for the band is a grotesquery of extreme metal, modern classical chamber music, and harsh noise. The instrumentation has its core in the death metal quartet, but we also include elements of electronic noise instruments and in future projects some classical instruments as well. The music is composed by Dr. Death and is based in both traditional and modern classical music including chromatic harmony, serialization, theme and variation, counterpoint, and aleatory/chance techniques.
2. Definitely the aspect of the members reflects a grotesque imagery and I personally like this. Tell us the reason behind choosing this appearance?
DD - Absolutely! And grotesque is the perfect word to describe our appearance. All of our outfits represent the hermaphroditical aspects of nature that are so important in Sade’s atheistic philosophical rants. Our outfits are also inspired by the infamous filmic adaptation - Salo: 120 Days of Sodom by Paulo Passolini. By donning such striking costumes, we are more easily able to draw our audience into the sexually sadistic world of Sade and the libertine heroes.
3. You’ve maintained the same line-up for the band over its four-year history, what is it you think makes you all work well together?
MC - Our strong bond as a band starts with our arrangement. We are a collective of death metal musicians who have agreed to play each other’s music instead of guaranteeing financial compensation - in the case of 30 immolated it is Dr. Death who writes the music and has the final say in all the aesthetics and imagery. We stay out of each other’s way when it is not our music that is being played, but we also contribute some creative add-ons when we feel it to be appropriate. For 30 immolated in particular, our desire to deliver a sense of unease to the audience when playing live is key, and respecting the aesthetic and narrative. Above all, when we play together there is an undeniable chemistry and amaraderie between us all.
4. Apart from the avant-garde and death metal influence, the progressive element is undoubtedly present to a great extent in your music. Is this just the way the music is taking you?
DD - In all reality, the music is a slave to the story and structure. The first album was based on the story 120 Days of Sodom, whose written structure is ever-intensifying violence and chaos. So of course the music reflects this as closely as possible - beginning as a simple song structure, and ending in a noise improvisation with almost no cohesion between the band members. Our EP “Burial of the Dead - Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring” is a reimagining of Stravinsky’s infamous ballet. Because Stravinsky’s style was early European modern classical music, the EP has a more progressive sound based on more folk-like melodies, polyrhythms and polytonality. Our next full length will be somewhere in between with some melodic elements, polytonality and rhythms, but also a lot of bizarre chaotic noise and brutal metal. The structure and sonic quality are based on my interpretation of Sade’s novel Julliette - a 1200 page story that takes us through the transformation of a young innocent girl into a bloodthirsty libertine.
5. Most of you have previously played in previous bands more oriented to styles such as Thrash/Speed/Punk. Why reason you decided now to evolute to a more intricate music? And what feelings do you express through ‘30 Immolated;16 returned’ that you can’t express with neither of your other projects you are involved with?
DD - We all come from diverse musical backgrounds which of course helps to define our
future paths. The decision to produce such intricate music is largely based on the fact that Dr. Death, Madame Champville and Father Bones are all classically trained musicians and to us, The Rite of Spring was a fairly obvious choice being an extreme work itself and filled with metal parallels such as the rhythms, melodies, and textures.
MC - 30 immolated ; 16 returned is indeed a unique creation. The main elements behind the music are a cross-over into multi-genres/aesthetics; catharsis through staged violence, theatrics and acting. In other words: the fact that this project is impossible to define in one word helps us to express more than in other projects. If we tried any of this with some of our other bands, they would lose credibility and meaning.
6. Your arrangement and use of samples paint a sonic picture of ritualistic murder from the Midsommar festivities. Do you agree that this aspect plays an important role to band's presentation?
MC - In the case of our latest EP “Burial of The Dead”: yes, definitely. Our samples are
created with Max/MSP, a visually based software program. The samples from the first
self-titled album were specifically designed to emulate the sounds of a torture chamber: the victims’ cries; torture instruments being prepared; and sounds from a dungeon-like room.
But because “The Rite Of Spring’s” story runs parallel to that of Midsommar’s, we gathered sounds of spring rituals and sacrifices as best as possible. In the beginning one can hear thesound of a stream; something (or someone) being thrown in the water; and someone drowning. These types of samples are in fact important to the image of the band in that they add a layer to our overall imagery which in turn helps to draw our audience into our sonic world even more.
7. Your whole opus is based on Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite Of Spring” Ballet, which is considered one of the first examples of Modernism in music and is noted for its brutality, its barbaric rhythms, and its dissonance. In which way you perform your inspiration on this?
DD - much of these elements are heard in the arrangement and performance of the work.
Father Bones is a very intricate and hard hitting drummer, and also loves to colour the
melodic rhythms of the guitars in his drums. The rest I feel is all part of the arrangement of the musical layers, and endless hours of practice - working out who plays what, our sound palette, the vocal arrangement, etc. It truly was a collaborative experience.
8. Are you pleased by the reviews so far and be honest are third party opinions (press, fans, etc.) on your music important to you? Or are your music and band the only things that matter?
MC - We’ve been pleased by the responses we’ve gotten and especially the amount of
attention the band has received after the Rite of Spring EP and Antechamber video. We
enjoy seeing both the positive and negative reviews, as it lets us know how we are being
perceived. And as we always say: negative attention is still good publicity.
DD - But in all honesty, being libertines with superior intellectual, social, taste, and wealth, the court of public opinion is laughable to us at best.
9. Recently I’ve discovered a whole new side to the Canadian metal scene not known to me before. With the strange population density that is Canada how do you go about building a metal scene and attain followers?
DD - we are all big fans of Canadian Metal. As far as I can remember, Canada has always
had a fairly healthy metal scene. Much of our inspiration comes from bands like Gorguts, Cryptopsy, and Strapping Young Lad among others. The sparse population definitely makes it difficult to build a large following as distance between towns can be inconvenient for tours - in fact, it was a large reason for moving from Alberta to Southern Ontario which boasts the largest population density in Canada with lots of cities within closer distance of each other.
10. Over the years death metal has evolved to be not just one specific sound. Is there any specific death metal sound that means more to you than the other?
DD - The evolution of metal over the years is fascinating and chaotic, and we embrace all of it. Between the four of us, we almost cover the gambit. Being siblings, Father Bones and I grew up on NWOBHM, 80’s thrash, and 90’s death metal, but later on were turned on to some black, grind, and experimental metal. Disgusting Smith has brought us a lot of jems over the years with selections of bestial death, avant-garde, folk, and thrash metal that we’d otherwise never have heard.
MC - For me, my introduction to more extreme music started in post punk and industrial
which lead me down a path of more noise-infused metal, some of which still lined up with a lot of Dr. Death’s and Father Bone’s favorite bands.
11. When checking today’s extreme music scene, do you miss the ancient days? In which records were made with high spirit, communications were made more sincerely and honestly. What are the main differences for you? Or do you completely feel content about this modern way of extreme music?
MC - Back in the day perhaps the feeling of extreme metal being underground was better guarded with the older mediums such as vinyl records and cassette tapes. At the time, extreme music recordings were difficult to come by, but with the advent of the internet and online sharing this style of music has become more accessible. However, the extremity of the sound has not necessarily been compromised because of it.
DD - And I would argue that the underground scene still produces the same caliber of spirit, honesty and sincerity - but there’s just a lot more ‘poppy’ sounding metal bands nowadays that try to pass themselves off as being metal. But there’s always going to be posers. The underground scene is always moving and evolving, and for me, it just keeps getting more interesting. Metal truly is an inexhaustible style.
12. How are you guys feeling about playing live again? I think with the last 2 years, fans are hungry for live shows so I’m expecting them to be special but mixed with some understandable caution.
MC - Pretty much, yes. We were very excited and nervous. We've played twice since the
lockdown ended in Canada and the weirdest thing for me to process, after our first show, was going from being completely isolated to having so many people in one room at once. I felt socially awkward, as well as an odd sense of disconnection. I wasn’t fully in the moment and that bothered me a lot. But the post performance rush was still there and I very much welcomed it.
DD - I am stoked to start performing in full force again! We are taking a small break right
now to record the next full length, but can’t wait to perform our sadistic immolations again.
The next album’s theatrical elements are robust and will require even more live electronic instruments, slaves, and more props. It’ll be terrifying and dizzying! Definitely something you’ll have to see with your own eyes to believe!
13. Thank you so much, not only for taking the time to interview with us, but for sharing your music, passion, self-expression, and dedication. It has been an honour. Last words?
DD - Yes - do keep your bodies nubile and tender for our next LP due out late 2023. It’ll be nearly an hour of sonic degradation of violence, and more complex than anything else we’ve done thus far.
MC - Thank you for this opportunity, we look forward to further torturing you all!
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