Interview

MOONSPELL

Samedi 9 juin 2012

Hi Fernando ! How are you doing ?

Fernando Ribeiro : Great ! We're just finishing up this first half of the tour. We're getting back to Portugal the day after tomorrow. So we're a little bit tired of the road. There's a lot of travel every day but I think it's great.

It's a pleasure to see you play a headliner show. Over the past few years you've often played at festivals or with big tour packages. How come you don't play as headliners more often ?

F.R. : Well it's really hard for bands now with the dimension of Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

to go alone on the road because sometimes we try and even though people ask very much for the headliner shows, it seems like when we are headliner, sometimes there aren't enough people so I think it's not up to the bands. Of course the bands want to play as much as they can and also give the ticker buyers a good show and especially when we are involved in tour packaging or whatever it's sometimes half an hour or 45-50 minutes so we can enjoy to do some headliner shows because we are sure that people who come know about Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, they know about our history, both the past but also the present. For us it's a great feeling, but in a way sometimes it's hard for the promoters. With the crisis some people probably decide to go only to festivals where they can see many other bands. So it's not the best situation but we always try to have in between the touring and the festivals some headliner shows. I think it's good for everyone so whenever we have the chance, we headline but it's not always as simple as people think. It also depends on the countries. In Portugal we headline all the time, when we go to South America as well. It all has to do with the dimension of the band. But I think having three, four or five bands in a bill is something that is very imposed in the scene right now and that will go on so. Bands and promoters have to make an effort. There has to be an effort also from the crowd. When there's a headline show, they have to prove with ticket sales that this band deserves to headline. Sometimes it's hard for everyone, small or bigger bands.

How come you play in such small clubs ? The venue here has a capacity of 300 people, I heard it was the same for your gig in The Netherlands.

F.R. : We organise the shows in two ways. We are doing the more extensive tour, the Metalfests, with bands like Megadeth

Megadeth

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, Legion of the Damned

Legion of the Damned

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. We just come back from a festival with many people in Loreley in Germany. So instead of having some days off, instead of just being in a service station, we booked these one-off shows in small clubs. Eveybody does that to make ends meet with the tourbus and everything. On the other hand it's also a way of being more together with the fans and I think the perfect atmosphere for a Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

show, even though we sometimes have great experiences on festivals, it's exactly the clubs, that's where we started. There were a lot of club tours back in the 90's and then the festivals took over. So I think it's gonna be a very enjoyable experience for everyone because it's us and the people. There's nothing else to distract them like the festival atmosphere or going to the seaside, the merchandising market. The show in The Netherlands was incredible and I think this show will also be something quite special for people. In smaller clubs people know it's a great atmosphere for this kind of dark metal bands because they can be closer to us, they can have more proximity and also more songs.

The band has been around for 20 years. Do you ever get bored of it ? Wouldn't you like to focus on something else sometimes ?

F.R. : A lot goes through the mind of the musician. Obviously, coming from Portugal and having such a different story from all the other bands in the scene, Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

is always enthusiastic about the challenge because it's not always easy to have a band such as Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. We pursue our own way musically, we've never been looking for the trend or where can we fit better. The band is driven by a certain kind of artistic inspiration of expressing ourselves. And in the end of the day, that's really important for the band and for the fans. We have to be stronger than ever because there are many bands, a lot of competition. People have a lot of choices. It never gets boring because we have to survive in the scene. We always have to think ahead, to create something we believe in artistically. I think the kind of direction that we've always had since the beginning allows us never to go to the point of boredom, not knowing what to do next. But obviously we miss some stuff from when we were starting off as a band, all that enthousiasm, the first discoveries and also there was a lot of respect towards the artist. I think the Internet brought a lot of good things but also a different relationship between the bands and the fans. Sometimes the album isn't even released yet and people are talking bad stuff about it which is something unbelievable but it happens to many bands. I remember when Opeth

Opeth

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

released Heritage. The songs were not available for anyone. People were already making a big mess out of the album. So you really have to create something musically that you're a bulletproof and that's what keeps you sane and on track. Nowadays times are changing and we have to adapt a lot of stuff. That's all part of a band career and the way you deal with it. It's all about expectations, yours and the fans' expectations and it's always a sensitive territory.

Have you noticed a difference in your audience over the years ?

F.R. : Some people are the same as before, some aren't. We kind of appeal to a younger crowd since Memorial in 2007. That was an album that people really embraced and so there were many people from that point on discovering our past albums like Wolfheart and Irreligious. Last year we played at Metal Camp in Slovenia and there was a father and his two kids, all with Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

shirts. Two generations listening to Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. I can notice a change by watching the crowd. There's a lot of younger people listening to metal, which is good because it shows that this kind of music has a kind of different expression towards people. It's not an aged thing, it's not only people in their forties who listen to us, it's a bit of everything.

Do the bandmembers all focus on Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

or do you have other projects beside the band ?

F.R. : I had a lot of projects. When you are doing a band that really takes all your time, energy and inspiration, sometimes instead of resting, musicians like to go somewhere else. It's a part of people who like to create, like an addiction. I've been doing a lot of projects. Some were propular, other very underground. But Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

is very complete, especially with the two albums. It gave us like a musical expression and width that we didn't have in the past. So there's not really need or time to do other projects. But I think it's also good, even though we live just from Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

(which is not only being on the road, songwriting but also administrating, it's a very complete job), to have something else than being a musician. It can be many things. I work in books as a hobby, my money doesn't come from there. I like to translate, I like to write, I like to do a lot of stuff on literature. Mike, our drummer, does martial arts (taekwondo). There's a lot of stuff that we do but it always have to be possible within the Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

activities. I did theater in Portugal, a tribute to a very important Portuguese singer. Sometimes it was really hard because it was two years of jumping in the plane, playing with Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

and then coming back after the show, go and do the performance. So to sum up, Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

is very intense. Even though we keep some separate stuff, I don't think there will be anything of notice in the next few months or years, just Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

.

Your last release, Alpha Noir / Omega White, is divided in two, why is that ?

F.R. : It was a choice from the band really. It was something to do with our creative principle and the way that we wanted to be as songwriters this time. Because all the other albums, I think the Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

nature as a band, it's very dull to start with. We are a band that started off with our underground metal roots but it's not that the bands who inspired us have done the same album all the time, bands like Bathory

Bathory

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

or Celtic Frost

Celtic Frost

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. They always expended, they always wanted to play with different atmospheres in their music. So we kind of took that legacy also into our own band. What happened is that we came up with three songs when we were doing the first demos for Alpha Noir / Omega White. And those three songs were different, especially one of them, the White Omega song. We had two options : we could go the same way we did with the eight albums we did so far and try to mix different emotions in just one record, but we felt inside that it was time to plant a different seed in a different soil and to create this double album where we could concentrate on the more enthusiastic songs without having to search for a break or a atmospheric break. And then we could do Omega White, very uncompromising, gothic and atmospheric. We present a musical experience that is based upon this tools. It probably won't be repeated. We'll probably be back to more regular albums after this one but in truth it was just something that was in a time showing itself to us as a creative principle. The band liked it so much that we wanted to make it the concept of the album. A lot of people really like it, some people prefer when Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

does only one album but you can never think about it because regardless if you make a quadruple album or an EP, people will always have something to say about it. The band thinks about the artistic integrity and about what our inner voice is telling us. That's what we do. All the rest is beyond our control. We really wanted to make a double album. We wanted to split both natures of Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

and this is exactly what we did. Many people are against it, many people are inside it but in the end of the day that's not really important. We wouldn't be the same band if we hadn't done Alpha Noir / Omega White in 2012.

What are the plans for the future ?

F.R. : Basically touring, exposing the new album, trying to get more fans into listening to it, also sharing some quality moments with the fans when we play the old songs like Alma Matter or Vampiria. That's something that also kind of became towards people affection classics of European metal, something we never expected. We are part of a generation that I think left a great work in European metal, like Opeth

Opeth

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

Katatonia

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

Tiamat

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

Samael

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. After tonight's gig, we're going to finish up the Metalfest tour in Switzerland then we head back to Portugal and after a couple of days we'll be back on the road again with a Portuguese show and we're going to Holland for another show, then Sweden, and Romania. So basically the rest of the year will be touring. So far we have many festivals booked until the end of August and then we're going to Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Turkey. These countries really like Moonspell

Moonspell

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

. And then we'll be touring again with Pain

Pain

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, Swallow the Sun

Swallow the Sun

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

and Lake of Tears

Lake of Tears

Clique pour voir la fiche du groupe

, which I think is a very good bill musically wise. And before the year is ending we're going on this Barge to Hell, which is a metal cruise with 40 bands. We did this in the past, it was called 70000 Tons of Metal. It's something that became very popular, 40 bands in a cruise on a really good boat. The atmosphere is incredible. I was afraid of it myself but I have to say we had loads of fun with the fans and all the bands. It was like making a cruise with 2000 metalheads. Many people are coming from all over the world. The cruise departs from Miami, it goes to the Bahamas and back. I think it's gonna be a really good end of the year. And then we go on tour again up to the end of 2013.

Anything you'd like to add ?

F.R. : Thank you for the interview. Alpha Noir / Omega White is out right now. We've always had great support from the Belgian crowd and I hope they love the new album because we really love playing here. We've been playing here since 1995 and there's always been warm hospitality, great response, well treated by the promoters so I'm happy when we come to Belgium. Make me happy ! Come to the shows and buy the album.

TU AS AIME ? PARTAGE !

AUTEUR : Elodie

Liégeoise immigrée dans la capitale, Elodie a rejoint l'équipe en 2012 et s'est rapidement imposée comme une rédactrice compulsive en alimentant ...

Liégeoise immigrée dans la capitale, Elodie a rejoint l'équipe en 2012 et s'est rapidement imposée comme une rédactrice compulsive en alimentant abondamment la section 'News' tout au long de la journée. Plus intéressée par la musique sombre que par la pop-punk, elle réalise également des interviews d'artistes dans la confidence, au déto...

Liégeoise immigrée dans la capitale, Elodie a rejoint l'équipe en 2012 et s'est rapidement imposée comme une rédactrice compulsive en alimentant abondamment la section 'News' tout au long de la journée. Plus intéressée par la musique sombre que par la pop-punk, elle réalise également des interviews d'artistes dans la confidence, au détour d'un backstage ou d'un coin de bar. ...

Liégeoise immigrée dans la capitale, Elodie a rejoint l'équipe en 2012 et s'est rapidement imposée comme une rédactrice compulsive en alimentant abondamment la section 'News' tout au long de la journée. Plus intéressée par la musique sombre que par la pop-punk, elle réalise également des interviews d'artistes dans la confidence, au détour d'un backstage ou d'un coin de bar. ...

Liégeoise immigrée dans la capitale, Elodie a rejoint l'équipe en 2012 et s'est rapidement imposée comme une rédactrice compulsive en alimentant abondamment la section 'News' tout au long de la journée. Plus intéressée par la musique sombre que par la pop-punk, elle réalise également des interviews d'artistes dans la confidence, au détour d'un backstage ou d'un coin de bar. ...

► COMMENTAIRES

Tu dois être connecté pour pouvoir commenter !

Soit en deux clics via Facebook :

Soit via l'inscription classique (mais efficace) :

► A VOIR ENSUITE

MOONSPELL - Extinct

MOONSPELL - Alpha Noir

MOONSPELL
Le 22-06-2019 à Clisson

MOONSPELL
Le 29-03-2013 à Oslo

MOONSPELL
Le 08-05-2009 à Bomal-sur-Ourthe

MOONSPELL
Le 08-05-2009 à Bomal-sur-Ourthe

Kylesa : Un retour sans aucune rouille

FRESH

NON SERVIAM - La Lune Dont Mon Âme Est Pleine

FRESH

100 DEMONS - Embrace The Black Light

FRESH

DUTCH ELM - S/t

FRESH

Nos albums / EP bonus du mois de Mai 2026

FRESH

Les concerts à ne pas rater ce mois-ci (Édition Juin 2026)

FRESH