Interview

BLACK SHAPE OF NEXUS

Jeudi 5 mars 2009

1.Who’s behind the B.SON collective? When does this all started and how?
And now how’s this all going?

JAN : Black Shape of Nexus, is Marius, Malte, Geb, Ralf, Michael and myself. B.SON in its first outfit, came together in 2005, when Geb, Ralf (both 6-string) and I (electronics) decided to form a band that's dedicated to slow, low and somewhat spherical soundscapes with a good sense of doom and drone in it. We rehearsed with several guys in the summer of 2005 until Michael (4-string) joined up and a few weeks later our first drummer Marco did. This was our first constant line up. February 2007 Marco left the band and we're rehearsing with various drummers, until Marius got in touch with us. Now he's the guy sitting behind the drums and we have a stable line-up again.
Currently things are working out pretty fine for us. We´re still surprised by the support and chances we had in 2008. We played a little tour, that was a hell of fun, the new album is going pretty good and most of all we played Roadburn Festival, which still is like dreaming for us. A big “THANK YOU!” to everbody who supported us over the years!!!

2.Can you tell us the history of this new album which one is pretty
different than the previous work. Going now into ambient/drone while
previous work and live set are still more doom/sludge stuff.

JAN : We recorded the new album in the period of time we were left without a drummer, after our first one left us. As we´re all into drone/ ambient stuff and our first appearance was much more in that vein, it was like travelling back to our roots. So one night we gathered in our rehearsal space, turned up the amps and messed around with tons of synths, vocoders and vintage effect pedals. All songs on the album are improvised one-takes, that we taped that night! Matt/Ecocentric and Stefan/Vendetta liked the results of that recording session that much, that they wanted to release it on CD and vinyl and so here it is now. By the way, the artwork was done by Oli of Grinddesign.de. You should all check out his stuff – pure genius!
Live, we´re including the new stuff in our set as short interludes between the songs. But overall we´re more into doom/sludge thing for live shows…

3.You have now a new drummer. Are you then creating new songs now? In which
direction is this going?

JAN : Yes, we´re writing new songs right now. I think the new songs could turn out like something in between the stuff on the “s/t” LP and the “Microbarome Meetings” stuff, but with doom/sludge stuff being the mainplayer. But who knows…

4.I am often interested into lyrics. About what the band have to say or
share. What’s then writen into the B.SON songs?

MALTE: First of all: our lyrics are not about politics or religion. Every member has strong opinions. But B.SON is not on a political or religious mission.
Lyrics on the latest records were about the power of HUUUUGGGGEEE walls of sound, the effects of time travelling through drugs, lucid dreaming and broken life.
The next album’s lyrics will become more story-based. There will be a song called "ALASKAN BULLDOGS" for instance. A story about a lost expedition becoming insane during attacks of myriads of giant deer flys and gnats.

5.Looking to you live, i’ve witness you wearing shirts of different bands
like HELLSHOCK, HUSKER DÜ,... things that arefar from sludge/doom/drone.
What are your personnal history etc, that brought you into this?

JAN : All of us are rooted in the d.i.y. punk/ hardcore “scene”. We were and are active in that circles for years, like organizing shows, writing for magazines or playing in other bands. Maybe you know some of our bass player´s former bands that include i.e. Stack or Prone…?! I guess Neurosis was the band, that opened my ears for that kind of slow and massive music. I knew bands like i.e. Saint Vitus before, but the passion and energy, that Neurosis were able to unleash totally blew me away. Especially live when I first saw them on their tour with Today Is The Day and Voivod back in the days…

6.I now have seen you twice. And the first time your singer had a
microphone around the neck... It was not the case when I saw you on the
latest tour in Aachen. Why? Is that neck-microphone a one-shot? What’s the
difference between the two microphones?

MALTE: The laryngophone is VERY lo-fi. But it has a large effect on the audience in breaking the people’s viewing pattern.
Using the throat-mic gives me also the opportunity to much more concentrate on myself, which makes the performance more intense.
But especially on tour i use the throat-mic only for one song, because this type of "singing" is VERY consuming. I have to keep my voice healthy to stand nine or ten performances in a row. So i can’t use the collar all the time.
Furthermore i have a very deep and throaty voice and the throat-mic cannot fully catch this. Conclusion: a good balance between both mics does the trick.

7.I guess you’re more linked or rooted in DIY punk community than the metal
one. Is that right? Then which community do you prefer? Any attachement to
the DIY feelings maybe?

JAN : As always written above, that´s right. I don´t think we prefer any community. There are aspects we like within both. The d.i.y. community offers a kind of political awareness, that most metalheads lack. Furthermore the vegan/vegetarian food is better most of the time, compared to “metal shows”…haha. Anyway, we also love to play “metal shows” as we sometimes get the impression, that the audience is way more enthusiastic and doesn´t care about looking silly while banging their heads. That´s the way it should be live- don´t care about style and acting cooler than the guy next to you – just let loose!

8.The artwork of « microbarome meetings » send us a feeling that B.SON is
not really band that is into religions. What is your personnal point of
views about religions and what it may brings as radical movements in today’s
geopolitical history.

JAN : We´re definitely not a religious band or something like that. Neither christian, nor satanic, or heathen or something else. Thinking for yourself can be fun, so why is there a need for someone to tell you what to think or to do? Beside that, there can be found much more interesting thoughts and ideas in other books than the bible…

9.Are there any bands, labels, in your music genre that would advise us to
discover?

JAN : Hm, there are tons of good bands out there. Some of my favorites at the moment are Kodiak, Gnaw Their Tongues or The Devil´s Blood. But beside that there are many many good bands not fitting into the doom/sludge thing like Tegan And Sara, TV On The Radio, Santogold, Gaslight Anthem or Antony And The Johnsons. But as for all music, that´s just my personal taste…

10.Thanks for all and hope to see you play in Belgium, and why not Liege.
Last word is for you!

JAN : We´re going to play Liege in September 2009 with our friends Beehoover. Thanks for the interview and the great photos you´re doing! See you next time!