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Orange Goblin Interview with Ben Ward: The Sick and the Dying Bring Out the Dead for the Harvest of Skulls

I’ve been fortunate enough to interview Orange Goblin three times. The first was a cross-continental phoner with frontman Ben Ward about the band’s 2007 album, Healing Through Fire, that never ran in the magazine it was supposed to. The second was a backstage in-person chat with all four members of the band, who had flown over from their native London to play the Planet Caravan festival in North Carolina in 2009, and the audio recording from that was so atrocious that I couldn’t even transcribe it (someone was playing on stage on the other side of the wall — I kind of saw it coming).

So, needless to say, when the chance popped up to once again speak to Ward about Orange Goblin‘s first American tour in half a decade and the recent release of a five-disc CD box set comprising all of their catalogue but the aforementioned 2007 offering, my only hope was that I came out of it with something usable. Third time, as they say, is the charm.

Orange Goblin in about a week’s time are set to begin that run of US dates, with Indianapolis trad doomers The Gates of Slumber and Brooklyn psychedelic outfit Naam in tow. It might seem like odd timing for a band to tour four years after their last album came out, but as Ward — who’s joined in Orange Goblin by guitarist Joe Hoare, bassist Martyn Millard and drummer Chris Turner — explains in the interview, there was a little while there where they weren’t sure they were going to do anything at all, let alone travel across an ocean for a tour. Given that and the semi-ironic collapse of Sanctuary Records, I’m not about to argue.

Ward, who stands a full 18 meters in height (perhaps I exaggerate), is one of the most imposing frontmen in doom while on stage, but over the phone, he was both cordial and accommodating in our discussion of Orange Goblin‘s new beginnings, their recording plans for their long-awaited next album, coming back to the States, when Rise Above Records might do a round of vinyl reissues, life’s simple pleasures and much more. We talked about the band’s love of Pabst Blue Ribbon and their upcoming performance at Maryland Deathfest, where they’ll be joining the likes of Cathedral, Neurosis, Coroner and Voivod on one of 2011’s most eclectic bills.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

Tell me how the tour came about? What was behind the decision to come back to the States now?

Well, it’s something we’ve wanted to do for years, ever since the last tour, which was 2006.

With Scissorfight.

Yeah, that’s it. Obviously, we recorded an album after that and it would have been nice to come back to promote Healing Through Fire, but for some reason or another, it just never materialized. All of us are no spring chickens anymore. We all have families to look after and jobs to do. Getting the time off to go tour America isn’t as easy as it used to be, and we just felt that this year we kind of owe it to our fans over there as much as to ourselves. We’re thinking this could be the last time. We don’t know how much longer the band’s gonna be going on, and that sort of thing. It was just a group decision. We all said, “Definitely, 2011, let’s do it and go back.” The people at Tone Deaf Touring have been very keen, very supportive and very helpful in getting us over there and making everything work. In the past, we’ve been over there, but we haven’t arranged visas and that sort of thing, we just sort of snuck in the back door. This time, we’ve done it all properly and we’re gonna be legal and above board.

And you’re doing Maryland Death Fest, too.

That was kind of the starting block that set the whole thing in motion. As soon as we got the offer in for that. The offer there was great, and it’s a real iconic festival to do these days. It’s one of the biggest in the metal world, and to be invited is an honor for us. So we didn’t want to turn that down, and like I say, we used that as the building block for the whole tour, really. We said, “If we’re gonna do Maryland, we might as well do a whole tour while we’re there.” And as I say, Tone Deaf have been great booking the whole tour. It works out perfectly for us, so we’re really happy to be part of Maryland Deathfest this year.  I think the lineup is insanely strong. Every year is great and this year seems better than ever, so we’re really looking forward to it.

There’s a lot of doom this year, too.

Yeah, I think the name “Deathfest” can be a little bit misleading. There’s obviously a lot of death metal and grind and black metal bands, and the likes, but as you say, there’s also a really heavy strength in it of doom and alternatives to what you’d expect at a death metal festival. Even bands like Kylesa are something different. Then you’ve got ourselves, Cathedral, Corrosion of Conformity. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, I think. “Deathfest” doesn’t really cover the whole spectrum.

Have you played with The Gates of Slumber before, or is the tour the first time?

No, we’ve never played with Gates of Slumber before. I mean, we know them through when they’ve been in London, hanging out with them, and we also know the new drummer, Clyde [Paradis], from when he was in Sourvein. I think we’re two very different kinds of bands, but not a million miles apart. I think it’s a really good sort of mixture between ourselves and Gates of Slumber, so it’s an interesting bill for people. As I say, we’ve met the guys before, we’ve socialized with them, so I know we all get on. There’s gonna be a lot of good fun and hard drinking getting done on the tour, so we’re looking forward to it.

Was it Tone Deaf that put you two together on the tour?

It was Tone Deaf pretty much. They gave a short list of bands that we could have gone out with, we picked a few that we’d like to work with. It was a case of, because we’re traveling over there, we need someone who can help us out with backline, and equipment and that sort of thing, and the Gates of Slumber guys have been really cool about everything and helped us out a great deal. We really appreciate what they’ve done for us, so yeah, it’s kind of a package thing that Tone Deaf have put together, and I think the two bands are a real good contrast of styles, almost within the same genre, but different ends of it. It’s gonna be interesting, and it’s gonna be a good time.

Have you heard their new record?

I haven’t. I’ve heard a couple of the tracks off it, and one of those was a YouTube thing from this year’s Roadburn, and I don’t think someone recording it on a mobile phone is really gonna do it justice, but the actual recorded tracks I’ve heard are amazing. I think that band just gets better and better. I first got into them – I think it wasn’t until Conqueror came out that I first became really aware of them – and then with the Hymns of Blood and Thunder album, they really stepped up a deal, and now, The Wretch, I think they’ve gone even further. It’s gonna keep us on our toes every night, having to follow them. We’re happy to have bands of their ability that force us to up our game each night.

Like you said before, 2006 was the last time you guys toured over here, and you did Planet Caravan in 2009, is there anything you’re looking forward to about just being back in the US?

We’ve sort of got our little things that we all look forward to over there, even silly things like certain beers and certain places to eat and stuff like that that we’re really looking forward to. But most of all, we’re just looking forward to going out and seeing friends and fans that we haven’t had a chance to play to for a long time, and hopefully a few years down the line, our fanbase will have grown a bit. I think it’ll be interesting to see whether the crowds improve and all that sort of thing. See if we’ve garnered any more interest in America since the last time.

What beers are you looking forward to?

Believe it or not, we really like the PBR tallboys. You just cannot get Pabst Blue Ribbon over in Europe, so we haven’t had it since the last time we were there. We’re really looking forward to getting stuck into those. We’re a simple band with simple pleasures.

How did the box set come about?

[Cathedral frontman and Rise Above Records owner] Lee Dorrian suggested it initially, and I was keen on the idea, but I wanted to hold off a little while, because in 2007, the last album came out, and I think Lee first brought the idea of the box set around 2008, and we said, “Well, if we re-release the back catalog now, it takes away a little bit of the latest album, and it also gives the impression that we’re saying, ‘that’s it, we’re done, here’s what we did in our career.’” But this year, I think the time was right. There’s been a long enough gap since the last Orange Goblin product, and we just all decided it was something we were keen to do. We’ve been getting a lot of messages through the MySpace and websites and things from people saying they couldn’t find certain albums because they aren’t available anymore or are out of circulation. So I think it was about time to re-release them so people that weren’t even into us the first time around can buy those records. Frequencies From Planet 10 was 1997, 14 years ago, and you get kids now who come up to us at shows, 19-20 years old, going, “Yeah, I was only five when that record came out.” All of a sudden we feel like the bands our dads listened to (laughs). Makes you feel old. We had an instance of that recently, where our drummer was out at the merch stand after a show, and some kid came up to him and said, “You’re amazing, you’re really cool.” And Chris was like, “Oh, thanks so much,” and the kid was like, “Yeah, my dad got me into Orange Goblin. They’re his favorite band,” and Chris was like, “Go away.” But yeah, I suppose it’s to be expected now.

Is there any chance of doing a vinyl version of the box set?

Yeah. It isn’t a case of “any chance.” That’s definitely happening. I think Lee just wanted to let the dust settle on the release of the box set. We’ll also be selling them as individual albums, so you don’t have to buy all five as well. You can buy one disc if there’s one missing from your collection and that sort of thing. But yeah, the vinyl is definitely gonna happen sometime this year. We’re gonna concentrate on the first two, initially, because The Big Black and Thieving From the House of God were released on vinyl back when they first came out. I think in America it was The Music Cartel, if memory serves me right, that did them. So it’s primarily Frequencies, Time Traveling Blues, and Coup de Grace that we want to issue first, and Lee’s looking to do a super deluxe, heavy vinyl, gatefold packaging, printed lyrics and sleeve notes and all that sort of thing, so definitely nice collector’s items.

What about Healing Through Fire? Is there any chance of a reissue of that, or since it’s a different label, is it a different situation?

Yeah, it’s a different label, which doesn’t really operate anymore, so it’s always gonna be difficult. It’s something I would like to do, because again, it’s up to the stage now where people are contacting the band going, “Where can I get this album? It’s not available anywhere,” and I’m hassling the people we used to deal with who’ve moved onto labels like Universal now, and obviously we’re the small fish in the huge pond at Universal. They don’t really worry about what we need. We haven’t got dealt with yet, but hopefully in time someone’ll take pity and sort it out, or at least give someone else the rights to reissue it and put it out on a different label.

It’s a shame to have it get lost in the shuffle. It was a good album.

I still think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done. I’m proud of everything in our catalogue, but that album, probably because it’s the latest, which is a very typical thing to say, but I love it. The good thing for this US tour is it’s actually the first time we’re going to get the opportunity to play the material from Healing Through Fire for the American audience, apart from that one Planet Caravan show. For the tour, we’re going to go out and play four or five songs off that record the crowd might not have heard before.

How would you rank the other albums? You said Healing Through Fire was your favorite. What do you think of the other ones?

I love them all. There’s certain moments on every one of them. If you look at our set list these days and what you can expect in America is a little bit of something from every album. There’s no album that we’re going to do totally. I could listen to Frequencies From Planet 10 and really enjoy large parts of it, but there are some bits that make me cringe. But whatever, you shrug your shoulders and put it down to the exuberance of youth. We were all really young and really excited and happy we had landed a record deal and given the opportunity to record in a real studio. You learn from mistakes and throughout your career, you move on from one thing to the next. The one thing I am happy about in our catalogue is that no two albums are really the same. There’s always been a transition or a development in style along the way, from the first one, which was kind of doomy meets psychedelic, the second one was more biker rock, the third one was that psych/space doom sort of thing, the fourth one we had more of a punk influence, and then Thieving From the House of God I think was a mixture of all the previous styles, say. Nothing’s ever been stale and boring for us. It’s always been nice to try these things, and we’re working towards a new album this year, and it’s exciting again, because we’re just doing whatever the hell we like. There’s no set patterns of what we do. We don’t say, “It has to sound like this.” We’re just going to go with the flow and see what comes up.

That’s actually something I wanted to ask you about, the different styles on different albums. As you go into writing again, is that something you consciously are aware of, making it sound different from the past?

No. With this one, I think it’s been so long since we actually sat down with the objective of writing a record that we’ve almost forgotten what to do. It’s like going back to the start of our careers again and really having fun with it. We’ve had, what, five years now of messing around with ideas and knocking about riffs. There’s a whole plethora of ideas there, and now we’re just sifting through it and putting it together, and it’s like sitting around, doing a really cool jigsaw puzzles of all of our ideas that we’ve had. I’m really looking forward to getting these songs crafted and finished and honed and trying to start recording in August.

Do you know yet where you’re going to record?

We’ll record it in London, a studio that we discovered last year, when we recorded a Black Sabbath cover for Metal Hammer magazine. It’s completely digital. There’s no sort of retro sound there. We’re not really one of these bands that are fussed about that, we just want it to sound as good as we can possibly make it to our liking, and this studio offers us that. Also, we’re going to record over a series of weeks, rather than 14 days solid, so that we can go away and come back and start fresh and it suits everybody’s schedule. There’s no big-name producer or anything like that. We wanted to work with Billy Anderson again, and people like Sanford Parker we’ve spoken to, and all these guys are producers we admire, but as I say, having to have a certain schedule and do it over a certain time-period, then it’s inconvenient for us to fly someone over here from America and pay for them to stay here for two months (laughs). There’s no reason why we can’t plan for the next record, if there is going to be one, to work with Sanford – or there was talk of working with Nico [Elgstrand] from Entombed – he’s very keen to do something. There’s a list as long as your arm of producers it would be nice to work with and studios where you’d like to go, but realistically, you’re never going to do 90 percent of them, so we had to make a decision for this album, and we’ve made it.

And the label situation… It would be out through Rise Above?

It wouldn’t be Rise Above. We’re signed to Candlelight, and this is a deal that we actually did with Candlelight three years ago, and we haven’t delivered anything for them (laughs) still now until this year. It’s all new to us, and this goes back to it’s exciting again, it’s almost like starting anew. Candlelight’s shown remarkable patience with us. A deal on the table for three years and we still haven’t delivered an album. We went through a period a couple years ago where it was like, “Is this the end of the band?” and they really helped us make the decision not to quit, and said, “Don’t worry about how long it’s going to take. Take your time until it feels right and let us know and we’re with you all the way.” Now it’s got to the stage where we’re close to being ready to go into the studio, and they’ve backed up their promises. The money’s there, the studio’s paid for, that sort of thing, so they’ve been really good with us and I’m looking forward to working with them on the marketing and promotions side of things as well.

Lucky you weren’t working with someone calling for heavy deadlines and that kind of stuff.

Yeah, you hear these stereotypical things of, “I don’t want the record label to interfere with the artistic side of things and just let the band get on with it,” but they’re really just like that. I have nothing but good things to say about them so far.

And I saw you guys are doing a couple summer festivals too. Are you still adding more, or is that schedule pretty much set?

I think we’re just doing whatever seems right. There’s been a hell of a lot of offers to do big festivals in Europe this summer, but it’s at the stage where next year we’re going to have an album to promote, and it’d be a lot more worthwhile for not only us, but for the audience, to do it next year. Whereas this year there’s been a few things that Sonisphere that we’re playing in England. It’s one of those things that we couldn’t say no. It’s the first Big Four show in the UK, and when you get invited to be on a bill with Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth, you don’t say no. So we’re gonna do that one, and there’s a few others, and then, next year, once the album comes out, I think we’ve marked a 2012 release, and a whole summer of festivals and stuff. Erik [Jarvis] from Tone Deaf is talking about trying to set something up in Australia and New Zealand next year, and we’ve had approaches from people in Southeast Asia, places like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, India, so it goes back to being a restart again. It’s all really exciting and we’re doing things we never thought we’d get to achieve.

Have you guys ever been down that way before?

Nope, never. We’ve been to Japan before, and obviously all over Europe and America, but we never got as far that way as Australia.

Orange Goblin on Facebook

Candlelight Records

Rise Above Records

[Special thanks to John “Arzgarth” Pegoraro for the vinyl question and note on album rankings]

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