GLOOMY SUNDAY INTERVIEW: Denis Boardman [june 2007]
Russian Version - Metal Library

-Salut, Denis! Well, it's more than expected but I would like to ask first of all about history of Gloomy Sunday. When did it came? Seems that band is quite young so what can You say about beginning of it's way to the underground scene? Some facts from history to the followers

-Well previously i have mainly been involved in the crust/punk scene but I have a wide musical taste. i listend to a lot of doom/stoner stuff since the begining of the 90`s. then i got talking to a couple of friends in gothenburg, Par and Gerry and they had the same taste as i did so in summer of 2002 we decided to form gloomy sunday. We still didnt have a singer so i asked jari who also liked a lot of different styles of underground music and after a bit of persuasion joined the band. Gerry who was the drummer was to much into his drugs kept forgeting the songs and stopped being interested but he had the decency to leave. Then i asked stefan who had a record store in town that specialised in doom and stoner records if he would like to drum and he has been in the band ever since.

-How was this name invent - Gloomy Sunday? Usually gloomy and full of disturbances Sundays comes after jolly and full of drinking Saturdays' nights ).

-Yeh, I know what you meen. But its a song that was written in Hungary in the 1930`S that is said to inflence suicide, and as suicide is a main topic of our songs we thought it would be a good name for a doom band. you can read more about the song if you search in google.

-Did You and other guys from GS play in some other groups? In which ones?

-Yes, jari used to play in RUDIMENTAR and later 13ITCH. stefan used to play in STONE SERPENT and now plays in RELIC. I have played with BLOOD SUCKING FREAKS, DOOM, HALF DEAD, AND MURDERED COP. and PAR played with ENSUING HELL,

-How did You chose which sound will be the sound of GS? How was born this rambling harsh sound?

-A S I said i have always been into the heavy stuff even tho i have mainly played in crust bands and have been a long time fan of bands like TROUBLE, VITUS, SABBATH, PENTAGRAM, ETC. But in about 97 when i got hold of a bootleg copy of jerusalem by sleep i thought thats how a guitar should sound, so then we began to experiment with sound and tryed out many different amplifiers before we reached that sound.

-And why did You choose sludge as the way to express Yourself? From where You take Your inspiration?

-Because its kind of dirty, fucked uo and loose sounding, you know, kindea like a reflection of ourselves haha

-Which aims did You point for Yourself starting the band?

-Well you know, just a project really, for fun and stuff, then we started to buy more expensive gear, playing gigs and stuff, and decided to make a record.

-What can You tell us about Your childhood? What has happened if You became express Yourself through GS?

-Well my childhood was pretty normal for a poor working class kid growing up in the north of England, till I was 13 when my dad died. I had already been into punk rock for a few years and had started to go off the rails a bit. Then i started to sniff glue and started to smoke hasheesh when i was fourteen and also taking magic mushrooms and L.S.D. ecstacy etc..., my school friends also started to inject themselves but i found it discusting so thank fuck I never got into that. But from an early age i was drinking alcohol and popping pills, and i first was taken home for being drunk at 8 years old. i got arrested for theft around that time and later for assault of a police officer and 18 i was arrested for susspicion of murder( that I did not do) I could go on forever hear but you get the picture

-How do You pass Your ordinary days or holydays?

-Well i own alingsas tattoo studio in Sweden, i have a home recording studio and have started recording demos for local bands, i like to spend time with my girlfriend and my 7 year old daughter, go to gigs drink lots of beer but no longer take drugs,. I like to read a lot of books about murder, gangsters, serial killers, dead rockstars etc, and love low budget exploitation movies.

-It seems that You are not that kind of man who is indifferent to social processes. What is Your social/antisocial position?

-Well i do tend to observe society, and have a very cynical view when looking at how it reacts to Competition as rivals or as enemies, values, the ecological and economic order, the individual, or a group of individuals, rivalry, by war or by subtler forms of conflict. sentiments, and attitudes of other persons and groups, common culture, cultural heritage, unity, accommodation, prized goods, influence. and how the heard is also hypnotized by t.v., fashion, advertisement......fucking sheep

-How did You find Solitude Prod.? It's still strange for now that band from Sweden releases their CD on Russian label.

-Well, we had interest from other lables, but there deals where either to shitty or incompetent. Then it was going to be released on the English pro-censorship label CALCULON RECORDS but the objected to the cover which is now the inside cover, but was originally the front cover and the first song title LIVING DEAD AT THE TRADECENTRE MORGUE they said that we had to change the cover and the title to that song, so we said we would just have a blank cover and no title to the song. Ironically we got the letter of rejection from them on september the 11th 2006.So we started looking around for another label and i asked Sergy would he take a listen and he liked what he heard and agreed to release it. Also for a newish label he really seems to know how to run it, i am pretty impressed at the distribution he has and also the amount of promos that he sends out for review....It was a good choice..As you can see i switched the cover around on the last minute so not to offend any of the sensitive little hearts out there.

-What do You want to say through those artworks on "Beyond Good And Evil"?

-The front cover is from my all time fravorite movie, the living dead at the manchester morgue A.K.A let sleeping corpses lie also the samples in the first song, and the zombies crocking in between the 2nd and 3rd song and in the 3rd song are all from that film. It has now come to my attention that electric wizard are also into that film, so people will probably think we are copying from them. The meaning of the inner sleve collarge is for the readers of this interview to conclude.

-Well, and which side would You really choose? Of Good or of Evil?

-None they are christian euphemisms, ways of mind control, there is only good and evil if you think of things in those terms. If you do a hundred good things in a day and one evil one most people would declare you evil. Most thigs could be put down to human nature, temperment, etc. unless someone is suffering from a mental illness, paranoid scitzophrenia and such.

-Can You give comments to lyrics of "Living dead at the trade center morgue"? How do You treat to policy of USA and all of this fables about "world wide terrorism"?

-The lyrics to that song are just as if the voyer was sitting on a deck chair with a joint in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, sitting back and relaxing while just writting down what he is seeing without a care, cos thats how i feel about such a farce. Dose america want everyone to feel sorry for them? after all the shit they cause? fuck that. I hope iraq fucks them. Why are they still there? why is the problem not solved? cos they dont have the oil yet, thats why. Everybody all over the world wants to be a cool american, People are fucking stupid, worldwide, Sucking on americas big dick. The big tits suntaned rap chicks with there pimped rides, the guns, the coca cola, the bad fat in junkfood the happy familys at mcdonalds. All to shugercoat the horror that is yet to come.

-There are such words in "Beyond The Light" as "sephirot's the keys to find in your mind". After other songs with such apocalyptical and quite suicidal and desperate lyrics it seems strange that You tell about sephirot. Are You in occultism?

-I am into occultism but that song was written by Jari who reads about the cabbalah, and he is not here at the moment so i cant tell you much more about it.

-What about "End trip"? Why didn't You place it's lyrics on CD's layout? Can You share it with our readers?

-We had this riff for a more punky song but we only written the words to it while we was in the studio recording it, so they are pretty shit and don’t represent the band very well, also it is like a little passtime for the listener, like a sort of quiz to try and find out the words by themselves...haha

-Well how do You rehearse Your songs? Where do You make Your repetitions, what kind of equipment do You use (including some catalysators as alcohol maybe)?

-We used to smoke dope and drink at rehersals but not now, live gigs we drink a lot, and it proberbly shows, not much dope now tho! we usually come up with riffs while in the rehersal room then tape them so we can remember them, then work on them later. As for equipment, i use a les paul delux with mighty mite motherbuckers one laney klipp head and one roost valve head, 2x marshall jcm 800 cabs and vox bulldog distortion pedlal. We also have a second guitar player now called Jon and he has a hammer gutar kitty hawk 100 amp trace elliot speakers, rat distortion. par has ibanez bass, accoustic 220 bass head, ampeg 8x10 bass cab and boss hyper fuzz distortion,, dont know what the drummer has.

-"Dead, love, autumn" is not typical song for this album (especially because of lyrics). How was born this song?

-I think jari fond a poem on the internet and worked on it from there

-We always mention such things as "death", "darkness", "disturbance", "depression", "drinkings" and etc. talking about doom and other underground >music styles. Why couldn't we discuss about love and sun and birds and flowers? How about such stuff?

-Well if we was in the sixties and rolling about naked, in a muddy field having sex with ugly girls at woodstock while blazing on acid and complaning how shitty vietnam is, we would. But the times they are a changing.

-Guess we'll be agree what GS plays sludge, isn't it? But sludge is often associated with dope-smoking and etc. Do You have some comments? Or drugs are bad?

-Like you might have guest, i have done my share of drugs, and had some real fun, and if used quite sensibly they are fun. And of course they can be used to cure the sick, suppress simtoms of depression, pain etc, but they can also cause pain, depression, imprisonment, crime,death....Are they good or evil?

-And what about that mushrooms in layout of "Beyond Good And Evil"? Which sorts do You like most?

-The ones you can buy at the supermarket these days.

-How do You usually relax? Please give advice! What do You do when You came from Your work and feel Yourself tired or when You just sick of it all.

-Play with my daughter till its time for her to go to bed, then have a beer and watch FUNNY americans on T.V. then go to bed, read about serial killers, then if my girlfriend is lucky..............###### %%%%

-How often do You give gigs? Where did You play?

-Not much at the moment, im a bit busy with other stuff and its a bit difficult hear with places to play being few and far between, and me and jari both have kids, we all have jobs,. We are rehearsing alot tho at the moment writting new songs and teaching the new guitar player the old ones. We also plan to do a few gigs in england at the end of the year.

-So… back to our favorite things. How do You think - in which way would this civilization destroy? How do You think - will it through selfdestruction or maybe through some global natural disasters? Which way do You prefer? )

-Well im not much for the global warming thing and i think there is more rubbish on tv than there is in the landfills. Really, its hard for me to immagine, or for me to pretend to give a fuck about. As for civilization, its already brain dead.

-So let's imagine that You have three wishes for fulfill right now. What would You wish?

-1. i would like to be very rich. 2, live in a castle with midgets garding it with machine guns, 3. three more wishes.

-Thanks for the interview and for Gloomy Sunday in itself. After all You can say some final words or maybe give some links if You'll find it useful. Best wishes!

-thanx Aleks for the challenging questions, thanx to Sergy of solitude prod for releasing the album. cheers to anyone who buys it. If you feel depressed after spending your money on it here are some helpfull links:
www.suicidehotline.com
www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org



Interview by Lightbringer