Novembers Doom [ Dark doom metal | USA | Interview on March 29, 2001]

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Novembers Doom [Date of interview: March 29, 2001]
Dark, depressing Doom Death metal is the definition of the band called "Novembers Doom", the band was from Chicago. The new album named "The Knowing" just released from Dark Symphonies last year. Let's talk with Larry Roberts, the guitarist of the band.

Please introduce yourselves to Thailand.
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Greetings! We're based out of Chicago, Il. in the U.S. We've been around since 1992 and have released three albums worldwide so far, the most recent being "The Knowing" on Dark Symphonies last year.

Please brief the history of your band, Bro'.
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Currently the line-up consists of Paul Kuhr on vocals, Eric Burnley on guitars, Joe Nunez on drums, and myself, Larry Roberts, on guitar. Recently our bassist Mary Bielich moved to Pittsburgh and her involvement has been very minimal, so pretty much we are without a bassist right now. Mike from Disinter is filling in with us in the meantime. Paul is the only original member left from 1992 now. Joe and I used to play in Neurotoxin together, and I dont know where the hell Eric came from, haha!

Dark Symphonies Record group defined your music like 'Dark, depressing Doom, Death'. What do you think about this?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: I think that 'dark depressing doom death' is an accurate description, though I think we have branched out into many new areas as well. We don't really think about what style we are, we just write and play what we like, and what comes out naturally.

In your new album, I think you guys choose to play some complex part blend with the dark doom and despair whole album. Maybe, we can call your music like Progressive Doom death?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Yes I can agree that there is a progressive aspect to it. To be honest, we don't really think about labeling what we do as any particular style. We want to be heavy, and we are honest about what we do. If people call it doom, death, progressive, or whatever then that's fine. We just play whatever comes out of ourselves.

I have ever listened your old albums, it's so different from this album in the details of your hymns, and you guys decreased some parts of heavy doom death. Metal heads here think the new one softer than the old album and what do you think about this, man?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: I think there's been a progression from the old days in our sound. Of course, we've had many different members come through the band so it makes a difference also. We are always trying to expand our boundaries, but we still remain true to our heaviness I think. As for our new stuff being 'softer' I don't really know if thats true.

We have had some pretty mellow stuff on our past albums too. Plus some of our most aggressive and heavy songs and parts are on The Knowing, such as "Harmony Divine", "Last God" and "The day I return". Like I said, we try not to be too conscious of things like that, we just write whatever comes out and if we like it, we put it out.

For me, I like this album so much especially the atmosphere that made me feel depressing and despair. Who created and inspiration you guys?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: We all put ourselves into these songs. Eric is the main songwriter on the album, but I have a couple songs as well, and Joe and Mary definitely make their presence known! Eric and I are very much into different kinds of music and we like deep, introspective things as well.

For the part of produce the songs, who's the model of Novembers Doom?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Hmmm, well everyone has a big part in how we sound and what we do. We all have our influences which are pretty diverse, and it makes an impact on us of course.

Let's talk about the lyrics in 'The Knowing' what's about it?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: The Knowing deals with the subject matter of someone who one day awakes with the gift of divine knowledge, being able to see the future and know every thing there is to know about life and whatnot. But the twist to it is, can one person deal with that sort of knowledge without it driving them mad, and breaking their spirit? And how do you cope with knowing things like seeing the end of the world or the inevitable deaths of your loved ones, and not being able to do anything about it? This is the subject of the lyrics, and you have to draw your own conclusions about the ending.

Is it the concept album?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Yes this was written with it being a "concept" album in mind.

Paul Kuhr wrote the whole lyrics?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Yes, Paul always writes the lyrics. The concept was originally his idea, and we all discussed it. But he wrote 100% of the lyrics for it and its a pretty deep subject matter when you think about it.

What is your inspiration for writing your songs?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: We are inspired by everything, and especially personal experiences. The next album is going to be more introspective and not really a concept album telling a story. I think we all have alot of things that have happened to us recently that will express itself in our songs.

Please explain for writing and making your songs? What's the starting from?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Well we usually write parts and riffs on our own at home. Eric will bring in songs or I will bring in songs, and then we all try to work it out so that it sounds like Novembers Doom. Paul will take the songs as we are working on them and search for inspiration from them for the lyrics. We tend to take a long time writing songs. The last album was a task, definitely! But this time I think it's flowing a bit more freely.

What's the highlight in your live show in Novembers Doom?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: We are not really a 'flashy' band so to speak. We get up there and we play as best as we can and we try to put across our songs as heavy or heavier than they are on the cd. Audience participation depends on where we are and what songs we're playing. Shows like Metalfest always end up being pretty cool because of the number of people there, and you get people who travel just to see you play, so there is a lot of enthusiasm.

For your art work, who's design for this album?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Well, Paul came up with the concept for the lyrics and then contacted Travis Smith, who is an excellent artist who has done covers for Nevermore and Opeth, amongst others. They discussed our ideas about it and Travis got to work on it, and the end result is fantastic!

About the art work of cover, what do you want to convey something to the audiences?
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Yes, the artwork is tied into the concept behind the whole cd, and you picked up on that pretty good! We wanted to have an album like how it used to be, where you sat and listened to an album and read the lyrics and looked at the cover, and it was a whole package that mesmerized you. We just try our best to get that across and put out a good package for people. Give the fans their moneys worth!! That's always a good thing.

Thanks for your time,Bro'. Any last words to Thai metal heads.
LARRY ROBERTS | Novembers Doom: Thanks for your time as well, and thanks to everyone in Thailand who supports us and our type of music. Visit us at WWW.NOVEMBERSDOOM.COM and stay true! Hopefully the metal maniacs in Thailand will give us a chance.

Farewell for now!!