We speak with Necrospectre about their raw blackened metal, darkness, DIY approach, creative influences, and the bleak, uncompromising vision behind their latest and upcoming releases.
1. Necrospectre
brings together stoner and doom metal with death and black metal to create a
particularly filthy and hostile sound. How did you develop this combination,
and what makes these different influences work so naturally together?
that is actually a really interesting question for me. so stoner metal and death metal you know under that same umbrella or whatever it’s like that Sabbath kind of riff that everyone kind of searches for in shoots for. It doesnt always have to be like that though. its good to mix it up. that the reason that doom metal and death metal go hand and hand so well is because there’s that appreciation for where they both came from initially you know and I feel like also it goes well together because they both provide that expression of darkness, gloom, anger, sadness, or whatever negative emotion you’re trying to reach some point of catharsis for.
2. Your
music is deeply rooted in themes of death, nihilism, self-destruction, and
occult imagery. What draws you to these darker subjects, and how do they
influence the way you write your songs?
I think
that’s an important question to ask because one of the genres includes that
word death. death is a necessary part of life and people don’t view it as such
and I think that it is just as much of a gift as life itself because theyre all
part of the same experience and the expression of death in itself is therefore
a celebration of life. it’s not necessarily just about self-destruction to
answer on the other part. It’s about finding that wisdom through the path of
excess by making mistakes time and time again and failing time and time again
you eventually learn to fall. nihilism is a very broad term in my opinion, but
it is moreso a slang term to me, meaning extreme apathy, because if you are too
invested in everything in your life and you’re too attached to everything in
your life that is outside of yourself then you are going to have more suffering
and pain when those things you are attached to are no longer readily available.
there is no
music identity for Necrospectre is a thoughtless project In my opinion. It is
bare bones and stupid in purpose. Its so that we can have fun playing it and
not have to show off or get bored. Simple and straightforward. It’s purposely
stripped down and readily available and palatable compared to most death metal
or black metal. I just like doing stuff that feels good. I don’t really involve
myself in any particular scene per se. I have friends all over that are
different kinds of people, different groups of people. I don’t really care if
I’m associated by others with any particular group of people versus another.
There is not a large underground metal scene in Las Vegas comparatively to
other cities. I feel like these “scenes” are seemingly monopolized by
particular individuals. I could be wrong though. I dont really get out as much
as i did when this band first formed. I just go to work at the tattoo shop and
then find myself going home and painting. The desert landscape is is a
considerable influence of the headspace and lyrical content of the time when
most of it was released however, I am also originally from the Midwest near
Chicago Illinois, and it usually reaches temperatures of negative degrees
Fahrenheit, which is the exact same temperature in Celsius, being -40 degrees
during what they call a polar vortex.
3.Being
based in Las Vegas, surrounded by the vastness and harshness of the desert,
seems like the perfect environment for a band like Necrospectre. How has the
Las Vegas underground and desert landscape influenced your music and identity?
so I think
it’s more an influence in the idea of both these extremes you can get lost in.
You could be in the middle of back roads in the country of Illinois in the
middle of winter and die from the cold or you can get your car stuck in death
Valley during the middle of a gnarly ass hot day and die from heat exhaustion
or heat stroke or some shit. but at the end of the day, that’s not the harshest
part about either of those places that I’ve lived. I would say that Las Vegas
particularly has more problems with homelessness, drug addiction, especially
fentanyl, and crystal meth is rampant throughout Las Vegas. In the west suburbs
and western side of the city, when I was a teenager, I feel like everyone was
doing drugs like crack and heroin, like it was the 1980s or some shit. it wasnt
until just recently that I’ve seen more people doing crystal meth in the
Midwest so I think a lot of the inspiration or the attitude behind the sound
comes from having experienced or dealt with something similar possibly maybe i
dont know? Maybe there were drugs involved, maybe it was like really hot or
cold or something, and i dont know when I started the band in my head it was
supposed to help me ruin my life. When i first moved to vegas I just wanted to
fuck off and party my life away. It was a short ride but i think we learned a
lot.
4. Your
recordings, including Autocannibalism, Exi☩, Fuck It I Hope We All Die, and Creeping Void, have been released
independently and with a raw approach. Why is maintaining that DIY spirit
important to Necrospectre?
The diy
spirit is not important to us. If you have a label and you want to pay me some
mothafuckin money to do this shit that would be fucking deadly. Im about to
start working on this project again—meaning I will be stuck in Las Vegas
shovelling money into an empty well. We are DIY out of purely fiscal means. We
dont want to spend money. The global economy is fucked right now. DIY for us is
out of necessity not want. We are just trying our best to make this shit
happen. The majority of money spent will be on pressing the vinyl itself, and
the artwork on the record itself. The majority of the backbreaking work
tattooing in trade for the sound—back to back half days and full days— is
carrying our entire production at the moment again, due to dylan being fucking
awesome. I love that dude. We are still going to have to weigh options when the
time comes to get that bitch on wax but that is the main goal. The sound of the
music and the record’s visual appeal. I would buy records at stores sometimes
just cause they had a sick cover. If you havent done it and you claim to
collect records you are a liar. Having that big piece of art is hella sick. I
love the theatrics of black metal and the evil imagery but at the end of the
day its about the fucking record. Every other project I have done doesnt sound
as good as this to me at least. When we first tanked a few years ago i was
hella fucking devastated man. I had this huge outlet dissappear. I loved
playing the shit for other people and getting a positive response from them. I
liked that crowds liked it but musicians didnt. music isnt a competitive sport
you know?
5. Your
new single, “A Void Like The Plague,” continues the band's bleak and aggressive
aesthetic. What can you tell us about the inspiration behind the song, and what
does its title mean to you?
It’s
basically an insight into fucked off heavy anxiety and overthinking that I had
been dealing with at the time almost like an imagined or a preferable result
than having to deal with it. It being my own head sometimes I guess. I feel
like it just kind of paints a picture and takes the listener to a place that
isn’t here and I can really appreciate that escape myself.
6. The
contrast between the slow, crushing weight of stoner/doom and the speed and
aggression of black and death metal can create a powerful sense of tension. How
do you approach balancing these elements when writing a Necrospectre track?
Fuckin not
really considering too much in terms of balance when it comes to the tempo. I
just think that an album needs to be interesting and it’s good to mix things
up. I feel like everybody kind of creates something based on things they like,
but no one’s just creating something just because that’s how they fuckin feel
in the moment. or even or that’s when the inspiration starts or ends, which is
why some of the songs are so short because the inspiration didn’t last long
enough and if I don’t feel inspired anymore, why would I wanna bore my listener
with a 8 minute song cuz of a guitar solo or something like that?
7. Skulk
handles guitars and vocals while Tank provides the drums. How do you divide the
creative responsibilities between you, and how does your partnership shape the
band's songwriting process?
our
partnership was solid until we invited other members into the band and we
seemed to experience a massive influx of egos throughout all of us, including
myself at certain points. I feel like our relationship had become a bit
volatile at times even violent. I don’t know if it’s the genre of music that
attracts a particular type of people or if we are a particular type of people
and feel more driven to create aggressive or evil and dark gloomy music. Fuckin
a lot of time has passed since the disbanding of the group so it’s a lot more
chill right now we both have better heads on our shoulders. I personally
haven’t had a drop of booze in almost 3 years. It will be this January and I
don’t think our drummer has the same ambitious relationship with alcohol either
with our old end game being complete drunkenness. I feel like it doesn’t
promote the best decisions or the best words between people at times, but
things are different. Now we have stuff now. we actually have gear now we both
have our own method of transportation. when we first started necrospectre, We
didn’t have any instruments here in Las Vegas. We were just playing with
borrowed gear so I think it says a lot even having gear at this point.
8. Your
music has a deliberately raw and abrasive character rather than a polished
modern-metal sound. What role does production play in preserving the atmosphere
and aggression you want listeners to experience?
as much as
I want the listeners to enjoy the music, I also want them to have to deal with
it. I don’t know if that makes sense, but part of the appeal of extreme metal
is that it could be potentially too much for the listener to bear, or at least
the average listener, and I think that is a good reason why these genres aren’t
as widely popular as other genres today. This is the appeal because it becomes
something more coveted and secret and close to you.
9. Necrospectre's
titles and imagery have an intentionally confrontational quality. Do you see
provocation as an important part of the band's artistic identity, or does it
simply reflect the worldview behind the music?
I think
that if I’m upset about something, it’s good to get it off my chest with music,
but I want the listener to have that full experience to if they’re going
through some shit they can use music like this extreme music to get through
extreme situations in life. I think when people are offended something by
something, it usually just speaks a lot of where their insecurities lie in
general. Its an expression of brutal honensty sometimes in my opinion. I don’t
really have a filter when i talk to people and have a pretty filthy mouth
personally so why have one in lyrical content? If you are offended that is a
good thing because it will expose your shitty insecurities to others. With this
information we can now plan on you not being sure of yourself and making it a
problem for others. So i dont fuckin know I guess we will all know who the fuck
to avoid in the future.
10. With
“A Void Like The Plague” now released, what lies ahead for Necrospectre? Are
you working toward new recordings, an EP or album, or bringing the band's
blackened, stoned, and dead sound to the stage?
The next EP “A Clandestine Death Ritual”. I am hoping this next EP sounds so fucked off and dragged behind a busted ass truck. Keeping that knuckle dragging caveman simple riffing and drums. Embracing the slop on this next EP a bit maybe. If the listener isn’t fucked up when they listen I hope they can still feel like they are by spinning this record. that the full length all of the songs we recorded before redone remix remastered reproduced to make one big fat seamless record that we can press to wax.
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