Corsair have signed on Shadow Kingdom Records last year, and the label's first initiative was to re-release that self-titled record. Honestly, there isn't much I can tell you about this pure gem. Just look it up online, and try to count all the super enthusiastic reviews you can find. Corsair is totally unique, and I can guarantee you have never heard anything like it before. The band (Paul Sebring on guitar/vocals, Marie Landragin on guitars/vocals, Jordan Brunk on bass, and Aaron Lipscombe) have managed to create some sort of modern-retro rock. Yeah their stuff is that awesome. Corsair do sound like a 70's prog/hard-rock band, but they also have some typical Metal influences and psychedelic edges. They simply have mixed the old-school influences with the modern rock vibe of bands like Mastodon and Baroness. Really, if you are into these two bands, you MUST check out Corsair.
Again, I don't know what to tell you; this music is awesome, groovy, melodic, progressive, heavy, original, catchy, fun, smart, different. Last but not least, the artwork is amazing and the lyrics are just as smart and interesting as the music.
"Chaemera" one of my favorite songs on the album
There are dozens of interesting releases every month for rock,metal and prog fans, and this is definitely one that you absolutely have to listen to. Stay tunned as Shadow Kingdom Records will re-release a MCD by Corsair on April 30th this year.
Hungary isn’t exactly your biggest Metal supplier. However, there are some great bands that have managed to export their good quality Metal, like Ektomorf (did I just say “good quality” Metal??), Wall Of Sleep (did I just say “export” their Metal??). In fact, no, there are VERY few famous Metal bands from Hungary, and Superbutt is probably the most exiting one of them. Their new album, Music For Animals is a damn fine piece of heavy rock that sounds like nothing you’ve heard before. Think Ozzy-like Metal; made of insane heavy riffs and super powerful vocals. Fantastic singer András Vörös tells THE METAL BLOG a little more about Superbutt, it’s new record, and truckloads of other interesting things.
Music For Animals was released a couple of months ago in France, although it’s been out a long time in the rest of Europe, what happened?
Andras: Nothing special, just simple practical reasons. We have a new upcoming label (Sonic Attack) with their headquarters in Berlin, and first they wanted to focus on the territories which they are more familiar with, so it took a couple of month until the physical distribution and promotion could start in other important countries, like France. But then again, does anyone really care about physical distribution in the 21st century? Whether you can buy Music For Animals at record stores or not, if someone is interested, they can get it through the internet from anywhere around the world anyway, so I guess the official release dates don’t really matter anymore.
How’s the feedback already? I read some pretty nice reviews in Germany for example…
So far, we can’t complain. Indeed, we received some very nice critics from Germany, UK and other countries and it always feels great to find people who appreciate what you are trying to do. These kinds of things prove you that your efforts are not for nothing, and if we can make some people happy when they put our records on, that makes us very happy too.
The record surprised me because it sounds so heavy! Was it something you specifically focused on?
Surprises are always good, aren’t they? On the other hand, no we didn’t focus on anything specifically; this is just what came from us naturally. You probably know that almost the entire line up of the band changed in the last few years, and with the current line up, we sound more complex, more deep and more heavy. It was also a natural development, because ideally, you are constantly moving towards something through your career and life in general. In our case, this move is not towards being more commercial or successful as it sadly happens to many bands, but towards being able to express our feelings in a more and more sophisticated way. This is where we stand right now, and I’m sure it’s still far from the end!
Do you have the same problem understanding that cover??
I also noticed the tremendous melodies and your awesome performance András; sounds like a lot of hard work…
Well, thank you very much! I have to mention here, that Adam, our great friend who plays drums on Music For Animals and whom we wrote the album together with helped a lot with vocals. He was there with me at the studio almost all the way and supported me with lots of great ideas, plus did some pretty awesome background vocals himself too. What you hear is the product of our work together and I’m glad that it seems to catch other people’s attention too.
Does this “heaviness” represent something specific as well in the “concept”? Is their any “concept” at all by the way?
If a concept means that we decide in advance that we want to write an album that will sound like this or that, then no, there is no concept. All we focus on is writing music that each of us will like in the end, no matter if it’s a fast paced rock song like Cleaver or a darker, more complex track like The Murder Of Socrates. All that matters if we can all approve and feel good about each number that’s on the album, we don’t care if it fits into a concept or not.
Your music really reminds me of what Ozzy Osbourne likes to compose, very heavy stuff yet with a lot of melodies and cool hard rock songs…
Yes, I think you got a point there! That’s how it all comes together in the end. Our guitar players are into very heavy stuff, Attila is a real black metal guy and even if he listens to something more digestible, it will be still complex like Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel, while Tomi listens to anything from Lamb Of God to Slayer. They are responsible for the musical background, and I’m trying to put something on top of that, which matches more my own roots, which could be anything from Ozzy to AC/DC or the 90’s rock and metal from Faith No More to Monster Magnet. And Music For Animals is what you get as a result.
And what are the lyrics about? The “Music For Animals” title sounds very sarcastic…
Yes, it does indeed. We’ve always been sarcastic, I guess that’s justthe way how we are trying to survive the world around us. Other than that, it’s very hard to describe what the lyrics are about. God forbid that I want to compare myself to your great poets, but just for the sake of the example: can you tell what the poems of Rimbaud or Baudelaire are in general? I guess not. Each one is different and each one has its own story. Also, I guess the best is not to try to explain what I was thinking when I wrote the words. I’m just trying to “paint pictures” with my sentences and I hope that they will induce some thoughts in the minds of the audience too.
Is Superbutt a “political” band?
No, we’re not political because we believe in the supremacy of art over politics. As an artist, I resent the idea of wasting our time and energy on getting involved in subtle fights for money and power. Politicians and their parties come and go, music and arts are forever. On the other hand though, there are certain traditional values that we are always proud to stand for, and thus we were happy to play a big anti-racism festival in Budapest two years ago and supported Amnesty International in one of their campaigns too. But I think promoting the cause of “liberté et égalité” should be natural to any civilized human being, so I wouldn’t call ourselves political, just because we do it too sometimes.
Do you think music has the power to change things? I mean on the field?
Yes, it definitely has and that’s why you have to be very careful not to use this very powerful weapon for the wrong purposes! And there’s one more important thing to remember: who are we to tell people what to do or think? What should make us believe that we are the possessors of some kind of truth that we have to preach to people? We’re not prophets (but then again, who is?), we’re observers trying to describe what we see around ourselves, and thus hopefully help people to form their own opinion.
And a brand new video, for your pleasure
What’s going on in Hungary by the way, people here are very concerned about your new government and some of its decisions…
Oh, don’t even ask me, I’m embarrassed enough… Anyway, let’s just say that our politicians are nothing but a shame, but they will soon finish their course because these kind of people are always bound to fail. They will too. But well, like it or not, it’s nothing new in history, sometimes narrow minded and power hungry people get behind the wheel (look at George Bush in the US back in the day for example), but sooner or later they prove how incompetent they really are and they will be forgotten as quickly as they came.
OK, enough said about politics: are you going to play some live shows in France to promote the record?
Yes, hopefully we will. As a matter of fact, we just played tow shows the weekend before I got your questions and we had a great time as always, so we are looking forward to going back as soon as we can.
And how would you describe Superbutt on stage, in 3-4 words?
You see, that’s a very hard question to answer for me, because I can’t see it from the outside… To me, being on stage is the most intense experience that cannot be compared to anything else. I guess “catharsis” is the right word, isn’t it? Well, let’s hope that it comes across the same way to the audience too, but you will have to ask them about this, not me…
Do you think it’s necessary to see the band on stage to fully understand its music?
I certainly do hope that our live shows are more than just simple presentations of the songs you already heard on the albums, so yes, I think we can say that whoever likes our music from the records, won’t regret if they come out to a concert too.
I’d already loved Christian Mistress' first LP; “Agony And Opium”, out on 20-Buck Spin last year. With "Possession" however, their second coming, the band has taken things to a whole new level. Christian Mistress has signed a deal with Relapse Records, and “Possession” has got everything a great record needs: catchy songs, fantastic artwork and an singer that truly stands out. Christine Davies has an outstanding voice; full of Metal Power and filled with Blues Passion. More than enough for you hard&heavy rock maniacs to check out this very promising band.
Until then, enjoy the interview with the band’s n°1 asset: singer Christine Davis.
My first question is extremely simple: what or who is the “Christian Mistress”?
Well, Reuben (drummer) drooled this name onto the page he was drawing on. We hated the name at first but grew to like it for it is somewhat rude and has a good, memorable ring to it. No secret meaning really, we just like the connection to the Virgin Mary in a sacrilegious sort of way.
Can you tell me more about the band’s line-up? The band was formed a few years ago; you guys played in other bands before?
I met Ryan at a show I played with his previous band. We hit it off; he and his friends were all at the front of the stage headbanging with more fury than I had ever seen. One year later I moved to Olympia, WA from Portland. Ryan and Oscar had been playing together for a few years off and on and they asked me to join them. This was in 2007, I told them I thought their songs were killer but I wanted to wait until I knew who else would be in the band. Eventually, they got Reuben (drums) and Jonny (bass) who were friends of mine already because they dj'd at a club I was the bartender at. We already got along great and I loved their tastes in music and attitudes so I decided there was no way I could pass up trying to start a band with all these awesome people. Reuben is and has been my favorite drummer of all time and Jonny is such a great bass player and even-mannered person to be around at all times. I joined the four of them in 2008 and we have been going strong ever since.
Things seem to have gotten to a new level with that new CD. How did you guys land on Relapse Records?
We have been happy with Relapse, they are very easy to work with and good people. They listen to us, have time for us and gave us the budget we needed to record the record on 24 track analog as we wanted to. It seems like a great fit for us so far. We were happy with 20 Buck Spin but wanted a budget to work with for the recording so it would have been Relapse or another label so I can't say that it was necessarily a big step, just a natural progression. We never actually signed to 20 Buck Spin, they just happened to be friends of ours that offered to put out our first record. The response from metal heads worldwide was enough to make us realize that people were going to continue to listen to CM and we might as well look for ways to fund making our ideal record. The music industry is a strange beast and Christian Mistress was quickly swept up in its tide before we had a chance to see it coming. Signing to a label didn't change our process; Relapse gives us complete artistic freedom music-wise.
Did you feel any extra “pressure” now that you’re releasing a record on an important record label?
Not really, we had already written all the songs for the new record before we signed to Relapse.
How is Possession different from your previous material?
We are excited that it turned out with such a heavy, amazing sound. It is a bit different than our last LP, “Agony and Opium” so we are anticipating the response to the songs. Because we are so close to them, hear them, play them a million times - it is hard to hear the freshness that people hearing the songs for the first time can enjoy. Also, I am glad it is finally out because it has been a long time now that we have been playing some of those songs. We first expected this record Possession to come out in 2011 so we are thrilled that it is finally out and available for people to hear.
I feel that your major influences are the earliest metal bands, like in the beginning of the 80s, when the frontier between hard-rock and heavy metal was very thin…
I agree, more of the merging of hard rock, heavy metal and heavy punk rock - we absolutely love the early Scorpions records from the 70's.
I really loved the guitars, especially the very classic metal stuff… And also the fact that there is a fantastic melody on each one of the songs. Is it something you specifically focus on?
I think so, the songs have intent to sound good and this is what we think sounds good so that must be all there is to it.
Your voice is clearly the band’s biggest asset. You have that bluesy swing to your singing. That’s the 70’s influence I guess…
A lot of my favorite bands are from the 70's - Uriah Heep, Motorhead, Scorpions, Hawkwind, Blue Oyster Cult - it's true.
And how do you guys compose? Very complex process or just jamming’?
The songs come easily for us; we have a strong chemistry together as musicians. Oscar writes the main guitar riffs and then we jam them out at practices. I listen to the completed or near completed songs and then decide what the vibe is going to be for the vocal parts and lyrics that I write. This is the typical Christian Mistress writing process and if the songs on Possession are any different from earlier Christian Mistress songs, it is because we have evolved together as musicians into a more cohesive direction. The last song on the new album - All Abandon, was really the song that shaped the style of all of the songs on the record. So, there definitely was a plan stylistically for all of the songs on Possession to have a certain brooding, heavy yet raw and exuberant feel to them.
I Love the artwork as well, seems a little bit “mystical”. Does it mean anything specific?
The central element is my hand with the fate lines radiating lightning. The plants beneath them are the black flowers from the song 'Haunted Hunted' on Possession. And of course the original Christian Mistress symbol that was on Agony and Opium is making an appearance again in the background. We were honored to have Benjamin Vierling make this painting for us.
Are you guys touring already? Any chance to see you in France?
We will be in France in April 2012. The dates should be up on our website soon: christianmistress.com.
What’s Christian Mistress like on stage? In 3 or 4 words?
Take this riff to the grave.
What’s the coolest thing we can wish you for 2012? Like what are your craziest dreams for the band??
I want to tour Japan and play lots of crazy shows in France!
Any last word for your French fans?
We hope to see you in France this April and make sure to come say hello at the shows!
Thanks To Christine and to Frank for making this interview possible!
