Backstage Pass - Stone Cadaver - Interview

ATP

For the record, who's answering the interview?

STONE CADAVER

That would be me, Andreas, on behalf of the entire band.

ATP

What is your band's name? How did you come up with that name?

STONE CADAVER

Stone Cadaver was on a list of potential song titles and band names that we came up with. It kind of stuck because we thought it sounded cool, but there's no real meaning behind it. If you google "stone cadaver", you'll get a bunch of pictures of some ominous looking death sculptures, and while they're quite fitting in terms of our music and the image we try to convey, it's really rather coincidental as we never knew of them before coming up with the name. You could also argue that a stone cadaver is a fossil, but that's reading too much into it. We just think it's a cool sounding name that has an eerie vibe to it.

ATP

So who's in the band and what instruments do you each play?

STONE CADAVER

We're three guys in Stone Cadaver: Anders on vocals and guitar, Jesper on drums and me, Andreas, on bass.

ATP

How would you describe your sound. What makes you unique?

STONE CADAVER

We tend to label our music as either "stoner metal" or "stoner rock" depending the context. I personally prefer the term "stoner metal", though. While I wouldn't go as far as calling our sound "unique", there is, however, a general consensus in the band that we've managed to concoct an interesting mix of 70s rock, proto metal, and doom. As we see it, a lot of stoner bands tend to play either pure 70s stuff, like Kadavar for example, or modern stuff inspired by bands like Kyuss or QOTSA. We play both kinds of music with a healthy dose of Electric Wizard added in the mix and the final product is a catchy combination of cool, up tempo 70s riff and slow, crushing doom passages.

ATP

What bands have influenced each of you?

STONE CADAVER

As a band, we're influenced by all the classic stuff, Black Sabbath (who isn't?), Deep Purple and Motörhead, and newer bands such as Electric Wizard, The Sword and Graveyard. Anders digs thrash metal and 70s rock, but he's also very fond of newer acts such as Ghost and Kongh. As a guitar player, one of his main influences is Jerry Cantrell, but guys like Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore also mean a lot to him. I'm influenced by guys like Max Cavalera, Andreas Kisser, Geezer Butler and Rex Brown and I try to listen to as many obscure 70s bands as possible. Names likes Necromandus, Iron Claw, Kleptomania and Black Widow spring to mind. Jesper is heavily into bands like Satyricon, Behemoth and that sort of thing. All of us dig metal, though - thrash, groove, death, black, you name it. Elements of the really heavy stuff definitely creep into our music, albeit on a very subtle level. Jesper, for example, employs a double pedal on his kick drum from time to time and I use a lot of gain on my bass to create a quite distorted sound. Anders prefers a cleaner sound on his guitar, but there's still room for plenty of palm muted chugging.

ATP

How experienced are you on the stage, a virgin or whore?

STONE CADAVER

We not virgins as we've been had a few times over the last year, but we have yet to reach the 10 gig mark as Stone Cadaver. We're working really hard to become whores, though, and sometimes it definitely involves having to sell yourself cheap. Anders is the most seasoned when it comes to gigging. In the early 00s, he was in a cool metal band called Nil By Mouth, which, among other things, toured a bit in Europe.

ATP

How would you describe your shows?

STONE CADAVER

A dark sermon of groovy heaviness.

ATP

Tell us about your favorite show and why?

STONE CADAVER

The previous show we did was in our hometown, Aarhus. We shared the stage with local legends Magnified Eye, and we just played really well. Nothing crazy happened, no naked chicks covered in LSD and pentagrams or stuff like that, but the sound was good and, apart from a few problems with one of the speakers, it was a really nice show that left us wanting for more.

ATP

Tell us about your worst show and why?

STONE CADAVER

I don't think we've played any really bad shows, but the first one we ever played as Stone Cadaver was at Anders' birthday party. It was the first time we played the songs to an audience and while the show was okay, I guess it could have been better. Also, at our last gig, I made a ridiculously stupid and embarrassing mistake in our very first song, which kind of ruined the beginning of the show a little bit, but Anders told a few jokes and played a snippet from Slayer's "Angel Of Death", while I got my shit together, and when we started playing again, things went smoothly for the rest of the show.

ATP

Tell Us About Your Dream Show, who you'd like to play with and where?

STONE CADAVER

Ha, that's a difficult question to answer. A dream scenario could us supporting Black Sabbath on their final tour ever. Headlining a sold out show at The Royal Albert Hall or some such place would also be a dream come true.

ATP

Do you have a street team and how can you join?

STONE CADAVER

Nope, we don't have a street team, sorry. If you'd like to start one, please get in touch.

ATP

Do you have a record label and if not are you looking for one?

STONE CADAVER

We are not signed to a label and not really looking for one either, but, of course, if the right offer comes along, we'll definitely sit down for a chat. You don't really need a label these days, though, as you can handle everything by yourself. A record company of course has more money to spend on PR, booking agents and stuff like that, so in that sense there's definitely an advantage to being a signed band, but, as I said, you can do everything yourself today, although it does require some work. The more you network with other bands, the easier things get, so that's what we try to do.

ATP

What are your plans for the future, in a year, 5 years?

STONE CADAVER

We are constantly working on new material and one of our goals is to record a dark, heavy and groovy album at some point. We've only released a digital EP so far and we're all very intrigued by the idea of recording on analogue equipment, so hopefully we'll get to record a full length on some battered up old junk in the not too distant future. Recording an album is a costly and time consuming affair, though, and with kids and full time jobs on the side it's difficult to say exactly when we'll get around to doing it. Our EP has been received rather well we think, so we're definitely keen on doing an album as there seems to be an interest in our music.

ATP

Finally, do have any words on what Arm The Pit means to you?

STONE CADAVER

Arm The Pit and similar sites are a great way for small bands like ours to be heard around the world. The amount of exposure you can get today is really rather amazing and that's definitely thanks to places like Arm The Pit who are committed to keeping the underground alive and thriving.