1. Hello, I am glad that I can together with the others welcome you on the pages of Mortem Zine and introduce you to the readers. Where are you spending your time these days and what reactions and impressions have you been receiving about your yet still fresh album "Blood Seed"?
Brittany: Thank you.
Since returning from tour we have been at home in Idaho. We’ve been spending time in the studio trying to record an older piece we wrote and never recorded. Blood Seed has been very well received for the most part. Most people are surprised… whether or not they knew what to expect. People seem to be pleased by the balance of droning, string-based melodic material and heavy guitar laden, pounding sound.
2. I must ask a thing about your name - what made you decide to change the name from Pussygutt to WOLVSERPENT? Should one try to find something deeper in this or was it just because the situation asked for it and there is no necessity to beat brains about this?
Brittany: We carried the moniker “Pussygutt,” since we were 18 years old. It came time for a change. We began honing our vision and sound. Then, after some soul- searching, we decided to lay the name to rest. It was part of a general regrouping and refinement of our intentions.
3. It is a fact that when compared to "She Hid Behind Her Veil", I feel much more folklore on "Blood Seed", even the minimalism grew and expanded somehow, the album seems to have more layers or levels, so to say. Do you feel simmillarly about the album? What were your influences when creating "Blood Seed"? How important was it for you to differentiate the creations of WOLVSERPENT and Pussygutt?
Brittany: Yes, I can see that there is more folklore to Blood Seed. Gathering Strengths was released after “She Hid…” and before “Blood Seed.” That album acts sort of like a stepping stone between the two. It has more elements of “folk,” and it also carries the thread of avante chamber music using clarinet, violin and viola heavily in the arrangement. By the time we got to Blood Seed, we had developed a lot musically. We also had a sharpness to our intention. There is just more feeling present in Blood Seed all around.
Our influences were most prominently a really rough, oppressively long winter in a gray, cloud-covered valley. The struggles of being a “working band.” Having been on several west-coast tours we were trying to find our footing and discover what we want from our music. Musically speaking, I was listening to a lot of Khanate, Thorr’s Hammer, Eyvind Kang, Elemental Chrysalis, Flower Travelling Band, Swedish Psychedelic rock in general, Krautrock, Gamelan music from Bali and began delving into vocal music from Eastern Europe.
It did not concern us to differentiate between what we did as Pussygutt and as Wolvserpent. It is still the two of us making the music, no matter what guise we take on. We recognize that it has been an evolution that brought us to where we are now.
4. Is "drone doom" together with a few fresh elements the right music that manages to fully satisfy the Green - McConnell duo? The minimalism, extensive soundscapes, by no means less extensive songs... Do you also craft some other, faster, maybe more complicated music as a side project or something? I guess that you two are open to experiments. What are the elements that attract you the most, but you have not had a chance to use them yet?
Brittany: Yes, the expansiveness and weightiness of this music is very satisfying. With the ambient and acoustic string elements mixed with the massiveness of guitar and amplifier brutality, it is like painting with a massive brush with many tiny bristles articulating more texture. That balance is very satisfying. We have played faster music with much more mathematical leanings in the past. We have not produced that material on record however. It was nice to play and it felt much like a training ground. It was a time to play with tempo and meter such that the music made time get very strange. But, it was a little too intellectual to hold our attention past some experimentation. Much of our music now uses elements of this “mathy,” experimentation but slowed to unbearable tempo making the patterns much more complicated than the listener might be able to recognize.
Blake: In ways Blood Seed is the most simple set we have ever written. In others the most challenging and complicated (not the guitar riffs however). Atmosphere was my main focus. The record we are currently working was almost unbearably challenging to play when we wrote it. The riffs on this release will make Blood Seed seem like a thrash metal album.
5. How do the live performances of WOLVSERPENT look like? Do you have any kind of a stage equipment or accessories that must be present? Do you also play on the more musically varied events or are you rather a concert band for a small group of insiders?
Brittany: The live event currently looks like a dark room, row of speaker cabs and amps, sparse and big drum set, sea of cables, bones and candles arranged around the stage. We always have our four skulls- one hanging on the head of the kick drum and one on the floor on either side of the kick and one on the table beside Blake. Candles are arranged beneath and all round the skulls for effect. We burn sage in a circle around the stage just before playing. Sometimes we get to incorporate larger objects like willow branches, trees and dark curtains. We play to a variety of audiences. We don’t really have a set group our crowd that we “fit,” as far as we can tell. We’ve played everything from noise shows, metal shows to a MENSA picnic. Music is for everyone willing to open and look for something that speaks to them in the sound. It would be a shame to keep ourselves pigeon-holed and only for one group or subset of listeners. That said, our music is probably not going to speak to a huge audience as it is.
6. The "Blood Seed" album is consisted of two compositions with pretty much saying-it- all kind of names - WOLV and SERPENT. How deep is it necessary to go when trying to find the meaning of the songs? It could be just a definition of what WOLVSERPENT as name is... two words connected, nothing else... or are these songs truly in-depth? I mean, you chose a mystically sounding name WOLVSERPENT, is it necessary to look upon you with the same mysticity and to not be just shallow?
Brittany: Yes and no. Yes, there is deeper meaning and can look upon us with the same mysticism. And no, you do not need to look at us through the shroud of mysticism. What I mean is, there is always a deeper meaning for those who seek it out. We are constantly creating the meanings of things all around us. It is there if you have the eyes to see. But, it is not for us to create the meaning for the listener. We put our own intention into the music and what it means is, hopefully, unique to each listener. So, for some, there will be a deep resonance with the imagery, sounds and meanings conveyed. For others, we will be some people smashing drums very hard and playing Neanderthal riffs too loudly through too many amplifiers. HA! It is like anything, both deep and shallow at the same time. It just depends on what the listener is open to and looking for in their listening experience. We make an effort to invite the listener into a deeper experience while also enjoying the pure heaviness of sound.
7. I really got to like you album. In the beginning, I did not put that much trust into it, I kept turning away, but then I gave it a chance and it got me. In the review, I with a bit of exaggeration described the song "Wolv" as a child of Lumsk and Sunn O)))... There is an interesting folklore atmosphere repeating through the song. How important is it for you to draw influences from the ethnic heritage and incorporate pieces of it into your music? I really like the (kind of more avantgarde) way in which you coped with this element. I pretty much feel this atmosphere from whole "Blood Seed", it is not on the surface, but it definitely is ever-present...
Brittany: I’m glad that you found this folklore element within the music. Storytelling and myth is a wonderful way of expressing the human experience. A wise person told me: “Myth is a lie meant to reveal the Truth.” Music holds great power to engage us with the “human story.” It has the power to reveal so much to us and convey so much through us. It is a wonderful playground for experience. Wolvserpent is very much steeped in this telling of experience. It is a mixture of playfulness- not taking ourselves too seriously- as well as investigating what it means to be a musician and human in this world. It is like using myth but in a real way- not so much pretend but like revealing the magical within the mundane.
8. It is clear, that each listener in general gets different feelings and moods when listening to the same music. Yet anyway, is listening to WOLVSERPENT supposed to push the listener more in a certain direction, to something unique? Let's say, to concentrate more on his inner self, to think about his life, as the time is passing so slowly...?
Brittany: Well, there was not really an intention for the listener in mind when writing this album. We hope that the music has some impact on the listener- that it has some value. I suppose that could be anything really. It seems like our attention, as people, is very weak. If we can learn to slow down and become focused for longer periods of time, this would strengthen us very much. That said, I don’t really mind how people take the record. Hopefully it makes an impression, evokes something or reveals something –disgust, elation… something.
9. Are you planning to release your future material under the WOLVSERPENT moniker or will that, what you are writing now, be released under a different name? As I mentioned a new material, is there already something that you would like to mention? If so, you can do it here. When approximetly can we expect the new material?
Brittany: We will be re-releasing Gathering Strengths and Blood Seed as a double cd as Wolvserpent. There will be a Blood Seed “die-hard” edition. Those two will be available for our upcoming U.S. Tour in May/June 2011. We have a side project with “A Story of Rats”, by the name of Mezektet. Mezektet will have a tape cassette release this summer. The other side-project, Aelter, will have an lp and tape cassette later in 2011 as well. We hope to have the material we are currently recording released later this year. That will be under the Wolvserpent moniker.
10. Are you planning to release the future records under the the 20 Buck Spin label again? Could you please introduce this little firm a bit? Does not any of you happen to be behind it?
Brittany: The Gathering Strengths/Blood Seed double cd will be release by Crucial Blast. The die-hard edition of Blood Seed, tape cassettes, Mezektet, and Aelter material will be released on our private imprint Wolvserpent Records. 20 Buck Spin is a great label. We do not run that label. It is a small label out of Olympia, WA, USA. It is run by an extreme, intelligent and driven fan of all things metal. Support 20 Buck Spin.
11. When describing the feelings your music gives me, I also mentioned the Canadian folks Menace Ruine whose creation gives me simmillar feelings as you do, yet a bit more chaotic and insane... Have you ever had the chance to meet the band? And - what is your opinion about me comparing you to them? Brittany: No, we have not met those folks. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard of their recordings. It’s great to see that you’ve found a common thread in the music.
Blake: I do not mind comparisons. I like Menace Rune in particular the album " The Die is Cast." I had not heard this until very recently (last year sometime) but was very impressed by the ability of this album to capture such a dark and heavy atmosphere. I really enjoy groups that take these elements of metal, drone, folk or dark wave and use them in different ways. For instance Bohren & Der Club of Gore or OROM.
12. Thanks a lot for your time and I hope that this is not the last time we meet this way. It was a pleasure to welcome you with the help of the others on the pages of Mortem Zine and I will be looking forward to our future meetings.
B&B;: Thank you for your interest. Hails to the CZECH fans! Until we meet again.
