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Culted: Michael

16/04/10 || Khlysty

Shit moniker

I really don’t know if it’s the climate, the water, the environment or whatever else. All I know is that, when Canada decides to provide the metal world with some of the country’s offspring, usually the results are mindblowing (for reference, see Voivod, Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Devin Townsend/SYL, etc). Coming from Winnipeg, Culted is a band which I believe that pretty soon will be considered worthy to be added in the great annals of unfuckwithable Canuck metal. The band plays what can be tagged as blackened doom metal, but this tag doesn’t tell the whole story. So, GD contacted guitarist/bassist/percussionist Michael Klassen in an attempt to elucidate things a little bit. Here’s what he had to say.

Same sign as below Global Domination: First of all, GD decided to interview you, thus making you part of the elite of Global Dominators all around the world. How do you feel about it?

Michael Klassen: Enthusiastic indifference.

When a friend of mine listened to your record he told me that you sound like “black metal played at one tenth of the original speed”. Care to comment on that?

Tempo seems to be big part of our sound, exploring the rhythms within a drone, riff or chord. An attempt to manipulate time and space with sound. Black Metal at one tenth the speed? That’s subjective, but may be fairly accurate. Black Metal is one of the many altars I’ve worshiped at over the years and still do frequently. Burzum’s Belus is a recent acquisition I’m enjoying.

Your music IS slow and heavy. Do you consider it as mainly doom?

Doom is a genre like Black Metal with many artists sounding nothing like one another, but are all categorized under the umbrella of Doom. That being said, I love the word Doom. It’s very appropriate for many slow and heavy bands, including Culted. It’s a compliment.

Culted is a unique band, not only in terms of music: you guys live apart from each other and work through internet file-exchange. Tell us a bit about how the band started, how you met, how you decided to work in such a fashion… you know, the works…

I contacted Daniel through MySpace and inquired if he’d add some additional sounds for an Of Human Bondage release, which Matthew and I are a part of. After getting to know each other through email, Daniel asked if Matthew and I would be interested in putting together some Doom type stuff with him as writer and vocalist. Of course, we agreed and the riffing and writing commenced.

Your singer, Daniel Jansson, lives in Sweden, while the rest of you guys live in Canada. How difficult is it for a band to work out things when its members live on different time zones?

It hasn’t been difficult at all. We’re all pretty laid back in the sense that we’re not rushing anything; there are no time limits or artistic restrictions that we place on one another. We let the music decide what sounds are accepted and which should be rejected.

A sign Your record has a very uniform sound and production, which I simply adore. Can you tell me how you achieved that with all them sound files flying all over the internet?

Riffs were drawn from the void of inspiration by Matthew or myself, arrangements explored with Kevin and then recorded in our home studio. The basic tracks of guitar, drum and bass were sent to Daniel. His interpretation of those sounds through words and voice fueled further sonic exploration by the two of us.

Your sound is really dark and desperate. Are you guys living in despair all the time?

The debilitating effects of depression have been a part of my life since adolescence. I was a naïve adversary to the religious ideology that I was indoctrinated into. This was my first fling with “the beast”. My rebellion was met with strong resistance and familial breakdown. Fortunately, my will was not broken by repeated attempts to bring me back into the flock. When I reached the legal age of adulthood, I left this unhealthy situation and began living. This disease, meme, religious hangover or whichever name you give it, affected me profoundly, while going undiagnosed for over a decade. So, yeah, I have experienced the reality of living in despair. Years of unhealthy living gave birth to years of self-discovery. Ongoing education and a healthy home environment with a wife and children, have kept me grounded and focused.

What is the subject matter of the lyrics and who’s writing them?

Daniel is responsible for the words. From our conversations, I have deduced that he finds inspiration in life, death and the various rituals that accompany these abstract concepts.

You guys live in Canada and Daniel lives in Sweden. Do you think that the climate and the environment you live influenced your music?

It’s possible, maybe even probable. Winnipeg has the most extreme climate change in the world. We go from minus 35 in winter to plus 30 in summer with suffocating humidity, during the brief period we call summer which is barely two months long. From one extreme to the next. I love extremes, extreme noise, extreme quiet.

What bands/artists/people do you consider as your main influences?

Black Sabbath, Celtic Frost, Pink Floyd, Swans, Black Metal, In Slaughter Natives. Artists I admire; Witkin, Dali, Bosch, Bacon. People; Nietzsche, Chomsky, Crowley, Robert Anton Wilson, Colin Wilson.

What’s your opinion about the state of heavy metal today?

Seems popular.

I’m gonna give you some names and I would like your comments on them, okay? Here we go:

Doom metal: Corrupted, Electric Wizard, Esoteric.

Khanate: Inspirational.

Mortuus (Sweden): The few tracks I was played sounded amazing. I should seek out their stuff.

WOLD: Intriguing and bleak.

Skinny Puppy: Too Dark Park, Last Rights, Vivisect, Rabies… Amazing stuff.

Celine Dion: Wealthy.

Black Metal: Sacred.

Same sign as above Satan: Misinterpreted and misunderstood. A word unfortunately and incorrectly defined by later day Christians to encompass all the evils in the Christian bible. It was never intended as a noun, or the embodiment of evil. Acts could be defined as satanic. This misinformation of the great boogeyman is perpetuated to this day as the archetypal adversary, the anti-God to the Christian God.

Caribou (the animal, not the band): An image of the Caribou is on one side of the Canadian 25 cent coin.

Thank you very much for the interview. I wish I could send you guys some beer over the Internet…

Me, too.

Interviews