Interview

Slomatics Talks Early Album Re-Issues And Upcoming Material

Newly signed to Black Bow Records (the label from Jon Davis of Conan), Belfast doom outfit Conan is being re-introduced to the metal world with a series of re-issues before a new album drops next year.

Tomorrow we'll be streaming the full re-issue of debut album "Flooding The Weir," but before those sludgy low and slow tunes come your way we also checked in with guitarist David Majury to discuss past releases and upcoming material.

Slomatics aims to reduce riffs to a primal state of heaviness, to produce music that implodes under its own weight but still creates a joyous and euphoric state of wellbeing which can only be obtained with a slew of vintage amplifiers, fuzz pedals, analog synths and an alarming array of percussion instruments. Find out all about the past and future of Slomatics through our interview below.

xFiruath: The first two albums are about to see digital re-release – does that mean a new full-length is on the horizon, and if so how far along is it?

Dave: Yes. The writing for the album is complete, and we're currently polishing the songs ahead of recording next month. We're in Skyhammer with Chris Fielding and Start Together here in Belfast, so it'll be a new way to record for us, using two studios. Having used Start Together for years, and recording the split we did with Holly Hunt at Skyhammer, we're really looking forward to it. Everything is in place, art work, mastering etc, and the record will be released on Black Bow in spring 2016.

xFiruath: Is there anything different on these new re-issues from their original versions?

Dave: No - Jon at Black Bow was quite keen for them to be re-issued in their original format, and we were happy enough for that to happen too. Those records are quite old at this stage, and were recorded long before our drummer Marty joined the band. They're documents of where we were then and are pretty much representative of that time. Both have been sold out for years, so I suppose it's an opportunity for people who didn't know about us back then to hear where we came from. As a band we tend to focus on what we're doing right now.

xFiruath: How did you get hooked up with Black Bow Records and how is that collaboration going so far?

Dave: We've been good friends with Jon for years, he was actually one of the first people to show interest in what we were doing and we talked a lot even before the Conan thing started. We first met him at a show in Liverpool around 9 years ago and have been in regular contact since. We've played quite a few shows with Conan too. We'd known the engineer Chris for years - we did a split with his band Agent of the Morai years back. When Jon told us about his plans for Skyhammer it was clear that we'd want to record there, and after we released “Estron” we booked time to record for the Holly Hunt split. That session was just a wonderful experience and it was really cool to hang out with Jon and his family too. We were really happy with the results of that session, which led to us chatting about the next record being on Black Bow. As anyone who's read a Conan interview will know, Jon has been enormously supportive of us for years, which still blows our minds. We'd been very happy with both the labels we worked with before (Burning World and Head of Crom), but given our friendship and great musical connection with Jon and Chris it was an easy decision to make. We couldn't be happier with how things have gone so far and we're itching to hit the studio now.

xFiruath: What would you say is the biggest difference in terms of tone and overall sound between these two previous releases and your upcoming material?

Dave: We're at the end of a three album cycle that we came up with when Marty joined the band, so although they will all sound different there is a connection between them. We like to think each record represents a step forward and this one is certainly shaping up as we intended. We've probably experimented more on this one in terms of space and texture within the songs, but tried to balance that with the heaviest material we could come up with. The narrative of this record is quite negative and we've tried to get that into the music, so the riffs are maybe a bit nastier, while at the same time we're making more use of synths and different textures to create a sense of light and shade. We set ourselves quite specific challenges, simple things like writing a much shorter song, and that helps keep it diverse and interesting.

xFiruath: There's really not much in the way of vocals on “Flooding the Weir.” Will that continue to be the case in upcoming material, and without lyrics to drive the music what sort of inspiration do you take for your music and what kind of themes are you expressing through the instrumentation alone?

Dave: No, absolutely not. The early records were created within the constraints that we had at the time. Once our 'new' drummer (he's been here for four years now!) joined, those constraints went out the window as Marty is not only an extremely capable drummer but also a really great singer. With “A Hocht,” Marty had only been in the band a matter of months, so we were still finding out how the vocals would fit, but we used vocal melody and structure a lot more on “Estron” and that will continue with this record too. We see the vocals very much as an instrument, equally as capable of creating a mood or feeling as a guitar tone.

As for inspiration and themes - we try not to let lyrics or song titles be too obvious, and we try to create a narrative through the music. The themes have been quite closely linked to the concept we've covered over the last two records, but in general we really do try to be as uplifting and melodic as possible. We're all older guys, and are generally pretty happy and content with most things in life, so I guess our music maybe reflects that. The new record certainly has some nasty moments, but we try to balance that out well. It'll up to the listener to decide if it's worked!

xFiruath: What's a writing session like for your group and how does an epic sludge/doom track come together?

Dave: It varies all the time. We jam regularly, so just start playing without any structure or specific aims, and quite often that will yield some interesting ideas that develop into songs. We don't really sit down and plan too much, although with this record (and the previous two) we did think about ebb and flow and tried to write stuff that flowed. The new stuff was maybe a little more deliberate in that riffs were brought to the jam room fully formed, and it came together quite quickly from there. I'll constantly play riffs into my tiny practice amp at home and record them on my phone, so I've a library of ideas stored all the time. Some of these were scrapped, some became songs.

xFiruath: I saw you just played a show with High On Fire the other night. How did that go, and is that a venue you frequently play?

Dave: It was great thanks. High on Fire were fantastic, super loud and really intense. Nice guys too. We've played that venue quite a bit, it's not huge so it makes for a good atmosphere.

xFiruath: On a similar note, are there any other live shows or tour dates lined up or plans to go out and support these re-issues?

Dave: Not really, as we're focusing on recording over the next two months. We've a couple of really exciting gigs lined up for next year already, but we'll only really sit down and look at 2016 over the next few weeks. We all have jobs/families so we plan well ahead for trips away. There's a couple of really great shows that we're really excited about playing, but we can't give anything away just yet.

xFiruath: What's happening overall in your local metal scene and how active are you guys in terms of hometown shows? Are there any venues or promoters really championing metal near you?

Dave: The music scene in general has always been great here. To be honest we're probably a little out of touch with the straight up metal scene - our guitarist Chris is much more into that stuff that either Marty or I. There's bands like Terminus and Rabid Bitch of the North who are getting plenty of international acclaim. The Distortion Project is the main metal promoter here, and they bring over loads of fairly big bands like WASP etc, as well as running weekly gigs for local bands. Our favourite venue in Belfast is called Voodoo, and there's all sorts of live stuff going on there all the time. There is more non-traditional music happening too of course, with bands like Nomadic Rituals, Maw, Tome, Zlatanera and Mares of Diomedes all producing really cool heavy music.

xFiruath: We're about at the end of the year again already. What's been your favorite album of the year and what's coming out on the horizon you are looking forward to aside from your own material?

Dave: My favourite records this year probably have no place in any self respecting doom metal fans collection!! The latest Thee Oh Sees, Swervedriver and Beachhouse records have blown me away. At the heavier end of things I absolutely love the Brothers of the Sonic Cloth album. I was a huge TAD fan and this record didn't disappoint at all. I'm not sure if “Volumes” by Headless Kross came out this year or last, but it's just incredible. As for new records, I've been lucky enough to hear the new Conan record, and if people loved them before, then this is going to floor them. It's their best yet, a real leap forward. I'm hoping to hear more Headless Kross next year too as I know they've new stuff written. I'm a big fan of Switchblade from Sweden and can't wait for their new album next year. It goes without saying that literally anything the Melvins release will be on my shopping list too!

xFiruath: Anything else you'd like to discuss?

Dave: Have you got a few hours to talk about fuzz pedals?? I'd just like to thank you for taking time to chat to us, and hopefully we'll get to see as many folk next year as possible, hopefully in new places. Cheers!