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Metal hails how is your
week starting out? Please introduce yourself to the readers of Canadian
Assault?
Hey there, my name is
Jens Bendtsen Pedersen; I am 35 years old and the lead vocalist in Danish
death metal entity Cerekloth. So far it has been a mellow week, been
catching up on interviews, listening to records, reading, watching movies
and hanging out with my fiancé and little boy. Currently I am gearing up for
a Cerekloth rehearsal this coming weekend, the first one in a long long
time.
 At
what age did you first discover metal? Who were some of the first bands you
listened to?
I bought my first metal
album in 88 I guess and it was Iron Maidens classic “Seventh Son of a
Seventh Son” on original tape. I listened mainly to Maiden, Metallica and
Danish hard rockers Disneyland After Dark until the early 90es where a older
local metal head from my small hick town started hooking me up with dubbed
tapes containing Morbid Angel, Death, Rigor Mortis, Obituary, Sepultura etc.
In the late 80es / early 90es I was also heavily into skateboarding and also
listened to some punk rock as well as a lot other music like Sonic Youth,
The Doors etc. At first metal was just music that I listened to, later on it
became much more than that. Since 1999 I have been involved in many metal
bands along with a couple of dark experimental projects as well.
When did you and the
other members of Cerekloth meet? When did you all form the band? What is the
"current" band line-up? For the readers who have never heard Cerekloth's
music how would you best describe it?
Cerekloth was formed in
2008 by a different line up then the one we have now. Only Allan (guitars)
and I remain from the first constellation of the band. The line – up now
consists of Allan Larsen (guitars), Morten Adsersen (guitars), Martin Leth
Andersen (bass/ additional vocals), Nis Larsen (drums) and of course myself
(lead vocals). Allan and I have been close friends since the mid 90es and we
have previously played together in other bands, I really like working with
him. Morten and I know each other from when we used to play together in a
faster style death metal band 5-6 years ago, we always stayed in contact and
he was the first choice to fill in the vacant guitar spot when we kicked out
our previous guitar player and he turned out to be a great addition. Nis and
Martin are guys that I have met at gigs etc many times during the last
decade or so, I really like what they do in their other band Strychnos and
they seemed perfect for Cerekloth hence we decided to ask them to join our
ranks and they accepted. Cerekloths sound could be described as a wall of
pitch black death worship, our focus lie in dark atmosphere and good song
writing. We do not care about being old school, true, cult or whatever
stupid bullshit that seems to come with playing in a metal band these days.
Cerekloth
recently released their debut full length "In The Midst of Life We Are In
Death". How long did it take the band to write, and record the songs for
this release? Did the the whole band work on the music together or did 1-2
members handle the music writing?
The album is coming out
April 19th on LP/CD. We wrote the album material during 3 years.
A lot of material was thrown out along the way and we tested 95% of the
material live several times before it made the album. The actual recording
was done during 10 days and then there was the mixing and mastering process
afterwards. Allan and Morten has so far written all music and I write most
of the lyrics although Martin wrote two lyrics for the album and an old
friend wrote a lyric for us as well. Usually we send demos back and forth to
each other via email and when we finally do meet at rehearsals; we go
through the songs and work on the arrangements until we are satisfied. We
all take part in arranging the material.
When it comes to a
creating a new Cerekloth song which usually comes first the music or the
lyrics? Where do you all draw inspiration for your lyrics?
Usually the music but
the lyrics for “Halo of Syringes” were actually written a long time before
the music. My lyrics revolve around death, a topic that I have had close
encounter with for most of my life in various shapes and sizes. There is for
sure inspiration to be found in the occult , but also in urban decay ,
spiritual death , mental disease , drug abuse etc. Inspiration can come from
anything really, dreams, painting, thoughts, and the subconscious. I like to
keep the lyrics open for interpretation
How has the response
been from the press and the fans?
So far the response has
been pretty good, the reaction of others is not something I dwell on to much
though. Not too much response yet since the album is not officially
released. The most important thing is that we are close to 100 % satisfied
ourselves.
Does the band play
"live" very often or do you prefer to work more in the studio? Where are
some places/countries you all have toured/played?
We live scattered around
the country, so rehearsals are not that common. We have played around 10
gigs so far and the majority of them went really well. So far we have only
played in Denmark at various clubs as well as major festivals such as
Copenhell (shitty experience) and the Roskilde festival (best gig so far)
which is one of the biggest music festivals in Europe , pretty special for a
band who had only released a couple of EPs at the time. We also had the
pleasure of playing the most Awesome Kill-Town death fest in 2011.
Personally I prefer recording sessions and the creative process. Sometimes I
am really into playing gigs and then there can be long periods with no urge
to perform live, I guess that is due to my sort of anti social nature. After
a lengthy break from concerts, Cerekloth will play our next gig alongside
the Old Danish doom band Saturnus in the Copenhagen area. We are really
interested in playing a few gigs abroad once the album is released, so
organizers should get in touch with us.
Who are some bands you
all have toured with over the years? Anything insane or crazy ever happen at
one of your shows? If you could set-up a "dream" show/tour who are some
bands you would love to tour with?
I have never done a tour
in my life except for a mini European tour with the Swedish black metal band
Kill (I was a vocalist in the band for a while). We have no desire for a
long tour as we have too many obligations in our daily lives and personally
I would go crazy having to be around people for a long period of time.
Loads of crazy shit has happened during gigs but nothing that shall be
revealed here. There are many bands past and present that would be cool to
play with, too many to mention. Cerekloth has performed at festivals with
some great bands such as Necros Christos , Necrovation , Sonne Adam , Grave
Miasma etc.
In your opinon what is
the best and the worst thing about the underground? And what does the
term underground metal mean to you?
I am not very active in
the underground scene anymore although I try to remain updated on
interesting bands and still have a few close contacts. Some good things
would be that the underground has spawned some great honest music throughout
the years. Worst things would be all the ûber kult / trueness bullshit as
well as the stupid self proclaimed underground rules. I am not too worried
if things are underground or not, there is good music and bad music, it IS
as simple as that. Besides that, the internet was the death of the real
underground; everything is easy to obtain now.
Cerekloth is a part of
Denmark's metal underground scene, there seems to be a growing metal scene
in Denmark would you agree? What is your opinion of Denmark's metal scene?
Ah the Danish scene is
about as worthless as an old aids ridden whore in a brothel. The scene here
is nothing that I consider myself a part of anymore. There is of course some
really cool , dedicated and honest people , but the majority of metal heads
here are mindless followers worrying mostly about being true, Wearing the
right shirts / patches , obeying the underground rules, drinking beer and
kissing ass on all the right people. A gig here is often like an alternative
disco to be honest.
Who are your all-time
favorite bands from Denmark? Are their new metal bands you
feel the readers should check out soon?
The very best stuff ever
spawned from Denmark is without a doubt the first couple of Mercyful Fate
releases which are absolutely stunning. Apart from that I will never grow
tired of Disneyland after Darks classic “No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims” LP.
There is some great current bands here as well such as Altar of Oblivion ,Strychnos,
Ligfaerd, Nortt , Sulphurous, Undergang, The Vein and perhaps a couple more
that I might have forgotten.
Coming back to the band
you handle the vocals for the band, when did you start singing? Who are some
of your favorite singers?
I started doing vocals
seriously around 99 I guess and have since then been in quite a lot of bands
and projects. My favorite vocalists would be :Ozzy (early Sabbath stuff) ,
David Vincent (Morbid Angel) , Arioch (Funeral Mist) , Jon Nödtveidt
(Dissection), Chris bailey (Infernal Majesty debut) , Attila Csihar (Mayhem
/ Tormentor) , Craig Pillard (Incantation), Chuck Schuldiner (early
Death),Tom G. Warrior (Hellhammer /Celtic Frost / Triptykon) ,Quorthon (Bathory)
,Bruce Corbitt (first Rigor Mortis LP) , Mors Dalos Ras (Necros Christos) ,
Glenn Danzig (The Misfits / Samhain / early Danzig), Jim Morrison (The
Doors) , Ian Curtis (Joy Division) , Carl Mccoy (Fields of the Nephilim) ,
Alice Cooper , Nick Cave and many more
Is their anything
special you do to keep your throat/voice healthy when your recording or
preparing for a show? Do you play any other instruments?
Not really, I guess I
have a naturally good technique for doing extreme vocals. Before gigs I
usually just have a few shots and get into the right mood before we hit
stage. I wish I could play an instrument - but no. I try to keep my voice
versatile so that it can be used as an actual instrument though.
Are you or any of the
other members of the band currently playing in other side-bands?
Everyone except Morten
has other bands on the side. Allan has Altar of Oblivion and Church Bizarre,
Nis and Martin both play in Strychnos and martin also plays in The
Cleansing. I also have The Vein and Church Bizarre on the side although the
latter will be put on ice once we finalize the upcoming mini album.
Well JBP. We have
reached the end of the interview thank you for taking the time to fill out
this interview. Do you have any final comments for the readers?
Not much to add here,
keep an eye out for our debut album ”In The Midst Of Life We Are In Death”
to be out in April via Hells Headbangers!
STEEP
IS THE ETERNAL FALL OF HOPE!!!!!!!
http://www.cerekloth.dk/
http://www.myspace.com/cerekloth
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