Primitive Graven Image

Band: Primitive Graven Image
Interviewee: Dokkalfur and Ljosalfur
Year: 2007
Website: www.pgimetal.com
MySpace: myspace.com/primitivegravenimage
Label: Open Grave Records
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks

Interview

I found out about Primitive Graven Image after seeing their debut album, "Traversing The Awesome Night", being advertised by Open Grave Records. On a whim, I decided to order the album and I'm now very glad that I did. I soon contacted the band (well, as soon as the album had arrived and I'd listened to it a few times). Eventually we set up an interview - which you can now read here!

PGI: Thanks so much for your support! Would be so great if you could come to the gig with a load of people! haha!

Lou: Hello, Primitive Graven Image, thanks for agreeing to this interview and I?m sorry these questions didn?t get to you as quickly as I?d planned. I blame the alcohol fairy that visited me at the weekend. Anyway, I thought I?d start this interview off at the very beginning, by asking when you guys formed?

PGI: Hi! Thanks for the interview. Both of us are here to answer these questions, just so you know! When did we form? Well, we are brothers, so we're with each other quite a bit, i guess it was sometime in early 2006 that we decided it would be fun to experiment with writing some black metal. At the time we doing more progressive metal stuff in another band.

Lou: Speaking of the alcohol fairy, what is your drink of choice?

Rob: GUINNESS!!

Luke: erm.. Bud? Anyone that knows me will know this is a lie..

Lou: I think that the name Primitive Graven Image really suits the music, since ?Traversing The Awesome Night? has a very primitive Black Metal feel to it. Was this intentional and who came up with the name?

PGI: We are glad that you think the name suits the music, we think so too! Luke came up with the name. It was inspired by a Nile lyric! Like you say, we felt it really fit the musical style we wanted to write.

Lou: Which bands inspire you?

PGI: We are very much inspired by the classic black metal bands, ie Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor etc.. As far as vocals go, Abbath of Immortal was a BIG inspiration. We have also incorporated a bit of a thrash metal influence and even some of the eastern flavour of Nile (one of our favourites!). We are also inspired by the moon, forests, and snow!

Lou: Which albums are you listening to a lot at the moment? Anything you?d recommend to our readers?

PGI: At the moment, what we have been listening to is pretty un-black metal. We have been listening to lots of Death metal recently. An awesome band from spain called 'Wormed', and a London based group called 'Days Of Perversion'. We are both liking Dimmu Borgir a lot recently, especially their 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia' album. Of course we recommend checking out the other bands on our label, Open Grave Records!

Lou: How old were you when you first got into Metal and what was the first album you ever bought?

PGI: It has to be said, both of us grew up on a strict diet of Metallica during our early teens! The first album we bought was the Black Album. How cliche is that!! Bands like Opeth and Emperor opened us up to more extreme forms of metal!

Lou: What do you think of the Black Metal scene at the moment? Which bands do you think are doing the best job at flying the Black Metal flag?

PGI: Hmmm.. we listen to a lot of the classic stuff. I suppose we arn't really into any kind of 'scene'. With the recent reuniting of Emperor, and now Immortal, those bands are doing a good job of flying the flag! Of course, we are trying our best to fly the flag for England!!

Lou: What are your views on downloading music? Do you download stuff yourself?

PGI: We don't really have strong views for or against. For small bands, it has to be a good thing. Its good for exposure etc.. We love collecting CDs so we always buy them, but we often download to sample bands. Although with the advent of things like myspace, its easier to hear streaming stuff, which is great!

Lou: I?ve found that your lyrics are pretty open (and by that I mean I can interpret them in a number of ways). Could you tell us where you get your ideas from?

PGI: Its good that you have found that! There is a few different themes in the lyrics for the album. There is the struggle between opposing forces, there is a history of the Earth in there, thoughts on its creation, events that are happening now, and its fate. There are lyrics that are purely trying to paint interesting images in the minds of people listening and reading.

Lou: The album was released on Open Grave Records. How does an English band end up on an American label?

PGI: We just came across them and they wanted to sign us! They are a great label. When we signed with them they were relatively new, but they are expanding fast. It is definitely a very exciting thing to be a part of!

Lou: Random question because I was watching ?The IT Crowd? on DVD the other day ? If you were a serial killer, what would your name be and why? (I got this idea from the episode where Moss decides that his serial killer name would be "The Gardener"... 'because he'd leave a rose at the scene of the crime')

PGI: Our knowledge of serial killers is not that great. The IT Crowd is pretty great though!

Lou: Do you have any plans to tour with the current album? Will the fact that you are a two piece hinder you in anyway? Do you plan to use other musicians or samples in your sets?

PGI: We do have plans to start playing gigs very soon. We are working on getting a drummer and a bassist so that we can play live. We don't want to use samples.

Lou: Which venues / countries would you like to play?

PGI: As we are on an American label, it would be great to go out there and play some shows! And of course we want to play all around London... And.. Norway, haha. We would love to play a big festival in Europe.

Lou: Which song would you open with and why?

PGI: We would almost definitely open with 'None Shall Stand' because of how its BOOM in straight away with that hooky exciting riff! It was also the first track we ever wrote as Primitive Graven Image, so thats kind of cool!

Lou: If you could tour with any band in the world, who would it be and why?

PGI: We would love to tour with a band like Immortal. They are a big influence on us, especially in the beginning, so that would be an honour!

Lou: Have you read any reviews about ?Traversing?? yet? What has the feedback been like?

PGI: We have only read one review and its really good! Lets hope all the others all agree!!

Lou: How does this album compare to the EP (which you have available to download on your site)?

PGI: 'Hellish Figurines', our first demo, is much more of a tribute to the classic black metal bands we've been talking about. It doesn't really venture out of the black metal style. We are both really pleased with it in terms of it being a good example of the kind of music we wanted to write at the time. The album continues this idea but has some more directions and influences thrown in. We did not try to fit into any genre or place boundaries on the album.

Lou: Since hindsight is a wonderful thing, is there anything that you would like to change about the album or the EP?

PGI: We are really happy with the results on both our demo and our album. I don't there is anything specific we would want to change on any of them. Of course we have learnt things in the process, that will benefit us on future recordings!

Lou: What?s next for Primitive Graven Image?

PGI: As previously mentioned, we will soon be busy rehearsing to get a band ready to play live! We are very excited about turning Primitive Graven Image into a full band!!

Lou: Thanks so much for answering my questions!

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