Paradise Lost Interview
Interview with Steve Edmondson of Paradise Lost
Words by Rant Chick
Paradise Lost is currently rounding up its UK tour and will soon head off to Europe to elate fans on the continent. Clink was fortunate enough to catch up with bassist, Steve Edmondson, for a quick interview before the band’s London gig at Islington Academy. Twenty years down the line and twelve albums later, Paradise Lost boasts a musical heritage that is both influential and inspirational, and new album Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us is testament to the band’s creative talent and longevity. I always find it more difficult interviewing bands I really like as I seem to abandon any sense of calm rationality in favour of an excited hysteria that can be very scary for the interviewee. But Steve was most obliging and it was a privilege to hang out in the Paradise Lost tour bus and chat about music and ideas with a member of such an iconic band.
The band is nearing the end of its UK tour and is heading out to Europe soon: how has the tour been so far?
Yeah, it’s been really good. The crowds have been really, really good – the venues have been full. It’s been excellent.
Do the crowds in the UK differ to the European crowds?
I think that metal fans are all the same everywhere, unless you go to South America where they are wild. We have toured there a few times and the crowds are unbelievable.
Your twelfth studio album Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us was released in September, you used 7-strings for the first time – what prompted your decision to do this and are you pleased with the end result?
Yeah, it gives a heavier sound. The guitars are tuned a lot lower so that it gives you that extra low-end. We are so pleased with the sound – it’s the first time we have used them and we’ll probably use them again.
Do you think that Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us is the kind of album that could win over new fans – twenty years down the line is this something that the band still aims to do?
Obviously we want to win over new fans but we don’t really think about it. It’s the music itself that we enjoy and it’s what we want to do. When we are writing a new song we aren’t thinking “this will win over new fans”: we would like to but it’s not our primary interest.
A couple of songs on the new album were recorded with a live orchestra in Prague, would you consider doing a live show with an orchestral accompaniment?
Like Metallica. That would be amazing and is definitely something to think about for the future. I mean, we haven’t really thought about it but hopefully, maybe one day.
Twenty years later, what inspires your lyrics and music? And have these inspirations changed or evolved over the years?
We are inspired by life in general (this hasn’t changed over the years), I mean where we live is pretty grey, wet and cold – not that it’s not beautiful: the band is from Halifax in Yorkshire so there is a lot of green but a lot of grey.
How do you feel about London, especially in comparison to where you grew up?
There is a lot of hustle and bustle. I feel more claustrophobic in London: everything you touch is grimy and dirty and there is no fresh air.
How do you feel about the label ‘goth metal’ and what do you think about labels in general?
I think that labels are a bit silly. There are so many labels and, basically, they aren’t actually that different.
Metal fans often have a habit of confining bands within an appointed label and are then up in arms when a band experiments with different sounds. Has this been difficult for Paradise Lost?
Paradise Lost still sounds the same irrespective of the different styles the band has experimented with – we still play the same type of songs, just done in a different way. Our inspirations are still same – the blackness and doom are still there.
Four of the band members are original (been around since 1988) – what’s the secret?
We are just really good friends. I mean the original drummer would probably still be in the band if he hadn’t needed to leave.
And egos don’t get in the way?
Sometimes but we work it out. We are from the same area and are just really good friends – we’ve known each other since we were young.
November 23rd, 2009
[...] Check out review and killer pics on ClinkmusicMagazine, as well as Interview with Steve Edmondson [...]