Bringing the Doom!!! Ahead of their show with United Bible Studies, Peter Hunter from Nomadic Rituals sheds some heavy light on their upcoming performance and album.
How do you feel about adding the heft to our gig on the 26th November?
By now, we have become well accustomed to bringing the heft. We have played a number of shows over the last few years where we have been the only heavy band on the bill, not that we mind. I think the juxtaposition between the bands on the lineup should work quite well, and I’m really interested to hear what UBS have been brewing.
What can the audience expect from Nomadic Rituals?
We will be playing a large chunk of the new album along with a sneaky number from Holy Giants. The audience can expect it to be as slow, low, and unrelenting as always. Lots of big bass, synth drones, pounding drums, sludged out vocals, spacey concepts, noisy guitar, and general apocalyptic negative waves.
Will your set list reflect the experimental nature of the headliners?
Over the last few years we have tried to push the boundaries of our sound further and further. We are always trying to make it bigger and more expansive or claustrophobic and aggressive. To do this we have been introducing more synths, noise and samples while playing around with song structure and concepts. While our experimental efforts may differ sonically from the headliners, similarly we are both treading in weird and murky waters.
When can we expect from your next release ’’Marking the Day’’?
We will be releasing the album in early 2017. While we would have liked to release it earlier, we felt it was most important to take our time and try to make it as good as we possibly can. Marking the Day will be a six track concept album running a little over an hour. The timeline runs from the start of our known universe to a state sometime after the heat death of the universe. The first half moves through the formation of the galaxy and the emergence of life; while the second half focuses on humanity’s existence, hubris and predicted demise. It’s like the brief history of everything in a 1 hour.
Your last was a split 12’’ with Tome which was screen-printed and cut out by yourself to great effect. Will this DIY approach extend to ‘’Marking the Day’’?
We will be approaching this release a little differently. The CD will be released in a 7×7 inch clear sleeve which holds a mixture of screen printed and giclée art cards. We wanted to keep a hands on DIY approach, but aim for a higher quality finish. More importantly, it’s like a proggy concept album so it needed good artwork.
On the ‘Holy Giants’ album you broke up the longer tracks with shorter tracks , which worked really well, will this be employed in the new release?
We were determined to have a strong sense of a chronological narrative throughout this album. While the tracks are a bit longer in general, we wanted them to flow from one to another. We spent a bit of time thinking about sequencing then using synths, feedback, noises and samples to bring them together as a cohesive whole.
What albums are currently uniting the band? (both classics and newer releases)
I would say we all have quite disparate musical tastes. I would say that my big influences for the new album were Miserable by Bongripper, Sonic Mass by Amebix, Suppers Ready by Genesis, and the usual lashings of early Hawkwind.
Garry Brooks
November 2016
http://www.nomadicrituals.co.uk/
https://nomadicrituals.bandcamp.com/music
