artist: Vore
genre: Death Metal
label: Frozen Solid
band members:
vocals/guitar – Page Townsley
bassguitar – Jeremy „Skullcrusher“ Partin
drums – Remy Cameron
Vore is a well known, american band, which is making music since a couple of years for now. After a long while of abstinence, they are back with their new record Gravehammer. Hard, brutal and aggressive – This is, how they play Death Metal.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
I have the pleasure to interview the guys from Vore and find out some information about the band and their album. So let’s start with a warm „hello“ and many thanks for taking the time for an interview with our magazine!
Vore / Page Townsley:
Hails Hellania! This is Page Townsley, guitarist and vocalist for Vore. Thank you for the interview!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
First, I would like to know why you weren’t active for many years. Seven years elapsed betweenMaleficus and Gravehammer. There was a compilation in 2009, but what have you done in the meantime? Were there other projects?
Vore / Page Townsley:
It has actually only been six years between our albums. Maleficus came out in November of 2005 and Gravehammer in December of 2011. Vore has been active the entire time. There isn’t any single reason for the delay between albums to be honest. There’s a whole host of reasons, some financial, some personal. Shit happens and you can’t always influence or control that. We never intended for the time between albums to be so long, that’s just how it happened. We like to think with Vore it’s a case of quality over quantity though, ha ha!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Your new album is a stunner. How long did you work at the completion?
Vore / Page Townsley:
Thank you! We spent about a year recording and mixing it. To quote Charles Dickens it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The actual tracking and mixing was great, easily the best recording experience we’ve ever had, but we kept having accidents and malfunctions that would bring progress grinding to a halt. On the very first day of recording, on the way to the studio,Remy’s drums fell out of the back of his truck and into the street when he swerved to avoid an idiot that ran a traffic light. His drum rack was hit by cars and bent up before he could get it out of the road. Fortunately he had a friend with the same model rack as his and we were able to borrow it. Another time we were all set up to record rhythm guitars and my guitar pre-amp fried and I had to send it off for repair which took a few weeks. Another time, the recording pre-amp in the studio malfunctioned and we had to send that back to the manufacturer. There were several minor quandaries as well. We seriously considered renaming the album “Curse Of The Gravehammer”! Everything worked out in the end though. We’re really proud of our new album!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Who is writing the songs? Does everyone take part of it or just one person?
Vore / Page Townsley:
Our cover artwork was created for us by the artist Daarken (www.daarken.com). I spent a couple weeks looking on the internet for an artist to do the album cover for us. We discoveredDaarken’s website and really liked his style. We felt that his imagery fit perfectly with our lyrics and music. We contacted him and he was excited about doing the cover. It was the first album cover he had ever done. We gave him some basic ideas about what we wanted him to do with the picture, such as having the Vore glyph on the armor and he came up with the rest.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Your passion is Death Metal – and this in a quite radical way. Your music is hard and merciless. Did you always wanted to play this genre?
Vore / Page Townsley:
When I started playing guitar, death metal as we know it didn’t exist. I was drawn to heavy metal in the early 1980’s by bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Judas Priest and then discovered the more obscure stuff for the time like Venom, Hellhammer and Slayer. I was always into playing that darker kind of music and I followed that path as metal changed and evolved through the 1980’s. Death’s “Scream Bloody Gore” was a paradigm shift and later I really got into the Tampa bands like Obituary and Swedish bands like Grave. I played in death metal bands from 1989 until 1993 and then in 1994 was a founding member of Vore. Death metal, the kind that Vore creates, is the style of music I most identify with and that gives me the most satisfaction to play.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
While listening to your album, I noticed that you use typical black metal elements, such as the monotony or the simple riffing. Did you want to mix Death and Black metal or was it just a coincidence?
Vore / Page Townsley:
While all of us like some black metal, it’s probably just a coincidence and maybe a side effect . Vorewas a two guitar band until 2007 and I’ve approached the guitar differently since becoming the only guitarist in the band. I always write with two guitars in mind so some harmonies I double up on with one guitar and that lends it to having a black metal vibe. The title song Gravehammerfeatures a good example of that!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Are there other projects of the band members, which are maybe not that “radical”? What music are you listening to as compensation? Or is there only Death Metal?
Vore / Page Townsley:
Nobody has any side projects right now, though if someone wanted to have one they could as long as it didn’t conflict with Vore. As far as music goes, we don’t only listen to death metal. We each listen to a wide range of different genres of music. We have varied and eclectic tastes. When you’re a musician, we feel it’s important to listen to different things.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Who is writing the songs? Does everyone take part of it or just one person?
Vore / Page Townsley:
I write the guitar riffs, vocal lines, lyrics and arrangements. Often times Remy will have a drum beat that becomes the genesis for a riff or a song. He and I work together on what kind of beat needs to go with a riff to bring out the right flavor. He’ll tweak those and then he writes all his drum fills and embellishments. I’ll show Jeremy the guitar parts and we’ll work out the bass lines.Jeremy lives three hours away from the rest of us, so he is somewhat removed from the writing process. However, he gives his opinion as a listener which is a very valuable contribution.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
You’re in the music business for a long time now – what has changed in the American Death Metal scene or do you just don’t care what happens?
Vore / Page Townsley:
The American death metal scene has had a very profound impact on the genre as a whole since its inception. I think there has been significant evolution and innovation and it is still a viable scene here in the USA. Probably one of the biggest changes is one that whole world shares and that is the internet. The days of tape trading and Xeroxed fanzines are long gone.
Time For Metal / Hellania:
Have there ever been thoughts about cancelling the project Vore until now?
Vore / Page Townsley:
No.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
What means music, especially your kind of Death Metal for you? Is it just an expression or do – for example – the lyrics have a deeper meaning?
Vore / Page Townsley:
We were inspired by bands like Hellhammer and, of course, Celtic Frost. They were not technical at all. Their music created a foreboding atmosphere. It was serious. It was primal and raw and there was a beauty to that. Vore has always been about creating the heaviest, most ominous and crushing music possible. We strive to create an atmosphere like staring into an abyss, pondering mortality and the unknowable. Our lyrics reflect that also.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
What are your plans for 2012? Will there be a new album or more live gigs? And will you be able to visit Germany?
Vore / Page Townsley:
We’ll be promoting the new album, doing a bunch of gigs and possibly a new video. There are plans in the spring for a small tour with Hod and Blaspherian. We’ll start writing for the next Vorealbum too. We would love to come to Germany and tour in Europe! It’s a dream of ours to come over and play there. I can’t say for sure that will happen in 2012, but we hope it happens someday!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Since we live in the Internet age, it would be really nice, if you could tell our readers where they can find out more about you (your website or social communities for example).
Vore / Page Townsley:
Visit our official site at www.vore.org. All our info is there, plus links to all the social media sites that Vore has a presence on, like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
hile we’re on it… what do you think of illegal downloads?
Vore / Page Townsley:
Illegal downloads are a double edged sword. On one side, people are hearing your music and getting it out there which is good, but making albums costs money. Downloading can hurt for sure, but that’s just the way it is now. I’m in believer in being able to hear something before you buy it (which is easier now than it’s ever been) but I’ll always buy something if I like it. I prefer to own a physical cd or album and I will always support a fellow metal band.
Time for Metal / Hellania:
Last but not least: Is there anything you want to tell our readers?
Vore / Page Townsley:
Thanks for reading this interview! Please check out Vore’s music at our website at www.vore.org!
You can also order our cd’s and other merchandise from there. Please tell your friends about us and stay metal!
Time for Metal / Hellania:
At least, I wish you a lot of success and even more such terrific albums on your path. It was a pleasure for me to interview you and I hope we’ll find out news about your further work soon. Thank you for all the information! I wish you all the best for the future and also a lot of success! I’m looking forward to a new album and I hope that we don’t have to wait that long for it.
Your Hellania!
Vore / Page Townsley:
Best regards, Hellania!
Thanks again, Hellania, for giving us the chance to expose Vore to the readers of Time For Metal! Horns!