Gothic, dark, electro music with nods to Gary Numan and psycadelia - what's not to love? Gnostic Gorilla talk to us about their latest project Freak's Mind.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM/ PROJECT?
“Freak’s Mind” is Gnostic Gorilla’s latest release. It was released in
February of 2019. It wasn’t planned actually. I had no intention of doing new music at this time but…eventually, one track at a time and what was supposed to be at most an EP turned into an album. It’s dark, abrasive, weird, psychedelic, and mostly industrial with some Gothic/Dark wave elements.
WHAT INSPIRED ANY CENTRAL THEMES ON THE ALBUM?
That’s sort of difficult to answer actually. I mean, I didn’t actually set out to write any sort of ‘concept’ album that’s for sure but some of the sad realities we are now seeing in the news lately have been quite disturbing and in veiled imagery/language I address some of these realities in the songs. That said, there are also more general themes…once again dealing with the issue of depression and just the human struggle. It’s not a love album, that’s for sure.
HOW LONG DID YOU SPEND RECORDING?
I started recording in November of 2018 and ended in February of this year… so, about three months. That said, one of the tracks (Veil) was recorded back in 2013 but was only released as a single.
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT THE SONGWRITING PROCESS?
I usually start off with either drum parts/beats or synth lines and bass lines and build on that. I usually have a general mood/style in my mind when I start a song but, I usually find myself surprised how a song will develop. Like, “Womb to the Tomb” has a strange mix of “Doors” like sounds with an abrasive screechy industrial style chorus. When I have finished with most of the music, I write lyrics and record vocals. Sometimes it takes a lot of attempts to find the right style of vocals for any particular song. After the vocals are recorded, I do a final mix and often add more FX and sometimes guitar or synth solos. I’m not an engineer and I don’t aim to please the OCD ‘engineer’ types.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE TRACK FROM THE ALBUM?
It’s a toss between “Womb to the Tomb” and “The East Cries Son”. The latter has a kick ass chorus line that is quite catchy.
WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?
As a teen, Gary Numan was a huge inspiration to me. That said, I have followed a more ‘industrial’ type sound myself and am more influenced by Ministry, Type O Negative, Skinny Puppy, Bauhaus, Rammstein, and many others.
HOW DID THE PROJECT “GNOSTIC GORILLA” COME TO BE?
As a teen-ager, I recorded a 45 with some mates from high school. The single, “Dark Hallway/Golgotha” was released as a solo act… “Dean Mason” and the makeshift indie label was “Lonely Ghost Productions”. In 2012, I decided to return to experimenting with music, specifically electronic music and thus was born “Gnostic Gorilla”. It was actually just all hobby, but I did release music on iTunes etc. and eventually landed a label deal with Cleopatra Records who re released my first album “St. Basil’s Asylum”.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANYONE STARTING OUT?
Just do it for the sheer sake of expressing yourself. Don’t allow yourself to fixate on becoming a “big star”…that will only get you a one way ticket to “Shitsville” in the Province of “Deception”. In other words it’s a set up to be disappointed. If your hobby becomes more than that at some point, great. If not, at least you had some fun and you expressed your ideas in an artistic fashion.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Lots of music to promote, and soon a new album to be released by Cleopatra Records called “Shaman Rave”. There are two other albums, both ‘best of’ type deals by KL Dark Records (Chasing Phantoms) and Nowhere Now Records (Lebensmüde). As well, I’ve worked with a project from Australia called “CRIX IIIX”: I wrote lyrics and recorded vocals for two songs.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO ADD –
First off, much thanks! Then…all of the major links are available at the official website http://www.gnsoticgorilla.com but I will provide links for FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/gnosticgorilla/ and Band Camp: https://gnosticgorilla.bandcamp.com/