EMQ’s With Epoch Of Unlight
EMQ’s With Epoch Of Unlight
Hi Everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Memphis, USA Melodic Death/ Black Metal band, Epoch Of Unlight. Huge thanks to their Bassist, Joe, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Joe, I play bass. Epoch of Unlight started in 1989 and went through various members (too many to name them all here, it would be the majority of the interview just talking about past members) and names (misanthropy, requiem-much too common of a name) until 1994. That was when we came up with the name.
How did you come up with your band name?
It’s a bit of a homage to Tolkien. Don’t know how familiar you are with his works, but the spider Ungoliant could issue the “unlight” to hide. Everyone in the band at the time was a Tolkien fan so we used that with Epoch, which is just a span of time, and put them together.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from Memphis, Tennessee. When we first started there were only a handful of bands and almost none that were playing in the same style. The scene here has always had its ups and downs, currently we seem to be on an uptick as there are quite a few really good bands here: Process of Suffocation, Incineration, Naildriver, Excavate, Ritual Fog, Elvis, Shards of Humanity, Throne. That is just a few.
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
We have just released “At War With The Multiverse” September 16th of this year.
Who have been your greatest influences?
Probably the earlier stuff I listened to, the older Thrash and early Death Metal. So early Testament, Slayer, Venom, Bathory, Ulver…
What first got you into music?
Probably like most people by going through my parents’ record collection. My mother had the stereotypical albums for someone her age: lots of Beatles and 60’s pop music and some 70’s stuff, nothing remotely heavy or strange but just decent music that made me and my brother start to get into listening to other things. Then when we (my twin brother and myself) were in elementary school we had a friend that got us into Metal and we never looked back. Back then it seemed like it was such a long time that we were listening to the first four Metallica albums, then into heavier and heavier stuff and by the time we were out of high school the band had already been playing shows and most of us were pretty heavily into the underground scenes, buying any fanzine we could get our hands on and order demos from all over the place. We did have a local guy that put out a zine for a bit that was pretty good. He also ran a distro and we got copies of a lot of stuff back then. This was pre-internet, so early to mid 90’s.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Bewitched from Sweden
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
I would be happy to play any of the European festivals, we’ve never had the opportunity to get overseas.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Nothing too weird, you guys need to step up the weirdness out there.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Buy our album so it won’t take another 17 years to put out another one. Also, to thank anyone that has taken the time to listen to our music.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Well since Elvis isn’t dead, maybe Keith Richards. Honestly probably David Bowie.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
My favourite thing is also my least favourite. Playing live is great, it’s the whole reason I wanted to be in a band, and I will always love playing live. But the rest of doing shows besides being onstage is a whole lot of work, but it’s worth it.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
Not sure, I mean it would be great to be able to make a living off of what I love doing but that is (at this point) kind of a farfetched reality.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
Ulver- Bergtatt
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
Depends on what is available on what platform. Vinyl is best but that’s for things that I really want. CDs are good. Not a big fan of computers so downloads are last place for me. I want something that I can read all the liner notes.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
1999 we played in Montreal on the Dimmu Borgir tour. The place was overpacked and the crowd was right up on us screaming the lyrics back at us.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
I guess technically I’m not, I don’t make my living from music. But I’ve gone stints without playing and it’s not very fun to be away from playing. So I would like to actually be a musician one day when I grow up ha ha.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Bernard Cornwell, Brian Lumley, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and Steve Perry (the writer not the singer).
What’s next for the band?
Well we have several more songs written, probably a whole albums worth so hopefully we’ll get that recorded and released within another year or so.
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
Primarily Facebook and Bandcamp. We don’t use Twitter, and we were a bit late to the game with Instagram, but we made it there a few years ago. We finally got control of most of our streaming platform accounts, though we currently only control releases after The End Records, so we don’t see a penny from those first three album streams. We’re working on getting the rights back from The End/Sony so we can reissue them, but being a blip on their radar, it’s hard to get their attention … but I digress.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epochofunlight/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EpochOfUnlight
Bandcamp: https://epochofunlight.bandcamp.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7iIGWkJS1TXCxn308iPtYe
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
Aren’t all of them correct?
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for taking the time to send this interview, and buy three copies of “At War With The Mulitverse”!
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