Fans of BENEDICTION had to wait 12 years for a new record. Now that „Scriptures“ is spinning we spoke to guitarist Darren Brookes about the new record, the change behind the mic and how a band changes the way they work during a 30 year existence.
Hi there. First of all let me thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. How are you guys doing?
Hey thanks for the interview. Were doing as good as we can right now. Desperate to get on stage.
Congratulations on the release of your new album „Scriptures“. How have the reactions from your fans and the media been so far?
Oh man, it’s gone through the roof mate. It’s been amazing. We’re getting top marks in all of the bigger magazines, the smaller mags, podcasts and especially from the fans. I think the fact we have stayed true to our roots has really earned us respect amongst the press and the fans. It’s been fantastic.
I have to ask – do you even care about things you read online or in publications? I mean everyone with a computer seems to have a (very important) opinion these days…
Of course it’s important what people thing but only really the people who are important to us, our fans, our friends. I don’t care about outsiders. Ultimately we want to please ourselves first, we are our biggest critics. We refused keyboards and female vocals when all around us were keen for us to try so we’d sell better. We never wanted to be rock stars if that meant doing something we didn’t really like. It was more important to believe in what we were doing and we are still the same now.
How would you describe your sound on the new record to someone who hasn’t heard it?
I would suggest it’s a powerful, aggressive sound without the need to go 100 miles an hour. It’s a tight recording but not too polished. It’s in your face but it’s audible. You can hear everything. It’s not just a wall of noise. and it’s intentionally not over complicated. I think it’s a great example of old school content with an up to date production.
Can you give us an idea what the lyrics on „Scriptures“ are about?
Mostly fantasy I guess. Stormcrow is just about the ‚crow‘ being seen historically as a harbinger of doom. Neverwhen is about time travel I believe. Crooked man is a little more personal for Dave, more about himself and his journey to this time in his life. ‚Progenitors‘ is about the originators of the genre of music and how we must show the new breed what Death Metal is or maybe was, you would need to make you’re own mind on that.
It’s been twelve years since the release of your last record „Killing Musice“. Can you shed some ligh on why it took so long to record a new album?
Of course. There are many reason to be honest. We have all grown older now and have responsibilities at home, wives, children, houses etc and although we love BENEDICTION, it unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills so we have all progressed within our day jobs and are in strong positions within that. Trying to balance work and family and band is hard. Ultimately we would love to do BENEDICTION on a more permanent basis but it’s just not possible.
Also Rewy no longer lives in Birmingham so it’s more difficult to get together to write new stuff. We have had a few personal changes too and also , over the last decade or so there has been a push from promoters for us to load the live set with older numbers rather than new stuff. As I say there’s a million reasons but we felt now it was time, and it seems we were right.
Obviously a „new“ Dave is hanlding vocal duties this time around. When was the decision mad for Mr. Hunt not to be aprt of BENEDICTION anymore? Was it always a given that you’d apporach Mr. Ingram aas a „replacement“?
Well when myself and Rewy decided it was the right time to do a new BENEDICTION album we had a bunch of riffs and songs to work with and progress was rapid. At this time Dave Hunt informed us that he was struggling to commit to the time and energy required for promoting a new release and the difficult decision was taken that he would leave the band and concentrate on his Phd and that we would move on without him.
I called Dave Ingram initially to invite him to play a few shows with us that Dave Hunt was unable to commit to but it was immediately obvious that he wanted more involvement and the rest is fantastic history.
How would you carachterize the two Daves in terms of their voices and what theybring/ brought to BENEDICTION? Did the change in vocalist change something in the way you approached the writing process as well?
Firstly I think Dave did a great job live with Dave Ingrams material. I think Ingram is more of a typical Death Metal vocalist. His persona on stage is big and his vocals similarly powerful. Dave Hunt was more energetic. He has an amazing range of styles too. They are both fantastic vocalists and brilliant front men and I feel we’ve been extremely lucky to have had both. Neither vocalist necessarily has any bearing on the songwriting to be honest.
Where do you see differences between „Scriptures“ and its predecessor in terms of the music and ow you went about writing it?
I think BENEDICTION have over the past 30 plus years have carved out our niche and we have our style, our sound. We don’t go out with an intention to write in any particular way other than what we think BENEDICTION should sound like. I like the fact that a song from scriptures could have been on ‚Transcend‘.
The biggest difference I think is that back in the day everything was written in a rehearsal room, with a mic hanging from the ceiling. Now Rewy and I can write our ideas at home, and then get together around at my place and record them there and then. No need for dodgy recording devices anymore.
„Scriptures“ sounds like classic BENEDICTION. Did you ever consider doing something a bit unsusual musically or do you feel like you’ve made your mark and people know what you stand for and that’s that?
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it! We are very happy with what BENEDICTION is and does. We wanna just be the best BENEDICTION that we can. We ain’t trying to be the next new band or new sound, we did that in the 80’s.
You went for a quite dry and crisp sound on the new record. Did you at some point consider beefing it up a bit with some more modern production?
We wanted it to be true. We didn’t want it too modern, too produced.
These days there is no getting around one issue – the corona pandemic. How were you as people and as a band hit by the pandemic?
Bored, annoyed, frustrated and itching to get out on stage. But it is what it is. We have to be patient, to adapt. We will get through this and hopefully stronger.
How do you view the way the English/ British government is handling the situation?
They are making mistakes, as is everyone. This is a unique time, there is no handbook.
Can you talk about plans to tour the new record or is everything in that regard on hold at the moment?
We have a million gigs booked for 2021/2022 and we keep our fingers crossed that sooner rather than later we’ll be out gigging but obviously that is out of our hands just now. As soon as we can, we will.
Alright, I’d like to finish the interview with the traditional Metal1.info-Brainstomring. Just put down the first thing that pops into your head when you read the following things:
Joe Biden: gotta be better right?
Carcass: class
X-Factor: vulgar
Jägermeister: hangover
BENEDICTION in ten years: hopefully out of lockdown!
Again – thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. If you’d like to add something, the last words are yours!
Firstly I’d like to thank you for this interview.
I’d also like to thank our fantastic loyal fans for sticking with us through the years and I would also like to say welcome to the vast number of new fans we seem to be getting. Welcome aboard, it’s good to see you.
Be safe my friends, and thanks again.
Daz
21. Januar 2021 Christoph Emmrich
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