CRAFTEON – interview with the band

Crafteon is one among the most interesting bands that I stubled across, this year. With tons of band following the stereotypical lyrical themes we do fibd some bands that incorporate a story/topic on their lyricism. Crafteon is one such band. Following the great author, H.P Lovecraft this Literature professor led Black Metal Act is all set to release their album later this year. Here is what the band has to say about their upcoming albums and their dream collaborations.

Very much excited to have a nice little chat with you all on behalf of Metal Center. How are you all doing

Lord Mordi: Doing just fine — thanks for asking! I actually just returned from a backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains, so I’m rather spiritually refreshed at the moment.As for Crafteon as a whole, we are currently practicing weekly to gear up for a set of live shows taking place in the Midwest—specifically Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, and Salt Lake City.

“Cosmic Reawakening” seems like a rather powerful title for an album. How would you explain the album in terms of style and lyrical content?

Lord Mordi: As our music is based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, the title of this album is one way a nod to a common trope of the Lovecraftian tale, which often involves the reawakening of some ancient, god-like creature from eons of slumber, the most well-known in pop culture being Cthulhu, of course. Additionally, we’d like to hope the album itself is an “awakening” in the metal scene, assuming listeners find our approach to be refreshing. Lastly, I suppose the album title is a tip of the hat to an album that has influenced me throughout my life, that being Lost Horizon’s debut release, Awakening the World.  

According to you what is the best part of being in a band?

Lord Mordi: Without a doubt, the best part of being in a band is watching new listeners react to your music. When you’ve slaved over perfecting the same songs for years and driven yourself to the point of disgust from overexposure to your own songwriting, nothing is more refreshing than positive commentary from people who are listening to your work for the first time. It’s absolutely invigorating. In fact, the reviews for Cosmic Reawakening are just now beginning to surface among the metal publications out there, and I must say I am experiencing quite the catharsis while reading over the recent feedback on our work.

Who inspired each one of you to take up your respective instruments?

Lord Mordi: I first became hooked on the idea of playing guitar when a friend introduced me to Jimi Hendrix in elementary school. Soon after, I latched onto Kurt Cobain and attempted to learn every Nirvana riff ever written, which is unfortunately cliché for most guitarists from my generation, but I suppose I never would have fell in love with guitar without first learning to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” when I was in the sixth grade.

Ithaqua: My first band couldn’t find a bass player so our guitarist lent me her copy of Cliff Em All to convince me to switch from rhythm guitar to bass.  Cliff was more visceral and expressive on the bass than most guitarists ever achieve, and I immediately wanted to sound like that.  Bass has been a natural fit for me ever since.

Rhagorthua: I was most inspired to take up drumming while growing up listening to Kiss, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden.

Fthaggua: Just wanted to play guitar. Not sure what it was specifically that made me want to. Always played music in some form since I was very small, and I am decently proficient in many other instruments besides guitar.

H.P Lovecraft has been a huge Influence for you all. Where did you find him first, and how did he inspire you?

Lord Mordi: Well, the Lovecraft bit comes from me, although all of us are fans. I discovered Lovecraft in a small bookstore when I was a young man in high school. While I had always been attracted to horror writers like Stephen King and Peter Straub, I’d never encountered the works of an author who caused such an uncomfortable ambivalence in me—I felt simultaneously frightened and awe-inspired.  Of course I was instantly hooked. Over time, I developed an addiction for Lovecraft’s stories in which I needed to feel bewildered or unnerved until I could fall asleep each night as I turned over these great cosmic mysteries and secrets in my mind. Gradually, my own existence became so tied up in my passion for Lovecraft’s works that I found an outlet for that passion through playing guitar, and eventually that became Crafteon.

Speaking of H.P Lovecraft, Do you guys follow Tolkien?

Lord Mordi: Funny that you ask. As for me, I am an armchair aficionado for all things Tolkien. I have a small shrine on one of my bookshelves at home. In fact, I’m a high school English teacher, and last year I taughtThe Hobbit for my first time—the students loved it. Additionally, my favorite work to teach is Beowulf, which I believe was Tolkien’s favorite work to teach at Oxford. I also share a birthday with Tolkien, so I suppose I was born to love Middle-Earth. And for those readers wondering, of course, I do sneak in Lovecraft with my students as well.

According to your artistic bio, Dark Tranquility is one among your influential acts. Which song pop in your mind when you hear the name “Dark Tranquility”?

Lord Mordi: I think there may have been a hiccup in communication there, but I have actually never listened to Dark Tranquility. I believe a recent album review compared our sound to early Dark Tranquility, so perhaps that’s where the idea in the question originated. I suppose I’ll need to go and give them a listen then! Still, I think we have a lot of influence from Swedish black/death bands coming through in our sound, so that would explain the connectionwell.

2017 is all set for a lot of major releases including yours. Which album are you looking forward to and why?

Lord Mordi: While I do lean toward black metal quite exclusively in the colder times of the year, in the summer my guilty pleasure is power metal, especially while hauling ass down the country highway where I live. I am most looking forward to a release by my friends in the power metal band Judicator, who will be releasing their fourth album, The Last Emperor.

Ithaqua: I’m still working through releases from the last decade.  I’m woefully out of touch with contemporary music.

Rhagorthua: I’m really looking forward to the new album from Spectral Voice, a death/doom act from Colorado.

Fthaggua: Right now? Epica’s EP The Solace System. Wintersun’s The Forest Seasons was one I had been looking forward to for a while as well.

Care to share your Top 5 albums of all time?

Lord Mordi: Lost Horizon – Awakening the World / Iron Maiden – Fear of the Dark / Winter’s Bane – Heart of a Killer / Shining –IV: The Eerie Cold / Yngwie J. Malmsteen –Trilogy

Ithaqua: Dissection –  The Somberlain / Metallica – Master of Puppets / Carcass –Heartwork / Morbid Angel – Covenant / My Dying Bride – A Map of all Our Failures

Rhagorthua: Dissection – Storm of the Lights Bane / Blind Guardian – Nightfall in Middle Earth / Kiss – Destroyer /  Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse / Amorphis – Tales from the Thousand Lakes

Fthaggua: Tough one. Seems to change all the time, at least depending on what it’s a top 5 for, but I’ll try.

Iced Earth – Something Wicked This Way Comes. This album really stick with me, and has some really hard hitting tracks on it. I actually first listened to it while going to school for music comp. Not sure it helped me in writing classically oriented pieces, but it made for some very different shorts for my instructors to go over.

Epica – The Quantum Enigma. This album came out when I was in a different band from Crafteon, and one not too dissimilar to the style Epica plays. Long story short, that band went south in a bad way, and this album definitely made the 16-hour trip back from the studio significantly more enjoyable.

Iron Savior – Battering Ram. Iron savior. Don’t really need to say much more.

Firewind – Burning Earth. Gus G is one of my favorite guitarists; he’s had some hits and misses in the last few years, but this album is fantastic and always will be no matter what the future brings.

Wearing Scars – A Thousand Words. Andy James is a huge influence on my playing. I memorized nearly every note from his second solo album, and unlike most shred gods he just gets better when you put him into a full band.

There’s so many other good albums that I’d love to throw out there. No shortage of good music in the world, old and new.

Are there any artists with whom each one of you guys would love to collaborate with?

Lord Mordi:  Outside of my work with Crafteon, I have been chipping away at a project for an album based on Beowulf, and if I could have any vocalist perform on the recording, it would be Alan Averill from Primordial.

Ithaqua: There’s a phenomenal band here in Colorado called Velnias who I deeply admire and would love to work with.

Rhagorthua: I would definitely collaborate with King Diamond if anyone.

Fthaggua: It’s going to sound cheesy, but I’ve never been a fan of artist collaborations for the sake of a collaboration. If they are good friends or have a legitimate reason to do it then the results are usually fantastic, but rarely when it’s forced does it turn out decent. As such, there’s this guy, Josh Mortensen, perhaps better known as Lord Mordiggian. I would love to perhaps delve a little deeper in future albums, and perhaps even different genres. We have a similar attitude and drive and similar enough musical pallette, and that’s a rare and refreshing change from the normal flakiness you find in the local music scenes.

Hope we will get to see some excellent music from this interesting collaboration soon. On behalf of Metal Centre I wish you all the best for your upcoming record. Thank You for devoting some time with us to do an Interview.

Lord Mordi: The opportunity is much appreciated. Thank you to Metal Centre for spreading the word about Crafteon and other new talent in the metal scene. Cheers!

https://www.facebook.com/crafteon/

https://crafteon.bandcamp.com/releases