Information
Author: Mourning
Translation: Dope Fiend
Line Up
T - Vocals
A - Guitars
C - Bass
J - Drums
They're young, English and they made a strong debut album, "Hatred For Mankind". Today, we have Dragged Into Sunlight here with us. Welcome on Aristocrazia Webzine.
Let's begin giving some information on you and your history, please tell us how the band came to be, your line up and the reasons which led you to make extreme metal?
Dragged Into Sunlight is the summation of several like minded individuals. Dragged Into Sunlight is a concept, there are no individual members as such, just a collective mindset driven by raw aggression. Dragged into sunlight is a culmination of the bands and artists that we grew up listening to. We continue to explore new depths and continue to further our fascination with extremity. Recently, a band called Woe from the US have come to light, the drum work is so aggressive.
2009 was a fundamental year for you, firstly "Terminal Aggressor" and then "Hatred For Mankind", what are your best memories of those days in the rehearsal room and in the studio? The album was produced by Mordgrimm of the unfortunately deceased Cacophonous, how did you come in contact with the label?
2009 year was a bad year. It saw some of our personal lives in an absolute state of ruin and from those pieces and all that misfortune came something so negative and so overwhelming. "Terminal Aggressor" was recorded in our basement, throwing pedals off walls, recording blood curdling screams down the microphone. There were a lot of drugs and dark days, one after the next, filled with just boredom, nothingness and stagnation. "Terminal Aggressor" is a consequence of that mindset, it felt like dying slowly. We’d started work on the album, a few of us would sit up for days at a time just working on guitar parts, suffice to say, the hours became days and days became weeks. Near enough a whole year of our lives began to merge into one sequence of events. There wasn’t a wake up call as such, but we were travelling from our tour in Scotland when the police pulled over our van. There were 6 of us onboard and only three seats. Three of us would lie on top of the amps in the back in pitch black whilst the three up front would keep each other awake and drive the ridiculous distances. We had a lot of valium onboard as well as the fact that three of us were hiding out in the back. The memory from that experience was the officer banging on the panel of the van before getting back in his car. It was a real wake up call. We very nearly ended up totally fucked. The things we’d do to get to shows were unreal. But two years later, and we still give everything we do 200%, Dragged Into Sunlight has no compromise and that’s reflected in our music. Mordgrimm are a unique label, they have such an elite back catalogue of influential extreme metal. You really have to appreciate that ability to identify a band like Anaal Nathrakh from their raw demos and nothing else. Cacophonous did exactly the same with bands such as Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. Dragged Into Sunlight are part of Mordgrimm and vice versa. This band was born from a truly unique relationship between several individuals. Mordgrimm were one of those entities having approached us from our earliest recordings and offered unconditional support. It wasn’t so much about the music as it was about the passion we share for extremity.
Extreme music is continuously mixing with other influences. You play an undefined genre which encloses the anger of death and grind, a black base which draws from sludge. In the review, I mentioned Black Sun which I like beacuse they are in some way similar to you in mixing up so many genres creating something original. Which are your main listenings? Are there non-metal bands which influenced you?
We certainly wouldn’t draw comparison to Black Sun. Dragged Into Sunlight has a genuine negative energy, it isn’t about putting on a show or being ‘quirky’. We do what we do for the sake of each other’s sanity. It’s a circle of negative energy which continues to grow and evolve. Our nearest comparison is either a cult or a pack of wolves, eitherway, we are each wholly confident that Dragged Into Sunlight will grow into the vile and hideous miscreation we’ve always envisioned.
Collectively, Dragged into Sunlight has such a precise understanding of the genre we work in, whilst not being limited, we’re each able to analyse the recordings of those bands we grew up listening to and channel them into an art of our own. Recently bands such as Trap Them, Eyehategod, The Ocean, Instinct and Ulver have maintained a high priority in our listening.
I don't know if someone have already told you this but the band’s vocals remind to Dave Hunt (Benediction). Which are your favourite vocalists?
Dragged Into Sunlight’s vocals are a strange one. Lyrically they’re influenced by nothing and everything at the same time. Musically, they bear similarity to many hardcore bands and carry that same sharp impact whilst being reminiscent of the rawness seen in bands like Gorgoroth, Darkthrone and Burzum.
The music in "Hatred For Mankind" gave me a strong instinct sensation, how do you create your songs? Do you have jam sessions in your rehearsal room or does each one of you have his role?
We write individually and then collectively analyse the results. It’s almost scientific whilst being totally natural. When we come together to analyse our creations the ideas often merge into a pinnacle of what each one of us saw individually but couldn’t quite create. Each of those personalities involved in Dragged Into Sunlight offers a different face whilst sharing the same mindset. It’s that changling approach which allows us to build up the music and drum patterns before hammering a nail into your jugular. It is a collusion of minds and collective attack bearing many different faces and textures.
Dragged into Sunlight are continuously working on new material and striving to create the most intense emotions throughout our music, drawing out those feelings of hatred, loneliness and sheer defilement which are otherwise repressed.
Which are the main themes of your lyrics? Why did you choose such a blunt title for your album? Does humanity deserve just to be hated?
"Hatred For Mankind" is not just an album title, but a core element to our music. When you have people all over the world looking to blow each other limb from limb for whatever reason they can think of, it’s apparent that humanity as we know it is far from flawless. The more you look, the more you find, it’s such a vile and negative energy, it’s not so much that humanity deserves to be hated, but it’s definitely nothing to celebrate. There are so many underlying themes between even the simplest of human interactions, and to an extent, it’s easy to end up hating the enormity of what it is which actually envelopes everything we do on a daily basis.
If i'm not wrong you are from Liverpool, the city which gave us The Beatles, how is the scene ther? Do you have any relation with other bands of your nation? Is there a group of bands which support each other or, like here in Italy, you have to work just on your own?
Dragged into Sunlight definitely work alone. Music in general is crowded with scenes and sub genres within those scenes. We’re based throughout the United Kingdom in various cities, and whilst there are other bands and we’re honoured to share the stage with many of them. We prefer our isolation and adopt a closed camp mentality where only those involved and a trusted few are trusted to carry out our wrongdoings.
Which are the ups and downs of the music world? Do you think that there is something that shouldn't exist in metal?
Extreme metal and it’s "sub genres" have a tendency to attract those individuals which are unwelcome elsewhere. Collectively, we’re been involved in many bands over the years and it’s part of the reason we maintain such a closed camp mentality. It’s easy to forget who your friends are and lose sight of what’s important. We’re able to fully appreciate the relationship we have with each other and really couldn’t care less about those on the outside looking in. There are a lot of people using extreme music as a stream for their political views. It is our position that if you have something which you feel so strongly towards that you feel the undying need to push it onto others – write a book. Sadly, most of those pushing their views through extreme music lack the intellectual ability to formulate a decent argument and support their views with any sort of academic foundation. Put simply, if you can’t convince people intellectually to support your views, it’s somewhat of a cop out to disguise it into your music, almost like easily digested baby food.
How is the situation about live shows? How was "Hatred For Mankind" received on stage?
We play in near enough complete darkness. It is our aim to re-create that feeling of misery which is present throughout the album. One of the most important aspects to our live show is the equipment we use, which is all hand built by Matamp in the village of Meltham. It’s constructed using the darkest of handcraft and a fine attention to hone a perfect tone. Our live show is often received with a welcome but perhaps somewhat confused response. You either like it or you hate it. It’s irrelevant to us regardless. It carries a very different feel to listening to the record and we would like to think that the sheer negativity expressed on the album becomes infinitely more abrasive in a live setting.
In January 2011, Prosthetic Records re-released your work. Will you tour to support the release? Did you receive any comments from the critics?
"Hatred For Mankind" has had an overwhelming reception since both its original release on Mordgrimm and subsequent re-release on Prosthetic Records. There is no doubt that it would be difficult to create a similar follow up. But for us, Hatred for Mankind summarises a time and a place. Our subsequent releases will inevitably draw on a different influence but we should hope that each will remain uniquely powerful. That power and rawness is something which comes relatively natural to us as a collective of angry individuals. We intend to tour with our friends in Rwake, Soilent Green and Today Is The Day in April 2011.
If you could organize a night with infitine money, would you call some friend bands or maybe you would contact your favourite bands?
It would be good to see a band like Rudimentary Peni perform, but you can’t price a band like that. We would like to think that Dragged Into Sunlight bears a very similar approach.
Do you have any plans for the future? Are you working on new stuff?
We plan to release Widowmaker, the first part of our slower and heavier trilogy, as well as Terminal Aggressor II, at some point later this year. If that doesn’t happen, then so be it. At the moment, we’re thriving on new creations and experimentation which will inevitably mould the future of Dragged Into Sunlight as a concept, being and artist.
Will we see you in Italy?
Dragged Into Sunlight will visit Bologna at Sottotetto Club on 18th April 2011 with Rwake.
Thanks for the time spent with us, the last message for our readers is up to you.
Crush/Kill/Destroy.
www.draggedintosunlight.co.uk
