Interview with Visions Of The Night

Visions of the Night is a Canadian Black / Death Metal band, that features a very interesting mix of occultism and militia ideology on their music. We had a chance of getting a few words from the band before they went on the road for a show in Quebec, and here is what they have to say:

Infernal Masquerade: Thanks for the interview, and let’s get started with the questions:

I.M: The band started as a 1 man project back in 1999. How/why did it become a full band?

As a 1 man project, it was fine for recording, but when I got asked for live shows shortly after the single was released, it was time to add some more people. We still used a drum machine on the first album, but a lot of people don't take you seriously if you use one for some reason. At first, I didn't care, but the more live shows we did, it became obvious with the technical difficulties that came along with a drum machine, it was time for a change.

I.M: What elements (musically and ideologically) are incorporated into the bands music and overall concept (explain for our readers that don’t know about the band)?

Musically, it's Death/Black metal with a militaristic feel and with occasional atmospheric parts thrown in for good measure. Ideologically, there's a couple main themes. The main one being war as a preferable alternative to peace.

I.M: How do you think the band has evolved from your first release in 2002 to the current status of the band in 2009?

One the first release, although there was a song about Japanese kamikazes and another about the end of human life. We didn't touch on military issues that much. Now it's at the forefront. Musically, there wasn't any of the trademark sound we have now with the military snares and all the guitar tapping riffs, it still had the speed offset by some occasional slower atmospheric parts though.

I.M: It’s been 2 years from your last release “Nocturnal Militia”. What is in the works at the Visions Of The Night camp, in terms of a new album?

The new cd will be called 'Vengeance, Honour, Victory' and will be themed even heavier into the military. Hopefully it will be completed by the end of the year, but as with all metal bands, it will probably be late.

I.M: If you are preparing a new album, how you would you describe it? How will it differ from “Nocturnal Militia”? Any guest’s appearing in the album?

The new one will solidify our trademark sound even further. Expect a return of tons of guitar tapping riffs and a lot more military snares (something we just started on the last cd). We've got this new song we're working on, the whole thing is like one giant metal military march. Something new we're trying. Not sure if it will make it into the album, but so far it's pretty promising.
There's no guest appearances planned, but then again, there wasn't any planned for the last cd and at the last moment Matt Connell made some vocal contributions to 'Replicated Existence'. So, who knows?

I.M: How did your Japanese tour came to be? Many bands never get to play in Japan and others get their start in Japan, what is your take on this?

We (Wolvesblood and Nebulus) first went to Japan on a promotional tour in April 2008. We gave out 250 promotional cds and met a lot of bands, people and a couple promoters and had a great time. Unfortunately, we couldn't have chosen a worse “promoter”. More on this later in the interview.

I.M: Any other different countries you have plans of touring? Or that are in your top 10 to visit for a tour?

There's loose plans for Germany and a return to the U.S. And Japan again. But, with touring nothings ever 100% and things seem to change every couple of weeks.

Countries we most want to play in by band member:
Malaclypse: New Zealand, Sweden Nebulus: Dubai, Germany Blastpemous: Greece, Holland Wolvesblood: UK, France

I.M: How do you think the Black/Death metal scene is in Canada? How different do you think it is from the USA’s counter part?

The scene is different in different parts of the country as Canada is a huge country. It seems to be the best in Quebec province, where you have a ton of talented musicians and a lot of fans coming out to the shows. Honestly, there's not a ton of difference, but in general I'd say U.S. black metal seems to be a lot rawer while Canadian black metal has a higher chance of having keys in it.

I.M: How has the internet (myspace, etc) and technology (cheaper recording tools) impacted how you promote your band? What have been the advantages and disadvantages of this? How is it different from when the band started?

Yes, with the internet it's easier and cheaper to promote yourself than it was before.
People shit on myspace all the time, but it's been a great tool for us. It's helped us inform fans of ours when we're hitting up their area that otherwise would've been impossible. Another advantage is that sending promo cds through the mail is quickly becoming obsolete. Most reviewers end up putting music on an mp3 player anyway, so in the vast majority of cases, a digital download is acceptable to them. That saves us a lot of time and money. In the early days of the band everything had to be sent out. I fucking hate mailing shit out, especially now how they make you fill out an extra form anytime you send anything outside the country. Disadvantages with new technology is that people that previously would've had to buy a cd can just download it illegally now for free.

I.M: You have a ‘fraud alert’ in your webpage, do you care to elaborate about this, so other bands that read this webzine can avoid this person?

Sure, we wish someone would've had a warning about him before we got ripped off by this asshole. Wolvesblood and Nebulus met this American living in Japan named monty giddings who had this “company” called 666 inc back in April 2008 during a promotional tour. He seemed like a cool guy at the time. He claimed he got ripped off by this other band in Japan that his ex-wife is in and that they owed him $25,000 and that he was going to sue them. He showed us this DVD he produced/mixed, the mix job was pretty terrible and the video editing was very amateurish, but it was definitely him in it and his name was all over the place in the credits, so he seemed legit.

After we were already added to the Japanese tour, he claimed Deicide ripped him off during negotiations and needed some money, the lottery payments were quarterly and he had burned through his alotment. We suggested he get a loan, but he claimed it was very complicated for foreigners to do this in Japan. So we lent this loser some cash to save the tour. He promised $5,000 extra money in return, alcohol and dinners paid for every show. We were alerted during the tour that this incompetent had paid for nearly nothing, to back this up, other people related to the tour showed their receipts/invoices and revealed that things he claimed to have paid for, were in fact not paid by him. He paid for virtually nothing and kept all the door money. To this day he owes ourselves, Death Metal Allstars, the venues and numerous others tons of money. We've got 2 collection agencies after him at the moment, even they've described him as a real criminal and con artist.

He's also claimed to represent Death Metal Allstars in order to gain a down payment from a foreign promoter who wanted to bring them, thankfully this was prevented when the promoter contacted Ralph Santolla because he was suspicious.

Since the fraud warning we've also prevented other bands from being ripped off who've contacted us. Apparently now, he's trying to con bands into giving him $1,500 to book venues and to put up flyers in Japan. Considering he still owes venues money, this is no doubt another one of his scams.

He's contacted us after his latest disappearing act threatening us to take off the message or else people will get us at our upcoming Sherbrooke and Michigans shows! Hahah!
Once again, he's bluffing like always. I guess you'll have to check our website to see if we get beat up by an angry mob of his 'friends' (like he has any left). But we all know that won't happen.

I.M: Again, thanks for the interview, is there anything else you want to add for our readers?

Check out our shit, beware of frauds, stay strong......Vengeance, Honour, Victory!

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