Interview Ulcerate (New Zealand)

Gore: Hey Jamie, how are you doing bro? Please introduce your band to us and give us a short biography.

Jamie: Hey man, I'm doing well! Ulcerate is a Death Metal band on Neurotic Records hailing from Auckland, New Zealand. This is our 7th year of existence, Michael Hoggard and myself brought the project to fruition in our last year of high school. Since then we've released 2 demos, "Eponymous" and "The Coming Of Genocide" (and subsequent re-release through Italy's The Flood), and our debut full length "Of Fracture And Failure" came out late 2006 on Neurotic. We're very interested in bringing back more of a black feeling and emotion into Death Metal that has been missing in action with this style of music for a while... We're trying to think outside of the square in terms of rhythm and melody, and we've taken an approach of linear (within reason) song writing, to try and get more of a "swirling" effect when listening. Live, we aim to replicate everything as well as possible, yet we try to inject as much spontaneity as possible, and we aren't scared to improvise. We want to create more of a complete show start to end than merely song.stop.song.stop etc, so we utilise the space between songs as much as we can with ambient displays, both our guitarists have extensive effects processors, so every time we're delivering something new and fresh.

Gore: Ok, first of all, I want to congratulate you guys that you have released with "Of Fracture And Failure" one of the best full length albums of the year in my opinion. But unfortunately i haven't checked out the Ulcerate stuff which was released before. Please tell us the musical differences between the older releases and the current stuff.

Jamie: Well thanks very much man, glad you like it! Our older material for us was stumbling to find our "sound", we only ever released two demos as we were waiting to find a formula that really clicked with us in terms of song writing. so what you get on the demos (especially 'The Coming Of Genocide') is hints of the style on the full-length, but for the most part, definitely not as intense or claustrophobic. The songs are however very catchy and great fun to play, and there are a lot of people that still dig this sound over the new album. There is also a lot less dissonance on the first releases, we went for a much "tighter" style recording and our performances I would label as a little more sterile, but that comes with inexperience.

Gore: How have been the worldwide responses of the new album so far? Are you guys happy with the result?

Jamie: The responses have been awesome!I have seen only a couple of bland reviews, nothing scathing at all, and the amount of great reviews from people we really respect is fucking great. For the most part, people are really latching onto what we are doing, and hopefully share a vision with us in pushing this genre to different places that haven't been explored yet. First and foremost, we are about the music, we're not interested in producing the fastest, the most brutal, the sickest etc and we sure as hell aren't interested in the 'breakdown' haha. I think the people that are getting sick of these kinds of things with the genre are the people who will identify with Ulcerate.

Gore: Well if I'm right, you guys are signed on Neurotic Records right now, which is one of the finest extreme Death Metal labels at the moment. Which things are now better for the band with the Neurotic Rec. deal and how have you guys become the record deal?

Jamie: Our full-length would not be in the same position without the marketing and promotion that Neurotic puts in. Even by virtue of saying 'we are on Neurotic Records' it validates us as being of a certain quality, no matter how fickle that may sound. It's great for us, being alongside bands such as Spawn Of Possession, Psycroptic, Disavowed, because even though we sound nothing like these bands, we certainly have the potential to appeal to the same audience. We hooked up with Neurotic during the recording process of 'Of Fracture.'.We were lined up to release the album on another smaller label at the time, and we honestly felt that the amount of hard work and time that we put into the album was going to be wasted if the album dropped on said label. So, after a great reference from our bud Timo from Sotujumala, simply drafted up an email outlining our goals with the band, and fired through some unmixed mp3s of the material, and we were pretty much signed on the spot. So for us, to have a label behind us that is excited enough to sign us on 30sec of music, it feels great.

Gore: Please tell the people out there, what differs Ulcerate from other technical new school Death Metal bands.

Jamie: I think for starters, we don't think of ourselves as "technical". That would imply that we sit around writing material that is purely hard to play for the sake of it, and we don't. We're just interested in writing stuff that is very dense, punishing and ultimately tells a narrative, the fact that it is challenging to play is purely a by-product of that. Stylistically, I would align us more with the Immolation or Gorguts school of thinking, as opposed to a really "tight" style ala Necrophagist, Spawn Of Possession. We're obsessed with mood and atmosphere, and how the transitions work between sections to maintain this. We consider our best material that which flows the best and gives the listener a sense of direction, regardless of how many notes fly by in a matter of seconds.

Gore: Jamie, you made the great artwork for the "Of Fracture and Failure" album. Please let us know the idea behind the cover artwork. Did you also made some artworks for other bands?

Jamie: The idea that resonates throughout the album is the inevitable failure of mankind at its own hand, the extinction of our kind and the birth of the next dominating species. So the cover work is a direct portrayal of this idea, the death of the human, and the birth of the next dominating species. I have done works for other bands, most notably Dawn Of Azazel, whose last 3 releases I have illustrated. Asides from that, I have worked for local bands such as 8 Foot Sativa, Graymalkin, Misadventures in Self Surgery, Creeping.

Gore: Let's talk about the lyrics on the new album, which things have influenced you guys for the lyrics?

Jamie: The lyrics talk of human kind's inability to foresee the consequences of our actions, how we have almost destroyed the planet, and will destroy ourselves eventually. In terms of stylistic influences, I know that Ben took a particular liking to Joe Horvath from Circle Of Dead Children prose, and also the borderline psychotic lyrics of Pig Destroyer.

Gore: On your myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/ulcerate) you guys have indicated some of Ulcerate's influences with great Death Metal bands like Necrophagist, Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Suffocation, Hate Eternal etc. . But also the awesome German non Death Metal band Bohren& Der Club Of Gore. They're one of my favourite non metal bands (for all the people, who don't have clue about the band, they play slow, dark, ambient jazz). It's really cool, that they're also famous outside of Germany and that an extreme band like Ulcerate is into this kind of music. Which elements of Bohren have influenced your band (maybe the dark atmosphere)?

Jamie: Bohren is a great fucking act man. Just the overall vibe really interests us and has certainly influenced us when it comes to dynamics. Whenever I pop this disc in the first word that springs to mind is "eerie" - they create some of the most crushing music I've ever heard, and there's not an ounce of distortion in site, so that is certainly extremely awe-inspiring. Now obviously, we're not going to be using strings and keyboards in our sound, but we can certainly infuse elements in terms of tonality, mood and melody.

Gore: You guys are from New Zealand and i really don't know many bands from your country. To be honest, i only know the Death Metal band Dawn Of Azazel and your band. Please tell us something about the Death Metal/Extreme Metal scene in New Zealand, do you have any recommendations of bands for us?

Jamie: As a general rule the scene over here produces very caustic extreme metal, which is fucking awesome. Some killer bands to check out are Asphyxiate (bassist Paul's other band), Diocletian, Creeping, Vassafor, Akaname, Odius Embowel, Loadmaster, Vixen Execution.

Gore: You're the drummer in Ulcerate, your style is really amazing, tight and fast as hell. Your style reminds me a little bit of ex Hate Eternal drummer Derek Roddy. Which drummers have influenced you and how many years do you play drums?

Jamie: Thanks a lot for the kind words man! Yeah I can see where you're hearing a bit of Roddy in my style, he's certainly an influence.I have been playing for 10 years now, and influences include Marco Minneman, Benny Greb, Tony Laureano, John Longstreth, Thomas Lang, Dave Weckl, Chris Pennie, Carter Beauford and Flo Mounier.

Gore: Are you guys involved into other bands or projects besides Ulcerate?

Jamie: For sure, myself and vocalist Ben Read play in thrash outfit 8 Foot Sativa, Paul plays in Asphyxiate, and Mike Rothwell moonlights as a drummer for Vassafor and The House Of Capricorn.

Gore: Which CD's or maybe Vinyl's have you bought in recent times? Could you recommend some of them?

Jamie: The latest Cult Of Luna releases are really fucking amazing, the new Disavowed is kicking my ass (always had a soft-spot for these boys), Shining's "Halmstad" is damn-near perfect, the last 2 Immolation releases ("Shadows In The Light", "Hope And Horror") are definitely worth a listen and Behemoth's "Apostasy" is the first disc of theirs I've been able to properly enjoy, mainly due to the natural-sounding recording.

Gore: Will you guys play some gigs in Europe soon? When have the German fans a chance to see you guys live on stage? It would be great if Ulcerate would play at the next Deathfeast Open Air in Germany in 2008.

Jamie: We're in the process of trying to land support slots for European tours, both through our label and touring agencies. From our point of view through, you gotta realise it costs us hugely to even get to Europe in the first place, so if we're gonna be doing that we want to be doing 20-30 dates rather than one-off shows. In a perfect world, I'd love to do every show we possibly could, but at this stage it's a little hard for us!

Gore: Please tell us your all time top 10 of Death Metal albums.

Jamie: Hate Eternal - Conquering The Throne
Angelcorpse - The Inexorable
Cryptopsy - Whisper Supremacy
Defleshed - Under The Blade
Immolation - Close To A World Below
Gorguts - From Wisdom To Hate
Scarve - Irradient
Dawn of Azazel - Vita Est Militia Super Terram (Demo, but still)
Disavowed - Perceptive Deception
Suffocation - Despise The Sun

Gore: Ok Jamie, thanks a lot for doing this interview. I hope everything will be fine for your band in the future. If you have any last comments for us please post them now.

Jamie: Thanks for the interview Markus, we appreciate the support, and we hope to see you in Europe sooner than later!