To say things have been quiet on the Electric Wizard front would be quite an understatement, even if it's coming from a band who's "down time" is quite legendary! Seems ever since the reigning kings of all that's heavy issued their current LP (2004's 'We Live'-Rise Above) I can't recall more than a handful of interviews and even those failed to tell me what I really wanted to know. The period from 2002 until the present has issued an entire new band, a new- and totally challenging album and all sorts of shit I wanted to know about. I spoke to the wizard in black himself and asked what I needed to know and now present it to you. All I can say is it seems the Wizard have been resting, plotting, commiserating and waiting for the perfect opportunity to silence the critics and crush the non-believers. Here's how things went...
Midwest Metal: Let's go back a few years, to the end of the 2002 US tour, the last show on the tour was in Philadelphia. A few days before the show it was announced that was to be the last ever Electric Wizard show. In your mind was this really the last show ever or the last show with that line-up (Oborn, Bagshaw, Greening)?
Jus Oborn: Well there was a lot of tension on that tour, it was the nightmare tour, the tour from hell. And about half way through the tour it was really brewing that it may be the last show ever. But before the end I just thought to myself 'fuck this, I'm just going to carry on' I was thinking 'if they don't want to do it anymore I'll just carry on'. But that show was the last show of that line-up and that was totally decided way before the show started!
Now the fights are somewhat "legendary" but was the end factored by one incident or some that had been building for years and years?
It was years and years of building up, too much listening to fucking Eminem and shit (laughs)! I couldn't take it anymore.
So you're flying home from the US, what's the first thing you do when you get home? Are you writing or looking for people to jam with?
I started writing right away and I'd spoken to Justin (Greaves-D) straight away and just got it back on the go again. As soon as we got off the plane and we dropped Mark off at home, it was like goodbye...forever(laughing)! You know Tim was still in the band when we first got back.
Yeah I know he did the Cathedral run with you and Justin in late 2002. How long had you prepared for those shows?
We probably played for a couple of months. We'd been jamming a lot and it felt really good, it felt a lot better and I was refreshed to have a new drummer and everything. Justin and I had talked about jamming together or doing a project together for four or five years. Something was always getting in the way though... But I had actually asked him to join the band before the American tour (2002)...
Really?
Yeah, but Mark begged for another chance and promised he wouldn't screw around...
How were the [Nov 2002] Cathedral shows?
That was fucking awesome! Those were really good, it felt great to have a drummer behind me who wouldn't fuck up. Tim was playing good, it was awesome.
Was it a confidence builder to have him driving the band?
Yeah, I felt like I was enjoying myself, for once. Not just on the brink of a chaotic outbreak (laughing)!
Now after that tour, it's now Early 2003 and things are pretty slow, right?
We did do one gig in Sweden and that's when it was decided Tim was done. He just wasn't into the touring, he was a bit ill. He also wanted to start playing guitar...
I guess I've wanted to know was Tim ever going switch to guitar and still stay in the band? Like was that "offered to him"?
That actually was an option for a little bit. We tried that out and while we were trying that out he started jamming with Mark, so that's where that ends.
So Justin's all set who comes next?
Actually (Bassist) Rob Al-Issa was in the band first, he's a friend of mine for years and he'd been on tour with the Wizard, selling shirts and stuff he knew all the songs. So it was easy, we needed a bass player and he usually plays guitar. He wasn't into the idea of switching to bass at first...
They never are!
I know, it's like "what the fuck"?
So it's now Rob, Justin and yourself, how long did this last?
Four or five months, I think we just jammed out the album, as it ended up.
When and really why, does Liz enter?
It was April/May of 2003 and I hadn't spoken to her in a while and the next time we spoke was when she had just left Sourvein. Now Justin and I had talked about getting a second guitarist especially the way some of the new songs were turning out I thought it could add a new dimension. Change the sound a little, I mean in some ways it's a new band and I wanted to take it into a new direction. So when we started looking for a guitar player we couldn't find one here so I mentioned it to Liz. She happened to have a ticket to England from the Sourvein tour that fell through so I thought it was worth a shot. We have similar a playing style, a similar picking style as well, it's worked out great.
So once it's everyone together are you just going over the 'We Live' stuff?
Yeah, there was a lot of pressure though because we needed to get Liz up to speed as we already had studio time booked.
I know you guys had basically camped out at the studio for the recording of 'Let Us Prey', the recording of 'Dopethrone' was a, ah, clusterfuck...How was the recording experience for 'We Live'?
It was different as a lot of things didn't work out as far as how and where we were to mix the album. But the initial recordings were done at the same place as the previous two you mentioned and we laid everything down in a week and a half. And that was really cool, the studio is fairly close to us and we were all hanging out together kinda like the "old days" you know it was like being in the jam room and that was killer. I had wanted to mix the album there and that's when things got a little, upside down. So it was mixed in Los Angeles and now as an afterthought it made things more difficult.
Several people, myself included feel the vinyl version sounds ten times better than the CD, looks way fucking cooler too!
Yeah, the vinyl was definitely worth the wait, they look great. Yeah I agree, the mastering of the CD was fucking gay, I was disappointed by that. Like I was saying it was done in LA and I'm usually around to oversee it and all that and because it was done there I was not able to be there. I sent the album to Rise Above and I thought it was going to someone who I knew and trusted and it ended up going to someone else. I have no idea who it even is. But I can't bitch about it, it is what it is. But you know (laughing) you do a few albums and you start to get into things like "this fucking mastering has to be good" (laughs), I mean it can make or break the whole thing! It's [the CD version] just lacking some of the bottom end because when we recorded the album, it was filthy, but it changed with the final version.
The record itself, song wise, arrangement wise etc. are you still pretty happy with it, what, a year later?
Yeah. It's exactly what I wanted to achieve at the time. It's like at certain points in your life you want to distance yourself from certain things and at that point I wanted to distance myself from the old Electric Wizard.
That makes a lot of sense. It was and is a very different beast.
It does have a different feel to it, definitely.
Totally. I think this one took the longest to truly digest but it's because there's just layers and layers of sound underneath, it's definitely not a one dimensional album.
It's a lot more subtle and I think you have to get into the riffs, individually more than it coming across as a wall of sound.
Now the vocals for 'We Live' are pretty prominent, especially in comparison to 'Let
Us Prey', was this intentional?
Yeah, it was intentional so that's one reason it was cool to have someone else mix the album, I wanted someone else to turn them up, not me (laughs)! It's been good to be able to hear them for once, on 'Let Us Prey' they're [vocals] so fucking buried, it may have been a reaction to that.
What kind of feedback did you receive on the record? Be it from press or fans or whomever?
We got everything I expected (laughs)! There were people who were and are totally into it, loved it and then there were people who just bitched about it, which is what I expected.
Now recently you did some stuff of the UK's Radio 1 program? I haven't heard it yet but how was it for you?
They didn't play everything we did, I think two songs were broadcast...
I read it was "We Live" and "Another Perfect Day" and as you went into "Dopethrone" it cut off!
Yeah, we recorded this twelve minute version of "Dopethrone", which is practically like the best thing we ever did. But it sounded good, it was pretty raw.
So how'd the whole thing come about? Was it just for promotion? Have you ever done something for radio before?
Well they'd been asking us for about a year and it just wasn't possible for whatever reason, so they asked again and it worked out. We've never done anything like this, to even get any recognition in this country is pretty tough.
I read you're booked at the Roadburn Festival's 10th on April 9th. Is this the first official live date?
Yeah. We may do something right before it as a warm up, but that's the first official show.
Whoa. That's going to be heavy.
It's going to be fucking devastating. After all the shit people have been taking about the band, I want them to see the new line-up play and then they'll realize why I did what I did. This line up is fucking solid.
What type of set have you been working on?
"We Live", "Eko Eko Azarak", "The Sun Has Turned To Black" from the new album, then "Dopethrone", "Funeralopolis", "Return Trip"...
How's "Funeralopolis" with the current line up?
(laughing) It's fucking evil! That song was designed for two guitars, it sounds fucking killer. But with this line-up we're able to go through all the albums and just jam.
What can you see as far future recordings, other than the mix/mastering shit would you stay with the same studio? Look to work with other producers?
We haven't thought about it too much other than we want it to be heavier, thicker, dirtier we'll be going the 'Dopethrone' route, definitely...
(Laughing) It all comes back to that album, for some reason, huh?
That's the one (laughing) everyone loves...
From your perspective, why do you think that is?
Just because...there's no let up in there...it's fucking horrible from beginning to end (laughs)! I mean it's over an hour of torment.
What did you think about the 'Dopethrone' re-issue?
If I'd seen it I'd be able to tell you (laughs)! I know they're doing a white vinyl version, so that should be cool.
Any chance of touring the US this year?
It might be a while, but who knows maybe by the end of the year, maybe? It'd be cool to do the coasts like the Northeast, Boston, New York to Chicago or something like that. I don't want to have travel through the middle (laughing)!
What's left to accomplish for Electric Wizard? What are you looking forward to?
We're just looking to play some cool shows and record some good shit, really. I mean the band's got the coolest line-up yet, everyone is totally into it everyone is just Doom. I really want to get some new shit together because I know it's going to fucking kill. That and I wrote the last ('We Live') on my own, wrote it all and demoed it but the plan is to do the next one as a group, I should've realized that before but after the year of bullshit I figured I should just lock myself in a room and write an album (laughs).
So this one wasn't written on the spot, so to speak, like 'Let Us Prey'?
No, I thought to myself instead of writing it in the studio maybe it'd be nice to have it all written before we got in there.
Back in 2002 you told me you'd like to do a movie of sorts or something visual and have the new record be the soundtrack, is that still on?
Yeah, that's a serious plan that never seems to come off! But it's something that will happen because Rob is totally into camera work and video editing, he went to school for it. So he's done some short films on his own so we talk about it quite often, we know what we want to achieve with it, definitely it's just getting the money up for it. We want to do two 10 to 15 minute movies with the music.
Before I let you go, I have Sons Of Otis in this issue, Unearthly Trance is being set up and now yourself. How weird is it that the US tour you three did will be three years old this summer?
(laughing) That is fucking weird, man. When I was in New York, the first time I saw Jay and Ryan that was the first thing we talked about was that tour, we talked for like an hour, we had to get it out of our systems like "what the fuck happened there"? I know a lot of it was documented on video and for everyone who thought we had an easy ride sitting on that bus should've tried it (laughing)!
I'm sure it gave the term hell on wheels a whole new meaning!
Yeah and let's just say I don't find Spinal Tap funny anymore (laughing)!!
The other question I asked the other guys was, do you think the scene was ready for that tour? It seems like if that tour happened today every show would be pretty packed, the scene itself has multiplied so fast over the past two years.
It's growing out of control, it felt like I used to be able to count the bands on my hands and now it's like in the hundreds, but looking back it was cool to do shit like that and be remembered for doing it but at the time, it sucked!
What do you remember from the first 2001 tour with Warhorse?
I just remember it felt cool doing it, I remember feeling like we were doing something special because we were just going through the shows and there were more and more people turning up every night so it felt almost "legendary". That was just really cool. There was a good vibe around those shows.
Growing up in the U.K. I wanted to get your thoughts on the passing of John Peel.
It's a fucking bummer for radio, man. He was the only guy who got to play whatever he wanted, he was an institution and now that he's gone there's just a bunch of wankers on there. Fucking DJ's just do what they're told, its bullshit. I listened to him growing up, it was like everytime you put him on you didn't know what to expect.
Did Peel turn you on to Napalm Death?
(laughing) No, I'd already heard of them, I was a little underground fiend back then (laughing), I knew what was going down, I used to know what was happening!
And you knew Mick Harris back in the day.
I go way back with both him and Lee (Dorrian), I used to stay with them when I was fifteen, they didn't know I was fifteen (laughing)! I had been tape trading with them through the mail and they wrote something like, do you want to come down and watch us jam or something and I was like "Yeah"! So this little kid turns up (laughing)!
So they were like "what the fuck", huh?
(laughing) Yeah, but they were cool because I was so into it, I was manic and of course seeing them play as a kid that age especially, it was fucking brilliant.
So if you weren't already sure of your future, that did it...
Oh yeah, it changed my life, it changed it for the worse (laughing) I'm in a band!
Well that's for me man, anything you'd like to say to end this torment?
Ah...don't despair, this MKII will destroy everyone. No doubt.
www.riseaboverecords.com
