Oceans Of Slumber – interview met Cammie Beverly
Cammie Beverly: “Dobber is meant to write film scores, not just metal albums. So there is a lot of aggression and angst and turmoil that we dealt with. When our own experiences and things going on in the world are at the peak of friction, there is a lot of fire in there. Literally and figural. The new album is about fighting that inner battle, challenging the world and surviving the world, that’s what we want to bring alive on this album”
Oceans Of Slumber heeft altijd een opmerkelijk inventieve sound gehad. De muziek was progressieve metal met donkere doominvloeden, terwijl de stem van Cammie Beverly zich ook onderscheidt van andere vrouwelijke vocalisten. Het was een combinatie die altijd op veel lof onthaald werd, maar met vorig album ‘Starlight & Ash’ kwam daar toch wel wat de klad in (ook door de pandemie natuurlijk). Maar de uit het diepe Texas (USA) afkomstige groep weet van aanpakken en slaat hard terug met het veel heaviëre zesde album ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’. Zangeres Cammie Beverly vertelt ons over de ‘highs & lows’ van Oceans Of Slumber en hoe de nieuwe schijf tot stand kwam.
Vera Matthijssens Ι 8 oktober 2024
Congratulations with the new album ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’. Let us pick up the thread after the release of the former one: ‘Starlight And Ash’ in 2022. Could you finally tour for that album enough, coming out of the pandemic, because I understood that you were a little bit disappointed with the receiving…
Well, we didn’t really tour so much for the self-titled album, because it fell into the pandemic, but for ‘Starlight & Ash’ we could do some shows with limited capacity under strict circumstances. We wanted to do that as a full band instead of the piano/bass trio. We were pretty satisfied with the reactions It has been a good spread what happened. Maybe we will revisit things another time and figure out if there are opportunities to be done live, but I am still happy with the response and airtime that ‘Starlight & Ash’ has gotten live.
You have changed from label, from Century Media to Season Of Mist. What can you tell about that?
Yes, I think it was a long time coming, our split with Century Media. Every label and band has a unique relationship and we did not feel like we ever had the best team. It was a changeover for us, when we were on that label as far as what team was handling us for what album. That did not help for smooth communications and consistency with communications, so things got to a point where there was a lot of tension and dissatisfaction, so we decided to go our separate ways and almost immediately Season Of Mist showed interest in us. We signed with them and it is better to have a breathe of fresh air. They are a good and enthusiastic team, pleased with what we are doing and they understand us as a band and support us in the uniqueness of the band that we are, instead of just this idea that everybody is just fitting. It is nice to feel that support and have a new team that cares about us and feels fine with us.
When did you actually start writing the new album?
I guess about a year and a half ago. Dobber wrote everything. He writes all the music and he works very fast. He has a lot of inspiration in him to put the songs together. This album in particular, ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’ has the most extensive demo recording that we have ever done. There were so many layers that we wanted to bring alive, so we wanted to make sure that it was done right by the time we went to Bogota, because we would not be able to have a lot of time to record. The layers were done quite a bit in advance of the recording and it is a winning game for us, because we wanted to have the album done a year before it comes out. There is quite some time between finishing it and bringing it out.
Why did you go to Bogota in Colombia to record the album, because for me it does not seem to be a usual place where people go to a studio to record an album?
The studio Audiovision was already on our radar, because of Joel Hamilton – who we work with at Studio G in Brooklyn and he has worked with a studio Audiovision in Bogota several times and spent a lot of time there. They have an amazing studio with unique equipment and gear and crew there. It is a beautiful city. I think that a lot of modern artists and maybe fans forget about, the younger people maybe want a raw real experience, going somewhere to do something that you do well. It is the same reason why the artists do shows in our town. They go to different venues and they are excited about different stages and different crowds. It is kind of similar to that when you record, it is a special time for a band and it is a very reverend time, at least for us, with the kind of music that we make, to have this experience of being somewhere as vibrant and as contrasting and impact full as Bogota. It brings out something within us that you feel on the recording and it is brought to life in our musicality and our expression for the recording. In a sense it is truly because we could, because I am sure that everybody can just make albums at home on their laptops, but we wanted to do things real and with our hands and in a place that brought something to us and in our album, not just the same streets in our city and the same walls in our home studio. Sometimes there is just magic and you have to go somewhere to get and our experience is that we want to have something special. Not everyone can say that they recorded in Bogota. It is like our favourite studio, to walk the walls with people you admire or who came before to do extraordinary things and you feel that respect. We wanted to have that experience for ourselves.
Now I understand, but I thought that Joel Hamilton was strictly working in New York…
No, he does all over, all over the world.
What inspired you this time to write lyrics?
Overall the inspiration for the album came – and it always comes – from our life experiences and our interpretation of the things that are going on around us and the times that are changing around us. We take the factual elements of our real lives and we create this fictional place to describe all those woes and those insights in a way that people can also relate to it and so we are watching a lot of meaningful films and cinema. We are watching movies that provoke a lot of emotions and a lot of self-reflection. Everything from ‘Dune’ to ‘The Road’ and even like ‘Mad Max’. These are things that are so provocative and intense and they truly create their own sort of cob. All kinds of things that Dobber finds, can be very inspiring when it comes to writing music, he has a cinematic ear for cinema. He is meant to write film scores, not just metal albums. So there is a lot of aggression and angst and turmoil that we dealt with. When our own experiences and things going on in the world are at the peak of friction, there is a lot of fire in there. Literally and figural. The new album is about fighting that inner battle, challenging the world and surviving the world, that’s what we want to bring alive on this album.
And that is probably also the reason why you returned to the heavy stuff…
Yes, absolutely. Every album that we do is a reflection of the things around us, you know. With ‘Starlight & Ash’ things were slowing down, people were at home. It was very quiet and reflective and people were researching, diving back into their own upbringings and having to deal with themselves in the isolation. ‘Starlight & Ash’ reflects that. It is a look to the past. Now this new album is a look to the future and it is turbulent and we are unsure of what the future holds and we are unsure if we will make it back to good times again. So this album has that uneasiness, but it also has that sparkles of hope. When you find yourself and you are able to put your foot down with all the things going on, if you can trigger your self-help, then you have all that you need to make it. You are your biggest champion. You are your own North Star, so to speak. This album, it needed that aggression and it needed that bombastic, grand atmosphere that we brought to it.
Indeed, the occluding track ‘The Impermanence Of Fate’ should also be a song about the fact that you still believe that you can change things, like you said ‘there is hope’. Most songs are about fighting your way through life, isn’t it?
That is definitely one of the ‘fight’ songs on the album. Be true to yourself. Know your world and don’t let anyone diminish what you have. Believe in yourself and be sure you can. That is the only way to move forward.
This time you have two famous guest singers on the album: Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity and Fernando Ribeiro from Moonspell. How did you get to know them and why did you choose them for those particular songs?
I am really so excited about the duets on this album! Oceans Of Slumber went out on tour with Moonspell and it was really great. Fernando immediately became a friend of the band, of Dobber and myself and of all the members and we asked him already on tour if he wanted to do a duet for our upcoming album and he said: ‘Absolutely’ and we exchanged the favour that I would do something with them and he would do something with us. So Fernando came first and he was happy to do it (chuckles). Knowing that so far in advance, what we were writing and working on the songs, they have been developed like the songs that would definitely come on the album with them in mine. ‘Run From The Light’ was written with that Oceans Of Slumber/Moonspell feel in mind. It felt like such a great compliment. He was singing both the cleans and the growls. It sort of showcased everything and brought in everything he has to give and for us to sing together. We are very fortunate to have him being part of the album and we are very happy with how ‘Run From The Light’ turned out. And then with Mikael… we had been fans of Dark Tranquillity for a while. We haven’t toured with them, but we were making a point that we would go and see him whenever he would come in our town, whenever we crossed path. He is a big fan of Oceans Of Slumber and so, when we finally asked him to do a duet, he said ‘yes’ which is awesome because he doesn’t do a lot of guest appearances. So it was the same process of writing a song with him in mind and his vocal style in mind and I think he nailed it. It is a wonderful harmony and colour that he brings to the song ‘Prayer’. I think it turned out spectacular. Those two songs I think they will be quite a surprise that suits them.
For you there was also a challenge, because you did some growls on the album for the first time, isn’t it?
Yeah. I have been practising and working on them for a while and I knew if we recorded them if it sounded quite right or not. Normally the guys do it, but when it came down to it, I went for it and everyone was quite impressed. I was happy and so I decided to keep on doing them. It has been really exciting and it has been really fun to do the growls live and see people’s reactions. The way that I sing I guess you would not expect that I can do growls, but freaking out is a lot of fun (chuckles).
So all the growls on the album are yours now?
Yes, like a mixture, but the main growls are mine. Of course they help when they are overlapping, but I love textures or voices which are harmony growls or harmony chants. Yes, I am a front growler now (laughs).
There are two new guitar players and also someone to do synthesizers, but is Alex Davis playing on the record or Chris Jones?
Alex plays on the record, Christian is not in the band anymore. There is a little bit confusion around this, I know.
What about the two videos we have right now. Is there something interesting to say about these videos?
We wanted a kind of nineties nostalgic feel and rather simple. A dynamic playthrough video. It was really fun to capture. The first single release, the title track, is where we did a lot of Shibari and bondage. It was a really cool experience to do that art form for that ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’ video. It is such an intense art form. It has so many dualities historically wrapped around itself, so we thought it was a good representation of the elements of ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’. Is it pleasure? Is it torture? Is it divine? Is it damning? What does it convey and what does it mean? It is what it is, an art form. One of those things of Shibari is in the eye of the beholder, like what you think of it. Is it taboo? Is it art? Is it torture? Is it pleasurable? Is it painful? Is it therapeutic? It kind of depends on what the person takes from that and obviously what the viewer sees. It is very similar to music itself. Different artistry and different bands, it is a subjective perception how people will take it in and how they can extend on the message that the songs are dark. It is really nice to have this outstanding video with such simple sorts of elements.
It is an amazing title track, because you have those chants going into a climax and Hammond organ…
We definitely wanted to play around with a lot of styles of vocal delivery and give it that theatrical feel instead of stick with traditional delivery. Yeah we have this spoken word and the chants and the screams, the growls and clean. A little bit of everything, because it is meant to paint a living picture for the listener. There is also a video coming for the cover that we did for the album ‘Wicked Game’ and we captured that live in the studio and we recorded it. I think it is already on YouTube. It is really special because it really captures the atmosphere of our time down there.
What can you tell about the artwork? It looks mystical…
It is a journey into the depths of the human condition and it is a concept album that moves us through these elements that reflect where we are today, but also potentially the fear for tomorrow holds if we don’t find our way sooner or later. It is just so deeply raw and from our souls and I think that people really enjoy the journey that it takes them on and the reflective atmosphere of the places. They experience something that isn’t just trending and isn’t just meant to have a beer to, but truly meant to nerve the soul of the listener.
Was there a special reason for choosing this title ‘Where Gods Fear To Speak’?
I don’t recall when that first came up, but it was such an impactful question. The title means more than the question. It is like a statement. There is not a literal place, it is a fictive place, something like ‘what is the meaning of life?’ and many people have lots of answers and can tell you about different things and so the title is meant to be a question like that, depending on who you ask it. They might tell you something completely different. Where do Gods fear to speak? It is a question for this age. People feel like they are suffering and maybe feel hurt and people feel like everything and everyone is forgotten and so it is a time to question: where is the righteousness? Where is the credibility and where does it really come from? Is it outside of ourselves or is it within ourselves? I hope it provokes some thinking and conversation around how people perceive themselves in their existence.
Are there any tour plans, hopefully for Europe as well?
Nothing planned yet. Nothing planned that we can announce right now. Sometimes it is very hard to get over to Europe. They don’t make it easy.
