"The descent into the AHAB' abyss" - AHAB Interview!

Pessimism can be so beautiful!

"The Boats of the Glen Carrig" - recently released on Napalm Records - is their magnum opus and is gracefully nestled in between slow-motion anthems and haunting melodies.

The descent into the AHAB' abyss  - interview with their drummer Cornelius. 

Photo Credit: Stefan Heileman / Heilemania.de

LFdM: E-mail interviews in my opinion are often pretty boring and monotonous. That's why I would like to try another kind of approach with you guys, a sort of imaginary trip in your own world seen through your virtual eyes.

If you had to write the script of your world, how would you describe it? How would be the colours, the sound, the characters...

Cornelius (Drums): Wow, that´s a very difficult question... For I am what the world I live in makes me. And my world is what I try to make of the world I live in. I guess this is a general rule. Nobody can ever say (s)he is not being influenced by the surrounding reality. And probably no one ever had no influence at all on the world around. It is the beautiful AND the ugly things that equally count...

In the very first second I was tempted to say something like “a loud world, consisting of rehearsal spaces, stages and studios.” Cause these are the places I feel most comfortable in. But where would the magic of such a place (with all its great features like amazing people, beer, loud music, aso...) come from if it wasn´t the the alternative to compensate an enervating, annoying world of work, asshole people and all the other unpleasant things? So I simply can not invent a script for a perfect world for me. Paradise can never be paradise if you only know paradise.

The good people, the good sounds, the good tastes, and so on would probably be the same as in this world we are all in... Surely everyone would love to exclude the bad side, but this is not how it works. As a human being you are being formed by pain and destitution as well as love and joy.

I have been thinking about this question for 2 ½ hours now, and I´m afraid I can´t answer it properly...

LFdM: “The Boats of The Glen Carrig” marked a very deep change in your way to make music. In my opinion you are browning and improving a lot. What would you say about this album and how was it conceived?

Cornelius: Browning? Excuse me? Anyway thank you very much for “improving”. Any artist naturally thinks  that the current work is an improvement compared to the last ones. And it has to be like this. Otherwise you would have to admit you became redundant. But it is great that also other people think, we become better. So we are probably not so wrong, haha...

It is interesting that you see such a big change in our music. We would clearly never write one and the same album a second time. We are hungry to develop ourselves and our music and take the next level. I consider “the Boats of the Glenn Carrig” to be the next logical step after “the Giant”. It is definitely different, but I would not say it is very far away from “the Giant” or our other albums.

I am clearly very proud of it. I love all the songs and I feel deeply connected to each one. We composed those songs together in our rehearsal space.

After we found our lyrical groundwork in Hodgson´s “the Boats of the Glen Carrig” we littered all the song fragments we had written so far and started from scratch. Under the influence of this story...

LFdM: In a period like this, with high level of competition and the saturation of the market, you had a great idea concerning your style. Who had this intuition?

Cornelius: Christian came up with the nautik Idea back in 2004 or so... Together with Daniel´s genius in composing they started AHAB as a funeral doom project... And, well, it turned out to be a great idea in fact. Otherwise we wouldn´t be where we are.

LFdM: In my opinion you have this extraordinary skill, as I wrote in the review, that is to make the audience feel and live your music. So I was wondering if you think you managed to reach your goal in terms of soundwriting:

“The Boats...” is the best music we were able to write at this point in time. So, yes, we managed our goal. All of us love “the Boats...”. But at this very moment yet I have lots of visions of what and how to improve to make our art a higher one.

I think the reason for you really can feel and live the music is the strong connection between story and music. Having the story in mind means we all have our own certain mental images as we compose. 

LFdM: I find The Weedmen the track which represents, more than any other, the turning point concerning your artistic profile. I was wondering if you think the same.

I think that “the Weedmen” is a pretty good combination of the “the Call of the Wretched Sea” and the “the Giant” style. So I´d rather consider it as a summary of elements we went through so far than turning point...

LFdM: In my opinion this album is a true masterpiece in terms of fine arrangements, like those keyboard sound or something like that, the powerful guitar riffs as well as something similar to the 80's electro-pop punk. How much did the 80’s music scene inspired you?

It is all effect pedals for guitars and bass. The guys have become pretty nerdy in terms of gear during the last years, haha!

If you were speaking to Christian I am sure he would share your opinion and also see the 80´s electro-pop punk related elements. For my part I am not a big fan of the 80s. For me it is done with Iron Maiden and some early Death Metal stuff. So I would not speak about inspiration by the 80s. It is more like an unconscious influence. For example you obviously cannot hear any Maiden styled drumming on the record. But Nicko McBrain is definitely one of my favourites I have been listening to for a very long time. So somehow there must be an influence... you just have to dig a little to discover it.

As well as Daniel´s, Stephan´s and Christian´s inputs in AHAB are somehow influenced by tons of music. And therefore probably also by 80s music.

LFdM: Music and lyrics are, under a certain point of view the same as the director and the main characters in a movie. Would you explain the kind of role and contribution every one of you plays in the band concerning the songwriting process?

Well, most of the time Daniel throws in the basic ideas – riffs, clean chinking, aso... Then we start. After this groundwork has been given by Daniel we are all on the same level in composing. It is impossible to clearly name different roles, because it changes by any song. For example in one song Christian is the enthusiast, Stephan cares for the structure, Daniel keeps quiet and I am the grumbler who is never satisfied. In any other song Daniel and me develope the song, Stephan nodds and Christian plays the nagger. Or whatever scenario you might come up with. It can be everything. The light in the Weed (Mary Madison) for example was nearly totally written by Christian. We just gave it a structure all together...

LFdM: If you were  asked to compose the soundtrack for a movie, what kind of movie would you prefer?

Considering the times we live in it would be an anti-war movie. The music would be some very disturbing mixture of nightmarish psychedelic noises and Grindcore... Somewhere between Chelsea Wolfe and Insect Warfare.

LFdM: In your artworks there are always images taken from fantasy's world: is this a funny way to interact with the audience and I believe we never should forget that side of ourselves, don't you think?

That is a very beautiful thought of yours. And that automatically makes it true. Find your own personal meaning in the artworks.

And I could not agree more. If we´d ever disregard or even forget about our creative, fantastic or simply humorous  features we will die. Emotionally first, then, a while later, physically.

But, considering the cover of “the Boats...”, does it look so much like a fantasy world? Do you know what probably could be there deep down in the sea...? :) Never forget: Humanity has barely explored 5 % of the world´s oceans!  

LFdM: The starring of your stories are heroes in the end?

Well, some of them. It is up to you what you consider as heroic features. People who care for others with little self-regard can, generally spoken, be considered as heroes... right?

On “the Divinity of Oceans” they had eaten up each other and survived. Which I consider to be more a deed of desperation and not of heroism. E.A. Poe´s “the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” we chose for “the Giant” for example has an uncertain ending. So nobody knows if they survive... This time they make it and they all contributed to their escape.

LFdM: And now last question: when will you play in Europe? Obviously, I really hope to see some Italian date in the bild too.

In Autumn there will be a tour with 11 dates or so. Italy hasn´t been planned so far. But actually this is a shame. It´s been very long now that we played in Italy. And is was only a singfe concert. So all   I can say is that we definitely have to come back. But I don ´t know when this will be. Just a little patience... ;)

Ok thanks a lot for this interview and for the chance you gave me. See you soon.

Michela

Thank you very much as well!! Cast off!

Interview by Michela

(HERE our review of "The Boats of The Glen Carrig")