The Metal Crypt - Necare Interview

Interviews

Interview with R.H.
Interview conducted by Sargon the Terrible

Date online: November 27, 2004

Necare are a new band from the USA who do Doom Metal the way it should be done: slow, epic, riffy and emotional. I was impressed enough with this young band's debut to ask them some questions about their past and future, and they were good enough to answer. Read.

Sargon: So how did Necare originate? What bands/projects were you involved in before this?

R.H.: Both the drummer (G.C.) and I were in a metal band local to the eastern Virginia area before forming Necare. The whole thing wasn't progressing – a few of the members weren't serious enough about playing music – so G.C. and I set out on our own to play doom/death. The bands and projects that we were both in are too numerous to mention.

Sargon: With just the two people, Necare must be more of a project, are there plans to continue?

R.H.: Yes, but we are both working on other things for the time being. The music will be written when we are ready.

Sargon: What music inspired you to become a musician, and what music inspired Necare?

R.H.: To become a musician…well, I'd have to say Iron Maiden. They were -- and are -- the greatest metal band. Their sense of melody and dynamics were an inestimable influence on my songwriting. Necare, however, was mainly inspired by the great doom/death bands of the early 90's – Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Cathedral, Katatonia – as well as by later stuff like Saturnus and Shape of Despair.

Sargon: How long did it take to record "Ruin"?

R.H.: About a year -- because we didn't record every song at the same time. G.C. and I live 3 ½ hours apart, so we had scheduling problems when trying to be at the studio as a band. As well, studio time costs a great deal of money, and two of the songs we re-recorded a second time during the process from the ground up.

Sargon: How did the deal with Firebox come about?

R.H.: I talked to Kostas from Pantheist – whose band had already been signed to the label – and asked him if he thought that Firebox might be receptive to what we were doing. He encouraged me to send a demo to them. The label, in turn, granted us a one-album signing.

Sargon: It seems your part of the US is a fertile ground for Doom bands, are there other bands you know/work/play with around there? Any underground acts we should watch for?

R.H.: There are a few doom and doom/death bands out of the mid-Atlantic area worth a listen. The mighty While Heaven Wept is from here. A couple of up-and-coming acts include Todesbonden from Maryland and Withersoul from eastern Virginia.

Sargon: I suppose Doom bands get asked this a lot, but why make such bleak and unhappy music?

R.H.: Bleak and unhappy music, as you put it, -- as well as dark or aggressive stuff -- is what I like to listen to. I don't like happy music at all. It just doesn't register with me.

Sargon: How is the metal scene in general where you are? It seems the northeast has generally a better underground scene than the rest of the country.

R.H.: We're not really in the Northeast (sorry dude, but to us out here in the Great Plains, you are so-Sargon) – we're sort of in between, but, yes, they do have a bigger and better metal scene up there. The New York/New Jersey area has a lot of metal bands (like Evoken, Divine Silence, Grey Skies Fallen), as well as New England. I don't too much care to be part of a metal scene, though. I hate the backstabbing and competition that arises between bands that share similarities and end up being lumped together.

Sargon: What are you up to now? What music will we hear from you in the future?

R.H.: Right now, I have completed a 45-minute Funeral doom album in the vein of Shape of Despair and Tyranny under the name Reclusiam. It is a solo effort and anyone can download the whole thing in mp3 format at www.necare.net/reclusiam. As to the future, I guess interested parties will have to wait and see. There's a lot of upheaval going on in our lives right now. I'm getting married in March, changing jobs, and going through psychiatric therapy. G.C. is active in another band that plays out every weekend. We have no idea when we will sit down and write more Necare songs, but they will be written when we are ready.

Sargon: Anything else you would like to say?

Thanks for the interview!

Other information about Necare on this site

Review: Ruin