Abysmal Dawn pour l'album "From Ashes"

Hi! A boring question for the beginning: Can you introduce briefly your band?

This is Charles and I play guitar and sing for Abysmal Dawn. We’ve got Jamie Boulanger on guitar as well, Terry Barajas on drums and Carlos “suck my” Arriola on bass to make sure we aren’t mistaken for a boy band.

What are your main influences and inspirations?

We listen to a lot of stuff but I have to say bands like Death, Testament, At the Gates, Carcass and old Metallica have influenced me a lot over the years. Jamie is really big on Morbid Angel and the other guys have their favorites as well. We listen to newer more extreme bands too but really I mostly keep coming back to those early 90s death metal releases on Roadrunner and Earache. That’s when bands wrote the catchiest material I think and I’m a sucker for a good song.

Your music juggles with death, black and thrash. What are your cult albums for each style?

For death metal there’s a ton of stuff but probably Death – Human, Carcass – Heartwork, At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul, Suffocation – Pierced From Within, Death – Symbolic. For black metal Dissection – Storm of the Lights Bane, Dark Funeral – Diabolis Interium, Emperor – Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. And for thrash metal I have to say Testament – The New Order, Metallica – Master of Puppets, Slayer – South of Heaven, Megadeth – Rust in Peace, King Diamond – Abigail. I could probably add several more to that list but those are some ones that immediately come to mind.

How did the composition of "From Ashes" progress?

Two of the songs (“Blacken the Sky” and “State of Mind”) were originally intended for a band Jamie and I used to play in called Inhuman Visions. They were both killer songs and sort of a departure from what I.V. was doing, so we kept the music and I rewrote all the lyrics. That sort of gave us our road map when we first started and from there we just continued to build and expand on that sound. We poured a lot into writing “From Ashes” and I think it shows. I don’t think there’s a single throw away track in my opinion. I’m very happy with it.

Can you explain to us the meaning of your artwork?

The concept for the cover revolves around the lyrics to “Blacken the Sky.” It’s supposed to be a phoenix rising from the ashes of a man that has burned himself alive. He sacrifices himself so that heaven can choke on his ashes and he can avenge his lost love. I gave Par Olofsson the concept and he depicted it really beautifully. Par is just killer man and I’m sure people will be seeing much more of his art over the years.

The only weak point that I noticed with "From Ashes" is its length! A new album is planned?

We hope to have a new album written in a year but we’ll see how that goes. We aren’t the type of band to have left over material and it took us about a year and a half to write this record. Honestly I like how short it is because I feel like it flows and it has a sort of urgency and energy that an album like “Reign in Blood” has. Not to say we’ve already made a masterpiece like that but it goes more for the throat at that length. It something that we feel gets the blood flowing and leaves you wanting more. We tried very hard to stay away from filler material and what you hear are all songs we are very proud of.

You play live with the greatest bands (Exodus, Incantation, Hate Eternal, Exhumed, Aborted, Disgorge, Cryptopsy...), how do you have a such gratitude?

Well you know it just builds over time. At first you’re playing bars with local bands to start building some sort of following. Once you’ve proven you have some sort of draw you try to take the next step, which is playing with bigger bands. In Los Angeles a lot of these clubs make you sell tickets in order to play with bigger bands. We’d have to sell 100 tickets sometimes at $20 a piece but we’d always get rid of them. It can be stressful sometimes but that’s how it is out here and it isn’t changing anytime soon. If you want to take things up a notch and play to bigger crowds it’s something every band around here has to do. So, we did that for a while but finally we got picked up by a label and booking agent so now we get paid and our agent finds most our work.

What is your opinion about the wave of metalcore (especially in US, I mean FM teenagecore)?

I may not especially be a fan of it but I can’t say it’s a horrible thing. Those bands are sort of like a gateway drug for more extreme music. I don’t think anyone that starts listening to music and buying records automatically starts with Disgorge. Maybe they bought a Metallica record, then Slipknot, then Deicide and now all they listen too is Anal Blast. Not everyone will go that route but some guys will suddenly realize that they have the same pants and haircut as their sister and spend the rest of their lives listening to Prosthetic Cunt to regain their manhood. Some girls will suddenly realize that they want to be slapped every once in a while and reach for the latest Gorgasm. The ones that stay gay will just start listening to Gronibard or pop music I guess.

If you could organize your own metal festival, whose bands would be invited?

Reunited versions of Carcass and At the Gates but Gronibard would be the only opening act and they’d play the same 15 songs like 20 times in a row.

What is your end result about the year 2005?

2005 was a good year for us. We played with some bigger acts and recorded a killer record that eventually got us signed after we shopped it around. That and we were voted “sexiest non-gay band” by the readers of “Better Homes and Gardens.”

What is your play list at the moment and your last musical revelation?

I’ve been listing to the latest Decapitated (Organic Halucinations), Nile – Annhilation of the Wicked the new Yyrkoon a lot. I listen to all types of music constantly but those have been getting some special attention.

Do you know the bands Vehemence and Withered (respectively my musical revelation of 2004 and 2005)?

I know Vehemence but unfortunately they just broke up. I saw them on a small tour they booked themselves right before they got signed to Metalblade actually in maybe 2001. Withered is a band I’ve never heard before but I’ll be sure to check them out.

Have you listened to some new stuff of this year (new Zyklon, Dismember, Cannibal Corpse, Dissection, Kataklysm...)?

I bought all those records minus the new Zyklon, that’s still on my to buy list. I still haven’t heard anything from it but I heard it’s like the last album, more death metal than black metal. That new Cannibal Corpse is probably my favorite thing of theirs in years. The songs are catchy, the riffs crush and the production is excellent. I highly recommend it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Conan 3, what do you think about that?

That’s a random question. I’d probably ignore it ever happened like Terminator 3. I guess it’s the only thing he can do now that he fucked over our public schools here in California and is soon to become jobless. What he should really do is make a sequel to Hercules Goes Bananas called Hercules Shows His Banana. Then people would understand why he works out so much.

A European Tour (including France) is scheduled?

We talked about doing a tour of France with Aborted at one point but I’m not sure it will happen now. I don’t think we are quite at a point to come over to Europe just yet. It costs too much to tour in another country considering we’re a new band and won’t make much money from the shows. If we can figure out how to do it somewhat cost effectively we’ll do it, but it might not happen right away.

What do you think of our stinky cheesy country?

Now that’s an awful stereotype, it’s not like you’re Dutch (just kidding). We’d love to make it over there some day and level the place. I’ve never been there so I can’t say anything about it one way or another. I’ll reserve all shit talking until after I actually visit sometime.

To conclude the interview, I leave you the ending word...

Hopefully we’ll make it to Europe soon but until then spread the word. “From Ashes” should be available all throughout Europe on June 30th. Thanks for the support!