In light of Woods of Ypres touring North America this Summer, I am sure that those who did make it to their shows have seen some good metal. And if you are yet to see them and they are coming to your town, make it a point to see them. Even though Woods of Ypres isn't heading anywhere near where I live, I can say that they put on an excellent show. How is this possible, you ask? Well, there was this little thing in November 2008 called Heathen Crusade Fest III. The following interview took place after Heathen Crusade III with lead man David Gold and was originally posted on Living For Metal webzine.
2008 was a banner year for the Ontario band Woods of Ypres. From their inclusion as the cover story for Canadian publication Unrestrained! Magazine to their tour with fellow Ontario band Wolven Ancestry, the band has had a coming out of sorts. And did I mention that they released an album in Woods III: Deepest Roots and Darkest Blues? All of that was capped off by their inclusion on the Heathen Crusade Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 15 as part of the tour with Wolven Ancestry. Main man David Gold took the time after the band’s electrifying performance at Heathen Crusade to talk to Living for Metal.
Peter Santellan: Just a few hours ago, you played at the Heathen Crusade Festival. What were your expectations and how did you feel you either met or exceeded those expectations?
David Gold: We knew we were going to play this since March, so we’ve been thinking about that since then. So many months pass by before we actually pack the van and get ready to do this and it sure was nice. Even since arriving, some of it has been smooth and some of it has been a pain in the ass. Out here in St. Paul, we spent all day just trying to get breakfast and everything was closed, so I think it was a real good day where we were kind of grumpy with the inconveniences, but then we get to the venue, load up on stage, and everything was cool. We knew we were going to have a good time and the crowd was in a good mood, so that part was easy. The crowd made it easy for us to do this and we were comfortable and had a good time at the show.
PS: Heathen Crusade is a part of a tour you have with Wolven Ancestry. How did that come about?
DG: Wolven’s been around since 2004 or 2005, and we’ve talked with those guys a bit and I think I thought, “Inevitably, we’re going to do a tour with those guys because they are like the next town over from us in Ontario.” We’re based in Sault Ste. Marie and they’re based in Sudbury, and there are not too many bands in Ontario doing black metal, but there’s a few of these, maybe one per city chance that there’s a really good black metal band. In North Bay, there’s Vanquished and a band called Empyrean Plague. Toronto has some black metal bands as well, but we identify more with the northern Ontario black metal scene. Wolven Ancestry got invited to play Heathen Crusade and so did we, and we got to talking with them and decided to make a whole tour out of it.
PS: With the tour, a new album to support would make sense. In your case, the album would be Deepest Roots and Darkest Blues. Could you say a few things about it, production-wise or anything else that comes to mind?
DG: Sure. For Woods III, it took about three years to do. In terms of writing, recording, and releasing the album, it took three years. We felt that for this tour, being that this is the first time that Woods of Ypres is really going to tour, we wanted to go back to the first record. It, being Fall, and us wanting to give an opportunity to the listeners who maybe listened to all three records. If it’s the first tour, we’re going to do the first record and play those songs because in 2009, we plan to do some more touring and we’re going to cover songs from the second Woods album and then the third Woods of Ypres album perhaps next fall. We wanted to go back to the beginning and play the songs off the first record, so that’s what we did tonight, basically. We played one song off of Woods III, which was “Your Ontario Town is a Burial Ground,” and then we played Against the Seasons from beginning to end.
PS: Are there any desires for the band to sign with a major record label or move from your current label Krankenhaus Records?
DG: I talked to a guy who was a part of the Royal Carnage forum and we were just kind of sitting around and he makes some kind of comment that he’s surprised that we’re not on this label or that label, and we were talking about what big record labels could offer Woods of Ypres something, but they’re not good deals, though. They get the music out there and I’m sure we could become more famous and people would listen, but it’s not a good deal for us in terms of sustainability and us being able to continue with this band, and that’s what I really want to do and I’m sure that these guys want to do as well. So in having an idea that we want to be doing this for a little while and be successful at it, it does come down to money in the sense that we have to have enough to survive and to keep things going and be able to write and record albums and not be in a position where someone else has us by the balls, so that’s just that. If you sing to a label, it might work between $0.50 to a $1 for coffee. We’re independent right now, which means $10 for coffee.
PS: Speaking of creative freedom, there’s a theme about your part of the woods, Northern Ontario. What is it about your home area that inspires you?
DG: I think it was, in terms of just a few songs, just that frustration a lot of people have if you’re living in a small town and in any particular place where you know that if what you want to do can’t be done where you are, so you know you got to leave. So you’re in this position where you’re living somewhere, but eventually, you have to move away, you got to get out of there; you have to go somewhere else to get what you want in life. That’s what inspired a lot of maybe the first record and traces of moving different places have influenced the other records as well. Right now, being from northern Ontario is a cool thing actually because after having done Woods of Ypres and now returning there, it’s cool in terms of we’re in a small town and we’re able to focus more time on our band and being creative and not spending time in traffic or dealing with other bullshit that you would have in a big city. Rent isn’t as high, so we’re able to focus more on the music and waste less time. Being where we are right now is actually a really cool thing.
PS: Are there any plans for a new album or are you content with touring right now and seeing what happens later on?
DG: We’re planning some touring for 2009 and for 2010, and we hope to have Woods IV out by early 2010. So basically, between now and then, we have time for touring and then we have time to write and record this new album and then it’ll be ready to go for Spring of 2010.
PS: Is there anything else you would like to add, off-topic or anything else that comes to mind?
DG: Sure. I think we’re all very happy that we came and played Heathen Crusade 3 and I heard rumors that maybe this was going to be the last one, but I hope it’s not. We’ve talked to the promoter tonight and we were kind of hinting that we really hope that they can continue this. I really like the legacies of the European festivals and how they can keep going for five to 20 years, and I’d like to see the same thing happen with the festivals that are happening in North America. No regrets on our part for doing what we needed to do and busting our asses to get down here and once we did that, playing the show was easy. It was a good time and we’re going to have a good time five minutes from now, when we start drinking some beers and seeing what’s left of this hotel. Rumor is that the cops are already in the hotel and the party’s been busted, but we just got back, and it’s only a quarter to three and we still have beer to drink.
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