Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
Nazgûl – Satanic, misanthropic, yet sympathetic to the ignorance of man who has been consumed by the lies of faith. Our music is a violent reconning to cope with a world full of hate, division and willful ignorance.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
Nazgûl – I am from Kentucky deep in the heart of the bible belt. As a child attending church I saw the same people asked to be saved over and over. Cheating on their spouse, drunks, addicts, abusers… They all keep trying to play the get out of jail free card over and over. A preacher telling us of hellfire and brimstone being our eternity unless we throw some money in the offering plate and beg on our knees for forgiveness every week. It sparked my young mind to seek alternatives in ideology just to discover it’s all ridiculous, fear based nonsense. That southern Baptist Church was the first spark in the thought process that would lay the foundation for our Obsidian Shrine.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
Nazgûl – Mostly well established European black metal has been the biggest influence on us musically. I would also say the early American thrash and death metal scene has some influence at times as well.
Our songs are about cleansing the world of religion. Any dogma that stakes it claim on humans for predation. We touch on social topics briefly here and there as well.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
Nazgûl – Simply to create music that we ourselves enjoy.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
Nazgûl – With the release of our second album “Bloodshed Under The Black Star” one of my personal favorite guitarist and friend now, Sebastian Ramstedt from Necrophobic laid down a solo on the title track. It was an amazing thing to admire someone for so long, become friends and eventually have him
make a guest appearance on our album. That album was also a big change for the band going from a full lineup down to a two piece and overcoming the obstacles to still create.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
Nazgûl – Physical sales online are definitely more difficult than at shows now. However the ability to expose more people to your music online is higher than it has been. It’s a balancing act.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
Nazgûl – We have just begun playing out again this year after 3 years off the stage. At this point we are a two piece lineup and do it that way live using backing tracks for our drums, bass and keys. We had concerns about how people would react to a lineup like this but have had extremely positive feedback from the fans thus far.
We have a couple of upcoming events in September right now that we can’t fully announce yet. If you are interested in seeing us live follow us on our social media to keep up with where we’ll be. If you are reading this and interested in booking us all we expect is expenses covered to play.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
Nazgûl – I am completely fine with downloading as long as the fan supports the artist in some way. It’s only fair. Streaming is a good tool to get your music to more ears. That’s our main goal anyway.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Nazgûl – This is a hard question for me to dive into because picking just one is too difficult for me to do.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
Nazgûl – Yeah there’s a lot of things I don’t agree with but me airing my grievances won’t change anything.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
Nazgûl – We’ve just completed “Consortium In Diaboli” a split with Sôlt that will release May 26th, 2023. We are already working on our next full length album for a 2024 release. We hope to find a good label to back that release.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
Nazgûl – The best place to keep up with the band is through our Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/obsidianshrine
For our music and merch …
https://obsidianshrine.bandcamp.com
Obsidian Shrine links:
Band/Artist location – Franklin, KY
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Last Fm –
Check our page for Obsidian Shrine
