Alestorm

Interview date

Juillet 2009

Interviewer

ostianne

I N T E R V I E W

Interview Christopher Bowes


Thank you Chris to answer to http://auxportesdumetal.com !

You were named Battleheart but you had to change your name when you signed with Napalm Record and you choose to be Alestorm. Why did you choose this name?

The record label kept suggesting weird obscure names in the Gaelic language, things none of us could even pronounce. So we had to think of something better. One day the name "Alestorm" just appeared in my head, and I knew it was perfect. Alcohol and stormy weather, sums up life at sea perfectly I think!

What do you love in piracy to base your music on it?

I think we sing about pirates, because pirates are badass motherfuckers who take no shit. They lead the ultimate rock n roll lifestyle! We're not really into the whole historical/dressing up aspects of it, we find that a bit childish.

Do you think piracy is an endless subject?

Yeah, totally. There's always more treasure to be stolen, more wenches to be raped! Almost every day I come up with a new lyrical concept for a song about pirates, I think we can keep this going for as long as we would like.

When you compose and write your lyrics, what kind of universe is developed in your mind?

Oh, I dunno. We're not really a "concept band", there's no fantasy universe which all these songs take place in. I just write what sounds cool!

You've written your second album in few months. When you work so fast, isn't it difficult to find inspiration and to renew your work?

When we're pressured into writing an album, we can really churn out songs pretty quickly! I'm naturally a very lazy guy, but given enough stimulus I can always come up with a new song. But yeah, it was a difficult situation. For the next album, I'd love to have a lot more time.

In "Keelhauled" you talked about Davy Jones. Is it the "Pirates of Caribbean" films' character or the English literature character?

Very much the character of old English literature and pirate folklore. Being sent to Davy Jones's locker is of course, a metaphor for lying dead at the bottom of the sea.

"The Quarter" is a cover of Klaus Badelt's music, which comes from the original soundtrack of the film "Pirates of Caribbean". Do you think this film is a real reference in piracy?

No, of course not. It's all a bunch of romanticized nonsense, everyone knows that real piracy is nothing like how it was presented in those films. Saying that, it's a great piece of entertainment to watch, certainly.

With a universe as yours, we can imagine you've got specials stuffs on stage. Can you describe an Alestorms' show?

Unfortunately, we have no money, so we can't afford any fancy stage props! However, we're planning to invest in some awesome things for our upcoming Paganfest tour, to make the shows very special indeed! At the moment though, we just strip off and rock out. We have got a very punk attitude on stage, we don't really want to wear costumes or anything like that.

Can you talk to us about the Black Sails over Europe and the tour CD, which was released by Napalm Records?

It was just a little sampler compilation, featuring new tracks from Tyr and Alestorm, and some Heidevolk songs. The reason for it, was that our full-length albums were delayed for reasons beyond our control, so the label wanted to have some new material to sell to the fans. The tour was great fun, I want to do it all over again!

You will come in France in September. What do you think of the French audience?

It's a great wee country to play,. Unfortunately we have very little experience of playing France, only having ever played two gigs there. I hope we can get to come back a lot more in the coming years!

Except your tour, what do you plan for the upcoming months?

Rest and relaxation! We've been touring constantly for most of the year, I need some time off now, haha!

Do you want to say something else to our readers?

Cheers, and get drunk!