T: Regards Tony Blakk!! Druid Lord is a band formed by
members with great musical career in the metal scene in your country, Can you
tell us more about what bands you have been in and are currently in?
Tony Blakk : The 1st band I was ever in that really did anything was Acheron. I played guitar for them and did back-up vocals in the early 90’s in Tampa. Druid Lord guitarist, Pete Slate, was the other guitarist at the time. So, needless to say, that’s where we met. Shortly after he left the band, I left too. I formed the band Apostasy. This was the 1st time I sang without holding a guitar in my hands. One day I get a call from Pete. He had formed a new band called Equinox with Matt Wagner and Stephen Spillers. I knew both of these guys from their previous bands and when he asked me if I wanted to play guitar for them I couldn’t say “Hell yeah” fast enough. In 2001 I quit and took some time to raise my kids. In 2007 I get a call from Pete saying Matt is leaving the band and they need a bass player/singer. Of course, I had to do it. That’s when I met Gabe Lewandowski (Resurrection) and Kelly McLauchlin (Possessed). We later formed the band Serpent Son, and Kelly and I did Diabolic. But, I dropped all of that when Pete told me he was starting a new band with the original Equinox drummer, Stephen Spillers. Currently I am helping to write and record the new Druid Lord full-length and doing some session work in my studio. I’m also playing and recording drums for the Black Metal band Gravewurm
T: Why the name Druid Lord? Why Doom Metal?
Tony Blakk : The Druids were some tough motherfuckers. They didn’t take shit from no one. They were warriors and barbarians. That’s the kind of vibe we wanted. They were also pagans, like me. The word “Lord” simply means a “King”. So they were like “Pagan Kings” if you want to look at it like that. We felt like if the druid lords were alive today they would go to war listening to our music.
T: What bands inspired you to make the music CD “Hymns for the Wicked”?
Tony Blakk : The 1st band I was ever in that really did anything was Acheron. I played guitar for them and did back-up vocals in the early 90’s in Tampa. Druid Lord guitarist, Pete Slate, was the other guitarist at the time. So, needless to say, that’s where we met. Shortly after he left the band, I left too. I formed the band Apostasy. This was the 1st time I sang without holding a guitar in my hands. One day I get a call from Pete. He had formed a new band called Equinox with Matt Wagner and Stephen Spillers. I knew both of these guys from their previous bands and when he asked me if I wanted to play guitar for them I couldn’t say “Hell yeah” fast enough. In 2001 I quit and took some time to raise my kids. In 2007 I get a call from Pete saying Matt is leaving the band and they need a bass player/singer. Of course, I had to do it. That’s when I met Gabe Lewandowski (Resurrection) and Kelly McLauchlin (Possessed). We later formed the band Serpent Son, and Kelly and I did Diabolic. But, I dropped all of that when Pete told me he was starting a new band with the original Equinox drummer, Stephen Spillers. Currently I am helping to write and record the new Druid Lord full-length and doing some session work in my studio. I’m also playing and recording drums for the Black Metal band Gravewurm
T: Why the name Druid Lord? Why Doom Metal?
Tony Blakk : The Druids were some tough motherfuckers. They didn’t take shit from no one. They were warriors and barbarians. That’s the kind of vibe we wanted. They were also pagans, like me. The word “Lord” simply means a “King”. So they were like “Pagan Kings” if you want to look at it like that. We felt like if the druid lords were alive today they would go to war listening to our music.
T: What bands inspired you to make the music CD “Hymns for the Wicked”?
Tony Blakk : Winter, Asphyx, Paradise Lost, Slayer, My Dying Bride, Venom, Celtic Frost, Black Sabbath, Autopsy, Bathory, Cirith Ungol, Possessed, Candlemass, Witchfinder General, Necrovore, Pentagram, Grave, Carnage, 70's Moog and dark progressive albums, Viking Gods, Creepy 70's Flicks, Spooky Cult Horror movies
T: How did you create the music for each song? And the lyrics? The lyrics are of gore, horror, suffering and more. What inspired you to do this kind of lyric?
Tony Blakk : Pete and Stephen wrote all the music on the 1st CD and the 1st 7 inch, but now that we acquired guitarist Benjamin Ross, we write as a band. I prefer that, so we can work out all the parts. Pete and I usually split the lyrics in half. We start with a title and then come up with a story and the details come after that. We are both fans of occult films from the 60’s and 70’s, so most of our inspiration comes from that era.
T: Your first production was “Hymns for the Wicked”? With so much promotion and excellent acceptance from radio and magazines, did you expect an answer so fast from the audience?
Tony Blakk : No. We were very surprised at the reaction. I remember before we recorded it we had a very rough version of “Chamber Of Ghastly Horrors” on our Myspace page without any vocals, bass or lead guitar. Just one guitar and drums. We got so many plays on that one song that we knew something was about to happen. That’s when Mike Juliano from HPGD Productions contacted us about the record deal. After we put it out, it was crazy. Everyone was asking for it. I still get people asking for it and at shows. Everyone wants to hear those songs
T: How about the support of Horror Pain Gore Death Productions?
Tony Blakk : Just stellar. We ended up doing a split 7 inch with them as well. The other band was Skeletal Spectre and it turned out killer! Mike has really stepped up and pushed the band to be better.
T: Tony, the art work on your first album cover was created by whom? How did he come up with the concept for this?
Tony Blakk : That’s Putrid. We’ve known him for a long time, and seen his art progress over the years. We love the black and white look. It’s so old school. Pete called him and gave him a list of the song titles and an overall feel for what we wanted. He then came up with the skeletons in the graveyard. If you get the vinyl, you can see just how detailed the artwork is. He uses a technique called “stippling” where you use millions of tiny dots to create the image. It’s all done by hand with a pen and paper. No computer generated image can compare.
T: About the CD, “Hymns for the Wicked” Full-length 2010, You have other formats and other labels like:
Vinyl version out on Witches Tone Records.
Black Wax Version: Gatefold Cover, Black Vinyl With Sticker, A2 Poster And Insert. Lim. 400 Copies
Die Hard Version: Gatefold Cover, Orange/Black Speckled Vinyl With Cotton Bag, Patch, Sticker, A2 Poster And Insert. Lim. 100 Copies
Can you talk more about this?
Tony Blakk : When the CD came out, Anna at Witches Tone Records contacted us and asked if we had anyone doing our vinyl. We never thought about it before. She made us a deal and we went for it. And it was a very new label, so I think “Hymns for the Wicked” was her 1st release. The colored vinyl sold out within a few weeks, and then the black vinyl sold out a few months later. I still get people that are pissed and want her to press more, but I think she wanted it to be like a collectors item, so I don’t know if she will ever press more.
T: You also made 3 excellent Splits:
*Split Wooden Stake / Druid Lord - Wooden Stake / Druid Lord: Limited to 500 copies. Wooden Stake artwork by Silvester Koorevaar. Druid Lord artwork by Eric "Rot" Engelmann.
Black Wax Version: Gatefold Cover, Black Vinyl With Sticker, A2 Poster And Insert. Lim. 400 Copies
Die Hard Version: Gatefold Cover, Orange/Black Speckled Vinyl With Cotton Bag, Patch, Sticker, A2 Poster And Insert. Lim. 100 Copies
Can you talk more about this?
Tony Blakk : When the CD came out, Anna at Witches Tone Records contacted us and asked if we had anyone doing our vinyl. We never thought about it before. She made us a deal and we went for it. And it was a very new label, so I think “Hymns for the Wicked” was her 1st release. The colored vinyl sold out within a few weeks, and then the black vinyl sold out a few months later. I still get people that are pissed and want her to press more, but I think she wanted it to be like a collectors item, so I don’t know if she will ever press more.
T: You also made 3 excellent Splits:
*Split Wooden Stake / Druid Lord - Wooden Stake / Druid Lord: Limited to 500 copies. Wooden Stake artwork by Silvester Koorevaar. Druid Lord artwork by Eric "Rot" Engelmann.
*Split Kaiju / Druid Lord - Kaiju / Druid Lord: 7 inch and CD split, each format having unique art and tracks. Distributed in the USA by Sevared Records. Lyrics and vocals on "All Hallows Evil" by Kam Lee.
*Split Skeletal Spectre / Druid Lord - Dark Age Sorcery / Malevolent Patricide: by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. Limited edition pressing on translucent purple 7'' vinyl and packaged in a high quality jacket with double-sided insert.
Can you talk about these splits? And where you can get these jewels?
Tony Blakk : Wooden Stake is a band that we became friends with before “Hymns…” came out. We always liked how raw their stuff was. I had some new recording gear and we were doing some pre-production stuff on a new song called “Black Candle Séance”. Well it turned out so good we decided to finish it. I can’t remember who’s idea it was to shop it as a 7inch, but we did and Altsphere Productions picked it up. The split with Kaiju was the brainchild of Nev. He’s Kaiju’s vocalist and also does all their art and he did some art for us before. The Kaiju split was cool because it was on CD and came with a 7 inch. I'd never seen that before. It was also very cool to get Kam Lee into my studio, which lead to him recording the vocals for the Grotesquery CD “The Facts and Terrifying Testament of Mason Hamilton: The Tsathoggua Tales” there. I like the Skeletal Spectre split because the cover art is killer and it has purple vinyl. You can find all these on DruidLord.com except the Skeletal Spectre split, it’s sold out!
T: Are you doing many gigs? How is the public reacting to them? What are the bands you have shared the stage with?
Tony Blakk : Not really. We all live 2 or 3 hours form each other, so getting together can be difficult. We like to spend any time we get working on new songs. I would say on an average we play probably 6 to 8 gigs a year. We get the best response from our home crowd in Orlando. Probably because they know what to expect, but we got really good responses in Tampa, Titusville and even in Buffalo NY. Some of the bands we have played with are: 5 Billion Dead, Still Life, Heroes Will Fall, Tetrarch, Cough, Fire In The Cave, Swamp Ruins, Ring Of Scars, Sister Kill Cycle, Old Growth, AfterDeath, Prophecy Z14, Deceased, Nokturnel, Derketa, Rottrevore, Avulsion, Hubris, Resist Control, Insanity, Goat Craft and SinGod
T: Tony Blakk, thank you very much for the interview. Some words for The Legion Of TchorT Zine & Compilation readers? Can you indicate where you can buy your merchandise and your web page?
Tony Blakk : Thank you Carlos “TchorT” for giving me a chance to get the word out. You are a true Metal Warrior! Our Merchandise is available at http://www.druidlord.com and you can contact me at abysmalgloom@aol.com Plus, we are always on facebook. Join the Druid Lord Death Cult!!!!!
