Cloven Hoof Interview for Hellfighter zine

[Hellfighter]

Alrighty, since i don't know when my zine will see the light of day.. i felt it was unjust to just have this interview sitting in my comp for nobody except me to look at.

You guys deserve this at least and i hope you guys enjoy it! And i fuckin' pray to the steel lords that i can get my shit together;

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QUESTIONS


1. Greetings Lee! Firstly, it is an unbelievable honour to question a
member of Cloven Hoof. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the
almighty Hoof would be featured in Hellfighter zine. First off, let's talk
about the latest Hoof release "Eye of the Sun". How happy are you and the
rest of the band with the end result? What were your intentions with this
new release and when did you decide a new Hoof album was in order?

The honour is all ours Matt, it's great to be able to spread the word to the
metal maniacs in Australia.

"Eye of the sun" for me is our best album to date, because We have been
meticulous in playing everything as tight as we possibly can to get the
maximum attack and power. Tom Galley had really driven us on in the making
of our best ever album, because he understands that Cloven hoof
are about epic song concepts. He has helped refine and layer our sound to
make everything slick and hard hitting. Now you get class melody with
thrash like power and multi-time changes, something no other producer has
understood.

All the songs are equally as good because we wanted the fans to get total
value for money, (We always try to do this), but this time we dug really
deep. The fans can feel equally proud of the new album because they were
inspirational throughout with words of encouragement. We are a band
with a score to settle after being held back by legal red tape for so long.
It has been like being released from hell, but life is good again now that
we can play our music to true metal fans once more.

Inquisitor, king for a day, angels in hell look destined to be all time
classic hoof tracks.


2. Tell us a bit about the recording sessions, how much easier is it to work
in a studio these days in comparison to what you had to put up with in the
80's? Do you think a lot of new bands take for granted how easy it is to
record these days as well as the costs involved?

Today¹s technology makes the recording process so much easier. I Think you
are right on the money when you say a lot of new bands take for granted how
easy it is to record these days. Currently you can mix the sound as you go
along for example, in the old days if you got a crap sound in the beginning
you were stuck with it! They cut and trim the drums and guitars and make
eveyone sound tight, even if the musicianship is sloppy. I feel it is
cheating really, we never do that because the band would rather do a 100
takes to get it right. We sound tight because we rehearse all hours god
sends, not because of production trickery... CLOVEN HOOF do it for real!

One of the good things points however recording today, is technology makes
it possible to get good sounds quicker. Recording costs can be kept down due
to this, but it's horses for courses really. Everyone tends to sound the
same and the human element gets lost sometimes. I much prefer to hear bands
just get on with it, and do away with drum machines and button pressers.



3. Just checking out your web-site and read the killer news that Russ North
has rejoined the horde! Is his voice fitting for the new material? What are
the circumstances around him re-joining?

Yes that's right the voice is back, and Russ is singing better than now than
ever especially on the new songs. Russ has been previously unable to commit
fully to the band due to contractual obligations in Spain. However these
issues have been resolved and he has rejoined the band in England to start
work on the follow up album to "EYE OF THE SUN". He has one of the greatest
voices in rock and he aims to prove it on our next release. He is an amazing
front man too, sure is great to have him back where he belongs.



4. You have a strong interest in the occult when writing lyrics. Are your
lyrics to be taken "tongue in cheek" or do you have a real interest in
studying such themes? Enlighten our readers about some of the freaky events
that have occurred during Cloven Hoof rehearsals and the like. Did any of
these events scare past or present members?


I decided from the start that due to the black magic orientation of the
band, I would try to learn as much as possible
about the subject. I had started to write a title track called Cloven Hoof
(surprise) and it seemed a good idea at the
time to make a section of it an actual Witches rune from the book of shadows
(This is a collection of witches spells,
as used by Aleister Crowley ect).

Many unexplained events happened to the band II feel sure as a result of
this. I was showing the bands original guitarist the finger picking part of
the spell section whilst reciting out the lyrics. Suddenly a guitar jammed
between two
Marshall cabs was mysteriously thrown forward as if hurled by an invisible
force, and my companion the six string
maestro was off like a shot out of the door saying "Call me tomorrow... See
ya!" I was left alone to ponder what a
strange atmosphere had descended on the room afterwards. Funnily enough,
this happened on Beltain night a witches Sabbath!


But things finally came to a head when a vocalist who had recently joined
the group announced that after he had
practised reciting the said witches rune section of our title track, he felt
as if unseen hands had gripped his legs!
He delivered an ultimatum... "Unless you change the words, I will leave the
band!" I duly complied under protest.

However there were still some passages of the song that I left unaltered and
as ill fortune would have it, when we
performed the track at a rehersal hall, it was duly struck by lightening!
The guitar amps were fused and the hapless vocalist was mildly electrocuted.
Needless to say he wanted nothing more to do with the fledgling Cloven Hoof
after that! There are loads of similar weird happenings like that that
surrounds the band, but our lyrics now are to be taken as purely
entertainment. My message is leave the occult well alone, you could be
playing with fire!



5. Your old stage consumes! Any plans to throw on your old gear any time
soon? Who came up with that concept originally? Did you take points off Kiss
for that one?

Kiss really did raise the bar on stage presentation and production, so they
were of course a big influence on the early CLOVEN HOOF years. But I think
the Fire, Water, Earth and Air concept was much more cohesive than Kiss.

CLOVEN Hoof¹s priority has always been first and foremost about the
integrity of it's music. Image is just something to enhance it, we were a
band that wrote about Horror and epic sci-fi. We had and image to match the
music, but when all the press kept going on about the masks and costumes,
we dropped the theatrical outfits. The group jumps off the band-wagon
rather than following trends.

I think we were way ahead of our time, just look at Slip knot, Cradle of
filth etc. We played fast, technical aggressive metal in masks and costumes
years ago. It is good to get the acclaim now, people realise we were pretty
innovative and influential. It would be fantastic to do the costume thing
again one day in the future, fans are always asking for the masks and
outrageous stage show. However we will have to get a major label to do it
justice, watch this space!



6. Since you've been into Metal since it's birth I¹d like to know what your
opinion is on the modern Metal
scene? Do you find the real spirit of Metal is lost on many of these
mainstream bands? Name some of your
favourite bands past and present!

It is true to say Heavy metal is all I live for, ever since someone played
me highway star by Deep Purple as a kid. It was like a bolt of lightening I
was completely blown away by it's power, speed and musical brilliance.
In a lot of way's if our music can reach people the way that song reached
me, then that is all the reward that I require. We have never been in it
for the money... not ever! CLOVEN HOOF is the real deal because we play from
the heart and the metal faithful pick up on that.

My taste never changes I still love Purple, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Rush, Thin
Lizzy. I listen to so called NU metal occasionally, some of it's OK but all
the singers shout the same. Cronus did that from Venom years ago, they are
all poor copyists of him. Most of it does nothing for me really, detuned
guitars for example was done by Sabbath in the 1970's. What's NU about it? I
think too many business suits are running record companies, and they haven't
got a clue. In the old days musicians who loved good music used to be at
the head of them. Today everything is stupid fashion trends.

In one week... out the next, was never what Heavy metal stood for. The
music was all that mattered, it was underground and ignored trends. The
grass roots fans made there own minds not told what to think and wear, like
sheep. We believe in die hard, free thinking and imaginative real metal
supporters everywhere, we want to be a true peoples band. Dropped D tuned
grungy guitars is all very well, but many groups are too samey and
predictable. Cloven Hoof offer multiple time changes and imaginative
storylines ect.


7. Fill us in on some tour info. Where do you enjoy playing most? Any
intentions to head to Australia?

The Limelight club Crewe on Thursday 29th March 2007, will be the first
venue we will play next year. It promises to be quite a night because we
will be committed to tight recording deadlines for the early part of 2007.We
have a set packed with hoof classics and we will air Two songs from the
forth coming album "Throne of Damnation" for the first time. We are sure
looking forward to hitting the stage again.

The next show will be the British steel festival 2, set to take place April
28th 2007 at the Pitz, Milton Keynes, England. The festival billing is as
follows...

Cloven hoof
Jaguar
Attacker
Chariot
Elixir

I personally love the music of all these bands, and we will all have an
amazing time.

The band would love to play over there in OZ one day, as soon as we get a
good promoter then we will for sure. Who knows one may be reading this? If
so e-mail the Cloven hoofwebsite immediately! We would fucking row there if
necessary... That is how much we would like to play down under!!!

8. What was the most memorable Cloven Hoof gig?

They are all memorable in one way or another, but the come back show in
Athens 2004 will stay in my heart forever.
After all those years of legal hassles, then having our hotel constantly
mobbed by fans was incredible. There
were grown men actually crying when they met us after the show. It was a
humbling and moving experience.


9. Cloven Hoof has some of the most awesome cover art. How important is good
artwork? Do you think that spotting a killer Metal album by merely looking
at the cover is a lost art? Who's the artist that did the work for the
DOMINATOR and FIGHTING BACK covers?

I think it helps if the cover is good, because it can be a visual snapshot
of the albums essence. It can capture the potential album buyers eye as it
lies on a record store shelf. A good design also lends itself to t-shirt
product too, so from a marketing point of view it is essential to have an
attractive sleeve.

Dominator artwork was by the famous white dwarf artist John Blanche. The
amazon warrior is supposed to
show the warrior of the wasteland heroine. I personally thought it should of
been a man who over threw
the intergalactic tyrant the Dominator, but thats the way it goes. Still the
painting artwork is superb.

Eye of the sun has a great cover done by a Canadian artist called Rory
Fiorito. I myself did the cover painting for "Fighting back." I did it while
I still at school, and thought it might make a good cover one day. Not in
the same league as the rest of our albums, but I wanted to have a go at it
(laughs).


10. Almighty sinner, we shall leave it here. 1000 thanks for agreeing to do
this interview, thanks for your bloody
patience too mate. Last words are yours Lee!


Once again thanks Matt for the opportunity to answer questions, to the kick
ass true metal fans in Australia.

Our next album will be called "THRONE OF DAMNATION" and I hope it will be
even better than the last. It will be a return to "A SULTANS RANSOM" epic
power, but with a modern cutting edge. Without doubt it
will be the darkest and heaviest album we have ever done. Hope you all will
like it, at the end of the day it's the fans opinion that matters! We are
nothing without them, and they never let us down.

Keep playing and supporting true metal. We should stick together and support
each other against the enemy... Chart shit and false metal. A Very Merry
Christmas to supporters of Hellfighterzine and your good self, Keep it true
and may the elemental forces be with you.


Yours in metal


Lee (CLOVEN HOOF)

[BlackStele]

THANX A LOT!! This will be added in my archives at once!

[The Sentinel]

Thanks

[Noisenik]

Very well done, dude. Shame we all lack stamina to complete sth.

[Nicko McBuff]

Cool interview Matt, hope your mag gets off the ground soon mate!

[Black Axe]

Old interview this must be. Nothing to read about the new best-of album or the re-releases.

[Hellfighter]

Old interview this must be. Nothing to read about the new best-of album or the re-releases.

Almost a year old now, was done just before Christmass.