Post by The Centurion on Nov 8, 2006 8:14:23 GMT -5
An interview with Crimson Thorn Guitarist Miles Sunde by
Todd Pope
Pope: Your fans seem to be getting pretty itchy for a new album, can give you us an idea as to when a new CD may be made available?
Miles: This is hard to say because we are on no time limits and we want the next CD to be outstanding, better than anything we have done and with our new drummer it will be brutal yet melodic at times. We are recording, producing, and mastering all that stuff on our own again. It is a very enjoyable and fulfilling process, but we will spend tons of hours on it making it the best we can, so again like I said there is no time frame as we speak.
Pope: I know you have been playing a couple of new songs live, can you tell us a little bit about them and if they'll appear on the new disc?
Miles: Yes we have been playing two new songs and they are very different. One of them is very melodic and the other has a kind of old school sound yet current metal sound, it is hard to describe. I don’t want to give away too much because both of them will be on the new CD, so you will have to wait to hear it unless you see us live. What has happened with our writing more now than in the past is that we write a song and then totally dissect it and modify it sometimes three, four, or five times before we say , “this song is done.” Kind of like an evolving process. So we may play a new tune live a certain way and then add a part or delete a part until we think it sounds complete. But we are writing and doing a ton of pre-recording currently.
Pope: Purification was a big step for you guys, you took on engineering, mixing, mastering and pressing it yourself. Will the next album fall in line with a self financed release or will you be shopping it to labels?
Miles: Yes most definitely we will be doing the whole project ourselves again. Unless some nice label wanted to spend a bunch of money on us we would probably take them up on a chance to record in a huge studio and really make a nice sounding album, but that is dreaming and reality is that we will most likely be an independent recording band our whole lives. When we record ourselves, it is really nice to know exactly all the loose ends are being controlled by us. There is no pressure to get a song in a few takes or a part perfect that day. Not to sound individualistic and or selfish, but like the old saying goes…” If you want things done right you do them yourself” and that is the approach we are taking again.
Pope: I know over the years Crimson Thorn has added elements of Black, Doom, Grind and Death to their albums, will these same styles of music be present (or will you be adding new elements into the band) and will all of you be sharing vocal duties like on the previous releases?
Miles: We will be adding all sorts of musical elements to our music, but overall we want it to be brutal yet memorable. We just want to write good songs that people like and that glorifies our master case in point. I think this time around Luke will be doing the bulk of the vocals but Andy and I will also help with certain parts. It is always fun to see how a song evolves as you add the parts and who knows what will happen; it is a fun experimental process.
Pope: You have a new drummer in the band and I must say, the kid can play (I say kid due to his age, not as an insult to him), what is his name, how long has he been part of the band and how has working with him in Crimson Thorn been?
Miles: Steve Reishus is our new drummer and he has been a total blessing to us all. He is very easy to work with and he is very motivated and dedicated in creating hard hitting music. He has been blessed with some incredible speed and creativity; we thank God for him greatly! It is funny; when we all started in 1991 he was just a little kid, but the short one year and a half he has been with us, it feels like he has been with us forever. We plan on pushing him to hopefully drum like no other, and with Gods direction and help we will do that.
Pope: What topics will you be covering lyrically on the new album and would you be willing to share your take on what they mean to you?
Miles: So far we have a song titled “Not My Home” which deals with this earth not being our permanent home but our citizenship in heaven and we should be concerned with eternal things not the temporal here on earth. “Minnesota Winter” is a song about Luke’s love for cold weather and thanking God for the beauty that is found in the winter months. Many take for granted the beauty of the winter season and loathe it instead of praising God for it. Another song is “Out from the Shadow” and it is about the clouds of darkness in our lives and how they tend to chain us down into depression, thus we do not experience God as fully as He intends for us. Then in the darkness we find the hope that frees us. We have other songs but no titles and I have actually three sets of lyrics I have written but haven’t yet fit them into my songs. I actually have a song written about the pain of loosing my first born son Graham. I wrote a ton when I was really hurting and I hope to use some of those writings to give glory to God even though I was in the depths of hell. God is good!
Pope: Will there be keyboards on the new album and how big of a part will they play to the overall sound of Crimson Thorn's new album.
Miles: IF any keyboards are recorded, they will be very faint not a major instrument like in the past. Andy or Luke will play the parts and they will be more filler parts than full on loud keyboard parts. We don’t want to be classified as black/winter metal, but keyboards can add nice background and fatten up tracks and that is how we will use them.
Pope: Your lyrics have always been scripture based, is this something you work at or do you get together and pray about what God is leading you to write about?
Miles: We really like keeping the lyrics simple and focused on the word. We pray together but the lyrics for songs just kind of happen, we never really work that hard on them. Sometime we have been given wonderful lyrics by family members or friends and we at times use them. Mostly though, Luke is our main lyrics and song writer. I write a few and Andy throws in one for good measure. This has always been our direction and I don’t see any change in the near future. The word of God says things so much better than we can, scripture will never go void in penetrating the hearts of people.
Pope: What advice do you have for newcomers to the faith wanting to start up a band?
Miles: Focus more on your relationship with the Lord than trying to do a band. Connect with other believers and get connected with a good bible teaching church.
Once you are solid in your faith, then move onto other avenues of telling others about your faith (like in a band or a ministry of some sort), you will have experience on your side. Once you’re a bit more mature, you will have a better grounding/foundation to work from.
Pope: Here's your chance to say anything you feel you are being led to say to the fans of Crimson Thorn, any closing comments?
Miles: Very simply and with all sincerity, we just want to thank anyone and everyone who has ever prayed for us or supported our ministry in any way, you are a blessing to us! We are very blessed to have such a great set of friends and really family members that love us. We will all be together one day and it is very important to remember, we will be FOREVER in eternity with the Lord. Choose everyday to make Godly choices that will please the Lord. Find favor in God’s eye’s and keep your hearts pure for Him. He is coming soon and we anxiously await his triumphant return to take us home.
The End.
Todd Pope
Pope: Your fans seem to be getting pretty itchy for a new album, can give you us an idea as to when a new CD may be made available?
Miles: This is hard to say because we are on no time limits and we want the next CD to be outstanding, better than anything we have done and with our new drummer it will be brutal yet melodic at times. We are recording, producing, and mastering all that stuff on our own again. It is a very enjoyable and fulfilling process, but we will spend tons of hours on it making it the best we can, so again like I said there is no time frame as we speak.
Pope: I know you have been playing a couple of new songs live, can you tell us a little bit about them and if they'll appear on the new disc?
Miles: Yes we have been playing two new songs and they are very different. One of them is very melodic and the other has a kind of old school sound yet current metal sound, it is hard to describe. I don’t want to give away too much because both of them will be on the new CD, so you will have to wait to hear it unless you see us live. What has happened with our writing more now than in the past is that we write a song and then totally dissect it and modify it sometimes three, four, or five times before we say , “this song is done.” Kind of like an evolving process. So we may play a new tune live a certain way and then add a part or delete a part until we think it sounds complete. But we are writing and doing a ton of pre-recording currently.
Pope: Purification was a big step for you guys, you took on engineering, mixing, mastering and pressing it yourself. Will the next album fall in line with a self financed release or will you be shopping it to labels?
Miles: Yes most definitely we will be doing the whole project ourselves again. Unless some nice label wanted to spend a bunch of money on us we would probably take them up on a chance to record in a huge studio and really make a nice sounding album, but that is dreaming and reality is that we will most likely be an independent recording band our whole lives. When we record ourselves, it is really nice to know exactly all the loose ends are being controlled by us. There is no pressure to get a song in a few takes or a part perfect that day. Not to sound individualistic and or selfish, but like the old saying goes…” If you want things done right you do them yourself” and that is the approach we are taking again.
Pope: I know over the years Crimson Thorn has added elements of Black, Doom, Grind and Death to their albums, will these same styles of music be present (or will you be adding new elements into the band) and will all of you be sharing vocal duties like on the previous releases?
Miles: We will be adding all sorts of musical elements to our music, but overall we want it to be brutal yet memorable. We just want to write good songs that people like and that glorifies our master case in point. I think this time around Luke will be doing the bulk of the vocals but Andy and I will also help with certain parts. It is always fun to see how a song evolves as you add the parts and who knows what will happen; it is a fun experimental process.
Pope: You have a new drummer in the band and I must say, the kid can play (I say kid due to his age, not as an insult to him), what is his name, how long has he been part of the band and how has working with him in Crimson Thorn been?
Miles: Steve Reishus is our new drummer and he has been a total blessing to us all. He is very easy to work with and he is very motivated and dedicated in creating hard hitting music. He has been blessed with some incredible speed and creativity; we thank God for him greatly! It is funny; when we all started in 1991 he was just a little kid, but the short one year and a half he has been with us, it feels like he has been with us forever. We plan on pushing him to hopefully drum like no other, and with Gods direction and help we will do that.
Pope: What topics will you be covering lyrically on the new album and would you be willing to share your take on what they mean to you?
Miles: So far we have a song titled “Not My Home” which deals with this earth not being our permanent home but our citizenship in heaven and we should be concerned with eternal things not the temporal here on earth. “Minnesota Winter” is a song about Luke’s love for cold weather and thanking God for the beauty that is found in the winter months. Many take for granted the beauty of the winter season and loathe it instead of praising God for it. Another song is “Out from the Shadow” and it is about the clouds of darkness in our lives and how they tend to chain us down into depression, thus we do not experience God as fully as He intends for us. Then in the darkness we find the hope that frees us. We have other songs but no titles and I have actually three sets of lyrics I have written but haven’t yet fit them into my songs. I actually have a song written about the pain of loosing my first born son Graham. I wrote a ton when I was really hurting and I hope to use some of those writings to give glory to God even though I was in the depths of hell. God is good!
Pope: Will there be keyboards on the new album and how big of a part will they play to the overall sound of Crimson Thorn's new album.
Miles: IF any keyboards are recorded, they will be very faint not a major instrument like in the past. Andy or Luke will play the parts and they will be more filler parts than full on loud keyboard parts. We don’t want to be classified as black/winter metal, but keyboards can add nice background and fatten up tracks and that is how we will use them.
Pope: Your lyrics have always been scripture based, is this something you work at or do you get together and pray about what God is leading you to write about?
Miles: We really like keeping the lyrics simple and focused on the word. We pray together but the lyrics for songs just kind of happen, we never really work that hard on them. Sometime we have been given wonderful lyrics by family members or friends and we at times use them. Mostly though, Luke is our main lyrics and song writer. I write a few and Andy throws in one for good measure. This has always been our direction and I don’t see any change in the near future. The word of God says things so much better than we can, scripture will never go void in penetrating the hearts of people.
Pope: What advice do you have for newcomers to the faith wanting to start up a band?
Miles: Focus more on your relationship with the Lord than trying to do a band. Connect with other believers and get connected with a good bible teaching church.
Once you are solid in your faith, then move onto other avenues of telling others about your faith (like in a band or a ministry of some sort), you will have experience on your side. Once you’re a bit more mature, you will have a better grounding/foundation to work from.
Pope: Here's your chance to say anything you feel you are being led to say to the fans of Crimson Thorn, any closing comments?
Miles: Very simply and with all sincerity, we just want to thank anyone and everyone who has ever prayed for us or supported our ministry in any way, you are a blessing to us! We are very blessed to have such a great set of friends and really family members that love us. We will all be together one day and it is very important to remember, we will be FOREVER in eternity with the Lord. Choose everyday to make Godly choices that will please the Lord. Find favor in God’s eye’s and keep your hearts pure for Him. He is coming soon and we anxiously await his triumphant return to take us home.
The End.