Raven and I met in 1994 at a club in Columbus, Ohio. We were both in "Average" death metal bands in the area, and his band hooked my old band up with our first show. After that we just had a lot of the same interests in music. He introduced me to black metal. Ever since then we've been great friends, and recently we both decided to combine our separate black metal projects as one. And here we are
2. How would you describe your music?
Atmospheric, with a touch of school influences like: Celtic Frost, Bathory etc... I think it's a different sound, pretty original
3. What are your biggest influences?
My biggest musical influences are Satyricon, Isvind, Arkanum, Darkthrone, and Gorgoth. (You should throw Borknagar in there as well.) Those bands are so unique in many different ways, I think that's what gives us an original sound
4. Who if any do you consider the bands idols?
As far as who our idols are, we dont consider other musicians as idols, there are just some that we respect musically and intellectually as people. To me, it is as important to be true outside of the interviews, shows and the people around the shows. What I'm saying is if are a black metal fan or musician, what you do outside of the public eyes is as important as the music you write or listen to expect people to live by what they say, and if they dont, they dont get my respect
5. What made you want to be in the band? And if you weren’t in the band what would you be doing now?
Well, it's kind of interesting. Like I said earlier we were both doing separate solo projects, and one day we heard each others ideas and riffs, that we said fuck it, let's join forces. The only other problem was that he lives in Cleveland and I live outside of Columbus. To make a long story short we were willing to work through that. I drive up as often as possible for now and stay weekends, I plan on moving there in the near future. If I wasnt in the band now I'd be probably doing my solo project still. Other than playing music, I'd be working or lifting weights
6. What are some of your favorite bands that are really popular today?
Some of my favorite bands that are sound today are Satyricon, Immortal- have you heard the new one titled "Blizzard Beasts"? It's so fast and intense! I also really enjoy Emperor and Enslaved. There are just so many great bands from Europe and Scandinavia, I cant tell you all of them!
7. How many demos/albums do you have? Tell me about them!!
As for our demo, we are recording our first demo as we speak. We still havent decided on a title as of yet, but there will be full layout with pictures and 4 songs. The song titles are "Call of the Black Forest", "Krzeg Hammer, "And Amidst the fury of Battle". The fourth track is still untitled. We have a couple cool ideas so I dont want to say a title and have it change later. The tape will be as cheap as possible with the best inlay and packaging possible. It should be out no later than the end of June. Keep an eye out or write to me for a copy
8. What does the future hold for the band?
The future of this band is very positive. We are currently only a two piece. Raven on lead Vocals/guitar/keyboards/bass/drum programming and myself, Darkstorm on Guitar/backing vocals, clean vocals/bass. If we end up with a full line-up, that's great, but if not we know we can still succeed
9. If you could play with any band who would it be and why?
It would probably be Satyricon. I have a lot of respect for Satyricon, they write some of the best music I've ever heard
10. Who writes the majority of the music?
The majority of the music on the tape will be mostly credit of Raven. He had 3 songs written before we joined. I wrote the still untitled one. But in the new material it's about 50- 50
11. Who has been the favorite band you’ve played with and why?
Unfortunately, I have never played a show with a black metal band, as yet, but a host of death metal bands come to mind as being pretty cool. I played with Incantation, they were pretty cool, just a lot of member changes. Demonic Christ, played a show with us here in Columbus when Deicide came to town. But I have to admit, playing with Suffocation was the best. They arent my favorite band and our music is so different, but they were by far the best band to do a show with. They are very good guys
12. Where did you get the band name from?
The named name "Black Forest" was Raven's creation. You see, we both have ties to Germanic Ancestry, (I have more Irish) and the Black Forest is a real forest in Germany, hence the name "Black Forest"
13. Describe what the band is like live?
It's not fair to say what we are like live because there are only two of us and we havent played a live show with Black Forest. But we do wear the paint and bracers and the whole armor thing as you may see in the demo layout
14. If you are gonna do any kind of video what would be in it?
If we were to do a video, I guess it would be more like an epic movie or sega. Very medieval, very dark, somewhere in a vast and beautiful forest
15. Are there any touring plans made; if so tell me about them?
There are no touring plans as of now, it's kind of difficult to tour as a two man band. But if we get a full line-up (drummer, bassist, keyboardist) we would love to travel to do some live dates, hopefully travel Europe and Scandinavia
16. Where do you think the band will be 20 years from now?
Thats a good question, I may be dead, If So in Wallhalla. If I'm alive I'll still be playing black metal no matter what
*I have not heard from Darkstorm in awhile*