We well know that the next concert on our agenda -if the pandemic allows it- is Candelabrum Metal Fest that will take place in Querétaro on September 19. Taking advantage of the occasion, we talked with Robert Garven, drummer of the band Cirith Ungol, Band of heavy / doom metal formed in 1972 in California.
Robert He told us a bit about the return of the band, the new album, the pandemic and his visit to our country.
First of all, the name of the band is inspired by The Lord of the Rings, Tell me more about that story
When I was younger, Greg and I (another member of the band) were in the seventh grade and we had a literature class, it was an advanced class because we could read better than many children in California, and sometimes it is said that they don't read much, So we were in class and they assigned us the Lord of the Rings book, at that time not many people knew about that book. I'm sure in England yes, but not then back then. So we started reading it and we were immediately struck by using that name.
Tell me the details of your new album 'Forever Black'
We launched it on April 24, we have been bankrupt for many years, and we met in 2015, our first show we played in 2016, and many people wanted us back together, so our manager told us that if we returned we would already I would have festivals ready. So those of us who returned to the band were playing in big shows and important festivals. For example we play festivals in Germany, 'Rock The Night' in Spain, and many others.
Now having this show on the doorstep of Mexico is super exciting. So in 29 years we had not had a new album, that's why we got on with it. Also, our song 'Witch's Game' It will be part of an animated movie, I am sure you will love it when it comes out, there will be 15 different artists and 15 metal bands, the story is about a motorcyclist trying to find a monster who killed his wife, so we made this song again and as they liked they told us why don't they make the entire album? sure there was a market of people interested in hearing a new album from us and here we are
I loved 'Witch's Game' it's a very good song!
Oops don't wait! You are going to love the movie, I don't know if you already saw a teaser on Instagram, but this movie has been done for two years. There is not much money involved in this film but I am sure you will love it.
When will the movie be released?
It seems that the roll of the pandemic will come out the following year, the producers if they want to get it out soon.
Since we are talking about the songs, I also really liked 'Brutish Manchild', tell me about the inspiration for the lyrics.
That's one of our old songs, and a lot of people want to listen to our old material, and I mean, it's fun because we have good material, but it's been a long time ago. We published this song in a big magazine here at the time, and we said oh why don't we release it again. The lyrics were from when we were very young, you know? It is difficult to describe something very profound about the lyrics.
We are experiencing this terrible pandemic. How do you feel it affected your plans with the band?
Oh no, it was horrible. We finished recording the album and the plan was that on release day we would have shows and headline some shows, and everything was obviously canceled, it was a hit for us. But you know what, it is not so serious, because right now many people are living horrible things in the world with the disease, including death, so I cannot be sad, this happened to all the gangs, and it is not the worst thing that could have happened to us . This has made us stronger and this has made me more grateful for my life and health more than anything.
What do you think will happen to the music industry when the running of the bulls is over?
A lot of people will be worried and scared, right now you walk on some street and everyone turns to see you ugly, like an alien movie or something (laughs), I don't blame them, we are all with hysteria, but I think that at some point the world will return to normal, it always does. Unfortunately we have lost many friends and members of our families, as many people have, that is terrible. But soon we can play again. At least our album came out and more people will have a chance to listen to it so they want to see us later.
And how do you feel about being part of the first edition of Candelabrum Metal Fest?
We are super excited, notice that our first concert outside the United States was in Mexico City in 1982, there was a man in Mexico City who had a record store, he was called 'Flashman 2000', I don't think he is there anymore ( laughs), he had contact with our company in Los Angeles and he wanted to bring us to Mexico, so we had interviews with a lot of people from the industry and magazines, and we had a dinner / show, I don't know if many people remember that, but we played there and it was an incredible experience. When we returned home we said 'hey, our band will be famous, we already played outside our country'. So it has a very important meaning for the band to return to Mexico. I also grew up in San Antonio, Texas, I spent a lot of time in Matamoros and my parents have very good friends in Monterrey, I always accompanied my parents, they always had connections with Mexico, and it seems incredible to me because I love Mexicans and their culture.
