Goatess interview (Christian Lindersson)

"If I'm not involved with music in one form or another, I'd slowly suffocate"

19/06/2013 @ 12:20
The basement of a building which used to host mentally disturbed people, has now turned into a rehearsal studio and a House for never ending philosophical discussions for the members of Goatess. The new band of Christian Lindersson (Terra Firma, Count Raven, Saint Vitus, Lord Vicar), comes to surface from time to time in order to hear their excellent debut album and this is one of those moments:

GoatessGood evening sir. It´s been a while since our last talk, so please inform us what´s the story of Weekend Beast´s (Now GOATESS) birth back in 2009?
Hello! Sure thing. It started with me and my old friend guitarist Niklas, and another friend, sitting in my kitchen party-jamming on weekends. We had a lot of fun doing this and the idea of forming a band came up. While we were searching for members to complete the lineup this older friend moved, which left the band me, Niklas, Kenta and Bjaerven on bass. We recorded a demo, concisting 2 tracks."The Hammer and the Cross" and "King One". Then Bjaerven left for further musical adventures of his own just before we decided to change name to GOATESS. As luck had it, we found Findus to join us on bass, and the current lineup IS the band. And yeah, I can´t stress this enough really..GOATESS is not a 'project' of my own or anything, GOATESS is a BAND.

Goatess - GoatessFrom the slow, traditional doom sound of Lord Vicar to the groovy and dusty one of Goatess. Did you need some kind of change?
Not at all, nothing to do with that. It´s just a result of what it all sounds like when the four of us jam at rehearsals, based around Niklas´ riffs usually. The guy is a golden riffing machine. Always got new stuff in store!  

Press release compares your sound to Sleep and Kyuss and I also believe there is a slight touch of Terra Firma. Would you agree on that?
I guess so, yeah. Sleep and Kyuss were some of the references we gave them as influences...how much of it shining through I don´t know. And the Terra Firma in there, yeah, I can relate to that in a way. Emphasis on stoner doom as opposed to the other way around. Basically we just play music we want to listen to ourselves.

GoatessI really enjoying hearing your lyrics. Why is life a motherless child, Mr. Lindersson?
Thank you. And why?...f*ck if I know, haha! I mean it´s in it´s own nature to find ways to continue existing and never gives up, I guess. It´s very much metaphoric.

You sing "Mother, Brother, Sister, Father". Are Mother & Father the Alpha and the Omega of a family?
I´d say they are the Alpha. The Omega would be the last one from then on not breeding. The very last word, 'Son', I am speaking to my son though, but that´s just on a personal note. Subliminal family messages! Hahaha! Well, why not? He rarely listens to me anyway!

Goatess"All right now!" used to be the trademark line for the doom scene. Is yours "All together now!" an alternative suggestion or just a call to the other members of the band?
Close! It´s part of the lyrics, but I reckon it also fills that purpose you suggested first when we play it live. Which would include band members as well, yes.

If someone asks me which is the thing that defines Goatess, I would say the groovy rhythm, the riffs that tends to be solos and the melodic change of tempo (03:20 from "Full Moon At Noon" for example). What would be yours?
Haven´t given this much thought previously...but I think you are quite accurate there.

GoatessAnd my favorite moment is the psychedelic/eastern change on the "Tentacles of Zen". So, which one of you is the trippy one and who is fan of "I, Claudius"?
I think I´m the one tripping most of us, and this usually on pavement ledges when drunk! Haha! We´re all kinda psychedelic in a way but Niklas is the main driving source musically, and The "I, Claudius" idea we used in that song also came from him. He´s really into history, and I guess the era of the Roman empire is no exception. The lyrics of the song is about when making love to someone with, you know, feelings and all that kinda sh*t involved...haha! The narration from "I, Claudius" on the other hand, suggests a fucking-contest. Two different aspects of intercourse that worked together well in the end, I´d say. It´s all rock and roll.

GoatessThis is a killer debut and I can´t imagine what will happen when this satanic child from the cover grows up. Should we be afraid, embrace it when the time comes or just call it Pan?
Thanks man, and I agree. We are content and happy about how it all came out in the end. Both the music and the layout. The idea of it is that the child has grown up already, as can be seen on the backside of the cover, presenting the songs..so yeah, EMBRACE! Here and now!

Do you mind telling us what the four of you might actually do in a basement of what used to be a Mental Asylum?
Picking up on old house purposes by adding fuel to the fire! All kinds of things happen in there. Music being written, beer and wine consumed, lengthy therapeutic and or philosophical discussions, mad senseless screaming, some gear maintenance and more senseless screaming. Oh, it´s insane alright. All in all a very relaxing and cozy atmosphere.

GoatessI have the feeling that traditional doom metal as we know it is slowly dying. Bands such as Cathedral & Candlemass will no longer exist and others such as Lord Vicar, Procession and Pallbearer keep it still alive. Do you think they will be able to save the scene from extinction?
Personally, I don´t really follow any "scenes" per say. But some bands calling it quits while others just starting out is just the nature of things in any musical category. I know you narrowed it down more than quite a bit now, I know of many cool bands holding the torch high. Like Serpent Venom, Sigiriya, Curse the Son, sEAMOUNt and of course Orchid to name a few. On the whole, defining and dividing the term "Doom Metal" into small slices of the same cake is puzzling, isn´t it? I do believe it´s all up to the listener of which moniker bands fall under, as they too have their own influences. Even in this very question, as Candlemass claimed the "Epic" tag and still figure in conversation about bands that are looked upon as "traditional", you know? I never cared much for this kind of musical sub-dissection to be honest, as it most often takes focus off the actual music and leaves people getting into discussions and even meaningless arguments about what is what. Good music is good music in my ears, only louder! But I think this form of metal on a whole is going to be around for many years still. Be it through the bands you mentioned or through some new random band called Brrööömph. Time will tell.

Christian Lindersson (Goatess)Can you handle being a member of two active bands at the same time? Rehearsals, recordings and live shows leaves you not so much of time. You must really love what you're doing, right?
Aside from taking care of my son, time for what? If I´m not involved with music in one form or another, I´d slowly suffocate. So yes, I do love it. And these two things are what I´m proud of having accomplished in my life so far and have no plans whatsoever of giving up either. As for being a member of both Lord Vicar and Goatess there´s been no major dates colliding so far. It tends to get solved quite easily as Lord Vicar don´t play more than a couple of festivals, a couple of gigs and record an album each year. Since we live in different countries we don´t get to rehearse much either, but we try catch up some when we do meet. That, and we work on new songs by file-correspondence. But who knows, it might get tougher in future to combine this when The Goatess album is released. But if there´s a will there´s a way. Meanwhile I hope people don´t get tired of Chritus overexposure! Hah!

It was great talking to you again, dear sir. I wish all the best for each one of you and keep delivering excellent music.
Thank you, backatcha and pleasure is all mine.

Yiorgos Zarkadoulas
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