Cutlfinder are a Black/Thrash band from Farnborough, featuring two members of Witchsorrow and mainman Rob Himself. Their first demo tape was released a few months back and features 15-minutes of Nifelheim-worshipping metal anthems, recorded with a four-track after only a few rehearsals. Impressed by the demo, I decided to have a wee chat with Rob himself:
1. Tell us about the formation of Cultfinder. Is the project mainly your brainchild?
The idea for the band came about in early 2010 – I’d been away from the metal scene after mine and Necroskull’s grind trio Mfkzt split in 2006, touring with some non-metal acoustic solo stuff. Basically I’d got bored of playing gigs on my own and wanted to return to my metal roots, black-metal being my favourite. After listening to way too much Nifelheim (although there is no such thing!), I sat down and wrote a handful of songs and Cultfinder was born.
2. How did the Witchsorrow lads get involved? Do you have a metal background?
I’ve known the Witchsorrow guys for years and used to play in various bands with both Necroskull and Wilbers and although I tried a different line-up, these guys were the natural choice, although Wilbers actually didn’t join Witchsorrow until around the time we recorded our demo! I think after seeing Witchsorrow surpass everything we achieved with Mfkzt (2003-2006), I’d maybe got a bit jealous!
3. You recently played your first live show, how did it go? Are more shows planned for the future?
The first live show was good fun, if nothing to write home about. It was just a local show in a youth club with various local bands, but we picked up a few new fans. I definitely want to play more shows with likeminded bands, and there are a few things in the pipeline that will hopefully come to fruition over the summer. Although I’m happy to take a back seat to Witchsorrow if they’re busy – it’s a pretty relaxed work ethic!
4. You admit to being influenced, over all others, by the Swedes Nifelheim. What other bands are you influenced by?
Haha, I think it’s the purity of Nifelheim embracing all shades of metal that I love and that you know they’re having a good time doing it, without all the pretentious Satanic bullshit that often comes with the territory! None of us are Satanists, but Satan runs through extreme metal, so I’m happy to voice that in Cultfinder. That said, I’m also heavily influenced by Watain, moreso for their sense of song structure and catchiness – although if you are going to play the occult card, they do it better than most. Apart from that, Darkthrone and the 80s old guard – Bathory, Venom etc – any fast and furious metal that remains both evil and beer-stained. Nothing too serious – although I do have a soft spot for Black Witchery!
5. The tape format has become somewhat rare in the past few years, with bands resorting to online downloads, etc. What’s your view on this and what made you pick this ancient glorious medium?
The tape just seemed the most obvious thing to do. I wanted to do a black-metal band and stick with what works, which is photocopied sleeves and black tapes. We recorded the whole thing on Necroskull’s 4-track at our rehearsal place and I thought putting it into a computer and onto a CD would ruin it. Getting them professionally dubbed was my only concession to technology, and that was born out of being bone idle!
6. The sound on the demo fits your music perfectly. Was it a deliberate decision to use a four-track or was it simply the only method available to you?
It was all about the 4-track from the start! Our friend Adam Pollard helped us out with the logistics as we’re fairly impatient with the technical side (at least Necroskull and I are, Wilbers has a degree in it!). My plan is to record everything we ever do on the same machine, just with more physical space to record as we had a lot of trouble mixing it as we were so loud and all our mics bled like crazy! We wouldn’t sound the same if we started doing loads of overdubs everywhere.
7. What’s next for Cultfinder? I understand you are writing new material? Will it be on the same lines as the demo?
That is my aim, yeah. I want to record one new song and re-do a demo track for a 7” later in the year once we’ve done a few more shows. The new stuff has a bit more of a blasting, bestial element, but I want to keep the black thrashing terror in there. I think things will be slow to happen for us, but I’m really proud of the demo and hope to build on that!
Thanks for the interview!
Check out Cultfinder’s:
Buy Demo (for a pound)
