Vallenfyre is visceral death metal from Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost), Hamish Glencross (My Dying Bride), Scoot (Doom) and Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates). Their music is every bit as dirty, savage and emotionally charged as you would imagine. With a German tour unfolding these days and a U.K. tour coming up soon, ZT spoke to band leader, singer and guitarist Gregor Mackintosh about his experience with Vallenfyre on stage.
ZT: You have already given a handful of live appearances but this is your first tour. What is it that you fear most?
Mackintosh: A couple of things really. One is losing my voice and the other is poor attendance. Being an eternal pessimist, I fully expect both.
ZT: Is it primarily the energy that motivates you for live appearances, or the effect they have on bands’ popularity?
Mackintosh: We are doing it to have fun more than anything. It’s easy to get cynical doing this and if you get too obsessed with it being a popularity contest then you are less likely to have fun. It’s nice to get a decent audience but our own enjoyment is more important.
ZT: How different is rehearsing in the studio from playing on stage? Which do you prefer? What should your fans expect from you on stage?
Mackintosh: Personally I love the studio because I live for the creative process. Stage for a band like Vallenfyre is pretty chaotic and we just go with the flow. We have a good mixture of material so we can do visceral crust and atmospheric doom in one set. It’s also fucking noisy.
ZT: Does it come naturally, playing the guitar and singing?
Mackintosh: In Vallenfyre I only handle vocals live. It is totally different from being a guitarist. I think I underestimated the pressures of being a vocalist live. I thought they were all just whinging cunts. Now I understand why.
Vallenfyre 2014 U.K. tour dates:
15 October 2014: Bristol, Exchange
16 October 2014: Southampton, Talking Heads
20 October 2014: Wolverhampton, Slade Rooms
21 October 2014: London, The Dome
