We’re in the calm before The Storm Interview to Louis DelWray by Diego Centurión. Translation: Marcelo Simonetti.
When Nosferatu was defining its road and before releasing their first album, Louis DelWray comes in as a singer. Since that first step for the band, singers keep on changing. He left the band in 1993 and then came back in 2000 for the live album “Reflections through a Darker Glass”, a live compilation of the 1991-1999 period. His definitive comeback is in 2005 when they release “Somebody put something in my drink” as a single in June. And after some compilations they release “Wonderland” in 2011. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Louis, who has said to us they are recording a new album, and we will talk about it. Hello Louis, before we start with the The 13th 2
interview I want to thank you for letting us have this contact with you. We know that the band is inmerse in the process of a new album and we to thank you for taking the time to respond. What are your memories of those “Vampire’s Cry” and “Rise” early years? Mostly hours on the road sitting in the back of our hearse travelling up and down England. I was somewhat insular in those days, and hid myself away from a lot of the people I might otherwise have met. Maybe it’s hindsight, but I remember a particular atmosphere to a lot of those times, like a dream, as the past so often seems.
What can you tell me about those year’s scene, with all of those new gothic bands, called as the “second wave”? I didn’t go to many small gigs then, so most of the bands I saw were ones we were playing with. When I first joined, Vlad and Damien took me to see Rosetta Stone, and they were like ‘this is the competition’, I thought they were great, actually. I’ve got a cassette of a band called The Witching Hour in my kitchen that I put on the just the other day. I like the simplicity that and other than them I used to like Ancestry, although they were always bitchy about us. There was a lot of that! I always think it’s important not to listen to too many other bands from the same ‘scene’ if you’re in a band, otherwise
everyone starts being influenced by each other, which is stifling. What did you do when you left the band? I played in a couple of other bands, Fashionable Living Death, and Ditzy Micro. Fashionable Living Death were an amazing punk band, and certainly the most fun band to be in I can imagine. How did you come back to the band? Damien started phoning me up, trying to twist my arm with promises of fame and fortune. I guess that did the trick. “Somebody Put Something In My Drink” was your first recording after several years
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of absence. What changes did you notice in Nosferatu after so many years? No one could remember how to write a decent song haha, but we soon solved that one. Damien still has the same pink guitar cables and all the equipment he did from years before, so that was pretty familiar! The most exciting thing was that we were able to play outside of England – something I’d not had the chance to do the first time around. I am always amazed at our fans from abroad. It makes me very happy to be able to write songs and connect with people from all over the world. Almost ten years have past of that single, with a little recording activity, and then, in 2011, Wonderland. Why haven’t you released new material for so many years? There’s no rush. I think people would get pretty bored of us if we brought out a new record every 6 months. I like to make sure every album is better than the last one, otherwise what’s the point?
We’ve found an amazing studio in Paris to work in. Rather than record the songs as we write them as we did with Wonderland, this time we’re writing everything first and rehearsing it so we can basically record the album live. When we get in the studio the whole thing shouldn’t take us any longer than 14 days to make, start to finish, so I guess we’re in the calm before the storm at the moment. When do you think it will be released? If everything goes to plan, it’ll be out before the end of the year.
How do you see the Gothic scene today? I’m not sure anyone really knows what the gothic scene really is. There are a lot of people who think they do, but I’ve always thought it was important for bands to be fresh and original and to be daring and dig deeper, otherwise it’s like a musical and creative ghetto. Someone once said to me ‘gothic music is a font’, which inspired the first verse of ‘Horror Holiday’. It’s a bit of a Wonderland is for me, Nosferatu’s greatest harsh statement, but sometimes I wonder album. Was it for you, a rebirth within if they have a point. the band? The band sounds mature and exquisite in it. How important are social networks for We’re very proud of it. I’d learnt a lot of Nosferatu? things – technically and creatively since They’ve helped us connect with many fans we made Rise, so Wonderland was the who might never have heard of Nosferatu culmination of those years. It took a while and I suppose they’re invaluable these after re-joining for it feel like Nosferatu days. I’d still much rather write and receive again, and get a stable line-up together. letters though. I think it’s hard for artists It also took us a while to figure out what to retain an air of mystery when people we actually sounded like after years apart, expect to see pictures of what you have for and for me to decide on my haircut! dinner. Whenever I post what I’m really thinking, people think I’m insane! Now, there’s a new album in process. In which state are you in? The 13th 4
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Has it occurred to you to make a Latin America’s tour with the band? It certainly has! We would love to play, and I know we have many fans in the south, so I expect we’ll get over to you before too long. What are your plans for 2015? We’ve got some European dates lined up for the middle of the year, which I’m really looking forward to. Other than that I’m secreting myself away writing songs and perfecting a recipe for the perfect cake! Thank you Louis for your time. My pleasure!
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