A Forest of Stars. Interview with The Gentleman.

Interview by Jay Parker.

Hi this Jay… Today I’ve been fortunate to talk to The Gentleman (and he most certainly is) from the UK leviathan that is A FOREST OF STARS… Hi Mr. Gentleman... thanks for taking the time to talk to me...

1) When, where and why was A Forest Of Stars formed? Who is in the current line-up?

The Gentleman: Goodness me, now that is a memory-rattling question! It all seems so distant now… To sum up as quickly as possible: Curse and myself had the ambition to create a Black Metal band a long, long time ago. I mean, a really long time ago, like pre-internet (if you can believe such a time existed - I know I can’t). Then various things got in the way for years, but the idea never left us, and sometime later (about, ooooh, 2007, I think?) we rekindled the idea, recruited a couple of our friends (we realised we might need some talent) and that was it. After the initial delay, it came together remarkably quickly: From formation to first album being released was about half a year. Bonkers. As for “why?”, well, that’s one of those eternal questions, I suppose. The best explanation I could give is the drive to create. That doesn’t explain anything, but that’s best I can do. There’s just this drive inside of you that requires sating and being in a band, creating and performing music is the only thing that will do, I suppose. It’s either that or, you know, succumb to reality, and, well, no thank you, we’re not that stupid.

Current line-up is (deep breath):

Curse - mouth-piece, philosophising force for [in]sanity and voice stuff

John “The Resurrectionist” Bishop - Body snatcher elite, slayer of danger-cider and hitting things in time

Titus Lungbutter - Rambler of the unfocused righteousness and bass

Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts - Memory wipes, loss, recovery, rewiring of basic electric principles, violin and voice stuff

William Wight-Barrow - Purveyor of grim determination, wry sardonic observation and wielder of six strings

TS Kettleburner - Left hand of dark arts, master of multi-dimensional pedal summation and wielder of six strings; sometimes four large ones too

The Gentleman - Arch Ludo champion and absolutely nothing else of note; also tinkling the ivories and hitting things out of time.

2) One thing I personally love about your music is that it transports the listener back in time, like a portal, or a vortex back to Victorian England...I close my eyes and I’m there in those shadowy, misty cobble-stoned streets of yonder days...What is the inspiration behind your sound? Why Victorian England?

The Gentleman: My stock and trade answer to this question is simply “That’s all my fault”. Which, while true, doesn’t exactly excuse or explain anything. I mean, for a start off, we *are* Victorian, so that sort of seeps in naturally, whether we want it to or not. You can’t deny your own being, I suppose. The thing about the Victorian era is the inescapable fact that for the majority of people living through it, life was relentlessly grim. I mean, really, really bad. Crippling poverty on a mass scale; massive social injustice; high mortality rates; a seemingly gleeful willingness to allow people to die in swathes in the name of progress; an almost psychotically myopic morality (the poor are criminals and deserve everything they get; id est, it’s their own fault) and wilful ignorance (not to mention hefty pushback) of such matters by those in charge or with influence. Now, of course, there was great progress made too, and a lot of great philanthropists and crusaders who worked tirelessly to change the above list, but the problems were so firmly entrenched, it took several lifetimes way beyond the era and two world wars (with a worldwide depression in between) to even begin make a dent in it. And to some extent, we are still grappling with those issues today. Heavy stuff indeed. All of which is to say, I don’t know why, but that era fascinates me - it’s like a strange, alien world made of scabs you want to keep picking at. I’m amazed that when I suggested it as a framework for the band, it was accepted; and, well, here we are, fourteen years later.

3) The guitars, pianos, violins and vocals are all very ghastly and haunting, like an old ghost from yesteryear telling us how he suffered in life and now in death... where does that come from? Who were your influences? When did you start playing your instruments?

The Gentleman: That’s a very good question. We’ve talked about this a lot as friends over the years - where does it all come from - internally - and how lucky are we that the muses bless us with their presence? For instance, there was a point where I used to sit at my piano and write a song. Then I used to write at the piano, but also ideas for songs would pop into my head unbidden. Gradually over the years, the slide on the scale has shifted so that now about 90% of the songs I write spring directly from my head almost fully formed. What is that about? And what happens if it should stop? I’ve spent far too much time pondering that, all the while being eternally grateful. The sound of our music is just what we hear when we write - we know what it should sound like to make it “right” and do it justice - that production is just “us”, I guess. We have tried other ways of interpreting it (just to push the boat out and not be complacent), but it always comes back to that, as it just seems to be what the music demands of us. And who would deny it that? In terms of influences, there are honestly so many, it would be tedious to list. For my own part: Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Swans, GSY!BE, Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende, In The Woods…, Kate Bush, Ulver, Burzum (duh!), Emperor (duh!), Mayhem (duh!) Peter Gabriel/Genesis, Steeleye Span, Sigh, The 3rd and the Mortal, MZ412 (and pretty much all of the CMI roster), Sigh, Neptune Towers, Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Drudkh and Type O Negative. But it’s really so much more than that - everything can be an influence, even if it’s not immediately obvious. In terms of playing stuff - I can only speak for myself, but I was a late starter. I only began playing drums when I was nine, and piano (I think) at around fourteen. Taught for the former and self-taught at the latter. And it shows! It’s not really something I think about, to be honest. It doesn’t really mean anything when so much time has passed - at this point it’s just something I do and have done for forever.

4) You released your last album, the awesomely epic slab of time-travelling tales of suffering and despair, Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes in 2018... tell us about your experiences recording the album... What is your own personal favourite album by AFOS? (mine is Shadowplays... btw)

The Gentleman: My memories of that album are a great big muddle, with a huge dash of panic. As I engineered the vast majority of it, I was so focused getting the sound right, and there was so much to do, that I didn’t spend much time taking a step back to look at it. Other people had a lot more fun, I imagine! There was the constant electrical issues we had up at the farm house we using. Endless, depressing re-recording of the damn guitars due to those issues. Then there was the home brewed cider that properly destroyed you in two glasses; that was a lot of fun. But really, all I can remember was the 3-4 months, 10-12 hour, 6-7 days a week run I did to get the hand-made special edition made and all the troubles we ran into doing that. I’ve never come as close to breaking as in that time; it was a mixture of repetitive tedium and soul-destroying terror. I’m just glad it got done and to the high standard we’d set. Never again! As to the other half of your question, my favourite album is probably The Corpse of Rebirth. We’ve come a long way since our debut, and have written better songs, improved in every single metric possible, but still that’s the one for me. Largely, I think, because it was unbelievably fun to make. There was no pressure, no expectation (no one knew we existed) and no desire to get anything out of it other than making an album for the sheer love of creativity. We barely knew what we were doing, the whole thing was an un-organised mess, but goodness me, it was fun. I’ve never forgotten that time, and it always makes me smile when I think back on it. We released it, shared it with our friends, and never expected anything else to happen. Oh, how wrong can you be?

5) What does the future hold for AFOS?

The Gentleman: We started writing the next album back in 2019. We were set to record it in 2020, but then, well, I’m sure you know what happened next. We’ve had limited success at working remotely, but now that things are (starting, hesitantly) to get back to normal, we’ve had a couple of meet ups to jam, and to get more songs put down and ready. We have a beast of an album to come, I can feel it in my bones, but there’s no rush - we’re just getting our heads down and working hard now. We’ve talked back and forth about a time frame, and we’ve not reached any conclusion, but realistically, I can see us recording in maybe early spring of next year - and I’ve no idea what that will translate into for a release date. Soon, I hope. But we’ll see. As for gigs - that’s a thornier problem. Club shows are difficult (with the best will in the world, lots of people crammed into an airless room seems like the least acceptable idea at the moment, even when vaccinated). We’ve had offers coming in (which is incredible), but we’re still taking it one day at a time, and watching the lay of the land. The album is a good excuse to concentrate on something we can manage better a n d still be creative and have something to give to people, I feel.

6) What bands do you listen to? Recommend some new bands for our readers... The Gentleman: I’m probably not the best person to ask about this; my listening tastes have gone off the deep end in recent years and other members of the band are far more tuned in to the tastes and trends than I am. I will offer up (probably very obvious stuff): Emma Ruth Rundle, Anna Von Hausswolf, Mrs Piss, Nicole Saboune, Oathbreaker; ooh and the new Dordeduh album (wow is that good!) as the stuff I’m listening to that will get me only partially ostracised.

UPDATE! Curse has very helpfully added that he’s currently listening to a steady diet of Autechre, Peste Noire and Pungent Stench.

7) Do you have a message for our readers?

The Gentleman: I don’t know! Err, thank you for reading our ramblings? Thank you for listening to our poky little band? Thank you for trying and no hard feelings (if you didn’t like what you heard)? I guess, on a more basic level, I do hope everyone is staying safe & well!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

The Gentleman: No problem, the pleasure was all ours! A FOREST OF STARS… Thank You