PARADISE LOST

face to face  by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo ___    

20.05.2005  Vevey  

organized by Mr. Greg Mackintosh and dalia di giacomo

www.paradiselost.co.uk     www.paradiselost.de  

I REMEMBER THE TIME WHEN WE PLAYED IN REVERSE

Speaking  about  the tour and the new stuff live, the supporting bands, melodic gothic metal, sold out, Lost Paradise, violin  and guitar, video Forever After and playing backwards, prozac elements and cover art, to belong, lyrics, Sun Fading, Jeff Singer and....the  Game of the Clones!

Dalia - How are you doing , after what happened to you this February?

Greg - I still need more operations to get better. I'm a lot better than i was, but i still have to go to hospital after the tour. I have to stay way of banded on stage and they come open me again when i'm back, it's ok.

...oh no! :(  eh...if you think that Paradise Lost has past through many ups and downs....

Yeah, yeah, its just another one in the line......

...but well, ...you are unbreakable...

get true, i hope so...

So, best wishes!!!!

Thank you

I would like to know your impressions about the tour, about the new stuff, how is its impact on the crowd.

We are playing quite a lot of the stuff from the new record, 9 songs i think and they are all working. We even open with Don't Belong and some people think it is too slow to open with, but it is working very well, and i think most of the people who's coming to the show know the new album quite well. so, we are pleased of that , it is going all right. There is a lot of dynamics in the new album so they work well live, so we are pleased of that.

And what do you think about the supporting bands?

I mean, Ophaned Land i heard before because they did a cover of Mercy on the tribute album, which we really liked. Well , i mean, they are not the kind of thing i would listen to at home, but i think they are a very interesting band with it's Eastern influences with metal, and Society One are the nicest guys i think i've met in a long time, very nice guys to get on, but again, not the kind of music i would listen at home. They are very friendly on tour, and i think that is more important to be friends, than being a fan of the music.

By the way metal, could we tell that the new album Paradise Lost is not longer gothic rock but mainly more melodic gothic metal. Is there a little bit a kind of return of the Jedi?

Yeah, i would say it is a more metal album, yeah i would say it is a metal album, because before we start writing we start to reminisce and start to listen to the older stuff that we are used to listen to when we were 16 - 17, right. Early Black Sabbath, Candlemass its first album, Hell Hammer,...that kind of goth get mixed in, ... yeah it is more a metal album.

I think there is much of Icon soundscape inside...

Maybe, maybe, because that is one of the turning points album of our career i think, and it is Icon, One Second and the new album, are my three preferred albums we did, so... you know, one mentioned Draconian Times to me, but i prefer Icon, because Icon is the first part and Draconian Times is a kind of polished version of Icon, but Icon was the originator, so, i prefer Icon,.. i'm flattered that the people say that sounds Icon on it.

Unfortunately there are few people as well who say, that Paradise lost is an other sold out album.

The new album is a sold out one?

It is from a certain open letter ....

... we are not gained to be sad since we started, we did two demos and then we came out with our first album, we sold out because we did a record and the scene didn't allow people to do records, and than we did Gothic and people say, "oh there is a female work on the record", that's not metal, we've sold out. So every record we've done someone said we sold out, you can't please every one, and we've learned that long time ago.

About your career... if you compare "Paradise Lost" with "Lost Paradise", your first album, are they really so different?

You can tell, it is still the same band, well apart from the drummer, you can say it is still the same four people the played on this record, i don't think that the style they playing has changed that much, i don't think that the feeling of the songs is changed that much, i just think that they grew up. It is a very teenage album the first one, because it was teenagers doing it, and the new album you can tell it's not teenagers doing it.

Do you think that many songs on the new album are very orchestral violin oriented?

yes, somehow..

Are you sure you are a born guitarist and not a violinist?

maybe, maybe, because i respect classical musicians as much as rock musicians and i like the arrangements of classical music: they are better than a lot of metal stuff, so.

You have a "new" guitar on stage.

Yes, i had this guitar for a long time at home and i used to write music with it, like One Second, most of One Second was written with this guitar. It was a bit better than the old, and so i made it work again and at the moment i'm still working on making the Gibsons working well again but at the moment i'm using a Fender on stage.

In the video clip Forever After, there is  a somehow a story which is presented  going backwards. Has that something to do with the music of Paradise Lost, because i have tried to listen backwards some of your songs..

...ah, ok...

....and it is quite enjoyable, because you can hear practically other songs.

That wasn't the intention with the video, but i remember doing that when we made the "Shades of God" album, there is a track called Embraced on it, and i remember the time we played in reverse when we recorded the album and we thought we could make another good song out of it just playing it backwards. We did do that, but we didn't do it for a long time, but i know what you mean, but it wasn't intentional now.

If "Paradise Lost X" would be a drug, which would be its effect?

Probably Prozac, because it numbs the pain, you know, it helps to get through, and i should know it, because i have taken it through years.

I think that the music of Paradise Lost helps a lot.... And if Paradise Lost X would be an element what would it be, water or air?

I would say air, because i cant swim. I tried many times, but ....

What do you think about the cover art?

I think it is great, it is my favorite, it is my fave ever. I used to like the Seals the Sense EP best, but i really like the new album artwork really well, because Seth really understands where the band is coming from. he is an old fan of the band and we got very well with him and we talked a lot about the new cover art and what it should look like and i think it represents the music in the album very well. If could have chosen it i couldn't have chosen it better. It is as good as it could be for this album i think.

It is something new if compared  with the previous cover-arts...

It is quite horrible, but is beautiful as well, we liked the idea.

The new album opens with Don't Belong, so...to whom or what does Greg Macintosh belong?

That's a good question. I think if i knew that, i would have a polling doing this, i don't know. I think i don't belong to a lot of things, i mean, polling to a lot of people they listen to our music, they don't understand what you belong to, so you constantly be searching through life what you do belong to and i think that anyone finds out. It is one of the life's unanswered question, you never know what is around the corner, you never know what way paths lead, so i think it is an unanswerable question, because if anyone thinks deeply about life itself he'd go insane, because nobody belongs to anything.

Agonising together, does it mean sympathising together?

Yeah, yeah, it's the same thing, i believe it's the flip side.

I dont know why, but i have the impression that you give a lot of contribution to the lyrics, or am i totally wrong?

No, we talk about them, we talk about them a lot , if we like them or if we don't like them, but no, Nick handles it and he is very good, i mean i can tell what he is talking about. Most people who read the lyrics cant, but i know exactly what all the songs mean, because i just can see which, ... i mean which period in our lives what he is talking about, what relationship he is talking about, what part of life is that, and that is one of the things what he excels in, but we just say if we like it or if we don't like it. It is similar way around with the music: Steve and Aaron don't like it, but i do, we don't do it.

Dream....dream is another word present in  this new album, does Greg believe in dreams?

Yeah, because i went through a period about two years ago, were i was on heavy medication and you cant tell what is dream and what is real and what is not real and i still think where i meet people and i think i have meet them before but i haven't and vice verse, so. Yeah, i think dreams are pretty significant.

How did you get the inspiration for Sun Fading and is it played live?

No, i'd  like to play it live, but there is the orchestral thing, but, yeah, i like to play it live one day, maybe on festivals in summer or something.

and about the inspiration, how was this song born?

Well, i started off with the tympani drums, i started off writing some rhythm with the tympani drums and than i had string line with it (is singing a short melody) like that and i just build up from that and it go bigger and bigger to say to drop it out and the verses. It gradually came in about 2-3 months, i did bits and bits.

Jeff Singer... will he be definitely part of the line up of the band?

He did a great job on the album i have to say, i think he spread new life in a way, because it is a similar thing between Draconian Times and One Second, you know, we needed some kind of new life to the band and i think he has brought kind of new life to the new record, it is a different feel, and he is doing a really good job on tour as well, but i don't know about permanent member, i don't know yet.

This is now the last question, typically the Game question...

...like the falling of the Tower one..

...yes, but Paradise Lost has been interviewed three times now; every time there is a change of the game. First time it was the Tower, the second time it was the Emptiness .....

...so what is this one?...

...It is completely new, opening the series of the third interviews, and it is the Game of the Clones...

...game of the clones,.. have to do with starwars then...

...mah...in a way.... which of these four persons would you clone if you would have the possibility. the first person is Jesus Christ, the second is Roman Polansky, the third is Charles Manson and the fourth is Sharon Tate.

Anyone who knows me , would know that it would be Sharon Tate, because when i was a little boy Sharon Tate was my idol because i used to look to her "Vampire killers" and i was really into. Manson who killed all those people oh no no, i cant believe in stuff like that. No point cloning Jesus Christ because no one knows if he existed or not, so how to clone someone who might to be a myth, and Roman Polansky, no, there is only one Roman Polansky! So purely for selfish reasons Sharon Tate, but not now, but then. I like this question, it is a good question, it is better than the Tower one.

A message for the fans?

Thanks for getting the record and liking it and thanks to you dalia for everything as well

Thanks a lot Greg :)!!!.

© GryphonMetal.ch   2001-2005Niederrohrdorf - Switzerland