Minterview number two..

Far from the grim hordes of the west coast, black metal on the east coast is mostly made up of a handful of random, misanthropic individuals hiding out in their respective basements gently stroking their Deathspell Omega records, their faces plastered with thick corpsepaint (much like how I imagine Malefic’s concept of heaven would look). The fans are few, and the bands are fewer, however they do exist. Here at the head of the serpent, one band has the “adopt-a-highway” duties for the left hand path. That band is DC’s only black metal band, Time of the Wolf. I was fortunate enough to see their first pummeling show at a blackmetal fest in Baltimore on 6/6/06. From note one they wanted the world to know that they were out for blood; blood for our dark lord Lucifer. Since then they have put out a full length, had several lineup changes, written several new songs, and started playing out more regularly. Very close to the tradition of the later second wave, they are very technical, straight forward, aggressive, and just as tight live as they are on their record. I sent out a “minterview” to one of the founders of the band, Tim, to talk a little about how they started, where they are going, and their own record label, OGH. Here’s what he had to say:

Again, normal font=me; italics=Tim


Tim/Time of the Wolf

1. How did Time of the Wolf come about?

Joshy and I worked together at an art store about 6-7 years ago. The 1st time I met him he was wearing a "Basket Case" shirt. So I figured "this guy might be alright." We started talking about horror movies and heavy metal and quickly became friends. We tried to start a few bands over the years, but to no avail. About 3 years back, Joshy was playing w/ Exosus and they needed a new guitar player. I tried out and brought with me what would become the TOTW song, "Of Rebel Angels"(which I’d written for another metal band I played with a long time ago). It went pretty well, but I was also playing w/ Crime Spree at the time. Crime Spree was doing well - we'd recently released a demo, toured w/ The Aftermath and Never Enough, and played some great shows (like the Posi #s fest in PA). So Exosus wanted someone whose primary focus could be Exosus - which I could not commit to at the time. Crime Spree broke up shortly after Exosus found a new guitar player. Then Exosus broke up. I called Joshy about 2 years ago, I think we were talking about Satanism or satanic bands, and the conversation ended up going something like this:
Tim: You know what we should do?
Joshy: Start a Satanic metal band?
Tim: Yes.
So I had already written "Of Rebel Angels" and had a lot of other music & lyrics ready to go. Joshy enlisted Matt Kozar (our original lead guitarist) and we began working on what would become the 1st record. Originally, we'd planned on being a low-commitment "studio project". We really didn't even plan on getting a singer or bass player as we assumed we could easily fill those roles ourselves in the recording process. We only planned on recording a demo. Then we decided it might be fun to play some shows - just for "shits and giggles." We found Brian RedBeard (Tradition Dies Here, Sick Fix, Etc) who seemed really into playing bass for us. He joined and brought Orion on board shortly thereafter. And that's that...

2. Tell me about the new lineup.

Matt and Brian couldn't commit to the band as much as everyone else would have liked - so they eventually quit. They were both in other bands, and really busy w/ their personal and professional lives as well. Orion was friends w/ "The Brothers Griffiths" (Brendan - Bass & Dylan - Guitar) and he brought them on board. They were playing w/ Empurios at the time, but Empurios seemed to be falling apart - members were going away to school, moving back to Norway, etc, etc. So Brendan joined not too long before Dylan. Empurios is pretty much done, I think. And we've just recently gotten Brendan and Dylan up to speed on a solid set of TOTW songs. They still need to learn a few of the old songs, but it seems to be working out really well. Everyone is really committed to TOTW. And, I have to say, I think the band is stacked w/ really great musicians at this point.

3. How are the new songs coming along?

Most of the new material was put on hold while Dylan was learning the set. We have 2 unreleased songs in our set right now. And I'm pretty pleased with those. There's also a few songs, and parts of songs, that we've been toying with for some time now. It's slow going as we're just settling into the new lineup. I think we really need to figure out our band dynamics at this point. Also, I've been really lazy about writing lately - so that's put more pressure on others. It'll all come together though.

4. When and what are you recording next?

We're planning on recording another demo in the next few months.

5. Are their any plans for non-TOTW releases on your label, and could you tell me a little about OGH's other release, The Kill, Baby?

The Kill, Baby is actually a Last House Records release. It was a chaoticore / screamo band that I was in back in '97-'98. Holy shit! I just realized that that record's a decade old now!! Anyway, I wrote that record, loved the songs, and insisted on recording - despite the fact that band members were at each other’s throats and refusing to even be in the same room w/ one another during the sessions. The singer and I put it together and pressed 1000 7"s. He still has boxes of them collecting dust in his room. We wanted to go on and re-form w/ new members, but it just didn't work out. I think the singer also decided he wasn't too proud of the record - so he never tried to get it distributed. Sometimes we talk about it and he's told me that he's seriously considered burning the remaining records. I still like it. Maybe just for sentimental reasons thought. I don't know.

As far as non-TOTW releases are concerned, yes we do plan on doing that. I'm still trying to convince Empurios to let me release their demo. I'm working on a "solo" project tentatively called "The Priesthood." And OGH is working on building a small distro. We also kicked around the idea of putting together a comp. We still need to talk to some bands, but we're hoping to put out a benefit comp for the Bobby Fisher Memorial, featuring dark / heavy bands from the DC area.

That is all.

Well that’s it for the second in my hopefully ongoing series of minterviews. If you want to hear some Time of the Wolf, find out more about the band, and purchase their album you can check out their myspace page here, and check out the OGH Records profile here.

I should have several more minterviews lined up for the next few weeks, but in the meantime look for the next installment with Bruno from Faunasabatha Records one Sunday from this.

Keep your ear to the underground…..