ELIGOR (JACOPO)

HI! HOW ARE YOU? WHERE ARE YOU? Hi! I’m quite fine, thanks, and now I’m in my personal recording studio in Rome. It’s a fuckin’ anonymous night and I hate the spring! “IN NOMINE” HAS BEEN OUT FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW. HOW HAVE REACTIONS BEEN SO FAR AND HOW ARE SALES GOING? HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH THE WORK MKM PROMOTION HAS BEEN DOING FOR YOU? The reactions in general have been very positive from all over Europe, you can read all the reviews on ELIGORs official web site (www.eligorinnomine.supereva.it). And about MKM, I can tell you that for the moment I’m satisfied. The only bad thing is that they’ve got a lot of bands and sometimes it seems as if they forgot you, but in general they work quite well. And the sales…we only have done 200 copies for selling, so what can I tell you…well? OBVIOUSLY WE’LL SHORTLY HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE PAST FOR A SECOND: AFTER ALESSANDRO’S DEATH, HOW AND WHEN WAS THE DECISION TAKEN TO CONTINUE THE BAND WITH THE SAME NAME? You know, it’s very hard to give you a short answer about this. I can only tell you that Alessandro was my best friend, and I know very well that changing the name of the band would be the worst insult to his memory. When he died, the only thing he gave to us and his family was “In Nomine”, because before his death he destroyed everything else he did in life. I know very well that it’s a clear message: Eligor must live. WHAT WAS YOUR COMMON VISION FOR ELIGOR, WHEN YOU TWO STARTED THE BAND IN THE YEAR 2000? IT SEEMS TO ME YOU WERE ALREADY AT THAT EARLY POINT EXTREMELY DEDICATED! I’D ALSO LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR SOUND AT THAT TIME – I COULD IMAGINE THAT A DRUM COMPUTER WOULD ACTUALLY FIT YOUR STYLE PRETTY WELL… We started as a black metal band, and the style is quite the same as now. Obviously the songs sound bad because when I and Alessandro recorded them we were only 14 years old!! Sometimes I listen to them, it’s quite funny to imagine two young demons growing up together under the sign of black metal! WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE BIG GIG IN THE ALPHEUS IN 2002? IT MUST HAVE FELT LIKE A TRIUNPH AT THE TIME! HOW COME IT TOOK SO LONG AFTERWARDS TO FIND ANOTHER CHANCE TO PLAY LIVE? DO YOU FEEL THAT THIS DELAY IN PROGRESS MIGHT HAVE BEEN A CAUSE FOR ALESSANDRO’S PROBLEMS? That date (organized by ELIGOR) was a real success for us. Alpheus was a good starting point because it’s the same place where, for example, MAYHEM will play tomorrow night! But regardless of that, playing live wasn’t a problem for Alessandro. He had other kinds of problems. APART FROM YOUR PERSONAL GRIEF – HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH THE LOSS OF ALESSANDRO IN CONNECTION WITH THE LINE-UP? THE INTRO OF “IN NOMINE” IS MAGNIFICENT, SO I WAS WONDERING, WHETHER PAOLO TEODORI (YOUR BROTHER?) COULD BE A SUITABLE REPLACEMENT AT THE KEYS. Maybe you won’t believe me, but Paolo Teodori is my father!! He’s a professional, he does like our music, but I don’t think he’ll ever play live with us! After Alessandro’s death, ELIGOR decided to play without another keyboarder. In the future our albums will be quite different from “In Nomine”, with the same style but a different sound. I will play keyboards, but the guitars will have a main role compared to the past. We’ll probably be supported by another guy (Enrico Rosso) playing the back guitars. I JUST LISTENED TO THE ALBUM AGAIN THE OTHER DAY AND STILL THOUGHT IT SOUNDED GREAT AND TIMELESS – WAS THAT THE MAIN GUIDELINE, INSTEAD OF MAKING A PIECE OF MUSIC THAT WAS “HOT”? Thank you for the compliment! Yeah, you’re right, because in fact the songs (and the lyrics, too) were written following the dreams of our inner world in the coldest and darkest days of our life. We don’t care about technique, genre, stereotypes, etc. We only take the inspiration from our visions. WHAT IS SO REMARKABLE ABOUT YOUR SOUND IS THE FACT THAT EACH PLAYER SEEMS TO DWELL IN HIS OWN LITTLE MICROCOSM WHICH SOMETIMES IS QUITE FAR FROM TRADITIONAL METAL, YET WHEN THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS COME TOGHETER, YOU ARE UNMISTAKABLY A BLACK METAL BAND. AM I SOMEHOW MAKING SENSE OR DOES THIS SOUND CONSTRUCTED? Your analysis is perfect. We don’t like traditional metal and metal in general apart for the great Black Metal Masters like BURZUM, MAYHEM, EMPEROR, DARKTHRONE, IMMORTAL etc… When we compose a song, there isn’t anyone of the group who, for example, tells someone else: “You have to play this note in particular”. We start from an idea or a riff, and everybody builds the parts following the general vision we have of the song. We have absolutely never decided anything before playing it together and guessing what we thought was the best way to express our rage and our inner sadness. Maybe this is the real Black Metal essence. LATIN LYRICS WORK EXCELLENT AND GIVE THE TRACKS A MYSTIC FEEL.WHY DID YOU DECIDED TO INCLUDE ENGLISH LYRICS AS WELL? In the chronological order the English lyrics came before the Latin ones, because this is a decision we only took a short time before recording “In Nomine”. But from now on, we’ll only use Italian and Latin. THE LYRICS TO ONE OF THE SONGS WERE TAKEN FROM A TEXT BY TIBULLO. CAN YOU GIVE OUR READERS A SHORT LESSON IN HISTORY BY TELLING US JUST A LITTLE ABOUT HIM? AND AS MY LATIN IS NOT EXACTLY AT ITS PEAK: WHAT IS IT ABOUT? Tibullus was one of the most famous Latin poets during the time and rise of Caesar, and “Auster” is an extract from some verse of the “Corpus Tibullianum”, a collection of all his works. In general, he spoke about the beauty of nature and the contemplation of it. Auster is the name of a wintery wind bringing rains and desasters and the song “Auster” is a metaphore that compares the arrival of this wind with the arrivalof death. “ARBOR AUTUMNI” IS MY FAVOURITE PIECE OF THE ALBUM, SINCE IT BEAUTIFULLY MIXES YOUR DARK, BROODING SIDE WITH A MORE “HYMNIC” STYLE. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU STRIFE FOR: THE BEAUTY IN THE DARK SIDE? I again agree with you, “Arbor Autumni” is one of the best songs of that album, I suppose. In fact, when me and Alessandro thought about composing this song we tried to express something like: “evil and sadness are the essence of life. They’re good, we like them and we don’t fear them…we ARE them!!”. The lyrics speak about the suffering of a tree when the the cold rain falls on its bare branches during autumn. LYRICS ARE, IF I’M NOT WRONG, MOSTLY ABOUT FEELINGS OF MORTALITY, SADNESS, LONGING AND DESOLATION, RATHER THAN DEALING WITH ANTI-RELIGIOUS TOPICS. DO YOU POSSIBLY FEEL CLOSE TO THE DOOM METAL GENRE? AND: IS THIS BECAUSE YOU ARE, UNLIKE MOST OTHER BLACK METAL BANDS, ACTUALLY RELIGIOUS? It’s a good question. You’re right when you say that our lyrics seem to be far from speaking about religion. Really, I think there is nothing more banal and stupid than dedicating an album to insulting people believing in God. I haven’t taken (and Alessandro, too) inspiration from anyone. We only tried to show everybody our inner world, lost in time, dark and silent. We both don’t care about Doom Metal (because we don’t like it) and other black metal bands. Often (but not always) the second ones fall in a sort of mediocrity, because they try to show another personality of themselves, in order to appear more “bad”. Those ones are lower. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCTION FOR A SECOND. I THOUGHT THE VOCALS SOUND ABSOLUTELY MAGNIFICENT – HAUNTING, FRIGHTENING AND WITH A VERY DISTINCT SHARP AND STINGING SOUND. HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CREATE THIS EFFECT – OR IS THIS A PROFESSIONAL SECRET? Thank you for appreciating my work, but, beliee me, there isn’t any secret in my vocals! We only use a little bit of reverb, a little (very little) bit of echo (like DARKTHRONE in “Under A Funeral Moon”), but nothing else. It’s my natural voice! WERE YOU RESPONSIBLE FORE THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION YOURSELVES? HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WITH IT NOW, A FEW MONTHS LATER? I’d change something, in particular in the guitar sound. In gereral, I’m quite satisfied with my work, even if it would now be very different, because the experience helps a lot. CLOCKING AT JUST 29 MINUTES, “IN NOMINE” IS RATHER SHORT. I FEEL THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT IN ORDER NOT TO LOSE THE DENSE ATMOSPHERE, STILL I WAS WONDERING, WHETHER THE ALBUM WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO BE LONGER AND YOU HAD TO LEAVE AWAY SOME PIECES BECAUSE OF TIME TROUBLES IN THE STUDIO. In fact, there weren’t other songs. In Italy we say: it’s better to do less, but do it properly. I rather prefer a good but short album like “Bergtatt” (Ulver) to a piece of shit of an hour! THE COVER WAS DONE BY VALERIA BODÒ – WHO IS SHE? She is a young and promising artist from Rome. I think the cover is fantastic, it perfectly expresses the essence of our work. LIVE OPPORTUNITIES SEEM TO BE PICKING UP AGAIN. HOW DOES YOUR LIST LOOK LIKE? ANY COVERS FROM OTHER BANDS? ANY NEW SONG? In general we play about 5-6 songs taken from “In Nomine” and two new songs, “The Impenetrable Garden” and “The Embrace of The Cold Winds”. They are only temporary, in a short while the lyrics will be changed and written in Latin and also the music will be modified. YOU’VE SET UP YOU OWN RECORD COMPANY, ”OBSCURA REC.” – WHY? WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE OTHER BANDS ON THE LABEL? “Obscura Rec.” is our personal label and it was created only to promote our second bands, that for the moment are : MINAS MORGUL and DECAY OF MYRIAD. If ELIGOR won’t find a label, maybe they too will be a part of the roster. IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN, YOU ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN MINAS MORGUL. HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS SECOND BAND TO YOU AND IN WICH WAY IS IT DIFFERENT FROM ELIGOR? MINAS MORGUL (Experimental Black Metal) is a personal project with Oblivion, the singer of Forgotten Lore (a Gothic Black Metal band from Rome). We have recorded a demo-cd. It’s sounds very aggressive and experimental, because I used some synth to obtain a sicker sound. But Eligor is always my first band. Actually I play the guitars on the stage for LUCTUS (pure Black Metal), a belligerant demon from Rome, that recorded a fantastic album called “Ad Arma”. YOU ARE ALSO VERY ACTIVE IN ORGANISING LIVE GIGS AND FESTIVALS. ONE OF THEM, THE POST MORTEM FEST, IS COMING UP SOON. HOW ARE THE THINGS DEVELOPING UP TO NOW? Very well. We contacted the most important band of the Roman Underground, and the Festival was a triumph. Actually we are preparing other songs, playing live is secondary. If we’ll find a contact, we hope to play live in Germany this summer, supporting an important group. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON THE ITALIAN BLACK METAL SCENE? YOUR COUNTRY RATHER SEEMS TO HAVE A PREFERENCE FOR HIGH-PICHED MALE VOCALS AND A VULGAR DISPLAY OF VIRTUOSITY… Here in Italy the people prefer to support bands from other countries, because the Italian labels don’t understand how to deal with the situation. They take wrong decisions without considering that here in Italy the Metal genre is not as popular as it is in northen Europe, so they quickly go bankrupt. But I think there is a good scene in Sicily (southern Italy) and here in Rome, too. In particular there are THRONE OF DECADENCE, LUCTUS, AZER, FORGOTTEN LORE… If all those bands would get the support they deserve, we could speak about a true “scene”. IS THERE ALREADY NEW MATERIAL THAT YOU CAN TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT? As I told you before, we’ve got something, but it’s incomplete and I can’t tell you anything very precise about it. WHAT’S NEXT FOR ELIGOR? We are looking for a label, it’s a kind of “Mission Impossible”, but we’ll be patient… I’ll continue to support the Italian scene hoping that the future will be better than now. For the moment we are in studio trying to build new material, following our roots and rage… Black Metal Rules!