Katharos XIII

167 Shares

Katharos XIII

Interview conducted on December 21, 2020

By Dan Locke

The band was founded in 2007 and functioned in the early-days as a one-man band until de beginning of the recordings in late 2008 for the demo material” Silver Melancholy” self-released in 2009 and distributed by Banatian Darkness Records and Smell the Stench….

The sound on this material emerged from dark chambers of human psyche, questions and deep melancholy into black chords, a truly unique combination of different layers and influences…personal experiences (all kinds of abuse, paranoia, severe depressions), strange stories, movies (Greenaway, Lynch), books (Eliade, Cioran, Zola) and of course no one can deny the musical field (Silencer, Shining, Dolorian or Unholy) ….

What is your upbringing?

I was born in Timisoara, a city in the western part of Romania. The area is called Banat and used to belong to the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 100 years ago. This resulted in a melting pot of populations and nationalities, being one of the most diverse regions in Romania. My father is a Czech ethnic and my mother is from Transylvania. Nearly all my friends have Hungarian, German, or Serbian origins.
My primary university degree is in medieval history and the second one is more technical (as I didn’t want to enter in the educational system, due to bad salaries and environment, and I chose to work in the corporate business sector, so I needed new expertise for that).

How did you discover music?

Through my parents, my father was really into old rock bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd; my mother used to listen to more “modern” music at that time from the ’80s mainly hard rock like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Kiss, and the glam rock scene.

How did you start to write music?

Because maybe I was not good enough to play covers, and I didn’t like doing that anyway. My music is a form of expression and therapy to gain balance in life, I am a fairly happy person because of this “other universe” were I can meditate about other things that are discomfort and burdens.

What is Doom jazz?

I don’t know how to explain it, other than the general term you can find online…it’s just a label put by the musical environment, we don’t think too much to it…it’s like: “they have a saxophone and play atmospheric and in slow tempo, ok another doom jazz band”.
We are very diverse as individuals, so apart from myself and Alex, the saxophone-guy, no one knew in the band this term. I would relate more to the term “doom” then to the second one…as we listen to some bands from that area, but I would say our biggest influences are Dead Can Dance and Bjork.

F- How did you get your first guitar, and do you still have it?

Actually, I still have it, and sometimes I take it with me to write music on it when I go in the mountains or in writing-trips. In its an old acoustic guitar from ’67, I got it from Hupogrammos from Dordeduh more than 25 years ago in a trade with my father’s guitar that was really beaten and he wanted to restore it.
All electric guitars I sold them in 2010 when I became a Framus endorser and really wanted to respect the agreement I got with them, and since then I only play this brand of electrical guitars and they treat me very well.

What is your guitar of choice now? Year, make and model?

For Katharos XIII I play mainly a 7-string Framus Panthera Studio Custom with Seymour Duncan passive pickups and split coil taps. Mahogany body and Ovangkol neck, a beauty…quite heavy, Gibson-like scale and feeling, I think it was made in the year I become an endorser.

Why do you use just the name F?

I stripped down from my general alliance known in the black metal scene: Fulmineos…no other serious reason behind it, I only didn’t feel like adding that profile in Katharos, as in the beginning, we were quite a gang of psychopaths, doing all kind of crazy and extreme stuff at the edge of sanity.

How did you form Katharos XIII?

Egregor, at that time the drummer of Argus Megere (another black metal outfit I am involved) wanted to play a mixture of doom and black metal, more mellow and atmospheric, so suggested to try some ideas into this kind of music, and I was also fancying with bands like Silencer, Bethlehem, Shining, Deinonychus at that time but then on the demo “Silver Melancholy” he couldn’t join, only later around 2010 when we began playing live and rehearsing for our first album:” Dead Emotions”.

How did your band get its name?

I have a fascination for Cathars and their weird doctrine about this world, I’ve read many books about their heretic behavior, and their major development was in the XIII century, so this is the link between the two entities of our name; “katharoi” means in Greek “the pure ones” so it has this complex approach to find the truth for yourself and inner self, and this represent very well the whole idea behind the band.

What was your first performance at like?

Very dark and aggressive, I still remember it; it was in 2010 with our good friends from NocturN, there were some discussions afterwards as I spilled blood on the scene and it was some local Students house, but it was fun and we made quite a fuss before, being presented as a new project of the notabilities in the local black metal, as I recruited band members from the major local black metal bands, and many people came to see what’s all about, it was cool and a great event.

What makes a good songwriter?

Honesty and believing in the purpose of what you do. On the long term you cannot foul people, especially in underground were everybody is sincere and passionate about this phenomenon.

What is the process of writing your music?

Visually in the first part, the concept takes shape in my mind, and then I take my guitar or keyboard and start translating these imagines into sounds. We always do preproduction of our songs…mainly I start the process and send the other persons to add their parts, and we listen and share ideas, we don’t rehearse as a regular band at this point, maybe because of organizational and logistical reasons, we have too many layers and the music is so intricate that we feel in the rehearsal space will lose its magical touch.
We meet separately to work on some parts when we feel it is needed, but never as a whole band.

Do you belong to any to songwriters’ organizations like the International singer-songwriter association, SESAC, BMI or ASCAP?

I always tried to avoid bureaucracy and paper-work and addressing to all kinds of national and international entities, it’s underground in the end, and I only want to express myself, if there are persons that resonate with what we put out it’s fine, we will still make music even if no one will ever listen to it.
We release it in physical format for ourselves to encapsulate this experience and put it in a time frame.
For everything else, our record house takes care of as the owner is a great friend of mine and I totally trust him.

What was the title of your first original song? Did you record it?

Play One, the first song on the “Silver melancholy” demo, composed around 2007, released two years later.

Tell me about the making of the video No Sun Swims Thundered?

Alexandru Das, who is a great visual artist and musician from our scene and our collaborator for the design parts had this idea to do the video and he approached me when we meet one time in Bucharest and we talked a bit about my influences of Horace Walpole and his book “The Castle of Otranto” in this song and he combined this vision of a giant helmet with the noir movies background resulting in a disturbing slow piece, very gloomy and deep.

On No Sun Swims Thundered, why did you picked to use a Theremin? Why did you try something like a keyboard with a ribbon on it? Or maybe use a Fairlight Nord keyboard. I know it is old school but it may have worked for the sound you would look for?

Actually, I tried a Moog Subsequent 37 but wasn’t there with what I had in my mind and I went to a concert with a local girl, Alexandrina Hristov, were Gabriel Almasi is playing guitars and Theremin, and I was fascinated by his performance, so I decided to contact him a few days later and he came to the studio and we had a really productive afternoon, I mean this guy soloed on Theremin like it was Malmsteen…crazy, we had to have him on the album!

What is your favorite track on the album?

Pff…hard to say, I like them all of course…but if I had to pick one, will be Caloian Voices, because it is like a trip through all our music, from mellow and calm parts with female voices, atmospheric and experimental saxophone pieces, pulsating bass and drums and good heavy doom riffs with black vocal parts through the end of the song. It really represents the whole “Palindrome”-album.

How do you stay healthy while performing?

Music is a form of therapy for us, so it represents a perfect balance from our inner life and the ever-growing and demanding society that we are not so keen about it.

What are you’re feeling about streaming music?

It’s (still) a free world in most parts, individuals that like to do that it’s ok, I am not judging anyone, people that like to own physical copies will do that, even if streaming music exists or not; and streaming music has its benefits on checking new music and products, so I don’t have anything against it.

How can people forget about the origin hashtag # Sharp in a musical score?

Honestly speaking, I don’t have any clue about this subject, sorry…

Digital vs. vinyl?

I prefer digital CDs, it’s the best quality for the music, I agree that vinyl have a mojo, but I am not a big fan of listening to the record on vinyl…I know as I have listened to the production of our music for both platforms, and really hated the mix for vinyl, but the next album we will also release it like that because it’s a growing trend and the record house need to survive, and if our fans want our music on vinyl, will get it…but CDs are a better representation in frequencies of our musical endeavor.

What song from the past is in your mind right now? Moreover, what is the meaning that song means to you?

None…actually I am listening to “Meddle” from Pink Floyd as a do this interview, but the songs are mirrors from our own universe, are like transmissions to other entities that gravitate in this world and we think also for the future, maybe our music will be listened 100 years from now on…doing this you feel you have reach immortality, even if there is only one individual in the universe that answer to this transmission, our goal is over fulfilled! Maybe we believe too much in Kurt Vonatut…

Both Pfizer and BioNTech have conclude Phase 3 Study of the Coronavirus vaccine. With the vaccine, it takes two shots. How many people do you think will take it and how many will forget to take the second shot?

It depends how will be regulated world-wide, for example, if it’s mandatory to embark on a plain, then most of the business sector that travels frequently (including myself) will have to take it or if you want to go to see your relatives or in vacation, there is so much uncertainty regarding this matter, that I don’t know how to comment on it, we await the instructions to see how we proceed.

How long before the whole world will be vaccine against the virus. You have to remember there only has to be a 70% for Herd immunity (Herd immunity occurs when a large portion of a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. As a result, the whole community becomes protected — not just those who are immune.)

Yes, I know what you mean, but hey its industry and it’s also about money and profits not only collective health, I think this is the new “war” concept, as we all know wars are one of the most profitable enterprises, but now we have this kind of situation for the greedy establishment, I don’t say the virus does not exist or is inoffensive, but clearly, there is an interest behind it, and someone is exploiting this situation very well. Like other things in our mankind background, it is nothing new…as I said I studied history at University, so I know what I am talking about…

Do you feel the Covid-19 virus going to affect the music business in the future?

It is already affected the whole music industry, but especially the persons related to this phenomenon like sound engineers, promoters, stage technicians, light-guys, and of course venue owners.
It is forecasted in the underground only around 5-10% of the promoters will remain in business, and still, we don’t know how it will be in the future if the bands will have were to perform, little numbers of venues will result in the first part a lot of concerts, but will the public be able to attend to so many concerts offered? also for small bands will be almost impossible to find a slot in those overcrowded booked venues, it will be hard for everyone, and with all the rules I don’t know what to say if it will be sustainable.
In Romania after the fire at Collective Club in Bucharest, there were new requirements that led to the closing of almost all venues, because they couldn’t comply with those drastic regulations because it meant a lot of money in investments, and we are talking about the underground, and big venues of ~500 suddenly were not allowed to accommodate more than 150-180 people, but the bands still demanded high fees, so it led to a crush down, and this virus, closed almost all the remaining ones anyway now.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any new hobbies?

Most of my hobbies remained the same also in quarantine, I hated that I couldn’t go to the gym or in the mountains, so I consecrated to composing music and reading a lot of books and drinking a little bit more than the usual, us of boredom. Maybe the only good thing out of this is that I (re)discovered how important are these –missed- activities for me, and as soon as the situation relaxed a little bit, I went with my wife almost every weekend in nature and enjoying this time as we are living in the city in a block of flats, so I don’t have a garden or anything like this.

95% of people said that they have changed the way they watch television. This includes people who don’t have television and using their computers to do streaming of programs and movies. Which is your favorite streaming channel?

Well, I don’t own a TV or cable, so basically if I want to watch something I search online, but this is very rare. Most of the time I watch YouTube shows regarding guitar pedals and gear (That Pedal Show, The JHS Show, EarthQuaker Series, Premier Guitar channel etc.) or different reviews for cars or mountain equipment if I need something to buy.

With the streaming services (Disney (50+ new shows/movies Izzie McGuire, The Sandlot, Beauty and the Beast prequel, Moana, Cars, Soul, Raya and the Last Dragon, Sister Act 3, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Wendy, all future Star Wars and Marvel movies and shows) and HOB Max ( including Wonder Woman 2, Godzilla vs Kong, Top Gun: Maverick, Mortal Kombat, Tom and Jerry, The Many Saints of Newark, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In the Heights, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Suicide Squad, Dune, The Matrix 4) planning to pull all the upcoming movies from next year and put them on their streaming service. How will that affect the entertainment industry?

I am not an active part of this kind of industry to have a relevant opinion on this, so honestly, I don’t know what to say more exactly.

Many artists are doing nightly concerts over either YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In October that is going to change at least on Facebook. Facebook is cracking down on livestreamed shows that include recorded music with new terms of service, preventing artists from using the platform for “commercial or non-personal” purposes, unless they have obtained the relevant licenses.

The updated music guidelines state that users “may not use videos on our products [which include Instagram] to create a music listening experience […] This will includes [Facebook] Live,” and stipulates that such content should be posted for the enjoyment of friends and family only.

How do you think this will change the landscape of Facebook?

I came from the b/w written (sometimes by hand) paper fanzines of the nineties, I agree that the internet and Facebook contributed to the development of this industry, but if one company will change its policy I am sure there will be others to see the opportunity and do something about it, and there will be another way to promote in the online business…I mean remember myspace…ten years ago we were there streaming for music, now its BandCamp and other similar tools, I think if there is a need for this, there will be somehow a place were to be filled this need.

How can bands keep their fans if they cannot play live in front of the fans and sell merch to them at the show?

If you like to support and you are really interested in a band then you will find a way to do it, I mean we were buying Norwegian dictionaries through the mail in the nineties to be able to translate Satyricon and Ulver lyrics…yes maybe the whole thing will restrain and re-become underground like in the beginning, which I don’t think is a bad thing, in the end, we will get rid of the opportunists and remain only the true kvult believers, like in the Ouroboros circle.

Is pay to play still a thing?

Now pay to play also means thinks like playlist on the internet and opening slots for a major band on tour.

What about Holographic concerts in our living room?

With another project I play in, we were actually in discussions to buy a slot in a major European leg of a polish band, but due to Corona everything went down; so, I don’t see a bad thing, but only on a real live situation, still I don’t like surrogates, imagine doing coffee or wine tasting online? Can you? The real experience is to interact with the people on the stage and audience.

If you can’t do music what would you like to be doing?

Something art-related things, in normal times attend a theatre play, exhibitions or photography in diverse environments, mostly urban; else trekking, going with my bike into nature or reading books.

What is your happy place?

I have some happy places, but they are in some remote areas of the Carpathian Mountains, mostly hidden cabins in the woods, that are not very touristic…and I like to keep them like this, so I won’t elaborate further.

Anything you would like to say in closing.