The following interview was prepared by Baron Von Causatan on September 8, 2000...
Before everything I want to thank you for the opportunity
and I hope all is well with you. . . but beginning the
interview, I would like that you spoke about the initial idea of the work.
How did
everything appear?
Mourning the Ancient was born rather spontaneous really. My comrade and I
began it back in 1995, that is we began talking about ideas, designing the
Expansion Rune, the concepts, the early photography/video work, etc.. But we
didn't publish anything for a few years, until 1998, when we debuted on the
web.
Do you also publish a zine in paper? Does this follow the
traditional line or does it have a different line? How many editions
did you already do of this zine?
No, we don't publish it on paper. We first intended to do so, but haven't as
of yet. We've planned to off and on, but other things have always prevented
us. Instead we concentrate on new photography, the releasing of our two
photo CD's, and the Mourning the Ancient video we have planned. We have over
eighty interviews online however, and hundreds of demo/CD reviews as well,
and much more matieral as well. When we have new material we simply add it
to the existing, instead of doing the whole 'issues' webzine route.
You have a vast quantity of materials to be read on your site, as
reviews,
interviews, texts, poems and much more. Which section would you
recommend more?
It's difficult to say, it would really depend on the person and his/her
interests. Of course I think our photography is both unique and interesting,
and pretty much first and foremost sets us apart from the thousands of
others on the web. We try to interview bands differently than others, by
delving into the philosophical realms primarily in our questioning. The
interviews usually depend on the depth of the intelligence of the person
being interviewed, which varies, but many musicians, as artists, are quite
intelligent, sometimes spiritual people.
How long do you usually delay to increase new interviews on the site?
It follows no real pattern, if we are in contact with a band we enjoy we
usually do an interview. Or if we encounter a new band who we feel deserves
exposure. It's very unpredictable. It is very hard for us to do all of our
projects at once, so we have to divide our time among them all, or put
precedence on one.
You also have very different photographic work that causes a very
obvious interest in the fans. What is the reason of following a line of work
of this type?
First, we enjoy what we do, which is perhaps the primary motivation. We try
to breathe emotions and a sort of story into our work. We attempt to express
without words our loves and hates, thoughts and desires, and in the process
it's a sort of time capsule, a look back in time for us to remember that
point in our lives, and what emotions/things inspired us. You can see the
progression in our work since 1995. It's been like a journey for us, with
its ups and downs. It speaks the words we cannot with speech, at least to
those who understand it.
Of course, it is a subject of artistic work. But were you never
questioned on the photos that they be almost pornographic or just for
containing nude images?
It's no secret this world is populated largely with ignorant fools, and if it still is a secret to you, you are probably one of those ignorant fools. Thus,
I'm sure there are quite a few people who see little beyond the
nudity/semi-nudity. We utilize nudity in our images for a number of reasons,
mostly it depends on the photography in question. But some of the symbolism
employed represents, truth = as in naked- where nothing is hidden, creation
= the female form as a doorway to mankind, desire, beauty, mystery, etc..
The women that access your site have had some reaction contrary to this
work?
Because it is not really something common that I know. .
Well, primarily males seem to be our largest audience. But I think this is
more to do with the music oriented end of our site, since largely males
listen to the types of music presented, unfortunately. It's quite an
imbalance really. However, the females that have contacted us have enjoyed
our work equally, two of which have even done drawing renditions of our
photography, which can be viewed on our site. So lastly I don't believe it's
limited to one end or the other of genders. We try to portray our work in an
artistic sense which transcends the trivial.
You already released two photo CD-R's, where we can see your
work of photos. Tell us what we can do to acquire a copy of these
CD's.
Yes, both CD's combined contain well over a thousand photo's, with exclusive
soundtracks written by underground musicians of various black metal and
ambient bands, and ourselves writing the tracks. The CD's run like a
website, and are very atmospheric and visual/audio. One can get more
information by going to our site, which is www.mourningtheancient.com or
write us at: