TURBID NORTH
PHOTO BY: Kasi Daine  l  WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/turbidnorth

Interview answered by Nick Forkel (Guitar / Vocals)

THE BAND FIRST MADE A NAME FOR ITSELF IN ALASKA BUT THEN MOVED TO DALLAS, TEXAS. IS THE BAND STILL BASED IN TEXAS AND LOOKING BACK, HAS THE MOVE BEEN WORTH IT?

Yes, we are still based in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s been totally worth it, DFW has such a huge music scene; all of the bands really help each other out here. We’re starting to tour more and more and Texas is always a great place to start.

YOUR BASS PLAYER IS ALSO FROM THE UK. DID IT TAKE A LOT OF CONVINCING TO GET HIM OVER TO THE STATES AND PLAY IN THE BAND FULL TIME?

He was actually already moving to Fort Worth, but that was gonna be 6 months after we arrived there. We just happened to email him thinking we would find a good enough bass player during that time but as it turns out we never really did. So 6 months later, he moves from England, got back in contact with us and got the job.

YOUR LATEST RELEASE TITLED “OROGENY” IS OUT FEATURING NEW VOCALIST BRIAN MCCOY. IT MUST HAVE BEEN A REALLY COOL ALBUM TO WRITE BECAUSE YOU GUYS USE A WIDE VARIETY OF INFLUENCES IN THE SONGS?

These songs were very fun to write. With Brian coming into the band we kinda felt like we had to do something different than our last effort. We really didn’t wanna get lumped in with all the other “death metal” bands out there so we decided to kinda take from every influence we had out there, still keeping it Turbid North at its core, but branching out a bit.

“OROGENY” IS A CONCEPT ALBUM BASED ON A STORY OF A HUNTER TRAPPED IN THE WILDERNESS AT THE HEIGHT OF WINTER IN ALASKA. WHO CAME UP WITH THE CONCEPT BECAUSE IT MUST HAVE BEEN A GOOD BASE TO BUILD FROM THE “HORROR” IMAGE ONE GETS OF PEOPLE GETTING LOST IN THE WILDERNESS?

I read a short story about it and it really inspired me to write music to it, sort of like a soundtrack. I thought it would be really cool to base the song “The Hunter” on it and then have the rest of the album with sort of the same theme of survival or being in a dire situation and trying to come out alive.

APPARENTLY YOU GUYS DID EVERYTHING FOR THIS ALBUM. WAS IT A COOL IDEA IN THE BEGINNING THAT TURNED OUT TO BE A LOT MORE WORK THAN FIRST THOUGHT AND WHAT WAS EACH BAND MEMBER’S ROLE WHEN IT CAME TO COMPLETING THE ALBUM?

It definitely turned out to be more work than we thought, but it was a great learning experience for us and we had a lot of fun putting all the pieces together. I did all of the production and recording aspect of it while Alex did all of the artwork. Me and him were kinda of the creative force behind the themes and lyrical content, while everyone else took in the whole concept and applied it when it came time to record their parts.

IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU SAY EACH BAND MEMBER’S PERSONALITY SHOWS IN THE SONGS YOU WRITE?

I think as different as our personalities are; we all had the same vibe going when it comes to the songs.  They all show, in some way, the experimental side of all of us.  Not being afraid to try new things; some that may not be so “metal”.

HOW MANY OF THE SONGS FROM THE ALBUM WILL MAKE IT IN TO YOUR LIVE SET, AND DO YOU LIKE TO CHANGE YOUR SET LIST FOR EVERY SHOW OR DO YOU LIKE TO PERFORM THE SAME SONGS FOR A WHILE BEFORE CHANGING THINGS AROUND?

We only play the songs off Orogeny. We feel like this is sort of a new band and playing the old songs just doesn’t feel right. We like to make our live set feel like your sort of listening to the album, it has to flow well. We change it up every now and then, you have to change things up to keep it fresh, but lately we’ve been playing it in order the way it is on the album.

WHAT IS CURRENTLY YOUR FAVOURITE SONG TO PERFORM LIVE AND WHICH OF THE NEW ONES ARE YOU DYING TO TRY OUT?

Man it’s hard to pick a favourite because I love them all, but if I had to choose one then “The Hunter” gets me every time we play it. It’s got a lot going on in it and has a great slow trippy middle section that people love. My real favourite though is a song we haven’t played live, “Floating the Ionosphere”. We wrote it as a soundtrack to the aurora borealis, so it’s a very epic long song. It has a little bit of everything in that song and from what I’ve been hearing it’s everyone’s favourite. We’ll be playing it in our set soon; we just have to re-learn it all!

I SEE ON YOUR MYSPACE THAT THE BAND IS BOOKED TO PLAY A LOT OF SHOWS IN SEPTEMBER. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE NEXT BIG OBSTACLE THE BAND NEEDS TO OVERCOME TO REACH THAT NEXT “LEVEL” IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Touring is the next obstacle. We’ve never been out for more than a few days and we go out for 2 weeks starting September 9th.  I think if we can all handle that then nothing will hold us back. Our plans for the rest of this year and the next is to tour and tour.

IF THEY EVER MADE A BEER THAT COULD FIRE YOU UP LIKE IT DID CHRIS (BASS) IN THE THIRD STUDIO UPDATE VIDEO ON YOUR MYSPACE WOULD YOU BUY IT OR WOULD YOU MOST LIKELY KILL SOMEONE IF YOU HAD TOO MANY?

That was our secret weapon to this album actually; we all had many beer fire up sessions like that during recording. I think if anyone else got a hold of that special brew it would kill them. Only the turbids can handle that kind.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

Look out for a music video for “Between the Glacier and the Sea” coming soon. A vinyl edition of the album and also more tours in the future. One big thing I wanna bring up for people who may have bought or plan on buying a digital copy of Orogeny is your missing out on some great artwork! Each song has its own art and lyrics printed in the booklet.  It really sets up the mood when you listen and read along to it so if you can, get a real copy of it. Our album is available online through our Myspace and through Relapse Records web store, so go pick it up there and blast it loud!

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL