Welcome to The Mayfair Mall Zine

MM - What influences your music?
Ed - The influences are twofold, first there’s the musical influence which comes from bands like Candlemass, Trouble and Paradise Lost, the originators, as well as more recent bands like Warning, Virgin Black, Funeral and Isole. Second there’s a strong real-life inspiration in the death of parents, which is a recurring theme in the lyrics.

MM - Who undertakes the duties of song-writing or is it a band effort?
Ed - The music and lyrics are all written by me, Ed. I also play all instruments on the albums as well as handle the clean vocals. Somewhere down the road it may turn into a band effort but for now I like it this way as it’s a rather personal project.

MM - Did you achieve all that you wanted in 2011? If not, what didn’t you do?
Ed - I didn’t want much for 2011, so that wasn’t so hard. We did some good gigs, I’m very pleased with the current line-up and I finished the second album on time, good enough for me!

MM - What are your goals for 2012?
Ed - Hopefully make at least a bit of a break into the more mainstream metal scene, the doom scene is absolutely fantastic and extremely dedicated, but also rather small. And while I have no intention of going the “but we’re not really doom” route I do feel there’s something in it for those that may not be attracted to doom metal at first.

MM - Is there anywhere you would like to gig but haven’t yet?
Ed - Lots of places, I was sad we had to skip the Malta Doom Fest this year because it was too expensive to fly the whole band in, so that’s still on our list. Some UK gigs would be nice as well, and it would be cool if we could do some Scandinavian shows. Then again I shouldn’t complain, we’ve already played Madrid and Dublin as well as several German cities, so we’re not doing too bad.

MM - If you had to describe the band in a sentence what would it be?
Ed - Mourning set to music.

MM - How long does each song take to write and then record? Is it a quick or drawn-out process?
Ed - That depends, some songs are easy while others take months to finish. Whenever I have an idea I usually make a rough demo and build it up from there, some songs were started 2 years ago and evolved over time, others were written while I was already recording the album.

I worked on the album for 8 months, that seems long but I do everything myself including all engineering duties, the only thing I didn’t do are the growls (Pim Blankenstein graciously helped).

MM - How long have you been playing your instruments/singing? Do you feel there is more you can learn?
Ed - I’ve been playing drums for 30 years, so I reckon there’s not much to learn there anymore. All the other stuff I’m doing now (bass, guitars, vocals) I’m relatively new at, so I learn every day.

MM - Do you feel you are at the pinnacle of your career or could you do more?
Ed - To be honest I feel the pinnacle was somewhere during the 90’s, when I traveled the world with Gorefest. I’m older now, and I make music for very different reasons these days, mainly to please myself. So while I don't expect to set the world on fire anymore, I am very satisfied with the things I have achieved and the place where I am now.

MM - What has been the defining moment for you as a band?
Ed - The aforementioned Doom Shall Rise gig, we’d just had an important line-up change (my old Gorefest buddy Frank had joined as 3rd guitarist) and the moment we struck the first chord I could see jaws dropping to the floor, I knew then that we’d found our ultimate line-up and that it was more than just one guy’s bedroom dream.

MM - Is the lack of information a way of protecting your privacy or because creating music is more important?
Ed - Like I said, it’s absolutely not on purpose, but I do agree the music is what matters most. But I’m not an overly private person, I’ll answer basically anything if someone’s genuinely interested.

MM - Any parting words of wisdom or messages you’d like to share with our readers?
Ed - Please lend an ear to our upcoming album Lacrima Mortis, it’s not light-weight material but you may find the effort worth your while.