Interview with Glen.
By Eosforos for FMP.
Edited by Thorns/FMP.

Now an interview that many will perhaps already have their minds made up about..In fact I almost jumped to slagging them before I had actually heard their music. Basically I decided if FMP signed them threre was a reason, and there is, they are unique and DAMN DARK!!

Greetings to you.. Can we begin with the history of Willow Wisp?
Well... lets see.... The history of Willow Wisp is a long one. But I will give you the gist of it. It originally all started back in the fall of 1984 with my brother, Air-rik and Toe-knee. They started a band called "Black Mass" in high school. The only band in our shit hole town that went from playing a Bathory song to playing Dokken to playing Iron Maiden to playing The Cure to Metallica. Over the years, they went through many name and member changes, but the core of Willow Wisp was not formed until I joined the band in 1991 and then shortly after Raven joined. It was from that point that we developed into the oddity that we are today.

Let us begin with your CD, on this release you seemed far more into the entire Goth side of music as opposed to your latest recordings. Would you agree? Finally why the change to a more blackened style?
I wouldn't say that we were into Goth more, but merely there just happened to be more gothic songs on that album. It has always been pretty equal in the band as far as heavy verses melodic. We never plan on what are songs are going to turn out to be. Since all the members of the band write songs separately, its hard to say what will come of a CD when we are creating it. We haven't really changed to a darker style, we have always been this way. Even on our last CD you have songs like "Sodomized by God, Carpathian Wanton, and Attempting." That are just brutal. But to answer your question... Yes, the new CD is a lot heavier.

It seems that the band has developed quite a reputation already. Even though I had not heard your music until recently it seemed that everyone had some sort of an opinion to offer about Willow Wisp. Unfortunately it seems a lot of it is negative, many of the Black metal people have a hard time with the Goth and Vice versa.. Your comments?
Its always funny how many people have an opinion on something just from here- say. Actually we were quite disappointed by the negativity that we have received by the hard-core "Black metal community" We were never aware that there were rules and regulations to playing music. The whole thing is simply fucking idiotic... I think that is why we would hate to be categorized as either just a gothic band or just a black metal band. The hard-core "Gothic Community" is just as asinine. If you play a power chord they think your not depressed enough!!! That is why we just pretty much hate everybody and do our own thing.


When did the idea come to incorporate these two immensely different styles? It does seem like a rather strange marriage.
From the very beginning.... It is always funny when you hear that a band has broken up because of musical differences. Who fucking cares.... When we write a song, we don't worry about who is going to like it or who it is going to appeal to. We have always had the belief that the human brain can listen to more than one style of music in the same sitting. Willow Wisp sets no boundaries when it come to the song writing, whether it be mellow, hard-core, or whatever. We are all emotional beings: afraid of death and searching for immortality.

The image of the band is also rather different. I have seen some people describe it as Black Glam. This coupled with the fact that you incorporate two very different styles of music, are you at all concerned that the public might overlook you completely and write you off as a gimmick band?
Glam??? Please refrain from using that word. It makes me sick to my stomach! Let me jump off the subject here for a minute and set the record straight. I know that a lot of people think that we are a glam band or have something to do with it. NO! NO! NO! Our biggest mistake (the one that has haunted us forever) is that we never cared who we played a show with. The gothic clubs thought that were too heavy, the hard-core clubs thought that we were too gothic. So we just booked shows for ourselves and because promoters are so stupid they always put a bunch of glam bands on the same bill just because we wore make-up and had ratted hair like Robert Smith. But we never cared, all we worried about was are own music and doing what we wanted.I think the definition of a gimmick band is one who jumps on a current trend, does little things to impress people, or writes cute songs to become famous. Well, lets see here.... We have been doing this for over 13 years and we are just now signed to an independent label!!! We are called faggot or someone screams "Halloween is Over!" every time we walk down the street. We've caused riots in clubs just for the sake of performing our stage show. What we do is a reflection who we are. People always fear what they do not understand. The recent photo you sent me, there is one individual with just leather pants and corpse-paint on, the pose he is taking the only thing that came to mind was the killer in “The silence of the lambs” during the scene where he is dressing up in the women’s skin and dancing to the goth music on his radio. What exactly is the person in this photo striving for image-wise? That would be Air-rik and they are not pants, its a velvet skirt. There is a certain elegance and mystic that we portray in our image. We don't really think about the reasons for our image too much, it just comes naturally. We just don't want to be some boring ass band on stage wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Who wants to look like man, anyway... Men are disgusting looking beer belly pigs. There is a reason why I am attracted to women, because they are dark, beautiful, and sexy. So why not mimic that?

Now we will move on to the new music.. It seems to be much more extreme and less of the melodic Goth type. When did you decide it was time to move into a more extreme direction?
I don't really know how to answer that question because I think the new CD is both more melodic and heavier at the same time. That is due mainly to a bigger budget and better equipment. We really didn't move into anything... Its kind of funny, because to this day, I don't ever remember discussing it. We never really make any decisions as to what direction our music is going to take, it just happens.

I understand that your live shows are quite an extreme affair with the vocalist cutting himself violently on stage.. When did he begin doing this? Finally, how violently are the cuts applied?
Air-rik started doing it back in 1991, he got the idea from watching Pink Floyd's "The Wall", the cuts get pretty deep, but not life threatening. Its more of a ritualistic act rather than a free for all cutting spree. We like to give our audience more than just the music when we play live. We just saw Dark Funeral play last night at the Whiskey and it kind of sucked that they didn't do their stage show. The fucked up club wouldn't let them. They were still really good without the show (besides the guitar difficulties), but I guess the first rule is to never tell the club you have a stage show, and just do it any way. We must have been banned from a few hundred clubs (including the Whiskey) for breathing fire, getting blood on their precious stage or breaking equipment. We bring out dead octopuses tied to a cross, bloody pictures of Jesus, smash garbage cans, and chant "Fuck Jesus, Fuck God!". We don't care!!!

I have listened closely to both the CD and the tape that was sent, and I find much of the music to be quite enjoyable and dark sounding. Given all the negative press already surrounding the band, how will you see to it that your band does not get categorized with complete shit bands such as Dimmu Borgir?
I don't know... What can we do? People just have to listen to the music and make an intelligent decision. It goes back to the whole political aspect of a certain musical scene. I don't want people listening to us because you say so or I say so. And on the other hand I don't want people not listening to us because someone says so or because of our image... I guess I would like it if people could think for themselves and stop being a victim to gossip.

You seemed to indicate to me that your attitude is basically, “This is what we are, accept it or fuck off!!”. This is actually something that I found to be rather profound of you, in that you will not cater to the masses demanding this and that. Will your attitudes stay true to this belief system?
Always..We are a bunch of stubborn fuckers, we rarely listen to ourselves much less anyone else.Why should we cater to the masses?? In general, people are stupid, they take what ever you feed them, so why would we listen to them... If there was really a Jesus Christ, then I admire him. He believed in something that no one else did at the time and didn't care what people thought of his beliefs, and because of that, the image of Jesus and Christianity has brainwashed, deranged, demented, killed, murdered, and destroyed countless lives over the centuries. And for that, he is the true martyr of evil...

Let us move on to some other topics.. You give praise to Anton Lavey and his memory. What about him is/was appealing to you and the other members of the band? Personally, I see him simply as a philosopher and a great business man that was able to get sheep that were not of the Christian herd to shell out some cash to be apart of his ever so evil {not} Church of Satan. Personally, I found the likes of Jim Jones and other notorious cult leaders to be of far more evil in mind and spirit. Your comments?
The fact that he was a fraud and he admitted it openly, but the people who actually believe in Satanism don't get it. That's how stupid people are. They think he is some answer to this rebellion against god. Wake up!!! I don't believe in Satan, because then I would have to believe in God, and who in this hell would want to do that? I believe in the essence of Evil and darkness... Not some figurine developed by the moronic mind of mankind.I agree.. He was a great philosopher that came up with a great name for a book he had written. The Satanic Bible... But he did it in such a way that is simple genius. People like Jim Jones, David Koresh are what I consider petty hypnotists or small time manipulators. I still think it is really cool what they did, but it is nothing compared to controlling the minds of millions, like Hitler or Saddam Hussain. Evil is about world domination.

The reason for this thinking was basically Lavey opened his doors to all that were willing to pay {the business man aspect} and basically be a part of a religion that was not under the mindset of Christianity. Even though it was about as meek as Christianity. Your comments again?
Of course... He knew exactly what he was doing, and that is why I admire him so much. Just as I admire the author of the Bible (A fairy tale gone mad!), or Hitler... To manipulate so many people for their own benefit. To be God like is a power no one would refuse!

Are any of the members of Willow Wisp intrigued by Fascist beliefs and such things? If so to what extent?
We are all pretty much intrigued by everything the world has to offer, but we never dwell on things too much. Other wise you end up no better than all the followers.

How about the Occult?
Pretty much the same answer, but I know that Toe-knee has an alter in his room were he performs satanic rituals on a nightly basis.

Now bringing us up to date a bit more.. You have now signed to the Full Moon sub-label Ravenclaw. Can you give us some details on this? When did it occur and how did the deal come about?
Basically, I just emailed Jon that we were looking for label interest last June and he immediately wanted a package. He had seen our interview in Nordic Vision and knew that once upon a time we were going to be signed by Head Not Found. I know that Jon didn't like our more gothic songs at all, but I think when he heard us saying "Fuck Jesus, Fuck God" in Sodomized by God, it caught his attention. And from there it began...

It was at this time that I began to get a bit more interest in the band, all the things I had heard about Willow Wisp, I really had never pursued getting any material. But when Jon told me of him signing, I basically though, “If Jon can find some worth in their music, I have to hear them and see what they are about”. Basically, I think the fact that FMP signed you, will be a positive for you.. Do you feel it might help you to be taken more seriously?
Definitely, I think it will help immensely. I must say, we are something different, but people just need to listen to the music. If you take the time to hear all the songs and you still dont like us, I don't mind (at least you made up your mind based on all the information). But if you just look at a picture and say "they wear skirts and make-up, they must be GAY, I'm not listening to them!!" then you are just being mindless and stupid. I don't think there is a label out there like FMP. Jon is the type of guy who actually listens to the bands he signs and is not just worried about making money. He also has the same "fuck off" attitude that we have, which is cool... He doesn't just put bands on his label to suit the next new trend. He does it because its good fucking music.

When can we expect the CD to emerge? Finally, any title of the CD yet? The CD should be released in late March or early April. The title is: "Delusions of Grandeur: (A Gathering of Heretics)" A boring question, but one that I think in your case especially, many people will be interested in hearing the answer for.. What are your influences to come to such a unique style of music?
We are influenced by everything but just to name a few: Opeth, The Cure, Marduk, Leonard Cohen, Christian Death, Dark Funeral, Black Sabbath, Pagannini, Bathory, Cradle of Filth, Bauhaus, Beethoven, NIN, Morbid Angel, Slayer, White Zombie, The Carpenters, The Doors, Dead Can Dance, Diamanda Galas, and about a million others....

Please tell us of the immediate future plans for Willow Wisp...
The next step is to tour, shock the norm, and spread evil across the world. The end has arrived, thanks for the interview, best of luck. Thank you for the mind provoking questions....

Glenn Lee Alan Davis Willow Wisp