What's your band name? Members? What do they play?
The name of the band is NitemarE. Nox does vocals, Scump plays the drums, Splatt is bass and backing vocals, and Animal(me) plays guitar.
NitemarE has been around since the early 90s, since then there was a period where you had losses of members. Can you give me a history of the band?
We started in 1991 actually. Me and former member, Demon, formed the band from the ashes of our old band, Nocturnal Demise. We went through a couple of drummers before Taz joined the band on the skins. At that time, we had a few temporary bass players to help out along the way. Then Splatt entered in '93 and has been with NitemarE ever since. Over the first few years, Demon and Taz were in and out of the band a few times, with other guys filling in here and there. After Taz's final "tour of duty" and some demos, drummer Graves came aboard and we recorded our first full length CD titled "Creation Of Life". Splatt was also the lead vocalist on that recording as well as bass. Fast forward a couple of years, and we added front man Juri Rollo, and we released "Live Carnage"... from a gig we play with Amon Amarth. Then a bunch of problems led to the simultaneous departure of Demon, Graves, and Juri. Enter Luke-vocals, and Watt-drums for a few years of playing and fun, and their departure about a years ago. Which leads us to our present line-up... and the release of our latest CD, "Toronto Undead"
Is there a main lyricist in the band? Is there any main theme to your songs?
There's no main lyricist in the band. We all contribute lyrically. I write most of the music. Generally, I'll write the music and we add the lyrics afterwards. The topics revolve mostly about reality. We figure with the name NitemarE, what's more scary than reality right? Horror movies and such aren't truely scary. Not really. not when compared to our nuclear age, murder, addictions, or many of the other evils man has managed to come up with. We also do write some stuff fantasy-wise as well... such as a song we have called "Hell Hath The Fury", which is about Hell itself opening up and conquering every soul on earth. That title is a spin-off of the saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" ... Ya. Well, Hell HATH the fury indeed lol You can see that video on YouTube
Is there anything aside from the band that you do in the music industry?
I also do show promotion as well. I used to, and have started up Toronto Undead again. Over the years, we've brought in bands such as Nuclear Assault, Destruction, Vader, Kataklysm, PileDriver, Dreams Of Damnation, The Gathering, plus Anvil and Razor and Exciter numerous times as well.
Actually, I have Exciter and Rumpelstlitskin Grinder headlining the Gates Of Hell 2011 fest this April 23 at the Rockpile.
Ya, we're best of friends with Anvil. Our first show together was back in Dec 96 at The Generator. We did our sound check and Robbo comes up and wants to know if we want to play some other gigs they had lined up. It's been a blast ever since. We've probably played 30 or more shows with them over the years. We also shared quite a few different studios and warehouses with them for about a 10 year period. We're also very good friends with both Razor and Exciter. Been involved with both bands for more than 10 years. First time we played with Exciter was May 1997. We've played with both bands numerous times. Also on that note, I booked Anvil, Exciter and Razor together on the Gates Of Hell 2004, which was the first and only time ever, that the 3 of them had shared the same stage. \NM/
What accomplishment as a band are you most proud of?
I think the thing I'm most proud of about this band, is that it actually still survives lol
Splatt and me have been through a lot, both good and bad, and through it all, neither of us has ever wavered in what we want to do... and that's play in NitemarE!
What do you have planned for 2011?
Next on our to do list is to record another CD. Even though we just released "Toronto Undead", we feel we should follow that up quickly with another CD within the year. The music is already written for it, so we're really looking forward to it. Plus playing a shitload of shows \NM/
If there's anything in the world I could do, it would be to tour Europe! That's what I want to do.
Any final comments?
I'd like to say that Toronto's Metal scene is looking pretty good these days. We came out of the old days, when the scene in Toronto was huge... hell we even played shows with Varga and Jack Damage back then lol ... but then "alternative" came along and Metal suffered... but like I say, Metal in Toronto looks to be in better shape these days, then say compared to 10 yrs ago, and I look forward to a lot of good times down the line. There's a lot of good bands in this city and I want rip up the stage with them all \NM/
awesome interview!
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