Portugal’s leading Goth Metal export Moonspell continue to rise to the occasion with their latest auditory assault Memorial. Breaking new sonic boundaries they have once again managed to outdo themselves in every conceivable aspect. The guys have also successfully completed their first headlining trek across North America and with so much going their way I felt that now was the perfect time to hook up with frontman Fernando Ribeiro for an in depth chat to find out all the latest happenings for this uniquely gifted band. As the interest in emotionally charged gothic music, melodic death metal and class act artistry continue to grow in popularity it’s important to recognize those who helped to define the movement. Moonspell may have come from humble beginnings but over the course of the last thirteen years have steadily worked their way toward a world renowned legacy and have become definitive leaders in the Underground Metal monarchy. Incendiary, captivating and ardently mystical Moonspell are one of my favorite bands in existence today and it was a huge pleasure to talk at length with Fernando. As when looking in a mirror dimly it is often unclear what one actually perceives. For Moonspell, building their career and philosophical thought in conjunction with the happenings of today’s society finds their focus not necessarily on what we see around us in everyday life but what is missed when looking at the reflection of humanity. In other words we as a people may need to take a deeper look and not view things at face value as we may have been trained to do. Nothing is ever as it seems.     

OT: So I’ve been listening to your latest release, Memorial, quite a bit; it’s very amazing to say the least.

Fernando: Thank you, thank you for your words.

OT: You’re welcome. When you guys set out to write and record this CD, what were your goals, what were you trying to achieve with this record?

Fernando: Well, as in any other Moonspell records, we talked about it. It’s very important for our band to be on the same stream of thoughts and feelings in order to create music so basically we wanted, coming out from the Antidote experience with all the touring, we wanted a more intense album, a little bit more extreme, stronger in parts. Because we thought the Antidote songs were quite atmospheric and the strong parts of the Antidote songs resulted very well live and people reacted in a very instinctive way to that so we tried to do this from scratch with Memorial. And also we wanted to have an album that would transmit to people strength, independence like the albums that the 90’s bands did, not only Moonspell but also Tiamat, Samael, Katatonia, that were uncompromising albums, albums where the bands dared to go forward with their sound. So basically that was our goal then. We went to Germany to record it with our best, in order to obtain, or to reach as close as possible, to these goals. And then we came out of Germany with a pretty good album, I think.

OT: Yeah, I’d say so. (Laughing). Now from your point of view, what’s the greatest difference from this album versus everything that you’ve done in the past, what makes this one stand out more than the others?

Fernando: Well it’s hard to tell because Moonspell is always a band that tries to tell a story and tries to reach, with each album, certain contacts. So all the albums will be obviously having a ‘root’ feeling into it, something that unites them all, but they will always be different from each other because the stories and the energies and the goals are changing within us as persons and obviously that reflects in our music as well. I think this album, when compared to the others if I can say anything about that, it’s a more direct album. It’s a more straight into your heart and body and soul, it’s the most intense album that we have done, not only the songs but the way the songs are put together on the record, with the instrumentals. I think this album goes in a direct line and it’s an album that…, I think in music and in art there can only be two ways, and Moonspell has done them; it’s either to be yourself, or to be someone else. And I think they are both legitimate because music and art, it’s also fantasy and your fantasizing about being someone else or sounding like someone else. And I think that this record brings us closer to ourselves, in a way. It’s what we like to do; it rocks, but it has atmosphere, it’s musical, has a little bit of progressive feeling into it, so I think that is the main difference

OT: Interesting, a lot of the artists that I talk to don’t have an answer like what you’ve just given me, they’re just like, ‘I don’t know, we just kinda went in and wrote an album.’ Some people think their fans can be a better judge but the fans are always asking the question, ‘So what’s different?’ So it’s good that you have something to say. So did your decision to sign with SPV bring a renewed focus to the band and where you were headed? Obviously there were probably quite a few things that led up to that happening, but how has that helped the band as to where you’re at now?

Fernando: I think when we reached the end of the deal with Century Media with the Antidote we felt first and foremost a need to make something happen, a need to change, you’re right, I think that’s the best word. And I think, in a way, got us to search for labels, got us to search for different people to work with. Even though Century Media was interested in re-signing us, that was not the path that we chose for the band because we had grown in a different direction. Leaving Century Media and having more control, especially about business gave us room to breathe, because the creativity is always something we set apart from the label work. They do not touch that part that only Moonspell is responsible for, from the video clips to anything really; music and lyrics obviously. And when we signed, it’s always a shot in the dark you know, labels they are good to start with but they can become bad, there’s always this back and forth. But I think that the main thing was that we would be able to, like you said, to start again, to get some stuff together. And the contract with Century Media did not allow us to have our own merch. rights, they limited our control over our music and more. I think that was very important for us to have and it worked out that our fans understood that and they embraced this as kind of a new beginning so it created a good feeling and it created a positive feeling. While sometimes, when we released albums with Century Media everything was very predictable and people were already knowing what was going on. So to release a quality album as a first experience for a new label, it’s something that surprised our fans in a positive way; and ourselves as well. And I think that was the most important factor of changing and the best consequence of changing.

OT: Right on, well they seem to be doing a great job, they’re giving this new album a really good push and it’s definitely put you guys back on the map in a way that you’ve never been before.

Fernando: Pushing the U.S., I have to say that we had always great CD promotions from Century Media Europe, that was never a problem, but in the U.S. we didn’t see things happen much at all. We toured here, two big tours with Opeth and Type O and Cradle and I can say I have done more interviews on this past headlining underground smaller tour than all these big tours. So I think, yeah, we should give thumbs up to SPV which is a label that does not have the power or the sales or the influence of Century Media because it’s newer in the market, but they are trying their very best; and with Moonspell they really are doing a good job, I totally agree with you.

OT: Besides the press, was the last U.S. tour better for you in other ways?

Fernando: It was a lot of responsibility to start with, I mean we were touring with very good bands and the audience was split. It was Katatonia’s first time touring the states and they are one of my favorite bands and they had a very good response so you have to rise up to that challenge. Not that there was any competition because we are very good friends and we are fans of each other’s music but we did have to rise up to the challenge and that’s harder than when we supported. We would play for a half and hour and then go and sleep or have showers and drink ourselves to death. But this time it was different and we had invested a lot on this tour. We brought our scenario, we brought our light guy, all of that and obviously we had much more time and people really appreciated that. We’ve never had such a huge response from the crowd that came to see any of the bands. The other bands fans stayed to see us and I’d say they were blown away by our show. We’ve been playing a lot since The Antidote and I think we have raised the level of our performance higher. I think the tour was a great success and obviously it is very problematic to tour the U.S. Some places were like being in paradise and others did not respect the band at all and could not offer the conditions in which we could perform where the audience could see. I think that in the end though we learned a lot and became a stronger band with a stronger fan base. The tour was just a great learning opportunity for Moonspell. It was also an opportunity to strengthen our music and our belief in our music in our live performance. There are talks of us coming back on a bigger tour, not headlining but supporting and I think it will be great to once again open our sound to new fans but also solidify what we have been gaining by the hard work that we have been doing in North America since 1999 when we toured with In Flames.  

OT: Well it’s really great that America has become more embracing of your music and this genre of music in general

Fernando: It’s about time because we know a lot of European bands that have worked their asses off to please the American crowd which was always a hard nut to crack and very closed within its own theme. So basically when you look at bands like Lacuna Coil or Dimmu Borgir or Swedish bands like The Haunted or In Flames and others who are making a name for themselves, this would not have been possible like ten years ago when we were offered our first tour in America. We couldn’t make it because we could not get the right routing and the promoters were not up to investing in European Metal and there was no sensibility of the audience itself. I like American Metal a lot especially Death Metal, I still think it’s the finest bands to come from the states. It’s good to have change, to have these cultures being into Metal and that can definitely enrich both the European and the American. You see a lot of new bands from America being influenced by European bands and this is something that just didn’t happen ten years ago.  

OT: So I like to dig a bit deeper with you now. The last time we spoke you mentioned that some of your inspiration came from such individuals as Oscar Wilde and Aleister Crowley. How have their teachings and philosophies helped shape your current world view?

Fernando: Well Oscar Wilde is more of a literary type of thing really. I think for this kind of dark, gothic, dreamy, poetry in literature Oscar Wilde is the role model. His life is not an inspiration for me although it was very interesting. But the way that he puts his words together this fragility, but also this threat found in his tales in his novels and poetry truly inspires me as a writer and the subject that he would delve into that was very personal to me like love and death and elegance and decay are things that I relate to and I think that as a lyric writer for Moonspell I find them very appropriate to be attached to this kind of music and this kind of sound. Obviously I mean when I was younger I was very much into occultism and Aleister Crowley was always an enigma for me and he had a very close relationship with our country, Portugal because there was a friend of his the poet Senhor Fernando Pessoa who is probably the best know Portuguese poet ever who helped him in conducting a ritual death. You can visit the place where this happened and that bit of history really connected with me and made me want to learn more about him but to be honest I’m not an expert and don’t even come close to others who have studied him. In order to do that, I would have to give up my music, my wife and everything, because it is very deep and complex. All in all Moonspell goes on being a band that is influenced by literature and poetry and by other peoples visions not only Oscar Wilde and Aleister Crowley but many living and dead people that can speak to our hearts and minds igniting certain feelings and certain ideas that we definitely use to fuel up our music.

OT: You seem to be much deeper than many of the musicians that I speak with, most just want to get together and jam on some tunes.

Fernando: Well I have no problem with that but our influences and our way of believing and being into music has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the Rock and Roll aspect, drinking beer and f*cking groupies. No, really that is nothing for me that is completely false and a waste of time and energy. For me music is something serious, spiritual, special, unique and all that folklore does not interest me at all.

I appreciate you saying that. There aren’t many who would be so bold. So taking things a step further, there is a lot of hatred and confusion in the world today and your songs obviously reflect a portion of that. Do feel that your music has any sort of positive outlook to offer or is it merely a means to discuss the darkness of mankind and vent your frustrations and emotions?

Fernando: Our music is totally human and totally driven upon that discussion of mankind. That discussion can be very intense; very large as well. I do believe in man and his capacity of creating and destroying something is something that fascinates me very much, literally or when it comes to more abstract fields like art or music. Basically we cannot live outside of the world that has gone in wrong direction since probably about five or six years ago and our music reflects this cultural fear of paranoia, of violence that has spread across the world. It is very hard to feel what is positive or negative about the music cause when I write I cannot flash old houses and present them to people. I think they are contained in the childhood like a light in the darkness if you want to be really simple here. So our music is definitely like anything else in this world it fuses these aspects and confuses them in just one element perhaps. We do not make political or social lyrics we have our stance and if you take a song like “Upon The Blood of Man” which is an ambiguous song about hatred and about lessons that we could have learned but never did and that’s why I cannot answer, and nobody can for that matter. It’s what fascinates me and what makes me more and more a kind of answer to why mankind misses out on so much on opportunities and why it’s so destructive. When you compare Europe to America: Europe is a more peaceful continent; it’s not so driven by warfare like there in the States. But we have to also understand Europe is a very old continent and we had our share of wars while America is still a young continent so there’s hot blood, belligerent feelings that are strong in America. And I hope that one day people will reduce violence in a way and will learn how to be more laid back, more low profile and have more patience because sometimes even in the shows I feel people behave a little violently. Not that they are fighting necessarily, but sometimes everything, it’s too black or white. Sometimes in Europe it’s hard to understand and to live through that, but I think that you have great people, definitely, and great opportunities of learning. I mean your President was the worst thing that could happen to you and to the world I think, but then again, we cannot judge the forest by the tree; so let’s see what happens. I think everyone is holding his or her breath and because that affects us all, it doesn’t matter if you’re living in Europe or living in the States anymore; our world is complete global and interactive nowadays.

OT: Right, definitely, definitely. One last question before I let you go. You’d mentioned to me before in a previous interview that Portugal had a lot to offer by way of music and art, are Moonspell viewed with respect and reverence in your home country? I mean how are you perceived there, are you like the local heroes of the country as far as music goes?

Fernando: Well we won Best Portuguese Act on MTV Music Awards so that says something. I do not really have an answer to that because Portugal is such a small country with such a small scene that we sometimes ask ourselves how can it be that Moonspell is the only known band from Portugal and that is not, in a way, a comfortable position for us. We would prefer to have a scene to tour with bands from Portugal to do stuff that would involve the Portugal scene than really to be carrying the f^ckin’ flag alone; that is what happened to us. But I think Portuguese metal is growing and also Moonspell is growing a lot in Portugal; our Memorial album did number one in the official charts. And regardless of all of this, and regardless of all the happiness this can give us, as a band and as musicians, I think that its important people believe more in metal in Portugal because I think it starts there.

OT: Very cool. Well obviously you guys are kind of alone in it right now but if it is growing the way you say then I’m sure there will come a day when there will be more bands from Portugal.

Fernando: Yeah definitely, definitely; I dream about that day man. (Laughing)

OT: (Laughing) It’s a heavy burden to bear and I’m sure your country’s like, “Ok, get out there and take us to the world.”

Fernando: Yeah and we’re all listening to Swedish on the bus; there are so many Swedish bands or English or whatever, it’s great to be the Portuguese band.

OT: Right on. Well thank you so much Fernando, for your time, I really appreciate it.

Fernando: Ok, ok thanks for the interview.

OT: Have a good one.

Fernando: Ok, thank you, b’bye.

OT: ‘Bye.