Church Of Misery Interview

Japanese Doom metallers Church Of Misery, fresh from their first European tour, are full of the joys of life and a desire to spread the word of Doom!!!

How are things with all you guys?
It was tiring [for] us immediately after the TOUR ended, but now it's OK!
The band has just returned from your first European tour. How did you all enjoy the tour? Any memorable shows?
Yeah! We enjoyed playing every time! We got tons of excitement from many audiences. Memorable show?? Everywhere, because this was the first time [we] play out of Japan.
What is next for the band? When do you expect to be back in the studio? Are there any titles you can share with us?
We must begin to start to prepare for our next album because [our] label (Japan's Phalanx Records) which released "Second Coming" wants to put it out next spring! We have a few new songs, so I've been writing new material. I carefully make songs, it' takes time.
Have you even begun writing for the next record? Can we assume that > the serial killer lyrical themes will continue onto the next record?
We have 3 new songs now. 1 instrumental and 2 songs. The are no titles. We call it new song 1 and new song 2 etc, HA HA! Of course [the] serial killer lyrical themes is the most important thing to me. We went to Dennis Nilsen's house in London after the UK tour. Dennis Nilsen is the UK's most cruel serial killer, my favourite! So I'm very happy with that! We've taken many photo's in front of his house! We'll use it for the upcoming release on [the] cover!
Where did the concept of basing the lyrics around serial killers?
Psychedelic "Weed" trip etc.... It's ordinary and our band name "Church Of Misery" expresses it. Church [is a] symbol of Christianity, and Christianity is the base of the western world. Misery.....Church Of Misery means miserable Western world or [the] decline of Western World / sick of America, so I use serial killers as a symbol.
Musically what direction is the new material taking? Can we expect any covers on any new release?
Any covers? Yeah! We always done cover songs. It's just for fun! It's very fun when we choose cover songs! Who's cover do you want to listen [to], let me know?!
The bands most recent release was 2004’s “Early Works Compilation”. How and why did you feel it was the time to re-release this material?
It's just [the] best time because most of all [the] material was all deleted. All of [the] labels were not in existence so every item is very hard to find now. We got many e-mails very day and they [all] said "when will you re-release the early material"? "Where can I get the early CD's"? On ebay our items are really expensive, so we released all [the] early material for everyone of our maniax!
Church Of Misery and Eternal Elysium are the two most notable Japanese exports of DOOM, are there any new bands making a name for themselves?
Has the DOOM scene grown at all in Japan since you guys started out? I have a negative opinion about Japan because there is no DOOM scene here. There are no new bands, I don't know why, but we and Eternal Elysium are very popular in Japan.
You categorize your music as true DOOM metal. What is your opinion, therefore on DOOM hybrid genres such as Stoner or Sludge?
We declared our manifest about DOOM on the back cover of "Master Of Brutality". Let's speak the facts, I like stoner music, I love it. What I wanted to say is that [the] media did not take time when Kyuss existed, and now there [are] so many Kyuss clones, the labels release all this material. The media make it a trend of Stoner [music]. So I declared "we hate trends"! I am only unpleasant in the flood of a lot pretenders.
Church Of Misery has had a number of line-up changes since your inception. How do you feel this current line-up rank in the history of the band?
BEST! I am satisfied there is nothing [to] say anything. It is believed that this LINE-UP continues through all eternity.
Who brings what to the band when it comes time to write? How do you approach this process?
Basically only I write material. [The] other members can not write songs, but I think it's OK.
Church Of Misery has had to endure continual comparisons to Black Sabbath since day one. Do you ever grow tired of these constant comparisons?
Never, because I wanted to do an early Sabbath and formed this band. It doesn't worry me about at all. Will you think that our music is more wonderful that [the] current Sabbath? Ha!
How do you feel about the original Black Sabbath members possibly writing / recording a new album? Do you think this wise move?
Uuhh...It's difficult to say. I can say only this, I'm not interested in [anything] excluded early Sabbath.
Are you still involved with G.A.T.E.S? If so what is new on this front, any news you are able to share?
After [our] European tour, we are back in Japan [on] October 13th and The Gates had a gig [the] next day! I'm so tired, but The Gates [are] still alive. They played support [to] Crust of [the] USA, a hardcore band. Many hardcore punks come to Church Of Misery shows. By the way do you know Sonic Flower?? This band was formed by me and guitarist Hoshi. It's instrumental bluesy heavy rock with two guitarist, Sonic Flower released 1 album and [in] December we'll go into [the] studio for a new album. It will [be] out early next year.
The Doom genre is at present enjoying a resurgence in its popularity. What do you attribute this too?
To tell the truth, Doom music doesn't seem to be here in Japan because it is unpopular. Our first European tour we noticed that there are so many Doom fans in Europe and they accept our music and enjoy our shows. It's really beautiful thing. They've been listening [to] our CD and have been waiting for our shows. It's awesome.
Thanks for the interview is there any last message to all the Church Of Misery fans out there?
Yeah! First of all we would like to say thank you for coming [to] our show everywhere in Europe. We hope you all enjoyed our shows, we'll be back to your countries April next year. See you later!!!

Images used with the kind permission of Church Of Misery.