British Doom institution My Dying Bride return with their new album, 'The Lies I Sire', their first in some three years. Sporting a new line-up to boot and tinges of earlier albums, the purists have began to salivate so we thought it time to catch up with Aaron to chew the fat.

The bands tenth album ‘For Lies I Sire’ is due for release at the end of March, what can we expect from the record? Has it turned out as you had envisaged at the outset?

It is a proud moment to release the tenth CD and it has actually turned out better than we had hoped! Naturally, we put a lot of effort into it and expected to have a quality product when recording finished but it’s even better! We never really plan an albums sound and are not certain just how it will sound or feel when we begin writing so it’s a nice thing when it blooms like it has.

From my perspective the album has a real ‘old school’ My Dying Bride vibe to it, but how do you feel ‘For Lies I Sire’ connects with your previous releases?

You’re right, it does appear to have a touch of early MDB about it. I think that’s down to the violin and the style of the lyrics, which hark back to the early, more poetical days of the band. It wasn’t intentional, it just sort of happened.

Sort of. Most of the music was written by Andrew and Hamish with Lena and Dan adding suggestions as it progressed and then I was given the material, track by track and worked the lyrics and vocals into it. I might move the odd riff or extend passages of music to incorporate my words but not to any great degree. It seems to be quite a nice way of working so I’d be happy to do it that way again in the future.

The album is the first to feature new members Dan Mullins, Lena Abe and Katie Stone. How do you feel they have settled into the My Dying Bride fold? What did they bring respectively to the writing and recording process?

I think that because they are all new(ish) members, their contribution to the writing was a bit on the light side as I’m sure they didn’t want to tread on our old feet, but hopefully, as they settle down and become more confident, their writing skills will come to the fore.

Also where and how did you come to recruit each respective member, and do you feel the dynamics of the band are likely to change with the female members joining?

The sex of a member has nothing to do with their reason for being elected into the fold, everything goes on ability. If you can do the job well and you don’t have a bad attitude, then you get the job. With each person, we auditioned them along with others but gave them the position in the band because of what and how they are as people and performers. I don’t believe the dynamic of the music will alter due to them being women, except in the normal way with their song writing input.

‘For Lies I Sire’ is your first  album  since re-signing 

A couple of reasons. They have always allowed us 100% artistic control over everything we do and they have never asked us to make a more commercial sounding record to gain publicity, they have never altered our artwork because they didn’t like it, they don’t mess with touring plans and we have our own merchandising deal. And they offered us the best deal against some stiff competition from other labels.

The album was recorded & mixed at Futureworks with your long-time producer Mags. What makes Mags such an integral part to the My Dying Bride recording process? How was the recording process for the album, how long did the process take from start to finish?

Mags has worked with us for such a long time that we feel like he’s another member of the band, so it would seem odd if we were to work without him. He’s also our live sound engineer as no-one knows our sound better than him. The recording took about 10 weeks in total although it was spread over several months due to us playing summer festivals and the process went very smooth indeed without a single hitch, which must be a first!

The album features the return of the much anticipated violin to the My Dying Bride musical arsenal. What made this album and now the right time to bring this element back to your music? Was it a conscience choice from the outset to incorporate the instrument?

Sarah left to have a baby we auditioned a few people to replace her and when Katie revealed she could also play the violin, she got the job. We weren’t actively seeking a violin player but naturally grabbed her when she turned up. It’s lovely to have the instrument back as it adds another level to our already bulging cacophony of misery.

The title and art work for the album is very provocative, is there one meaning behind the title and how did the concept for the art work come about?

I imagine the last words of a dying ‘leader of men’ to be ‘for lies I sire’ meaning he realises why he’s been put to death; for spreading lies about saving mankind and promising eternal happiness so long as they devote their life to him and his beliefs no matter what it costs and even if it means despising those who reject him, including thy neighbour and family.

The band has a handful of summer dates penned but have you any plans to hit the road in support of the album?

We’d like to but always seem to have a myriad of problems and only end up doing a handful of shows. Perhaps we’re a bit picky or maybe too demanding, but I doubt it. I prefer a few show to hundreds anyway so I’m happy.

Given your love / hate relationship with the live environment how difficult does it make it for you guys to have extended time on tour?

Well, like I mentioned, since we only do about 10 to 15 shows a year, I can tolerate it. And it makes the shows very special for the fans too as we very much give 100% of ourselves during the performance, something a band doing a huge tour simply couldn’t do.

Given the longevity of the band you are perfectly placed to give an over view of the Doom metal scene, do you think there are any new bands making waves in 2009 in the same way as you guys did with ‘Towards the Sinister’?

How are you guys feeling about the resurrection, all be it temporarily of St. Vitus and do you think the likes of Candlemass, Celtic Frost still have a part to play with new releases?

I don’t actually know anything at all about St. Vitus but I certainly believe Celtic Frost & Candlemass have plenty more to give yet. Without those two bands, My Dying Bride may not have even existed and so I have high regard for Tom, Leif and the boys. And the last CF album was quite astonishing, despite them recently splitting up again. I’m sure they’ll be back.

2008 saw the band release ‘Ode To Woe’ (a live album and DVD). Do you think it was a fair interpretation of the band live captured the bands live prowess or looking back is there anything you’d change?

We had no plans to make another live DVD but when we played that show, a television channel recorded for broadcast and after we saw it we thought it would make for a superb release as it does indeed capture the band in fine fettle. As it wasn’t a My Dying Bride production we tried to make sure it was a ‘budget’ release so many people got it for a very respectable price, so everyone seems to have gotten something positive from the deal.

Any final words to all the My Dying Bride fans out there (who will hopefully) reading this?

We hope to see you all again this Summer somewhere in the world.