How are things going at the moment?
Good. The tour is good, the feedback from the new album Takasago Army is good too.
You had a competition to win a trip out to Taiwan to see the band play, you were going to get fans to sing the Taiwanese chorus of 'Takao'...how has that being going?
VERY good. We've got more than a hundred people trying out!
And how has it been, has it been quite funny hearing people trying to sing in Taiwanese?
Generally speaking it's been pretty good, they've been getting about 80% correct the Taiwanese lyrics. But I think it made the band feel very good. We're quite a serious band, we're always talking about serious things, nothing funny. But the competition really made the band and the fans feel like we're having fun and having things to share.
You're touring with Turisas at the moment and they have quite a lot of fun too, is that maybe where you're aiming?
Not quite, I mean we've talked about that on the tour. You know, they're so happy and there's a lot of funny things happening in their sets. But our music is not like that, so we can't do funny things on the stage really and getting the fans to sing in Taiwanese was a way to express it in other ways.
I almost tried out but I thought it would be a bit embarrassing for all concerned.
Haha, no!
Because it sounds like a lot of fun to come out to Taiwan and see Chthonic play out there.
The two people who won the tickets to come to see the tour in Taiwan, one is German the other is Japanese, but there are even people from Brazil and Canada who have bought tickets to come out and see the show in Taiwan.
Your new album, it's had a bit of time to settle and gather some moss, how are you feeling about it now?
Very good reception, very good reviews. We got a lot of perfect reviews like 10/10, 5/5 and we... because we wrote this album in a different way...Jesse (Liu, guitars) and I were worried about it, we didn't know what to expect. We didn't know how accepting the fans will be, we really love this album and we didn't know what to expect.
It has a different style and a new form or singing on it- could you tell us a bit more about it?
Yeah, where we were working on the record before that on Mirror Of Retribution Jesse and I were talking about the heavy riffs and how to make it with more of an orchestra- things like that, and then after that we added in some Taiwanese elements, that was the procedure at that time.
This time we wrote the Taiwanese songs first, and Taiwanese melodies. Songs even our grandmas could sing. Then we made it heavier and heavier, added in the metal riffs and we made it...something that my grandma cannot sing! So in the beginning it was quite different in writing but it felt more natural to us, because these melodies sort of exist everywhere in our bodies- when we wrote the Taiwanese oriental melodies first, it makes everything much easier for us. More natural.
It was a little while ago now, but how did the Judas Priest cover of 'Painkiller' come in amongst all of that?
Hahaha! That was something we also wanted to do for fun. Jesse and I love Judas Priest very much, for years- we've got all of their albums and we want to do some different styles from other bands like Iron Maiden or some Black Sabbath maybe. But it's just not that easy for us to rewrite and we found that 'Painkiller' was the best for us to rearrange.
It's quite a modern song by comparison to other classics I guess. But you're hear in England, where all of these bands come from, may not mean much now but how is it to be hear and playing Damnation Festival, it's your first isn't it?
Yeah, we love all kinds of festivals; outdoor festivals, indoor festivals. But these types of indoor festivals provide more chances to hang out with the fans and being closer with the fans. It's not like touring with some headliners or touring by ourselves, we've got all kinds of different fans who come to the festivals and we have much more time to hangout with fans which is very good.
Are you going to see any of the bands today?
Definitely! I'll be checking out Devin Townsend. I love him so much.
Do you like the new stuff he's been doing?
I haven't had a chance to hear it yet, that's why I'm so keen to see him and see what he's doing.
Turisas will be playing as well, you're touring buddies. We spoke about it briefly but what's it been like touring with them?
Oh, we just love Finnish people. We had a tour with Ensiferum a few years ago and a band supporting, so we have a lot of Finnish friends.
Yeah, Taiwan and Finland...
I know, it's so far away but it's like we have a connection. CJ our keyboardist can now speak some Finnish. And he just got his tattoo with some very tiny Finnish town on his hand. Not like London or Manchester or somewhere like, very unfamiliar...
Swindon?
Yeah! In Taiwan we have a phrase and it means: far far away close to heaven and deep deep down into the ocean, and it means the most separate- two separated worlds, and we say it means Finland and Taiwan. And we come together so many times, and they're so so funny. They hangout so much before the show and drink and say stupid things. Kiuas as well, they're Finish too, so much fun- and neither of us can speak English that well which makes it even funnier.
There is a serious side to Chthonic too which is the political trouble with China and Chinese authority, how has that been playing out recently- are you still not allowed to play there?
No. We can play Hong Kong, it's the only free city in China.
Yeah, we used to own it.
You should of kept Hong Kong!
No, we've got enough guilt, we don't need anymore!
When we play in Hong Kong there are so many Chinese fans that come to the city by train and ask us; “why don't you come to China?”, “why do we have to travel to Hong Kong to see you guys?”, and we say it's not our problem, it's your government's problem.
Somehow we got some threats as well. We were on the North American tour when we got one email from a so-called Chinese metal fan who said he was going to come to kill us.
And he sent it to us and Angela (Gossow, vocals) from Arch Enemy, and he threatened Angela saying, “you can't let them on stage or I'll kill you both”. Angela was so pissed off.
How does that make you feel? That's pretty bad.
So bad! Very weird. Weird because we know so many Chinese metal fans and they don't like their government either. Common sense says nobody would like it, but this guy really liked his government and wanted to protect it. Angela and Doris (Yeh, bass) came up with the answer that maybe he might not be a metal fan, he might be a student from the government, because they've done that a lot.
I suppose it's the internet, you get all kinds of people.
Yeah. Especially their government. Before they've hired students to go protest against the Dalai Lama and at events against other governments, so we feel maybe he's not a real metal fan.
Has this made you think about toning down your activism and think “maybe we should be quieter about this”.
No. It made us want to play in Beijing! The more these things that happen the more we want to do it and play in China and let them experience something for freedom and know that if we say something against the government nothing bad will happen, it's just freedom of expression. No one will die. It's just freedom of expression. Freedom of speech.
How is the situation in Taiwan over the last year or so, better or worse?
3 years ago we voted in a president and a party who wanted closer relations with China and do more economic business. At that moment there were so many Taiwanese who were afraid that we would lose our country, we will lose our freedom, we will lose our human rights. But in these 3 years the reality is better, we want to do business with China but we want to protect what we have right now. I think the Taiwanese have more self-confidence and know we can do business and remain independent.
And in your music you explore political and historical themes, including on your new album?
Yeah Takasago Army is about the 300,000 Taiwanese soldiers who fought for the Japanese imperial army in the Pacific War. The album begins with the soldiers fighting against Chinese invasion after World War 2, so they're the soldiers who can't stop fighting, because we've had a lot of invaders. The war was over but the Chinese came.
I don't think this is a political album because we just want to let the world and our fans know about something in World War 2 which isn't very well known. WW2 is a well known subject from films and things, like kamikaze, everyone knows kamikaze but you and the people only know about Japanese kamikaze and not that there were Taiwanese who played important parts of those missions.
What is funny is that it's a Taiwanese story but it's about WW2 so all the critics or fans from different countries put their own emotions onto this album. So the German or Japanese fans and critics had very different reactions from the British or American fans.
It was so funny when the German fans were saying “we feel totally the same as you”, we don't think you do because the background story is so different, but it was good fun.
You mention making it fun and you smile and are happy, but there is this idea Chthonic are or were a black metal band and I wonder if that's true?
It depends on your point of view. Personally in the band we all love black metal, we've listened to black metal for years but we don't really see ourselves as a black metal band because we think satanism and the antichrist stuff is more familiar to black metal or black magic but we are not that kind of band. Music is all about being creative and if fans or critics want to categorise Chthonic I would say try to use your imagination.
So far the black metal bands I know...they are not in their ordinary live like they are on stage. We're good friends with Dark Funeral, because we toured with them several years ago. We know Ahriman (guitar, vocals) and he is so stupid and such a funny guy, he has loads of South Park stuff and kitty cats everywhere, it's so funny. If you consider black metal as being like a horror movie, the people who are making horror movies; it doesn't mean they're evil or anything.
You'll be touring with Arch Enemy in the near future and just take us through that and the future.
Yeah, later this year in December we'll tour with Arch Enemy in Europe and then the next year will be hopefully a festival year for us. Jesse and I are talking about stories and concepts for the next album, we're trying to read more, to read more history- not just Taiwanese history but others too. I've been reading some English history, so we'll see what will happen.
