MOUTHY ISSUE TWO
May 2003
REVEREND BIZARRE
interview by Ian C Stewart

Insane doom metal band Reverend Bizarre formed in 1995, "In small and narrow-minded town of Lohja, Finland. Nowadays we reside in Turku." The lineup consists of Magister Albert, who is the coordinator of "low frequencies, preaching, insanity, bass and vocals," Earl Of Void, who is the administrator of "creeping death slowness, sickness and drums," and Peter Vicar, the CEO of "slow burning behemoth riffage, hails & guitars," who answered the following template of curiosities.

Where did the band's name come from?
Originally it was something Albert saw in a dream, but more consciously it is a kind of parody of King Crimson. Also, it suggests that our schizophrenic minds are split into two: good and evil, Bizarre being good, and Reverend evil.

Are you active in your local music scene?
Hell yes! But not in a pub-band sense. We don't play live too often here, but we all have several bands and are recording stuff, going to gigs, and sometimes even putting together musical events.

How do your songs come to be?
It's all about discipline! We don't jam our songs at all, everything is arranged precisely as it was in the original vision. We do try different arrangements and harmonies, but basically it's mostly all written when we start to rehearse a song. Tradition of Old School Doom Metal is important in the songwriting process - we really try to do schoolbook examples of pure True Doom, the way we'd like to hear it!

Insert inevitable question about influences here.
To name only five: Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Trouble, Pentagram, and Witchfinder General. These are the most important root bands for us, the ones who really gave us our Gospel. Some might call our music a bunch of clichés because we bond ourselves so strongly to this tradition of Doom Metal, but we couldn't care less! Let them whine and cry, we will continue our crusade nevertheless, and kick their ass - Crush the Insects!

What's the biggest show you've played so far?
Definitely the Doom Shall Rise festival at Turnshalle, Triensbach/Crailsheim, Germany. 350 to 400 loyal doom-fanatics were there doing the sermons. Unfortunately be had some technical and emotional difficulties there, but we sure made up for it on the tour that followed! You know, we did six killer shows with Revelation (Doomgods from USA), and Mirror of Deception (our brothers from Germany), and even had Dennis Cornelius from Revelation as a guest vocalist in Dresden. He did 'Doomsower' because Albert had damaged his voice. Best ones were Jena and Hannover - Doooom!

Funny shit ever happen with your band?
I could talk about Anal Kisses, Long Island Ice Tea, Madness, ABRAXAS tattoos, Semlah, or the beautiful island of Malta. But instead I choose to reveal our singer's fascination with camouflage in its every form. He found some really interesting ways of using a camouflage net in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, hiding people under it and doing bizarre deeds. Later, he was given a camouflage jacket to wear, kind of a triumph, I reckon! He really liked playing at the Frontline in Ghent, Belgium - they had tons of camouflage nets backstage, as if they had read Albert's mind! Another, perhaps not so amusing story is that of our drummer. We had already given our tour a moniker "Sickness 2003 Tour", when Earl Of Void really crashed and burned after our show in Hannover. Thanks to the incompetence of the doctor he then visited, he was allowed to continue with us without any further treatment, even though he had stomach cramps and high fever in the night. However, he was such a mess by the next night that we had to cancel the last show of the tour, at Recklinghausen. After that he had to deal with five-hour ride to Hamburg in a cold van, eleven hours waiting at the airport, then a three-hour flight, then a two-hour bus ride back to Turku. Then he had to walk to his home for three kilometers with his heavy luggage. Finally in the next morning he went to the hospital, and was diagnosed for severe pneumonia (hardly surprising!). AND to my knowledge he had to wait for another ten hours to get a bed in the crowded hospital. Then he was given some fluids back, finally, and transferred yet to another hospital, he he! That's something of a walk from Getsemane to Golgata, but reversed, I guess! He is out from the hospital now, feeling okay again. hopefully.

What's next for the band?
We will record a 10" split with excellent new Doom Metal band Orodruin (USA). Hellride Music will put this thing out, and I can promise it will be a cult release, fucking HEAVY!!! Coming up: various splits, At the Mountains of Madness pt. II (Doom Metal collection by Miskatonic Foundation, our song being, as it seems, 'Funeral Summer'), A Timeless Tale (tribute to Saint Vitus, from RavenMoon Records, I'm not sure whether this is coming out or not, since it has been delayed for years! Our song there is 'Dark World'). And three of our future releases have been written, some later releases well planned too. Be Forewarned!


www.reverend.shows.it



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