INTERVIEW WITH FIVE THE HIEROPHANT
MELODY LANE had a great interview with the enigmatic London-based band 'Five the Hierophant'!
Don't miss their new album Through Aureate Void, a true masterpiece, a mystical trip through an instrumental psychedelic fusion of Jazz, Doom and Post Metal, that will be released on February 26th via Dark Essence Records.
MELODY LANE: First of all, also if it can sound a bit expected…Can you tell us where does the name Five the Hierophant come from?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: There's no big mystery here. Hierophant is a Greek word for a High Priest in ancient greek ritual mysteries. Five The Hierophant is a tarot card, and I thought it sounds intriguing so here we are.
MELODY LANE: The line-up of the band is confirmed, is it the same from the beginning of the band…or have you had changes in the last years? Can you tell us something about the roots of Five the Hierophant? Actual members…And where the band was born?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: We are London based. It started as a simple experimental jamming project and soon developed into this monster. I think we found out identity and direction fairly quick. It was the 3 of us first. The recording line up is not always the same as live line up. We are flexible in this respect. Anyway, there's no place for cult of personality here, so I dont think it really matters that much to the readers, who did what. It deflects attention from the music, and music in the most important thing here.
MELODY LANE: Can you list us 5 songs, from Five the Hierophant discography (including new material), that can define the sound of the band …5 songs that can help our readers to know Five the Hierophant at the best.
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: We are not a grindcore band, where you have 47 songs on the album on average. Our tracks are long, 10 to 15 minutes sometimes, and there's not that many of them so I suggest you check them all. Having that said, Queen over Phlegethon, and Leaf in the Current are pretty good tracks in my estimation. Also Berceuse is a pretty good one too, and it was almost entirely improvised.
MELODY LANE: Tell us something about the creative process of your music. Is there a main composer or we can talk about a team work? The songs come from ideas of a single member and then the band works on these ideas in the studio jamming together, or your songs are written in the studio and all the members compose together?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: Usually I come up with a riff or an idea for a track and we jam it with the drummer and bass, untill we are more or less happy with what we are doing. As long as it takes. Once we have that we can start thinking of top layers, saxophone, percussion, noises, all other instruments. Some songs are more or less improvised, and with others we need to pay close attention to whats goin on. You know, if its a free form jam, once you played it, its not easy to repeat it, and every time you play itll be slightly different. Its not easy to remember what just happened, which can be frustrating if it was a really good sounding idea, and now its gone, and no one remembers what it really was like.
MELODY LANE: Talking about your new album Through Aureate Void, can you tell us anything about the ‘bigger picture’…the concept, vision and ideas about the the birth and growth of the album?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: There's no bigger picture, its not concept album. There's no vocals and so there's no narrative. We are taking you on a trip but it really is up t you where you want to go and what you want to see. We are just a vehicle. In general my idea is that FTH should be enable you to step out of the here and now. In the same sense that you can step away from yourself and enter a state of trance via certain drugs, or practices. This is why I thought the name of the band is appropriate because we use the same ritualistic aspect in out music. About the recording, of course it was quite tricky as we had to stop the work in the studio for some months, and that wasnt good at all.
MELODY LANE: Apart from the all the problems and troubles related to the pandemic COVID-19 , any chance for us to see Five the Hierophant playing live here in Italy/Europe in the next months/years? Maybe summer festivals?Any plans?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: We have plans for some gigs in UK and Eu in August, but to be absolutely honest with you, its not looking great. We would like to go on a tour again, but it remains to be seen if we can...
MELODY LANE: Could you tell us two bands, from the actual international scene, you’d like to tour with?... Two bands that would represent a perfect line-up for Five the Hierophant to play with… maybe two bands that could help you to enlarge your fan-base… And why these bands?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: oh fucking hell man, what a puzzle. There's lots of bands I'd like to play with. But if you press me hard, I think the best line up would be with OM and SWANS. Can you imagine something like that???
MELODY LANE: We know that ‘to define is to limit’… but how would you define Five the Hierophant sound? Are you an Alternative Prog band? Experimental rock band? …Psychedelic/Dark rock band?...Or…?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: None of the above. Or all of them. It doesnt really matter what label you stick on it. Think about it: if you say Alternative Prog, what picture this label paints for you, would be completely different to what I see when I say alternative prog. I would say Frank Zappa, not Five The Hierophant. It surely is experimental, but so is Merzbow, or Thorns or Neubauten. It surely is psychedelic but so is Popol Vuh, or Oranssi Pazuzu. So really puttng a label like that can only make it more confusing, if you know what I'm trying to say? I think the easiest way is to say instrumental doom/black metal with sax but its still not accurate...
MELODY LANE: Which musicians/bands are/have been your main musical inspirations?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: For me COIL is a great source of inspiration, always. Also old stuff from Cold Meat Industry, this stuff like Deutsch Nepal, or In Slaughter Natives, or MZ412 was a big inspiration for me from the day I heard them first time. Italian band ZU was the inspiration for me to go in this direction, when I saw them live, and they totally destroyed me. Of course I mentioned OM already. Also, if you are curious enough, check out some bands from the now defunct Instant Classic, bands like Lotto, or Innercity Ensemble...
MELODY LANE: Which are your favorite bands nowadays? Is there any musicians you’d really like to collaborate/write music with?...and why?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: We are doing a split LP with WyattE from Belgium. They play some really trippy music, and I'm sure it'll work out well. My favorite bands nowadays, too many to mention. I wouldn't mind inviting John Zorn for collaboration but it will never happen.
MELODY LANE: Until today...What was the most important concert for Five the Hierophant’s career?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: I remember playing Desert Fest in London few years back. I think it was our second gig ever, or something like that and it was pretty full on.
MELODY LANE: As a musician, what has been your biggest achievement to date and what do you want to achieve in the near future?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: Every album I did was a great acheivement, so I couldn't single out one. I feel like we are only just started with FTH so there's lots of things we want to do in the future.
MELODY LANE: After time, are you totally satisfied with your choices about sound and the writing of your previous album Over Phlegethon? If you could… would you change anything?
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: If I could I would change quite a few things about Through Aureate Void to be fair, Theres a few bits and ideas that got lost in the process, which i regret now. Over phlegethon is pretty solid. Much more simple but to the point.
MELODY LANE: In the end…A message from you to all MELODY LANE readers.
FIVE THE HIEROPHANT: My message is this: go to the forest, pick some magic mushrooms and eat them. As many as you can find, but not more than 100. That's too much, trust me. Then as you stumble through the night walking back home, put Five The Hierophant on the headphones.
MELODY LANE: Thank you, stay safe and all the best!
ARTICLE BY: MIKE MATTY