XASTUR: How would you describe Diminishments sound?
CATHAOIR: Enigmatic and Brooding
XASTUR: What influences your music and the subjects of your lyrics? Do you have beliefs or Spiritual leanings which play a part in your music?
CATHAOIR: This is a good one, the music of Diminishment follows a tale basicaly, the tale of the aftermath of a war between heaven and hell, which hell won, light has essentialy ceased to exist for quite sometime and only stories of light or good is all that remains, in its wake eternal damnation, diminishment of all that is good or god, totality in futility, all under eternal diminishment. A near perfect world, a nocturnal eutopia. As for the second part I personaly can attest for some very close feelings for leveyan satanism, but i pull form here or there in the pagan spectrum, Tichdondrius believes in nothing. So when both of these come together it makes for more desolate works, as for the part they play in music, it drives a bit but isnt the coffin nail to our music, The coffin nail is all that we aforemeantioned plus our personal experiences.
XASTUR: Are you influenced by any other bands or musicians Cathaoir? Which bands do you currently listen to? Do you have any old and enduring favourites?
CATHAOIR: Venom, Bathory, Emperor, Dark Funeral, influence my music, I am currently listening to Nokturnal Mortum, Mithras, Emperor, Ruins of Beverast, and the classics of Venom and Bathory.
XASTUR: After the demise of your former band Nattervrede was it always your intention to form a new band? How would you say Diminishment differs from Nattervrede?
CATHAOIR: After NatterVrede ended I wanted to reaffirm some old attributes and move towards a more "organic sound" more true to the old roots, Nattervrede we used tons of compression and large expansive gear setups, while with Diminshment we keep it simpe. Straight forward with a single amp, a mic, a cab and as little compression. And in Diminishment we really try to just let the music develop into its own sound, I guess Nattervrede was a stepping stone in one direction, while Diminishment is more on a personal path to fullfilment of what I always wanted to accomplish sonicaly.
XASTUR: How did you choose the bands name? Does it have any particular meaning or association for you?
CATHAOIR: Diminshment as in the name of band formed right from a talk with Tichondrius on the pondering of existence in which I stated "All we could know is we die then all these delusions of heaven or hell or what have you can very well be the parts of the brain malfunctioning till your brain rots out, then there would be nothing, just everything diminished''; Tichondrius said ''dude thats the most depressing thing I have heard in a long time, I have to be in your band" so thats how it came to be.
XASTUR: What roles do you take in the band?
CATHAOIR: Well I wanted to just focus on lead guitar, but that fell through big time like always...so I do all rhythm, lead guitars, drums (programing), keys for background, then all the mixing mastering, promotion, all that, Tichondrius does all the bass, vocals, and helps with some of the mixing and mastering as well.
XASTUR: Tell me bout the rest of the band Cathaoir. There have been a few line-up changes during the recording of the album. Why was this?
CATHAOIR: Well origionaly it was me on guitars, Tichondrius on bass guitars, but then Ixion my older band mate Heretic from the Phasmatis days in the mid 90's and they both fell through due to one being shipped out to sea in Heretics case, and in Ixion, he was given an ultimatum of either go back to college or live on the streets. so they left the band out of necessity.
XASTUR: How did you come by Tichondrius and has he, like yourself, been involved in any other projects before Diminishment?
CATHAOIR: Tichondrius and I have known each other for over 10 years lol, we were always in different bands doing shows all over the place, but he was in Sea of Bones, Tyrant, Ipsissimus which he still does now amongst several others. Plus we ended up working at the same job for a bit so we were like, hey its about fucking time we did a band together.
XASTUR: The new album 'Brimstone Demise' is now ready to be unleashed. Would you like to talk a little about the tracks? Also tell me about the recording process. A lot of the bands I know record D.I Y. so what is it like working under the rigours of a studio schedule?
CATHAOIR: The tracks I wrote just about all the songs back in 1999, but when I got diagnosed with carpal tunnel I had to hold them to the side and work with what I was capable of doing, Then after time got back up to speed and technical aspects and wrote a few newer ones such as Diadem, and Praise Death Eternal. The tracks lyricaly and musicaly are kinda classical in approach it has buildups, continuity and yet origionaly in each piece which makes interesting and also at the same time of what i would hope be considered a classic piece of black metal music.
The recording we're almost veterans at since we both have about 9 releases each over the last 15 years, But we researched, bought the right gear and it worked out well, we did everything ourselves, and constantly checked up on different approaches and only kept what worked. We wanted a classic sound so we picked up a Universal Audio Channel, kept it clean and just used like an API eq, then added unique items like a Lexicon Vortex, and plugins based on old 1980s hardware like Lexicion 84,42, API 550A,B eqs, and did more towards a vintage tube mastering. All and all I would say rather right on what we wanted. But there is also room for improvement.
Scheduling went without a problem the first 4 months, but then it was whenever we got a chance get as much as possible done cause of work conflicts. But after 8 months we got it all done.
XASTUR: When will the album be available and on which formats? Where will people be able to get a hold of it?
CATHAOIR: We are primarily focusing on the mp3 formats, which the whole album will be available through, Cdbaby.com, amazon.com, Napster, Apple Itunes, Rhapsody, Verizon Vcast and several more to come for the mp3 sales, but to my knowledge will be available in most countries.. as for CD sales we do not have much money to put to it so if we get any we will get a third party sales company maybe we will try blackmetal.com and try to work out some sort of small and I mean small relase of cds but that will be a while from now.
XASTUR: You mentioned problems in the past with tendonitus and carpal tunnel syndrome, obviously disastrous problems for a musician. How did you overcome this? Was there ever a time when you thought your days of performing were over?
CATHAOIR: From the moment I came down with it, it killed a record deal and we were going to tour with Nunslaughter, and a few others back in 2003, The doctors were like yea your never going to play again and I was depressed, I started drinking really heavy like 18 drinks a few nights a week and then I said to myself fuck this I will do this again and started practicing till I could again, but it was rough cause at first, it was like having knives through your forearms and wrists and pulling through your flesh till it came out the fingers. But I dealt with it and here I am and can play pretty okay now.
XASTUR: What are your experiences of playing live? On your profile page it's stated that Diminishment are 'first and foremost a studio band'. Can you see a time when you may want to take the band to the stage?
CATHAOIR: In the past bands both Tichondrius and I have played in and opened with and for Wolves in the Throne Room, Dark Funeral, a ton at New England Metal Festival, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Dimmu Borgir, Enslaved, Decapitated, Hypocrisy, and of course lots of local bands. Live is good but it costs alot to tour and in the United States the scene is few and far inbetween in attendance. With this band just cause of time restraints and committments we're keeping it as being a recording artist, kinda like Darkthrone we write a bunch of music then once a month or so come and work it out and record.
XASTUR: Any last words to close the interview Cathaoir?
CATHAOIR: Never aspire to be like someone else, only be yourself and put yourself and true feelings uninhibited out in your music, that way its personal and no one can take that away from you.
Thank you for the time and consideration for this interview.
Thanks to Cathaoir for taking time out to answer these questions. If you would like to take a listen to Diminishment visit their myspace page at:
www.myspace.com/diminishmentband
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