photo by Zach Johnson
(We present Ben Manzella‘s interview of Cammie and Dobber Beverly from the Houston-based band Oceans of Slumber, whose new album will be released in September by Season of Mist.)
In a time when complexity seems to be despised, I am thrilled by the upcoming LP from Oceans of Slumber. With nine new songs and an intriguing interpretation of “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak to end the record, Oceans of Slumber start their time on Season of Mist by releasing a record that feels like an epic novel or adventure film perfectly fit for the overall uncertainty in life.
This isn’t grandiose music that plays to escapist tendencies. For me, as I’ve spent the last few weeks with these songs, this has become the soundtrack of a personal transition that I’m not ready to confront but feel somewhat forced to handle. Tomorrow is never a guarantee, and I welcome songs that match the daunting scale of my mental health as well as my physical limitations due to recent health challenges.
Without turning this into a journal entry, I’d rather share my conversation with Cammie and Dobber Beverly from Oceans of Slumber. I likely could’ve chatted with them longer, but my internet isn’t the most reliable and I wanted to keep things reasonable. Thanks, again, to Dobber and Cammie for their time, as well as to Will at Season of Mist for helping me arrange this conversation.
What inspired the choice of recording in Colombia?
Dobber: My buddy Joel, who we work with pretty exclusively now, has an established career there. Also being a recording engineer myself, we’re close both musically and technically. He told me about the recording console at the studio (Audivision in Bogota) and the chief engineer.
To be honest, I also have felt uninspired with everything around me when it comes to the approach of recording music. With music being more singular and simple in how it is made, it gets to a point where you give up, stay home, and no one hears what you create, or you make a grand statement about approaching recording in an older or more traditional format. On our last record, Starlight and Ash, we did the old way by tracking live in New York. While we didn’t track this record entirely live, a lot of our recordings were in single takes with an approach of accountability for your performance and not letting computer simulators define the sound.
With the lack of inspiration you’d been feeling, I’m sure it helps to get into unfamiliar and new surroundings which forces adaptation.
Dobber: Mainly, it is the adapting part. If I throw a curveball at you, say with your writing, your ability to handle the curveball or change will define your abilities and professionalism. If we as a band are good enough, then we can throw a curveball or impose changes that potentially lead to magic versus being kept in a vacuum resulting in the same creative process. It is an effort to break the cycle in a way that only I’d know how, or at least hope I know how.
I think people are disillusioned about how records are made and how simply they believe a record can be done. It is easy to say that you can make a record at home, but there are also plenty of people who can’t match live what they present on a recording. Our band sounds exactly like we do in a studio, on stage and in person, and that is what we want. I hate watching bands with copious amounts of production magic and their live performance sounds nothing like their record.
Photo by Violeta Alvarez
Am I hearing correctly that “Poem of Fire” is musically tied to “Don’t Come Back From Hell Empty-Handed?”
Dobber: Actually, that song was written before “Poem of Fire” came together. We even have a couple songs that didn’t end up fitting the pacing of the record. Also, in all honesty, there’s a game to be played with this whole thing in that we’re not able to do what we want to do all the time. It is about what we need to do.
I’m 45, I’m not necessarily writing music to appeal to my age group because my age group unfortunately doesn’t open up to new music like some do. The name of the game right now is energy and a bit of eclecticism, so we aimed to keep the record energetic by not having dips in the record that we might have preferred to include. We’re a song-oriented band that often touches on sadder things, so the two songs we ended up pulling were the moodier songs.
So, with “Don’t Come Back from Hell Empty-Handed,” it was going to be this grand progressive metal track, and when Season of Mist ended up signing us after weighing out the other offers; Michael Berberian mentioned to me about showcasing Cammie’s singing more as well as showcasing my ability to play instruments other than drums.
I wasn’t sure anybody would be interested because I’m not into having things pre-determined or making overproduced “content” to appeal to modern taste. I’m more of the mind of discovering music naturally. So after he suggested making a piano song, I thought it’d be cool to thematically take some Lydian musical themes and making something inspired by artists like Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, or Hans Zimmer. I enjoy some modern classical and I’m heavily into Russian romantic composers as far as classical music goes.
“Poem of Fire” became a way to rope in and intermingle the new record with a preview or pre-release. It was a way to, on the piano, illustrate how the record is pieced together. The title, “Don’t Come Back From Hell Empty Handed” is actually part of a quote from a Russian spy and American spy. He said ‘I hope you didn’t come back from hell empty handed”; meaning that through all the troubles and problems you’ve had in life, I hope you learned something.
“Wish” is becoming an early favorite of mine on the new record and brought to mind the graphic novel series “The Sandman” by Neil Gaiman. Do you all have any favorite graphic novels?
Cammie: I know, specifically for “Poem of Ecstasy,” Cyberpunk Edgerunners was something I enjoyed a lot and found a lot of inspiration in it for the song “Poem of Ecstasy.” I haven’t dabbled much into graphic novels, but that is the closest I’ve come as far as animated things or stories.
Dobber: I’ve been reading Jonas Mekas and Herman Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game. For me, right now, reading has been about trying to figure me out and how I should see the world as well as how to prepare for the world. I haven’t been able to enjoy visual literature or literature in general as much lately.
Cammie, your vocals are astounding on “Where Gods Fear to Speak.” I’ve listened to the record roughly seven times, and your overall performance as well the lyrics offer a wide range of emotions and sound to experience. There’s only so many times you can appreciate the supposed brutality of extreme metal. You tapped into your vocal range in a way that made extreme metal fit your voice rather than feeling forced to fit your voice to the genre; what was the process like for you?
Cammie: Thank you! I wanted to have fun and I wanted to blossom, so to speak, instead of feeling like I have to make it more straightforward or sound more metal. I really wanted to have something challenging to work on and hold nothing back while seeing where my voice would take me, as well as where a note or melody could go to flourish rather than forcing it somewhere.
When I hear the songs, it’s like I see them almost like landscapes. If the music is like a mountain range that is really dense or a forest, my job is to find a line and path through it for my voice. Sometimes it is straight ahead and requires me to dominate the course being laid out, so this time I wanted to dance around in the scenery a bit more this time around.
I had a lot of hang-ups and tension about what I do vocally and how I approach the songs. I’d say this was the least mentally damaging album for me to do as far as getting the songs out in a way that didn’t lead to a mental breakdown. I had a lot of fun with trying new things and giving myself permission to tap into all that I’m capable of as a singer rather than limiting myself, which made for a lot more positive experience with Where Gods Fear to Speak.
How did the guest features by Mikael from Dark Tranquillity and Fernando of Moonspell come about?
Cammie: It was cool in that both songs were written with Mikael and Fernando in mind. Instead of having the song done and thinking of them after the fact, the style and idea had these duets in mind. Both songs are exciting and represent a collaborative effort rather than it sounding like either vocalist tried to fit themselves into our band. Where the songs sound like both bands wrote together.
For the song with Fernando, I know I’ve heard it is nostalgic for older fans of Moonspell, and he did so good! His voice adds a signature character to the song overall. Mikael is such an ominous force on the song and glides in like this dark character who casts his spell and then leaves. I don’t think people are ready for those duets and I’m very excited for people to hear them.
Dobber: Before you go, do you have a favorite song or songs on the record so far?
Ben: Personally, “Wish” is my favorite so far. It changes with every listen, but “Wish” immediately stood out. The other one is “The Impermanence of Fate.” There is so much to unpack within Where Gods Fear to Speak and I look forward to more people getting a chance to hear it in full.
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This is the first time I’ve been able to end an interview with a question for me, but I appreciated the chance to have the tables turned in a manner of speaking. This is also why I’d hope to speak with Dobber and Cammie again in the future.
Aside from promoting the record through interviews, there are a couple of opportunities to see them live this August. First, they will be playing the Mad with Power festival in Madison, Wisconsin on August 2nd and 3rd at the Sylvee. On August 10th, Oceans of Slumber will be reinterpreting some of their songs during a live session they are calling A Passage Through the Veil in Brooklyn, New York, and this event is already sold out.
They will also be back in New York for the Metal Injection Festival on September 21st and 22nd at the Brooklyn Monarch along with Necrofier, Vitriol, 3 Inches of Blood, God Forbid, and many others, with tickets on sale now.
Where Gods Fear to Speak is set for release on the 13th of September through Season of Mist and is available for pre-order now.
https://orcd.co/oceansofslumberwheregodsfeartospeakalbum
https://oceansofslumber.com/
https://www.facebook.com/oceansofslumber/
https://www.instagram.com/oceansofslumber/