CELTIC FROST Frontman Talks About New Album, Illegal Music Downloading

Dennis Jernberg of Sweden's Critical Mass recently conducted an interview with CELTIC FROST frontman Tom Gabriel Fischer. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Critical Mass: Obviously, recording an album like "Monotheist" isn't easy. How would you describe the making of "Monotheist", in comparison to the earlier records?

Tom: "It was by far, really by far, the most difficult album to make ever in my life. Given it was my tenth album, that means something. It was an ordeal, and it was a huge challenge and it was four difficult years of my life, both professionally and personally. But I think it was essential to make that album, and I'm extremely glad that we did it."

Critical Mass: How come you choose to sign with Century Media? Which other labels were you negotiating with?

Tom: "We talked to quite a number of labels, but what we wanted was not simply a financially lucrative deal. We wanted a label where we felt there was a personal understanding of our music and a personal interest. We have been with labels in the past that didn't really give a shit about the music and about the concept of CELTIC FROST, and it has been extremely damaging to our art. That's why we took control, we formed our own record company and produced the album ourselves, financed the album ourselves. But of course, to release and promote it worldwide we wanted to have a really capable partner, somebody who would have a personal involvement, and we just felt that Century Media, for the time being, was the best partners we could find."

Critical Mass: When the "return" of CELTIC FROST was in its early stages, Reed St. Mark jammed with you, but he didn't end up in the final lineup, how come?

Tom: "He never jammed with us. It is true that we… the original idea was to do it, me, Martin and Reed, and we talked to him in great detail. The sad fact of the matter is that Reed at that time was battling a very heavy addiction. (pauses) It's difficult for me to talk about that, because we're talking about something very serious, and it's his private life, and I don't know how much of that he wants disclosed. But, it was severe enough for him not to be able to play with us the way we needed it. We needed somebody with a 100 percent commitment. I mean, we're talking about recording and writing sessions that took four years, and literally every day of those four years! And Reed was in no condition to do that. So we began working with some session drummers, and with electronic drums, until we were lucky enough to find Franco who actually became much more of a band member than Reed, and I don't mean that in a disrespectful manner, but Reed never signed a recording contract with us and Reed only once wrote a song with CELTIC FROST, whereas Franco is a full member of the band and wrote plenty of material, and in every level you can think of, had much to do with making this album. I actually think the album probably would never have existed the way it does now if we wouldn't have found Franco. So, what began as a really bad thing turned into a really good thing. I'm happy to say that Reed seems to be in a much better place right now. I have talked to him not long ago and he seems to be doing fine now. I think he has gotten a hold on his problem, and things look much different for him now, it's much better."

Critical Mass: The "Monotheist" promo has leaked on the Internet already. What's your opinion on file sharing and music downloading?

Tom: "That is a question that is almost impossible to answer… ehhmmm, I'm also one who downloads and shares files, I enjoy the Internet, I love the Internet. On the other hand, realistically speaking, I'm also a musician and I need to pay for the albums I make and I cannot go to a grocery store and take like bread and milk from the shelves and just walk out without paying and then come back the next day and expect everything to be full again. It's very difficult, I see both sides, I'm involved in both sides. On the other hand, when I download tracks from the internet and I really like them, then I do want to have the CD too, and I want to look at the booklet and everything. It usually leads me to go and buy the CD as well, so… who am I to know what the perfect solution is? I've been thinking about it a lot, and if I knew the solution to all of this, and what the right way is, I probably would be a genius. I really don't know where this is gonna lead."

Read the entire interview at www.criticalmass.se.