GREGOR MACKINTOSH On PARADISE LOST's Longevity: 'Sense Of Humor' And 'Acceptance' Are Very Important

In a recent interview with Germany's Metal.de, PARADISE LOST guitarist Gregor Mackintosh was asked how he and his bandmates have managed to keep most of their original lineup intact for nearly four decades. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, I think there's a few things. First is sense of humor. You have to have a similar sense of humor. You don't have to have a good sense of humor, just a similar sense of humor, so that you can kind of laugh at the same things. We never really took ourselves... We take the music very seriously, but we never took ourselves seriously. We were always kind of laughing from the edges, not believing anything, any of the hype or anything like that. So we always had our feet on the ground. But also acceptance. So you learn how far you can push people, when to leave them alone, when to give people space. And it's quite easy once you get used to it."

He continued: "It took us a long time to figure it out. We had our ups and downs. It's easier now than it ever was. When we see each other, it's like we're just a bunch of housewives just talking about what's happened in the last two months. So, yeah, acceptance is a big one."

Asked if PARADISE LOST is "kind of a second family" for him, Gregor said: "Yeah. Well, apart from real family, it's the only constant that's been in my life, 'cause things come and go. But it's kind of always been there since I was — well, before I was 18; 17, since I was 17. So, yeah, they've been there as long as most family has."

In June 2025, PARADISE LOST vocalist Nick Holmes was also asked by Belgium's Graspop Metal Meeting how the U.K. gothic metal pioneers have managed to keep almost the same lineup for almost four decades. He responded: "We grew up as kids and then we started as a band very innocent, kids just into metal music. We were also in the right place at the right time. We've been very, very lucky as well. There's so much luck involved, I think, when you're in a band, and we've had a lot of that as well. So a lot of the right chemistry, et cetera. So, yeah, lots of things, but being friends first and foremost was very important, I think."

This past February, Mackintosh revealed that he was going through some "health issues" which had resulted in him losing a significant amount of weight.

PARADISE LOST is continuing to tour in support of its 17th album, "Ascension", which came out last September via Nuclear Blast Records. The band's first LP in five years, following 2020's critically acclaimed "Obsidian", was produced by Mackintosh and mixed/mastered by Lawrence Mackrory.

More than three decades into their career, and with over two million albums sold, PARADISE LOST remain the undisputed kings of metal's dark side. Formed in Halifax in 1988, the band quickly became noted as the pioneers of gothic metal through their early groundbreaking albums like 1991's aptly titled "Gothic", a mixture of heaviness intertwined with shadowy melody and atmosphere.

Never a group to remain creatively static, across their career they've explored a myriad of avenues of dark music, from sludgy doom-death roots, to conquering the metal mainstream with the enormous, lush sounds of 1995's "Draconian Times", to more experimental, electronic leanings, leaving an influence on a trail of artists as varied as CRADLE OF FILTH, HIM, GATECREEPER and CHELSEA WOLFE.