PRIMORDIAL Frontman: The Mainstream Needs Bands Like Us

Vocalist Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of the of the Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL has issued the following update:

"Well, it's been a long time coming. Not only this mesage but the current air of positivity that is surrounding the band. It really seems like we have moved in from the fringes of the scene to take maybe not quite centre stage but at least skulk in the immediate shadows cast by the light.

"For the first time ever we had a sold-out show in Dublin the Button Factory (formerly Music Centre),720 people. An absolute triumph, and I don't think we could have asked for anything more from the show. The crowd were fantastic, not to mention the many people who had travelled far and wide across Europe and even America to attend the show. The only blight being Paul, our bass player, had his appendix out a mere three days before the event. Scuppering our plans to record a live DVD on the night. Thankfully, Ger from MAEL MORDHA stepped up to the plate and rescued us. We followed that last weekend with nearly 600 people in the Underworld in Camden along with GRAND MAGUS and MAEL MORDHA. Another victory...

"At the moment, none of the tours we have been offered seem the right move for us so we are doing what you could call a festival tour. The updated list should follow very soon but it covers nearly all of the bigger festivals and some places we haven't been before. It's obvious right now that festivals are killing touring unless you are an underground band that won't be playing at bigger festivals or you put together a 5/6 band bill to maximise the crowd. One festival show can reach the equivalent of several tours. That is not to say we don't want to go on tour, of course, but right now we will just plough ahead with our summer schedule and see if we can do something in autumn or early winter.

"Our first German shows of the campaign will be the Ragnarok and Tomahawk festivals in March. Not to mention our first show in Poland for 8 years at Metalmania three weeks before...

"Initial signs from Metal Blade are that the sales are going very well. The shipping being greater then the last album sold in three years and very little returns before we've even set foot on a stage in most countries.

"I know my last message may have seemed a little sour regarding the German charts but I've come to realise the sales have been far more staggered then most bands because of mail orders as opposed to the walk-up crowd. Regardless of this, we seem to be in a positive position. Both the digi in 8,000 and vinyl of 1,000 are completely gone... eBay, I guess, it is for some of you. If we can lumber over the 15,000 mark before the summer festival season then it will be a major achievement considering the state of the music industry.

"The picture disc of 'The Gathering Wilderness' is out now on Sentinel Records so if you haven't picked that one up, get it, it's going fast and the first copies come with a free patch. There will also be a pic disc of the new album and one of the demo from No Sign of Life from Finland out very soon...

"I've been getting it in the neck in some quarters of the mainstream for speaking my mind on the state of the current metal scene — well, more specifically the overground or mainstream scene. I've long said but there is fuck-all to interest me or any dedicated metal fan who is willing to scratch the surface in the bloated, plastic, hollow and shallow mainstream metal scene. If I can be so bold...the mainstream needs bands like PRIMORDIAL. I won't pretend we are still underground even if that's where we feel our brethren are but it needs bands like us to challenge and fight the corner of real music not just real metal. I'm also glad there seems to have been little backlash from our long standing fans to the bands recent commercial growth. They seem glad to see us getting the attention we deserve and seem glad for us to have opportunity of showing them how... You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

PRIMORDIAL's latest album, "To the Nameless Dead", was released in November 2007 on Metal Blade Records.