NOCTUARY – Spreading the Black Plague Across America-Interview with Joe Van Fossen

Southern California’s NOCTUARY has been of the most highly regarded bands in the USBM scene for quite some time. Since 1996, the group has wowed audiences in festivals through out the United States and opened for some of extreme metal’s hardest hitters. The band’s eclectic mix of melody, Maiden and malevolent black metal has earned them a spot amongst the elite black metal bands in the United States. Having just released a CD of unreleased material and gems throughout the band’s history, “Recollection,” guitarist and vocalist, Joe Van Fossen was kind enough to discuss (via email) this recent offering, past efforts, and future endeavors.

Please give a brief history of NOCTUARY.

We got our start back in ’96 with our first demo, “Where All Agony Prevails.” That was, pretty much, the last era of tape trading… when bands were still mass producing their demos on cassette tapes. We unloaded a few hundred copies to metalheads, fanzines, and underground labels around the world. Eventually we got signed and released our first full length, “For Salvation…,” on Lost Disciple records in ’98. A couple of years later we did “When Fires Breed Blood.” Since ’96 we’ve gone through several line-up changes and played numerous shows and festivals. Our current lineup has been stable for several years and consists of myself, Joe (vocals/guitar), Rob (drums), Steve (bass) and Jeff (guitar).

NOCTUARY plays a diverse form of black metal utilizing melody and classical instrumentation. I read in an older issue of “Worm Gear” that you have a classical music background. Please tell our readers about your musical background.

I started playing guitar when I was about 12 or 13. I started seriously studying classical theory when I was 16. My studies lasted throughout high school and college. My original major in college was music composition, but I changed majors and currently hold a minor in music. I’ve studied theory (harmony, counterpoint, etc.), history, and composition, and though my schooling is finish, I continue to study and compose in my free time. I’ve considered going back to school for composition once again later in life.

When I first started listening to NOCTUARY, a friend of mine in California commented on your acoustic guitar playing, saying you play Spanish Flamenco style. Did you take formal training to learn this style? Did growing up in California, a state largely influenced by Hispanic culture, play a factor in your deciding to apply Flamenco elements to black metal?

I actually play more classical than flamenco style. I’ve had very little formal training on classical guitar, and took to studying it on my own for several years. While I am proficient in classical style, I wouldn’t consider myself a classical guitarist. One of my composition professors in college was highly influential to me (Dr Daniel Luzko performed two of his original piano pieces on When Fires Breed Blood). He was from South America (Paraguay) and he exposed me to some wonderful music and composers from the region. One of my favorite composers from that part of the world is Heitor Villa-Lobos, who also happened to be an amazingly talented guitarist. His guitar music is my favorite to play, and I’m sure that influence has crept into my music here and there. That’s probably why people hear that “Spanish” sound in some of the stuff we do.

How do you feel about the completion of “Recollection?”

We’re really happy about the album. It definitely closes a chapter in our existence. That album truly is the bridge that will take fans of “When Fires Breed Blood” to our next album “The Grand Design.” It’s been six years since we’ve released anything and our music has progressed so much that we felt it was necessary to put out something that would show the progression, rather than jump directly from A to Z.

“Recollection” seems to be a greatest hits album, taking songs from through out your career. Is that what you were going for? Does your cover art and album title convey the message that this album is a greatest hits album?

I guess you could say that. There are three (not-so) new songs that we’ve never officially released, along with several re-worked songs from earlier albums and the demo. The title, “Recollection,” definitely hints at the fact that we’re going back in time and through our past. The artwork is basically a “noctuary,” which is a journal people would keep to write down events that passed through the night. So everything from the title to the artwork reflects our history exactly how we intended to.

I asked if “Recollections” is a greatest hits album because, one: it takes tracks from albums through out your career and, two: I remember each song from its previous album as being one of the best tracks on the album. How did you decide which tracks to include on “Recollection?”

When we came up with the idea for “Recollection” we basically realized that we had a bunch of songs, some of which made sense as a whole album and a few that just didn’t seem to mesh together as well. We decided it had just been so long since we’ve done anything officially and it was finally time to get in the studio and get ourselves out there again. We took the three new songs we didn’t feel represented our next intended full length and thought it would be cool to update a few older songs. The older songs we chose to do were based on what we thought we could add the most to without changing the core of. We also wanted them to be songs that we knew our fans liked and songs that we liked as well.

“Recollections” was released on Quadrivium records. You released prior recordings on labels such as Lost Disciple Records or put out an album independently. What made you decide on using Quadrivium this time around?

We’ve known the guys at Quadrivium since shortly after the release of “When Fires Breed Blood.” They’ve always been really supportive of us and the local scene out here. NOCTUARY’s been without a home for a number of years now and they were recently asking us about what we were up to. I told them about our plans for “Recollection” and they asked if they could put it out. And knowing they’d do a good job of promoting and distributing the album, we agreed after quick negotiations.

The USBM scene has a great deal of talent with many bands within its ranks. NOCTUARY is seen as one of the elite bands of this group. NOCTUARY was born during the time when people in the U.S. first started noticing black metal, the mid ‘90s. How has your band remained successful during all these years?

Thank you very much, man. I think our success is based on a number of things… our willingness to work hard, support of fans, and friends like Rich of Lost Disciple Records and journalists like yourself, Nathan T. Birk, and others who have supported us over the years. We do the best we can to get ourselves out on the stage in all parts of the country, and hopefully, eventually the world.

I first heard NOCTUARY at the Milwaukee Metalfest. I believe it was 2000. How has your experience been with playing festivals such Milwaukee? What are some of the other festivals you have played?

Festivals can be great and they can be pretty bad. It really boils down to the people who are in charge, everyone from the stage managers (responsible for keeping the schedule on time) up to the promoters (responsible for getting people to the fest). We played Milwaukee every year from ‘99-’01 and they were all great experiences for us. We’ve played the New England Metal and Hardcore fest in ’01, ’03, and ’05. I think they took over the title for the best metalfest in the US after Milwaukee, but then they started becoming more metalcore and less metal. There are several other good fests we’ve played (including Bestial Legions in LA and Sacrifice in San Antonio), and several bad ones. The good fests all have good promoters and stage managers, the bad ones have bad stage managers, bad promoters, or both.

I also saw you guys open for DRAGONLORD in Orange County, California back in 2001. What other opening slots have you filled?

We’ve filled many slot openings if you know what I mean… DARK FUNERAL, SUFFOCATION, THE HAUNTED, WITCHERY, CRADLE OF FILTH, Mortiis, EXODUS, and the list goes on and on. If you want to include the fests, then I could list probably about 100 or more bands we’ve played with/opened for. We haven’t really opened for a bigger band in a few years, except for the fests we’ve played, but we’ll be opening for NEVERMORE this weekend, and DARK FUNERAL/ENSLAVED in January, which we’re looking forward to.

At the time I was living in southern California—’01-02— it seemed like the area had a healthy black metal scene. SUMERIA, STORMBRINGER, NOKTURNE, and you guys were a staple in the local metal scene. How do you feel about the California black metal/extreme metal scene? Who are some of the bands/venues you like?

I think our scene is good… it’s massive. There are so many bands of so many styles out here. There are a lot of great bands from out here, and instead of mentioning some and forgetting others, the one I really feel the need to mention right now is EXHAUSTED PRAYER. They’re probably my favorite extreme metal band from out here. They’ve been doing their thing for years now and they just keep getting better. If I had to describe them I’d call them technical black/death metal with hints of jazz and the avant-garde. They’re talented musicians who manage to write catchy yet complex songs. We recently finished a West Coast stint with them and we couldn’t have wished for better tour mates. I was excited to catch their set every night.

Has NOCTUARY hit the road for any tours? Do you have any tours in the works?

We’ve never actually done a full US tour, and unfortunately never been outside of North America. We’ve done West Coast and Southwest tours with IMPALED (our friends to the North) and EXHAUSTED PRAYER. Aside from that we’ve played fests in the South, Midwest and East Coast. We don’t have anything solid in the works, but we have been talking about another Southwest tour that would take us down to Texas. Aside from that, we’d love to go through the Midwest and do a few shows in the East Coast again as well.

Now that “Recollections” is available to black metal freaks all around the world, what is your next move?

We actually have an entire album written and nearly ready to be recorded. But before we do all that, we want to give this album its due and do as many shows as we can in support of it ‘til early next year. We’re hoping to get back into the studio by springtime to start laying down the foundations for our next album, “The Grand Design,” with a late summer release. However, one must keep in mind, in interviews we did for our last album in 2000, we said “The Grand Design” would be released in 2002. So, we’ll see what happens… but rest assured, we will be in the studio again next year.

www.noctuary.net