FIELDS OF IARU – Interview with Fields of Iaru

Jumping the black metal scene with a melodic vengeance England's upcoming unsigned act intrigues attention with it's latest debut EP Alone in Inertia. Roughly consisting of dark lyrical upheavals, erratic harmonies blending Egyptian doom metal to sinister elevations the freshman release conveys the hidden messages on what makes the group a separate entity unto its own. Explaining the past, present and future vocalist Anubis AmonRA guides one on a journey to the steps amongst the Fields of Iaru.

How did Fields of Iaru come about?

Fields of Iaru: Well Fields was born from the ashes of my old band Shadowsphere (UK), a band I formed with my then partner after the wind down of my goth metal band 13 Candles back in 1999/2000, that's when I started to include the Egyptian element into my music just a little at first. As the band started to get going and I got better on guitar as it was around

this time I picked a guitar up to play for the first time!!!. Well to cut a long story short on the Shadowsphere front we were gong to sign to Killjoy's (Necrophagia) label in America on the strength of my new recordings which were the for runner to the Fields of Iaru sound with the Egyptian percussion heavy guitars etc but before anything could get moving the relationship between me and my partner went down hill and just lets say I ended up on the street with no home, nothing, so I was left without my music gear or

contacts. It took me over a year and a half to get my shit together and get my gear back and back on the net. It was at this time I found some discs with the lastsongs I wrote with Shadowsphere. And the spark was back and I decided to redo the songs and think of a new name for my project and Fields of Iaru was born. For a short time I had a singer in the fold but he had to leave due to other band commitments so that left me without a singer, it was at that point I decided to go it alone and turn it into a solo project with the aim of getting musicians in for live work only. I don't think I could write Fields of Iaru songs with anyone else as it comes from within me and my warped mind.

Was this sound developed during the time of transitioning from Shadowsphere?

Anubis AmonRA: Yes very much so, I started to base songs round middle eastern rhythms and build from that adding keyboards then guitar and started to move away from the darkwave metal sound I had with early writing creating a bigger more atmospheric sound, heavy and more powerful. As I started to find my feet and sound I stripped away a lot of the keyboards I was relying on basically because my guitar playing was shit to be honest

back then, but the better I got on guitar the more I used it to create the

atmosphere, resulting in the songs you hear now on the demo. I also started to use a different music program to create my music using more samples and real drum sounds than just midi generated music, I still use midi as some of the old songs are midi and I cant be arsed to redo them with the new program lol and anyway it good to use different things to create different elements to themusic.

What elements were inspiring to your current sound? And why middle eastern elements?

Anubis AmonRA: I have a big love of Egyptian history and mythology which was really sparked off by my ex who I did Shadowsphere with, and I've also liked trad belly dancing music so I wanted to combine all the things I loved together and created the Fields of Iaru sound, which I hope sounds different to things already out there, I know Nile have the Egyptian vibe with their music but a lot of it is lost in the brutality of the songs and only hints at what can be done with it and there is Orphaned Land who I love who do the middle eastern vibe very well and I will admit are a very big influence on me and maybe one day I will be as good a musician as they are, lol how sad did that sound lol. Both those bands had different aspects of what I wanted to cover and I wanted to push it a little different and a little further to create something a bit special. I find it hard to describe the sound as there are elements from black metal death metal doom metal so sometimes its just easier to describe it as Egyptian black doom metal or something like that lol.

I listen to such a variety of music that inspires me from Celtic Frost, Orphaned Land, Darkthrone, Marduk, Sisters of Mercy, Death, 80's thrash to grind. I'm a music head and a collector so I can't put it down to one band or styleI'm afraid. So Fields of Iaru sounds like Fields of Iaru, people will always find something to compare it to and pigeon hole it which I don't mind all that matters to me are the fans who are into what I'm creating if it wasn't for them I'd be a bedroom rock star lol oh hang on I am lmao!!!!!!

Would you consider your music to be more black metal oriented, or something of a different nature?

Anubis AmonRA: I honestly don't know what to call it like I said before I try to describe it, it does have elements of black metal in there as I'm a big fan of the genre and the 3 big influences from black metal for me are Dark throne and Marduk and Emperor. So I believe it's a different beast altogether I've had fans say its black metal with ancient Egyptian elements in it others call it doom others say its music for ancient temples stuff like that but its open for interpretation and for people to make their own minds up..I just do what I do whatever comes from within.

Fields of Iaru. Where did that name originate?

Anubis AmonRA: I got the name from one of my Egyptian mythology books …Paradise “the Fields of Iaru, which ancient Egyptians saw as a heaven, I liked the name and the story behind it and it tied in with the name I took being Anubis, you die you meet Anubis you go to the Fields of Iaru. Wish I could give you a long story about how the name came about how it came

to me in a vision while I was fasting alone in a locked room but na, lol there it is.

Would you consider your lyrics to have more deeper symbolic meaning than

most bands out there today in the black metal music scene?

Anubis AmonRA: I write lyrics like short stories most of the time, I guess they will have meaning to some people, they come from the dark parts of my mind, when I write lyrics I see it being acted out in my minds eye. I want people to find their own meaning in the lyrics I want my songs to mean different things to different people, a lot of my lyrics are seem through

the eyes of Anubis in different times and places as a god he is eternal and

would find himself is different situations in different times and with slight

twists to his journey and story, you have 6 tracks on the demo all with a

different story but all linked by Anubis in one way or another the opening track “The Birth of Anubis” is about his coming into the world and what he is about and his path in life and is also a sort of metaphor for the birth of my

musical creation with Fields of Iaru, then you have the twist with “The beauty

of death an decay” which see a god in a modern world who collects bodies much as he did in ancient times but no longer letting them pass to the other side a god whose lost his way and has become warped in his mind so to speak. But as I say my lyrics are what ever you want them to be. I don't like going into detail about my lyrics as you end up sounding pretentious and full of shit and up your own arse, I want my fans to think for themselves create their own images that are created with my music and lyrics.

Do you find it difficult to arrange the music considering that you are the

main mastermind composing the music?

Anubis AmonRA: Not really some songs just take me a few hours to do at most I think a song could take me 2 days to do and that's from writing to recording the music writing the lyrics recording the vocals and mixing it.

Some songs come together fast some take a bit of time and piss me off until

I change a riff slightly and then it falls into place. The way I write I always do the backing first drums and percussion or the other way round, then I do rough structure for the song, then I sit and jam to the backing just making stuff up as I go along. I'm quiet lucky really I can just pick up a guitar and bang a tune out without thinking about it, I'll get a main riff then see what flows with it for a chorus and a break if I need one lay that track down then see if I need a lead line in there, then the bass, I then record all the backing and guitars do a rough mix of it.The next stage is to write some lyrics and try and work out a melody line to sing to or should I say grunt to lol after that go through the song a few times and record the vocals, then spend damn hours mixing it!!! I get picky as hell over the mix its never right for me, but if I had the money to go into a real studio and have an engineer to do all the work I'd be happy with the result . My songs are never complicated I just go with what feels right I've scrapped no end of songs that didn't light that fire inside. There is no complicated way of writing with me.. keep it simple just like me. lmao!!!

What transcends your musical playing when writing music?

Anubis AmonRA: Erm, how do I answer that one? I sit.I play. I write. I record. I create and I put part of me in everything I create.

Many new releases are being pushed out in today's black metal music

market do you feel that there are artists who complete a job well done in

recording (ex. Vocals, effects, mixing & sampling) that it is hard to replicate

those in a live performance? Or is it an added bonus or not?

Anubis AmonRA: There are quite a few bands releasing really slick well polished Cd's, those who can afford the studio time that is and a good engineer this is fine. Some pull it off live and some don't, but you got to ask yourself do you want to hear the exact same thing live as on CD?The only way you pull that off in many cases where you have lots of samples and like in Dimmu Borgir's case you have to have a shit hot keyboard player. You have to take each medium on face value the studio recording is going to be polished and is for you to immerse yourself at home in a so you want to hear every note every hook line but as for live you want that raw live energy the slight muddy sound the odd fuck up the connection you get with a band live is far different from a CD, some bands pull it off in both forms some don't, like Venom in the early 80's they always said if you want to listen to Venom go home and listen to your record cos tonight your getting pure fucking mayhem!! Which was true sometimes they did suck live but you didn't care you loved the bum notes n' shit. With Fields its gonna sound roughly the same live as on CD as the drums will be on backing and the samples but there will be live guitars n bass so if I fuck up you will know lol as I usually start laughing which I don't do on stage so that's a give away, but if I was in the position of some record company money I would fulfill my live dream for Iaru n that would be to tour with a trad middle eastern percussion section and also Egyptian belly dancers,Ive got this vision of how thing will be live one day when the money is there. I digress sorry, some bands are bad live but great on CD and visa versa to me it doesn't matter as its a nice suprise when you see a band you love like when i went to see Celtic Frost for the first time since the 80's n heard emand I was like fuck this is heavier than the CD and the old stuff fucking kills,that's when you get the shiver down your spine. Live is cool CD is cool doesn't matter if you pull it off or not Cd's are for listening to live is for going mental to and having a good time.

Being a new artist do you find it somewhat out of the ordinary when new fans start showing support for Iaru, such as creating sites, forums or

myspace pages based on the group?

Anubis AmonRA: Yes I do find it strange but also very cool,i don't have that much of an ego i just do what i do with my music,I'm no stranger to having fans with my old band 13 Candles when we were touring and releasing Cd's, but this has taken me back some what with the response I've had through myspace with hits on my site the messages and comments and now with the fan sites being done,they got in touch with me and asked what i would call the fans and this is where the cult of Anubis fan base came about,there is a UK site, Portuguese and there is a German one coming on line in the next few days,I'm really flattered by it that people think so highly of my music makes everything worth while. I was surpassed after i finished the demo i posted a bulletin on my space giving away 20 Cd's with a few extras like signed photos n plectrums n stuff how fast they went!! they had all gone in just over a week all over the world. What really made me smile was the fans in Egypt now that is so cool with the love i have for their history and the connection with the band to have fans in Egypt that was so cool. I just think all my fans are cool and will do my best to get out there and do gigs in their part of the world as a thank you for their support. Ive had so much good feed back about the music with people saying they haven't heard anything like it and cant stop listening to it,one of the best messages i received was from one girl who said your music scares me Yes what a result!!!! You cant get better than that lmao.

What is exactly planned for out for Fields of Iaru this year of 2007?

Anubis AmonRA: If all goes well and start to kick of with Dark Angel Promotion I'm hoping to get the CD out there getting reviews getting interviews and generate some interest with promoters and record company, and i want to start touring around august/September time and hopefully get to play America and Europe and anywhere else that will have me lol.

Ideal plan would be publicity first then get a deal release the CD properly

with a better recording and more songs then tour like fuck anywhere and

everywhere then write more songs and do it all over again oh n just maybe actually make some money to cover costs would be nice lol and a manager to sort all the shit out so i can just deal with music would be good but until then i will plod on pushing Iaru as far as i can.

What is expected in the environment of listening when listening to the CD?

Anubis AmonRA: oohhh errrmmm to be taken back in time to a dark ancient place of gods war blood and sand,cold bleak eternal nights and sun blistered stone of temples and tombs will that do you?? lol

Mentioning in the band history that you are seeking live session musicians for work? Has anyone responded yet or are you going to wait later on

when things kick off?

Anubis: AmonRA: i haven't put any feelers out as yet to the masses,i have drafted in my old time friend who I've worked with in the past in 13 candles who's going to take up second guitar for me for live work, we start practicing in a few weeks and I'm practicing playing guitar and singing at the min as this is something i haven't really done before so if all goes well ill just be seeking a bass player,if all else fail ill just sing live and get another guitarist in and bass player,its all in the air at the min but ill be working away at it

over the next few months with my the other guy,until i get some dates to aim

for I'm not to worried right now as getting the name about is my main aim and getting the CD listened to then the live work will follow.

Besides Fields, do you have any other musical endeavors or is this group your main focus?

Anubis AmonRA :Right now Fields of Iaru is my main focus, I do have my old band 13 Candles which will be reforming for some gigs this year as its the 10th anniversary of our release of angels of mourning silence album and we may if all goes well do another CD,that's not bad as I'm not the main song writer in that band so not so much pressure,I've also got another project that's on hold at the min called blackened orchid which is completely different from Iaru sorta goth industrial metal, I've got a whole album demoed just need the lyrics writing and for my singer Lindsey to lay down the vocal tracks to that,so i guess I'm a busy man but my main band is Fields of Iaru which I'm going have world domination with hehe (wicked grin) the world will be mine oh yes all mine

Seven words to describe Alone in Inertia?

Anubis AmonRA :Dark atmospheric ancient brooding eternal haunting different.

Final comments or last words?

Anubis AmonRA :Thank you to the many Fields of iaru fans out there (the cult of Anubis) thanx to the following for the fan sites Vera (Germany) Abby (UK) and Ana (Portugal) and to any others that crop up while this is interview is coming out,hope to see you all on tour soon. if there are any labels out there interested or manager or promoters get in touch and hope you all enjoy the CD as much as i did making it all for the fans. May Ra shine upon you all one last thing before i go remember this ITS NOT NECROPHILlIA WHILE THEY ARE STILL WARM AND TWITCHING!!!!! Anubis embalming and out. I thank you lol…

Favorite food or dish?

Anubis AmonRA: Emo kids slow roasted.

Please go check out this band at their official myspace www.myspace.com/fieldsofiaru