Hateful Abandon

Metal Mayhem: Where are you from?
Hateful Abandon: Burton Upon Trent in the Midlands UK, born October 1975. I’m currently residing in Bristol.

MM: How long have you been playing Black Metal?
HA: I’ve been trying to play it since I was about 15 or 16, so since about ‘91, although Basilisk was only ‘active’ for 6 years, between 2000 and 2006. I was in a Death/Black Metal band in the very early ‘90s called Fratricide that lasted about 3 years. We weren’t great. When I got to university in ’93 I found there was nobody to play with, the trend had already passed. So I settled on playing bass in a grunge-style band for a few years merely to ‘be in a band’. Becoming bored with that I started playing music on my own, stuff I wanted to do.

MM: What made you want to start playing Black Metal?
HA: When I first heard it, it felt like genuine terror, the horror; and white noise behind the vague melody. I’ve always liked loads of hiss in music! The early stuff had that constant ‘hiss’; tape noise. Loved it.

MM: What does black metal mean to you?
HA: It used to mean individuality and an indescribable feeling of ‘knowing about it’. I don’t know whether that even makes sense...! Now it means nothing.

MM: What were the reasons behind the change from Basilisk to Hateful Abandon?
HA: I just felt I was contributing in a bad way to the slew of ‘bedroom bands’; I didn’t want a part of it. I still don’t.

MM: Is there a concept or aim with Hateful Abandon?
HA: Not really, there is aim not to be average. Not to be mediocre. There is a slight concept with the new record. Social collapse, the distance, gravel, wires.

MM: With Hateful Abandon you have taken your sound to some much more experimental places. What made you disenchanted with the slightly more 'orthodox' black metal sound, as played with Basilisk?
HA: See, it’s only experimental if you think we are playing Black Metal, which we aren’t so I don’t see it as an experimental band. We are ‘playful’ with arrangements and sound but it’s all been done before, just not in quite the same way. The real reason I gave up Basilisk is because all I was hearing from Black Metal bands is the same riffs over and over again. It’s become like modern Blues bands. Same riffs over and over ad nauseam. I was painting myself into a corner. I was frustrated.

MM: In the liner notes to the Basilisk album "A joyless march through the cold-lands" you voiced a strong disdain for much of the UK black metal scene. Do you still have this opinion, and why?
HA: It’s got better actually, a lot better. So no, I don’t have quite the same opinion. All we had when I wrote that was Abgott, Frost, Anaal Nathrakh, Hecate Enthroned, fucking Thus Defiled etc. Awful shit like that...anyone with taste would agree.

MM: Do you think there is a black metal 'scene' in the UK?
HA: No, I don’t think there’s a scene anywhere. There never really has been a scene since Punk/Anarcho and NWOBHM in the UK.

MM: Black metal is not as well established in the UK as on the continent and elsewhere, why do you think that is?
HA: We are too worried/trendy to do anything that is considered ‘silly’ or extreme unless we are taking the piss out of ourselves. The UK has a horrible ‘ironic’ attitude when it comes to Metal.

MM: Many BM bands shun 'popularity' - do you think this has kept it underground in the UK, and is this a good thing?
HA: Well, I don’t think that was particularly true with the old bands. Mayhem didn’t shun popularity, they wanted to be huge! As for the others...it doesn’t work. Nowadays, because of the Internet you can only remain ‘underground’ or unnoticed until you release an album. Unless you do something like Hateful Abandon which is too ‘out there’ for the Metal people and too ‘out there’ for whomever else is listening. Upsetting really.

MM: Is there a place for politics in black metal?
HA: With the greatest respect, I don’t care.

MM: Would you like to see the black metal scene grow here?
HA: No, absolutely not.

MM: Is it hard to find a label as a UK black metal band?
HA: I don’t know, I got snapped up pretty quickly, from all areas! I once had releases lined up on several labels all over the world. It’s probably harder now it’s pissing BM bands/acts from the sky.

MM: What do you see on the horizon for the future of black metal a) in the UK, and b) in general?
HA: In both areas all I can hope for is more good music and less morons clouding up the place.

MM: Who do you see as the most important and exciting black metal bands in the UK today?
HA: There are a few great UK bands, but I always forget people...I do really like Instinct and Caina though to mention two...

Article by David Keane