Interview with Conqueror Worm

The guys from Conqueror Worm contacted me a while back and asked me to check out their Myspace page. I liked the music so much that I asked them for an interview and guitarist/vocalist Lawrence obliged. They play a very solid, plodding style of doom that is right up my alley.

MM-Please introduce yourselves and tell us what instrument you play.
Lawrence - Guitar and vocals , Shelly - Drums , Kyle - Bass backing howls .

MM-Tell us a little about the history of the band.
Me and Shelly played together in various projects but didn't start this band till around 1999 .. Just to have fun and play music that inspired us to play in the first place .

MM-Who are you musical influences?
Black Sabbath mainly of course and tons of other bands too ... from Angel Witch to Witchfinder General ... Hell the list is really long but on the none music side mainly classic
Horror films and books . We are particularly into the more obscure stuff but it is really
a big part of our style.


MM-I know that you are working on some new material. How's is that going so far?
Kind of Slow ( like the music) Sadly we can't do this full time so we just plug away at it
the best we can. We don't want to put out anything till it's good and ready.

MM-Have you had any interest from any labels or are you planning to release the CD yourselves?
Most likely we will do it all ourselves but we will keep our options open .

MM-What is your favorite decade for music and why?
The 70's I guess . But there has been cool stuff every decade. It just seems that music changed the most drastically between the late sixties to the mid seventies.

MM-What do you think about doom metal scene today in general? How would you rank it on a scale from 1-10 with 1 being awful and 10 being fantastic?
Hey I would give it an 8 or so. I think there is a pretty cool underground scene and lots of really interesting bands.



MM-I know that you said that the songs on your Myspace page are several years old. How does you new material compare with the songs on your page?
Style wise we are not gonna change but hopefully improve on our sound and work on
our Groove ! We have improved as a band and want to sound familiar but yet have a
unique style from other Doom bands.

MM-How many original songs do you have now? What are some of your favorites?
We have quite a few tunes done or in the working stage 10 to 15 . I am digging a few we are working on now called Alucarda and Merciless.

MM-Do you play any cover songs live if so then what?
Yes, we have always done a healthy dose of covers mostly just for fun.
Lots of Sabbath favorites but also Shooting Gallery by Saint Vitus.
Countess Bathory by Venom , RIP by Witchfinder General and Angel of Death
by Angel Witch.

Do you play many shows? Who have you played with?
Not very many recently as we just relocated to San Francisco from Tucson AZ.
Now we are concentrating on recording but hope to get gigging soon afterward.
When we did shows in Tucson we played some gigs mostly with local bands.



MM-If you could only listen to one Black Sabbath album for the next month then what which one would it be and why? I would go with Master of Reality as it's my favorite.
Just great from start to finish .. Never get tired of hearing it.

MM-Is there much of a doom metal or stoner scene in the San Francisco area?
Yes, there seems to be a pretty decent underground metal scene here. Still discovering it, but there is tons more going on here than in Tucson.

MM-Judging from your Myspace page, your band name and song titles you love horror movies and probably horror books too. What are some of you favorite horror films and horror authors? Poe of course and Lovecraft also Clive Barker for more modern stuff . Again the list is mega long I will try and mention some band top faves.....Dust Devil , Evil Dead, Dagon , Hellraiser, Dawn of the Dead , the Beyond, Gates of Hell, Nightbreed, Susperia, Inferno, The Devil Rides Out, Dracula AD and Blood on Satan's Claw.


MM-Pick the band from each of the following pairs that you prefer and tell why.

Candlemass or Saint Vitus
Have to go with Vitus here as I heard them first and was blown away by their sound much more raw and slow than anything I had heard up until then. But Candlemass has also been a big influence especially Epicus !

Cathedral or Electric Wizard
Whew that's a close call too ... I guess EW as again there sound is so unique and different .

Bang or Sir Lord Baltimore
I would say Bang here especially their first album but SLB deserve plenty of credit for being a trailblazer of the Metal style.

Pentagram or Witchfinder General
...Sadly I didn't discover Pentagram till later so Witchfinder General was one of my biggest influences next to Sabbath. Real close call anyway as booth these bands are cornerstones of Doom.

MM-Is there anything else that you would like to say about your band or your music?
Thanks for checking us out and do your best to support the Underground Metal scene.
Hopefully the real Metal will rise and stomp all that crap nu-metal and emo garbage into the dust ! Let each note I play be a black arrow of death at those who play false Metal ..... AAAaarghhh !!!

***Thanks to Lawrence for doing the interview.

http://www.myspace.com/myconquerorworm