Interview with Lawrence Mackrory, the vocalist of the Swedish Death/Thrash metal band, Darkane.
Greetings Lawrence, how have you been?
Very good, thank you! It’s been a very busy year for me. We haven’t done much with Darkane apart from a few shows here and there, I’ve mostly been doing music production work. I’ve done albums with Sanctrum, Lik and Firespawn among others. Like I said, a very busy year for me.
Tell me when did Darkane was founded?
Darkane was formed in 1998 by Peter and Christoffer. They recorded two songs with Björn Strid on vocals but he was already busy with Soilwork so they tried to find a permanent singer. Eventually they found me in Uppsala, many miles from Helsingborg where the band is based. I recorded Rusted Angel with them and played a few shows but since I already had 2 bands prior to joining Darkane the schedules eventually clashed and I just couldn’t be part of the band anymore. It was a quick but very fun first year of Darkane for me.
”The Sinister Supremacy” is the latest release from 2013. Tell me about it.
For me it’s a very important album since it’s my first one with Darkane since Rusted Angel. I was very involved with the writing and production, which was a big difference from the debut. Klas and Christoffer wrote the bulk of the songs with Peter co-writing a lot of it. I wrote and produced and recorded the vocals which was a first for Darkane as well. It was recorded in Helsingborg and Uppsala and then mixed in Uppsala by Daniel Bergstrand.
What can you tell me about the other’s band releases?
Apart from Rusted Angel I don’t really know a lot about them since I wasn’t in the band from 1999-2011. But they released 4 albums between the debut and The Sinister Supremacy. Each one great in it’s own way. I think my favourite album from that era is Layers of Lies.
Are you going to release a new album soon?
Not soon, but there will be an album no. 7. Chris has written some great songs so far and we’re hoping to start planning the future soon. We’ve been talking about me talking on the duty of handling the final mixing duties. I’m pretty excited and think the next album will be very cool.
What are the lyrical themes and who mainly writes the lyrics?
Darkane lyrics have always dealt with issues of the human psyche and Peter used to write a lot. On The Sinister Supremacy, which I wrote all but 2 lyrics for, I focused on the darker side of our minds and what makes us do bad things. Now more than ever I feel that this is a theme I can delve even further into. At the moment I’m really interested in the cognitive dissonance that the majority of the worlds population live with every day. Next album might be very interesting lyrically.
Any influences?
Bands and other musicians don’t really influence me anymore, today it’s more about expressing myself. I used to want to be able to do this and that vocally and sound exactly like this and that singer. I don’t feel I have anything to prove anymore, I just want to express myself musically and in doing so, hope to evoke some kind of emotion in the listener.
Are you going to tour this year or next year?
Not this year, as it’s almost over. But maybe next year, who knows? But I think the majority of next year will be spent getting the new album done.
Do you have a message for the Darkane fans?
We know we have many loyal fans and I would like to take the opportunity to say thanks for supporting Darkane through thick and thin. We don’t release albums or tour very often, because that’s just the way our lives are. We’re just not able to keep up a steady pace like some bands. We do however hope you appreciate the passion we put in to the work we actually do, because we love doing what we do. And we hope you do to.
It was my pleasure Lawrence, thank you and cheers!
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak. The pleasure was all mine. Take care!
https://www.facebook.com/darkane/
If you really would like to support Antichrist, you can just Share our article.
You can also support Antichrist by sending a couple bucks to cover some webhosting expenses. =>> PayPal
