First allowme to thank you for taking part in this interview. I’d like to ask first, for the benefit of anybody who might not be familiar with your music and the bands you’re involved with, could you please introduce yourself and give a brief outline of the Wolves of Avalon and the Meads of Asphodel? I formed the Meads of Asphodel in 1998 when Black Metal was what it was, and no one gave a shit about Nazi’s hiding in the shadows. Funnily enough nor did I, and in the 40 odd years I have dedicated myself to this scene I have met thousands of black metal fans and probably 2 openly racist fellows, but �mes have changed and it’s a big issue now. The Meads of Asphodel have been dragged though this racist mire, and we’ve even had an Indian drummer, have a Jewish member, and pre�y much had guests from all corners of the world. The scene now is a watered-down version of what it was, most bands are pre�y lukewarm lyrically and weary of ge�ng shit. I am honoured to have known a be�er �me. Now I’ve had my rant, The Meads is a band that rips though religion with a plague dripping scythe and plummets into the genocidal impulses of humanity. All of our albums have this thread in common. The Wolves of Avalon reflects my love for Pagan Metal, and lyrically reaches back into Bri�sh history. I did not want the Meads to become lost in a lyrical maze, so I found other musicians to give rise to the Wolves and that is how I separate my lyrical visions. Coming to the Wolves of Avalon first, I believe you are due to put out a new vinyl only MLP �tled Y Gododdin the very near future which, in keeping with the band’s lyrical themes of Bri�sh history, is I believe based around the Gododdin tribe which occupied northern Britain around 600 A.D. What was it about this tribe and events surrounding it that inspired you to theme this release around it? If you look at the previous albums, in a historical �meframe then, Boudicca’s last Stand would come first, with Carrion Crows over Camlan [about the Cel�c Arthur], second, and Corpses Grey leaping ahead a few hundred years. Y Gododdin sits between Carrion Crows and Corpse Grey. It was one of the last acts of Bri�sh resistance against the Saxons, a final burst of blood hued glory in a �me where The Dark Ages had descended upon the light of civiliza�on and the age of the Barbarian had cometh. I think the Gododdin capture that mys�cal immortality of the warrior code and death before dishonour commonly a�ributed to the likes of, 300 Spartans, the defenders of the Alamo, the defenders of the Persian Gate, Masada, etc. (one would normal cite Custer in this group, but in reality his blundering and bad decision making caused his troopers death and I think a last stand was more like a decima�on of pockets of men running for their lives. Such is the power of Hollywood in roman�cising the past.) The �tle of the album is taken directly from the medieval Welsh poem Y Gododdin and that poem is accepted to be an early account of the Gododdin, the Ba�le of Catraeth and many of the warriors who fell in that ba�le. To what extent has the poem itself inspired and contributed to the overall theme and specific lyrics on the album? Also, are there any par�cular people men�oned in the poem you’ve felt drawn towards wri�ng about, and are there any other sources you’ve drawn from as well? The poemwas my ini�al inspira�on, and this was set before there was a United Kingdom. There was no Scotland, England or Wales. Just the isles of Britain known by the Romans to be the utmost border on Earth, and here is the ba�le ground of the Gododdins last stand. It is an extremely li�le known event that most definitely happened. The poem details a year of feas�ng as the great warriors gathered one by one to laugh drink and make merry. Then the end �mes arrive in a heroic ride to doom. There are no par�cular men men�oned, just my wish to keep such events alive, as history seems to be less of an interest nowadays. It’s a fine line being proud of ones past in this part of the world. I watched a documentary on a small tribe living near the Dominican Republic. The interviewer asked if these people were proud of their roots and customs and they replied with yes, and how the old ways were kept alive. You ask that over here and you can walk into a na�onalis�c trap and be brushed with that good old racist card. It’s a fucking joke.
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