Having initially reformed for some live dates in 2008 and 2009, crust/punk/metal titans Amebix recorded ‘Sonic Mass’ in 2010. Their first set of new material since 1987, the album was released to significant critical acclaim. Keen to find out more, trakMARX caught up with frontman Rob Millar, who now combines writing and recording with creating hand-crafted swords from his workshop on the Isle of Skye.
Let’s start by talking about ‘Sonic Mass’. To me it comes across as a connected suite or cycle of songs – was this how it was conceived?
Not really, no – Songs just arrived in their own time; I wrote the bassline to ‘Days’ during a soundcheck in Montreal, Roy wrote ‘The Messenger’ in the back of the van coming back from Hellfest in France. It didn’t become apparent that there was a narrative string until later, when I noticed that there was a cohesive journey being outlined.
What would you say were the key lyrical themes contained within the album’s songs?
There are references to alchemy, Gnosticism, myth and magic – It is primarily an archetypal landscape that we have reflected, there are several key elements.
What provided the inspiration for those themes?
A lifetime of study and thought, I suppose. The 24 years of internal reflection after the first period of the band.
Were you pleased with the finished album?
Yes, extremely. Very proud and also very grateful to have had the opportunity to bring this together after such a long time.
Do you feel that ‘Sonic Mass’ represents a leap forward in the band’s development? How would you say this is most evident?
There is a peculiar fetishism attached to the older work – based on its sound – which, rather than being a preconceived idea, was more the state of our art: Poor equipment and no money equals a rough sound. Some people don’t like the modern sound, and I understand that – but it is much more like what we wanted Amebix to sound like even back then, without having the means at our disposal.
What compelled you to begin the process of putting the band back together after nearly 20 years?
The ‘Risen’ DVD project brought the possibility up, and we went on from there. It was a case of doors opening and a very definite signal to proceed.
Did you feel as if you were starting from scratch or did the reformation seem more like a continuance from where the group had left off?
I think that the core feeling of Amebix is something that remained unchanged from that time -almost like a group soul – In fact, exactly that. It was easy enough to access that again as it is always just to one side and further in, the conditions that bring that inspirational force out for me personally are concerned with nature and a contact with the Earth, that is what precipitated some of the most important parts of this project.
Going back to the very beginning, Amebix’s first recorded outing was with ‘University Challenged’ on the initial ‘Bullshit Detector’ collection – listening to the track now, it is evident that right from the start the band had a very different musical agenda from many of the other groups on that album – what inspired this?
I don’t really know – Maybe the remote country life that we lived, a sense of space rather than urban claustrophobia (initially). Ideas too, the discussion of ideas.
At the outset, did you have a very specific idea of how you wanted to sound?
No, not at the beginning – We just wanted to make a noise, then it began to deepen as our musical listening deepened. Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, Joy Division, bigger things.
Did you feel a sense of unity with other active elements on the anarcho punk scene in the late 1970s early 1980s? Were there any of those bands that you particularly liked or individuals that you found especially helpful or inspiring?
Initially I liked Crass, but the glamour of that wore off along with most other bands. It became apparent that most of it was artifice and ultimately fairly shallow. There are few people who are really rooted in their music at a deep level.
Amebix tended to be less politically didactic than many other bands from that scene – was this deliberate? How do you feel about the anarcho punk scene when reflecting on it from a distance of thirty years?
Naive, insular, elitist. Also, it was a great time to be alive and a snotty, belligerent, obnoxious teenager – But I was not really interested in the political questions, more in the fundamental and existential ones.
Do you believe that rock’n’roll is no longer a motivating factor for youthful rebellion?
I think that it has become too available – like pornography. We used to have to strive to find interesting new music; now people just expect it to be free and do not engage fully with it. We are a spoilt culture that has a shallow grazing mentality now, rather than a full immersion in art – so the experience is almost meaningless: Press skip and move to the next thing.
What would you hope that listeners take away from the experience of hearing ‘Sonic Mass’?
I would hope that they will be taken on a journey into the centre of the darkness and will recognise the thread within this labyrinth that is ultimately hopeful and leads back towards the daylight.
What’s next for the group?
At this point, I don’t know. For myself, I shall continue to write now that this has been awakened.