WNTC Karl Interview 2005

What to say? When I heard Karl rejoined Bolt Thrower in 2004, I was thrilled. Soon after we started corresponding again, and here's the result of our first interview. Be sure to visit the official Bolt Thrower site for another detailed interview with Karl and all around brutality.

Hi Karl, upon rejoining Bolt Thrower last year mentioned you had "unfinished business..." would you elaborate?

Karl: Well when I left the band back in 1995..we had only recently recorded and released ...For Victory at the end of 1994....so i never really got a chance to perform those songs live much, also there are some killer songs on Mercenary that I recorded in 1998 and never got to play (due to my decision not to stay in the band)...along with songs from Honour Valour Pride and the new stuff we are currently writing....there are a lot of Bolt Thrower songs that need to be performed live....which I am really looking forward to.

You're pretty open minded musically, will this affect your vocals at all?

Karl: I am fairly open minded towards music and have a huge variety in taste (somewhat eclectic rather!) but the vocals will be similar to how they have always been....nothing else really fits to the Bolt Thrower sound...however I have found that in rehearsal my lung capacity has altered over the past 10 years from smoking (I didn't smoke when back in 1995), this has altered my vocal timing slightly, my main focus will be for impact with clear annunciation.

What was it like to get back into the whole Bolt vibe again after six years?

Karl: Absolutely fantastic, since leaving the band and doing a series of ultimately soul destroying jobs linked with a disasterous personal relationship i was pretty much at an all time low....getting the BT recall was just what i needed....I can feel the flame burning once more...just as i'd thought it has been extinguished forever!!! Apart from all that it is just great to catch up with the guys...nothing has really changed....we are almost like family.

Any ideas for lyrics or lyrical theme for the upcoming album?

Karl: Continuing the theme its loosely gonna be based on the usual subject (war - theres a lot of it about these days- ya noticed?). However I will probably take a swipe at religion somewhere along with making satorial comment on these (post) modern times we live in.

The way we fight war has changed since 1998, has your viewpoint on warfare changed as well?

Karl: Yeah, the impact of technology has had a massive effect on the way we live and the way we die these days...it can almost be seen as a commodity these days affected by our consumption of a plethora of media images received live and direct.....

Your impression of the death metal scene these days?

Karl: To be perfectly honest I am not to up on it at all...I kind of lost interest when the black metal scene got popular...think i need a crash course....still listen to the old stuff like Antisect, Axegrinder, Sacriledge, Slaughter, Dream Death, Candlemass, Trouble and Black Sabbath!!!!

What are you most looking forward to doing with the band?

Karl: Well all of it is pretty damn exiting...at the moment I am currently listening to the rough demos of our new (semi)completed songs over and over and over again working out lyrics and timing which I really enjoy....then its onto the studio to record them which is always a novel experience!!! But ultimately its gotta be the gigs that I am really exited about....theres gonna be a lot of em throughout 2006....This is really what BT have always been about....the live performance.