Anaal Nathrakh - We catch up with Dave Hunt for a few words!!!

Anaal Nathrakh one of the most important underground bands in the UK!!!

Joe Denby speaks to Dave Hunt on of Great Britain’s hardest working vocalist's ahead of the new release from Anaal Nathrakh.

Music Trespass: How are you today?

Dave: Yeah I'm ok, a bit stressed. I've got a lot on my plate but I'm alright.

Music Trespass: Let’s talk about the new album from Anaal Nathrakh album the impossible to pronounce 'Desideratum!'.

Dave Hunt: The process of recording was pretty much the same as the past albums. Although this time I didn't get to fly out to where Nick is. We did it while he was over here. So instead of going to his mate's posh house in California it was done in a dark converted garage in his dad's house.

Music Trespass: Was there any guest appearance's this time?

Dave: A couple of people from the live band did bits and pieces. Jay did some solo's. We had a couple of little bits done by a couple of Nick's mate's out in America, Trevor and Sarah they did more substantive bits. We got involved with an electronic music guy named Gortech. Basically Nick got talking to him before the album and as a result we sent him some early versions of the music and he sent back some things that went along with it. It turned out pretty cool. One of the tracks we got Niklas Kvarforth from Shining. He's a bit of an odd ball character, people either love or hate him but we get on with him really well I quite like him even though he is mental! We were in Bergen in Norway for a festival and Shining were there also and we got him back to the hotel to do some recording after the gig. It was a bit of a mental session. He was strangling himself and throwing things around so it was all a bit of anarchic fun. I did the chorus and he did the verses on the track 'Rage and Red' so it was a lot of fun.

Music Trespass: It feels on the last couple of albums, while you have always been a mixture of genre's the Black Metal element has come to the forefront do you agree? While 'The Codex Necro' for example was more Aargggh!!" This album also shows what a diverse vocalist you are.

Dave: I certainly hope so I try to keep things interesting rather then "I must show that I can do different things" I'm not really interested in that. It's more a case of making music more interesting and keeping things off balance. With the Black Metal thing I'm not sure to be honest. That's really something where we sat down and went "right, are we going to do Black Metal" because we don't. We don't really plan things out. How you put it earlier when you said "AaARGRHH!" that's the only mind frame we are in really that's as far as planning a sound goes. We really take a step at the end a see the results when it's finished from a distance. It's totally organic. It is what it is really.

Music Trespass: So it’s really a case of getting each album finished, taking a step back and then seeing what it is.

Dave: I think so yeah. I think trying to use whatever inspiration you have in that direst way rather than analyzing it makes things a lot more immediate. Heart felt’s not the right word but it transcends more directly to the listener.

Music Trespass: I once read an interview with Nick actually were he said all he ever aims to do is recapture the feeling he had when he was listening to the John Peel show all those years ago.

Dave: Yeah that sounds kind of accurate. You think how old he would have been then. I mean he was listening to Napalm Death when he was eleven so! Everything at that age has a lot of impact you’re at all jaded as you would after listening to Metal for ten years or whatever. That original impact is something that can slip away sometimes, we’re quite conscious to retain it.

Music Trespass: What else is planned for 2014?

Dave: It’s a little bit sporadic we’ve got gigs in the UK around the time of album release. We have the Damnation Festival in Leeds then a London Show a few days later. We have a gig in Norway a fortnight after that. After that it goes a bit quiet. Partly by design, partly because we were looking at this extensive European tour but didn’t work out in the end. That happens sometimes. So at the moment we are looking at putting some things together for next year.

Music Trespass: I’d like to talk about how far Anaal Nathrakh has come over the years. Considering it was kind of a side project for want of a better term, and it was a studio project. Now eight albums later it’s a big name with a full live band that tours etc.

Dave: It has developed. In terms of playing live we didn’t think it could be possible to play live. We didn’t think it would be possible to get a drummer who could play those songs. Nowadays things have changed a bit because you know I remember hearing about Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel) and he was supposed to be the fastest most relentless drummer there was, but the drummer’s now have been listening to him when they were kids so what he did has kind of become normal. So nowadays it’s easier to think of a drummer that can play at the speed we need to play at for as long as we need them to, but at the time we didn’t know anyone. So there wasn’t a commitment to staying in the studio or anything like that. It wasn’t until we were offered a session for the BBC we thought “F**k it, lets try” and it happened that we spoke to Nick Barker (Cradle of Filth/ Dimmu Borgir) and he said he could play it so it went from there. Once we realized it was possible to play live we then could play gigs.

Music Trespass: It started out on the side of Mistress and has now evolved into your main project is that accurate?

Dave: It was never a side project. It was just at the same time. It wasn’t like mistress was the main gig and we wanted to do something on the side. I was in four bands at the time it was just another separate thing. I’m involved in a lot of different things and none of them really have a higher priority then the other but I would say that Anaal Nathrakh is the most personal. It’s the one thing where, it’s our baby and it wouldn’t be the same if we involved other people.

Music Trespass: What’s the current state of Benediction?

Dave: We’re still going. It’s been a bit quiet lately. We’ve done a few gigs but it’s a matter of getting a new album out. It can take a while to sort anything out they’ve got houses and families but it is going on and something will come out eventually.

Music Trespass: Anything else you’re involved in?

Dave: Not at the moment, I’ve always got ideas but there’s enough going on at the moment. Nick’s always involved in different project’s be it a band or production or whatever. He was involved in the new Motionless in White album. Nick’s the type of person who likes to figure things out. He will put something together to figure out how to do it in the first place. A lot of the stuff he does probably won’t see the light of day.

Music Trespass: What music have you been listening to lately?

Dave: To be honest a lot of weird stuff! I just got a new stereo and I like sounds themselves sometimes I just like listening to stuff that has good noises rather then music. I’ve been listening to the new Aphex Twin album and a lot of classical stuff.

Music Trespass: Your favorite albums?

Dave: 'The Pianist; Soundtrack, 'Small Change' Tom Waits, 'Terminal Static' Broken Note, 'Kult Ofenzivy' Radikalni Ateismus and 'Utopia Banished' Napalm Death.