Interview with Daniel Brennare (Lake of Tears)

Hello Daniel and welcome into the pages of Metalfan. We hope we will finally meet in March. How are you these days?

Hello and thanks. I guess I’m quite the same as always … dreaming of better days.

A warming up question: have you made a statistic in order to find out which periods give you maximum inspiration? What affects you the most: bleak times, cold weather and the sadness of winter or the green and the awakening of things in the spring?

I’ve done no statistics but my heart tells me that sadness still has the greatest impact on me ... no matter when or where. Nothing is for ever so even the awakening of things can be looked upon as something that will perish sooner or later. But very luckily some days are just not sad at all. Though then I simply don’t put any energy into writing songs but instead on living … you should when you have the chance.

If I try to compare the LOT back in 1994 and the one in 2005 I can clearly notice an evolution, even if that means referring only to the musical themes you use. You have gone through the death metal influenced music of your youth and now you have reached a very personal sound, atmospheric and almost gothic metal. Talking about these changes, do you think time passing affects human beings?

Off course time affects us, together with space and everything therein, be it mental or physical. It’s quite difficult to talk about the passing of time and how it affects us mentally us since this is so different from person to person but I guess in my case right now it feels like moving on an axis, from a most magical place to a most logical.

How do you see Daniel Brennare now? Is it very different from the person 10 years ago? Where do you think you’ll be ten years from now? Will you be a respectable grandfather or will you still be dreaming “of the mountains where you used to be a king”?

You learn some new things and you forget about some old things … and some things are still the same. I hope I’ve done my best to gain and keep what’s good and to get rid of what’s bad. A respectable but still dreaming grandfather … I could imagine becoming that one day.

Do you recall any of the bands you used to play with 10 years ago? What bands were on the top by then?

Since we started Lake of Tears back in 1992 I haven’t really been active in any other band.

Do you still think that evil can be found in every single human being? Are we as evil as you are? J

Both evil and good can be found in everything everywhere. But I guess that this is as much in the eye of the beholder as within the subject itself.

Has the lake of tears gone dry?

There has always been something to cry for and I guess there always will be. But who knows maybe one day … but that day I guess I’ll be sad because all the sadness has left.

Where do this sadness and this depression come from when life seems so beautiful and full of surprises?

Yes … life seems so beautiful and full of surprises. But surprisingly many things are not what they seem to be.

In an interview given back in 2004 you said that your musical influences can be found by listening bands like Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Metallica. I must admit that I wasn’t expecting you to be so keen on the music of the last decade, but I have some questions about your latest album. Even though you are using a Hammond, the atmosphere is quite actual and very often having industrial touches. Where did you get this idea of using a Hammond in your music from?

I’ve been listening to a lot of music through the years and I still rank those bands among my favorites. But inspiration comes from so many different things (reading, listening to music, talking, drinking, thinking …). About the Hammond … it’s hard to say exactly where the idea to use it came from so let’s just say that the opportunity to use for this record came up.

Will you have a keyboard player in your concert in Bucharest?

No.

What’s your opinion about the actual rock scene?

There are so many bands out there today, both bad and good. I guess it’s too many bands to be able to go through them all but they are still too few to be able to say it all. To me it appears that many bands are trying to do the same thing in the same way, but maybe that’s the sign of a big scene.

Could you please tell me what are the latest 3 rock albums you have listened to?

Faya by Christian Kjellvander, Floodland by Sisters of Mercy and Ravishing Grimness by Darkthrone.

How different do you think the music of the year 2100 will be, compared with the one from our days? In Rock’n’Roll Machinery, Norman Spinrad described the future music as created and played almost completely by computers, with computer generated musicians, though respecting some human desires and archetypes, discovered by analyzing real human tendencies. Do you think that could be possible?

Who knows, it actually may be possible in the future to do this analysis and some days I even wish we’ll get there. Other days I fear we will … what is left when all magic is lost to logic.

How do your girlfriends stand metallic activities? Are they supporters of the band or just coping with your hobby? What LOT album is the favorite of the Brennare lady?

Sometimes very supportive and sometimes not, like all women. They care for us and want us nothing but good. But never to good, at least not when they’re not around. My girlfriend prefers Black Brick Road.

We know that you have a very strong desire of coming to Romania. Is it only a tourist desire or do you have other curiosities about our country too?

We’ve heard that we have many fans in Romania and we’ve been quite curios for some time now to find out if this is true or not. And there is something in the mails we’ve received from there. I can’t really put my finger on what it is … some kind of mixture of beauty and sadness, which would be a very suitable environment for us. Anyway, I’m sure it will be great.

What do you know about Romania besides the most famous Lord Dracula?

Not too much really. The nature is said to be fantastic though.

When I’ve first listened to Headstones, the album was recorded on a tape. The first track was Twilight, as the tape was on B-side. It was superb but yet so different from what I knew about LOT at that time. Do you recall what inspired you in composing that song?

I can’t recall if any specific moment (other then twilight in general … obviously) was the inspiration for this song but I really don’t think so because then I would probably have remembered it. Though I still very much recall that big, weird looking old tree which I could see every evening from the window of our hotel during the recording of Headstones. It was actually a really important ingredient in the recording of that song … but don’t ask me why or how.

As a personal curiosity and favor, could you reveal the lyrics at the beginning of Boogie Bubble (those sang with a solemn voice, so atypical for LoT but yet so perfect for that track’s atmosphere)?

I’d rather not …

About Crimson Cosmos too, how did you manage to create such a cool video for Devil’s Dinner? Every time I remember it I must admit I am kind of confused, as your image is so somber and the chicks dancing in the rain so sexy and provoking. What was your girlfriends’ opinion about the script of this video?

We didn’t show the script to our girlfriends. And then when the video was over … well, it was already over so they could say nothing about it.

In the presentation on your official website I have found out that you would very much like to write a book. Any specific direction you’d like to follow? What are your literary sources of inspiration?

Anything that would feel somehow a bit magical would be nice write. To find the essence of that something and to be able to write it down … I still hope I can manage to do it someday. And regarding written inspiration, I’ve found that I’m closest to these kinds of feelings when reading Fantasy, Philosophy and Poetry.

Every child has a favorite book that pretty much influenced his childhood. What is your childhood’s favorite book?

I remember reading The Lord of the rings trilogy as soon as I could manage to read such a work. I actually remember “borrowing” it from a local library. I have read it a lot of times since then.

Have you seen the “Lord of The Rings” movie trilogy? Did you like it?

I’ve seen it and I must say I like most of it.

Do you think humanity will manage to make colonies on other planets before our sun died or we will we find our extinction as a race during a nuclear war?

I think we will. If we could only stop producing all this junk we do today and instead focus on more important issues.

How do you relax? What kind of atmosphere/music do you search for in your relaxing time?

Relaxing time is rare nowadays though when I have the time I usually listen to the music I like, no matter what kind … anything from dark trance and black metal to much softer stuff.

What kinds of books unleash your inspiration demons?

A mixture of fantasy, philosophy and poetry sometimes works for me.
 
As a final question, if you are so kind, please answer our short quiz:

• Good or Evil?
   Good.
• Light or darkness?
  A light in the darkness.
• In studio or on stage?
  On stage.
• Cosmic weed or crimson cosmos?
  Cosmic weed.
• Pagan wish or path of the gods?
  The path …
• Cemetary or My Dying Bride?
  Cemetary.
• Death metal or black metal?
  Black metal
• The Osbournes or Big Brother?
  I’ll rather have a headache
• Electrical or classical guitar?
  Electrical
• Napoleon or Alexander the Great?
  Alexander
• Tom or Jerry?
  Jerry
• The Bible or Da Vinci Code?
  Da Vinci Code
• Pain or Vengeance?
  Vengeance
• Php or vb script?
  Vb script
• Java or .NET?
  .Net
• Computer games or console games?
  Computer games
• Euro or Swedish Krona?
  Euro
• Beer or vodka?
  Beer
• Harry Potter or Frodo?
  Harry Potter
• ‘70s or ‘90s?
  70’s
• Comedy or drama?
  Drama
• Classical or modern era?
  Classical
• Barcelona or Roma?
  Barcelona