Dave Ingram (DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN): original grind bastard

BANDS : Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Down Among the Dead Men

Metalfan: Hello Dave and welcome for the first time to Metalfan.RO!
Dave Ingram: Greetings to you and all the readers of the webzine. Many thanks to you for the interview!

Metalfan: I know that you have a new project called Down Among the Dead Men and you have just released your debut album. Listening to the album i've heard a lot of influences such as crust-punk, d-beat, swedish death metal. What can you tell us about this LP?
Dave Ingram: Down Among The Dead Men is a new musical project from myself, Rogga Johansson and Dennis Blomberg. Crusty Power-Punk with a definite Death Metal edge. Drums on the album are played by Erik R. Bevenrud. Rogga first wrote me a year ago asking if I would be interested in working on one song with him and the idea came into my mind to do a full-length album together. Since we all live in Scandinavia it would be easier for us to get together and rehearse so that we can actually be a performing and touring band. This will hopefully come later this year.

Metalfan: Who came up with the idea of forming this band and who are the members from this project?
Dave Ingram: Rogga got in touch with me to perform on his Megascavanger project (out now, by the way) and I began mulling over the idea of making a full project with him - also touring as we aren't too far away from one another - and after just a few emails we got Down Among the Dead Men started. Down Among the Dead Men is myself, Rogga Johansson and Dennis Blomberg. Drums on the album are played by Erik R. Bevenrud.

Metalfan: Being one of the most important members from Benediction, please tell us, what happened after Grind Bastard (1998) was released? Why did you took the decision of leaving the band ?
Dave Ingram: I left Benediction in May 1998, though had a few gigs that I wanted to fulfill the commitments for in August of that year (Wacken Open Air was one of them.) Just under two months after I had played these final shows for Benediction I received a telephone call from Barry Thomson of Bolt Thrower, asking me to join the band.

Metalfan: After the departure from Benediction i know that you joined the veterans from Bolt Thrower and released one LP called Honour,Valour, Pride (2001) which was a great album,i have to say. Why you didn't continued with Bolt Thrower?
Dave Ingram: I was a member of Bolt Thrower for 5 & a half years and recorded the full-length album "Honour Valour Pride" with them in 2001. In 2003 I had some serious health issues - these have been documented elsewhere and I would rather not drag them out again - and therefore I decided to leave Bolt Thrower to recover.

Metalfan: Being the first interview for a romanian webzine, we have a lot of curious fans that would like to know how were those years when you were doing the vocal duties for Benediction. You released great albums which are a milestone in the death metal genre such as The Grand Leveller (1991), Transcend the Rubicon (1993) and of course, the pinaccle of you career, Grind Bastard (1998). Please tell us, how was back then?
Dave Ingram: You think Grind Bastard (1998) was the pinnacle? I don't. There were many great albums before and after, and there will be more releases to come. Saying 'pinnacle' sounds like my career is over, and it certainly isn't. The time I had in Benediction was a lot of fun. It is such a pity it ended like it did.

Metalfan: I know that the band developed a close relantionship with Chuck Schuldiner from Death and he took you for some touring. How was Chuck as a person , and of course as a musician to you?
Dave Ingram: He was a real nice guy, very quietly spoken. I found him to be very driven, and very much into what he was doing. His death was a sad loss to the scene.

Metalfan: After you left, Benediction released two albums with a new lead singer, Dave Hunt , and i think he was the best choice for the band, because i have to say , Organised Chaos (2001) is a great piece of art. What is your point of view?
Dave Ingram: In truth, I haven't heard the 2nd album at all so I can't comment on that, but I heard Organized Chaos (2001) a couple of times and thought it was cool.

Metalfan: Going back to Down Among the Dead Man, are you going to make a tour to promote this LP. What are your plans for the future with this new band ?
There's nothing definite or cast in stone yet, but we're beginning to lay out plans and throw ideas out to each other to maximize potential. Whatever happens, Down Among the Dead Man will hit the road in the future.

Down Among the Dead Man

Metalfan: Sincerly, it was a long period of time since the Honour, Valour, Pride (2001) album and this new album with Down Among the Dead Man. Have you dropped out your thoughts on music or just simply, you have done something else meanwhile?
Dave Ingram: After my health issues and my departure from Bolt Thrower I began working on a band here in Denmark, called Downlord. This project had two releases, an EP Grind Trials and a full-length album Random Dictionary of the Damned and we also toured with BOLT THROWER in 2006. (I will attach a link that you may reproduce so people can download the entire back catalogue of the band) We decided to call it a day when we had achieved all our goals. It was time to move on to the next project, and this was internet radio.

Along with my best friend, Donovan Spenceley, I began a Metal show for internet radio, called METAL BREAKFAST RADIO. We started out as a simple podcast with an audience of zero and we've built it up to being syndicated by 5 different internet radio stations (that we know of!) and downloads of between 2500 to 3000 each week. It's not your average Metal show, as myself and Donovan give a running commentary over the new music that bands submit to the show. We rate them and, if we don't like what we hear, we Exterminate them. We're pretty brutal about it, but it really is all just in good fun. We have several beers while we record, so it can sometimes get a bit "moist" - if you know what I mean? We've been doing that show every week for the last 5 and a half years, and I don't think we'll stop! I'll give you some links at the end to find us online.

I am also making another online radio show called LAMBERT'S BASEMENT, though this one is dedicated to one of my other musical loves: Big Band Jazz. This show features a lot of wonderful music from a bygone age, and it has me along with my co-host Igor, a zombie goldfish.

Additionally I have been a guest vocalist on a few other band's projects, such as Necrodemon (USA), Anton (Italy) and Iron FIre (Denmark) and most recently Just Before Dawn (Sweden) to name but a few. I've also been working on a book now and then, when I have time.
So, as you can see, I haven't dropped out of music…I have been very busy. People just don't bother to look hard enough.

Metalfan: Speaking about the future, you think there is any chance to reunite with the guys from Benediction just only for some shows or a studio album?
Dave Ingram: No.

Metalfan:Thank you very much for the interview David and in the end i let you say something to the romanian metal fans!
Dave Ingram: Thank YOU so much for the interview! Here's a few links of possible interest with some FREE music for the Romanian Metal heads. Also, my current top 5 albums:

Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Bolt Thrower - Those Once Loyal
Paganizer - On A Gurney To Hell
Bonesaw - The Illicit Revue
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris

Links of interest:
DOWNLORD back-catalogue, free download: http://www.metalbreakfastradio.com/Downlord.zip
www.darksentinel.dk
www.metalbreakfastradio.com
www.darksentinel.dk/DATDM.html
www.facebook.com/LambertsBasement
www.facebook.com/MetalBreakfastRadio
www.facebook.com/MetalBreakfastIngram
www.facebook.com/DownAmongTheDeadMen
Twitter: @MetalBreakfast
www.radiofreesatan.com
www.radiovillains.com

Autor: R. Andrei

Vezi galeriile trupelor: Benediction,

April 16, 2014 | 0 Comments | 11391 Views « BACK