HERO OF TODAY: DAN NIGHTINGALE (CONJURER)

THEY'RE GOING TO HIT THE STORES WITH THEIR DEBUT ALBUM MIRE EARLY NEXT YEAR AND FROM THE 1ST SINGLE IT SEEMS QUITE INTERESTING, SO I TALKED WITH DAN NIGHTINGALE (GUITARIST AND VOCALIST OF THE BAND) TO KNOW A BIT MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT CONJURER AND MIRE!

Hi and welcome on the pages of The Bible of Metal!! 
How do, thanks for having me.

How was born your project?
It started towards the end of 2013 when Brady put up a post on Facebook stating he wanted to start a band in the vain of Gojira and The Black Dahlia Murder, two bands that were very important to me in that they changed how I listened to and wrote metal music. I messaged him saying I was interested, and sent him the song I was working on at the time ("Behold The Swine") to see if it was the kind of thing he wanted to play. After a couple of sessions round his house, we both knew we wanted to devote our full attention to the project, and spent 2014 writing more songs and getting a full line-up sorted. Our first choice of drummer immediately said yes, and our first choice of bassist said yes two weeks before our first show, which was in February 2015.

When did you start working on your debut album Mire?
Technically from day one, some of the songs on 'Mire' were written around the same time as the songs on 'I', and were even played at our first show a few years ago. We kept them back because we felt the combination of songs on the EP was more cohesive and gelled together very well, and we knew that we could expand on and do more with the songs that would eventually go onto the album. We didn't stop writing for the album until about 1 and a half/2 months before we went in to record it, because you never know what you might come up with at the last minute!

Why did you choose the title track as first single from your debut album? When did you start writing it?
Our label chose that song because they said it was the perfect amalgamation of all the sounds you hear on the album. It's also the most straight-forward in terms of structure, and it's pretty short compared to the other songs on the record, so that probably helps! In terms of when we started writing it, it's all kind of a blur because there was no discernible "Okay, the EP's done, we're going to start writing for an album now", it wasn't a calculated thing. You just keep writing and when the time comes to go into the studio, you pick the best songs you have, record them, and go straight back to writing. Other than those few songs we already had waiting to go onto the album, I think "The Mire" might have been the 2nd or 3rd song we wrote after the EP was done.

Will be the whole album on the same mood?
No, in my opinion the album covers a fair bit of ground in that no one song is similar to another. There's no concept to the record, there's no running theme or storyline, each song kind of stands on its own. We all have very eclectic influences and musically we don't like to stay in the same place for too long, so the mood is constantly shifting between songs. It keeps things fresh for us and it's more fun and challenging than writing in the same style, just treading water. We'll have a 7-minute doom-y dirge go into a 9-minute black metal and emo influenced song, which in turn goes into a 3-minute hardcore stomper, etcetera etcetera, and there's no conscious decision to do that, it's just what comes out when we write.

How would you describe Mire?
It's not so much angry as it is upset. It's heavy, brooding music with a lot of sadness and helplessness at its core; a lot of putting barriers up and then tearing them down. It may seem slightly pedantic, but the album title isn't referring to the literal mire that the track refers to, but in fact the other definition of the word: an arduous and unpleasant situation that is difficult to free yourself from. It's a word that we found fitted the tone and mood of the music quite well. There's not a whole lot of hope within this record.

What're your plans for the next future besides your upcoming live dates?
There's not a whole lot I can talk about at the minute, but we'll be spending some time working on new material before our February mini-tour with Attan, we're planning on getting over to Europe at least once in 2018, there might be some UK exclusives lined up, and ultimately we're just gonna keep the ball rolling as long as it can. There's not too much I can talk about right now, but it's gonna be a hectic year, that's for sure!

Would you like to leave a message to our readers?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, stay hydrated, and hope to see you soon!