ELECTRIC WIZARD
Devon’s doom dispensers are switching up the formula
The doom metallers invite us into their new studio to go into the void on album number nine.
in the final
weeks before the release of their ninth album, Wizard Bloody Wizard, it’s clear that sludgy Brits Electric Wizard are a different band from when they last entered the studio. They’ve got a new, home-built recording space, a new rhythm section and a new sound, so we asked frontman Jus Oborn to help us unravel the mysteries of their enigmatic next step.
WHY DID YOU NEED YOUR OWN STUDIO FOR THIS ALBUM?
“I’ve always wanted to record my own music instead of trusting somebody else to do it. After producing a few things myself, I started to see that there was a way that I could get a studio. I was just waiting for room and costs to come down.”
ORIGINALLY, WIZARD BLOODY WIZARD HAD THE LOOSE RELEASE DATE OF AUTUMN 2016. WAS IT MAKING THE STUDIO THAT CAUSED THE DELAY, OR SOMETHING ELSE?
“Learning how to use the equipment took forever. Then there’s the cost of tape machines: I recorded it on analogue tape, and tape machines are old and a bit temperamental, ha ha! Unless you’ve been an expert for years, it’s quite easy to fuck it up! But I don’t want to construct my music after the fact or be able to edit it. I like the rawness of getting it onto tape.”
YOU’VE SAID THIS ALBUM WILL BE LESS METAL AND MORE BLUESY AND ATMOSPHERIC. WHAT MADE YOU GO WITH THAT CHANGE?
“I think we may have become formulaic at one point. We’re trying to move away from that. We’re just writing songs in an original way, jamming with new rhythms and sounds, rather than trying to imagine the finished song. I like the idea of attacking blues again, to reinterpret it.”
DID YOU ACTIVELY SEARCH FOR A DIFFERENT SOUND?
“I think the last album was our final say in that style. There was a subconscious shift as well – with the new lineup we’ve got a much better rhythm section and a lot more going on. It added a new dimension to the songwriting.”
THE TITLE SOUNDS LIKE A BLACK SABBATH HOMAGE…
“It’s definitely an homage, but it’s also a statement: We are the Wizard. We’re fucking here. We ain’t dead yet! Ha ha!”
“WE GOT TOO FORMULAIC”
Jus Oborn is Breaking out of the Wizard Mould
WIZARD BLOODY WIZARD IS OUT OCTOBER 20 VIA WITCHFINDER