Category: Interviews

The Lamp Of Thoth was a legendary Victorian occult coven that operated in the area of Keighley, in West Yorkshire. The Lamp Of Thoth is also a Doom band from Keighley, whose music evokes that cursed legacy. According to them, their influences are “Satan, drugs, doom, sex and every kind of filth”. They sound like it too. Their music is an unholy blend of Doom and NWOBHM (if you are a fan of Witchfinder General and Cirith Ungol, then this is your new favorite band!). And their lyrics are a whole lot of fun, full of witches’ covens, Pagan orgies and virgin blood (all the good stuff). Simon Strange discusses Hammer Horror, Lovecraft and the occult heritage of Yorkshire.

http://www.myspace.com/thelampofthoth

Interview by Dimitris Kontogiannis

CB: Your music is sinister but also has a sense of humour. Not too many doom bands are known for that combination (I ‘m thinking Witchfinder General, Cathedral, etc). What were your main influences when you started out?
LoT: When we started out our main influences musically were Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Witchfinder General, Cathedral, Count Raven, Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road, Manowar, Reverend Bizarre (who have a subtle sense of humour which comes across in a couple of songs!) and all sorts of stuff along those lines. Lyrically and in terms of attitude, it came from a variety of sources, but I think some of it from the idea of the weird tale. To try and create little weird tales in the forms of songs, and the strange characters that populate them. To make the songs not just scary, but strange, rather like the appeal of Lovecraft and the weird tale in general; the stories he wrote are not really scary in the conventional sense, but scary in their strangeness and in the fact that you can’t work that strangeness out. I think that’s what we aim for in a song. I hope we have succeeded somewhere.

I always loved vocal styles that were a bit odd, such as Reagers of Saint Vitus (the greatest doom metal vocalist to have ever walked the earth), Tim Baker of Cirith Ungol, and Dave Halliday of Hell. I do like the tongue in cheekness of bands like Deepswitch and Hell, which in my opinion makes the songs even more sinister. I am thinking of songs like Pigfeeder, where it is the deft ironic tone of the vocals and the mocking of the subject matter – or the macabre clown persona that Bobby Liebling plays upon, or the sheer mentalness of David Hallidays vocals, which have a very theatrical humour to them Some people have accused us of not taking the music seriously, but we do take it very seriously. Humour is quite sinister when you think about it – it’s usually cruel and based on someone’s misfortune, or their doom!

CB: Are you still part of The Miskatonic Foundation roster? They seem to have done a beautiful job with the album artwork.
LoT: Martin Handford was the artist responsible for that masterpiece. He has also done covers for Solstice, Asomvel and Isentorr, so we were very proud to have him do the cover of our album. Can’t wait to see it on the vinyl release!

CB: That Cirith Ungol cover is awesome! Do you have any other songs in mind that you ‘d like to cover?
LoT: Thanks! We have just started doing a cover of Saint Vitus’ ‘Dark World’ It’s not a straight cover, but as in the case of ‘Frost and Fire’, it’s an interpretation. We like to take the spirit of a song and put our spin on it, because usually you can’t compete with the original version, especially in the case of the two songs mentioned.

I have actually demoed a few different covers as well. I have some recordings somewhere of a punk version of Vitus’ Mystic Lady’, a doom version of Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman (abandoned when we heard Cradle of Filth had done it), a doom version of Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time) and a thrash metal version of Reverend Bizarre’s The Devil Rides Out – whether or not we are brave enough to record them is another matter!

CB: Your name comes from an infamous occult group from Keighley that managed to piss off the Golden Dawn. How did you decide to incorporate Yorkshire occult history, Victorian and pagan themes in your music?
LoT: I don’t think we really decided to incorporate those elements into our music, it just happened. Where we live has a history of being somewhat of a hotbed of Occult activity, and Keighley in particular is surrounded by occult and pagan sites, once I had found out about the legend of The Society of Dew and Light then it all just fit together and I knew what the band would be about and what we were aiming for.

CB: It’s obvious that your aesthetic is inspired by Victorian and gothic literature and also by the Weird Tales generation (Lovecraft, Leiber, Howard). What are your personal favorites, among those authors?
LoT: I don’t know which of those authors is my favourite because they all have their different strengths. I would say that Leiber is the best writer, but the strength of Howard and Lovecraft’s ideas is immeasurable. There was something going on at that time I think which is akin to the spirit of heavy metal, but obviously the electric guitar was not invented yet! Another writer from that time that I really like, is a Yorkshireman named E. R. Eddison, who famously called Tolkien soft! His most famous book is The Worm Oroborous, but his Zimiamvia trilogy is my favourite.

The Victorian period is really where fantastic fiction began and the old gods rose again, brought forth by the new religion of science which gave them a new lease of life and a potency which has still not diminished. Lovecraft finished what they had begun, putting the final nail into the coffin of Christianity with his conception of The Old Ones, and I think that Neil Gaiman is right when he claims that modern horror and fantasy is still trying to deal with that legacy. Anyone who is a fan of Lovecraft should read Tennyson’s poem The Kraken – the perfect description of what Cthulhu really is!

CB: Are you fans of the old Hammer Horror/Amicus films? I ‘m asking because your lyrics are often evocative of British horror films (eg., Blood On Satan’s Claw).
LoT: We are fans of those type of movies, preferring atmosphere over gore any day. It’s like the distinction between doom metal and death metal, and to refer to your first question although you can’t take those old films seriously (especially the old Vincent Price movies!) there’s something satisfying, and addictive about the atmosphere they invoke.

CB: Doom and NWOBHM have never been the most fashionable of genres. And yet, lately, they seem to be back in the public’s consciousness (and I am referring to the general public, not just the metal crowd). Or at least, that’s my impression. The mainstream rock press seems to have remembered how unpretentiously fun- not to mention honest- that music can be. Are you surprised by this gradual “rehabilitation”?
LoT: I don’t know really. It’s just interesting that when the NWOBHM hit the first time around, we were in an economic downturn and look where we are now! I think people value the escapism that Heavy Metal provides through its imagery, lyrical themes and mythology. Its interesting how, after being derided and mocked through the grunge years, and ignored or made to seem part of some part of someone’s youth that has passed and made them cool because they listened to metal but had the good sense to grow out of it and evolve (I think I am thinking of that Teenage Dirtbag song and that Sum 41 video where they dress up at the end, where they claim they spent their youth listening to Judas Priest even though they look like they are only fourteen) through the nu-metal years, now it seems the world needs a little bit of Heavy Metal’s mythology to help them through the hard times. Look at the popularity of films like Rock School, and the documentary about Anvil, and that guitar game on the consoles. I’m a big comics fan – look how that genre is being drained for the movies – for people who have never picked up the art form in their life, but as soon as it’s a film – its okay!

Heavy Metal fans and musicians should say no! and keep the metal for themselves in response to the shit that we have got from the media and public alike over the years, but we are too cool for that – confident in what we like and listen to, and smart enough to know that popularity is not something Heavy Metal and Doom is aimed at. I think that the people need the escapism and fun that metal provides at the moment, but as soon as times are better, the bubble will burst, history will repeat itself and the backlash will begin, the poser rats will jump ship and plunder some other form of music that gives them the instant satisfaction that the times demand, while we true believers will sigh for their folly and try and support the genre we love as the new Heavy Metal Recession begins and we are robbed of credibility in the eyes of the worlds media. But hey, – that’s how we like it! Stay Hungry.

CB: What are your favorite bands and albums at the moment?
LoT: Just off the top of my head based on what I have been listening to this week! Iron Hearse, Motorhead, Raven, Judas Preist, Lord Vicar, Pentagram, Slough Feg and Cirith Ungol!

CB: What are your plans for the future?
LoT: At the moment I am working on songs for my other band Arkham Witch

http://www.myspace.com/rourkesdriftyorkshire

and also rehearsing for the live dates with the Thoth, then I am hoping we can take a bit of a break to begin work on Thoth’s second album Coins for Charon, Sops for Cerberus.

Thanks for the great questions, and cheers and hails from TLOT!

About the Author: CnB