SOURCE – The latest studio album Violent Creed of Vengeance is probably your most ambitious record to date. How do you feel this set of material advances the career arc of the band, were there any special struggles, obstacles, or challenges to overcome during the process?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – Yes, it’s most certainly our most ambitious album thus far. I think for all five of us it’s representative of the very unique set of circumstances that was the pandemic. We started the pandemic about to start Smoulder’s very first ever tour in Greece, and ended up losing our first tour and a good $10,000 in band money when the travel ban hit, and then came home to experience a very severe and lengthy lockdown in Toronto. It was pretty intense, but ultimately, we realized we were actually quite lucky in that we all survived and none of us lost our jobs during the pandemic. That’s a huge privilege and one that took a while actually to appreciate and realize. Ultimately, we and everyone we knew had to make some changes to remain functional and sane and stable during the pandemic. For us, that meant we spent a lot of time writing, rehearsing, doing long phone calls together. When it finally ended, it was such a relief to be able to spend time in person together again finally. Vincent and I moved to Finland during the pandemic, so we decided as a five-piece to record there – inviting three of our best friends to our new country to record an album was perhaps the most special thing we’ve ever done as a band. That’s not to mention that what came out was exactly what we envisioned: an expansion and improvement on our debut with a focused theme.
SOURCE – How did the cover art come about – was it a collaborative process between the band and artist, and where do you see the importance these days of cover art in shaping the initial impression or overall outlook of what listeners can expect from the band when pressing play?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – We licensed the image from fantasy painter Michael Whelan. It’s our third release in a row featuring his iconic artwork, and it did help shape the album theme, which is obtaining vengeance against oppressors. We licensed the image at the same time as we licensed the cover for Dream Quest Ends (2021), and both covers certainly helped shape the lyrical content in very different ways. For me, there’s nothing more visually important for a band than to have unique and cohesive and POWERFUL cover art. What got me into metal as a 12-year-old was the visual art – nothing screamed POWERFUL like Eddie snarling on the cover of an Iron Maiden album. I wanted people to pick up a Smoulder album and say “HOLY SHIT, THIS MUST RULE.” I like that Smoulder albums sound like the album covers look: like sword swinging, adventure laden epic heavy metal!
SOURCE – How did it come about that you moved from Canada and USA to Finland – and has it made things easier or more difficult to get things done with your workload?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – Vincent and I choose to move to Finland during the pandemic. We were previously based in Canada and I’d been wanting to live in Finland my entire life as I’m a dual citizen, and was getting really frustrated with Canadian healthcare and knew Finnish healthcare was far superior. Eventually, Vincent said he was interested in relocating to Europe, so we took the leap. We’re both incredibly happy here and wish we had moved years earlier. It’s been a unique challenge to operate the band this way, but it’s not really that different from our previous incarnate, which saw us based in two countries. Now we are based in three. And now we have more show opportunities, which is great! We play with folks in Finland and we play with the guys in Canada & the USA, and really, it’s become this big collective. Which is really fun! We get to travel and play heavy metal with our friends from around the world, nothing could be better than that.
SOURCE – What are your thoughts on the state of hard rock / heavy metal within Canada/USA/Finland as well as the global movement? What changes (if any) would you like to see made for the greater good of everyone involved?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – The metal scene in both Canada and Finland is very strong. There are many bands and fans in all age ranges; lots of shows; we truly are in a period where it’s an embarrassment of riches. I do know folks are really struggling right now in the face of pretty extreme inflation, and I’d like to see governments forcing price controls on items that are being artificially inflated (groceries, consumer goods, etc) so that everyone who was further plunged into poverty during Covid wasn’t being punished for the sake of higher profits so that people could actually afford to do the things they enjoy: go to gigs, play in bands, etc. Other than that, I think the metal scene needs to stop acting so self-congratulatory about inclusion. It’s still an extremely sexist, homophobic, and racist place to exist (which reflects the world at large), and it would be great if primarily white heterosexual dudes would stop patting themselves on the back about it being “diverse and accepting.” It’s not. It’s getting better, but it’s still got a really long way to go.
SOURCE – With the current sad state of the music industry, how do you determine expectations for an album?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – That’s an interesting question and I’m not sure what the answer is. We wanted the album to be better than the debut, and we wanted it to sell better than the debut, but only time will tell if that will happen. Other than that, I work full-time in the music industry, so I think how I conceptualize this answer is different than most folks in bands. With all the changes in international taxes, with inflation going through the roof, and lots of shows getting canceled, I see a lot of our colleagues in bands and who operate festivals and who run record labels getting very nervous. People are broke. Covid plunged millions back into poverty. So yeah…. I think, ultimately, we’re trying not to really think about expectations other than our own, which we achieved: we made an album better than our debut. We like listening to it. We think the songs are well written, the album has a narrative and sonic arc, it demonstrates improved musicality. We got Michael Moorcock to do a guest spot. And now we’re about to embark on our first tour. We are happy.
SOURCE – Are you planning more video clips?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – We’d really like to do a music video! We’ll see if it’s possible soon.
SOURCE – How important do you believe instant communication technology and social media platforms have been to the growth of your fanbase on a global scale? Do you enjoy the fan interaction through these mediums beyond building the brand of the band through live shows/touring?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – I think our social media approach has been to do as much community building as we can, and that it’s benefitted us. I do our social media, and I’m not particularly interested in sharing too much information about us as people. Instead, I like to share bands in our scene, anecdotes from our shows, etc. Folks have definitely taken an interest, and I try to respond to everyone, as it’s a pretty big deal to grow a fanbase without the ability to tour for three years after your debut came out. So I try to show as much appreciation as I can to people for engaging with us. That said… I’ve relieved to take a step back on social media and be able to engage with people in REAL LIFE instead!!! It was hard being locked down for nearly two years!!!
SOURCE – Is there anything else you have going on you would like to mention?
Sarah Ann (Vocals) – Thanks for the interview. We’d love if anyone reading this checked us out at smoulder.bandcamp.com. We play epic heavy metal, which means a dash of epic doom, power metal and speed metal. The bands we sonically emulate include Manilla Road, Chastain, Cirith Ungol, Blind Guardian, and Solitude Aeternus. We are fantasy themed, heavily inspired by authors like Michael Moorcock, Frank Frazetta, Fritz Leiber, Margaret Atwood, and more. Thanks for reading!
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