Interview with Vorph of Samael
This interview was very hard for me. First of all, SAMAEL is one of my favorite bands and when I worship a band I always get really nervous if I get to meet them, talk to them, etc.…you know what I mean. Anyways, I feel it could have been better but, shit happens. Also, some of the interview was left out cause I had trouble understanding him with his accent, so I just didn’t fuck with it and left what I couldn’t understand out. I thought of some more questions, but unfortunately it was after I was done talking to Vorph, oh well, I’m learning. Hope you like!
The Outcast: Whats up?
Vorph: I’m doing O.K. and you?
The Outcast: Pretty good, nervous. So, feeling any better, I heard you were sick?
Vorph: Yeah.
The Outcast: So how is the new album selling?
Vorph: Not bad, so far the record company is pleased, so you know…
The Outcast: So have you guys played live yet in the U.S.?
Vorph: No, I’m just coming here for the promotion.
The Outcast: How come the tour with CANNIBAL CORPSE got cancelled?
Vorph: Well you know, mainly there was a problem with the management and the touring agency. They thought it wasn’t to interesting for us.
The Outcast: Was it easier for Xy to use a drum machine on the recording of this album?
Vorph: You know, it was just a matter of getting used to it, but uh… he had to learn about the programming and he eventually got better and better.
The Outcast: How do you see it affecting your live performances?
Vorph: So far we tried it and I guess it has worked out pretty well.
The Outcast: So will you stick with the machine in the future?
Vorph: We do not know about the future, but you know, right now this is working well so there is no reason to change it.
The Outcast: What happened with Rodolphe?
Vorph: At the time we wanted to have a keyboard player he was the first person we thought about because we live in a small town and we new him. It was really cool when we started, but when he lost interest in playing with the band and going on tour was really a pain in the ass, so we feel we made the right decision to split apart.
The Outcast: On your new album “Passage”, I don’t know if it’s just me or whatever, but I thought it had an outerspace feeling to it.
Vorph: I like things that connect and I like to think that inside the universe it teaches us something and it connects to the inside. We try to play in a mystical way and we feel we mixed them together.
The Outcast: Will Xy be writing all the music for the future albums and you remaining with the lyrics?
Vorph: This is the way it works, this is the second time we’ve tried it this way and it works pretty well. But I don’t know if we’ll keep doing it this way or if we will change someday.
The Outcast: So does SAMAEL as a whole have the same beliefs in life and share the same philosiphies?
Vorph: Yeah, I would not be able to tell you about my beliefs in few words you know, I guess SAMAEL is just like uh… a mirror reflecting everything we have inside. So if you traveled through all our albums and read our lyrics, you might see / understand our philosiphies / views.
The Outcast: So you cut your hair eh?
Vorph: (laughter) Yes I did.
The Outcast: So are you todally bald?
Vorph: Right now I am bald.
The Outcast: I bet you’re cold eh?
Vorph: It’s not cold here, it’s pretty sunny.
The Outcast: Since it is so sunny, do you put sun tan lotion on your melon to get a good crispy brown?
Vorph: What?
The Outcast: Um…….. Never mind, It is pretty cold here, lots of snow.
Vorph: Where are you?
The Outcast: In a red neck infested, white trash infested, full of dumb ass in-bred infested, boring, religious, overpopulated (with dumbasses) shit hole town in Southern Illinois, in short, a town called Anna. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It is famous for …um….. well white trash of course.
Vorph: Ah, o.k.
The Outcast: I saw you guys play in 94 with CANNIBAL C. I couldn’t believe it when I saw SAMAEL play live. When you played out live during the “Worship Him” material, was it just you and your brother Xy playing live all the time? I have live footage during that time and it was only both of you on stage.
Vorph: Yeah, it was just us at the time, yeah you are right.
The Outcast: What do you think about being label mates with ROTTING CHRIST?
Vorph: I think it is a great thing, we just toured with them in Europe…..
The Outcast: With MOONSPELL right?
Vorph: Yeah exactly, and I think they are a really good band. EDITOR’S NOTE: (I agree, but I interviewed them as well, but I did not include them in my zine due to the fact they sucked as far as an interview was concerned, very, very short responses.)
The Outcast: So what do you guys listen to? Any death / black metal bands?
Vorph: Nah, I mean this is the only band I can listen to all the time when were on tour. I sometimes get a lot of demos from bands were playing with. I am always trying to listen to something different when we tour, it just depends on my mood.
The Outcast: I bet you listen to a lot of classical eh? The reason I bring that up is because on the song “Moonskin”, I found it to have a very classical feeling to the song.
Vorph: I like classical music, depends on my mood and my feelings.
The Outcast: Well, I guess that is it for me. Thank you so much for your time and for the pleasure, any last words?
Vorph: No, not really, thanks.
The Outcast: Thank you, see you.