Music transcends all. I've always been very open to experiencing different types of music. There is always something that catches my ear, something I can relate with. So when I heard that my friend Jake Hout was singing with the legendary Deathrockers Altar De Fey, I couldn't wait to see how the darker side of the musical spectrum would wash over me.
The lineup that night at The Stork Club in Oakland was a fantastic introduction for me into the midnight hues of this genre which I found in the experimental shavings of "Spirit Before A Fall", the phantasmagorical duo "V.E.X" (Ventriloquist Ectoplasmold Xanaxax), the mythical line up of the legendary Goddess and Gods found in "The Gitane Demone Quartet" and San Francisco's own dark matter, "Altar De Fey".
Newly reformed after having been part of the burgeoning Deathrock scene in SF back in the early 80's, Altar De Fey sounded powerful and brooding. I couldn't believe how some of the old songs sounded just as fresh and relevant as the new ones they have recently been crafting. I captured "Veil of Death" which you can see here.
At one point in their set, Rikk Agnew (The Detours, Adolescents, Christian Death, Social Distortion, Gitane Demone Quartet) jumped on stage with ADF and did an amazing cover of "Stairs - Uncertain Journey" which can be found here.
It is with great pleasure that I wandered into this ghastly parade of raconteur's who widened my appreciation for their late night circadian rhythms.
Through the veil darkly,
Julie Green
April 2, 2016
HOW DID ALTAR DE FEY FORM?
Kent: Back in 1983, Rick Tanner, Craig Muzio and I moved to SF. We had
been playing in a punk band called the Lutz Bros. We were all horror movie
fiends and came up with the name Altar De Fey, which basically means the mass
burning of witches. I became the main songwriter at this point and our sound
drifted into darker territory... Deathrock.
HOW WAS THE DEATHROCK SCENE IN SAN FRANCISCO
BACK IN THE EARLY 8T’S DIFFERENT FROM THE SCENE TODAY?
Aleph: I'm not doing Amphetamines anymore.
Jake: HAHA! Yeah we take herbal supplements backstage before the gig you
know? For memory and shit. -Fast living! Haha But for real the scene in the bay
is strong right now. Lots of venues, bands, dance nights etc. Lots of great
music coming out. Crimson Scarlet, Alaric, VEX, So many bands!
WHERE DOES THE BAND NAME COME FROM?
Aleph: It's an altered version of "Auto de Fe" which during
the Inquisition was what they called the public burnings of
"Heretics". Heresy merely meaning a belief or opinion contrary to the
orthodox (primarily Christian at the time) doctrine. "Auto de Fe" in
medieval Spanish means "act of faith". We were stopped in the street
once by a guy who insisted that Altar De Fey meant "Altar of Light", which
works for me too.)
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| Jake |
Aleph: So far it's just the cassette release “ORIGINAL SIN: AN
ANTHOLOGY OF THE EARLY YEARS”, and the “ECHOES IN THE CORRIDOR” LP. We're
going back into the studio to start recording for our next album in a few
weeks.
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| Kent |
YOU RECENTLY ADDED JAKE HOUT AND SKOT BROWN TO
THE ROSTER BACK IN 2012. DO YOU FEEL THE NEW MUSIC YOU ARE NOW CREATING IS MORE
GOTH PUNK OR MORE DEATHROCK?
Jake: I’d say we’re Deathrock. Goth Punk has come to mean some of the
newer bands like Arctic Flowers, Spectres, etc. -Dark Punk. We love these
bands! We play gigs with them all the time but musically we’re not doing that
exactly. There are songs where Kent doesn’t play any chords at all -All melody.
Also we’re not explicitly political. When I write about ghosts it’s not
intended as an allegory for society, it’s about some fuckin’ ghosts I saw.
-Haha!
Aleph: Well we called it Deathrock back then, so I'm sticking with that.
Kent: Definitely Deathrock.
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| Skot |
TELL US A STORY ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF YOUR
NEW LP “ECHOES
IN THE CORRIDOR”.
Jake: It was an interesting collaboration across time. The album is a
mix of songs from the old days and some brand new ones, and some of it was written
from practice tapes we found of the original band. It’d be some verses but no
structure and like a hand full of lyrics.
Much of this album was written with Butch Manson in
like '85. Butch passed you see? So It was a sensitive thing to be collaborating with a dead
man. “Death To My Enemies” was one such song. Then there are brand new songs: "1975" and "Wraith".
There is a nice diversity in the writing with so many minds putting in the pieces over so much time. It's a challenge now to keep the feeling going with the new songs. I go into writing like OK for this I'll be someone else entirely. The thoughts that catch my ear are the ones least 'like me', you know? To keep the dynamism going.
WHAT OTHER BANDS HAVE YOU BEEN IN?
Aleph: Chrome, Helios Creed, F-Space, SMARTYR.
Kent: Omnivorous Sincillium, Headless, Nuclear Death Wish, M22.
Jake: Everything Must Go & The Divvys
HOW HAVE THOSE BANDS AFFECTED WHAT YOU CREATE WITH ALTAR DE FEY NOW?
Aleph: The've kept me in practice over the years so that now I can actually play the ADF drum parts that I wrote all of those years ago.
Kent: being in the other projects has changed the way I write music now. In the early 90's I was playing experimental /electronics /noise, unstructured music. I had stopped playing guitar for a long time until we Resurrected the current ADF. Coming back to writing songs again, all the previous music has its cumulative effect on the way music flows out of me now.
Jake: I approach this completely differently than my other bands, and they where completely different from each other. It’s an entirely different way of singing. Different emotions and subjects completely.
HAIRSPRAY OR EGGWHITES?
Jake: Hairspray! Backcombing is the key.
Aleph: Hairspray. Although, I've have to switch from Aquanet Extra
Super Hold, to Big Sexy Hair.
Kent: Aquanet was the shit !
They just don't make it like they used too!
WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST GIG YOU HAVE EVER PLAYED AND WHY?
Aleph: I don't know about craziest but I guess the time we opened up for Christian Death at The Farm in SF. By the time we'd finished playing, somebody had stolen my shirt. It was pretty memorable.
Kent: Halloween shows at The Mab. Our friend Ju from Pagan Ritual Productions always decked the place out, made it look real spookie.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ALTAR DE FEY SONG AND
WHY?
Jake: For me it’s ‘Veil Of Death’. I had been at Jason from Alaric’s
house listening to their stuff that wasn’t out yet, that Skot Brown had produced. I was like
‘shit I wanna work with Skot Brown!’ So Jealous! –HAHA Then amazingly that week Skot emailed
to ask if I’d try out for a Deathrock band he recently joined, with a link to "Veil Of
Death" and an amazing picture of Kent in the old days. Just so fuckin …Real Deal. I got
about 30 seconds into it and replied something like “Holyshit?! YES! PLEASE!” I still feel that
way when that pick scrape comes in.
Aleph: Of the newer songs I think that "Wraith" is my
favorite to play, and maybe "Crimson Sin” or “Demons" from the older ones.
Kent: I can't really pick one. I like them all for different reasons.
THE AMAZING “ORIGINAL SIN: AN ANTHOLOGY OF
THE EARLY YEARS”
WAS RELEASE LAST YEAR. IS THIS THE FIRST
TIME THESE SONGS HAVE BEEN
RELEASED?
Aleph: Yes. The entire thing was culled and compiled from demos, live
recordings, and rehearsal cassettes.
Kent: Yes, we only recorded 4 songs back in 1985, and they were never
released.
YOUR 2013 RELEASE “I SEE DEMONS” IS AMAZING.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR THE INCREDIBLE PRODUCTION?
Jake: Skot Brown! At Kempton House Studio. It’s great to have a killer
engineer in the band!
YOU RECENTLY PLAYED WITH GITANE DEMONE
QUARTET AT THE STORK IN OAKLAND AND RIKK AGNEW JUMPED ON STAGE. WHAT SONG
DID YOU PLAY AND WHY DID THE CROWD GO WILD?
Aleph: We booked a show last year on November 6th, and realized that
it was Rozz Williams' birthday, and decided to learn "Stairs - Uncertain Journey"
to celebrate. At the GDQ show we asked Rikk if he wanted to get up and play it with us, and fortunately
he did!
As far as I can figure, the crowd went wild because he's fucking Rikk Agnew!
Kent: Yea, that was great playing with Rikk Agnew. We kinda thought of
playing that last minute. Thankfully we all remembered how to play it!
WHERE CAN WE SEE YOU GUYS PLAY NEXT?
Kent: Our next show is May 13th at the Oakland Metro with Alaric and
Cardinal Wyrm
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