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Interview with: Ashley Dayour
Conducted by: T.V.
It was April 2013 when the first EP, Evoking Eternity, of Austrian project The Devil & The Universe came out. Since then their recognition, success and impact on the underground dark scene rapidly increased and it was the All Hallows' Eve day, 31st October 2014, when the perverse ritually dark realms striked in its full glory again with their sophomore album named Haunted Summer (read a review over HERE). An album par exelence in the fields of experimental/ritual/ghost-wave/dark-ambient soundscapes, or how they would say - "goat wave". Now, The Devil & The Universe, who were formed as a duo by charismatic leader Ashley Dayour (Whispers In The Shadow, Coma Divine, ex-L'Âme Immortelle) and David Pfister (Neigungsgruppe, Sex, Gewalt und gute Laune), are joined by Stefan Elsbacher (Black Manna) who took over the drums. Everything around The Devil & The Universe is about magick, occult, chaos, humour and surrealism, but is the immense creative vision of the three "goats" that permits their soundtrackish sonic deviant art to reach the unexpected levels of obscure journeys of mind. Here you can read already our third interview with Ashley Dayour, but the first one devoted exclusively to The Devil & The Universe. He kindly explained us many things behind the unholy name in this another one in-depth interview. The Goats have risen!
T.V.: Hi Ashley! How are you? Many new things happened in The Devil & The Universe camp since our last interview, you have a new album, The Devil & The Universe become a three piece instead of duo,... Tell me, what was the reason or need for another member, Stefan Elsbacher? Can you also say give us some informations about him?
Ashley: Well to be exact, Stefan is with us since last autumn. We wanted someone who is playing live E-drums and percussions, to sharpen our live sound. Therefore we needed a third person on stage. Four hands can’t handle everything. After the first shows it was just obvious to get him into the band for real, so to speak, and there we are, a trio now.
T.V.: And of course I'm interested in your point of view about the new album, Haunted Summer...
Ashley: Well what can the artist say about his new work other than he likes it. But honestly I think we managed to move the Goatship further on. The production has more depth, there is much more going on in the songs and it is even more cinematic than the first album, which was one 
of my main goals. The reactions of our listeners were really enthusiastic; it seems this is our best and coherent work so far. And of course there is the concept, or shall I say, main inspiration behind it: the “Haunted Summer of 1816”. Let me say a few words about it: In the summer of 1816, poet and author Lord Byron, sent out an invitation for friends to enjoy the summer air at his villa on Lake Geneva. The invited party partially consisted of the novelist-couple Percy und Mary Shelley, Mary Shelley’s half-sister Claire Clairmont and the author and physician John W. Polidori. The host and the guests combated boredom at the Villa “Diodati” by consuming drugs, and partaking in sex and séance sessions. The decadent time-filling got increasingly radical and culminated in a frenzy of physical and moral transgressions. More than a few of the guests and the household staff left the Villa psychologically rattled after that summer holiday. Mary Shelley, deeply affected by the experience, went on to write her world-famous book "Frankenstein".
T.V.: It's interesting talking about the concept albums when there's mostly instrumental music without any words. Still, how do you think that the listeners can connect with this story behind the album?
Ashley: Of course a concept album can work without lyrics. What is a Motion Picture Soundtrack other than a concept album without words? So the new album is like a Soundtrack to a film never made. But having said all that, actually it isn’t a concept album in the true sense of the word, it’s inspired by that original Haunted Summer, but not a concept album as such. This famous summer of 1816 always inspired me. The very first Whispers In The Shadow album was called after the drug they used, Laudanum. So it is a subject I always come back to, but after this album I think I'll have it out of my system. Funny thing is that the BBC aired a fantastic documentary of the “Haunted Summer” at the same date as we released the album. Coincidence? Or rather synchronicity.
T.V.: Ok, I understand. I can't go past also the influence of John Carpenter's film scores on Haunted Summer...
Ashley: Yeah of course, his influence on our music is not a secret and nothing new either. I love his scores, always did. It was a great day when he wrote back and told me that he likes our stuff. I was surprised that he wrote back at all.
T.V.: That's really a surprising fact. Have you remained in any kind of contact since then? Have you maybe suggested to John if he would like to use your music for a soundtrack to any of his new works?
Ashley: Nope, we haven't. I just sent him the new album. Let's see if he takes the time to write back again. If not that's fine with me. He is busy, releasing his first non-soundtrack album ever. And from what I heard this is going to be fantastic! From interviews I know that he is not so much into doing another movie, he rather wants to rest, stay home and play computer games. That's ok, he has done enough.
T.V.: I see, let's return to the new album of yours. There's a certain dose of humour involved in each The Devil & The Universe release. What's your recipe to find the right balance between that, magick, music and everything else?
Ashley: Good question. I simply just do, not too much thinking involved. I guess that's all.
T.V.: Haha, good answer! Then please tell me what kind of humour inspires you the most?
Ashley: Well, life itself, that's the best joke ever told in a universe of jokes.
T.V.: That's the sad truth! Tell me if were all the three members involved in the creation of Haunted Summer?
Ashley: But wait! Why is that sad? I did not mean it in a sarcastic/bitter way. A joke is something funny, even the most grotesque and black ones. Yeah everyone was involved in the creation of the album.
T.V.: Still, how would you compare the new album with the debut one, Imprint Daath?
Ashley: I think the first one was an easier album to listen to, the new one might take a few run throughs until it catches you. But that really depends, some people told me it craped them by the head the very first time they listened to it, others told me they needed some time. It certainly is different but not that different, it still has the same kind of sound, just more developed. I'm really proud about the last track "Gipfelrausch", which is inspired by my mountain trips, as you can hear very well I guess. The song people mentioned the most is "The Goat Head", it is the closest to a dance track we ever came. It is a tribal ritual dance stomper for your next WitchFest, so to speak. Ritual techno as a friend of mine called it. So the whole Album is more diverse in styles and songwritting than the last one. Which is funny cause it was written much faster in much shorter time span.
T.V.: Have you used the same "machinery" as before?
Ashley: The main part of the album was created in a small chapel in a forest in Styria. Four weeks were spent to evoke the ghost of that "Haunted Summer of 1816". Tools of the occult such as automatic writing (as demonstrated during Tarot card reading) and necromancy were used to help form the musical ambition. And naturally, just like with Mary Shelley or Lord Byron, here too, legitimacy and faith play no roles. It’s more about the effect and a libertine attitude.
T.V.: I'm also interested how much does the compositional process of the songs of The Devil & The Universe differs from the songwriting for Whispers In The Shadow?
Ashley: Actually a lot. The whole outcome is very different. For example we don't need to think about leaving space for the voice, or lyrics. It's much more a stream of consciousness, less structured compared with the writting process of Whispers In The Shadow.
T.V.: Billyphobia exposed that in his review of the album and I can sense it too, kind of a early Black Sabbath feel in the title track...
Ashley: I wouldn't exactly say Black Sabbath, but it does have that doom feel to it, I'll give you that. We wanted a really dark and somehow unexpected and different opener. I really like that song especially when played live.
T.V.: Before the release of Haunted Summer there was an EP titled What Time Is Love? Actually the title track is a cover of The KLF and I wonder what was the reason to make a cover of this 90' dance hit?
Ashley: We have a lot in common with The KLF. The KLF are not just a 90's dance band, there is far more to it than meets the eye. The whole "Illuminati Trilogy" /Robert Anton Wilson thing. And to mention the humor thing again, they match pretty much my creteria of good humor, besides we wanted to do a cover version that really nobody would expect us to do. I remember when we played it the first few times people's reaction was, "What the fuck is going on?" We had a person dressed as a pink unicorn dancing on the stage during our WGT show this year, when we blasted out "What Time Is Love?". The reaction of the audience was priceless. Afterwards one guy from a radio station asked me "What was that all about?" "To cause confusion", was my answer and that brings me back to The KLF again, they loved to cause confusion and so do we. We are a very confused bunch of Goats you know!
T.V.: As you mentioned the goats,... Who made those masks you are wearing?
Ashley: Well the masks. The are very cheap ones, ordered from the depths of Internet. It was very important that these are not well made super professional latex masks. They had to be the most cheap looking C- movie style masks there are available.
T.V.: Do you ever put them off during the show?
Ashley: Actually yes we do, after the first song. That's meant to be an artistic statement. The de-masking of the artist, after that we are becoming one with audience. No wait, actually it is not, we just can't see a thing in this damn masks.
T.V.: Hahaha, you guys really need some professional latex masks! Ok, jokes apart... The track "Danaus Plexippus" got its video form. Tell me more about the video and of course, what happened to Corina when you finally got her?
Ashley: We re-programmed her of course in true CIA mind controlling style. They do that with all of you all the time, remember the TV set at the end of the video? "Danaus Plexippus" means Monarch Butterfly, the monarch MK Ultra programming conspiracy theory was the starting point of the video, and we ended up in a field pushing around bales of straw, how far did we come? The video itself was directed by Edie Calie, the very one who also did all the Whispers In The Shadow videos and the last The Devil & The Universe video as well. She's also responsible for our live projections.
T.V.: Maybe haha,... You did a lot of live shows with The Devil & The Universe and I wonder how in general the audience accepts your "not really typical live music"?
Ashley: To do another album of course. Maybe an EP before that, or an 12" not sure. I guess at the end of next year we will have the third one ready. Let's see. At the moment I'm concentrating on a totaly new project which has nothing to do with neither nor The Devil & The Universe nor Whispers In The Shadow. It's a collaboration and will see the light of day in early 2015. And that's all I want to tell you right now. 
Ashley: We are playing mostly Festival shows in 2015, apart from that nothing is planed. First I want to finish this mentioned new project, after that I will start to work on new demos again, if something comes to my mind which is worth writing that is. I have some fague ideas about how it could sound and where we should go, but so far nothing is written, it's all in my head, so who knows. Maybe we have a finished album by the end of 2015, maybe it will take more time, who knows. I also have a certain person in mind as a producer and/or mixer, let's see if this will work out.
good. It's almost like 4AD in the old days. It's more like a record label, it's alamost like a style. I just hope they continue this way. In my opinion every release of theirs was very "tasteful" if you want to use this word.
T.V.: When we did our first interview you said that the sentence that best describes your debut album, Imprint Daath, is: Flesh is a trap and Magick sets us free. Is there any similar line for description of Haunted Summer?The Devil & The Universe links: Official website, Facebook
Photo Copyrights: Krist Mort, Edie Calie, Renate Ackermann, Eraserhead
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