by Jay Rollins
After over two decades Aborted are still experiencing steady growth. The Necrotic Manifesto, your last release before this year’s Retrogore, was put out in 2014 and seemed to be the band’s best received record up to that point. Within the last few years you’ve become a truly international band. How much of an impact did 2014’s North American tour dates with Canada’s Kataklysm have on the band’s progress over the last couple of years? What was is like to be on the road with Kataklysm?
We actually toured many times with Kataklysm, actually our first tour ever was with them back in 2001 haha so needless to say we go back a long time. Things are going well for sure, we can’t complain. Honestly we just do what we do out of passion and because we enjoy writing and performing music. Obviously it’s nice to see it pay off somewhat the last couple of years but that isn’t the main motivator and why we do it. We are having a blast (harhar) and that is what matters most.
Were there many differences in playing Canada compared with the USA?
I think it depends where in Canada just as where in the US, some areas are better than others, and it’s no different between the US and Canada in that aspect. We enjoy touring both, I def prefer the fact that Canadians use kilometers instead of miles, makes it less confusing for my retarded foreigner brain. In terms of the Cataclysm tour through, the Canadian dates were a lot better than the american ones of course seeing the band is from Canada and had a lot of support back home, it’s great to see canadian people supporting their own as well.
You’ve already announced you’re headlining slot at the Break the Silence Festival in Dippoldiswalde on January 28th 2017. In addition you’re hitting the road with Soilwork, Sepultura, and Germany’s metal pioneers Kreator for a steady run of dates through February until early March. With such a devastating lineup I wonder if there will be any survivors. The tickets are already on sale, best of luck to those souls brave enough to venture forth into the pit. What can the fans expect as Aborted blasts their way through Europe?
Haha it’s a sick package for sure and we are most honoured to be part of it. We are fans of all the bands we are going to share the road with and are super excited about this run, seems like people in general are stoked too! Eum well we have half an hour set on that tour but we want to make the most out of that time, expect some new stuff and some old. It’s the first real tour to defend RETROGORE on so we will def focus some on that record. Also expect a fully worked out live show, much more so than we did in the past and most of all, a good party and FUN!
While maintaining an intense velocity and unrelenting savagery Retrogore is not only a development for Aborted musically but it also opens the band to new lyric subjects. Your personal views on politics and religion are more evident than usual. Why did you feel now was the appropriate time to start incorporating these elements into Aborted and what songs do you feel are lyrically the strongest?
Well yes, I would agree with you that it is more outspoken, even more so on the new stuff we are working on. Honestly I think it was just time. Obviously everything still has the delicious gory fun sauce splashed all over it but seeing in the day and age we are and the way we are evolving in as a species I felt it was needed to say my piece. Coven of Ignorance, Divine Impediment and In Avernus are def the most serious and personal lyrics on the record.
Do you feel that as Metalheads we are a part of a fringe arts community and as such it is partly our duty to act as a counterbalance to popular media? Perhaps cover topics that are not always in popular opinion?
I think was metal heads we only have one duty, and that is to be ourselves, whatever that is, there already enough aspects in life telling people what to do, how to act and what or who to like and who’s ass to kiss when and why. It’s not a fashion show, it’s not your day job, it’s not whatever that puts you down in life, metal should be something where you can lose yourself in, that lifts your day up and that is an outlet for whatever frustrations you may have, not genre bound, not bound to scene police, it should just be fun and good times and letting people really be themselves, at least, that’s what metal is for us.
Not all songs that work on a technical level transfers onto the stage as good songs to perform live. When writing an album do you keep in mind how many of the new songs you want to work into the live set?
Yes and no, we are aware some songs won’t necessarily translate right to the stage but if they work well on the album then they make it on the album because they have their place on there for whatever reason we see fit. However it is def something we keep in mind when writing, aka how a song will translate on stage, which is also why we are more and more doing pre productions for everything than in the past to make sure we can play the majority of the record live and it being cool. Rather than play something technically impressive and play it tight but it lacking ‘soul’ if you know what i mean.
The latest album features a few guest vocalists David Davidson of Revocation, Jason Keyser from Origin, Cattle Decapitation’s Travis Ryan, and of course the return of Benighted’s Julien Truchan who was also featured on your 2012 album Global Flatline and the Termination Redux EP. What do you think are the benefits to working with guest vocalists and how do you choose who to invite to appear on your albums?
Honestly to me it’s just added variation to myself in one hand and on another level it’s purely fun to see what other people do with the stuff you wrote. We also only work with people we are friends with so its a good way to invite touring buddies or close friends and do something together while they enrich the songs in their own particular way.
The album cover is another stunning piece of visual work. How did you decide to work with Christopher Lovell and to what degree was he given creative freedom? Did you tell him what you expected from the final concept?
I have been a HUGE van of Christopher for a long time now so it was natural to hit him up and ask him to work on the new album. He was given absolute creative freedom and we absolutely loved what he came up with. Basically he got told the record title and that we want it to represent all things cool about the 80’s, since he is a huge fan of the 80s, masters of the universe, gaming etc, he knew all the right things to do and I think it was fun for him to include all those things in there that are also important to him. The man is really a genius and we can’t wait to work with him again!
I know 80’s horror films have had a large impact on you as an artist what would you say are the top 5 horror movies that have influenced Aborted’s music overall?
Hmmm tough question, but surely: Hellraiser, evil dead, re-animator, nightmare on elm street and Friday the13th have been some of the timeless classics we keep going back to.
As we’ve mentioned you’ll be starting 2017 off on the road with Soilwork, Sepultura, and Kreator. Does Aborted have any other plans in the works you’d like to let us know about?
We will be appearing on a bunch of festivals this summer and are looking into getting to the states, Mexico, Russia and Canada as well, so fingers crossed for all that to work out next summer!
I hope it’s a year of gore, horror, and live performances. Thanks from myself, Jay Rollins and Metalheads Forever for taking the time to answer a few questions.
Thanks a lot for the fun interview and your support! Keep it grind and see you all on the road in 2017!
Jay rollins / Metalheads forever Magazine
