“Paradise Lost” Interview by Keith Clement
Hey, I’m Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Am I speaking to Keith from Metalheads Forever Magazine?
Keith : Hi Greg, Yes It’s me, how are you doing today?
Greg: I’m doing well, how are you?
Keith : Doing good and very happy to have this Interview with you, How was your day
Greg: Bit tired, I had close to 17 Interviews since morning
Keith: You must be exhausted by now?
Greg : Ahh not really, I really enjoyed it
Greg, Your 15th Studio album is due for release on 1st of September, What’s the status now, You guys are all set, how do you feel about the outcome of the album?
Oh yes absolutely, very excited about this new one, It’s all ready completed and scheduled for the release. I really loved this one, I hope everyone will like this album.
The Plague Within marks the return of the band to the death-doom roots which Paradise Lost is known for, It was an amazing album, I really enjoyed the album. You guys showed such amazing work on this particular album, So tell us what brought the roots back into the band?
Thanks for the compliments my friend, We were working on some songs and I wrote Beneath Broken Earth and put those doom into it and felt this is what I should be doing, Beneath Broken Earth really got me to get back into the mood of it and started working on this album.
Does Nick Holmes and you do all the songwriting and composing for the band?
Yes that’s right I do the songwriting and Nick does the composing.
It’s really amazing to see you guys are together since 1988. There must be a mutual understanding among yourselves and helps you to achieve what you exactly wanted to do right?
Basically all the guys are really down to earth, It’s a special relationship we have with each other, we don’t Involve into each other’s personal life and all we do is sit together and make music, this is why we had come together and to do what we love to do.
What according to you is the best album you ever put up?
This is really a crazy question, do you really want to ask me this haha, I would say Medusa our upcoming album, because I totally loved everything about it, But I know since you haven’t listened to it yet, you wanted to know something of the old right. I would say “Shades Of God” because that is the phase where we moved from Death-doom to Gothic, and really loved that album which took a different phase for Paradise Lost.
Would you like to share some of your best moments?
There are a lot of best moments over the years, I would like to share one with you, We were sitting on the backstage during one of our tour and Ozzy Osbourne walked into the backstage and I was like wow Ozzy really came to meet us and was so excited, but actually he came there on some other purpose but it was really amazing to see him at our backstage, we had a small talk and felt amazing.
Although the band started in death-doom metal genre, later it went through a lot of change in genres, like Gothic, Alternative metal, Electronic and Industrial. What was the reason for the change in music over the years of Paradise Lost?
If we stick to the same genre and play the same kind of music it will be like playing the same record on the old record player, nobody will like us and we would not be known and not be in a place where we would be now. Music is not always about being the same and we experiment everything and we love what we do.
Every time metalheads take the topic of “Paradise Lost” it’s always a big wow, People love what you had done over the years, how do you feel about this huge success?
I really don’t know and not much worried about success, Music is what we love and I’m happy what I’m and the band are making over the years, it gives great pleasure and happiness in the heart.
What are the plans for the band after the release of Medusa?
On Friday September 1st we are releasing “Medusa” at the LKA in Stuttgart, Germany. Will perform the entire album on this very day, and this is a touring season in Europe so we will come up with more news soon, you can check it out later.
Greg, do you have any message for the fans and readers of the magazine?
Yes absolutely, Please enjoy our music and don’t forget to check out our new album on the 1st of September, Thanks for supporting the band over the years and thanks to Metalheads Forever Magazine for the Interview.
Greg, Thanks so much for your time and answering my questions, You have a wonderful evening.
Thanks to you my friend, you have a great evening.
Keith Clements/MHF Magazine
