Down To Earth

The story of Dylan Carlson's doom metal musical project is long and intricate. Since 1989 – albeit with a big gap between the late '90s and 2002-3 – Earth has been an ever-influential, all-powerful behemoth of post-metal energy. One of the bands responsible for kicking off Seattle's glory days, as well as the progenitors of the post-metal, Earth seems unstoppable. Poetic it is, then, that the 46-year-old Carlson is softly spoken, warm and conversational, obviously happy to delve into the deep lore of Earth once again in the lead-up to their eighth studio album, the follow-up to 2012's Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II.

Carlson is currently sitting in his hotel room in London. “It's good to have some down time,” Carlson admits. “I went and saw one show; it was for Bad Omen Records. It was these bands Witchhazel, Azazel and Satan's Satyrs I think they were called. I liked Witchhazel. They were my favourite band out of the bunch. They were a) Christian, and b) the openers, but they were really good, I thought,” he laughs.

“Lately I've been going to a lot more,” Carlson explains when asked if his gig attendances are still moderate to high. “I've been seeing a lot of bands back home in Seattle lately, and I've seen a bunch while I've been over here. So I've been busy.”

On top of touring Angels Of Darkness, Carlson has spent the last few years working on a few solo projects, including his debut solo album. Its birth was slightly unusual. Carlson became heavily interested in English folklore and pagan rituals, and used that as a basis for writing music that may have surprised Earth fans. It was English folk rock, and Carlson has been pretty successful with it. Meanwhile, he's working on the upcoming Earth album.

“It's done, it's been mastered, I've just approved the CD master. We're waiting for the test pressing now. I mean, it's gonna definitely be more of a heavy metal-leaning record, I'd say. There's three songs with vocals, two with Mark Lanegan singing and one with Maria Cosi from Rose Windows. So I guess it kinda hearkens back to [1996's] Pentastar in some ways. I think it's a little heavier than Pentastar was, but it definitely has that feel to it, whether that's from the period we're in or what. We're back to touring as a power trio again as well, so I think it's more of a loud rock, heavy thing going on with the band; we're excited to do it. So in a way it feels like we've come full circle.”

That statement in itself sounds like a big deal for Carlson. Having spent a fair chunk of time sober, connecting back to his days of heroin abuse and a much-publicised friendship with Kurt Cobain cannot be easy. But, as fans and interviewers have learned in recent years, he has no plans to run away from the dark days between the incarnations of Earth.

“Yeah, in some ways,” Carlson admits a certain cathartic retrospection in it all. “I mean, I kind of started doing the solo stuff because I was right into the whole English folk rock thing. I really didn't want to sort of saddle Earth with that again. I want Earth to do what Earth's going to do, and if I want to keep doing something different I can kind of do that on the side. Not that the solo side is exclusively that either, because I've got other elements that I've been playing with, like some free-jazz parts and stuff. I don't know why I started doing all that, maybe I was going through a mid-life crisis or something. But I've also started listening to the metal bands I loved back in those days a lot more. I don't think I ever stopped liking that type of music. I think I just forgot about it for a while.

“I often joke with people that I only ever have had one idea, and that I've been running with it this whole time,” Carlson laughs heartily. “I was lucky to come out of that time, you know? I was lucky that I could start writing again. With all the changes, I'm still trying to pursue the same idea that I had all those years ago – the idea of the perfect riff.”

He exclaims suddenly when this scribe jokes about the old cliché of 'the New Sound'. “Whoa, I actually just watched that episode! The one with the New Sound!” This then leads us on to a slight detour as we compare Might Boosh notes. “Maybe I'm just waiting for the door to appear in my head,” he laughs once again.