On the occasion of the upcoming concerts of My Dying Bride on 30 & 31 / 1 in Thessaloniki and Athens respectively, we had the opportunity to talk with their frontman, Aaron Stainthorpe, for the band, their latest album "For Lies I Sire", music in general and their plans on celebrating 20 years since their formation.

Solid Rock: “For Lies I Sire” was well received by the critics and it has reached  fairly good positions in the charts. Are you satisfied with the outcome and the response of your fans?

Aaron Stainthorpe: Yeah, definitely! It's the strangest thing when you release a new album because you are never sure if everyone is going to like it. But as long as we like it, the band, then that's, I think, one of the most important things. We are writing music for ourselves first and for other people secondly. But, yes, when it came out a lot of people liked it,  the critics enjoyed it, the fans loved it and we had some quite interesting chart success all around the world. So, yes, it seems that after 20 years My Dying Bride can still create good music.

Solid Rock: Would you like to tell us a few words about “For Lies I Sire”, the songwriting, the recording sessions, its production, and in general describe the whole process?

Aaron Stainthorpe: The album was the first one that we recorded away from Academy Studios. Everything we recorded in the past was in Academy but this time we went in a brand new studio in Manchester. We were the very first band to use the studio so it was kind of nerve-racking a little bit, because we didn't know if they had the right equipment but Max, our engineer, he works there and so obviously we trusted him. It was a very modern studio and we had no problems with the recording process and it was perfect. All the equipment was working perfectly and it was nice to have violins recorded with us again in a long time since that happened. We actually mixed the album there as well. Sometimes we take an album away and mix it in a different studio to try a little different sound but we did everything in Futureworks, the studio in Manchester. I think we'll probably use the same studio for the next album as well. Everything went very very smoothly, no crazy stories.

Solid Rock: This is your first album since 1996's “Like Gods Of The Sun” to feature a violin which was a pleasant surprise and a great addition. How have you decided to use violin in your songs again after 13 years?

Aaron Stainthorpe: It was kind of an accident really. Our old keyboard player, Sarah, became pregnant and left My Dying Bride to have a baby so we needed to replace her. So we found someone called Katie Stone who also had violin capabilities which obviously was a major bonus for us. So we said: if you can play the violin and the keyboards then you can play the violin on the new album. And she said it was great. But then it was kind of a strange accident. Then Katie did the album and then she left because she didn't really like the pressure of being in a band of the size of My Dying Bride, it was too much work for her and so she left to go study at university. Then we replaced Katie with Shaun MacGowan, who also plays keyboards and violin. So the violin is still with us but, yes, it became by accident. If Sarah didn't get pregnant she would probably still play keyboards and we would still not have a violin. So it was kind of a good thing that she went off to have a baby.

Solid Rock: How did your cooperation with Shaun MacGowan start?

Aaron Stainthorpe: He is a friend of Dan's, our drummer. Shaun is just a young guy in his early 20s and he joined My Dying Bride. He is in a local band as well, a death metal band, and we just said: “Katie left the band, is there any chance you can come along and play keyboards and violin?” And he said “yeah, I would love to”. It was really strange because he was a local guy leaving near us all his life and we didn't even know about him. Dan told us to give him a call and that was it. He joined My Dying Bride. 

Solid Rock: My Dying Bride, along with bands such as Anathema, Paradise Lost and Katatonia, are one of the forerunners of the death/doom genre. Among these bands you are the only ones that remained close and, let me say, faithful to your roots. How do you feel about that? 

Aaron Stainthorpe: Well the reason why we are still faithful, I guess, is because this is the kind of music we like. We created My Dying Bride because we wanted to perform melancholic interesting doom gothic death metal and after 20 years we still like to listen and play this kind of stuff. So, we don't really have any excuse to change our style too much and play something that's too different. This is what we like and this is what we are gonna play. If people like it, that's fine, and if they don't like it that's also fine. We are not gonna change to try to attract more fans. That's not why we formed My Dying Bride. We formed My Dying Bride because we wanted to play this style of music.

Solid Rock:My Dying Bride is a historical band which shaped and laid the foundation of the doom/death genre. Which relatively new bands do you think that are capable of continuing your legacy?

Aaron Stainthorpe: That's a good question because I have no idea. To be honest I have lost touch with the scene. I used to be very involved, I used to love listening to all the new young bands but there are so many now. There are just thousands and thousands of bands forming every year and I just can't keep track of them. I can't honestly say. I need to listen to some things that aren't metal in order to really enjoy myself sometimes.

Solid Rock: I often search and try to find some new bands in the death/doom scene but unfortunately there aren't many bands that can continue this style of music in a high level.

Aaron Stainthorpe: We could still be here for another 20 years (Laughs)

Solid Rock:I hope so, I really hope so....”For Lies I Sire”  was your 10th studio album and in June My Dying Bride will celebrate 20 years of life and music activity. How do you feel about that and are you going to do anything special to celebrate it?

Aaron Stainthorpe: Yeah, it's anniversary year for My Dying Bride and we are gonna do some interesting things. There's is some DVD’s to be released , we are recording a special album just with classical instruments, so it will kind of be like opera, and also we are going to do some special shows, possibly we are gonna perform the whole “Turn Loose The Swans” in London. Lots of interesting things, we will hopefully release a book telling the story of My Dying Bride. Yeah it's kind of an interesting year, because if you are gonna have a celebration you got to do special things, so this is a special year for us. So, yes, expect special things. The best way to check is to always to check the My Dying Bride website (www.mydyingbride.org) because that's where all the new details will be.

Solid Rock: Great news! All your fans will be looking forward to see this new stuff!

Aaron Stainthorpe: I hope so!

Solid Rock: Aaron which is your favourite My Dying Bride album and what makes it so special to you?

Aaron Stainthorpe: It's “The Dreadful Hours”. “The Dreadful Hours” has everything you expect from My Dying Bride. It has brutal death metal, it has very very slow melancholic music, the lyrics are very sad, but there is love there as well and I think the artwork, which was one of mine that i really liked. If somebody only buys one My Dying Bride album in their whole life it should be “The Dreadful Hours” because it has everything you expect from My Dying Bride.

Solid Rock: Which were your influences at the early stages of your career and what kind of music do you listen in your free time?

Aaron Stainthorpe: In the early days the influences were Celtic Frost, Candlemass, Bathory, Slayer. I loved the doom stuff and Andrew loved death metal stuff and we formed My Dying Bride and played doom and death which were kind of an interesting thing to do. Over the years your influences change. As you grow older you listen to a broader range of music. I'm a big fan of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, they have influenced all of our material. Also a big fan of Swans, who are no longer here, whose one of their songs we have covered in the new Bring Me Victory EP. For Christmas I received  a new album by the Muse, “The Resistance”, which is kind of good hit pop/rock music. I like classical music, and I still like the old classical metal. Stuff like Slayer's “Reign In Blood” , Metallica's “ Master Of Puppets”, you know that was the era when I really started to enjoy thrash death metal so these are albums special to me. And “Nightfall” by Candlemass is one of the greatest records ever.

Solid Rock: Finally, do you have any message for your Greek fans?

Aaron Stainthorpe: It's been a long time since we did our own show in Greece and when we played with Metallica in 2008 I think (it was 2007) it was brilliant but we only played for half an hour. It's been a long time since we played there so I am really excited about it. It's a wonderful place, we had a great time and hopefully we are going to have a great time this time too!

Solid Rock: Thank you very very much for the interview and I assure you, all of your Greek fans we are looking forward to seeing you live on January 30 & 31!

Aaron Stainthorpe: Thank you very much.