Former BOLT THROWER Frontman Talks About His Departure, New Project

Denmark's Evilution Magazine recently conducted an interview with former BOLT THROWER/BENEDICTION and current DOWNLORD frontman Dave Ingram. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Evilution Magazine: Please give us your version of the split with BOLT THROWER as well as your career with the band. Do you agree with the official announcement from BOLT THROWER — and what lies behind the statement "due to long-standing health and personal problems?"

Dave Ingram: "Absolutely. Both myself and BOLT THROWER talked over what the press release should say, and we were all in agreement over it. To start, I'll say that I enjoyed every single moment of being a part of the BOLT THROWER war machine, and will carry those memories with pride through the rest of my life. My illness really began way back in 2000 when my sister committed suicide. I just never got over it. I suffered some severe depressions, and had to take medications and see psychiatrists because of it. It didn't get any better; in fact, it got a lot worse. I had a nervous and mental breakdown (it all got a bit 'Twelve Monkeys' for a time) at the beginning of 2004, and I needed to pick up the pieces of my life and start rebuilding. To do this would — and did — take time, and I told BOLT THROWER that I didn't want them to suffer unduly. It was a very hard decision to make, but my departure from the band was necessary for me to concentrate on regaining my mental health, and for BOLT THROWER not to have been put on hold. It just wouldn't have been fair to them had I remained. This is the first time I've spoken about my illness to people other than family/friends/doctors and this last couple of years, when I was experiencing all this turmoil, now seem somewhat removed and distant. Even though it wasn't quite so long ago."

Evilution Magazine: You are now back with DOWNLORD. Please start by introducing the band and give a few comments on how it all started — and perhaps a brief explanation of the idea behind the name DOWNLORD?

Dave Ingram: "There's me on vocals, Donovan Spenceley (guitar),Rene Falther (guitar),Thomas Fagerlind (bass) and Jesper Frost (drums). It originally started back in late 2004. Rene was working with our previous drummer and bass player, and he contacted me to see if I'd be interested in jamming with them and possibly joining. I took along my longtime buddy Donovan and we all felt that we could produce something concrete, so we agreed to work together. Originally, the band was called FULL SCALE HATRED but we just weren't too happy with that. Mainly because we're tired of the overt negativity prevailing through metal lyrics. Of course, that kind of thing perfectly suits death metal, but we just didn't feel 100% comfortable with that name, especially in the climate of the world today. We spent a long time figuring out a name, with a lot of different ideas. One evening we sat down and wrote out a huge list, while getting drunk, and discussed them all. A few days later (once we'd recovered) I looked back over the list, and the almost illegible handwriting due to the copious amounts of alcohol we'd consumed and saw 'DOWNLORD' on there. I think we'd tried to write DOWNLOAD but we were just SO wasted that night, so you can say the name was fueled by booze. But back to that 'negativity' thing... I'm not disrespecting death metal for that; it's just that in my experience through the last eight years of life, I've found that something positive can always come out of something negative."

Evilution Magazine: Do you expect to start negotiating with various labels soon, and when can we expect an official full-length release from DOWNLORD?

Dave Ingram: "We'd love to release! I mean, which band wouldn't? We've all had a large amount of studio experience in the past, so we know our time recording a full-length release will be enjoyable, painless and professionally productive. That's always a good start when you know something more of the processes involved. We believe that the website, once operational, will help get us around and known a lot more on the scene, too. When we've done the next demo disc, and we're satisfied with it, then we'll be using that to shop around. Another idea was to finance a recording ourselves, then have it available online — with downloadable CD art — so we do it all ourselves, for a lot less. Something else I learned from my recent past is that by cutting out the middle-man, a band can lose a lot of the trouble involved, and then give back to the scene that supports them."

Read the entire interview at EvilutionMagazine.com.

Two tracks from DOWNLORD's demo — "Nailing You In" and "Groin Of God - Amen & Out" — are available for download at the group's official web site.