PRIMORDIAL Frontman On Life In Ireland, Touring The U.S.

JJ Koczan of The Obelisk recently conducted an interview with PRIMORDIAL frontman Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill in which the vocalist gave his opinions on the state of life in the band's native Ireland and his experiences touring in the U.S. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Obelisk: In one of your blog entries on the PRIMORDIAL website, you discuss nationalism, and I wanted to ask you if you think it's possible to be allied to a country but not necessarily a state.

Alan Averill: Well, there's a very different distinction between a nation and a state. The state is defined by a geographical boundary. You can have a nation which has no state, which could be Kurds or Armenians. A lot of things have happened in Ireland that have made me question my views on, at the very least, Irish nationalism. We've witnessed the almost instantaneous collapse of the economy and a lot of the social order that existed around it. The church has been exposed as nothing but a pedophile ring. The government who've ruled the country more or less since the inception of the state have turned out to be charlatans, liars and thieves as well. The property and banking sectors have collapsed. Basically all the old institutions, from the health board to everything, have collapsed, and I think traditionally I would have been against the state but for the people. Now I find myself being against the people as well. The misdeeds of the state were perpetrated with the help of regular people, and I think the romantic idealism that existed in the late 19th Century/early 20th Century that surrounded the initial fight for, say, Irish freedom or whatever you want to call it, the establishment of that state never happened. The systematic murdering of the intellectuals of the time who could have brought about perhaps a greater state never happened. A lot of things have happened to change my views in the last while have altered my views of nationalism. It's a recurring theme in PRIMORDIAL. The whole last album is connected to this theme. It's not nationalistic, it's just viewing nationalism and how people relate to a piece of dirt they think is theirs. I think it is possible to relate to a nation without recognizing the state. It is possible to support a different view on political situations without being geographically or ethnically even part of it.

The Obelisk: I know you mentioned the Catholic church before, and I'm on the East Coast of the U.S. and we had a similar kind of explosion of exposure of abuse a few years ago. It's awful to read that in the news.

Alan Averill: We have two huge reports, the Ryan and the Murphy Reports, that came in the last couple years, that basically expose the Catholic church in Ireland for a pedophile ring. Nothing short of that. And most of the problems throughout the rest of the developed world to do with Catholic pedophilia are Irish priests sent on missions, whether that's in Africa or America. I think you'll find lots of Irish surnames with those priests that are arrested in Canada and America. So we have to question why Ireland. Why not Polish priests? Why not Italian priests? A certain amount of it is the intellectually retarded, backward nature of Ireland. A lot of people aren't happy with my views on these kinds of things because they don't like to hear you knocking your own country, but it's true... We're witnessing the absolute deconstruction of Irish society, which, standing on the outside of it, is very interesting, but it's also a little bit distressing for a lot of people. It's a very strange to be an Irish person living in Ireland...

The Obelisk: Are there any plans to come back to the U.S. to tour?

Alan Averill: Since we toured the U.S. the last time, we've been offered three or four tours, but it comes back to the recession and the whole thing in Ireland. It's made the liberties we can perhaps take with work a couple years ago almost negligible now. They're just not there. It's almost impossible to find the same space in time to do. It's made it very difficult. And don't forget, touring [there] is like a hiding to nothing, because the dollar is so weak against the euro. When people go home and they have kids… Like on that last tour, MOONSORROW were playing for nothing. They were playing for $400 a night. You play to 1,200 people in Montreal, and someone hands you $400, which is the price of, what, 32 tickets? But there you go. I don't think people realize that when they see the band that it's such a relative sacrifice that you make, especially when venues are taking 30 percent of your t-shirt sales and stuff... Every venue takes between 20 and 30 percent of your merch and there's nothing you can do. They have someone to stand there with a clicker, clicking the t-shirts they sell. Nothing you can do about it, it's just become part of what touring America is. If you add import tax, printing costs, 20-30 percent gone and how strong the Euro is against the dollar, if we don't sell a t-shirt for more than $15, we are basically giving them away. Seeing as we had one for $12 on that tour, we might as well just give them away to people outside.

The Obelisk: Or sell them out the back of a van.

Alan Averill: They won't let you do that. There's always going to be some stupid law that you can't have an open vendor or something in the car park. Believe me. People come and they balk at the $25 entry price, and I understand that too, but I think people are probably a bit blind to the brutal economics of the situation. MOONSORROW. There's a band that sells 20,000 records, playing for free. For nothing. And some of those guys have kids, they have jobs. There's a third kid coming for PRIMORDIAL in July. How do you justify going to America to play for a month and bring home, what, $150 a week? "Here you go." So it's a hard thing to do. We are going to manage to do it before the end of the year, but I think unless you're one of the bands headlining at the top and still able to bring 500 people in the States, or if you live in Eastern Europe and your tour America, it might be easier. In Ireland, where the cost of living is so high, it's difficult. But I'm not complaining (laughs). I'm just stating the fact. After all, we're still a metal band and part of being fuckin' metal is just fuckin' putting your nose to the grindstone and doing what you have to do. I love being on tour. I'm not gonna bitch and complain and moan about it. We put in 100 percent every time we play. But there's certain facts surrounding it.

The Obelisk: That stuff is a concern, definitely.

Alan Averill: I remember having an argument with somebody in Montreal and I was asking the merch girl, "Can we fiddle this?" and there was a guy standing behind her and he was like, "Nah man, it's the law." "Well, what law?" And he goes, "It's the law." "Well, it might be your law, but it's not the law of the state. Do you realize where all these bands are from? Do you realize how much they're getting paid, how much money they get to make, and you want 30 percent of it for nothing?" He just went, "It's the law." It's not the fucking law. I don't think the Canadian government is forcing these people, "You have to take 30 percent of these bands' merch." And they're trying to bring it in in Europe. There's no such thing as a band union. What you would need would be SLAYER to stand up for all the little bands to stop it happening to them, but they're never gonna do that, are they? Those guys are probably being paid $40,000 a night to play anyway, so they make their money. You would need the CHILDREN OF BODOMs of this world to go, "No, we're not playing your venues unless you take away your 30 percent" or whatever, but realistically, that's never gonna happen. I'm sorry. That's my little thing.

Read the full interview at The Obelisk.