Interview:


Atlanta based Doom Metal duo Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf is also a live act. It's not often one can come across a Metal duo playing live, isn't it? Let's get to know them better.

Where does the band's name come from, what does it mean? Do you think naming it as your own, I mean Tommy Stewart's, is possible to make other participating musicians less involved in it?
As I thought to name the project, I happened to be a fan of Game of Thrones and thought to myself okay, this project is like my special pet, as in the books. And, yes, this is solo because I needed space to do some of my music without hinderance from others. I generally do the studio recording, producing, and writing for the bands I'm in anyway, but with Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf I don't have to consult with anyone. Not that I do a lot anyway.

Although you're a duo, the band is also a live act. Is playing live an important aspect in the band's life? Who helps you during live shows? How would you describe one of your live gigs?
Yes, playing live is a lot of the fun of being a two piece because I think working with minimalistic conditions is an art style to itself. Our show usually starts with me playing alone, then we launch into the loud stuff and mostly play from our album which is self-titled and on Soman Records. ( somanrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tommy-stewarts-dyerwulf ) But we also play dyerwulf versions of songs from other parts of my career, for instance, a forty five minute show may have three Hallows Eve songs in it. One song, Horrorshow is done as a doom version and appears on our album. We have had a guest guitarist, Angie Riley from RMS, added for a song on a special occasion to play Metal Merchants from Hallows Eve's Tales of Terror.

Why have you chosen to use only bass, drums and vocals? Is it weird for the audience? Do you think you manage to make them feel at ease with the lack of guitars? Do you think this choice of yours is also because you feel like there's not enough importance given to bass in "regular" bands?
For live, it is just the two of us most of the time. We arrange the music and what I do to be what it needs to be. I'm running 2 stacks with different effects on them that come come and go as needed including three distortions, 3 layers of delays to sometimes harmonize with myself, and a looper. My amps and cabs are all GK and I run 15, 12, and 10 inch speakers for maximum wide coverage of tone. I've had many people and even promoters be confused as to how we're going to do it until they see us do it and they have an "oh, ah - ha like that" moment. it's pretty funny. I've had one promoter offer us a guitarists because he thought we simply din't have one. After he saw us, he got it. So this sets us apart from other bands because we're pulling it off in a unique way. I've always been a very up front bassist in bands and yes there is a little wink and dig in it to guitarists that says see, it can be done without you.

You've recently released your second full-length album, selftitled. Please tell us a few words about it, and for those familiar with your music, how does it difer from your debut material?
Okay, we see this differently. The Tommy Stewart Clef Doom album was one kind of album. A different act, not live, all experimental, just me. Then I decided to get a drummer and re-tool it to start over. So I added Eriv Vogt on drums and we recorded Porpoise Song, the single, live ned afternoon and passed that around to see how the response would be. We played a coupe of shows doing that, some new material, a coupe from Clef Doom. We got good response so started over with our very first album which is the self entitled Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf in it's full go. So now we're working on our Second Tommy Stewart's Dyerwulf album and will have it out for 2018. So I think of Clef Doom as a prequel experiment and the single as a transition to the first album.

Recently we've seen some sort of a resurrection of Doom Rock/Metal globally, do you agree? Do you think this will last, or it's just a trend, a wave? How should the perfect Doom record sound like for yourself?
I think doom metal is the growing trend that's becoming bigger all the time. I also think it's a huge umbrella of different styles under one general roof. I joke that slow is the new fast. The movement reminds me of the early thrash days of when everything was new in that and grew. I love it because they're is so much to do with it and I find thrash constrictive after awhile of doing it. The perfect doom record? I couldn't say because I think that there are so many styles. So if one style is more stoner oriented then it may bleed over into portions of, say, desert rock. One thing I don't like is bringing anything sounding core into it. Some sludge tends to have a core edge to it and when that happens I'm not a fan.

Are lyrics important in the overall Dyerwulf process? What do you want to express through your lyrics?
The lyrics are very important to me because I'm truly expressing myself in my lyrics. As an artist expresses themselves through a painting, I do with words. My lyrics are me and many of the things i write about are not fantasy, but events, people, places, times, that effect me in real life. Although I enjoy fantasy as a listener, I've always been authentic in what I write for myself. Granted, I may write about an event that happened to me in a fantastic colorful style, but it happened. This way of doing it has kept me separate from most metal in general because it's authentic in expression and not just to entertain.

December 2017


tommystewart1.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/tommystewartsdyerwulf/