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PW: Firstly an obvious question but your band name Tor Marrock is also the name you have adopted as vocalist/guitarist, does it have any specific meaning?
TM: Yes, Tor Marrock is my chosen name; it just felt right to also name the band Tor Marrock, ha ha, as for the meaning that is to remain my secret.
PW: Tell us a bit about the formation of the band, you are a 3 piece, how did you get together, what were your original ideas and how would you say you have achieved what you set out to do?
TM: We seem to have ended up making this music, There are a lot of factors why, location, upbringing, life experiences and of course musical influences. We met through location, it took a while, looking back, so many years were wasted, yet somehow now that adds to the intensity. I suppose it was inevitable that the 3 of us would form a band as where we live is so isolated. As for achieving what we set out to do we are on the first step of the ladder, it has 4 steps, TOR MARROCK is to make 4 albums.
PW: You come from Mid Wales, I guess the location has both positive and negative aspects. Firstly how isolated are you and are you out on a limb as far as groups and people sharing your musical ideals are concerned? Are there any other likeminded bands in the area and how difficult is it finding places to play in the immediate locale?
TM: It is isolated it is beautiful and it is lonely, we only ever met one local like minded band and they were great, we played two gigs with them they are a band called GENOCIDE MACHINE, I hope they continue and as for local gigs there will never be more than 50 at a underground metal gig, venues are few and far between and we most certainly don’t fit in the immediate locale.
PW: As far as the positive aspects are concerned does the atmosphere and scenery prove inspirational, there is a dreamy quality about your music that perhaps comes from taking in great views, Welsh mountains and valleys?
TM: Isolation is inspirational, it certainly feeds the imagination.
PW: One thing that struck me when I first encountered the band were the promotional shots. Sinister masked figures stand almost alien in the sea or isolated in fields of grass. Tell us a bit about what you set out to portray persona wise? Will you transpose the imagery to live performances?
TM: For me music is an escape, the 3 of us were adamant this band was to be a masked concept band were we ultimately can create our own reality, so yes the masks are worn on stage.
PW: Moving onto the music itself, if you were put on the spot, how would you describe yourselves stylistically?
TM: Dark-concept-metal
PW: Who is responsible for the lyrics, is it a joint collaboration? They are certainly really poetic and unveil a tale, the romance you portray is one that seems poisoned and it is certainly one tinged with decay, can you perhaps expand upon this?
TM: Yes, I write the lyrics, I suppose this world confuses me in that in one hand is held death, suffering and decay and in the other, life, joy and growth. For me no matter how much life, joy and growth there is it will always be poisoned by the death, suffering and decay.
PW: ‘The Death Of Summer,’ as mentioned seems to have been somewhat prophetic. For some reason the title reminds me of the Lord Of Summerisle making his ghastly sacrifice to ensure the crops don’t fail in The Wicker Man. What is the genesis of this particular number?
TM: This follows on from the previous question, the summer represents life -but we all know that in this world life ends. It is also the first song on the album so the title and content of the song was ideal to begin the story. (The original wicker man is one of favourite movies but there is no connection.)
PW: ‘Lower The Death’ is a fast and thrashy number almost black metal in scope but fragmented with airy Gothic guitar passages wafting fragrantly through it as the rage abates. This strikes as totally unique to me, although taken as a whole I could mention the lyrical fluidity of My Dying Bride, the savage bite of Type O Negative and the maudlin flow of Fields Of The Nephilim. That as far as I am concerned is a near perfect combination. What inspires you musically?
TM: Well instead of reeling off band names I am inspired by atmosphere, intensity, honesty and meaning.
PW: Somehow I don’t expect an answer to this but the short interlude of ‘On The 5th Of October’ is bound to bring about the question of the significance of the date?
TM: On this date Dante Gabriel Rossetti exhumed the body of his wife Elizabeth Siddal so it tied in with the story perfectly.
PW: I love the melody behind ‘Throw Yourself Into Our Empty Well’ like the title suggests it virtually overwhelms and drowns you although if a well was empty, one would not have the luxury of such a watery demise. Why is yours an empty well and who would you throw down it given the choice?
TM: Water is also associated with life therefore our well is empty. I would throw in the creator of this sick world.
PW: Moving away from attempting to dissect your music, the album sees you signed to Copro imprint Casket Records. How did this come about and how have the label been to work with and at promoting you?
TM: We are a new band and as mentioned living in a rural location, we had no funds for self promotion and no fan base so no label were going to look at us. Casket offer bands a self finance deal, the promotion is limited to the bands own funds, we saw this as the first step on the ladder. So we have had very little promotion but are now in a much stronger position to approach labels.
PW: Speaking of promotion, I have to admit a quick search only found one actual interview with you and that was in Romanian. Do you have many others set up and how are you finding them in terms of people understanding where you are coming from?
TM: The promotion goes with the finance there is none, we are an underground band, we are unknown but at the same time building an underground following so if you dive deep you will find TOR MARROCK.. There is no middle ground so far, people have a strong point of view.
PW: Reviews suggest that some do and some don’t get Tor Marrock. The ones I have seen have certainly illustrated that there is little sitting on the fence but in a way there is nothing worse than an ‘average’ review. How have you been finding reaction to the album in general?
TM: In general it is what I expected, apart from Terrorizer in which I was very disappointed with, not by the bad review but by the manner of it. Terrorizer is a magazine I respect. I believe that the reviewer of our album had no understanding of the genre of music we create, I can accept a bad review, but I need to respect the reviewer to be able to do so.
PW: You just completed your first video shoot, which song was that for and how was it? I read the tide indeed waited for no man?
TM: We shot for the song Death Of Summer, in 4th street photo studios Barry www.myspace.com/4thstreetphotography , and the beach on Porhcawl, we shot 2 hours of film and yes the actors got caught by the tide and got very wet lol. I think we managed to portray what we hoped, but, only the finished product will reveal if we did. The video was shot by Owain of MetalSpoon Photo www.monkeyspoon.co.uk and is in the process of editing I have faith in him and am very curious to see the final product.
As for the day itself, it was strange; this was our debut video shoot so it was all new to us. The day ran smoothly, and I have to say a big thank you to all involved- the locations were perfect, the expertise of director Owen and camera women Leanne were of the highest quality, and of course the 2 main actors Sean and Katya were the icing on the cake.
PW: I see that you don’t actually have an official website but rely on MySpace generally for promotion. It seems to work perfectly for many bands in this day and age and I see that your friend count has shot up recently and you have even gained a US street team for the band. Do you plan to get an independent website or continue to spread the word via MySpace?
TM: We do plan on getting an official website but for the moment myspace is working for us. We are getting great feedback and our music is being heard around the world. I think myspace has become essential for new bands that are not on a major label. The street team was set up by Tricia www.myspace.com/tor_marrock_teamus who heard us via myspace and is doing a great job.
PW: What is next for the band, you have a few live dates planned for the future including a London show.
TM: The video release is going to be a big event for us and of course we are hoping to arrange as many live UK dates as we can for Oct/Nov to include more than one London show, then the start of 2008 we are going to make a big effort to get over to Europe and the USA in late 2008.
Thanks for the interview, any further comments?
Your universe awaits..........................................
Interviewed by Pete Woods
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