MOONSPELL OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
by Fernando Ribeiro
Throughout all the years of Moonspell existence I've been responsible by
issuing and composing up to date Moonspell biographies maybe because I was the most
familiar with writing or because I have been in ALL the moments of Moonspell story,
whatever... and throughout the years I've done several biographies according to
the ideological and musical oscillations and evolution's we have experienced as a
band and as individuals. So I started off with very "eloquent", "poetic"
biographies, totally non informative but that value for the over the top language
and epicism of a really simple story.
Naturally these "novels" were totally useless for labels and promoters
and I had to step to more formal biographies. I have even done a middle term one
between information and delirium to magazines and fanzines that could use both sides
of Moonspell biographies. So I ended up with dozens of different biographies each
for its use but I was only being bureaucratic about it so I dropped the case and
let Century Media do the dirty doings. But I offered my services to our Internet
page so, after the biography of my biographies, I should just put into life Moonspell's
current biography that I really do not know how it will turn out. So I hope you
get informed about the band since this all virtual hype is information anyway but
let me warn you I am not capable of doing a formal biography. But let us cut this
talk before gets as boring as it got paternal so ...
The band real beginning was back in mid-1989 when myself, Ares and two other
guys ,whose names are irrelevant for our history, formed a band called MORBID GOD.
This was already a culmination of a long process of talking about doing a band,
drawing logos, writing lyrics, designing and conceiving layouts and above all dreaming
about the privilege of doing music. The closest thing to a band we had besides Morbid
God was a project called ARCHANGEL (which I still think is a very good name for
a band, so if you are looking for one...) where I was supposed to play drums and
Ares was supposed to sing. Anyway as we realised it would be difficult and dull to
have two bands with the same guys on different functions, we decide to concentrate
on Morbid God as something more serious and left behind prolific names and ideas
that bring a red colour to our faces when we mention them occasionally.
Well after a lot of hardwork to get instruments, essential gear and a rehearsal
place that would replace the purely theoretical meetings on weekends in our former
guitarist place we found a place owned by the City hall of our little urban village
(Brandoa-where we still live by the way) and started working. I don't want to remember
the very first rehearsals when nothing palpable or not was ever composed and jump
to the very first track we have ever done called "The Fever". We rehearsed
it a lot of times in candlelight, had it recorded on a 12 track mixer by Mantus
who would join a little after in late 1990 I suppose, listened to it and finally
decided it was not good enough to go in a professional studio. We started to be auto-critical
since the beginning and until now we only profited from that and also of the fact
we always knew how to wait, never rush anything but work hard to establish our projects
on a real basis.
Army came for both our drummer and guitarist and the result was a small catastrophe
since we were frozen in our very start. We haven't done anything for almost a year,
our guitarist was kicked out in the meanwhile, and Mantus came and we could compose
something worthy of a studiowork and that would came in the shape of "Serpent
Angel" our very first release ever. We were also invited to be featured on
a double compilation LP with the best Portuguese metal bands by an independent label
MTM so we felt it was righ time to risk and to go and record our music. Careful
as we were we rehearsed like lunatics, pre produced it on a small studio (where we
played 13 times the track and where I had the reverb on full for my vocals) and
finally went to a 24 track studio and issued it as a promo track, featured it on
the record and spread it ourselves throughout all the underground scene we knew for
more than 5 years now. It was August 1992, and the track was recorded on the 22nd.
We collected great reviews, small labels were offering deals for EP's and
occasionally full lengths but we decided to wait, record a demo, do some necessary
changes on the concept of the band and go for serious with it . So we started off
by kicking our original drummer, got ourselves a new guitarist, Mike known as Nisroth
joined the band right in October 1992, and we changed our name to MOONSPELL which
we felt was like a true beginning for us. We continued on rehearsing, with better
spirit and better people now and composed some tracks, three of each we recorded
again on the same studio and that were featured in the one and only Moonspell demo
"Anno Satanae" recorded in January 1993 and issued one month after. The
tracks were "Goat on Fire", "Ancient Winter Goddess" and "Wolves
from the Fog". This demo was regarded as a classic by the underground scene
and brought us two self financed editions, one polish edition (still available)
and one single with two tracks (still available). The reaction was so good that Adipocere
from France offered us the best deal for a mini CD that we would record one year
after on January 1994 and that was our true debut on a record sphere.
Naturally we lost a guitarist on the process, welcomed Tanngrisnir ex-Decayed
(which coasted us the friendship with that band, which we cared for a start but
could not care less nowadays) and got ourselves a keyboard player of our own Pedro
Paixao alias Passionis or Neophytus. Both brought new things to the band and we
composed one of the most ambitious and surprising records of 1994 on the underground
scene: "Under the Moonspell" which combined our interests in southern
culture, occultism and eroticism with a spawn of wide music influenced by our everlasting
sources Bathory and Celtic Frost and by bands such as Dead can Dance and Arabian
and Portuguese traditional music. This mini album that contained both Tenebrarums
and Opus Diabolicum brought us the very first real fan and press attention and it
had the undeniable value of getting us a deal with our current label Century media.
In the meanwhile we started playing live. Before 1994 we had played once
with Decayed supporting on November 1993. We did few shows in the South of Portugal,
in Lisbon and Oporto and had our live breakthrough supporting Cradle of Filth in
Lisbon and Cannibal Corpse/Samael and Anathema in Lisbon as well.
Signing to Century Media was a dream come true. We rehearsed a lot in order
to do the best we could and tried to experiment a lot of different stuff in our
mosaic of influences going on for a darker sound, stronger songs and erotic, deadly
lyrics. "Wolfheart" came into life so we travelled to Germany to work
with Waldemar Sorychta whose productions we loved and became in a short period of
time the second dream coming true. When "Wolfheart" came out nobody believed
so much on it except for ourselves and the following months besides some successful
gigs in Portugal were pretty low to get the album going. We needed an European tour
and it made its appearance on the form of supporting Morbid Angel on the Domination
1995 tour. Before that we played a small headline tour in England with only 3 dates
and had the chance to know better the foreign audience.
The Morbid Angel tour was simultaneously one of the best things that happened
to Moonspell but one of the hardest experiences on our lives. First in the gap between
the release of Wolf and the start of the tour we lost both guitarists each one for
different reasons and we recruited Ricardo from a Portuguese band P.Waltz (that
was not happy with the idea at all and had no prejudice of showing it through childish
interviews that only amused us on boring tourdays) and went for seven weeks on a
van, playing, driving, cooking, selling merchandise, whatever we had to. We played
for the first time in Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Spain, etc. and had a fantastic
reaction in spite of the poor conditions we had sometimes as a support act but we
got on until the end and Wolfheart sales triplified with the release of the digipack
and we overcomed Morbid Angel on selling's for instance. People discovered "Alma
Mater", "Vampiria" and other titles and we sold around 50.000 copies
of an album nobody believed in.
With an eye put on the European scene we were welcomed very well on the two
gigs we did in Portugal before going again on tour in November with Tiamat in Germany
which helped us to build our following there. Shortly afterwards we travelled to
Poland and Czech Rep. to play the biggest festivals in our career back then with
bands like Kreator and Testament and attendance's in the order of the 7000 people.
We had enthusiastic reactions and became between 1995 and 1996 one of the most popular
heavy metal bands in Poland with continuos tv broadcast.etc.
We started then preparing our second album and went back to Germany to participate
on the Out of the Dark festivals I with Crematory, The Gathering and Secret Discovery.
This tour was an overwhelming success and allowed us to present some new tracks
to the audience and to break some t-shirts sales records! It was a very positive
experience that ended on a Monday seven a.m. in Dortmund (Germany) the date we entered
directly on studio two hours after to start working on our new album. Waldemar was
behind the desk again but he had now a more mature band on his hands that knew exactly
what they wanted. The result was our best so far in the shape of Irreligious a different
album from Wolfheart of course and that turned into something we always wanted to
do, regardless of the many critics we had because we changed. We accept them gladly,
we wanted to change! On with the biography, I am sorry, we stopped a little bit
the recordings to come to Portugal and play a gig with Mao Morta, and then finish
the recordings of the album on mid May.
In the meanwhile we played on the Super Bock, Super Rock for the disgust
of the promoter, and after recording our first video clip "opium" locate
in the old and narrow streets of Lisbon we released the album first in Portugal
on the best gig of our lives (and hopefully many of you out there) that took place
on an old convenant (Convento do Beato) on the 12 of July 1996. We had promised
something memorable to our fans and I hope that the almost 3000 people that came
to see us have found a place for this memory in the deep of their wolfhearts. It
was the first time we worked with our full tour production in Portugal and the result
was beyond imagination. VIVA from Germany did a great special about Moonspell and
everyone was astonished with the crowd reaction and the chemistry between Moonspell
and them. So thank you all!
The album sold around 10000 units now in Portugal which is making history
for this kind of outcast music and culture in our territory. Later followed the
European release in Dortmund in the font of 1000 people in a fairly warm gig but
an efficient one since the album broke into the German Top 50 and stayed there for
eight entire weeks! This gig was followed by an one off gig at the PopKomm in Koln
(Germany) and we returned Portugal to prepare ourselves for a 2 months European
tour with Samael that occurred from September to early November resulting in a well
succeeded tour that in Germany had a medium average of a thousand. The album broke
into the Italian, Austrian, Finnish and Dutch charts in the meanwhile.
Lastly we got confirmed as the support band for Type O Negative European
tour which was another dream come true for us. But before we headlined between two
of the most famous Portuguese bands at the Lisbon Coliseum playing to an unforgettable
3000 audience that took over the show from us and to whom we thank so much and defy
to do it once again. Back to Type O this was our real BIG tour playing to sold out
arenas most of the times, conquering over a new audience, leaving other indifferent
but all in all a highly profile tour with Dark Rock sex symbol himself : Mr Steele,
thy good giant! ( I hope he does not have Internet) that together with a fantastic
band and a fantastic crew made of this tour one unforgettable experience and one
of the most vital steps on our history as a band.
In the meanwhile Irreligious sold more already (since August) than 50000
copies and Moonspell was voted by VIVA as the revelation band for 1996 leaving the
strong Marilyn Manson and Korn behind. It was a good year definitely! Now we are
trying to prepare our third album, relaxing from all the intensive touring we did
so far and going on and being stubborn enough to impose ourselves and our undeniable
Portuguese flavour to all of you who are thirsty of honest and hopefully fresh Art!