by Chris Barnes
August 21st, 2004

Pale Divine is the epitome of amazingly high quality musicianship within the scope of heavy music. Their blend of Heavy Metal, 70's Psych, and traditional Doom, coupled with their amazing signature jam work, make their new album, Eternity Revealed essential heavy music listening. Hot on the hells of the aforementioned recording, Hellride Music's Chris Barnes interviews Pale Divine drummer/co-founder, Darin McCloskey.


Hellride Music: To establish a proper baseline for those not hip to the Pale Divine magic, can you give us a bio of the band up to this date?

Darin McCloskey: Well, back in the winter of ‘95 Greg Diener and I began jamming and putting together songs that would later comprise most of what ended up on our ‘97 demo recording Crimson Tears.

We found a bassist in Jay Purnell but that relationship ended after a couple years and we recruited our current bassist Jim Corl to help us play SHoD I and any shows leading up to it. We had a good time playing with Jim and the vibe was there so Jim stayed on long after we did the first SHoD.

The "Crimson Tears" demo did pretty well for us in terms of recognition and basically laying the ground work for what was to follow. We entered the studio once more in the summer of 2000 to begin tracking out first full length Thunder Perfect Mind. hen we began recording we hadn’t yet secured any kind of record deal so we financed the entire thing ourselves. This meant that we basically went in when we had the money to do so. As a result it took us longer to complete it. While we were in the process of recording it we hooked up with Game Two and worked out a deal with them to release Thunder Perfect Mind so things sort of fell into place after that.

Thunder Perfect Mind was a bit of a late bloomer it took about a year or so after it’s initial release for people to really catch on to it. Once word got out though the CD did really well....reviews were good and to date it’s currently sold out...which is a good thing I suppose for the people who have it. For the people who don‘t, it is supposed to be repressed sometime in the future through Game Two so to those who‘ve been looking for it - There‘s still hope!

Currently, we have our brand new CD Eternity Revealed out on Martyr Music Group and we can only hope it’s every bit as well received as Thunder Perfect Mind.

Hellride Music: Judging from the initial response, I don’t think you guys have to worry. Getting to Eternity Revealed, it seem like there was a lot of delays and false starts. It’s finally ready for mass consumption, 3 years after Thunder Perfect Mind. Tell us about the writing and recording of this new record - it must've been quite a journey.

Darin: Well, in a way it was kind of a journey in that the material within the CD basically took us from our early days to the present. We re-recorded "Morphia," "Crimson Tears," "Serpents Path" and "Lord of Sorrow" from the Crimson Tears demo and combined those tracks with five new songs. I don’t think there’s really any difference stylistically between the older tracks and the new ones which was basically the point. More often than not, a band will re-record their demo tracks for the FIRST release. We chose not to do that because Thunder Perfect Mind basically started out as a second demo that became our debut full length release for Game Two. By the time we had finished tracking material for "TPM" we realized we had more than a full lengths worth of material so we decided to include it all.
I guess, you might say that there was some "groovey" stuff going on in "TPM" but it really was for the most part a very straight forward METAL album. People started throwing around "stoner doom", "groove rock", "doom rock" etc. in reviews and stuff and I was like "Wow, that couldn’t be any further than what we had intended to do" I mean it’s all good because people are going to listen to it and come away with whatever impression it made on them but in my mind it was just a little ironic because I though it was way more METAL than anything that was currently being embraced by the "stone rock" scene.

Anyway, we had always wanted to re-record certain tracks from the "CT" demo so now seemed as good a time as any. As it turned out most of the material we had written since the release of "TPM" seemed to me to be a bit more complex and darker....in much the same way the demo material was. We started playing some of the songs back to back in rehearsal and they seemed more than compatible with one another so now seemed like the right time to go in and do what needed to be done.

Hellride Music: So, the big question is, are you guys happy with it?

Darin: We’re very pleased with the outcome of Eternity Revealed the recording quality is something that we’ve been striving to improve upon and this time Chris Kozlowski really did it up right. I’m very pleased with the content, the packaging, the artwork, everything!

Hellride Music: I loved Thunder Perfect Mind, don't get me wrong, but I think you guys have come into your own with this recording... as you mentioned the whole vibe is much more... um... METAL than "TPF", less groove, more riff and the production is definitely better. "Massive" is the word that kept going through my mind while listening. Was a more metal-sounding record a direction that the band consciously wanted to go in?

Darin: No, not at all....it’s the direction we’ve been going in since day one. It’s all we know how to do and I feel it’s what we do best. I agree with you on the "massive" description and I think it holds that distinction because of the weightiness of the lyrical subject matter and the overall "dark" vibe within the music. There’s a very menacing quality to "Crimson Tears" and "Sins of the Fallen" that really lends itself to having that "epic" quality which may not have been present on Thunder Perfect Mind.

Hellride Music: While we are on the subject of riffs - there are literally more riffs per song than any death metal band I've heard. It's amazing... what's up with Diener? He's the next Guitar Jesus.

Darin: Yeah, sometimes he’ll just bust out something out of the blue that will just blow us away. When something is particularly good we’ll focus on it and try to develop it into a song. It’s then that Greg will build on that one riff that initially got the ball rolling and add other riffs that either complement the first one or in some cases come up with something that’s even better. There’s a lot of practices where we just jam for hours trying to find the one riff or idea that’ll get the ball rolling...some nights it happens other times it doesn’t.

Hellride Music: The album content, both musically and lyrically, is mighty dark. How reflective is this of the particular mindset of Pale Divine? Are you guys generally dark, mysterious dudes or is it something you turn on when you write/perform?

Darin: Maybe? I don’t know, I guess I never really thought about it before. I know that we don’t try to "turn on" anything when we write or perform...what comes out is usually just the way we felt when we wrote the stuff. Lyrically, usually the words and subject matter will sort of follow the tone of the music. Then again I think a lot of the topics and themes of Eternity Revealed are the culmination of thoughts and ideas dating back to 1997 or before.

Hellride Music: Let's talk about band chemistry - you guys are definitely gifted in that department - that's the kinda magic that you can't buy. I mean listen to those jams....the ebb and the flow... you guys are the Allman Bros. of Metal. Thoughts? To what do you attribute this chemical click?

Darin: Just playing together as often as we can. This lineup has been together now for about 5 years so we’ve had a lot of time to get used to one another and learn how to play with each other. Beyond that, I suppose there could be some chemistry at work...I know I’ve played with other people and the vibe was just completely different and at times a little awkward. So I suppose there is something to be said for finding the "right people" to play with. In this case we’re very fortunate because we enjoy playing with one another and it's also been productive. Can’t ask for more than that.

Hellride Music: The cover art is amazing, we truly need a 12" double gatefold LP to appreciate the detail of it. A CD cover just doesn't do it justice - who is the artist and what is the concept and story behind that painting?

Darin: Yeah, you know the cover art would definitely benefit from being on a larger format. Vinyl would be awesome but at the very least I’d love to see it blown up on a poster. Brian Tutlo is the artist and he also did all the artwork for Thunder Perfect Mind. Brian has been with us since the beginning and he designed both our logos and actually did a couple flyers for us way back when. He’s an amazing artist and we love his artwork. Brian is like the fourth member of Pale Divine - he holds down the visual element.

As far as the "story" behind the painting...well, it’s basically something that sort of evolved from a much simpler concept that Brian presented for possible cover ideas early on. One thing led to another and the end result is what you see on the front cover of Eternity Revealed. In my mind the cover perfectly represents the thoughts and ideas presented within the CD...but I like people to make their own conclusions and interpretations so as far as the "concept" that’s for you to decide.

Hellride Music: Will you guys be touring to support the new release?

Darin: Well, we went on a little excursion with Place of Skulls in late June before the CD was released so I’d like us to get out there again for a little longer now that the CD is out. I’d also REALLY like to go to Europe and tour because we get a lot of mail from people over there really into our music and I think in general this kind of music is more well received than in the States. Either way I definitely see us hitting the road again very soon.

Hellride Music: In terms of label support, how has it been working with Maria Martyr? She has always done me right and she photographs well.

Darin: Well, Maria has been in this biz for many years now so she knows her shit. She’s real up front about things and doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to saying what’s on her mind...I respect that. It’s really refreshing to be involved with a label like Martyr that doesn’t blow smoke up your ass and make all sorts of promises only to drop the ball at the last minute. We had a good relationship with Conan at Game Two so naturally we wanted someone we felt comfortable with in much the same way. Someone we could trust and someone who understands what Pale Divine is about. Conan definitely did and I think Maria does too. She’s really into our music and I know it’s sincere...best of all she isn’t trying to give us advice on what our "image" should be like or what kind of music we should write, or how we could better fit into some other scene.

I think she respects us as artists as much as we respect her as a business person and with that level of compromise I think we’ll do very well together.

Hellride Music: Thanks for the words and time, Darin. Anything else you'd like to add?

Darin: Check out Eternity Revealed and stop by our website www.paledivine.com

Thanks to everyone who supported us over the years and thanks also to those who waited patiently for "Eternity" to be "Revealed".


Purchase Eternity Revealed at the Hellride Music Superstore

Read the Hellride Music review of Eternity Revealed and Thunder Perfect Mind

Visit the Pale Divine website at www.paledivine.com

lordofslumber

Great fucking record! Really a 10/10 effort from a top notch band!

It's been in constant rotation with the new Mirror of Deception, The Skull and Morningstar's Finnish Metal.

__________________

Darin

Thanks again for the kind words Karl!!!

__________________
"Mr. President, this is a big fucking deal,"
-Joe Biden

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Choobacca

i pooped my pants