London, Rowan and Samantha Escarbe (Virgin Black) (July 2002)

A Pair Of Sombre Romantics: Virgin Black's Rowan London & Samantha Escarbe

Virgin Black. The name itself conjures strong emotions and preconceptions on first listen, setting this Australian band immediately on the stand. And soon enough Sombre Romantic brings the expectations to life, reflecting every inch of what both this act's name and members represent and taking the listener on a journey through music, life, tragedy, and hope. Yet the journey must have been designed by someone, and the architects soon emerge as Rowan London and Samantha Escarbe, both responsible for the essence that defines what Virgin Black is all about and both who were kind enough to shed some light on the philosophies that constitute the psyche of this wonderfully dark band.

MS: You were in a death/black metal band prior to joining Virgin Black. The black metal scene is quite well known for a rather ignorantly nihilistic viewpoint in many of its exponents, which in turn does not seem to hold true in real life where many of them are concerned. Moreover, there is quite a strong group mentality in which everything not considered as a true element of black metal is immediately rejected. What was it like to move to a band that does not belong to a strictly bordered scene and leave all peers' prejudices behind?

Rowan London: The death and black metal scenes are actually quite different from each other. At the moment, black metal is riddled with contrived individuals, many whose primary concern is their image, and ironically that "image" has a lot to do with endeavouring to appear to have no image. Over the past few years, black metal has become more and more of a fashion statement, while death metal (especially now that it's not the flavour of the month) has focused on the music. I do realise that these are gross generalisations. I feel like Virgin Black relates more to black metal stylistically, but our attitude may be more at home with the death crowd and their ethos. Still, I can analyse as much as I like, but one fact still remains - we simply play whatever we want, regardless. We gain a certain percentage of respect from many musical and cultural camps.

MS: Prior to joining the lineup of Virgin Black, Ian Miller was already a fan of the band. What is it like to work with someone who you know has admired your work in the past while not being a part of it? Has there been any reticence or shyness on his behalf when contributing ideas to the band or expressing his opinion on certain matters?

Samantha Escarbe: Each person has their own strengths and areas which they feel confident to explore. Although Ian did not have an impact on songwriting, his presence and influence was redolent within the recording of the album. He is a trained professional sound engineer and was confident with his skills. With Ian, reticence and shyness was short-lived. We are fortunate to have coalesced and formed contiguous relationships within the band; this creates a very open atmosphere as friendships are extended to all members.

MS: Sombre Romantic is slowly spreading across the world, moving from Australia to Europe first and now reaching the United States as well. Is this kind of expansion perhaps confusing for fans that were initially able to only obtain only import copies of the album? Or has the hype generated in each new place worked as a chain reaction?

RL: The particular distribution process has come about mainly due to the fact that the album was originally released independently and was then picked up by different labels. It will be interesting with our next album to compare the staggered and simultaneous releases; only then will we truly recognise the advantages or disadvantages. It's interesting to note that Sombre Romantic has only recently been officially released in Australia through Crestfallen Records.

MS: Due to the fact that the band has achieved large international distribution only until recently with the album, it is quite probable that many of your new fans do not have the possibility of checking out the material contained on both your demo and Trance. Is there any possibility of that material ever being re-released so that it can be experienced worldwide?

RL: The Trance MCD is currently available directly from us. For details you can visit our website. There is a strong possibility that the demo songs will be re-released on CD in the near future.

MS: When one looks through the lyrics in the Sombre Romantic booklet, a couple of notes appear where the intention or meaning of a particular line is further explained or cleared up. An instance of this is where you cite a passage from the Bible when referring to the "dark Lord," as if to keep people from accusing you of Satanism and such. Was the intention that of keeping such opinions and accusations away from the start? Isn't it worrying how the need to do this implies that there are a lot of people willing to judge without digging deeper into your message?

SE: We feel that we bestow to the listener a lot of credit and allow room for each person's interpretation, but at the same time we want people to understand as much as possible. We're trying to walk the fine line between making it insultingly obvious and totally ambiguous. I can't deny the fact that it fills me with self-indulgent delight when I read a review of our album which goes in depth to the nth degree. We honour those who see Sombre Romantic as an adventure of mind, soul and spirit but respect those who are happy to not let it go past their ears. We also respect those who do not understand us but seek to; the footnotes are there for those people. Anyone after a misinterpretation will have no trouble finding it. We receive mail as ridiculous as accusing "I Sleep With The Emperor" to be about having sex with God; but hey, even us dark ones need a good laugh every now and then.

MS: One of the most interesting aspects regarding Virgin Black is the visual variation that takes place between the band's shows, that is, the fact that the stage setup could be quite theatrical one day and rather stripped down the next, all depending on the audience and the show itself. However, this would probably be made harder in the case of a large-scale tour in, say, Europe. For instance, suppose you discover that it would be financially or materially impossible to perform an extended and dramatized version of "Museum Of Iscariot" when the whim strikes you, like it once did in Australia. How would this kind of situation be dealt with?

RL: I think what an audience wants to see from a performance is the correct balance between predictability and surprise, and this is our preference on what to provide. For example, I don't want to see a band play their album's worth of songs, sounding the same as the album, only not as good ... but also don't want to hear 100% new material. We aim to provide something the crowd didn't expect, like a certain stage setup, an interpretation of some songs. or a number of other things, plus some expected artistic expressions. Regardless of the venue or stage setup, a performance with true passion, comfort, and discomfort will be found at a Virgin Black show.

MS: You once mentioned that you did not consider classical training to be of that much importance, as it did not benefit creativity per se. However, isn't this training a manner to acquire a level of technique sufficient to let all emotions come through in the music without any unwanted restrictions?

SE: The motivation within those words has more to do with the difference between being instinctively creative and just pure training. It is true that training can acquire a high level of technique, but I don't feel that technique leads to one's ability to capture emotion. It's a double edged sword where creativity and imagination triumph. I have come to know many highly trained professionals within the classical genre, and most concede that they are unable to write in an inspired manner, hence are content with continually performing other people's music. Extensive training doesn't equate to one's ability to express emotion. I see it as a gift.

Everything has its place and we value our individuality and instincts above all else and see training as a very valuable yet still subservient tool.

MS: The thematic core of Virgin Black consists of a focus on hope and tragedy, an element that is present in almost every aspect of the band. Does embracing such an approach ever feel too constraining, or do you feel that at this point in time it pretty much includes all the emotions and thoughts that you want to express through your music?

RL: To describe ourselves more accurately, I would have to expand it to: tragedy, hope, and triumph. Even though hope is sometimes the greatest triumph we can achieve at certain times, triumph in its purest form is at the opposite end of the spectrum of emotions and situations compared to tragedy. Hope is the lowest common denominator for a satisfactory life and is the direction that we point our listeners to, as so many have stagnated at a point somewhere between tragedy and hope, be it anger, apathy or frustration. We do touch on triumph and are quite prepared to experiment with anything in between. The first thing Virgin Black does is represent our lives and views.

Discography:
Virgin Black (demo) (1995)
Various - Falling On Deaf Ears (3 tracks on comp) (1996)
Trance (EP) (1998)
Various - Down Underground (track on comp) ()
Somber Romantic (2002)
Elegant...And Dying (2003)
Requiem - Mezzo Forte (2007)
Requiem - Fortissimo (2008)