Interview with Count Darvius Noctem of 'Days of Our Decay'

Hello Count Darvius Noctem, how are you?
Doing ok at the moment, a bit frustrated.

Could you give me a 3 word description of how you feel Days of Our Decay sound?
Gothic/Industrial/Black Metal

Could you explain to me when and how 'DOOD' were formed?
I started the band in 2002, when I lived in Minnesota. I had unreliable undedicated members back then, so I took the project and basically made it into a solo project. It was in very rough stages for the first couple of years, and then things gradually grew from there, evolving into what it is today. When I started, the intention was to express myself, musically and combine all of my main influences into one b*****dized musical entity. I have been playing keyboards/piano (as well as many other instruments) for years and really set my focus on my own band as opposed to join another band. I really wanted to write songs, and then decided that I would have to sing them as well if anyone was going to take this seriously. It took some time to get my style down, and get where it is today, but hopefully people can understand where I am coming from and appreciate what I have to say.

What inspired you to name your band ‘Days of Our Decay’?
The name itself was a parody of the soap opera "Days of Our Lives." The band was never meant to be a parody though, I just wanted to do something serious and be over-the-top at the same time.

You are the male vocalist, also you compose the music and lyrics, what meanings and elements do you wish to capture?
Musically, I try to create very dark, epic, melodic, and catchy songs. A lot of the songs tend to have a very misanthropic feel to them, which I am pretty blatant about. Most bands either go more in more of the goth rock, the industrial rock, or black metal direction separately, whereas we tend to combine features from all three and meld them into one. I want the dark, clean monotone vocals mixed with the harsh mlack metal shreiks, accompanied by female operatic vocals, all of which backed by the over use of dark melodic keyboards played to electronic drums mimicking industrial, as well as black metal rhythms.

The female vocals are performed by Demonika Demise, how do you feel about the haunting essence of her voice?
Even though her voice isn't very prominent in the music, it still adds a creepy backing or melodic effect. Demonika is basically the "finishing touch" on every song. Many times her voice is so dead on that it is mixes in with the keyboards adding that extra force behind each note.

You now have a live band, do you plan on touring soon? If so where?
Correction, we DID have a live band. We have gone through more session members than any other band. We are actually really easy people to work with, despite what most would assume. We are always making back up plans because we are very determined to get out music out there. A plan is currently being formulated. We want to start touring in Canada, and then do a whole North American tour, and eventually make our way to Europe because, that is where our main fan base is at.

You have 3 albums, could you tell me the story behind each of these? What do each of these mean to you? In each one did you represent any particular emotions, explore various issues?
We really have 5 written, but the final recordings for the last two are not quite complete. We are also working on the untitled 6th album as well.

With "The Devil's Concubine," I was going for a more Vampiric Metal feel. I used a lot of vampire references, and a lot of biblical ones, as well. I just wanted something dark with haunting melody.
For the "Sinners' Masquerade," I focused my attention on Anti-Christian themes, and wanted to more less point out the hypocrisy and the facade in organized religion, as well as in the human spirit. It was a very angry/cynical album that needed to be done, in my opinion.

On "The Scarlights," I wanted to be a bit more melodic and catchy with this album, yet still be dark and follow the particular style I set out to create. Overall, the songs turned out to be an amalgam of the two previous albums, but with more diversity, and more of a melancholic feel, without being too brooding. The keyboard playing got a bit more complex and lyrically, it varies from angry, to hopeful, and then to sad. The vocals are varied a bit more within each song and the techniques have improved.

Basically, with each album, I am trying to find a way to make the music more epic, and catchy, yet not straying from our style, but occasionally, introducing some new elements. Expect the 4th and 5th cds to be darker and more epic.

Have any of your songs affected you more so than the others?
I tend to touch on a lot of personal topics, some of which are more blatant, whereas some are more cryptic. Every song I write has some kind of significance, whether I am really serious, or just having fun.

Who would your music appeal to?
Looking at our myspace friends list, we seem to appeal to people of any age really. Fans of gothic metal, industrial rock and black metal seem to take to us fairly well. We don't really fall under a specific genre, so people who have a more diverse taste in rock and metal, seem to like us.

What musicians have inspired you?
Vocally, I'd say: Whiplasher Bernadotte, Marilyn Manson, Dani Filth, Shagrath, Peter Steele, Rob Zombie, Jyrki 69 etc. Musically, Nightmare Industries (Deathstars), Mustis, Martin Powell, Tuomas Holopainen, etc.

How do you feel about the metal scene at the present?
The American metal scene to me is complete s**t, other than a handful of mainstream bands and bands like us trying to make it out of the underground. The European metal scene to me is awesome! I cannot stress that more. I am a big fan of the Finnish metal scene, in particular, and the mainstream black metal scene. I am very impressed with what Europe is producing these days, and really everything that they have produced in the past, as well.

During the songs creation have you a set pattern of procedure (eg the lyrics followed by music)?
Music is always first, with the exception of: "(You're Nothing More Than) Dead Roses On My Grave," in which the title and half of the lyrics were written before the music. In most cases, I tend to start with a simple melody or a simple beat/tempo and go from there. Many times, parts will get scraped, or morph into something completely different before the song is completely finished.

Do you find Myspace useful to promote your music?
Yes! It is the best thing for musicians now a day. Bands used to have actual websites, whereas now, all you need is a Myspace and millions of people can hear your music. We sell our albums on our page, and that has gone over quite well. We have an ever growing fan base that we are proud (and thankful) to have, and hope things keep going well in that aspect.

What styles of music do you listen to? Has your musical taste varied much over the years?
I prefer the darker music overall, so anything from gothic rock/metal, black metal, industrial rock/metal, some alternative, some 80's new wave, and classical music as well!

At what stage did you feel your future was to follow a musical path?
When I first listened and saw videos by Marilyn Manson. I thought, and still think, the man is a f*****g genius! I then decided that this was something I would want to pursue in the future.

Are there any changes you would wish to make to any of your albums?
Hahaha! Yeah, I would have liked to record them in a better studio, with better equipment, for sure. I know the production is lacking, but we do the best with what we have!

What are your ambitions for ‘DOOD’?
To get a stable touring line up, pursue the band fulltime, and sell a bunch of f*****g records so we can have the opportunity to tour the world and hopefully meet some awesome people, and see some awesome places, and most of all: Have fun doing it!

There are song samples on ‘Days of Our Decay’ Myspace page, feel free to have a listen
The link to Days of Our Decay www.myspace.com/daysofourdecay