Emily Coppin – Mount Salem – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Jim Rowland
Sunday, 15 June 2014 04:00
‘Endless’, the Metal Blade debut album from Chicago’s Mount Salem was one album that caught my attention recently. Its fusion of organ-infused psychedelic rock mixed with huge riffing doom metal, coupled with the album’s dark themes of witchery and the black arts certainly got my spine shivering. So much so that I recently caught up with Mount Salem’s very own witchy woman, front lady Emily Coppin, to find out more about the band, their music, and what their crystal ball holds for the future. Read on if you dare…
Hi Emily, thanks for taking the time to talk with me today. Let’s start with ‘Endless’, I hear that was an EP originally…how did Metal Blade come to pick up on the band?
Well, we originally released ‘Endless’ ourselves about a year and a half ago. We had only been playing music together for a few months and decided to head in to the studio to record before we started playing shows. We only had six songs written so we recorded all of them for the EP. Someone in Metal Blade’s UK office discovered our music and passed it along to their Los Angeles branch. We were definitely surprised when they contacted us.
Mount Salem’s sound is a fine mix of doom and psych, when did you guys first discover the delights of these genres of metal?
The four of us all have different tastes in music and I think each of our influences and musical background shine through a little bit in the songs. When we first got together, we just wanted to play some loud rock & roll. We weren’t really going for anything in particular, our sound and songwriting came about very naturally. Of course we’re influenced by bands like Black Sabbath and Pentagram, but we’re also influenced by bands like Heart, Shocking Blue, The Zombies, and Cream.
Do you think the old guard of doom bands still have something to offer, or is it time for your generation to now take over?
The beauty of music is that it’s always evolving and revolving. Past styles of music are bound to come around again and it’s cool that the ‘70s influenced rock & roll is making its way back in to the mainstream. The older bands definitely still have something to offer. They’ve been influences for countless other musicians and they’ve shaped what modern music is today. Bands that can stay relevant for decades are doing something right and deserve that success. I think there’s room in the world for older bands and new ones to coexist.
What other new bands do you recommend we check out, here at Uber Rock?
We dig what Blood Ceremony is doing, they definitely kill it. I think it’s rad that there’s been a resurgence in bands playing this style of music and more specifically using female vocalists because it adds a different element from the more classic doom/metal/occult acts. Kadavar is another band that’s got it going on right now, their music is so good. We’re also into bands like Pilgrim, Pallbearer, YOB, Sleep, Electric Wizard, and Witchcraft.
Let’s look at Mount Salem’s songs Emily, they appear to focus on witchcraft, majick, the occult and Wiccan beliefs, do you personally have genuine interest in these matters?
I’m captivated by the dark realm of the unknown. People are scared of what they don’t know and I like to tell stories that play on that fear. There is so much fascinating history with witchcraft and the Black Arts that provides plenty of inspiration. I try to build an atmosphere for the listener to create their own imagery. A lot of the lyrical content on ‘Endless’ has to deal with an internal struggle between good and evil.
You play live a lot in your homeland of the US, do you have any plans to play Europe?
We’ve been putting in a lot of work with booking tours over the past year and a half. We just finished our third tour which was on the West Coast here in the US and we’re booking a short tour for the East coast next month. We are planning on heading to Europe this Fall for a few weeks so keep your eyes peeled for dates! We’ve had great feedback from our overseas audience so I think that makes traveling outside of the US easier.
So what about the next album Emily? Where do Mount Salem go next?
When Metal Blade expressed interest in re-releasing ‘Endless’ as a full length we were excited for the chance to head back in to the studio because it had been almost a year since it initially came out. We had a few new songs written so we picked two that we felt fit well with the rest of the album. We have been busy writing new material and we can’t wait to get it recorded and show people what we’ve been up to. We’re planning on recording for the follow up this coming Winter.
My thanks go to Emily Coppin for taking the time to answer the questions, and to Andy Turner for arranging it. Mount Salem’s debut album ‘Endless’ is out now on Metal Blade Records.
https://www.facebook.com/MountSalem
