Photo©David Parham
METAL PULP AND PAPER: Hello Scott. So glad to be catching up with you. Thank you for taking the time to speak with Metal Pulp And Paper. We appreciate it.
It looks like your summer schedule has filled up fast. Currently, you’re on tour with Khemmis, then you have a couple of dates with 1349 in Florida in August, and then you head back out on the road with Black Tusk in September. So, how are you doing, how’s the tour going so far?
SCOTT TAYSOM: It’s been a great tour so far. Every night has been packed out with metal and rock n roll die hards, which is exactly what we expect, and want, during a Cloak concert.
MPAP: Before we go any further, let’s first introduce your band to everyone. Reviews say Cloak captures the magic, mystique, and the mystery of classic heavy metal. What else do you want to add to that to attract the new listener’s eardrums?
SCOTT: I don’t particularly like to label our music in any specific way, but I usually say it has the spirit of a black metal band with the backbone of a hard rock band. That’s the best way I can describe it.
MPAP: And for those that haven’t yet listened Cloak’s To Venomous Depths (2017) via the Season Of Mist label, Metal Pulp And Paper recommends you damn well need to! Now, Scott, in your own words, tell us point-blank why we should listen to it?
SCOTT: To Venomous Depths is a debut album that offers something refreshing to the somewhat sleepy metal genre. The rock n roll foundation seems to have been lost somewhere along the way with many of the current acts, and we plan to forcefully inject that essence back into metal.
MPAP: Now take us inside your mind, what can we expect when we hear songs like "The Hunger," "Beyond The Veil," and "Forever Burned"?
SCOTT: Each one of our songs, and everything the band does, is dedicated to the untamed darkness that one reaches when they choose to live beyond the borders and restraints of the imprisoned man. We write in honor of this force that flows within us, and has been flowing within, or should I say against, the current of this world that is bound to one truth. That truth is death.
MPAP: Cloak have mentioned Dissection, Deep Purple, and Fields Of The Nephilim as some of their main influences. Now if you’re a scorekeeper, those groups mentioned are all over the board. Dissection was a Swedish extreme metal band from Strömstad that formed in 1989, Fields Of The Nephilim were an English gothic rock band in England in 1984, and then you have Deep Purple, which is an English rock band formed in 1968. So, let’s dissect Cloak, let’s pull the skin back. Tell us what part of each of those bands make up the blueprints and the backbone of Cloak?
SCOTT: We said that a long time ago to give a general example of what the band was influenced by. We use the brooding darkness of goth rock bands like Fields Of The Nephilim and combine it with the chaotic forces that bands like Dissection hold. We top this all off with a pounding rhythm that bands like Deep Purple captured back in the 70s.
MPAP: After the Black Tusk tour ends September 9th in Memphis, Tennessee, what’s next? Other than the Two Hits From Hell EP release that came out in April of this year that has a demo song and a cover song of the Misfits "London Dungeon," it’s almost been two years since the release of To Venomous Death. Is there any new Cloak music on the horizon? Anything you can exclusively announce here?
SCOTT: There is a new Cloak album coming out near the end of 2019, that’s all I can say for now. It’s going to destroy minds and reap souls.
MPAP: Totally looking forward to that! So, let’s change gears and talk about going out on tour for a moment since you’ll be out on tour until the first half of September. Is there anything you constantly lose, and what is it?
SCOTT: Yeah, money and our minds… But that’s to be expected especially as a new band. And I wouldn’t want a tour to be all smooth sailing, especially dealing with the things that we have chosen to deal with.
MPAP: What is something you overindulge of while out on the road that generally you don’t have when at home?
SCOTT: I’m the same person out on the road that I am at home. A person completely dedicated to my craft and the power of this band’s art form.
MPAP: Do you have any before, after, or even during the tour superstitions that you believe in and you make sure not to do? If so, please do tell.
SCOTT: I let nature take its course, people can try to control things, but I’ve learned we are not in control.
MPAP: Let’s finish the interview with this, and it’s a quote taken from Decibel Magazine, "Cloak lead the listener down a winding walkway towards a shadowy intersection of black metal and cavernous death rock." Now that we’re at that shadowy intersection, where do you take us next?
SCOTT: That is to be revealed by the end of this year. I can say that it’s an even darker place.
MPAP: On behalf of myself, and Metal Pulp And Paper, I’d like to thank you, Scott, for doing this interview. We look forward to what Cloak does to finish out 2019 and beyond. Before we bring this interview to a close, any last words for all your fans out there?
SCOTT: Thank you to everyone who’s supported Cloak and truly understands what we do. This is only the beginning.
Scott Taysom/ July 17th, 2019/ Interview #152
