WAKE OF TEMPTATION:
CVLT NATION INTERVIEWS
NICK BREWER OF PALE CREATION

Pale Creation – while probably everyone who’s into the infamous Cleveland Hardcore scene has heard about this band, it’s practically unknown outside of this small subscene. A fact that’s not very surprising, since most exceptional art is perceived only by a small group of people. In the wake of Pale Creation’s latest release, a split 7“ with the Australian band Abraxis on Tdon Records, I had the chance to ask Nick Brewer, the singer, a few questions about Pale Creation’s past and present actions. Read the full article after the jump!

When I asked him about the history of Pale Creation, Nick answered quite brusquely; all he had to say about this was to check out the Pale Creation discography CD Before Twilight And After, which was released in 2008 and contains a written history of the band up until that time. Speaking of which, “Before Twilight and After on Holy Terror Records seemed to spark its original members interest to reconvene“, told Nick. Up until that time the band wasn’t active anymore.

Because of the long pause in writing songs together, there ought to be a lot of changes in the song writing, so I asked Nick about that. His answer: “I think that the individual members of Pale Creation grew musically. Notably Justin Endres continued to play in other bands and still does. I was busy working on a transcontinental acoustic project RosesNeverFade. Matt Lucy aggressively pursued his music recording and engineering during the interim, he operates his own studio to this day where Pale Creation records its latest material. Ex-member Matt Shack also worked on RosesNeverFade. Ex-member Dennis Malkamaki was busy raising his family and continuing to study percussion and play drums. When we began to rehearse again, it felt like there was a lot we had to still accomplish musically. I think what came next was musically a bit different, but contained those original elements that made us recognizable as the same band.“

Of course, just like a lot of bands from the original 90’s Cleveland Hardcore scene, Pale Creation is associated with Holy Terror, a quasi philosophical idea and cult, heavily promoted by Dwid Hellion and his band Integrity. For Nick, “Holy Terror is a rule to follow. A rule allowing us to create what we want, on our own terms.“ Building upon this basic idea, Pale Creation never bound themselves to certain formular of how their music has to be. “I think sometimes that our somewhat ‘experimental’ approach to writing sometimes scares your average Hardcore listener away. I personally feel that a lot of the music we have created over the years tends to be a bit more Metal than Hardcore sounding.“

That brought us to the point of talking about the musical influences of Pale Creation in general and Nick’s in particular. In his opinion, the earliest Pale Creation recordings “were very metal sounding but were missing the guitar solos – that would have earned it that ‘Hardcore’ title.“ Twilight Haunt, their first official full length, was very Metal as well, as Nick states, yet it was released on a Hardcore label. While growing up, Nick was „a devoted Punk and Hardcore fan. But in the 80’s a lot of Hardcore bands started to polish their sound and leaned towards making more Metal or ‘crossover’ sounding records“. Naturally, in Cleveland Integrity, Ringworm and the „criminally unknown band“ False Hope were huge, and due to this had a certain influence on the guys in Pale Creation. In the 90’s, Nick’s personal preferences leaned more towards Metal “like Metallica, Slayer, Motörhead and many Black Metal bands like Venom etc.“ When you listen closely to Pale Creation’s music, there’s also a quite strong influence of Goth and Dark Wave, which makes perfect sense, since Nick has “always been a fan of Goth type music like the Cure, Bauhaus, The Lords Of The New Church, just to name a few.“

There are good news for all you vinyl lovers out there: Along with other sought after, now considered “classic” Hardcore records, A389 Records are about to re-release the Twilight Haunt record for the first time ever on vinyl. A few months ago Dom of A389 Records asked Nick if Pale Creation would be interested in such a re-release. “We were totally flattered and agreed absolutely. I can promise the vinyl reissue will be of amazing quality and will include the never published lyrics and many never before seen photos. It will be a very limited pressing on colored vinyl.”

When I asked Nick about his favourite Pale Creation song, his strong will towards total artistic freedom shines through again – not only concerning the songwriting but also the recording. His favourite Pale Creation song “would have to be Kaliira, which only appeared on the Before Twilight and After compilation. It marked the beginning of us recording ourselves without outside help. I also thought it had a distinct feeling and a sound that told that the band was changing.“

So what can we expect of Pale Creation in the future? There are quite a few things scheduled: “We have three unreleased tracks that we hope to find a label to release. We are also considering a self release.“ And yes, there are already plans and ideas for a new full length record, “but don’t hold your breath – I am certain this will take some time.” In the meantime everyone should check out the many other bands and projects that involve members of Pale Creation: “Justin Endres is in the Cleveland band Law of Destruction, a powerhouse of metal genius. Matt Shack and I continue to record with RosesNeverFade. Expect a new EP on the European Neuropa label in September. We are also working on a RosesNeverFade full length with the newest member Nathan Opposition of Ancient VVisdom fame.“

So you see, there’s a lot to look out for in the future. And I’m sure Pale Creation won’t disappoint with any of their new releases. Thanks to Nick for his fast reply to my answers and sorry it took so long to get this online.