German doom metal trio The Moth have recently released their fourth LP “Frost”. In this extensive interview, the singer and bassist Cecile Ash warmheartedly speaks about the band’s record deal with Exile on Mainstream and her experience with her breast cancer. Let’s learn more about it from the band’s new release in this interview.
The Moth debut on Exile on Mainstream
Hi Cecile, welcome to Femme Metal Webzine. Thank you for taking the time to check out this interview. How are you?
Thank you, I’m fine! We just came back from a weekend where we first played in a pub in Hildesheim and the next day in a record store, that is situated in the Titus skate shop in Hannover. The people there were just so nice and welcoming. That was a real pleasure. It was also very cool to play in a record store, without a stage or monitors or anything fancy. It was raw and pretty memorable.
“Frost” represents the debut of your new label Exile on Mainstream. How was the collaboration born?
Before Corona hit the planet The Moth had played several shows with bands that are on our new label, Exile on Mainstream. And we respected and liked them a lot. We also met Andreas, the label chief, one or two times at those shows and liked him right away and were impressed by how committed and involved he is with his bands, trying to get them on cool festival bills for example.
Andreas has been in this scene for decades now and knows a lot not only about vinyl but also about how the business works. Plus the relationship he has with his bands and that the bands have between them felt so family-like. So when we were getting ready with the mixing of “Frost” it kind of came naturally to us that we wanted to join Andreas and the bands that we had become friends with, Treedeon and Might. When he said yes we were thrilled!
Recording “Frost”
I know that “Frost” was recorded in just 24 hours. Instead, what about its production? When did you realize that the material on your hands was good enough for the next The Moth full-length?
Do you mean the mixing process? That took quite a while. We did it all DIY with our amazing friend José Lorenzo who also recorded “Frost” and the album before “Hysteria”. I don’t know how many nights we sat there and tried to find the best balance between Fredens and my vocals for example, or cranked the bass or the guitars up a bit at this spot or turned them down at another. Same for the drums. I guess that is the downside of recording live… But at some point, we were finally done, you just know when you did everything you could, and gave it to Timo Höcke from Die Wellenschmiede to master it for us.
“Frost”‘s openness and vulnerability
According to the press release, “Frost “shows a new openness and vulnerability under the shell of raw power that the songs initially present”. What triggered this? And how challenging was it to be so open and vulnerable in your lyrics?
It wasn’t challenging because I never expected that we would have to explain the lyrics and tell what they were about. We never had to before. But then for releasing the videos to the tracks “Dust” and “Battlefield” Andreas suddenly asked us to write something about it. So there was no more hiding then. The lyrics I contributed are about hardships I went through, like the breast cancer I had two years ago.
It’s kind of weird to be faced with such an existential threat at quite a young age, especially as I would say that I’m physically pretty fit. And it’s a lot about other emotional injuries and shattered dreams as well, but I would like to keep those to myself. When we knew we were recording soon but didn’t have lyrics for all the songs yet, I sat down and after a while, it came quite pouring out of me, the words aligned rather easily. And I wanted the lyrics to be especially personal this time so that identifying with them was easy.
The singles “Dust” and “Battlefield”
From the full-length “Frost”, the singles “Dust” and “Battlefield” were released. What can you share about both videos and songs?
“Dust” is about the attitude that helped me after the breast cancer diagnosis. I listened to Anita Moorjani on YouTube. She had terminal cancer, had a near-death experience, came back into her body, and in a few weeks after this was completely free of tumors. She is very positive and encouraging and says: You must reinterpret the word “remission” into “remember your mission“. Find out what you are here for on this planet and just be your true self completely. So the lyrics in “Dust” are about death holding the threat of death (the dagger) above me. But he encourages me to find my mission and to be authentically me, so he can vanish.
“Battlefield” is about being deceived by a person you didn’t expect would deceive you. It’s also about being left alone with a dream and finally, a grief you thought you would share.
The cover artwork
The artwork features a bloody mouth. What is the meaning behind it?
This artwork by the American artist Sarah Breen caught my eye when I was scrolling through Instagram. Because though this mouth is bleeding it still seems strong and attractively self-assured and won’t falter. I think I could identify with this a lot. You may get hit in the face by fate, but still be strong and confident.
The Moth future
What lies ahead of The Moth right now? Any chance of a European tour? What are the next band’s plans?
No tour is planned yet for 2024. But we will try and play a few festivals and maybe weekenders.
So, Cecile, we’re almost at the end. Please be free to say hi to your fans and readers. Thank you so much for this interview.
We are very grateful for everyone who gives our music a listen and supports us. Writing songs and keeping your band going is lots of work. So we do appreciate all the kind words written and said to us! In return, I would like to say, even if I don’t know you, that I respect what you have done in your life and the obstacles you’ve overcome. Let’s be kind to each other and celebrate everything good in our lives!
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