1.Pagan Altar sees the light in the late 70's in Brockley (England) as a creation of the deep and mystical poetry of Terry Jones and the music of Alan Jones (father and son).Pioneers in the genres of occult metal, esoteric metal and doom metal. Can you tell us a little about the history of the band since its inception?
Pagan Altar was born from the ashes of a band we had started in 1976-77 called hydra. I was about 15 years old around that time and my dad would have been in his early thirties. Most of the music that went on the albums Lords of Hypocrisy, and mythical & Magical was actually written around that time. As Pagan Altar we played a lot of gigs mainly in the south east of England from 1978 to 1984 before breaking up. In I joined a pop band called XYZ (Not the American one) from 1984 to 1986 and lived and played in Wales until coming back to London. We got Pagan Altar back together with a new line up for a while but it wasn’t the same and stopped again in 1988 where I started playing in a band with the drummer of XYZ. After that we had pretty much stopped until 1998 when one of our friends had found our demo tape being sold on vinyl for silly money. We never meant to play live we just put the master tape of that demo out on CD to stop people getting ripped off. The rest is History as they say.
2. What is the current formation of Pagan Altar? Were there many changes in the line-up from the beginning until now?
This will be the last line up which is Alan Jones,(Guitar) Diccon Harper(Bass) ,Andy Green,(Drums) Brendan Radian, (Vocals)Andres Arango(Guitar US & Canada and anything West)Denis Schneider(Guitar Europe and anything East)
There have been more changes to the band than I can remember. The annoying thing was it was never me that fell out with anyone and always me that had to put the work in and teach the next victim.
3. What albums have Pagan Altar edited?
Can you give us the complete discography?
I’m not sure what you mean by edited, On the Demo Tape (first Album Pagan Altar) we had a guy called Phil Herne come round to our studio at the back of our house in Brockley with his mobile studio and we recorded, mixed and produced the album there. Phil had mixed live for just about everybody who was anybody in the seventies including Deep Purple, The Who,Michael Jackson and Kiss and I watched everything he did while he worked for us. We did the other two albums ourselves at the start of this century when we had our own recording equipment.
I think you will have to look the discography up on the internet, I think the first Album has been out on four or five different labels and the other albums are not far behind. I have just lost track on what came out when, but I will have a go. Pagan Altar, Lords of Hypocrisy, Mythical & Magical, The Time Lord, a single with Mirror of Deception, single with Jex Thoth. I am not sure of the order of the re issues or any other singles.
4. Tell us a little about your first shows with performance, lights and rituals. How was the audience's response to this new atmosphere created by Pagan Altar?
Possibly the first gig as Pagan Altar was in a pub in Deptford London called the Deptford arms. Our Manager at the time (one of my dad’s friends) had got us the gig but hadn’t bothered to find out what sort of music venue it was and what the pub regulars liked. Unfortunately they were all soul boys and girls and didn’t take kindly to a heavy rock band playing in their pub. It is the only time we have ever been switched off halfway through a show and it nearly ended in a battle between us, our roadies and the regulars. I think that was the worse live experience I have had and anything that followed was always going to be better.
5. What were the inspirations for the creation of the band and the ideas to express with your music and lyrics?
The Idea for the cloaks on the cover of the demo was nobody could see any band members and if anybody left or was helped out the band we didn’t have to keep having more pictures done. My dad was also a bit of a frustrated actor and wanted a big entrance with all the theatre that went with it. It also looked so much better than just wondering onstage and plugging in. The only drawback was the whole show was expensive to put on with all the fireworks ect and took all day to get our own PA and the Altar and stage set ready, then play a show and take it all down again. We always lost money playing gigs and I’m not sure if we ever actually got paid for playing shows back then.
6. Pagan Altar has played in festivals such as British Steel, Metal Brew, Live Evil Festival, etc. Have you some memories (good, bad or funny) to share with us from any of your concerts?
I think the first time we played British Steel was the infamous 10 minute set where our drummer Andy who lived about four hours away in Wiltshire got caught in two large traffic Jams where his car at one point had not moved for about an hour. He left his house with about two to spare so he should have arrived at the venue about two hours before we were due onstage but got there with about twenty minutes left of our slot. After setting up as quick as we could we managed to play two songs. One guy had come all the way from Italy just to see us play and wasn’t very happy about us playing for ten minutes, but there was nothing we could have done. We did ask to swap with the band that was co headline with us but they did not want to change places so we just put everything into those two songs and hoped people would understand.
The Guys at British Steel was very nice and promised to put us on the next British Steel which they did.
The metal Brew live outdoor festival has been my favourite festival in England; it just had such a great atmosphere. We played that gig with just the one guitar that night because our other guitarist could not make it but we had a really good time anyway.
7. Which musical bands has been an influence for you?
Being born in the early sixties I went through quite a wide range of changes in the music industry and even though I was only a kid I was absorbing all the music that was around at the time. My dad had all the Everly Brothers singles and a few albums so I would say they were my first real influence. I suppose my first entry into the heavy side of things was after my dad had bought sheer heart attack by Queen. I heard Brighton rock and I was hooked. I started listening to the other albums in the house like Very heavy, very humble ,(Uriah Heep) Led Zeppelin, Cream, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Deep Purple the list goes on. I didn’t really get into Black Sabbath until a bit later when I bought we sold our soul for Rock ‘Roll. I also was a big fan of Rush and Randy Rhoads.
8. Could you give us a brief introduction to the lyrics of the following songs from Pagan Altar's album "Room of Shadows" (2017)?
This was mainly my dad’s area to explain these songs. I think if you read the lyrics to any of our songs you know exactly what they are about because my dad could paint a picture in your head in a way I don’t think anybody else has. All I can say is put the songs on and read the lyrics then make up your own mind.
1.Rising of the Dead
2.The Portrait of Dorian Gray
3.Danse Macabre
4.Dance of the Vampires
5.The Room of Shadows
6.The Ripper
7.After Forever
9.Pagan Altar is a band inspired by English Folklore and the ancient world. Can you give us a personal opinion about the following?
-J.R.R Tolkien: I read Lord of the rings when I was 14.It took me longer to read than it did for them to walk to Mordor.
-Nature: Enjoy it while there is anything left
-Arturic literature: The Bernard Cornwell Trilogy. The Winter King, Enemy of god, Excalibur
-Mythology: when I was very young my dad use to tell me and my sister the stories from Greek Mythology so I do have a soft spot for that.
Tell us:
-A magical place of your country to visit: Stonehenge. We always go passed in on the way down to Andy’s place in Wiltshire. There is just something special about that place.
-A traditional drink and food in your area: I do like Mead when I can get it but I don’t think that is practically local. Pie & Mash is a very London meal and a real Pie in a pie &mash should be able to knock a coconut off its stand at ten paces.
-A book to recommend: anything by Bernard Cornwell
10. Where can we get online information, etc, from Pagan Altar?
Mainly from Alan Jones Official Pagan Altar facebook page or the Pagan Altar Website. Andy and I do try to put information up on the facebook page as soon as it comes in and I have been writing about the gigs and stories from the early days.
http://janinareinhard.de/PaganAltar/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/paganaltarofficial/
11. Future plans and projects:
I would love to record something new with this present band. I have got a mountain of unrecorded music plus we were working on the new album before my dad got ill so there is music there but the main problem is we all live in Different parts of the world.
12. Is there something to add to the readers or editors of Metal Music Clan?
To the editors I would say just keep doing what you are doing. Bands like us and many more with small independent labels would never be able to compete with the major labels and their big money. On these sites and magazines we all at least get a fair hearing. To the readers, keep supporting the small festivals and buying the CDs, downloads, LP and tapes; you are the lifeblood of all small labels bands and festivals.
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