Martin: Very very well indeed thank you.  Very very busy doing interviews.  Its now half-past 7 in the evening here in the UK, and I’m on until about half-past two in the morning here, so its a bit of a busy schedule but all going very well indeed, very positive, so fine thank you.

R: Well, hopefully we got some good questions here for you, to start, congratulations on the new album, getting good reviews, and I enjoy, and we're glad it's here in the US, with nuclear blast pushing you guys, how is that working out for you?

M: Well it makes a change to be on a record label that actually believes in the band, its a very good thing indeed, see if I’m still saying that when I’m finished with all these interviews today!  But no, it’s been excellent, the response to Folkemon has been very very good indeed, and I like talking to people, so its great doing all the interviews, its good fun!

R: Other than the promotion, are you happy with nuclear blast so far with how they're treating you?

M: Well many of the guys that work there have been our friends for a lot of years, so basically we just get on with the guys their really good and they've done a great job.  Everything’s gone good with the release and it’s been very positive you know, so we're very happy indeed with all the guys there.

R: In terms of the sound of the new album, I guess it’s a progression from what you've been doing before; do you think it’s different in any significant ways?

M: Well I think we try and make every album a bit different from the ones we've done before.  For some bands it works to have a formula, and kind of stay with that for their whole musical career, with a band like Skyclad that doesn't really work, we like to change and adapt and kind of take the fans by surprise a little bit from time to time.  With the new album it was our 10th studio album and we thought what we'd try and do is an album that would sort of be a 10th anniversary affair and mix all the things together that we'd done on different that worked well, and try and make something special for the fans and for ourselves really.

R: Where did the name come from?  Obviously it’s a play on Pokemon, but I’m sure there's a deeper meaning, knowing your penchant for everything having a deeper meaning

M: Well first off I thought it was a funny title, and we wanted a title that would make people laugh, and capture their imagination, with us having a kind of traditional folky influence in with the metal music, thought that Folkemon was a funny title for the album.  It also kind of reflects modern society in a way, because we live in an age where there are kids who can't read or write, or find countries on a map in the world, yet you ask them to name all the different characters in a pointless cartoon, they know the names and all these special powers they've got, and that’s not just a thing that applies to children really, there’s a lot of adults who are taken in by the big corporate rip-off, and are blinded to what’s happening in the world around them, and that’s what we're trying to reflect through the lyrics, to wake people up maybe a little bit, in our own Skyclad way

R: Your lyrics are really complex, and deal with actual issues, as opposed to a lot of bands, are you ever afraid that maybe a lot of it is going over the average listeners head?

M: I think the people, who actually take the time to listen appreciate what Skyclad are trying to do.  We’ve got a message that we're trying to get across with the band, but at the end of the day music is just about entertainment.  So if people want to come along to the show and have a good time, they can do that, they don't have to read the lyrics at all or know what the band is about, but we like to offer value for money, so if the people want to read the lyrics and see what we've got to say, then there is that other dimension as well.  Its surprising how many people who don't speak English as a first language actually know a lot about what the band is trying to say.  And what we're trying to say anyway I feel is common sense, so hopefully there are a few people out there who get the gist.

R: Are you planning on playing any of the big festivals, like Wacken?

M: The only festival we have planned so far will be held in the UK, in a city called Darby, and its called bloodstock, which is gonna be the best of British.  May the 28th at Darby assembly room.

R: I was reading up on it at the web page, looks like its gonna be really excellent

M: It should be a good grin, that day, really good.  What we're trying to do is mix all the best of British, because the scenes kind of died over here, and we thought it'd be good to do something that would kick the scene in its ass a little bit and get things moving.  Its basically music from a lot of different generations of metal in the UK, so it should be a very good day out indeed.

R: If things go well, are you thinking about making it an annual thing?

M: That is what we would LOVE to do, that is our dream.  It’s planned as an ongoing thing.  The hall only holds about 3000 people, but we're hoping that if this ones a success, we'll be able to carry on and do it year after year.  If anyone finds out, they can check it out at www.bloodstock.uk.com.  And you know, my old band, Sabbat, a tribute to that band is reforming with three of the original members, so that should be an interesting day.  Saxon are playing as well, a band called kill to this.  We’re adding bands all the time.  It’ll be about sixteen bands by the time we're done, two stages and a big metal fair as well, for all you collectors and connoisseurs out there.

R: Sounds like it's gonna come together well, and I hope it'll stir things up over there, cause its always good to get the scene goin'.

M: Well we need it over here, we need it bad

R: Unfortunately we need to get metal back into the consciousness of the old fans and everything.  get everyone back into it.  I think it'll work out.  

M: I’m sure we'll get there in the end, metal has been around for 30 years now, its not gonna just curl up and die.  It’s gone through a bit of a bad patch but we'll get there in the end.

R: I think its definitely on the upswing, I mean even for you guys, nuclear blast is releasing the new Skyclad here, and I know you guys have been through a couple labels that weren't necessarily treating you very well is that right?

M: Mmm hmm, that’s correct, indeed.

R: But hopefully things are gonna work out now, and here in the US, people are interested.  People know who you are.  When the new cradle of filth album came out with the Sabbat cover, we got the Japanese version and played the cover, and we said 'okay, trivia time, who knows what that was a cover of?' and we got a big phone response and so, people Sabbat and stuff

M: That’s excellent, believe it or not, you know, I’ve not heard that yet!

R: Oh no?

M: John the guitarist promised me there’s one in the post! [laughing] I’ve not heard the finished mix!

R: You're on it though!

M: Well I think I am, I sang on it anyway! [laughs]

R: Well I thought it sounded pretty good.

M: Well I look forward to hearing it.

R: In terms of your lyrics, it’s obvious that you're very political.  do you think your lyrics will help get people interested and active in taking a stand for what they believe in?

M: Well I hope they do really, and I hope anybody who's got anything to say that gonna try and change the outlook of humanity should really be saying it now, because the way I look at it we're standing at a crossroads and we've got two paths we can take.  one path leads to the continuation of life on earth, and the other path leads to total destruction.  and I think we should have chosen an opposite path about fifty years ago.  it might not be too late to turn around and put things right, but I think its the duty of everyone who can see what’s happening to shout as loud as possible about it, because if we don't I don't think the world is gonna be a very nice place in about fifty years time.

R: In your mind what are the most important issues people have to deal with right now?

M: Like globally, I think everyone should stop spending money on weapons, the world leaders should actually try and get together, and instead of working on their own hidden agendas, they should realize that they're the people who have the power to do something, if they don't make the world a better place, their children and their children’s children won't be able to rip us off when they become politicians, because there won't be a world left to rip off, we'll sort of slowly drown in a mire of sewage and chemical waste that we've poured out over the decades.  I also think the way the whole capitalist system is run is geared towards money and mass production, and I think that’s an absolute recipe for disaster.  it works in the short term and everybody thinks everything is great, but this kind of "take take take" and give nothing back mentality, even small children can see that doesn't work.  you give them a bag of sweets, and they eat it all in one go, there’s no candy left!  and that’s what we're doing with our planet and its resources, and I think the people in control should realize that, its not just he ranting of hippies and green peace and friends of the earth and organizations like that, its common sense really.

R: It’s good that people are making one another aware of stuff like this

M: Well I think everyone should become activists.  I think we're all being ripped off.  every day we're being sold this big corporate lie, and as long we've all got food in our refrigerators and gas in our cars, everyone thinks the worlds all right, but the end of the world's happened already.  the apocalypse has happened but nobody’s noticed yet.  because it’s not a big bang, it’s not a nuclear Armageddon or a meteorite, it’s a slow decay that’s eaten us away from the inside.

R: Well, there’s a lot of pessimism, what are some good things going on?

M: Well there are good things that happen every day.  there’s good in bad in absolutely everybody.  You read in the paper about someone who performs an act of kindness, or you see it in the street.  You see that human beings have a positive side, and the ability to change the world around them for the better... love.  Spreading love and respect for one another is a very good thing to do.

R: Well, getting a little off the subject of heavy metal here!

M: Well, music is a way of expressing ideas, and if those are the ideas you want to express, it’s a great way to do it.

R: Are you guys writing anything now?

M: I’ve been doing the press for Folkemon for about the last three months now, I think I must have answered every possible question!  So no, but I will be doing that soon.  I’m starting to get my head together to write some new lyrics and get some new ideas up and running.  So, looking forward to that.  There’s only so long you can talk about what you've already done.

R: So the past three months has been all press for Folkemon?  Wow!

M: Pretty much, pretty much yeah... Internet interviews and all, and my typing is abysmal, you know I type about three words a minute, so they take me quite a long time!  And telephone interviews as well.  Organizing the bloodstock festival, that’s also taken up quite a lot of time, not that I’m doing it all by myself of course, but its quite a big undertaking.

R: There was talk about a possible live album from Skyclad, are you thinking about pulling that together in the near future?

M: It'd be something good to do one day, I don't know if we'll do it in the near future, but I think when we do a live album we want it to be absolutely perfect, and recorded properly, and also videoed.  And that’s something we've not really had the chance to do before, I think possibly with nuclear blast we'd have the chance to do that, but we'd have to wait and see what happens really.

R: Do know if there will be any reissues of the old albums in the US?

M: I think a couple of them have been released through century media, I think it would be a good thing if they did.  We’ve done a lot of interesting things in the past five years, on the heavy side and the unplugged side, its a shame when we get a lot of emails from guys in the US who can't actually get hold of our material, which is one of the reasons we signed to nuclear blast, the worldwide distribution.  The correspondence we've got from the states, everybody says they have to get the CDs on import or trail around a thousand record shops to try and find a copy of the albums.

R: Unfortunately it takes some digging to complete a Skyclad collection, but hopefully things will get better... and the new album, just came out like, yesterday?

M: Oh it must have sold a million by now! [laughs]

R: Do you know if there might be a possibility of any shows in the US?

M: We've got no idea at all.  I’d love to do some, very very much indeed.  Never actually played on the other side of the pond, so that'd be very cool for us, I’m not sure what you guys over there would make of us.  Crazy English guys who roll our own cigarettes and drink lots of tea.  Very typically British don't you know!

R: Well, you know, people are into the whole British thing, Monty Python and whatnot

M: Oh we're very Monty python we are!

[both laughing]

R: Well, I guess wraps it up, thanks very much!

M: Thank you very much for the interview  man, pleasure talking to you.