Interview: Plastic Gods

"Glacial rock", this is the category for which they lump themselves in, which sees itself blending doom, drone, and blues driven sludge with a predilection for psychedelic atmospherics. A washed haze painted in a myriad of hues swallowed in bone crushing glacial rock (get behind the term, Plastic Gods aren't fucking around). I decided to bother Ingó, the vocalist and cosmic wizard of Plastic Gods, though, he also covers throat duties for Ophidian I (whom I interviewed weeks back here), Bastard and Severed Crotch (back when they were still a band and kicking ass). So you see, this is just the man to talk to. Read on fuckos!

I'm sorry for the lack of banner that I normally create for such things, I do not have access to my usual Adobe Illustrator to spew my 'creativity' on. Truth is, I'm in a cafe in Iceland right now using one of my buddies ancient Macbooks (I swear it's from the prehistoric period), I know I know, I'm a dedicated dude. I'll be in Europe for another 37 days or so, which means I'll have to find ways of keeping up with posts. I have no intentions of abandoning you dudes, keep with me, I love you, madly, deeply, truly.

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1) "Fuck, KICK IT!" let's get right down to it… Is Plastic Gods architected to be most enjoyable while intoxicated in some form? Are there hidden passages to be discovered in this altered state?

Definitively best enjoyed while in some sort of state of inhebriation. Yeah just listen to our debut album high as a kite repeatedly and you will most certainly find some cosmic gratification.

2) Ingó, you're pretty much the godfather of extreme vocals in Iceland, how the fuck do you do it? How many times have you played multiple shows in a night?

I guess I've just been doing this for such a long time that I don't really think about it all that much anymore haha. The hardest thing isn't really all the growling, it's more hard finding the time to rehearse and devote myself to all my projects wholeheartedly. I try to organize things in such a way that shows with different bands don't go down on the same date, but there have been plenty of times where I've had to pull double duty!

3) How do you guys handle the obstacle of spreading your music beyond the ears of in Iceland?

That's an area where we really need some improvement. We are all pretty handicapped when it comes to the whole viral thing, but doing this interview is one way, right? 

4) What is the main ingredient to Plastic Gods relatively infamous intense live performances?

We think it would probably be the way that we are all usually in such a state that we just kind of space out and connect with the music and each other. We feed of the energy of the audience and vice versa. It really is an uplifting sight to see people banging their heads, crowd-surfing and moshing like crazy to crushing doom riffs and desert rock grooves.

5) The internet can be a cruel bastard to bands trying to start out and make a name for themselves. Do people like me normally become 'the enemy' or can blogs like this one be a welcomed beacon of 'getting the word out? 

A welcome beacon for sure. Except if you talk shit about us, but then again if you were we'd probably be doing something wrong. As we mentioned earlier we really need to get with the times and utilize all the amazing ways the internet offers promotional opportunities. So to answer your question we think that the internet is a great resource for new bands to get discovered.

6) Here's an uncreative textbook question: What 3 bands influenced Plastic Gods sound most?

Cephalic Carnage, Iron Monkey & Black Sabbath, these bands really got our attention when we started playing music and helped us set the form we wanted to play.

7) With music like Plastic Gods, where emphasis is placed on bone crushingly slow/tense build-up, do you feel that the listener needs to be patient in order to fully feel Plastic Gods true impact? 

Our emphasis isn't always on slow bone crushing music, it really depends what kind of show we are playing, often we want to be to the point and just rock hard and fast but when we play our doom people most of the time have to give us some patience to fully get into what we're playing.

8) Plastic Gods is playing this years Iceland Airwaves, what does an opportunity like that mean for the band?

The biggest gain is that it entitles us to apply for support from Icelandair to go abroad and play. Hopefully it also means that some foreign spectators will attend and we're hoping to get some media exposure as well. We'll make sure to advertise our gigs to the best of our ability when the time comes.

9) The song "Birth" on the Self-Titled album is over 14 minutes long, with over 12 and a half minutes of molasses paced tension that can't help but put the listener in a hazy trance. When you play this song live, do you cut the build-up short? 

We actually haven't played it live all that often, but when we have it has usually just served as an intro to our show. And yes we do shorten it considerably.

10) Pretend I am a (7 foot, 300 pound) warrior. Who in Plastic Gods stands the best chance to beat me in a drinking game? Who stands the best chance in an arm-wrestling competition? Lastly, who would defeat me in a hot-dog eating contest?

Hahaha. In a drinking game it would probably be either me (Ingó) or Dagur (just contact us if you wanna play!). The arm-wrestling would probably have to be either Dagur or Erling. As for the hot-dogs we don't recommend you challenge anyone of us.

11) If you were to get a lyrical fragment from a Plastic Gods song tattooed on your kneecap which one would you get?

Dagur: "Dreamfilled patterns make the bowl. At 20 past we free our souls" 

12) What is one thing about the Icelandic culture that pisses you off most?

Ingó: For me it's probably the attitude that a lot of icelanders have thinking that no matter how fucked they are they tend to think that everything will just be alright, without them actually having to lift a finger to make it so.

Dagur: We are a nation of hicks, rapists and drunks and we try to deny our origin Vikings weren't the nicest as you could imagine, eye for an eye was actually legal and these people have to get their heads out of their asses and get out of denial so we can progress as a proper nation. Im not saying that everyone is like this but we have a real problem with our identity.

13) I have no tickets to the sold out Airwaves festival, how impossible would it be to sneak me into the Plastic Gods set?

What are you willing to do? Let's talk...

14) What changes musically did you guys go through during the period after Quadriplegics to the self-titled released 3 year later? What inspired this change?

Well... actually most of the material on our self titled album was written before and during the songs on Quadriplegic, our first release. Both albums really represent the birth of Plastic Gods and the importance of these two albums for us defining our sound and the width of different styles of rock we want to play. We think since that material there's been more of a change and it will be apparent on our upcoming albums.   

15) How do you keep your vocals in tip-top shape, being a vocalist for 4 different bands must require some monk like training. Do you have any home remedy techniques? (Or does straight bourbon keep the pipes flowing?)

It does take quite a toll, but for me it's all about keeping in practice. When I rehearse and perform regularly I stay in shape. Excessive smoking and drinking tends to impair me, so I do my best to keep it to a minimum around shows. well... that's a lie.

Thanks Ingó and the dudes in Plastic Gods for kicking fucking ass, and thank you for taking the time to do this.