Chad Bowar: Is Saurian Exorcisms similar soundwise to your 2004 solo album Saurian Meditation?
Karl Sanders: In some respects yes; in a lot of ways, not really. I would say firstly that there is not as much "meditation" and more "exorcism" to the music. Also, a lot of Saurian Meditation was done in my home studio, with some parts recorded at the Sound Lab, and some more recorded in DOW studios. This time around it was all recorded at my home studio, and only mixed at Sound Lab. Then Punchy did the mastering at his DOW studios in Tampa.
My signal path this time around was a whole lot cleaner. On Saurian Meditations I was working with a budget tube mic pre and budget microphones, and this time around I had much better mics and an SSL channel strip as my front end. So Saurian Exorcisms is way cleaner right outta the gate. There was actually some stuff that got tossed and/or redone because it wasn’t clean enough to match up with the rest of Saurian Exorcisms.
I also had a complete PC crash back in ‘07, and many of the sound files were unrecoverable. At that time I really couldn’t afford a big fat backup drive - a crucial error in retrospect - so a lot of irreplaceable takes were just plain gone or corrupted beyond repair. "Curse the Sun" and "A Most Effective Exorcism" were the only tracks that were anywhere near usable, and those were missing huge chunks of "I can never do it that way again" kind of performances. So now I have a Maxtor external drive that is always on and backs up everything automatically every morning at 6 a.m.
Was your solo writing an ongoing process over the past few years, or did you sit down and write it in a short time frame?
The writing was spread out over a couple years. That’s why there was a long space between records, primarily because the Saurian project is of course, a side project. Nile is the gig that pays the bills around here, so it has to take priority. Nile completely swallows most of my time and resources, and really the Saurian music is more or less just a way to share with people the music I make for fun and relaxation in my spare time. And Nile doesn’t really allow a whole lotta spare time. Just to keep up the Nile guitar chops consumes several hours of my day, every day.
What are some of the more non-traditional instruments you use on Saurian Exorcisms?
Well, there the Baglama Saz, and the Glissentar, and various obscure percussion doo-dads laying around my apartment. I also picked up some authentic Tibetan bells while I was in Montreal this past summer. They are the ones you hear at the beginning of "Kali Ma" There are a whole lotta guitar synth emulations and computer manipulations as well of various obscure instruments like the Bansuri - an Indian wind instrument - and the eastern violin-like stuff is guitar synth as well.
Where does one buy a Baglama Saz and instruments like that? Where did you first discover these unusual instruments?
There is a little shop in Seattle I stumbled onto called Lark in the Morning. They have like anything and everything imaginable from every corner of the globe. I order stuff from them all the time. They really oughta give me frequent shopper miles or something.
It is debatable whether or not Saurian Mediations or Saurian Exorcisms could have existed so easily without them.
Who’s your primary target for the album, Nile fans or ambient music fans?
Whoever wants to listen. I have no purist attitude at all about who can listen and who can't. I have seen a wide variety of people who enjoy the Saurian Mediations music, folks who would have never given Nile a chance. There are also plenty of Nile fans who enjoy Saurian as well, probably cause it is a break from real loud brutal metal, but it’s also dark enough to be interesting.
I played this music firstly for my own sanity, cause Nile is at its heart a death metal band, and once in a while I need a break from the constant blasting and super fast super brutal guitar playing. Sharing the Saurian music is just really giving something a bit more personal to others who may enjoy the same kinda thing. And that helps me keep my perspective on it being purely music that I enjoy relaxing with, without the whole "OMG I gotta write it this way or that way cause my whole career depends on it being fast and brutal."
Oddly enough, it seems a significant share of my audience demographic is the gothic belly dancing women.I get a pretty steady stream of emails from belly dancers who dance to and listen to the Saurian Mediations, complete with pics of them in their belly dancing gear. At first I was a bit flabbergasted I hadn't counted on that at all. Then I guess I figured "what the hell." The only real downside is that it isn't just the "lovely and charming" gothic belly dancing chicks who send me their pics. The "not-so-lovely" also share their pics. So clicking on an email from one of them entails its own fair amount of risk.
Did you decide on The End Records because of their track record with more eclectic types of music?
Absolutely. The End Records has the most incredible and interesting rosters of any label I have ever seen. They are also super nice to work with, and just as importantly, forthright and upfront to deal with. I am happy and honored to have the chance to work with The End.
