Displaying the scariest stories to come out of Maine since Stephen King, Ogre have returned to the Heavy Rock scene, Stoner Doom if you will, with "Seven Hells". The said album, released via Leafhound Records, is the group's second full-length. Ogre has built its music upon the foundation constructed by metal and heavy rock pioneers like Black Sabbath and Pentagram. Read further on to learn more about the band.

Metal Mayhem: Please introduce yourself and explain your part in the band.
Will: My name is Will Broadbent, and I play the drums.
Ed: Ed Cunningham, bass and vocals.
Ross: Ross Markonish, guitar

MM: Give our readers the history of Ogre.
ROSS: Will and I first started thinking about putting together a heavy rock band in mid-1999. We had played together in another band prior to OGRE, but we really wanted to do something heavier along the lines of classic bands such as Sabbath, Deep Purple, and AC/DC, as well as more obscure bands like Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, and Toad. Once I turned Will on to Pentagram, it was a done deal. We put an advertisement for a bassist/vocalist in the local music paper, and got one reply from a guy named Ed. After one rehearsal, we knew that he was the missing piece of the power trio puzzle, and thus OGRE was born. We recorded our demo in late 1999/early 2000, released our first disc "Dawn of the Proto-Man" in 2003, and now we're happy to finally release the follow up, "Seven Hells", this year.

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MM: Each musician in Ogre seems quite skilled in his musical craft. How did each member learn to play his instrument so elegantly? Who were your teachers and influences? WILL: I wouldn't really call my playing elegant...I think maybe "bull in a china shop" is a more apt description. I've been into rock music pretty much my whole life, and always fixated on the drums. To me, they were the coolest instrument. After a few false starts, at the age of 13, I got serious about music and started taking professional lessons from local legend Al Silva, who I still believe to be the greatest drummer on the planet. He had me working from Carmine Appice's "Realistic Rock" workbook and I ate it up. After that, it was just playing every day, and joining bands. I would

have to say my biggest drumming influences are both Appice brothers, Ian Paice, Bill Ward, Keith Moon, Phil Rudd, and Alex Van Halen.
ED: I started out on guitar and then started playing bass when I found out there were about a billion guitar players out there, but if you were a bass player, you could pretty much be assured of getting in a band. Then, whaddya know, I got into it. Geddy Lee was pretty much my role model. I just played Rush on my tape player over and over ad nauseum and tried to play along until I could sort of do what Geddy did.
ROSS: When I was about 12 or so, my next-door neighbour and I decided to "start a band". I picked guitar and he picked bass, and we started taking lessons at a local music shop. However, most of the time, like Ed, we would just sit in his basement trying to figure out Rush and Sabbath tunes, probably driving our parents crazy in the process. My guitar lessons didn't last too long, but I just kept jamming to my favourite Hendrix records in my bedroom, so I guess that's where I learned most of my "technique" (if you could call it that).

MM: Not only do Ogre members play their instruments with a high level of skill, each member has a vast knowledge of equipment. What equipment do you use, including instruments, pedals, amps, etc?
WILL: I wouldn't describe us as "gear-heads", but we do have some nice stuff. I recently purchased a sweet vintage blue Ludwig Vistalite kit. Up until then, I was using the same Tama Rockstar DX drum set that I had had since the age of 16. It's funny, because I saved up for about a year to get that in high school, and it took me a year to pay off my Ludwig purchase as an adult!
ED: WWGP? (what would Geddy play?).. A black and white Rickenbacker 4001. I use any amp that I don't have to carry.
ROSS: Tony Iommi is clearly my source of inspiration, gear wise: Gibson SG run through a Laney head. For pedals, I use a Cry Baby wah, plus an occasional Small Stone phaser and sometimes a crappy digital delay. I'm definitely NOT a gear head. Once people start talking about ohms, speaker types, tubes, and other stuff like that, I just tune out. Loud = good in my book.

MM: The noises you create on "Sperm Whale" on your latest album "Seven Hells" are out of this world. What equipment and techniques did you utilize to create this spaced out aura?
ROSS: From a guitar standpoint, I'm using a slide run through a delay and maybe a little phase shifting. I think we may have run some tracks backwards, but I can't remember anymore. There are also some actual whale sounds on there at the end.

MM: If a fan asked you what your music sounds like, what would you tell him or her?
ROSS: I'm fond of the term "proto-doom", which I think captures the early 70s vibe of bands like Pentagram quite well. But most people wouldn't know what the hell "proto-doom" means, so I usually just say heavy rock and mention Sabbath as a point of reference.

MM: Starting with your first album "Dawn of Proto-man" and continuing onward with your latest endeavour "Seven Hells", Ogre has written many songs pertaining to history. I understand some of your band members have been formally educated in the field of history. Tell our readers about this members education and how he (they) use history to create songs. ED: Uh, well, yeah, I got a history degree from the local college, but mostly because I had to declare a major and you can't bullshit your way through science. Seriously, I think we all are somewhat self-educated in that, yeah, we all graduated from college, but most of what we learned was from our own reading. For me it was whacked out sci-fi and in your face military history. So when I write lyrics, I'm usually thinking about the latest man-against-the-elements narrative I read, or some incredibly brutal battle that took place that I just learned about in detail because of something I'm reading at the time.

MM: "Soldier of Misfortune" is a prime example of Ogre using history to create a song. This song seems epochal. Was that were you were trying to achieve? Where did you conceive the idea for this song?
ED: Well, Lots of times it starts with Will or Ross coming up with a concept or a rough draft of lyrics. In this case, I probably wanted to write something about war and Ross had the idea that it would be told from the viewpoint of a foot solider from ‘Nam. Will came up with the title, which is awesome. I think what we were trying to say here is that Iraq is not like WWII (probably the best candidate for a just war), but is like Vietnam (crap). I was pissed at American leaders trying to make out that going in to Iraq was the equivalent of liberating Europe from the Nazis.

MM: "Flesh Feast" is the darkest track on "Seven Hells". Your previous album "Dawn of Proto-man" also left the darkest song, "Black Death", for last. Did you intentionally plan this for both albums? Is this a pattern you started that will be carried over to the next album?
WILL: It was intentional. "Flesh Feast" took a long time to write, and once we finished it, we knew we had the last song for the record. We wanted something over-the-top, and I think that the ending of "Flesh Feast" certainly outdoes "Black Death" in that regard. As for if it will be a pattern for our future full-length releases, time will tell...

MM: How did you come up with the idea for "Flesh Feast"? Is this story true of fictional?
ED: I was reading this book about three guys from a whaling ship who were lost in a life boat like the Spanish "Flesh Feast" guys. They really did eat each other in the order described. I made them Spanish and moved it back a couple of hundred years ‘cause the riff sounded Spanish to me…ya know, poetic license and all that. Plus, I wanted to point out that Christianity is based on cannibalism and who are more Christian than 16th century Spanish? Also, it's great to use a phrase like "Catholic Majesty."

MM: You say the phrase "seven hells" on "Flesh Feast". Is this track the title track?
ROSS: Though "Flesh Feast" wasn't deliberately written to be the "title track" for the album, once it was finished, I sort of sensed that it had potential for that sort of role. In fact, one of my original suggestions for the album title was "Flesh Feast", but that was a little too obvious and maybe too sensational, even for us. At some point, I was looking over Ed's lyrics and "seven hells" jumped out at me as the perfect album title. Seven songs, seven hells. Everyone liked it, so there it was.

MM: The Gustave album art combined with the last two tracks "Sperm Whale" and "Flesh Feast" gives "Seven Hells" a maritime feeling. Is that what you were trying to achieve? Does living in Maine influence you to create an album of epic sea sagas?
ED: If there is one thing I despise, it is sea-shanty music. But, I live about 500 yards from the ocean. It's hard to ignore. And there are a lot of fishing boats and ships and stuff coming in and out of Portland harbour.

MM: I see on Myspace bulletins the various festivals and tours Ogre has played. Tell our readers about some your noteworthy festivals and tours. WILL: We did a weeklong tour with our buddies AGNOSIS last year which was a blast. I think you'll see some more road trips from us in the future. In terms of festivals, we played at the second Sweet Leaf Festival in Massachusetts a couple years ago with TODAY IS THE DAY, WOOLY MAMMOTH, DOVE, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE, ICHABOD, RAW RADAR WAR, and ELDEMUR KRIMM. That was a lot of fun. We made some great friends, and were finally able to get our foot in the door in terms of the Boston rock scene. We just recently played the first night of the Maine Stoner rock/Doom festival, which had an amazing bill of RPG, VALKYRIE, the BROUGHT LOW, and the ATOMIC BITCHWAX. Through out the years, we've also shared the stage with PLACE OF SKULLS, ACID KING,

EARTHRIDE, YOB, BONGZILLA, MILLIGRAM, 5IVE, and many more great bands. Not a bad resume!
ROSS: One of these days we'll get onto one of the bigger festival bills, something like Emissions from the Monolith or Stoner Hands of Doom. Until then, we'll keep doing our thing and playing as many shows as we can, trying to spread the OGRE word.

MM: When metal fans think of the United State's Northeast coast, places like Massachusetts New York come to mind. Ogre hails from the USA's secluded northeast corner, Maine. What is the music scene like in Maine?
WILL: The scene is strong. We've got many bands like OCEAN, CONIFER, and ELDEMUR KRIMM each putting their stamp on heavy music and drawing lots of attention everywhere they go. The rock fans up here are a lot less jaded than some of the bigger cities and are much more vocal in their support of the music they like.
ROSS: There's nothing I like better than playing a show in Maine in the dead of winter, when it's freezing cold out and maybe there's just been a huge snowstorm. For some reason, this gets people even more pumped about hearing live music. Everyone comes out and has a good time, despite the ice age outside.

MM: Now that you have released "Seven Hells", what is Ogre's next step?
WILL: There is talk of an EP, but it would be too early to announce any details further than that! I think it'll be the next logical step for the band.
ROSS: We also will be featured on two compilation albums coming out early next year. One is a compilation of Maine bands and the one requirement was that every song had to be no longer than a minute in length. We couldn't resist this challenge, esp. since most of our songs head into the 10 minute range. Our minute song is called "The Centurion" and it's probably the most purely metal thing we've recorded yet. Our other compilation track is a cover of "The Prophet", which was originally performed by Australian underground heavies Buffalo and will be featured on a tribute album to them released by Blood and Iron Records out of Portugal. I'm really excited about that one, since Buffalo's "Volcanic Rock" was one of the very best hard rock albums of the 70s.

Darren Cowan