The Winter’s Wake 2013 Thursday Night Pre-fest Show is coming up very soon! Here’s an interview with another band that’s playing tonight!

Once more, since there have been so many different bands to talk to, I’m keeping these relatively short and sweet. Hopefully there’ll be enough here for you (the reader) to get a bit of background info about each band, and you’ll get excited about getting to see every single one of them this weekend!

Below you will find the result of chatting with Quercus, guitarist/vocalist for the ecologically-minded harsh black metal band Dendritic Arbor…

VOS: Hello, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer a few questions about Dendritic Arbor. How are you today?

Q.: Good, getting ready for a trip to the West for a week.

VOS: Would you mind introducing yourself and the rest of your band for the readers?

Q.: Well, speaking is Quercus, I play guitar and vocals in this project, along with Honorary Blakius (guitar/vocals), Boris Malus (bass/vocals), and Thaddeus is our drummer.

VOS: I noticed you guys have a sampler track on Bandcamp right now, in anticipation of an album that’s coming out soon…

Q.: Well we have a demo track on our Bandcamp, and a preview of the new album on Soundcloud, but either way, still we just really are excited about our first release, we have been working collectively on this 3-track album for close to 9 months now, and the anticipation to at least let whoever is interested in hearing it was building up.

VOS: Can you tell me a little bit about the band’s history, including how (and when) you guys came together, and what you’ve been up to so far?

Q.: Honorary Blakius and I played in a project together for a few years, Colossus. I met Thaddeus through many different people, and attending his bands’ (October, Bear Skull) shows, we became friends, started jamming, enlisted our good friend Boris (bassist for Oroku Saki) to smooth out the line up. We’re just a group of people who wanted to create dark music.

VOS: Aesthetically and philosophically, the message you are spreading reminds me of a pro-nature, anti-technology band like Italy’s Krampus. I’m curious, who are some of the people or other bands that have influenced your ideology, and what are the main inspirations that have helped shaped your sound?

Q.: Yes, we are channeling something similar to Krampus, a attempt to sonically display our universe’s emotions from years of abuse. Our ideas of how our race is teetering on universal meltdown are a direct response to the growing ignorance of the western world, and not singularly but as a whole.

Bands we draw inspirations from span from contemporary bands like Krallice or Deathspell Omega, who have a very dark, avant-garde style, to more traditional metal like Mercyful Fate, or Repulsion, for the reasons of speed and anger. I’d also say that GGUW has been an influence on the band.

VOS: What do you think of the metal community in Pittsburgh in general? Do you feel that your style has been embraced by other bands and by fans in the scene?

Q.: I actually have spent a good amount of time now in the Pittsburgh scene, about 8 years, and I haven’t been as excited about our “scene” since the beginning. It seems to have life again, and even some old bands coming back and breathing it. [With] bands like Liquified Guts, Vulture, and Oh Shit, still doing it, and bringing people to shows, it’s just great.

Regards also go to Wrought Iron, Kamikabe, Grisly Amputation, and many more who are bringing even more attention to Pittsburgh.

VOS: So what does the future hold for you guys? I mentioned the album that’s coming out soon, so are there any big plans for that release or afterward?

Q.: Well our album, Sylvan Matriarch, will be coming out digitally sometime in March, but our album release show will be on March 26th, 2013 with Call of the Void. I suppose that’s a big plan, considering we haven’t even announced that show. But yes, we are waiting for our mastered copy from Treelady Studios as we speak.

VOS: And one last thing — I’ve been asking everyone this — is there anyone else playing at Winter’s Wake that you’re especially looking forward to seeing?

Q.: Well Vektor is just so tight; [I] caught them a while back, incredible, I really like their approach to their lyrical message, space thrash. Definitely want to check out Dream Death if I get a chance, [it’s] awesome to see the generation gap tighten for this event.

 
You can listen to (or download for free) the band’s demo track “Our Mother Disgraced” right here:

 
Catch a sneak preview of their forthcoming album Sylvan Matriarch here:

 
More Dendritic Arbor: Facebook, Bandcamp, Soundcloud

Dendritic Arbor are playing at the Winter’s Wake pre-fest show TONIGHT — Thursday, 21 February 2013, at Gooski’s (3117 Brereton Street, Polish Hill / Pittsburgh). The show gets under way at 9pm.

View the full line-up of the festival here, RSVP to the Facebook event here, and get your advance tickets here: Friday only, Saturday only, 3-Day Pass.