MIR: Thank you for taking the time to do this. Please introduce yourself to the readers.
Peter: Wound Collector is a death metal band that involves a tenor saxophone as a fixed member in the band. The lyrics deal with all sorts of forgotten and neglected parts in history. One can easily find influences from Nile, Suffocation or Death yet at the same time I use my classical training as I am a professional saxophonist and composer in daily life. The saxophone provides a lot of possibilities including the obvious jazzy style, but also balkan and gipsy music to free music.
MIR: How did you get started on this adventure?
Peter: I had been in many bands and projects previous to Wound Collector in many different styles ranging from classical to salsa to funk to… But my heart was always truly beating for death metal which is still the very favourite music I listen to. In the past I’ve been involved with other metal bands as a guest soloist but I felt I could do more. During 2015 I started composing the first songs, “Worship Of The Aton” being the actual very first. I found musicians that were all as eager to go fort his new project and in 2016 the first shows were played in local venues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhBXYHrvg0w
MIR: If you could go back to the day you started and give yourself one piece of advice, what would that be?
Peter: Well, I’ve made many mistakes and had many setbacks during my career so far, as we all had. We learn from those and move on to create something better. If I’d give the young me some advice it would probably be to follow my heart and dreams more strongly from the beginning and not try to please each and every other band, producer or director. I definitely should have started Wound Collector sooner!
MIR: What is something that you have adopted that brings value to your process?
Peter: The obvious answer here is the saxophone of course. Everybody has heard about Rivers Of Nihil including some saxophone here and there but Wound Collector adapted the instrument as a full time member. The saxophone can function as a lead guitar or a rhythm guitar but also provides extra colours and techniques. You may love it or you may hate it, but at least you’ll have to admit we’re doing something unique. Shining from Norway did it in a black metal context, we are here to show you it can be done in death metal as well. Or, if it’s up to me, in any kind of metal genre.
MIR: Please highlight some of the things you enjoy most about what you do.
Peter: We all enjoy all parts of the process actually. Writing and creating and arranging in the rehearsal space, recording and playing live. Playing live gigs is still the main reason why we do this. The intense feeling of being able to grunt and scream and torture my sax in the presence of these outstanding musicians is what makes me happy.
MIR: What are some of your current goals? Things you may hope to achieve in the next 12-24 months or further.
Peter: We’d love to sign a deal with a nice record label and be supported on a higher level than what we can achieve on our own. We are currently writing new material and will have enough songs to record a new full album this year for sure. We are all still very eager to create new things and inspiration is never far away. Keep an eye out for a special release we’ll do this year with a very special guest on vocals.
MIR: What is an unpopular opinion that you subscribe to or a popular opinion that you
disagree with?
Peter: Haha, well, you can choose for yourself if it’s unpopular or popular, but saxophone in metal is probably that one opinion that will cause the most discussion! We’ve noticed that we can easily persuade people when we play live but for many of them the saxophone is a bit of a threshold. When we are negotiating with organizers this is always their biggest concern, but after seeing us live they’re happy they booked us.
MIR: Is there anything you want to mention as we close?
Peter: If I may be bold: buy merch, spread the music, share it with your friends. Let the epic saxophonised death metal madness consume you and enjoy it!
MIR: Thank you for your time and I appreciate what you are doing.
Follow Wound Collector at the following locations
www.woundcollector.com
fb: @woundcollector
instagram : @woundcollector
https://woundcollector.bandcamp.com/
https://woundcollector.bigcartel.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@WoundCollector
(O)