INTERVIEW: Jon Davis – Conan

In a crowded doom metal scene overflowing with bands attempting to play the slowest and heaviest possible, CONAN are in a league of their own. Since their formation in 2006, the trio (orbiting around founder and sole constant, guitarist and vocalist Jon Davis) have, through force of will, a blistering work ethic and undeniable sonic clout, won fans all of the world and steadily made their way towards legendary status. With the recent release of their fourth full length, Existential Void Guardian, we asked Jon Davis to give us the low down.

Existential Void Guardian is a hell of an album title – can you talk us through what it means and where it came from?

Jon: I wanted an album title with three words in, like Horseback Battle Hammer. I knew if I got the right flow I could come up with something awesome. I started thinking of the concept of existential thought and the idea that the feeling of complete worthlessness, the sense of absolute loss and despondency, could be an actual place that we visit. I imagined it as an actual ‘world’ with an atmosphere, a real place but a dark place. A place where guardians patrol and either keep people in, or keep people out. They are the guardians of the existential void in my imagination. I basically created a world within this world, one where we all visit now and again, some of us fight the guardians and can escape and some will be defeated, doomed to stay in that place for a while.

What sort of themes does the album tackle? What inspirations were behind its creation? 

Jon: Well, the opening lines to the opening track point at how painlessly one can end their life. I don’t for one moment suggest it’s something one should do but I’m more like commenting on just how easy and painlessly a person can nullify themselves; “Your life, what life? Painless, Nullify.” I was surprised at how heavy that line was. Then you have Volt Thrower which is a classic CONAN ‘fight between good and evil’. Amdist The Infinite that deals with some loose ideas about life itself and how difficult it can be “on a sea of broken hope, somehow we sail along now, riding on the waves, of dreams we laid to waste”. These point at some personal stuff I had gone through in the last few years, but filtered so as not to be too poignant. Vexxagon is one of my favourite tracks, the lyrics for that are really “is this the end of days, return to vengeful state, call to arms, vastness of the void”, imagining the state of the world today. I guess this album is the most ‘thoughtful’ album we have done in terms of the lyrics.

This is the first record you’ve put out with Johnny [King] behind the kit – How did you guys come to meet and work together? What has he brought to the record? What does he bring to the CONAN trio in general?

Jon: Johnny has been a friend of the band for a while. We shared a stage at Bannermans in Edinburgh when he played in ALTAR OF PLAGUES. He was always buying CONAN merch and saying cool things about us and we would chat now and again on Facebook. When we advertised that we were auditioning he got in touch and we sent him some tracks and he did some demo videos. When we got back from Psycho Las Vegas we invited Johnny over to jam and the rest is history. He came with us on tour with MONOLORD in October 2017 and it went great and we’re pretty settled now. Johnny actually brings a kind of more direct heaviness to CONAN. Maybe a more rounded style than we have had in the past. We have always been very lucky with drummers and Johnny brings some of the best bits from those that have come before him, he blends that with his own style and it has enabled us to find a new level of heaviness on these new tracks.

Existential Void Guardian sees you guys really pushing the CONAN sound in some interesting new directions. Were these conscious choices, or organic parts of the writing process? Are you always looking to keep challenging yourselves and the listener?

Jon: They were definitely conscious decisions because we wanted to make music that interested us. Playing songs like Hawk As Weapon or Krull or Total Conquest is lots of fun, but we have zero interested in writing music that sounds like what we have already put out. Therefore, during the writing phase we are able to almost naturally avoid treading over familiar ground. It’s not always easy but it must be done. Listening back to our material, the listener should be able to distinguish each album from one another and that is something we have always been very keen on. Chris [Fielding, bass, vocals, production] made it all happen through the recording process, we would bounce ideas back and forth but Chris is the one who makes it sound good in the end so all credit to him.

Lineup changes aside, how would you say CONAN is a different beast from when it was founded back in 2006? How would you say it’s remained the same, if at all?

Jon: I think we are a band who has always had the same attitude to making music. We have always had a common thread running through the band with myself as founding member and (generally) main writer, and of course Chris as producer. Those things combined have ensured that the band has been able to evolve but not stray too far from the central theme. We have been able to experiment without losing ourselves. We’re different now in some ways though; we’re more businesslike, and that is because there are more financial decisions to make and more logistics to organise. This year alone we have had to administer visas for Australia, Russia and the USA, and all these things take time away from actual ‘music’ stuff within the band. Aside from that I feel like we still have the same attitude and the same love for what we do, albeit with a more ‘professional’ set up.

You’re well known gear fiends – what were you guys playing and playing through when you recorded the record? Has it changed much since then?

Jon: Actually the same as we have now. For me and Chris we use Dunable guitars and bass guitar, I use these awesome Hilbish pre amps modelled on the Sunn Beta and the same pedals as always. On this record I used a pedal modelled on the Boss HM2, it’s called a Nihilist pedal and is made by Dunwich Amplification, the same guy who makes my Fuzz Throne fuzz pedal.

That’s your signature effect pedal – can you tell us a bit more about it?

Jon: Nicholas [Williams] who runs Dunwich Amplification made me a custom fuzz pedal called the Fuzz Throne back in 2013 or 2014. It’s a great pedal, and he decided that he’d to offer it for general sale. He got in touch and we agreed to work on it together. I think it’ll be ready soon.

You’re often cited as one of the hardest working bands in doom – do you think your success is a result of this work ethic? Have you ever struggled to keep up your drive over the last twelve years?

Jon: Any success that a band has will either be through them getting lucky, or already being connected somehow to a few decision makers, or just working hard and not giving in. We are definitely appreciative of everything we have enjoyed so far in the band, but we have not had any help along the way, really. We started from nothing, got ourselves a van and toured relentlessly and still like to do that. We can definitely say we put in the miles and made sacrifices. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.

What have you got in the works to support the new record? Are any tours or live dates in the pipeline?

Jon: We are planning tours and festivals for 2019 as we speak. We recently took the management and bookings for CONAN in house and are enjoying that process now. We tour Europe in October and then go to Australia / New Zealand / Russia in November, followed by a UK tour late November / early December. 2019 should be busy too, so we’re excited to get playing.

Existential Void Guardian out now via Napalm Records.

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