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West Side Dave: First up, tell us about your latest projects, Sadhara and Unto Ashes.
Katherine Burke: Sadhara is a project I concieved in 2003. It's primarily a solo project, but there are plans to add more musicians in the future. It combines riffy melodic death and black metal with dark, gothic overtones. Unto Ashes is a renaissance/apocolyptic folk group from New York City. They use a lot of medeival instruments like hammer dulcimers, doumbecs and the such. I'm currently collaborating with them to create a black metal project that will combine Sadhara and Unto Ashes called Angels From Below.
WSD: A couple of Sadhara tracks are updated versions of some of your earlier work, correct?
KB: Yes. I used to play in a local band called Sheol. I just played guitar in that band, but most of the music was written by me. After we broke up, I rewrote the lyrics to some of that material.
WSD: Now for some background. What inspired you to pick up the guitar? And who/what were some of your early influences?
KB: I've wanted to play guitar ever since I was five years old, but my parents refused to by me a real guitar until I had hands that were large enough. I really loved the Beatles then, and that was probably my first real inspiration. When I finally got a guitar when I was 12, my main inspirations were Megadeth, Venom and Black Sabbath. Then later I got into more technical death metal like Morbid Angel, Death and Carcass.
WSD: Any formal training?
KB: I had private classical guitar lessons for about three years in High School, and I also attended Berklee College of Music.
WSD: Your vocals are unique, ranging from Angela Gossow-like Death growls to a more melodic, at times ethereal style! Is this something that comes natural, or did you have to really work at it?
KB: The clean singing actually comes a lot easier to me than the screaming. I had to work at the growling a bit at first to develop a range. I would practice in my car...Phil Collins would come on the radio and I would go "SHE'S AN EASY LOVERRRRR!!!!" Man I got odd looks when I was at a red light! I never thought I would be a singer for a metal group because I thought that that style needed the power and drive from a male vocalist. I heard Angela sing and that completely gave me the inspiration to start growling. I also love stuff like Inkubus Sukkubus and Dead Can Dance, and I've always wanted to incorporate that into music, but never thought it was appropriate for the music I was writing. However I tried it anyway, and people were really surprised how well it worked. Which goes to show you...don't say you can't do anything.
WSD: You write the music AND the lyrics. Where do you get inspiration for the lyrical themes, novels, movies, real life?
KB: I get my inspiration from the backs of cereal boxes and shampoo containers. PARTIALLY HYDRONATED CORN SYRUP NIACINAMIDE ASCORBATE RAAAARRRR!!! No. I get my themes from real life emotions, and things that are on my mind at the time. And then I try to add a lot of poeticisms to add imagery. Some of my favorite lyricists are Jeff Walker, Dani Filth, Jimi Hendrix as well as Marie Rainer Rilke, Emily Dickenson, Poe and Shakespeare. I also read Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Arthur Douglas and Calvin and Hobbes.
WSD: What makes a "great" guitar riff, as opposed to a "good" one? And what should a riff do, in the context of a Metal song?
KB: A great riff should be a well composed idea. Something that can carry it's weight without a vocal line. It has to be memorable and melodic, while retaining power and/or brutality. In Bill and Ted speak, it's a guitar line that should raise your fists and bang your head. It should also...upon command...walk your dog, clean your room, organize a bar mitsvah and be PC compatible.
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