By Carl Begai

Woods 5: Grey Skies & Electric Light is arguably one of the strongest works in Woods Of Ypres frontman / founder David Gold’s catalogue of music. It’s certainly his most accessible album. Sadly, it also marks David’s final journey.

Killed in a car accident mere months before the official release, David never had the opportunity to enjoy the praise or consider the criticism of what is the most adventurous album of his career. And despite the accolades heaped to the sky, the simple truth is that not all diehard Woods Of Ypres fans will like it. Grey Skies & Electric Light is loaded with the doom and gloom they’ve come to expect, but the way it’s presented is much different from the revered Woods III and IV records. David’s clean voice dominates the new production over his death metal growls, the song arrangements don’t have the crushing density of its predecessors, and it’s loaded with brazen hooks big and small. Not what some expect of the blackened doom underground cornerstone of the genre. Current reactions indicate, however, that the majority of followers consider Woods 5 to be a masterpiece, and not merely as a show of respect for the fallen.

In an effort to showcase the new music, I spoke with Kittie vocalist / guitarist Morgan Lander, producer Siegfried Meier, and Woods Of Ypres guitarist Joel Violette, all of whom accompanied and worked with David during various stages of Grey Skies & Electric Light’s creation.

Morgan Lander

Morgan and David were very close, and while the details of their relationship remain private – something that should be respected by my media brethren – she was kind enough to share her inside look at the making of Woods 5 as she saw it.

Credit where it’s due, Morgan played a significant role in the making of the record by hooking David up with Siegfried Meier.

David started writing for Woods 5 when he got back from Kuwait, and Kittie had gone into the studio with Sig around that time,” she begins. “Our experiences with Sig (on the Oracle, In The Black and I’ve Failed You albums) have been very positive, and the studio – which he built from the ground up – is amazing. I think he’s a lot of fun, he’s very knowledgeable about what he does, and he’s laid back. I expressed to David that our experiences with Sig had been very good, as were Sig’s production values. David had told me stories about how, up until Woods 5… he just seemed less than pleased with the experiences, and sometimes with the way things had turned out sonically. It’s a positive environment working with Sig, so I’m glad they worked together.”

The pair walked similar paths in professional life long before they met. Both began their musical journey at a young age – Morgan in her teens, David at 21 – and both launched bands viewed as underdogs on the Canadian metal scene. It’s fair to say their separate experiences may have been an additional foundation for their relationship on an unconscious level.

“Absolutely,” Morgan agrees. “We definitely had a lot of industry talks, about how label people operate, that sort of thing. I think that on paper, the idea of someone like me and someone like David getting along or having anything in common doesn’t make a lot of sense, but we did share a lot of experiences both personally and professionally.”

Those experiences translated into trust for David, who was by nature a very private person. As a result, he approached Morgan every so often during Woods 5?s development for an expert opinion on the songs he was coming up with.

“A good portion of the album was written here in my apartment. I have a spare room, and it’s funny because, when I first met David, it was off limits because I’d moved in six months earlier with two tours in between, so I hadn’t had the opportunity to get settled and sort my life. So, I kind of put everything in that spare room. He stayed for a couple weeks in January, and when he was off at a gig – I think it was in Richmond, Virginia – I actually cleaned up the room, bought a desk and a chair, and basically set up a music room for him.”
“He was very serious about his writing and having his space to work. I specifically remember him writing ‘Travelling Alone’ here, and a bunch of riffs and stuff. He treated songwriting very much like a 9-to-5 job, so he’d lock himself away to work, and he’d call me every once in a while to take a listen. When Joel was sending him ideas for stuff he’d let me take a listen and ask for some feedback. I thought it was really cool to be asked to do that.”

David also welcomed Morgan into his own backyard… literally.

I was in Sault Ste Marie for a week while Joel and him were writing and demo-ing,” she reveals, “so I got an especially candid look at their process and how David planned and laid out the album. He was so meticulous about everything, with dry erase boards mapping out concepts and ideas for the songs, and his lyric books all scattered about ‘little house’ in the backyard, which was his makeshift office in the north. He treated the planning of an album like blueprints for an invention. I heard him practice drums every day, and got to look over working concepts for Woods 6 and Woods 7, which he was already starting to think about and map out.”

“I was surprised by how the creative process developed. When we were apart he’d send me vocal demos. He did the vocal demo for ‘Travelling Alone’ in his car singing along to the guitar track. The song is quite different from what it started out as, but it’s cool to have these original takes.”
“He sent me some funny stuff, too. There’s an outtake of him singing ‘Finality’, and he farts in the middle of it and just starts cracking up (laughs). Oh my God, it’s funny as hell. The paradox of him making an album where the content is so sobering and heavy and depressing, then sending me this clip of himself farting and ruining the track, it’s hilarious (laughs).”

Asked if she has a favourite song on Woods 5, or if there’s one track that holds a special meaning, Morgan admits it’ll take some time before she’s able to immerse herself in the new music.

“That album is so hard to listen to after everything that’s happened, because it’s about death, enjoying your life, and questioning what’s on the other side. I think ‘Finality’ is a beautiful song, though.”
“I think it’s strange and ironic that Woods 5 will be released and David won’t be here to see it reach its potential,” she adds. “He won’t see things take shape the way he wanted them to. His dream was to release an album of all original new music on a label. I’d like to see it do really well, because he made an amazing album.”

Diehard fans have been and will be stunned by the lyrical irony of the new album given the tragic circumstances surrounding it. The song ‘Adora Vivos’ in particular, which features a metal-intense David proclaiming ‘We shouldn’t worship the dead…’ to a fanbase that has offered a huge outpouring of love and respect since his passing.

“I remember discussing the whole idea of hero worship with him, which is what ‘Adora Vivos’ is about,” Morgan offers. “The idea of someone being ridiculed in life and suddenly revered when they die. Like Michael Jackson; he was called a freak and a child molestor, and people had all kinds of horrible, nasty things to say about him. When he died, suddenly he was the King Of Pop again.”

Friends and fans will pay tribute to David in April with two shows in his honour, in Toronto and Sault Ste Marie on the 5th and 7th respectively. Kittie will perform at both shows, hopefully providing Morgan with some sense of closure.

“It’s actually a miracle we’re going to be around for those shows. Our tour starts on April 10th, so we’ll be at both of them. We’re going to do a couple of Woods songs, and some of our own songs as well. I know that David and his friend Rich Moreland, who is organizing the Sault Ste Marie show, had talked a lot about doing some sort of a yearly festival, so Rich has honoured David by continuing on with the idea by running with it and making it an annual thing. We’re going to play the inaugural festival, so we’ll do more of a full set with a couple Woods songs. Toronto is the CD release party, so I guess we’ll do one of our songs and some Woods tracks.”

As for which Woods Of Ypres songs Kittie will be tackling, Morgan mentions two songs in particular. In the interest of surprise we’ll keep the tracks in question under wraps, but David would definitely approve of hearing Morgan sing them.

“David would get a good laugh out of it, I’m sure.”

Check out the interviews with Siegfried Meier and Joel Violette here.