BW&BK; recently hooked up with WOODS OF YPRES frontman/founder David Gold to discuss the band's new album, Woods 3: Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues. The following is an excerpt from the interview, with Gold offering some insight on the song 'Your Ontario Town Is a Burial Ground' (found below), a track loaded with hooks that has opened the band up to a new audience while staying true to their trademark epic black metal sound.

“'Your Ontario Town...' is great," says Gold. "It may be my favourite Woods Of Ypres song. I admit that originally, it is inspired by Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, where I grew up until I was 19. This was a song I always wanted to write. It was in December 2003 when I came up with the main riffs and the title and then built around it from there. A soon as I heard the rhyming between ‘Ontario Town’ and ‘Burial Ground’ I thought 'I have to do this. Basically, for me, happiness has a lot to do with where you are just as much as who you are with and what you do. I’ve always wanted more than what that life in the north could offer. I didn’t see my first metal show until I moved away. By the time I got out of that city, I felt so behind on the world, having been exposed to so little. I felt pressure to get out there and make the best of my time to catch up, intellectually, developmentally, emotionally."

"One of the themes that this song is fighting for is to never quit what you love you love to do, for anyone else," Gold continues. "In Sault Ste. Marie and even in Windsor (Ontario) where I went to school, it seems people feel so pressured to give up what they want to do, and do what they think they should do instead (I noticed this in the music scene at least). Then they look at it like 'Okay, if we don’t get signed in six months, it’s over! We’re quitting and focusing on something else.' Basically, people setting the bar of their goals nice and low and doing their best to discourage others and pull everyone else down into their hole. 'If you’re not dreaming anymore, you’re already dead!'. That’s how I saw Sault Ste. Marie after I had moved away, 'A burial ground for old friends,' where everyone who chose to stay there just did the same boring shit. I guess I just wanted more for all of us, but I later realized that it was only me who wanted more.

"In retrospect, I think 'Who the fuck am I to judge anyone for what they do?' For me however, it’s about the highs and the lows. In everything, big risks, big gains, big losses. Dynamics baby! In music, love, business, it keeps life exciting. The last line, 'Kick over the stone that bears your name, I spit on the snow that covers your grave...' is exactly how I feel. I have no pity for anyone who gave up and I am especially bitter towards anyone who discourages others. Real life is all about doing your own fucking thing, what you want to do. Fuck everyone else and what they think. If you are unhappy with yourself and your life, I can understand why you would hate the person you would like to be."
"What I find interesting about this song is its effectiveness of its catchiness. There have been many non-metal fans who could get into this song and have the chorus stuck in their head all day. This is especially cool to me, considering how bleak and morose the lyrics are."
"I think many people in many places around the world can relate to this. Bands can just substitute ‘Ontario’ with whatever state or province they live in and cover it at the local bar. We’d like to do a video for this song where we would show footage of cities all around Ontario with live footage in each of those towns (should we ever do an Ontario tour) mixed with some shots of us rocking out in forest and riding down the highway in a rented hearse. We urge any interested directors to get in touch! Let’s get together and go for a Videofact grant and make some future classic Canadiana!"
"I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this song," Gold concludes. "Just like 'A Meeting Place And Time' from Woods 1. I never mind being reminded of the proof of good that came from the bad. In fact, I would love to see this song go big! Have it part of some Ontario film soundtrack, have it played on the CBC, local and campus radio all over the province, etc. I want a local hardcore band to use the title as their band name, I want someone to start metal fest by this name, I want a movie to use it as their title, I want this song to be heard and made famous and infamous!"

Watch for the complete monster interview, coming soon.

As previously reported, an e-card for Woods 3: Deepest Roots And Darkest Blues, is available in two versions. Click the following links to check them out:

Dragged Across A Forest Floor Intro

The End of August Intro

The complete tracklist of the album is as follows: 'The Northern Cold', 'Iron Grudge', 'Your Ontario Town Is A Burial Ground', 'Through Chaos And Solitude I Came…', 'Years Of Silence (And The Private Joke)', 'Distractions Of Living Alone', 'Deepest Roots: Belief That All Is Lost', 'Darkest Blues: Relief That Nothing Can Be Done', 'Thrill Of The Struggle', 'December In Windsor', 'Trillium: The Third Of Three Winters 2004-2007' (instrumental), Song Of Redemption', 'End Of Tradition', 'To Lock Eyes With A Wild Beast', 'Mistakes Artists Make (The Dream Is Dead)'.