Interview with Diamond Black

«Young people need something they can believe in!»

Intense, sensual, and mysterious, Diamond Black is a dark rock band from London, England. Formed by Ben Christo (guitarist for The Sisters of Mercy), Diamond Black delivers crushing riffs, mesmerizing electronica and cinematic choruses, all topped with a rich cocktail of intrigue and glamour. The band's musicians cite the heaviness of Katatonia, the passion of Depeche Mode, and the mesmerizing Type O Negative as inspirations. The guys kindly took the time to answer our questions about creative freedom, the best songs of all time, and successful collaborations with other musicians.

As far as I know, you are a guest musician in several bands. But now you are also promoting your band as a frontman. What is more difficult for you?

Ben: These are slightly different disciplines. This band is my personal passion. We created it with the guys ourselves. When you play in someone else's band, it is part of the creativity of another person. In someone else's project, you do what is expected of you, and it is great and fun, but it is someone else's vision, and it is not the same as when you completely create everything.

I often hear the advice that it’s a terrible idea to do business with friends. How do you make a great product, do good work, and still be friends with the guys?

Adam: We’ve been making music with the guys for a long time now. And I think a good band is like a good marriage. The same rules apply. We have the same vision and the same goals.

Ben: I think that’s a pretty clear answer. Of course, being in a band and being friends can be hard too (as can marriage and relationships). Sometimes I even think that being in a band, doing business, and being friends is even harder than being married. But the main thing is that you have to learn to problem-solve. Sometimes it’s hard to find that important balance between business and love. “Hey guys! Let’s get all our important stuff done and then have fun.” It is not easy to say that.

Vincent: Of course, when working in a band, or in friendship, or in any other relationship, there will always be some disagreements or arguments. But if you have a common goal or idea in your head, then you will know the value of everything you do and will try to find solutions like adults. Also, I think that the experience we have gained working on other projects helps us. The experience of communicating and interacting with other people. Even best friends sometimes have disagreements or quarrels. But there is always some solution. And we were able to learn a lot from the mistakes of the past.

Ben: I also think that the longer you communicate or work with someone - the better you begin to understand when a person is trying to convey something really important to you and when he is just upset or disagreeing because of a bad mood. It took me quite a long time to learn to distinguish between these states. But the longer you know a person, the easier it is in such situations.

So would you say that communication is the key?

Ben: Exactly!

Adam: We spend a lot of time together when we work or record songs in the studio. And we also travel a lot together. So I think we have learned to interact like best friends.

Vincent: I also think that respect is very important. We all have different personality types and characters. And of course we have personal boundaries and some habits. And I think it is very important to be aware of that.

As far as I know, you are currently working on a new album, and you have an international team. Can you share a few secrets about the team or your producers?

Ben: We’re working with Jaani Peuhu right now, and he’s from Finland. We work with him on all the music that we have. We also consider him an important part of the band, like a 4th member. And that relationship and all the great work that’s been done are really important to us. We have some more ideas of who we could bring in as guest musicians, but we’re not going to reveal them yet. As you may know, we’ve worked with Chris Harms from Lord Of The Lost on our previous releases. And he created a great song with us, but he also brought us a relevant fan base. We want to strike that balance now and show that this is really our album and not give too much space to other artists on our album. That’s one of the important points of balance in art, having the right people on board. But it’s also a challenge sometimes for a lot of reasons. Some people think that you have a list of names of people you want to collaborate with and you just pick from the list. But you have to consider whether these people can find the time and opportunity for you and whether they want to do it.

Most of your songs are about personal experiences and emotions. Is it scary to open your heart to strangers?

Ben: I feel like it’s easier this time around. I’ve written songs for other bands before, but I wasn’t the singer. I have more opportunity to express myself now. I feel like Diamond Black is my home now, where I feel comfortable expressing myself and doing things I haven’t done before. And I remember my experience when I was a frontman before, but it failed. Sometimes it’s hard to find that balance between being yourself and being good, because I’m British. Also, if I try to be more cool, it won’t feel natural. But with this band, I’m open enough to be fearless, to talk about my experiences. We don’t have to sugarcoat our experiences now. So I find it really easy to talk to the audience. All these topics that I talk about, they’re important to me. I’m not trying to be someone else. I am glad that I have these guys with me because they can give me great feedback on what I do and how it looks. Also, after some shows, people who have never seen us before have come up to us and said, “What you said to the audience really meant something to me, and now I am a fan of your band.” I find that experience very powerful; I have never had that experience with other bands. This attempt to be authentic and speak to people through our songs seems really successful to me!

Adam: Even when we talk about difficult topics, we try to stay positive and have a positive message.

Ben: Yeah, we really try to avoid being preachy and saying, "This is what you should do!"

How do you feel about cover bands?

Vincent: I've been in both cover and tribute bands. There are some differences between the two types of bands. Cover bands play at weddings, bars, and parties, basically. Tribute bands are like miniature versions of the original band. I can't say anything bad about that. Some of the tribute bands I've seen have been pretty good. And if you can't get to see the real band, why not go to a tribute show? Sometimes they even look like the originals! I think if the musicians have found the right path for themselves, good luck to them!

Ben: I think people like going to these shows for a couple of reasons. The first reason: they play all the songs you want to hear. Because sometimes the original bands stop playing certain songs, for example, because the songs are too old. And there are always a few people, 20 to 40 years, who like the energy and like running around on stage. Also, these musicians usually play in venues that hold fewer people, so you can get a more intimate experience with the band, which is different from watching a concert on giant screens in a stadium. And the ticket prices for these shows are cheaper.

Adam: It's also a good option if the original band doesn't exist anymore. Or the musicians are dead.    

Ben: Usually big bands have a good fan base that will be happy to go to a tribute band and scream all these big hits. I must say, I was in a tribute band in the past too! We were a tribute to Def Leppard. And the funny thing was, there were people who tried to get our autograph! Hey guys, we are not them!

Most bands from the UK, Scotland, or Ireland have their own typical and recognizable sound. In my opinion, you don't have this typical British sound. How did you manage to get away from these stereotypes? And who inspired you to find your own style in music and sound?

Adam: I think it also has to do with the fact that our producer is from Finland. We try to go for a more Scandinavian or American sound. But also Ben almost always sings with a British accent. So we're not really a British band. We're an international-sounding band.

Ben: I think all of us are also influenced by American bands. British and American musicians. There's a slight difference in the pronunciation of words in British English and American English. And I don't always try to go as close to the British norm when I sing. I find it more authentic. When I sing, I try to create something cool and powerful, rather than focusing on norms and patterns. And thanks to the guys for supporting me and not saying, "Oh, I think you're doing something stupid!" even when they notice.

Vincent: I feel like when we were recording and mixing this album, we created our own sound and our own genre because we had so much experience from other bands.

What does creative freedom mean to you?

Vincent: For me, it's the ability to create what you want and what you like and to base it on your personal experience. I think we've managed to create that creative freedom with this band. Each of us has had experience working on other projects, and there we didn't have that freedom to create, because in most cases, we were playing other people's music and were tied to a genre and style. I like that as a drummer, the guys give me complete control over the drum kit and the ability to create a sound to my taste.

Ben: And sometimes Vincent comes up with some completely crazy sound solutions. We were even worried if it would work. From time to time, ideas and solutions need to be given time to be raw, and you can look at them in a couple of weeks. And only then decide if such things can work.

Vincent: When I get a demo from Ben, it’s very raw. It doesn’t have all these layers of different instruments. But I can see very quickly all the possible solutions, how I can decorate the song with my skills, what layers we can add to the music, and where the best places for synths are. And I just ask the guys to trust me and believe that it will sound great!

Adam: It’s been about 6 months since Ben came to us with all these demos. All this time, Vincent and I spent creatively searching, searching for the best way to decorate our parts. And then we took all this to Jaani, who also had his own vision of how to make our music sound better. I can call creative freedom that each of us is allowed to express ourselves in the music, allowed to add something from ourselves. Even if it’s a small thing like “I want this note to sound a little louder.” This is an important aspect.

In the 2000s, most people liked buying music online, subscribing to streaming services, and buying CDs. Now, a lot of projects have started releasing vinyl and even cassettes again. Don't you think that now musicians and labels are selling not only the music itself, but more of an image, a dream, and a fantasy?

Adam: Now, unfortunately, you don't have such a big source of income from just selling music. You have to sell vinyls and merch and a lot of other things. People want the whole package. And we are ready to give them the whole package.

Vincent: I feel like right now you have to do the whole package: writing music, making merch, touring, and publish all in social media. You especially have to be active on social media when you have new merch or a new video because people can just forget about you. There are so many bands and musicians out there! A lot of people are also interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes and in the studio. It’s all part of the music business and the whole picture.

Ben: It’s pretty hard to keep people’s attention if you’re just posting on social media like, “Hey, we have a new song out today!” You can’t do that for very long. So we liked the idea of having a more personal approach to our fans. I’m glad that Adam does a great job of creating our podcast where we share the latest information. We’d like to build a community around the band that way. And we’re glad that we already have that community, because three of us are pretty close. In the past, when I was in other bands, I thought you just had to be good enough and you’d be popular. Yes, that's part of the process, but! The competition between performers is pretty intense now, and you should thank your loyal fans with something special.

Let's say I can only listen to 2 or 3 songs from the entire history of music and 2 or 3 songs from Diamond Black. What songs would you say?

Vincent: For our band, I would definitely recommend songs from our new album.

Adam: If we were talking about being able to pick one song from the entire history of music, it would be Lou Reed's "Perfect Day." For our band, it would be "Fall into the Silence".

Vincent: One song that will always last for me is Johnny Cash's "Hurt". His version of that song is my favorite. I would also say that I really love "A Thousand Years" from our band.

Ben: Whenever you get asked questions like that, you always have so many songs in your head and reasons why you have to name them! Let's say "Through the Misery". Because for me, that song is like a turning point in a new direction for my music. And it also has such a strong message that we want to convey to the public. And also, after this song, people came up to us and said that it meant a lot to them. We have shirts with the lyrics of this song on the back: “Only you can find your way through misery.” It’s a very positive message that we would like to help people with. I still can’t name one song that will last forever…

Adam: Just name another love song!

Ben: Of course! I really love the song “Blood Red Skies” by Judas Priest! It’s really epic and dark and emotional! It contains a lot of the things I love about music.

What’s the worst nightmare for a musician?

Vincent: I could name a lot of things!

Ben: The first thing that came to mind was being on stage and not being able to hear yourself. When a room is full of people and you can’t understand or hear what you’re doing, that’s pretty scary. We’ve had that experience, yeah! But it seemed to go well!

Vincent: That’s what happened to me once in South America! All the other musicians could hear themselves, but my headphones weren’t working, and I couldn’t hear the click. I was sitting behind the drums, wondering what to do because I can’t hear myself from where I’m sitting; it’s too noisy. So I had to listen to what was going on on stage and around me. And the worst thing is that it was a pretty big concert with a lot of people!

Adam: I have a lot of thoughts on that. I would probably say falling off the stage.

I heard someone say recently that rock music is old people's music. Do you agree with that?

Ben: I think there are a lot of young people who love rock music! My niece loves rock music. And she's 21 or so. She's a real fan of some of the bands, and she's also willing to introduce her kids to it. Yeah, I think rock has always been something that's not mainstream. That's why it's rock music that's a reaction to pop music! Young people really need something to believe in and something that can help them when they feel different. Especially for teenagers. At that age, you want to belong, to be part of a community. Especially if you're an outsider. I think that's one of the big missions of rock music—to give you something to believe in and to belong to. Even if you're not part of the mainstream. That's how it was for me. And I think the rest of the guys in the band had the same experience!

Adam: What's important about rock music is it doesn't matter how old you are, where you're from, or what you believe in! We all have the same love for this music. It's a great way to bring people together.

Ben: Yeah, think about that feeling when you go to a show and you don't know the people there, but after a couple of minutes you start singing with them. It's an amazing feeling! Or when you see someone in a band t-shirt on the street, you already feel a connection with them. So it's all an important part of life.

Do you have any plans for shows in the foreseeable future?

Ben: Yes! We are currently planning our shows in England, and then we really hope to be able to organize a tour in Europe and in particular Germany. We have managed to build a great fan base there! So—stay tuned on our social media!

Jenet Bonishi