Few musicians in the local scene are as prolific and dedicated to atmospheric metal wizardry as Edith Grace Caufield. Under her various aliases (Demonizor, Dire Wolfkin, Die Komische Kneipegeisterin des Walds), the artist has crafted black metal tunes that swing from instrumental trance in projects like Mountain Warlock and Raumfahrer, to ballistic noise and lo0fi heaviness with Eleusis, to doom-filled mania with Kneipegeist. You can find music from most of these projects on BandCamp.
What was the first concert you attended?
I know I went to a few shows with my parents when I was really little but I don’t fully remember them. The first one I can say with full confidence I saw and went to intentionally was seeing my then-guitar teacher’s band Sinister Scene play at the music store where I got lessons over in Sparks. It was at the intersection of Vista and Baring (boulevards), but I don’t remember the name, and it’s not around anymore. I remember the show was VERY LOUD for my little ears, but it kicked a lot of ass. Check out Sinister Scene’s album This Isn’t About You if you can find it on YouTube; they sound like Bullet for My Valentine, but more chuggy. The first concert that I attended that made me go, “Oh, this is what I have to do forever now,” was Tele/Visions and Mike Donovan Band at the Holland Project in November 2013. Wow!
What was the first album you owned?
Metallica’s … And Justice For All on CD. I have fond memories of listening to it in the car with my dad.
What bands are you listening to right now?
A lot! Most notably and frequently, Mortuary Drape, Steröid, Running Wild, and Witchfynde.
What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone love, but you don’t get?
Hardcore.
What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
In Solitude, from Sweden. That band exhibited so much musical genius and dark, occult passion that it’s mind-blowing. It’s tragic that they broke up, and I would KILL to see them! For real, go listen to “To Her Darkness” right now, and watch the music video. It’s perfect.
What’s your favorite musical guilty pleasure?
I try not to treat any of my pleasures as “guilty”! It helps maintain personal integrity. The pleasure that I guess my musical milieu (metal, rock, punk, etc.) would consider most guilty is disco, which sucks, because disco is awesome and fun. Who cares if it was a commercial music industry money-making powerhouse for a time—so was fucking metal in the ’80s! Justice for disco and insanely talented bands worldwide.
What’s your favorite music venue?
The Holland Project! I’ve been attending and/or playing shows at the Holland for the past 12 years and would be nowhere near the musician or music fanatic that I am today without the space that the Holland and all of its tireless employees and volunteers over the years have provided. The variety of bands that Holland books, and the styles of music they play, is unmatched in the whole state of Nevada. We’re blessed to have such a sick spot in Reno, and I hope it goes for 20 more years and beyond.
What’s the one song lyric you can’t get out of your head?
That’s a hard one, because I tend to get random lines from songs stuck in my head on loop for short periods before leaping onto the next one. It’s kind of annoying, actually! One that has been with me for a long time, though, is from Iron Maiden’s “The Evil That Men Do”: “And I will pray for you / Someday, I may return! / Don’t you cry for me / Beyond is where I learn!” I think about it a lot in the context of my father’s death, as it was his favorite Iron Maiden song on his favorite Iron Maiden album, and they’re maybe my all-time-favorite metal band.
What band or artist changed your life? How?
As much as it pains me to say, Dissection! I could say a lot about some of the actions taken by a certain deceased member of that band, but I won’t burden you with that here. Hearing their song “Night’s Blood” for the first time in high school broke down the final barrier between me and extreme metal. I have been a metal maniac since I was a baby, basically, but mostly stuck to old-school heavy metal and thrash metal up until high school; something about the harsh vocals and brutality just put me off. However, upon hearing this song, suddenly the power of harsh vocals clicked, and the massive wave of harsh noise and melody just whisked me away to a fantasy land of pure metal, and I have been in love with black metal ever since. I’ve wavered a lot toward death metal and extreme doom and stuff like that, but nothing has ever enchanted me like black metal. Hilariously, it was a Tumblr post about Skyrim that introduced me to the band–go figure. Very 2014.
You have one question to ask one musician. What’s the question, and who are you asking?
I think I’d ask Tony Iommi how the hell Black Sabbath wrote their first album! Here were essentially three hard jazz-rockers and one guy with a great voice, and they crafted the most consistently dark and autumnal sounding album of the whole mid-20th century, and recorded it in less than 24 hours! They laid the foundation for us all to build upon, and I’d like some insight into how they achieved that.
What song would you like played at your funeral?
I haven’t ever given much thought to this question, because to be honest, I’ve only ever been to one funeral, and it didn’t seem like an occasion for a sing-along or one final rock-out or anything. Death is a phenomenon imbued with a great cold majesty and cruelty, but even a black metal nerd like myself can’t think of a song that would seem appropriate. If I had to choose though … something grand and pagan, like Scald’s “Sepulchral Bonfire” or something.
Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Falls of Rauros, The Light That Dwells in Rotten Wood. Nothing comes close!
What song should everyone listen to right now?
“In League With Sauron” by Barrow Wight. It’s like Venom and a prog rock band had an evil love-child in Mordor. Amazing!
