MOUNTAIN OF DOOM
By Kelley Simms
Mount Salem, L to R: Hewett, Kopplin, Davidson and Morrison
Photo by Josh Kurpius
C
hicago doom-metal throwback
Mount Salem has concocted a
fuzzy potion of '70s rock and '60s
psychedelia with vintage production values. The quartet, consisting of
vocalist/organist Emily Kopplin, guitarist Kyle Morrison, bassist Mark
Hewett and drummer Cody Davidson, is
notably inspired by the heavy riffage of
Black Sabbath and Pentagram. The band's
tantalizing organ melodies, cascading
vocal harmonies and distortion-filled wall
of sound perforates the listener's ears on
its debut full-length album, Endless.
Initially recorded as an EP last year, Metal
Blade Records recently repackaged and
re-released it, including two new tracks.
Speaking with the pleasant Ms. Kopplin
by phone, she explained the excitement of
being signed to the label, the band's influences and her fascination with occultinspired themes.
38 illinoisentertainer.com december 2013
Mosh: Your band has obvious Black
Sabbath and Pentagram influences, but it
also goes deeper than that, doesn't it?
Emily: Yes it does. All four of us have similar music tastes, but also everyone is into
their own stuff separately. You can definitely hear some of our main influences
like you mentioned, but we also like psychedelic stuff, too. We were listening to a
lot of Deep Purple, Shocking Blue; a lot of
old classic rock 'n' roll stuff. Mark, our
bass player is into heavy, doom music.
Kyle is more into bluesy rock 'n' roll. And
myself and Cody are both more into postrock instrumental stuff. I think you can
hear everybody's separate influences
come together. I'm influenced by both
male and female vocalists. Even bands
like Fleetwood Mac, [bands] that you
wouldn't really think would be an influence or associated with our band necessarily. Stevie Nicks is one of my favorites.
Also, Nancy Wilson from Heart.
Mosh: When did you start playing the
organ?
Emily: I actually just picked that up right
when we started the band. I played the
piano for years and I took a lot of piano
lessons when I was a kid. When we were
talking about jamming and getting
together to play some music, everyone
picked up new instruments. I thought it
was cool to add an organ [to our sound].
It's pretty much the same thing as playing
the piano, but it's just fun to play around
with the settings and make it sound different.
Mosh: The band's imagery is based on
occultism. What are you trying to convey
with your lyrics?
Emily: When we started playing together,
we didn't really have an idea of what we
wanted the music to sound like. It just
came out the way it is; having a very eerie,
creepy vibe. I've always been intrigued by
occult ideas. It's interesting to hear about
those ideas and read about people who
have experienced these things and write
stories about it. I usually like to write in a
style where I tell a story and the listener
can create a picture in their head of what's
going on. I think that's a necessary way to
go about the music that we were writing.
It just seems really natural to fit with the
sound.
Mosh: What's it like to be signed by Metal
Blade Records?
Emily: It's pretty insane. We had no idea
that they would contact us. We were completely shocked. We sent out a few X