Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?
Péter Kecskés: United Gods started as a performance group in late 1989. In 1990 we begun to be an experimental-industrial band, working with tapes, radio and voice and with traditional instruments. In the early nineties we released Daath, our first full-length casette and appeared on several compilations. Almost ten years after the dissolution of the original group I decided to start again with the available and much needed digital technology. In 2003 we released the double CD Joined to an Angel with new and old, unreleased materials. In 2005 with the limited edition of my artworks /Omens/ we released some music and since 2010 with the new line-up we released two albums on Kalpamantra, AER in 2011 /originally released as a limited CD in 2010/ and the new live album in 2012 and appeared on various compilations.
How would you describe your musical sound?
K. P.- It’s important that I'm coming from an experimental milieu, I’m an artist-photographer, writer, so it’s very important for us to try out new things, shed our skins with each releases and try to experiment with whatever comes our way. So we have a dark ambient, industrial, ritual, experimental and spoken word side, bur we keep on expanding!
What are some of the feelings and emotions the band seeks out to express in the music?
K. P.- It’s different from time to time, especially when we play live. I have some very precise ideas for a couple of „songs”, but when we begin to work out them, they could change into totally different pieces. Sometimes it’s about a deep-felt anger, loss of a friend, metaphysical doubts and solutions and it could go on and on…
What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
K. P.- Our name comes from a traditional idea of the transcendental unity of religions, in this case the imaginal God-forms as ideas or theories in Henry Corbin’s or in it’s original sense of the word.
What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
K. P.- We played some intenso shows around 1991 in the Black Hole and Young Artist’s Club, more recently we had a great show –at least in my opinion – in Bútorszalon, you can hear it on the new album, it’s pretty intense! Also we had a great concert last year in Lubensky Lodyha, that was at a festival in the Czech Republic. The performances are different, becuse of the venues, occasions and our intentions. Let’s say we have a „hc”-ritualistic-noisy side and a more meditative-ambient, sometimes even lyrical side.
DO you have any touring plans for the future?
K. P.- We’ll see, but at this stage we get invitations from time to time, if there’s an offer to have a tour, we’re looking forward to it!
The new album came out on Kalpamantra, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support that they have given you so far?
K. P.- As I remember Steven of Kalpamantra has contacted us for the compilation „Emissions” and since then we keep on working together. It’s great, because one can reach a huge audience outside the narrowing Hungarian scene!
On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of ambient and experimental music?
K. P.- We have friends/fans mostly from Europe and some from the US and the feedback so far is good.
Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?
K. P.- Yes, I started to release some music on my own last year, I did an album with the band First Aid 4 Souls, there was also a project, live appearances and a CD as Voluntas Voraginis and there’s a plan to release a noise-material I did with tgnoise in the near future. Péter Miklós, the other half of United Gods did XX4 and now doing Coreság as his own solo-project.
What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
K. P.- We begin to do some more text-oriented tracks this year, but it’s only one side of the coin, I’m thinking about releasing another live abum as well, but that’s only an idea.
What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
K. P.- Do we have enough space? We both listening to a lot of music from the classical, contemporary, experimental, even free-jazz, ambient, industrial, electro genres. Speaking for myself Throbbing Gristle, Coil, PTV was an important inspiration, also Etant Donnés, Virgin Prunes, early SPK. But we also like to listen to Tuxedomoon, Swans, Residents or to Ligeti. Nowdays we listen to all sorts of interesting unusual new sounds or the old classics of our liking.
How would you describe your views on Occultism?
K. P.- That’s a big one also! We don’t like the word Occultism, because of it’s neptunian flavour, we prefer to use the word esoterism in a traditionalist sense. We like writers such as Henry Corbin or Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Gustav Meyrink, Fulcanelli, Suhrawardi and the Hungarian Béla Hamvas and András László.
Outside of music what are some of your interests?
K. P.- Art, poetry, writing essays, metaphysics, ancient cosmologies, astrology, alchemy.
Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
