Since nowadays I make several videos per month, it might come as a surprise that I used to be extremely camera-shy. In fact, when I first started interviewing people, I would not even appear on the frame. Karl Sanders forced me to stop that.
I first met him back in 2012 at Bloodstock Open Air in the UK. He refused to do the interview on video unless I was also in the frame. I guess I could have just said “well, fuck it, let’s just do it as audio-only”, but at the time I thought the only option was to just let myself be recorded. You can still see it on Youtube, and marvel at how absolutely awkward I was am .
The great thing about Karl is that he’s, by far, one of my favorite people to interview. He’s funny, down to earth, and quick to laugh. And considering that he’s one of the most talented and influential death metal guitarists out there, the fact that he’s so chill about the whole thing makes interviewing him an absolute pleasure.
Now, even though most people know Karl because of his work with Nile, I first found out about him because of his solo work in Saurian Meditation and Saurian Exorcism. I was immediately hooked by the creepy atmosphere that he had created, and was really surprised when I found out that he was also involved in a death metal band.
Karl recently released Saurian Apocalypse, his third solo album, and I knew that I had to meet with him to discuss it. Turns out the whole thing was just a way to make alligators meditate. And who knows; maybe it works.
You can watch my interview in the video below, or read the transcript (for free!) on our substack.