Sacrifice
A Conversation with Rich Carson AKA Canopic Ire
Sacrifice is out now on Closed Casket Activities, with cover art by Rich Carson.
Also includes a feature from Karkossyn (see last post), mastered by Justin Broadrick.
You’ve seen Rich Carson’s art, you potentially own a shirt with some on and don’t know it as he’s one of the regularly featured artist on Isolation Man shirts1.
When we were discussing potentially cover artists for Scraping the Divine one of the names mentioned by Full of Hell in the first round was Rich Carson, obviously we went with Savage Pencil, but I filed Rich’s name away for future use.
When I first reached out my e mail was probably some hurried mess of “I had a vision where I was the Hanged Man from the Major Arcana [hence the album title] can you do something like that with a wolfagram for a head???” The back cover of a decayed church organ and the inner art of organ pipes turning into snakes came from my explanation of the song title “There’s Worse Things Than Serpents”2
Rich is a tattooist, painter, illustrator, and vocalist of Unyielding Love, amongst other musical projects. I asked him some questions earlier this year in preparation for Sacrifice being released.
An Interview with Rich Carson AKA Canopic Ire
What was the switch from drawing for fun to “I can do more with this”?
I always enjoyed drawing and painting as a kid. It was either Lord of the Rings inspired, or I remember having a fixation on the movie Signs. Not sure how the latter holds up these days3, but I was usually drawing corn fields or wraiths instead of doing school work. I prefer solitude and getting lost in other worlds. This one is ill fitting.
I did a lot of work for different bands and businesses. I was interested in tattooing but really disliked the culture of tattooers. The narcissism, megalomania, rock star attitudes. I still highly dislike the culture, but I’ve learned from others that the craft of tattooing is very much whatever you make it. I don’t have to associate with this modern dialect tarnishing it.
When did you start tattooing?
I was getting tattooed a lot and eventually my tattooer and confidant took a chance on me and got me into a shop with great people. I think that was about 8 years ago. I’ve been around a couple of shops and recently opened my own private studio called “Crawling King Snake”. I love tattooing. I’m excited to see what the future holds.
What are some of your influences? Have they changed since you started? Who are your peers?
In terms of influential people I would say the longest and most consistent would be John Blanche. His Warhammer artwork has always effected me. I redrew his designs as a child. I can look at his work today and still see new things within it.
Talk us through the process for the Sacrifice cover art,
Sacrifice was a really interesting piece to work on. Anything highly symbolic or steeped in metaphor allows for me to delve into darker waters and find something worthwhile there. The dialogue between the artist and myself is important I feel. It's another thing when a band wants "a skull" or whatever, that's also fine. But getting inside someone's head a bit will always yield better results, or at least a more cathartic experience, selfishly, for me.
Do you mentally separate illustration, painting, and tattooing, or are they from the same wellspring but require different tools?
This is a good question. I’ve a penchant for lists and compartmentalising, very much to a fault. I definitely tried to keep everything separate for a long time, even neglecting things I enjoyed pursuing purely because it didn’t fit very illusory fencing that I had built for myself.
Nowadays I’ve gone entirely the other way, It’s a maelstrom of creative stuff. Whether it’s music, painting, tattooing, or newer pursuits, it’s all very much within the one universe. The logic being that if you enjoy one aspect of what I do, you may enjoy another. I know that’s often been the case with me. If I like someone’s music, I probably want to see their paintings, and so on.
Does your visual art inform how you approach your audio art in any capacity?
Very much so. I tend to picture songs like paintings. Even if I don't ever paint it, I can understand the layers, shadows, mood, much more effectively if I approach it that way. Everything needs guidance, whether it's from yourself or a less understandable voice, and seeing or hearing something come as a result, it's a reward for setting your mind on fire.
What music are you working on currently?
I've a dungeon synth project called Geheimnisknecht which I slaved over for a while now. I've released solely on physical format previously. The new record "Black Lightning Majesty" will be available in all the usual places however. I have never before felt the same incessant need to do something, even to my own detriment, as I have when creating this record, this project, this world. It'll be interesting to see how it's received.
What have you enjoyed listening to recently?
I've been listening to Robbie Basho a lot, there's a semi recent remastering of his album "Bouquet" which is worth everyone's time. Outside of that probably just Led Zeppelin, Budgie, Thin Lizzy. I find it very hard to listen to music in any way similar if I'm in a writing phase. Which I currently am for Geheimnisknecht and my heavier band Unyielding Love.
What have you enjoyed reading recently?
Dune. This interview would never stop if I went on about Dune. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to the feeling of discovering The Lord of the Rings as a child. It’s a fascinating series and the new Villeneuve films have been exceptional, I think.
In terms of non fiction I want to read Daisy Fancourt’s book “Art Cure”. That’ll be next on the list. I heard her talk about it live recently. Her research is fascinating and almost sounds like science fiction.
That link is going to be a blank page unless there’s an active merch drop in progress when you click it.
A quote from Thomas Hardy
“They should have stuck to strings as we did, and keep out clar’nets, and done away with serpents. If you’d thrive in musical religion, stick to strings, says I.”
“Strings are well enough, as far as that goes,” said Mr Spinks.
“There’s worse things than serpents,” said Mr Penny. “Old things pass away, ‘tis true; but a serpent was a good old note: a deep rich note was the serpent.”
I rewatched it three years ago and I think it holds up as Shyamalan’s best film.