WHARFLURCH interview

Hi! Psychedelic Realms ov Hell ended with your protagonist lost in a fungal haze. Four years later, you're continuing exactly where the story left off. Did you already know where his journey would go when you finished the first album, or did the mythology grow organically during the years between the records?

Myk: Hello! I would say we had a pretty good idea where the story was headed, but we (John Mamo and I) definitely had some brainstorming sessions to sorta storyboard the concept out for the second album. Details most certainly revealed themselves in time, though.

The Mycolords are essentially cosmic fungal entities manipulating the development of intelligent life across the universe. Where did the original idea come from? Was there a particular piece of science fiction, psychedelic art, or simply a very strange conversation that planted the seed?

M: Well, y’know, someone had to be responsible for all this beautiful calamity. It really is just kinda our original idea, a cosmology that is obviously rooted in science fiction vibes, but unique to WHARFLURCH and our world-building concept.

There's something wonderfully paranoid about the idea that humanity might not actually be the author of its own evolution. Is the Mycolord mythology purely a psychedelic fantasy, or are you deliberately playing with some very real anxieties about control, evolution, and the direction of human civilization?

M: It’s certainly a reaction to and criticism ov current human affairs, much in the way all good sci-fi writing seems to be. But it is also most definitely a psychedelic fantasy haha. There are deliberate pieces on the album about that anxiety though, such as the opening track “Death Toll Horror”.

Your protagonist discovers that Earth isn't some isolated experiment, but part of a much larger cosmic process. Does that revelation make the character feel more insignificant, or does it give him a completely different understanding of his own existence?

M: Definitely both! But this is the nature ov true psychedelic experiences; you find oneness with the universe and utter insignificance within it almost simultaneously. Also this character is given a transformative task by the end ov this album, so it resonates differently.

Mycodeath and Rebirth in the Outer Clusters sounds almost like a soundtrack to an imaginary science-fiction film. When you're writing something this concept-heavy, do you actually visualize scenes and environments while composing, or does the story come together primarily through the music?

M: Absolutely all ov this album has been visualized by me personally, and the whole story totally exists in my mind as a movie ov sorts. The idea is always to write it with a cloud ov mystery and metaphor which allows listeners to dream up their own movie, given the music and lyrics and their imagination.

How much of the album was written around specific narrative moments? Are there riffs that exist because they represent something happening in the story?

M: The music exists somewhat separately, but there are parts where it was like “this is where the SporeLords come in” or what have you. Parts where atmosphere is more important than riffs, etc.

You describe the music as moving between "chunky / catchy / plodding" and "tricky / obtuse / beautiful". That's quite a broad range. Do you deliberately resist settling into one particular mood because the story demands constant changes of scenery?

M: My own musical appetites and approaches demand it. I always have to challenge myself, if nothing else.  It just so happens that this fits into my apparent aesthetic demand to have an over-arching story involved, haha.

Timeghoul and Demilich are mentioned as guideposts rather than references. Where do you draw the line between being influenced by something and simply reproducing its vocabulary?

M:  ell, as much as I love those bands, I have never tried to learn their riffs/songs or even lyrics fully. Moreso, I appreciate their ability to conjure their own specific atmospheres and attributes, not to mention songwriting styles. They didn’t really settle into any trends or start any. They just exist, singularly, as guideposts for others who wish to break the mold, and that is how I treasure them.

Timeghoul in particular created an entire universe around relatively little recorded material. Was their approach to atmosphere and world-building more influential to WHARFLURCH than their actual riffs?

M: You’re very perceptive, but as previously mentioned, YES this is absolutely the case. It’s incredible to me what they achieved, and it should be an inspiration for anyone doing any kind ov music, period.

The synths add a distinctly cosmic dimension to the death-doom. Are they there primarily to expand the atmosphere, or do you think of them as another instrument within the riff-writing itself?

M: The synth stuff is usually an afterthought honestly, although it definitely is important to the whole sound. The atmospheric expansion is certainly important, but there’s also parts where low frequency synths are doubling heavy riffs, it’s just mixed to sound bigger and heavier.

This album was apparently begun in late 2021 and is only now seeing the light of day. What happened during those four-plus years? Was the delay caused by the usual realities of underground recording, or did the album itself keep evolving?

M: We recorded the basic drum / guitar / bass tracks in late 2021, this is true. Then we went on a brief tour with MAUL in early 2022, did more shows and kept recording vocals and synths and crafting the narrative ov the album until things went sideways with our lineup. We disbanded and I started diving into other projects, such as PLASMODULATED and ANTAGONIZOR, as well as starting a trippy death doom project called LIMINAL EROSION. But it was always on my mind to finish this album and just get it out, for the true FLURCHFAM out there.

Did the long gestation period make the record better, or were there moments when you simply wanted to stop touching it and finally release the damn thing?

M: Yeah, I was just like “Let’s get this out, I need to move on.” But it truly had been fully actualized and mixed and art secured and everything for a couple years.

You've split the vocals between John and Myk, then added Garrett Alvarado as the voice of the Sporelords and Jamie Stewart for narration and additional characters. At what point did you realize the story needed multiple voices rather than simply different vocal performances?

M: It just seemed like a cool idea to involve some friends and make it more fun and intriguing. Jamie did the narration and a lot ov guest vocals on the previous album, so it was just kinda like how we do things at this point. Garrett visited me on vacation actually, and I was just like “Hey, you wanna jump on this Flurch album?” Which, ov course, he was so kind and eager to do, and it became pure record making magick.

Giving the Sporelords their own voice seems particularly important. How did you decide what these entities should actually sound like?

M: I just let Garrett do his thing and then put some trippy echo/reverb on it. No problem!

Does playing a character inside your own mythology change the way you approach the vocals compared with simply performing a WHARFLURCH song?

M: Not at all, it’s like reading someone an extremely trippy bedtime story: sometimes you have character voices and sometimes you don’t. It seems instinctive, I guess.

Claw//Eight has been involved with WHARFLURCH visually for years and has even toured with you. At this point, is his artwork something that illustrates the music after the fact, or has the visual world become part of the songwriting and conceptual process itself?

M: He is the visual conduit for the psychedelic madness that we as a band profess, and I have never thought he would be anything less than the perfect person for every artistic endeavor he has ever undertaken for the Flurch. Certainly though, knowing he has his capacity to transcend visually helps me know I can convey my vision to the world, and I am forever grateful for his art and friendship.

There's a strange connection between psychedelic music and extreme metal: both can be about overwhelming the listener rather than simply entertaining them. Do you think WHARFLURCH is ultimately trying to create a psychedelic experience through death-doom?

M: Most absolutely assuredly YES. That is the magick we wish to conjure, and it is the tale we tale, amongst the madness and dismay ov our age.

The album title promises both Mycodeath and Rebirth. Is the fungal transformation ultimately something horrifying, something liberating, or are those two things deliberately impossible to separate?

M: Completely deliberately impossible to separate. With the revelation comes terror and calm at once, a grim acceptance ov one’s own fate, ultimately unknown though it may seem.

Your mythology treats mushrooms not merely as organisms but as an intelligence capable of shaping entire galaxies. What fascinates you about fungi specifically as a vehicle for this kind of cosmic horror?

M: Simply the way they have behaved on this planet. The way they communicate via mycelium, the functions they perform on the surface, the infinite manifestations, the whole history ov their existence on this planet. They clearly play the long game, which the human species simply cannot do. It suggests a timeless, patient, horrifying intellect, at least in our view.

There's obviously a lot of humor lurking inside the concept, but the music itself can be genuinely oppressive and sinister. How consciously do you balance absurdity and genuine darkness?

M: We may be humorous on social media or in person, but the music and concepts aren’t meant to be, necessarily. It’s not like we belive this stuff explicitly, but we are definitely seriously conjuring a cosmology ov myco myths.

Finally, after two albums of following this protagonist through increasingly bizarre revelations, do you already know where his story ends - or are you going to leave him wandering somewhere beyond the outer clusters for the next decade?

M: His journey will span eons, but (SPOILER ALERT) at the end ov this album, he has been transformed thru MycoMagick into the Emissary ov Sentient Worlds, in which he is tasked with evaluating all other prospects in the Sporelords repertoire ov innoculated planets. (Yes there’s a third album planned all about this). So, his story is far, far from over (shout out Frank Herbert).

http://facebook.com/wharflurch

https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/mycodeath-and-rebirth-in-the-outer-clusters