I got the special opportunity to interview Solomon Kane of Lurking Beneath the Sea about his new album, A Cure Worse Than The Disease, which was released through Skull Hill Recordings, a label owned by Aaron Kirby of Ascending King.
Could you give a little history about the project?
I started Lurking Beneath The Sea in August 2015 , basically to push myself to learn the recording aspect of music. I always played in modern rock bands but I’ve always loved extreme music and wanted to try my hand at it.
How did you come to sign with Skull Hill Recordings?
Aaron Kirby is my oldest friend , he basically started the label and asked me to jump on, simple as that.
You are in Thief on the Cross with Aaron as well, if I recall is that right?
Aaron and I are in Thief On The Cross. It started out that I would make a few contributions to the second release and he really liked demos I sent him and asked me to join full time , and that’s how I came to be on Skull Hill, it was just a given at that point.
The band released a few singles on the label and then came out with a full-length, Eulogies. Is there a theme behind the album? Or is there multiple themes?
It basically deals with loss , trying to find my way and giving myself over to Christ because at that point I couldn’t deal with it all. My best friend had just passed away at the end of April 2019 and at the end of July 2019, I lost my father to a long battle from a severe stroke and cancer. The first track “A Heroic Fire” is about my father and Christ.
Your sophomore album comes out on September 11, 2020, which is titled A Cure Worse Than The Disease. I have a guess as to where the title came from, but I’ll ask anyways. Could you give a little bit of info on the new release?
The new record, A Cure Worse Than The Disease is basically about the pandemic, lockdowns, the media fanning the flames of everyone’s discontent, how we as a civilization are walking a fine line, and – what I believe is the most important issue that no one is talking about which affects everyone – our choice is being taken away and as a species we are moving further away from God, it’s just not good.
Jacob Ramjeet performed the last song on the album. I’m not familiar with him, where did you meet him?
He’s another old friend of ours from the underground in Dallas, all of our old bands used to play out together or we would roadie for each other. He’s an incredible songwriter, composer, and musician. He knew my father as well and wrote the acoustic piece the day he heard that he passed away, I asked him if he’d contribute it to the record, it fit for what I was looking for.
Kenneth of Nattesorg (and his 3000 other projects) mastered both this upcoming album and Eulogies. I assume you met him when you signed with Skull Hill correct?
Kenneth is an awesome dude! Incredible musician and has a great ear. Aaron hooked us up when it came time to get the records mastered. I’m eternally grateful to both of those guys.
I’m not sure if you remember or not, but you and I were a part of a band for like a week together called The Shadows Devour. I’m not sure what even really happened but I blinked and you were in and out like that.
Dave Coats is a really good guy. I was still in the middle of trying to finish Eulogies , and at that time too I was basically couch surfing wherever I could stay at that point. Y’all deserved more time than I could give at the moment and I didn’t want to waste y’all’s time with things on my end being so uncertain.
What are the influences for Lurking Beneath the Sea?
Lurking Beneath The Sea musically influenced by my contempories I came up playing music with, bands like Dryline, Kaliya, Losa, on a bigger scale Leviathan and Horde just to name a few. It’s also influenced by life in general. I’m a Christian and Lurking Beneath The Sea was always just an outlet for me, just my reflection of all things.
Is there anything in particular you’d like to tell everyone?
First, I’d like to thank you for your time and support, Mason. To everyone else, thank you for taking the time to read this and for checking the music out. Just be excellent to each other, be willing to share ideas, talk to one another and agree to disagree if you are not in agreement . If you love someone let ’em know, let ’em know everyday, life’s too short not to, much love and respect to all of y’all!