Are you a fan of extreme metal?

Yes, I love it. My favourite subsections are US death metal 1990-1995, Bay Area and LA thrash 1983-1989 and Norwegian black metal 1991 to date, but it's all good stuff.

I also love Darkthrone, Burzum, Emperor and some Mayhem but don't really listen to much more black metal than that. I also like quite a few ‘blackened death' metal acts – Akercocke, Behemoth etc – and the occasional grindcore band such as Terrorizer, Lock Up and Watchmaker.

I feel lately that black metal is kind of in a slump, a lot of it is sounding either the same or there is no true black metal out there. What is your opinion on this?

There's just too much generic black metal that doesn't stand out. I do admire bands like Satyricon who try to push the boundaries of the music a bit, but death and thrash metal is so good at the moment that there really isn't any need to listen to most black metal.

What are your thoughts on Dark Funeral, they have always stayed true to their sound, some say that that is a good thing but others think it is them just not breaking out of their box creatively?

Dark Funeral are great. Sometimes I think they sound a little too much like Emperor but that's no bad thing!

No, not bad at all! How did you get into extreme metal?

When I was 16 in 1987 a friend played me Master Of Puppets and I was blown away. Slayer and Anthrax followed and by the 1990s I was listening to death metal. I play guitar and bass and do a lot of journalism for musicians' magazines, which has helped me understand how demanding this music is.

So how did you get involved with doing your first book?

I was already a music journalist and wanted to move into books, so I asked myself which areas I would like to write about and metal was the obvious answer. At the time there was no serious A-Z of the extreme metal scene, a gap in the market which the publisher, Omnibus, had identified and were looking for an author to fill it. As it happened I sent them a proposal just at the right time and so the deal was done. Extreme Metal (2000) was the book I had always dreamed of writing.

Extreme Metal 2 was published in 2004 as an updated volume was required. The first one was well-received and sold well, but was slightly out of date as the scene was proliferating, hence the new volume.

It sounds like it was exactly what the metal scene needed at the right moment in time. Being a music journalist, who are some of the bands you have written about? Have you ever written any articles on metal scenes in general, like in the States and compared to the United States?

I've interviewed about 350 musicians for various magazines (mostly Metal Hammer, Total Guitar, Classic Rock, Bass Player, Record Collector etc). About half of these come from the extreme metal scene, the rest are rock/jazz/folk etc musicians (yes, I like non-metal music too). There's a list of some of my interviewees at www.joelmciver.co.uk/about.html but whatever metal band you can think of, I've probably interviewed them by now – from big acts such as Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden and Pantera to cult bands like Gorgoroth, Dissection, Behemoth, Darkthrone, Nox and others.

I haven't really written about generic music scenes much apart from a couple of pieces on censorship in music for Metal Hammer . The musicians who I've enjoyed speaking to most include Dimebag Darrell, Tom Araya, Frank Bello, Lemmy, Steve Harris, Devin Townsend, Peter Tägtgren, Mille Petrozza... anyone who has an interesting opinion.

Damn! Sounds like you've lived a fruitful life in the underground scene and have established yourself with the big dogs! I actually remember that article on censorship in Metal Hammer . The world is full of lame people that are too afraid of expression and unfortunately extreme metal will always have those people bashing on it and trying to make us candy-coat it.

Because they're afraid of it. Idiots, it's just art.

Exactly! Do your books reflect any of your personal opinions on the metal scene?

Yes, lots. Perhaps too many! I've always said if a band impresses me or fails to do so. As I see it, now is a great time to be into extreme metal (and rock/traditional metal in general – for those who don't know, I've written nine more books since then, one of which – Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica – was a bestseller).

So you seem to think that this is a good time for metal, what brings you to this conclusion, is there any bands right now that are really catching your attention?

Loads. Old bands like Slayer, Celtic Frost and Sodom are still playing amazing music. The new wave of thrash has been very encouraging too – Municipal Waste, Evile, Dekapitator, SSS etc. The volume of high-quality music is what leads me to regard this as a good time for metal. That said, there's a lot of rubbish too, but then there always is...

Would you mind giving a short list of some of the bands that you have worked with?

Sure. There are some cheesy pop names on this list that may surprise you!

ABC, Adrian Belew, Alice Cooper, Ani DiFranco, Annihilator, Anthrax, Arch Enemy, Aura Noir, Bal-Sagoth, Band Of Gypsys, Bathory, Belphegor, Beth Orton, Bill Wyman, Billy Childish, Biohazard, Björk, Black Label Society, Black Sabbath, Bob Geldof, Bolt Thrower, Bon Jovi, Boomtown Rats, Boy George, Buzzcocks, Cannibal Corpse, Carpathian Forest, Celtic Frost, Cheap Trick, Chris Rea, Crowded House, Damageplan, Daniel Lanois, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Decapitated, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Deftones, Deicide, Destruction, Diamond Head, Dimmu Borgir, Dio, Dire Straits, Dismember, Dissection, Duran Duran, Dweezil Zappa, Earth Wind And Fire, Emperor, Faith No More, Faithless, Fear Factory, Fleetwood Mac, Galliano, Gary Numan, Godsmack, Gorgoroth, Grave, Green Day, Guns N'Roses, Hypocrisy, Ice-T, Impaled Nazarene, In Flames, INXS, Iron Maiden, Jack Bruce, Jah Wobble, Japan, John Otway, John Williams, Judas Priest, Kataklysm, Katatonia, Killswitch Engage, King Diamond, Kiss, Kreator, Kyuss, Lamb, Life Of Agony, Living Colour, Machine Head, Madness, Malevolent Creation, Marillion, Mark Lanegan, Megadeth, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Meshuggah, Metal Church, Metallica, Michael Nyman, Mike Oldfield, Moonspell, Morbid Angel, Morcheeba, Mortician, Mortiis, Mötley Crüe, Motörhead, Mudhoney, Napalm Death, Necrophagia, New York Dolls, Nik Kershaw, Nile, Nitin Sawhney, Old Man's Child, Opeth, Overkill, Ozric Tentacles, Peter Gabriel, Police, Porcupine Tree, Possessed, Primus, Queens Of The Stone Age, Ralph McTell, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Richard Thompson, Richie Havens, Rick Wakeman, Ritchie Blackmore, Robert Cray, Rush, Satyricon, Sepultura, Sex Pistols, Simple Minds, Slayer, Slipknot, Soulfly, Status Quo, Stereophonics, Stranglers, Strapping Young Lad, Superjoint Ritual, Suzi Quatro, Tears For Fears, Terrorizer, Testament, The Cult, The Damned, The Darkness, The Datsuns, The Haunted, The Hives, The Orb, Therapy?, Tom Jones, Tool, Trivium, Turin Brakes, Twisted Sister, Ultravox, Venom, Voivod, Whitesnake, Yngwie Malmsteen.

OK well you definitely have bragging rights! Opeth! Damn you are one lucky guy! How was it like working with them? They are definitely one of my faves!

I've interviewed Mike Akerfeldt three times and each time he's been very courteous and taken the time to really think through his answers. The man is a legend!

If you were to have a different stroke of luck in your life, would you rather be in a band full-time, or do you feel more at home interviewing bands and giving the fans the info about the bands?

I have a wife and two small children so I'm glad I don't have to tour in a band – I'd never see them! Also I've played about 50 gigs with various bands in my life, I love the adrenaline rush but I don't feel the need to do it full-time. But either career is a million times better than the usual dead-end office job, I'm very grateful for what I have. Most writers are completely broke, I'm very lucky to be able to make a good living out of books and journalism.

Sounds like the good life! So what part of Europe are you from, just so the readers can get more into the next question easier?

I'm just outside London, England.

Can you honestly give a comparison to the metal scenes here as to the one in the States?

Not really because I don't know the US metal scene that well. I spent time this year with Machine Head and Trivium in California, so I have some idea of the flavour of the American medium-sized club circuit – and it looked to be in very good shape to me. If I had to point out the differences between the European and US metal scenes I'd say that there's more variety here (the US has far too many generic metalcore/NWOAHM bands) but that bands are more appreciated in the USA, so there are better prospects for them there. I'd also say that Europe invented metal but that the US adopted it and is now the world leader in the genre.

Yes I agree, there are far too many bands out there that are not actual metal if you ask me. Like instead of thrash metal, we have metalcore, instead of black metal, we have this ambient stuff, and instead of death metal, we have way too many grindcore bands oversaturating the scene.

I'm a bit more optimistic than that. I try to look at the bigger picture – if you think about it, the fact that metal exists at all when so much commercial pop and R&B music is constantly thrown out by the media is amazing. Metalcore is boring, sure, but I'd rather listen to that than to the standard urban radio ballad, right? And yes, there are too many grindcore bands around – but we should be grateful that kids are still getting into extreme music played on guitars rather than listening to Britney Spears.

True. So you were around for the glory days of all the forms of metal, you've seen genres and trends come and go, can you give a brief description of how it was for you during such a badass time?

Funnily enough I was out having some drinks with Akercocke last night and we were talking about this same point. The 1980s, which to me was the glory decade for metal, saw some incredible changes. Think about it: Iron Maiden and the NWOBHM started in 1979. Then Venom came along in 1981. Metallica and Slayer emerged in 1983. Possessed and Death came out a couple of years later. By the late 80s Napalm Death, Carcass and Terrorizer had pioneered grindcore. By 1990 the Florida death metal scene was in progress. Two years later you had the whole Norwegian black metal thing. That's an incredible amount of change in just 13 years! The only comparable decade, purely in terms of musical change, was the 60s – which started with rock'n'roll and had established skiffle, beat, folk, UK blues, psychedelia and the roots of progressive rock and heavy metal by 1970. We lived through a great time!

Sounds like a damn good time right there! So a lot of people think that folk music should'nt be mixed with metal, for example, Finntroll, Thryfing, and a host of other bands. I like it when it is done right, what do you feel about this form of music that seems to be the big thing right now?

I'm the same, if they do it right it can be quite enjoyable. But then I also like quite a bit of original folk music – the old guys from the 60s like Bert Jansch, Davy Graham and Nick Drake – and acoustic singer-songwriter stuff as long as it's genuine.

Nice! I am really into the more folky Terry Reid stuff myself. And finally, is there anything that you would like to say to any of your readers out there? And is there a possibility of yet another instalment in the Extreme Metal series?

I dedicated Extreme Metal 2 to the many readers who had contacted me since the first volume, and for good reason. I've been consistently blown away by the passion of the people on the scene, who give it their all despite the fact that the music is non-commercial and non-mainstream. I really appreciate every email I get and have nothing but respect for everyone who has read my books and reacted to them, whether positively or negatively. It's very inspiring to have such support and I couldn't do it without them.