The enigmatic Jex Thoth doesn't do many phone interviews, not for her latest Sabbath Assembly project-presenting re-imagined versions of hymns written and sung by the notorious Process Church of Final Judgment-nor for the band of doomsters which bears her name. Indeed, though Jex Thoth the band has just released an incredibly killer EP of their own-titled Witness-it's Sabbath Assembly's Restored to One debut for which Jex has come to speak about to Cape Cod Rock, an honor for which we are eternally grateful. Read on, and delve deep into this exclusive Q and A session with the elusive, illuminant princess of the dawn.
Cape Cod Rock: The music here is so evocative of the era in which the Process Church of Final Judgment flourished. It possesses this end of the sixties dream/dawn of seventies danger feeling. Was this sort of the point?
Jex Thoth: Yeah, we really wanted to bring an authenticity to these hymns, and to cultivate this feeling of authenticity to the time in which they originated. Since there was no previous recording of it, we didn’t have any means of inspiration in that department, so it was definitely more about how we felt they MIGHT have been, coming from that era as a response to the hippie ‘flower power’ side of things.
Do you then feel that spiritual music can possess both malevolence and beauty, as a result of the Process Church’s belief and worship of the god and satan ideals simultaneously?
I absolutely do. Especially in the context of how this music was presented originally; each chapter sang the hymns in unison, in the context of their masses and liturgy. It’s very evocative in that way. The songs in how WE’VE been presenting them—sometimes in a college, a bar, or a performance setting—within the context of the liturgy itself have received differing responses depending on those settings. Certainly, it sounds different to ME to sing these hymns in different settings, as well. When we do them in the context of the liturgy, it’s a mixed bag, because some people like going to church…and some people DON’T like going to church! [laughter] So it’s received a number of different responses across the board.
Yeah, I was gonna ask whether or not a full-fledged tour would be possible, and whether you could play exclusively at places of worship, or in halls which would have this mass-type of quality.
Yeah, that’s a really interesting question which we’re asking ourselves all the time. What is the proper way to present these hymns? We don’t want to be disrespectful, and—at the same time—they sound like they can stand on their own. So when we did perform at a church in Seattle, it felt a lot different, so we’ve talked about touring possibilities playing at normal ‘rock’ venues during the week, and then finding spaces for our Sunday shows where we can do the hymns in the context, while also including some liturgical readings.
What audience reactions have you seen? You could have a normal ‘rock’ reaction at a weekday venue, but I could also see—on a song such as ‘Glory Hallelujah’, for example—this Baptist spiritual dancing, or ecstasy.
[excitedly] Uh huh! Absolutely! I think that kind of thing in that context is a really ‘feel good’ kind of hymn, and when you do it in a bar, it feels completely different! [laughter] I think people are maybe a little put off by a song like ‘Glory Hallelujah’ in that setting, whereas other songs maybe weren’t as evocative in the context of the liturgy. Then you have a song like ‘Glory Hallelujah’ come along, and people may want to jump up out of their seats and sing along. That was kind of my goal originally, to make the lyrics available so that anyone who wanted to could learn the words and sing along any time we do it, in the context of the liturgy, congregation-style.
How did you approach doing these songs, and how does it compare to the approach you take in Jex Thoth the band?
A completely different approach, actually. Typically, when you cover someone else’s material, you’re doing your own interpretation, and you’re changing it completely often. For a band like Jex Thoth, you’re putting a song into that style which may not have been in that style before—the Slap Happy cover on our latest Witness EP, for example—and completely doom them out! We were conscious to not do that with Sabbath Assembly, however; not to hijack these songs. We wanted to remain true and work inside that box, so that we could remain true and not disrespecting the original composers and intentions behind these tunes. The composers are unknown, and we have no recordings or reference points in that manner; the songs were really written from a place of pure intention and devotion…we wanted that to come through.
We’ve actually had a lot of original Processians show up at the times where we’ve done the liturgy in Los Angeles and New York, and the response from them was…[laughter]…almost completely unanimously, “whoa! That was NOT what they originally sounded like! When we did them, they were all in unison, all up tempo and all rather joyous!” They also did say, “right on. We like what you’re doing, and you’re definitely capturing the good feeling we all got while singing these songs together in worship.” That was a huge compliment.
That’s one of the things I like most about it, because when I listen to Restored to One, it almost has a similar effect as a film like The Wicker Man…
[Interjecting] Oh WOW!
…where you have these folk songs which are extraordinarily dark in the context of the film, but not so much on their own.
I would definitely agree with that. It’s quite interesting, because it’s a completely different experience for me singing these songs live than it has been singing any other type of music EVER. It’s very transformative, and I’m really feeling every single lyric as it’s coming out through me. The homework has already been done—I’m already feeling a personal connection and meaning behind the lyrics—but rather than sing that to people the way I hear or imagine it in my head, I really try to stay in the present moment, and often times I’m transported to another time and place. I almost feel like a channel. It’s kind of scary at times, actually. We’ll finish a song, and sometimes I’ll feel like I’ve only just started; like I’ve left the room while it was happening. It’s been such a different experience for me, and I’ve just derived so much pleasure; I feel unified within myself, which is great, because it goes along with the teachings of The Process.
In meeting these original Processians, were you surprised at all in what they were like overall? Were many of them normal, everyday folk? I mean, the Process Church now has morphed into the Best Friends Animal Society!
It was really interesting. In speaking to lots of these different sorts of people, I kept asking them what the Church was like, and why they joined, and all of their answers were different. Their experiences and what they came away with was a very personal and individual experience for each one of them.
Were you worried that Sabbath Assembly might go over people’s heads?
[sighs] I didn’t know how it would be received. When we finished this record, we knew that we wanted EVERYONE to hear it. This record is NOT for only certain types of people, fans of The Process, or for metalheads. It’s for grandmas, kids and adults alike. We want everyone to have the chance to be moved the way WE were moved playing them, but at the same time there was some concern from people who helped us get the record off the ground that maybe certain people in the metal community WOULDN’T embrace it, and that hasn’t shown to be the case…to our delight! I’m a part of that community, and—as a fan of music—you can see the connection between extreme music and this record, because even though it’s not thrashing and doomy, it’s extremely heavy music. The songs are heavy right off the page, which is one of the reasons I was drawn to them in the first place.
Sabbath Assembly performs 'Glory Hallelujah' in Los Angeles
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