A. Kruger of Suicide Forest
It is a rare treat to experience songs from a one-man project live and rarer still for shows to take the form of a North American tour! Suicide Forest is steeped in black metal DIY tradition in the sense that multi-instrumentalist and sole member A. Kruger set out to simply play black metal with no other fancy labels and unabashedly embrace multiple influences that lent itself to the creative process. On line you will commonly see Suicide Forest described as DSBM or atmospheric black metal, however upon closer listening it is clear that there is far more going on in the composition.
Upon their return from the month long USA and Canadian Pulled Into The Blackness Tour, I had the pleasure of catching up with A. Kruger to chat about his favorite tour moments, creative process, and the one-man band experience.
Frozen Moon Promotions: This seems to be one of the longest tours you have done as Suicide Forest, how long did it take to plan and how much help did you receive from your co-headliners SVNEATR?
A. Kruger: This tour ended up being the culmination of two endeavours we’ve been talking about since even before Suicide Forest became a touring project. Firstly, working with SVNEATR came about from discussing touring the US together after staying in touch with one of their members who played in a band that performed at our debut Vancouver show in 2019. Secondly, a doom band, Zak and I had, was featured on a compilation with Wilt in 2016, which inspired the thought of playing shows in Canada with them ever since. It only made sense to combine the ideas. We would have SVNEATR do a whole tour with us and then join up with Wilt for the Canadian leg. In a practical sense, the tour took about a year of planning before everything was set and ready. Though all of the booking on this tour was managed by either Wilt or Suicide Forest, SVNEATR contributed largely to the upfront costs of doing a tour like this including preparing visas, covering van repairs and maintenance, trailer rental, etc.
FMP: What are some of your favorite moments from the tour?
AK: Personally, the crowd responses at every stop on this tour have consistently been some of the best we’ve ever had; and that certainly stood out to me. Some of the venues we played on this run were also particularly special. We had the opportunity to play some awesome theatres, bar stages, small DIY spots, and a few record stores, but my favorite was probably The Cave we played in South Dakota.
FMP: Since this was your first time playing in Canada, how would you describe our scene to other US based black metal artists that may want to come up here as part of their tour? Did you find any specific differences or similarities between the scenes from both countries?
AK: The audiences in Canada have been really good to us. I am not sure if that is some sort of beginner's luck or if the scene here is just really hungry for this kind of music. Either way, it was overwhelmingly positive and I look forward to returning.
FMP: From a live music perspective, how difficult do you find translating what you have recorded by yourself to the stage with other musicians?
AK: It was never a major hurdle and it has only gotten easier with time. Zak has been playing in bands with me since before joining the live lineup for Suicide Forest in 2016. Rory then joined us in 2019 and the three of us have now been consistently playing together since 2021. We’ve been able to develop a performance setup that actually allows for much more intensity than we could previously pull off.
FMP: As a multi-instrumentalist, take us through the chronology of instruments you learned to play. When did you start creating full compositions?
AK: I have always been musical in one capacity or another. I was involved in youth choir and musical theater as a kid. I picked up (and quickly put down) several instruments in elementary school until I finally started teaching myself guitar when I was 13. As soon as I could play a song I started trying to play in bands. This led to creating my first performing band at age 14 where I played guitar and did vocals. We jammed in my grandmother's garage where the drumset was kept and it was there where I began regularly experimenting with drums. This band also used keyboards which I would play with, as well. Envisioning all the parts of a song became the way I would structure the music I would write for my bands. Whenever I wrote a guitar riff, I knew what kind of drum groove or synth line would sound best with it but I would usually leave that to the other members to create. I first started doing full compositions myself for a traditional black metal project that spanned from 2014-2016. After losing inspiration to carry on that project I started Suicide Forest.
FMP: The sound of Suicide Forest has evolved over time based on your influences during the creation of every release, can you tell us more about some of the non-black-metal influences you infuse into your sound.
AK: During the early demo era of Suicide Forest I was being exposed to a lot of contemporary classical music for my university studies, so the influence of Phillip Glass and Arvo Part definitely worked their way into the music. More recently I’ve found inspiration in slightly more traditional places. Funeral doom bands like UN, Mizmor, and Bellwitch immediately come to mind. Gothic Rock bands like Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, and The Cult have also been known to spark creative fires as well.
FMP: You released an EP entitled Mourning Star on July 12, 2024 which took two years to record & produce. What did you do differently on this record than in previous releases?
AK: The two songs that appeared on Mourning Star are from sessions that I began tracking at the end of 2021. A lot was going on in my personal life at the time which pulled me away from the sessions for a long while and by the time I returned to them, a lot of my inspiration and initial vision had evolved. What it ended up becoming was this two song EP that explores loss and grief. There’s more unreleased material from this session that will be released in one form or another in the near future.
FMP: I see that you have an extensive catalog from playing as part of bands and having your own one-man projects. How do you determine when a musical project is best suited for a band setting versus doing it solo? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
AK: I would say the only time I prefer to do a solo project is when I have an entire vision for the music, the aesthetic, and the lyrics. Even then, the workload of doing everything solo can end up becoming overwhelming and lead to burnout. Similarly, writing all the material as a solo artist means that you don’t have to worry about your band falling apart because someone leaves on bad terms and they don’t want you playing ‘their’ riffs or whatever. There's definitely trade offs and I would say it ultimately depends on what your goals are for the project and what your goals are for yourself as an artist.
FMP: What advice would you give to a new artist that wants to break into the scene as a one person band?
AK: If you want to be a part of any scene you have to participate in it. This would mean that as a one person project you should find some way to perform live and collaborate with other artists. The more creative you can be in this regard, the more you will stand out. Going to live shows in your area can’t hurt either
Dive deeper into Suicide Forest’s discography on Bandcamp and connect with A. Kruger on Instagram
FFO: NONE, Shining, Thy Light
