Green Lung: The ultimate guide to their heathen universe

Green Lung’s world is one of sorcery, folklore, ritual and fungal mind-expansion. And, apparently, a roadie who doesn’t wear pants. As they prepare for their biggest tour to date, master of ceremonies Tom Templar lifts the curtain on their strange heathen universe, and shows us just what he keeps up his wizard’s sleeve…

Tom: “When I was about 15, a friend of mine got The Serpent’s Gold by Cathedral, the box set, and we saw them support Cradle Of Filth. From there, we saw them again with bands from the label, Electric Wizard and Grand Magus. I realised, ‘Oh, okay, these things are connected.’ I was a huge Sabbath fan, and through Cathedral and Rise Above I found this whole world of Sabbath-y music that I didn’t know existed.

“That period was great. You had Witchcraft and Blood Ceremony, who were kind of twee but evil, which is very Green Lung. It’s got a village vibe. There was Sunn O))), Moss, you had Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats… so much music.

“I saw Cathedral’s final show at the [O2 Forum Kentish Town]. We were like, ‘Holy shit, doom is massive!’ We’re playing there now, so it’s gone full-circle. Hopefully we don’t shit our pants when we go on and realise what’s happening.”

Tom: “I don’t want us to just be ‘the folk-horror metal band’, but it’s such a big part of our identity. Witchfinder General is basically like where I grew up in East Anglia. Those movies are very counter-cultural. In Blood On Satan’s Claw, the kids of the village create their own religion and have all this power, and the judge is trying to stop them. It’s written that you want the judge to win, but I don’t – I want the radical witches in the in the woods to win! It’s similar for The Wicker Man. Nobody thinks that’s a horrible ending. It’s kind of triumphant. These people are communal, they’re sex-positive, they live closely with nature.

“I’m obsessed with that moment in the ’60s, where for about five years it felt like music and art could actually change the world. I mourn it. People really believed there could be a revolution, and you could live with nature. It was a genuinely optimistic time, and I think we’ve lost that.”

Tom: “Oceans Of Time is a really important song for us. It was out of the comfort zone, but I was just desperate to do something with that famous line, ‘I have crossed oceans of time to find you.’ How has no-one in metal ever taken that and turned it into a big song?

“Also, I want to do musically what [Godfather director] Francis Ford Coppola did with that movie. It’s insanely high-budget, it’s camp, it’s sexy, nightmarish, very English – except for Keanu Reeves’ accent! It’s also about as big as gothic ever got, in terms of sheer big swings. There was this moment in the early-’90s where goth stuff had a massive high-water mark with this and Interview With The Vampire. You’re never gonna get that again. Who’s gonna give a crazy auteur millions of pounds to get all the best young actors in the world and tell them, ‘The Godfather did well, go make your psychosexual Dracula movie’?”

Tom: “As a kid, I had this on my bedside table. It was this massive Reader’s Digest tome. I had that and the Book Of British Birds. I went back to it as an adult, and there’s just so much material here to play around with, as a lyricist and a storyteller. I also want to shout-out two zines, Hellebore and Hwaet!, which are both great.

“There’s been a big resurgence of interest in folklore and the occult, especially in England. There’s something really nice about getting in touch with your local place and its history. I grew up knowing the names of plants and things. I think that’s really important. If I ever had kids, I’d really want them to know the folklore and the names of things and some history, because everything’s just getting eroded and everything’s a Greggs now. I hope that with my lyrics in Green Lung, we’re leaving a paper trail for people to follow, like Iron Maiden. You can just think it’s cool witchy shit, but if you really want to get into it and follow the sources, get that book.”

Tom: “We’re a rare metal band with a keyboardist, or organist. That was an accident. We started off as a four-piece. When we were doing [2019 debut] Woodland Rites, we were recording the vocals, and we started putting in some organ here and there. It just felt right. When it came to touring, we couldn’t play, so we got our mate John in. And since then, it’s changed us loads. It’s given us so much room, and suddenly we could write a song like Oceans Of Time, or Maxine, where actually the primary instrument wasn’t guitar. The idea of Sabbath with a keyboardist like that is cool as fuck, and now we can do it!”

Tom: “We’re not a stoner rock band – we’re a mushroom rock band. Growing up in agricultural East Anglia, it was much easier to get than cocaine. ‘Hmm, I could talk to an incredibly sketchy guy, and have to drive 45 minutes. Or I could walk up the hill, look under a tree and take a handful of mushrooms.’

“Mushrooms are a great counter-culture drug. They make you empathetic, open your mind, make you see things. What I want with Green Lung is for people to feel and see things and go beyond the every-day. I saw Opeth on mushrooms this summer, and it was one of the best musical experiences I’ve had my life. I could feel it in every part of my body! Metal is odd, it’s not really drugs music, mostly it’s beer music. But if there’s one drug that metalheads should be doing, it’s mushrooms, because it makes everything epic and fantastical. I’m a big advocate.”

Tom: “You’ve got to support your local rock bar! We played our first gig at The Black Heart, at 3pm at an all-dayer. The thing about playing there is, people in the scene are just there, everyone who’s there is someone who really fucking cares about metal and rock. It’s like this hub. It’s so rare, even in London, to have a local place with gigs where you actually trust it. If there’s something going on upstairs, I will happily pay to get in, because I know it’s something good.

“Helgi’s immediately felt like home, because Olly [Pearson, landlord] was in Moss. You walk in and there’s Pentagram posters, werewolf movie posters, doom stuff everywhere. It’s my doom-obsessed teenage imagination! Places like that are amazing and must be protected at all costs.”

Tom: “Metal Joe is like a guy who was delivered to us by the universe. In 2021 we played Bloodstock the first time, and there was just this guy in our tent with a flat cap on who came up and went, ‘’Ello, I’m Metal Joe.’ And he just never left. He’s sold our merch at pretty much every gig since.

“Here’s a good example of why Metal Joe adds value to Green Lung: the Dorset Ooser is this big, spooky head that got found in a barn, and we have one onstage. I got the design printed on enamel badges, but I got my measurements wrong. It was full Spinal Tap, except the other direction – massive. It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done. I was like, ‘Joe, we’ve got to get rid of these, melt them and pretend it never happened.’ He was like, ‘No, I’ll sell ’em.’ He sold 100 of them as belt buckles to German men! Also, he hasn’t worn pants in over 15 years after reading Slash’s autobiography.
You need a trusted road dog like that.”

Tom: “We had a revelation with This Heathen Land that we’re not a cool underground stoner rock band, and that we want to be a big heavy metal band. And one thing that big heavy metal bands need is props. We got this lady called Carol Partridge to weave a mask out of wheat for [2021 album] Black Harvest. I went, ‘I want a Satanic-as-fuck mask.’ We had it onstage and people liked it, so we decided to go further. ‘Let’s have a giant Ooser head. Let’s have a massive ceremonial Morris dance magpie.’ It’s a visual representation of our universe. And there’s this amazing guy called Leon, who’s designed lots of props that we’ve used in videos and onstage. It’s worth going the extra mile, because it’s a ritualistic thing. It sounds stupid, but it manifests what we’re doing, and having that stuff around you, it all helps to add to the magic.”

Tom: “This is Richard Wells, who does our art. Other than the musicians in the band, he’s pretty much the most important thing about Green Lung. He did a poster for The Wicker Man for the BFI, which was absolutely amazing. It had the right vibe: slightly evil, but slightly cuddly, very English and very distinctive. We asked him to do the cover for Woodland Rites and he said, ‘I don’t know anything about heavy metal.’ I said, ‘Great! It’s unique, then.’

“He and I speak the same language. It’s basically two nerds being telepathic with each other. He’ll send me a sketch, and I’ll just go, ‘Do that!’ You know the ‘goat boy’ illustration that lots of people have had tattooed? That’s him. It’s gone full-circle now, where I think of Green Lung as Richard’s art, and when I’m writing songs, it’s sort of steeped in that. He’s like our version of Iron Maiden and Derek Riggs. And, actually, if you look at the cover of Maiden’s Somewhere In Time, there’s something like 50 little references hidden in the art, and Richard’s started doing that with us. I’ve spotted little things he’s done in our work and realised it’s a really subtle reference to a lyric or a previous thing. He’s amazing, and he’s massively important to us.”

This article originally appeared in the winter 2024 issue of the magazine. Green Lung tour the UK from February 17.

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