NILSHIPHTER
Ian Daemon Black
Home | SEAN FERGUSON

I AM BLASPHEMY PERSONIFIED

The Devil is in the details...

I started out playing drums when I was about 16 or 17 years old, I took a music class in high school that exposed me to playing bass, keyboards and guitar. I was in and out of various punk and garage metal bands for several years, but none of them were ever really what I wanted to do, so I decided to start my own project where I would write and record all the songs myself. I bought a 4 track, a drum machine, I had a bass that I bought from my sister and a guitar that was a gift from a girl I was dating at the time, and I borrowed this cheap assed keyboard that belonged to my old roommate and Nilshiphter was created. I did things this way for about 5 years then I moved to Sacramento. I decided it was time to get other people involved in this, to expand the creative spectrum and to make it easier on myself. I was also interested in playing live shows and it was virtually impossible to do so alone. I placed an ad in the paper and recieved lots of calls from people who had not much of an idea of what I was doing. Then I met Bloodstain. Accident prone, self destructive, drunken, angry, psychotic, and bad assed at drum and synth programming. PERFECT! I met Sean at my day job at International Imports and after a bit of harrassment we got him to provide the Metal department of Nilshiphter.

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION:

Keyboards: Yamaha DJX, Micro Korg Synthesizer/Vocoder

Guitars: Memphis(to), B.C. Rich Warlock, Ibanez 7 string, Orpheus Classical Acoustic

Basses: Ibanez GIO Soundgear, Fender Squier II Precision

Drums: Pearl Maxwin 5 piece, Zildjian and Pearl cymbals, LP double bass pedal

Drum Machines: Boss Dr660, Korg ER1 Electribe Rhythm Synthesizer, Korg ES1 Electribe Sampler/Sequencer
 
Microphones: Shure PG58, Casio  Dynamic (piece o' crap mic...but it get's a great distorted sound), GE mic (another shitty one, but it gets the job done), I also use this little voice changer thing I got at a Halloween store
 
Amplifiers: Marshall 50 watt guitar amp, KMD 200 watt bass amp, Optimus PA speakers with a Nady XA900 Stereo Power Amp
 
Effects: Digitech Vocal 300, Digitech RP7, Boss ME6B Bass Effects, Ibanez Bass Synth pedal, Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah wah pedal, DOD Grunge Distortion pedal, Boss sustainer/compresser, Boss volume pedal, Ibanez digital delay/echo pedal, DOD extreme flanger, Ibanez Fuzz Pedal
 
Various other odds and ends: Hiwatt Echo-Theremin, Behringer 12 channel mixer (with 99 digital effects built in!), Behringer 6 channel mixer, Tascam Portastudio 4 track recorder, G.E. minicassette recorder, On Stage mic stands, Quick Lok keyboard stands, DOD graphic Equalizer, Jim Dunlop Tortex picks (the same blue ones that Sean uses), a glass slide, Dean Markley Blue Steel guitar and bass strings and whatever other little things that make noise I find laying around that I can mic or plug in and record.
 
INFLUENCES:
I have many, many musical influences...Skinny Puppy, Ministry, :Wumpscut:, Pigface, Switchblade Symphony, Christian Death, Bauhaus, Slayer, Deicide, Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Ween, Mr. Bungle, The Misfits, The Dead Kennedys, Danzig, Tori Amos, Carl Orff, Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Dead Can Dance, Tool, Bile, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, L7, Babes in Toyland, Nine Inch Nails, Funker Vogt, Cypress Hill, Lords of Acid, the list could go on and on for pages...
I am also massively inspired by movies, particularly horror and sci-fi like the Hellraiser series, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Exorcist, Evil Dead series, Night of the Living Dead, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas etc.
I love things that are dark & disturbing (to most humans) and I love spending time with my wonderful wife Shannon, drawing, playing PS2 games, and playing with our cats- Axl and Lillith.