Clever, irreverent, and controversial are just a few of the words bandied about when discussing San Francisco’s Deafheaven. The post-black metal experimentalists are seemingly unconcerned about labels and outside influences on their new album Sunbather (Deathwish). Ghost Cult scribe Sean Pierre-Antoine caught up with front man George Clark for a revealing interview.
I know you may have been asked this at least 50 times, but where did you come up with the name “Deafheaven”? Does it have a particularly important and personal meaning or was it simply chosen, like most band names, because it sounded cool?
We were just sitting around trying to think of a name, and I had been writing a bunch of potential ideas down, and one of the things I wrote down was “Deafheaven”. I decided it had a good ring to it, so we just went with that.
Moving onto a question of substance, what were some of your influences musically?
Of course, looking up to bands that we were fans of as teenagers, mostly. Things like Slayer, Pantera, even The Misfits, etc. More of the early stuff. We’ve been listening to Heavy Music for over a decade now so it’s just a culmination of many different things.
Anything particularly surprising or strange that people wouldn’t expect you to listen to?
Probably Thursday and The Goo-Goo Dolls.
Thursday I can see, their being a Post-Hardcore band as Deafheaven does have some post-anything influences, but Goo-Goo Dolls is understandably out of left field. Due to the accessibility of bands like your own and others with similar sounds that are capable of reaching wider audiences in the Metal community and even outside of it (namely, shoegaze, post-punk, indie, etc.), do you consider Deafheaven to be classifiable as an ‘extreme’ Metal band?
We utilize a lot of different sounds so some people think of it as a “crossover”, but yes, I consider us ‘extreme metal’, and within the larger sphere of music there’s a small niche of bands out there doing different things, some of them being similar to what we do, so I consider it as us being in this together.
I’m sure you may have seen or heard about Alcest posting on Facebook that they enjoyed the premier track “Dream House” from Sunbather, and instantly being met with a fan backlash of “not kvlt”, “too mainstream”, and so forth, despite Alcest being your peers musically and sharing a similar aesthetic artistically. What are your thoughts towards this judgmental attitude still being quite prevalent in the Metal scene as a whole?
I think people are really quick to judge. On one hand I don’t necessarily pay attention to any of that, and I don’t think it’s really benefiting anyone. I think it’s much more constructive to sit down with an album without hearing anyone else’s opinion first, and forming your own about the music that’s being played. Of course, at the end of the day, if it’s not your thing, that’s fine, it doesn’t hurt my feelings, but I think that just blowing it off just to try to maintain a sense of “credibility” is foolish.
Facebook, Twitter, and Tumbler, two of which I know your band utilizes to give fans updates on tours, releases, etc.; do you think it’s sort of a necessary evil to get yourself some exposure in today’s world, or simply another option?
Bands get big in multiple ways. I don’t necessarily think that social media is the “fast-track” or best way to do it. We’ve used that as well as constantly recording and touring to reach a broader audience, but that’s just us. It does have its setbacks, but ultimately it’s a good tool to get your art out there in a world that’s as fast-paced as the one we’re living in now.
What are your thoughts on your band as it relates to the larger scene, if at all?
Honestly, I don’t know, we just do our thing, and hope the fans enjoy it, as well as bands that we enjoy so we can play with one another. I’m interested in the community as a whole, because I’m sure we stick out to a certain extent, but I can’t attribute that to anything. We’re just, like I said, doing whatever we want to do regardless of anything else.
Does Deafheaven have a grand artistic purpose, and a reason for existing, or is it just like any hobby and you’ll pursue it until you’re either tired of it or it’s no longer possible?
We just write songs to write songs. There’s never been a personal one. We don’t really put much deep meaning into our songs, but if anyone wants to take something meaningful from it, we’re happy that they do.
One uselessly silly question, because I always have to have at least one: Does your barber love you? Your haircut’s fantastic!
Haha, I appreciate that, I actually cut my own hair, and I don’t really have a good haircut. If you were to get really up close, it’s actually really shitty, so I have my friends and roommates critique it because I usually screw up the back. I did recently go to a barber because I had a gift card that I got for my birthday or Christmas that I hadn’t used, so that was a cool experience. I don’t know how much it cost but it was steep, something around $50. But normally I just take a pair of scissors and clippers and shave it myself.
Thank you very much for your time. Any final thoughts, or words of wisdom, if you will?
We’re hugely appreciative of all the support we’ve gotten lately. I didn’t expect Sunbather to be enjoyed by so many people as it has been; I’m on cloud 9 right now, and really looking forward to playing the new songs on tour.
Sean Pierre-Antoine