Ghost Cult contributor Marcus J. West caught up with Job For A Cowboy frontman Jonny Davies to discuss Demonocracy, the band’s most recent album among many other subjects..
Welcome back to London, last time we saw you live opening for Cannibal Corpse you delivered a superb performance.
Thank you, it was last March when we were on that tour and played here in London, it does not feel such a long time ago.
Demonocracy your third full length has been out since April 2012 and has received very positive reviews altogether. How has the response been so far both in the USA and Europe?
I do not really know about how the album has been doing here in Europe because this is the first time we are touring here since the album has been out. In the USA the response to Demonocracy has been great. We are considered a band that releases a different album every time, we never repeat ourselves over and over again. We do not try to set a certain sound that anybody can remember, we like to try new things and more importantly, keep things interesting. Our band is always evolving. I think that at this point of our career one thing that people start to notice and respect of us is that we are always trying to improve as a band, we have never kept ourselves in a safe zone, feeding the same thing to the audience.
Do you think that because of this constant evolution within the band, Demonocracy has contributed to increase the number of Job For A Cowboy fans both in the USA and overseas?
Definitely! Obviously there are fans that prefer our previous albums rather than Demonocracy which is fine. But like I said I think that nevertheless, people respect the fact that we always break out of the box and try new things.
When we discussed the making of the album last march, I mentioned that one of my favourite song was, and still is, ‘Tarnished Gluttony’.
Yes, I remember.
Will you be playing it live tonight?
Yes, we have just started playing ‘Tarnished Gluttony’ live on this tour.
When I saw the video directed by Michael Panduro, I thought it was one of the most disturbing video I have ever seen, in a positive way though, as it really creates a strong reaction. I also thought it was meticulously well directed. I was expecting something completed different to represent that song visually.
It’s awesome. The song is about Americans’ blind faith in the monetary system which obviously is not working out. Michael, the director, kind of reverted the concept of the video into the same blind faith that people have on religion. The story was developed in the form of a biblical tale, showing that blind faith in any religion is no different than believing scarifying children to a giant monster that lives in the sea.
Did you have any involvement in the choice of the actors?
No, we did not have any direct involvement in the making of the video, Michael gave me his ideas and we just said “go for it”! He did an amazing job and we are planning to work again with him very soon.
Job For A Cowboy toured non stop last year.
Yes, we did the Summer Slaughter tour and played in Japan and Puerto Rico, we did not have any break basically.
What was it like to play in Japan? I know you played there before.
Yes and it was amazing, we did a bunch of headlining shows there. The shows were very intense. Both in Puerto Rico and Japan it was crazy to see that a band like us has such a big follow-up. The response of Demonocracy was also very positive over there.
Is there any of the latest shows that hold a special place in your memory because you did not expect such an intense reaction from the crowd?
Honestly, all the shows had been great, there has always been a very surprisingly positive reaction everywhere.
Any update on your experimental death metal side project with Navene Koperweis (former drummer with Animosity and Animals As Leader), Fleshwrought? There is so much anticipation on what Fleshwrought live shows would be like.
The project is going very slow. Navene is in his own world right now, I think that after Animals As Leaders he needed a break from metal, he is doing lot of DJ work right now.
And what about the near future of Job For A Cowboy?
With this new line-up (Tony Sannicandro, lead guitar, back up vocals, Al Glassman, rhythm guitar Nick Schendzielos, bass guitar and Jon “The Charn” Rice, drums) were are getting really eager to start writing new material for the new album. We know that there is so much more we can do and collaborate with each other, things that we did not have the chance to do in Demonocracy. That’s why we are pretty sure that the next album will be very different, again.
Marcus J. West