Pelican released their Live In Wroclaw album last week, and now they’ve released another one for our listening pleasure. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Download
Relapse Records Launches Free 2016 Sampler
Relapse Records has just released their 2016 sampler, and you need this in your life. Continue reading
Delivering The Goods – Jamie Graham of Heart Of A Coward
Heart Of A Coward 2015
“There was one conscious decision when it came to this album, and that was to have a bit more pace in there. Once we started playing the Severance stuff live, we sped a few songs up and they sounded way better. We sound our best when there’s a bit more urgency. Then, when it came to recording, we wanted to recreate the live sound as much as possible with natural, organic sounds, with everything properly recorded.”
Jamie Graham sounds slightly worn at the end of a long day of press, promoting the new Heart of a Coward album, Deliverance (Century Media), but there’s no mistaking the glint in his voice when discussing their new release. Because he knows. Part tech-metal, part groove armada, HOAC have taken the slicker, yet oh-so-malevolent approach of Severance (also Century Media) and worked hard on their song writing to produce this years’ sleeper for UK metal’s breakthrough album. He knows Deliverance is a bit special.
“You can’t just play constant ragers for 50 minutes; people want dynamics. But we’re getting to a balance where we don’t have any songs that are there just to make the time up”, he begins, moving on to discuss the flesh of the new offering. And it is a body of work that sees some impressive vocal output from the man himself, with attention in the detail of the different tones of his more aggressive shouts and the nuances and delivery of his cleans, a performance that upped the ante for Graham. “Yeah, it’s tough! I’m not going to lie! Since we’ve started playing the new songs I’m like… Fuck! It’s hard!”
If anything, the laughter that accompanies that comment betrays modesty, for Graham has always delivered as a vocalist. This time around, though, he shines, leading a slew of new metal anthems that should see HOAC truly establishing themselves. “I had that feeling when we did Severance as well. We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, to be honest. As soon as you’re setting be all and end all goals, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. Hopefully people will appreciate the album, and forward it on, talk about it, or whatever the kids do these days, and the album itself will do the rest.”
While not a concept album, Severance linked itself to a reoccurring theme; Deliverance (continuing the train of album titles ending with ance – “Haha, yes! Well, after the last one came out we thought, why don’t we make this next one the last of set?”) also returns at key moments to motifs and similar notions: “to an aftermath, or a result of something, whether a conflict, or struggle, or endeavour. Most of the songs are about fulfilling something – hence the title. The last record was more about breaking away from things that were holding you back. There’s definitely a cohesiveness between our album titles and themes, but there’s not a story across them.”
Heart of a Coward may seem a relatively new name, but since adding guitarist Steve Haycock and former Sylosis vocalist Graham in 2011, this British quintet have been very much in the ascendancy. If 2013’s Severance saw a refinement from bluster, and a band of raw promise, to a genuine contender to the UK metal throne, then Deliverance should, by rights, see them being fitted with ermine robes and bejewelled, pointy head gear.
“It doesn’t feel like it to us, but a lot of people still perceive us as a new band” Graham confirms. Album three is a tricky place to be for a line-up that is only four years old; but four years that have now seen three increasingly excellent albums. “It works in our favour as we’ve been around the block and fully road-tested, so someone coming to check us out won’t need a second time to be convinced. At the same time, there’s no excuse for complacency. We know we have to put the work in and we do the best we can.”
With convincing recent performances under their belt at both Download and Techfest, one of the questions to be asked is, where do Heart of a Coward fit in? “It’s pit music that has hooks and choruses” states Graham. With his band appealing to different audiences, Deliverance sees further development of a more song-based progression. While this will appeal to the more centre ground, is there a concern of leaving their Tech Metal fanbase behind?
“We’ll always have enough technicality to appeal to the tech fans, but we’re a simpler equivalent” explains the frontman. “I’m not worried about that at all. You’ve got your Born of Osiris and Periphery’s and they do their thing and have a lot of bands trying to copy that, but that can’t do it as well (as they do). We do take a portion of that sound, but then mix it with a Killswitch vibe, and with a touch of Acacia Strain or Hatebreedy stuff.
“With the technical side, a lot of bands lose the purpose of the “song” for the purpose of being technical. But then it can go too far the other way with bands who just have a chorus, and the song becomes far too throwaway. We balance that.”
Graham has already mentioned an insistence on ensuring a live, organic feel to this album, and it is with the live arena in mind that several of the songs were constructed. “We did that with this one, yes”, he confirms. “Songs like ‘Deadweight’ and ‘Shade’, we probably wouldn’t omit from the live set, so we wanted to think of songs that would fit nicely with those songs, but without copying them. You have to pace yourself too.”
And the band are aware of the increased demands live, considering the developments on record. “Steve’s doing more backing vocals and stepping into new territory. He’s got a really good screaming voice, a real proper gruff Scott Kelly smoking through a rubber tube voice, which is wicked, Carl can sing too, but it’s a confidence thing with him as he’s so used to just playing his guitar”, Graham adds.
Heart Of A Coward 2015
Deliverance is a maelstrom of modern metal that bridges the age gap within the HOAC ranks. With Graham’s own introduction to metal being Machine Head’s ‘Death Church’ as a mate slipped him Burn My Eyes (Roadrunner), Side B first, to Metallica, Guns N’Roses and then Deftones, it’s no surprise of the diversity flecking the spectrum of HOAC, as Deliverance supplies ragers, groove metal, djent, jagged Gothenburg riffs and modern metal songs with depth and character.
“I like most that it’s got dynamics, and more variety, but it doesn’t lose focus” concludes Graham. While each band spouts their current album is their defining moment, ‘tricky’ album three has proved just that moment for Heart Of A Coward. “I’m really proud of that. A lot of bands struggle on album three to not repeat themselves and whatever big hits they‘ve had before and whatever’s worked for them before, and tend to exploit that too much. Or the opposite, and they veer off in a direction that alienates the whole fan base.
“We’ve straddled both and we’ve paved the way for the next album to be a logical evolution. We know where we want to go with it all, now.”
Deliverance is out now on Century Media. You can order here.
WORDS BY STEVE TOVEY
New Day Rocks – Mikko Von Hertzen of Von Hertzen Brothers
On their latest trip to the UK, Ghost Cult caught up with Mikko Von Hertzen of the Von Hertzen Brothers where, over very strong espressos to nurse away hangovers, we talked about touring, more touring and, surprisingly, the joys of cricket….
2015 may be entering its final quarter but for the Von Hertzen Brothers, they can already look back on the last nine months with a combination of pride, satisfaction and, dare we say it, contentment. A universally acclaimed album, tours that seemed to get bigger and bigger and a series of summer festival appearances that cemented their burgeoing popularity… 2015 seems to have been a good year for the Finns.
The last time we spoke, New Day Rising (Spinefarm) was about to drop. This is now your third time back in the UK this year. How have the past few months been?]
“(laughing) You know… festivals are really the cream on top of the cake. It’s a totally different experience playing at a festival compared to a club where I can see the faces of the crowd. For me, it’s all about the interaction with the fans – whether the music is making them happy, whether they think you are doing something cool and they get caught up in the vibe of it all. At a festival it’s bang! 15 minute turnaround and bang! 20 minute set and bang! you’re outta there! In those 20 minutes you have to come out, perform and hope you connect with people.”
“At Download, we had no idea at the time if it was going well or not – about 95% of the people who came to see us were new to the band and the stage was so far away from the crowd that it was hard to tell if it was working or not. But, it seems like it had an effect in a good way because our agent told us that at that time of the morning we had 16,000 watching us and the reviews have been very kind so it must have had some effect.’
“If I am being honest though, I am a fan of the smaller more intimate gigs.”
How do you compare that set with the smaller, acoustic one you also played that weekend? Some friends of ours said that they thought you were the highlight of the weekend…
“Oh man, that was an unreal moment. We could see Faith No More in their white suits playing at the same time that we were about to walk on stage and they start playing Epic and we go “Fuck! How do we compete with THAT?!” But that’s good because it’s a challenge and we like a challenge. It was not unlike the time when we toured in Sweden with Opeth and they wanted to do a stripped down version of their show and they asked us to do the same and it was really cool.”
“That acoustic approach is also good for testing the strength of your songs; to see whether they really are as good as you hope they are.”
“You know, looking back on our summer, those Download shows really were a moment for us. At the time, the mayhem, the rain, the quick turnarounds, you don’t appreciate how important it was at the time but looking back it was really important for us.”
So, you’ve book-ended a couple of live dates around your appearance at the Prog Magazine Awards…
“Yeah, we thought we would tag a couple of shows around those as we were already flying everyone over and it was a great decision because it’s good to follow up what we did earlier in the year and say thank you to those people who have been supporting us. The ticket sales have been really good and I feel that every time we come here it feels like it is building and really going somewhere like a step by step progression; people are talking, the band are getting better known and it just feels….right.”
Going off subject for a minute, we read an article about you from back in 2006 that said your favourite sport was cricket, a very English game and not one we would normally associate with the Finnish people. How did that come about?
“Yes, it’s true! I lived in India for seven years and every one of my friends there was crazy about cricket. At first I didn’t get it at all: a bunch of people standing around for hours with nothing happening but once you start to get the rules and what everyone is doing you get into it; I love it. When we were recently on tour there I was “ I should really go and see all the important tourist sites” but I ended up staying in my hotel room for hours and hours just catching up with games, wherever and whenever I could find them! So, yes, I’m a fan!”
So what’s next for the Von Hertzen Brothers?
“For me, I’m moving house! I get the house move sorted and then we have a short break and then, come end of October, beginning of November, we start another European tour….”
How do you keep going? What’s the secret to eternally staying motivated and focused on the road?
“You have to believe in yourself and that you have something worthwhile to offer. For me though it is about the fans. The fans are like a family to us. They are long term friends. In order to keep it going we have to come up with something new and fresh and not repeat yourself. That is a big motivator. When you do come up with something, you get a fresh sense of momentum and that keeps you going too.”
“Being on the road means you can meet new people and that is fantastic. It is part of the reason why we keep coming back to the UK. This is where it all really began for us outside of Finland; not just for our band but in terms of the style of music that we love and the bands that we love. The UK is where we belong musically, this is our spiritual home.”
And with a shake of the hand and a draining of the coffee, we are done.
Download Festival – Castle Donington, UK: Day Two
I like being in early to an empty festival arena; the main stage with its welcoming wide arms enticing you down into big open area that later on will be filled by up to 80,000 pairs of feet. But at 10.30am, while taking it all in, there were pressing ablutions-related priorities while the facilities were still clean…
Having completed the exiting part of the cycle, it was time to begin filling up again. Running a ring round the perimeter of the whole arena is van after van of greasy and fast food vendors, and this is next port of call – though the stomach was not up for any of the kebab or burger related fare, fortunately there are a couple of recommended less greasy options – the ‘Vegan and Vegetarian’ stand doing a fine falafel and hummus and coffee (and I’m not even a veggie) to kickstart my heart (or at least brain). If you can be bothered to search off the beaten track as we did later in the day there are some decent food stalls in the “Kennels” by the acoustic stage, and right over by the far side of the second stage, where I picked up a very tasty and unsaturated teriyaki chicken noodle feast.
With all of the “main” three stages running simultaneously throughout the day, there are choices to be made… Heart of a Coward was, by all accounts, the right choice to “wake the fuck up” with. At 11 o clock, in front of only a hardy few in the rain (the opening of gates had been delayed to allow the site to be tidied and made safer by the laying down of straw following the previous nights’ downpour) you feared for the Milton Keynes boys, but by the time the set ended people were sprinting down the hill to catch them, hangovers forgotten as circle pits, choreographed headbanging and angsty shouts over slab-heavy grooves well and truly kicked things off.
With Funeral For A Friend completing their slide from the grace of being main support only a few years ago to the same slot they appeared in at the first Download with a performance as gray as the skies, it was time to wander away from the mainstage for another coffee and something different.
I had meant to see Malefice, but I benefitted from that most festival of experiences of accidentally seeing a new band. Stage three at Download is a good one for that; not only does it shelter from the rain by driving in hundreds of people out of the elements, it provides up and coming bands with a captive audience, and Stray From The Path won over some cold, wet new fans.
Saturday arvo was all about the second stage. Apocalyptica offered something different, and won over the inquisitive; Ace Frehely was, by all accounts, a surprising success that occurred while I got drawn into the unmitigated fun of Hollywood Undead instead, who had the main stage eating out of the palm of their hands. Brilliantly entertaining, which is, surely, what mainstage festival bands should be all about.
Back over second stage, Testament crushed with a consummate set of testicles and big fucking riffs, before Carcass continued the smackdown laying. Motionless In White drew the youngest crowd of the day (by the time we left to not be able to get in to see Dub War in the oversubscribed tent of the fourth stage, TeenFest 2015 was in full swing) as Chris and the boys delivered. While wandering to and from others, I caught the first and then later, the last songs of A Day To Remember (‘Downfall of Us All’ and ‘All I Want’), their best two, and all you really need to see, before taking up a good vantage point for Faith No More and Muse. I’d have liked to have seen Body Count, Marilyn Manson, Andrew W.K., and Black Veil Brides – all of whom played during Saturday’s Main Stage one-two knock-out blow, but from the first peals of the massively catch ‘Motherfucker’, to the dying Western-meets-Maiden/Queen of ‘Knights of Cydonia’ the main stage was where it was at.
Faith No More, by Hillarie Jason PhotographyDuring FNM we had lounge jams, 50,000 people singing to Lionel Ritchie song (‘Easy’, natch) casual abuse of one pissed-off looking bedraggled girl in the front row, a set list that held enough back for their upcoming headline show while still showing how far above most other bands they are, arrogance and a performance of excellence; Mike Patton note perfect and enticingly sardonic. It even stopped raining.
People in the UK get particular about their festival headliners, and Muse weren’t selected from the normal pot. However, they were absolutely the right choice. Matt Bellamy is a sickeningly talented individual, nailing Eddie Van Halen guitar techniques while simultaneously hitting falsetto notes that could crack glass, all to the back drop of videos, a stunning light show, pyro, fireworks, streamers, big bouncing black Prisoner balls and a cleverly tailored, dark, heavy set that saw them fire out rarities like ‘Dead Star’ and ‘Agitated’ and epics such as ‘Hysteria’, ‘Micro Cuts’ and ‘Citizen Erazed’, which had even the most sceptical won over even before a last forty-five minute hit-factory, with fervent reaction all the way back as far as the eye could see. Muse more than matched up to Slipknot, the first two days at Download further proving that there are bands, and there are “bands”. And then there are bands. And then there are BANDS.
With things a lot dryer , even the walk back to the tent was alright, though I’m far too old to be lying in a field kept up until 4am by a bunch of young pissheads blasting out Slipknot. Hotel next year for me, methinks!
MUSE SETLIST
Psycho
The Handler
New Born
Interlude
Hysteria
Micro Cuts
Dead Star
Agitated
Citizen Erased
Dead Inside
Supermassive Black Hole
Mercy
Time Is Running Out
Reapers
Stockholm Syndrome
Encore:
Uprising
Plug In Baby
Knights of Cydonia
STEVE TOVEY
Download Festival: Day One – Castle Donington, UK
Download Fest, with its roots in the Monsters of Rock festivals that ran from 1980 until people decided rock was dead in 1996 (and Kiss and Ozzy’s shambolic co-headliner of that year pretty much proved that point) is the Grand-Daddy of Euro festivals. It’s a behemoth that dominates the rock landscape in the UK (note “rock”. This is a rock festival, with some metal, not a metal fest. Bloodstock, Temples, Damnation are metal fests). It suffered in the 90’s from bands putting on their own outdoor all-dayers (and nicking all the support bands, too), and from being a predominantly rock festival that suddenly seemed to lose all its headliners. However, since it’s rebirth and rebranding in 2003 it has seen off European juggernaut festival Sonisphere to stand as the UK fest of choice.
Having redesigned its layout a few times, and no longer held inside the iconic Donington Park racetrack but just to the south of it, Download seems to have settled into a format that, while works, is a little familiar and perhaps would benefit from a little spicing up next year. Enter the arena, and with the main stage resplendent in front of you, to your left the second stage, and in the far right corner lies the third stage, a huge blue marquee tent. With boobs on top. Tucked to the side of the “Maverick” third stage is the relatively quiet and chilled press and guest area.
History has seen the main stage opening slot at Castle Donington act as a kingmaker opportunity; Trivium for one owe their success to a scintillating opening set in 2005. It’s fair to say All That Remains will not be joining the list of legendary openers, particularly by including that dreadful wailing ballad halfway through a twenty-five minute set.
A pleasant stroll in the sun over to Krokodil in the tent results in seeing a band doing it right; great energy, big riffs and bludgeoning hooks winning over and gaining them plaudits, before hot-footing it via the bar (where the cashless system was working perfectly in pretty much eradicating queues) back over to the main stage for At The Gates, Lacuna Coil and Clutch, ATG and Clutch in particular delivering. If you’d have said twenty years that the main stage at a mainstream fest would be hosting those bands, going down to a slavering reaction, you’d have been laughed out-of-town. Instead, ATG and Clutch showed how diverse things are these days, and how influential they’ve both been on others over the years.
You’d have thought a choice of Corrosion of Conformity versus Five Finger Death Punch would have only had one winner (and spare a thought for Sylosis who were on #three at the same time), and you’d have been right. Five Finger Death Punch mauled, maimed, murdered and munched down on COC with a blinding headliner-worthy show full of big riffs, sing-a-longs and making a statement. Unfortunately, I was over at the second stage watching a rather tame COC limp through a set it didn’t seem they could really be bothered with themselves. Shame, cos they’ve got some great songs.
Judas Priest did exactly what you’d want of a main support, anthems to the left of me, anthems to the right and left you wanting more, with newer tracks ‘Valhalla’ standing toe to toe with ‘Hell Bent for Leather’, ‘Painkiller’ and a particularly joyous ‘Living After Midnight’.
A bite to eat, a quick dash round the corner to see the lacklustre continue over on stage two with Black Stone Cherry phoning it in, before heading back in time for Slipknot, whose 2009 show has gone down in Donington folklore alongside Iron Maiden in 1988 as one of the UK’s all-time best metal festival headline experiences.
Slipknot, photo by Susanne A. Maathuis
I wasn’t there in 2009, but if it was better than 2015, then it must have been some set.
Opening with ‘Sarcastrophe’, what followed was an outpouring of whole-other-level excellence, as hit after bloody hit flew from the stage in an unbridled making of a fucking statement. That statement? There is no one better than Slipknot in metal right now. No one.
As all the hits followed, interspersed with a very cleverly chosen set including more reflective moments of darkness, such as ‘Killpop’ and ‘Vermillion’, their catalogue stood tall. And don’t even get me started on how fresh and violent ‘Eyeless’ was. As fellow GC scribe Mat Davies uttered “Shit the actual bed…”
With ‘Spit It Out’ seeing 80,000 people crouch in the mud, as the torrents of rain began to pour (rain that wouldn’t let up for 20 hours), before leaping to their feet to start one enormous mosh pit, Slipknot confirmed what we’re known for a while.
As I ran back to the tent, through the torrential downpour that marked the end of day one, as I dived into a tent, shedding sodden clothes (sorry for the image) and cursing the Peak Download of it chucking it down on the Friday night (after a sunny and hot day) I couldn’t help reflect that despite all that, I’d witnessed something above and beyond what most bands are capable of.
Surely, the list of standard bearers and true greats in metal now reads. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slipknot.
SLIPKNOT SETLIST
XIX
Sarcastrophe
The Heretic Anthem
Psychosocial
The Devil in I
AOV
Vermilion
Wait and Bleed
Killpop
Before I Forget
Duality
Eyeless
Spit It Out
Custer
Encore:
742617000027
(sic)
People = Shit
Surfacing
STEVE TOVEY
On The Road… with Slipknot
Slipknot has returned to the road to overload the senses of their frenzied fans with their typical ambitious stage shows. While storming cities on their short Prepare For Hell Tour with special guests Hatebreed, the band is sharpening their steel for what looks to be a busy rest of 2015. Still supporting the stellar .5: The Gray Chapter album (Roadrunner), the band will next be seen on stages all over the world headlining some festivals such as Download, Rock Am Ring, Grasspop, and Hellfest. Then they will embark on the Summer’s Last Stand tour with Lamb of God, Bullet For My Valentine, and Motionless In White in the US again. Brent Butterworth of Brent B Photography shared these photos with us, that he shot at the Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Birmingham, AL. Thanks Brent!
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Slipknot, by Brent B Photography
Asher Media Relations Offers Free Downloadable Holiday Compilation
Asher Media Relations has made their ‘Happy Metal Annihilation Vol. 4’ compilation available as a free download. Go get it here.
1. All Else Fails – Anti Martyr 05:49
2. Arbitrator – For That Which May Appease Lions 06:56
3. Blind Race – Come And Get It 03:32
4. BornBroken – Watch The World Unwind 03:47
5. Conquer – A Worm’s Demise 05:23
6. Dark Century – Kill The Crowd 03:55
7. Death Toll Rising – Crack Open A Cold One 05:15
8. Disparager – R.I.P. Bill Hicks 05:46
9. Display of Decay – Outbreak of Infection 03:50
10. Double Experience – Congratulations on Second Place 03:28
11. Endless Chaos – Rejected Atrocity 03:52
12. Every Hour Kills – Chosen 03:53
13. Exes For Eyes – Tongues Like Figure Eights 04:40
14. Expain – Aggressions Progression 03:40
15. Fayne – Believers 04:05
16. Hollow – Landscape 04:48
17. Idol of Fear – All Sights Affixed, Ablaze 06:20
18. Ironstorm – The Watcher 05:40
19. Karkaos – Leap of Faith – re-recorded w/ New Vocalist Viky Boyer 04:26
20. Kill Matilda – I Want Revenge 02:44
21. Kolony – Echoes 04:06
22. Kryosphere – Thrown From The Sky 02:43
23. Laika – Escalation of Terror 04:26
24. Laugh At The Fakes – Killing Time 06:13
25. MIRE – Limitless Pt. 2 03:22
26. Mutank – Heavy Hand of The Doomsday Clock 03:38
27. New Jacobin Club – Champagne Ivy 04:00
28. Ninjaspy – Skaingkh (The Skank) 03:55
29. Norilsk – Japetus 08:15
30. Odium – Failure II 04:16
31. Protokult – Get Me A Beer! 03:04
32. Psychotic Gardening – Open Casket ft. Tim Roth (Into Eternity) and Chuck Wepfer (Broken Hope) 07:22
33. Psychostick – Obey The Beard 03:53
34. Puttin On The Foil – Drunk And Stupid 03:58
35. Quartered – Violent Love 03:02
36. The Body Politic – Armature 04:12
37. The Rough Boys – Blood, Booze And Gasoline 03:57
38. Throne of Vengeance – Live Evil 04:58
39. Trainwreck Architect – As Killers Breathe ft. guitar solo by Jeff Waters (Annihilator) 04:31
40. Tribune – Insectoid 04:50
41. Unbeing – Rapture 03:05
42. Until Dawn – Horizon 05:28
43. Viathyn – Ageless Stranger 07:13
44. Where Giants Once Stood – Living In Security 04:27
Not Riding The Spiral – Chevelle Dismisses Comparisons With Tool
Chevelle released their seventh overall album titled La Gargola this year, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 album charts. Singles such as ‘Take Out the Gunman’ and ‘Hunter Eats Hunter’ have been strong singles off this album and continuing to attract new fans along the way.
One aspect of the band that they have not been able to shake off is the constant comparisons to such bands as Tool and Helmet, which they have regularly drawn similarities to. This has been a thorn in their side, but drummer Sam Loeffler does not take it personally when this tag comes up.
He shared his thoughts on this subject. “Eventually you kinda go ‘seriously?’,” he said, about the comparison. “We write essentially almost what you would call it radio-ish rock songs. It’s completely different from either band. Once you get a bit of a comparison in a singer, when they are super diehard fans, they can’t see past it.”
“I think a really good example of that is Muse and Radiohead. ‘Let it go. That’s what that guy sounds like.’ He’s not copying anyone. It’s his natural voice. Muse is an amazing band. Radiohead is an amazing band. Those guys go on.”
“Eventually you’ve gotta go ‘come on guys…what do you want us to do?’ When was the last Tool record? Seven or eight years ago, right? At least. We’ve written at least another three records in that time. We’re just writing songs. That’s it. I don’t know what people think we’re doing. Listening to an eight year old Tool record and trying to copy it? It doesn’t make any sense. I know the Tool guys never came up. They don’t think twice about it. They don’t think about us whatsoever.”
“When you’re a rock band, it doesn’t matter what you do. When someone hears you, they’re going to compare you to something. ‘Oh the Strokes! Oh yeah it sounds a lot like the Doors or Led Zeppelin.’ It doesn’t matter. They’re going to compare you to something. That’s the only reason people listen to it and it’s because they recognize something in it that they like.”
“The reality is, that kind of stuff comes up, fine. If you have a problem with the comparison, don’t listen to it. It’s ok. We all learned in kindergarten, if you don’t have anything nice to say….it doesn’t bother me. We have our influences. If you really go back and listen to what our music’s like, I can listen to Helmet Aftertaste, Meantime and Betty and go back to Alice In Chains and even listen to stuff like the Minutemen – stuff that’s really influential to us – Faith No More. These are the records we grew up on and pushed us to write music. If you go back and listen to those records and compare, sure.”
While Loeffler has his influences that helped shape Chevelle’s sound, the music he listens to on his spare time isn’t quite what most may imagine: “I listen to way less music than I used to now, because you start to think about it in terms of your own interests. That being said, a lot of music I listen to is not like our genre, like Every Time I Die and The Bronx are two of my favorite bands right now. Believe it or not, I listen to Duke Ellington and stuff like that because it’s entirely different and you don’t necessarily know where things will go with it. It’s unpredictable which is really nice. Then certain bands come out like Middle Class Rut. They’re amazing records and so fun to listen to. Makes you want to sing along. That’ll be more of a modern rock kinda thing that I’m interested in.”
“Pete [Loeffler, singer/guitarist]’s gone back to a lot of older stuff like the Ministry records have come back up for us – Land of Rape and Honey and Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste. These records that were so influential to us 22 to 24 years ago that helped shape us then. You go back and those records are still great. Recently we got back into Ministry a lot and that’s been fun.”
REI NISHIMOTO
Ghost Cult Magazine Issue 10 Out Now
As the unrelenting march of the festival season continues it is impossible not to have sinewy tingles singing out their excitement at this time of year especially with the likes of Bloodstock still on the near horizon, though the loss of Hevyfest for this year dampens the atmosphere a little. Surrounding these occasions metal still continues to surprise, impress, and at times disappoint with its latest releases whilst keeping us on our toes with its latest twists and turns such as with Vikernes Continue reading