Ghost Cult brings you the new lyric video from New England’s Caricature today. ‘Stampede’ is a 27 minute long progressive metal epic about Caricature front man Joseph Spiller and his cat, Parmesan. You can watch the video at this link or below:
The Stampede EP is available for purchase from Caricature’s Bandcamp. Front man Joseph Spiller, who also produced the video and graphic design for the project, detailed the origin of the track and his relationship with Parmesan for Heavy Blog Is Heavy:
“Some people might be wondering why I made a song that is almost a half hour long about my cat. Well, he’s awesome. That’s why. Bands go out and write about a lot of stuff like quantum physics that they don’t actually understand, murders they would never commit, women/men they will never get up on, so why not pay tribute to a member of the family that gives everything he can at all times, had a rough start to life, and who’s story intertwines with my own?
I was really sick and in and out of the hospital/seeing doctors weekly/all around having a real dumpster fire of a time back in 2014 and start to finish there was over a year and a half where I was battling some complications from Crohn’s Disease that were further complicated by a not very ideal environment. I don’t remember a lot due to how sick I was and the different types of meds the doctors had me on, but I do remember hearing this tiny kitten in the middle of the road in front of my house crying as if his life depended on it who was blind and couldn’t walk. I was using the walls and my wife to hold myself up and get places, but even though I was home alone, I got myself outside to get him before a car hit him. From there it was the both of us fighting to get better. When I would pass out for 20 hours at a time, he would lay on me and watch over me then lick me to wake me up. I don’t remember a lot for a good 8 months, but I remember him.
I wanted to create an “Experience” track. Something that wasn’t just told by the lyrics but by the tone of the instruments and how they were being used; overall moods in the music. Having a song as epic as my cat, Parmesan was only fitting. The song turned into this 27+ minute jam. Long to the point where it doesn’t fit on our upcoming album The Fiction We’ve Become, so it only made sense to make it a stand alone release. Evan Sammons [Last Chance To Reason] had his hands full with the album plus running his own studio, So I took the reigns and played almost everything on this one and even built a custom 8 string guitar that i call the “Parmcatster” for this one. Gerry came in and played some awesome leads and killed it on the mix. We wanted it to sound clean, but not overly edited. Real people playing real music and to top it off, there are samples from videos that I took of Parmesan while he was growing up that we have sprinkled throughout the song. Ken Sorceron [Abigail Williams, The Accuser, Lord Mantis, Ex Aborted] came in and saved my ass at the end and made sure the master was sounding right too. We hope people enjoy this one and go home and give their furry friends a big hug.”
Featuring Evan Sammons (Last Chance To Reason) on drums, ‘Stampede’ was produced and recorded by Spiller, mixed by guitarist Gerrard Vachon, and as has contributions from Ken Sorceron (Abigail Williams). It is the second new track to appear in advance of Caricature’s next full-length album,The Fiction We’ve Become due later in 2016.
