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| Call of the Void |
SL: Few bands have excited me more lately than recent Relapse
Records recruits Call of the Void, with their own unique brand of grinding
sludge noise. Their debut is an astonishingly ferocious record and given Relapse’s
history, is it any wonder that these guys are destined for big things in the
years to come.
We recently reviewed, Dragged down a Death End Path at The
Sludgelord and Mr. Fitton was gushing from every orifice in his appraisal of
this brilliant record. Check out excerpt
and make your own mind up. “A violent
debut from this young band. One that will curb-stomp your ears and then ask you
to say "thank you" afterwards. Better wear a crash helmet, and learn
to be appreciative. I, for one, am indeed.”
Well as you know, we don’t need an excuse to shoot the shit
with the best new bands, therefore is it any wonder I hooked with these new
kids on the block. Welcome to the
Sludgelord, Call of the Void and here is what they had to say when I fired 20
Questions at Patrick, guitarist and all round diamond dude from the band. Sit
back and enjoy the interview. Horns Up
for Call of the Void!!
SL: Hey Patrick, How are you? I appreciate you taking the time
to talk to talk to us, here at the Sludgelord. How are things in the COTV camp?
What are you guys up to at the moment and plans for the rest of 2013?
P) Things right now are going great. We just finished
a 3 week tour in support of the album and we are currently held up in Colorado
for a few months writing for our next release and playing locally. We plan on
hitting the road again in the fall and we are playing a few festivals like
Lucifest in SLC and Scion Rock Fest in Memphis in the summer as well.
SL:Dragged down a deep end path is a killer record and our
review has been very popular at the blog, so congratulations on that first and
foremost. What is it about your record that appeals to people? Any thoughts? We
called the album ‘a curb-stomp to your ears and then ask you to say "thank
you" afterwards.
P) I read the review and I was pretty stoked by that
comment. I'm not sure how to answer this question without sounding like an
egotistical asshole though. Taste is a weird thing to explain, I'm just glad
folks are stoked on what I think is good heavy music.
SL: Can you
tell us about the record and the process of putting it together? It
incorporates many influences it seems from sludginess to grind to hardcore, is
that a fair assessment?
P) There is not a set in stone formula for writing
music for COTV, we just try to write music that we would like to listen to. We
are big fans of a lot of different styles of heavy music and we try to blend
each unique riffing style of each genre to make music that we think is
energetic and powerful. All the genres you listed above are so similar to each
other that sometimes it is only the BPM that you play the riffs at that change
whether the music can be called sludge, hardcore or grind. We like all three of
the genres and its fun to play a sludge riff with blast beats sometimes.
SL: For the benefit of readers who may not know your band,
could you tell us a little about when the band came together? Current band
members?
P) Essentially this project started out as a band
called “Ironhorse”. Gordon the drummer and I have been playing as Ironhorse for
about 4 years. Some incarnations of Ironhorse were with other members, but each
line up failed due to creative issues or other bullshit. Finally we were able
to form our current line up in late 2011 and create a stable band. The current
line up consists of Alex Pace on bass, Steve Vanica on vocals, Gordon Koch on
drums and Patrick Alberts on Guitar/back up vocals. We had to change our name
due to some trademark issues, but in hindsight I'm glad we did it was nice to
rid any past that is associated with “Ironhorse” and move on to the future.
SL: Which band or artist turned you guys onto music and
specifically introduced you to Heavy Metal and wanting to form a band?
P) I'm not sure I can say with confidence who
influenced the other members in COTV, but I can certainly speak for myself. For
me heavy music has always been in my life, even in the early part of my
childhood listening to the Black Album / Master Of Puppets by Metallica. It
wasn't until my mid-teens that I picked up some random albums and really
started to get into heavy music. Those 3 albums were Type O Negative's “October
Rust”, Death's “Sound Of Perserverance” and Gwar's “Violence Has Arrived”. At
this point I was just starting to get good at guitar and I realized this is
what I want to do with my life.
SL: Often bands compose heavy ass shit, but may not
necessarily like heavy music, where do COTV sit in terms of heavy music?
P) We all love different styles of music. I hate when
I read interviews with bands and they try to play down the “metal” aspect of
their lives. Personally I like everything from Zappa to Cannibal Corpse to
Beach House. Gordon digs on a lot electronic music and old school dub. Heavy
music is what we are most passionate about though and that is why we play in
COTV.
SL: Since your inception, was your plan always to write and
release your own music?
P) Absolutely. Making music and being able to have
people enjoy it has always been #1 on the list of “why I want to make music”.
SL: In your experience, how easy/difficult is it for a young
band to get coverage and get gigs?
P) Honestly it is not that hard to get gigs for a
young band. It is hard to get gigs opening up for touring bands at legitimate
clubs, but there are a lot of DIY venues that need bands to open up for bands
that can't quite fill up a 500 person venue. We have been playing in Denver for
the last 10 years, so at this point it is more about beating the other bigger
local bands to get the good gigs at the bigger venues. There are so many
opportunities out there you just have to be assertive. Getting coverage is a
whole different entity though. If you have a release and you tour, get a PR agency,
otherwise it will be a long slow uphill battle.
SL: It might sound like stupid question, but is playing live
important to COTV because touring can depend upon work commitments etc? Often
touring is the main source of promoting your band. How do fit touring into
other commitments you may have?
P) Playing live is absolutely important for us. We all
have jobs and one of us actually has 4!! Fortunately at this point for most of
us touring is not too difficult and we are able to make a compromise to keep
our jobs. Touring is not our main source of promotion, but it is a big part of
it. As much as we would like to be on the road 6 months out of the year, in all
actuality it will be more around 2-3 months. Despite things like worrying about
paying rent, keeping jobs and being away from significant others, there lies a
different dilemma aside from work. Touring a lot will promote your band more
and make your band more successful. The fight we are currently having is
whether or not to over saturate and over expose ourselves in a town near you.
We would much rather be in your town a couple times a year instead of 4-5 times
a year. Quality over quantity. If you keep telling your girlfriend over and
over and over “I love you” within a day, it kind of loses its meaning after a
while if you catch my drift.
SL: Based on your own experience, what do you think is the
most important thing for a new band to do in order to promote themselves? Do
you subscribe to all publicity is good?
P) All publicity is good, unless you are trying too
hard to get written about. Sometimes someone brings a severed pigs head to your
show, hucks into the crowd and blinds a girl and causes you to lay low for a
while, but that is a special case. The best thing you can do is make an album,
play locally, tour and get a PR Agency to promote the said items.
SL: Do you think there is the same significance attached to
being signed to label as their once was, with bands releasing music on bandcamp
etc?
P) Getting signed to Relapse and having them release
our debut album has certainly amplified how many people we can reach with our
music. We would have not have been able to reach as many folks on our own. When
we first released the album, we did it on our own via bandcamp/blogs/FB etc..
Although we did get a good response from folks and it ultimately led to us
getting picked up by Relapse, it still needed an extra push. Having the album
released on our own and via Relapse has definitely shown us the labels still do
matter and it takes more than just a web release to be successful.
SL: What are some of the difficulties/frustrations of being
part of a band?
P) Ahhhhhh there are many. Most of the frustrations
come from trying to find a middle ground between being broke and doing what you
want to do with music. Money sucks, it is probably the most frustrating part of
being in any band. You can't kick out money, because it wants to hang out with
his girlfriend instead of practice.
SL: Don’t think about this too much, but if someone was
unfamiliar with your band, what words immediately spring to mind when you think
about your sound?
P) Loud, Heavy, Fast and Aggressive.
SL: Tell us some of your influences/heroes both musically and artistically, both metal and non-metal?
P) I could go on for hours about this, so instead I
will just make a list. Robert Fripp, Greg Anderson, Christopher Hitchens (not
just because of his atheism), Kurt Ballou, Michael Gira, Scott Kelly, Frank
Zappa, Henry Rollins, Jello Biafra and Louis CK. There are more, but my brain
is just cluttered trying to name them all.
SL: It might
sound like a stupid question but, how important is the band’s chemistry when
writing and performing??
P) Very important. If there is no chemistry, then
there is something wrong with a portion of the band.
SL: What were your aims for DDADEP and how do you feel about
it now that it is in the public domain since?
P) The original idea was just to get people into our
band and to start hitting the road. So far we have accomplished that. So far
the reviews have been great; with the occasional “this is boring, I don't like
it”. You can't expect everyone to like your music; taste varies too much
between people.
SL: I’m assuming all musician’s like to talk about the gear
they use, so with that in mind what do you use in terms of guitars, amps and
why? Also what tuning do you use?
P) Right now the bass player and I are both running
Atlas Cabinets made by Petras Vaznelis of Velnias. I use a Verellen “Loucks Smoke”
amplifier and a 1992 5150. Alex is running Orange and Sunn heads through his
Atlas Cabinets . The tuning is a full step down dropped to C or A, depending on
the song. Why do we use these amps and cabs? Come to our shows and you will
experience why we use them. To sound courteous instead of douchey, bring ear
plugs you will need them.
SL: How important is support from your peers and how do you
feel your band has generally been received? Does it still surprise you when
people buy your music and merch?
P) So far the support has been great from our peers.
So far I think we have been received pretty well. It doesn't surprise me when
people buy merch, it surprises me how many people will buy merch now.
SL: Taking a more general view of the changes in the music
industry as a whole, what with illegal download and perhaps more pressure on
mags to feature ‘scene’ bands or bigger artists. How valuable are blogs to
bands and artists covering your music? Does all forms of media coverage
translate to people buying merch, downloading music etc, coming to shows?
P) Essentially if we did not put our music on blogs,
nobody would have heard our music and we would not be signed to Relapse right
now. Blogs are a great tool. I believe that even if someone downloads the music
illegally, eventually it will pay itself off if the person likes your music.
The path of least resistance is the easiest path for most and that is a change
as musicians we must adapt to. That being said, the glory of having a CD or a
Vinyl LP is that you own it. If you don't like it you can go sell it to a store
or on EBAY , because it has value (try doing that with an illegal download).
There is no value for digital media other than for promotion. If you like a
band after you downloaded their music, buy the physical copy in due time or at
the very least attend the next show they play in your town.
SL: Quick fire question, what the first record you bought and
what is your preference? Cassette, CD, Digital Download or Vinyl? And why?
P) My preference is vinyl, the sound quality is
superior and the layouts are way more interesting and intricate than CD's. The
first album I ever owned was bought for me and it was TLC's “Oooooh...On the
TLC Tip”, first album I ever stole was the Cool Runnings soundtrack on TAPE and
I think the first purchase I ever made on my own with my parents money was West
Side Connection's “Bow Down” . All of these a far cry from what I buy on vinyl
these days. My recent purchases were Creative Adult “Dead Air”, Inter Arma “Sky
Burial”and Blockheads “The World Is Dead” all on vinyl.
SL: As music fans yourselves and given that music seems to be
so disposal at times, how important is that Relapse put out a great package for
the release of your record?
P) This is very important for us. I can't tell you how
many time in my cd buying days, I would buy records just because of the album
artwork. We want to be able to back with confidence what is being sold, if its
crap we would not be down for selling it. We're not going to go crazy like the
Flaming Lips and make you put a USB penis inside a prosthetic vagina that has a
speaker built inside of it in order to listen to our music, but at least know
that we are trying to put the best music into our albums and the best artwork
in our layouts.
SL: What sets you apart from your peers and what are your
thoughts about being part of any scene?
P) A lot of people seem to lump us in with the Nails,
Trap Them's and such, but I think we are coming from a different angle than
those bands. First off, Swedish Death Metal has nothing to do with our band and
has absolutely no influence on our music whatsoever. Second, although I do use
the HM-2 distortion, that shit is in check and not cranked up to 10 on every
knob. Instead of Entombed I owe everything to Matt Pike/Greg Anderson/Kurt
Ballou/Scott Kelly. That being said, it is an honor to be lumped with those
bands, because they all kick ass. We're are down with being a part of any scene
and fortunately for us the versatility of our music allows us to play with a
wide range of bands and not stick out like a sore thumb.
SL: Did you have an agenda when you began writing the new
record?
P) Lyrically we did. It is certainly not the most
original concept ever, but we wanted to write a huge diatribe against organized
religion. We wanted to get it out of our system and finally be done with it.
That is what we accomplished on DDADEP. For the future don't plan on hearing
any lyrics about religion from us, we don't want to beat the dead horse.
SL: Do you have any interesting stories from your tours,
favourite places you’ve toured and bands you’ve toured with or bands you’d like
to share the stage with?
P) As far as tour stories go, one recently does comes
to mind. Tour can be very bizarre even in the moments when you least expect it.
Instead of the crazy stories you hear about dudes being arrested or trashing
hotel rooms and crap like that on tour it is more like an experience I had in
Brooklyn on our last tour. I was up at 5am not being able to sleep, because our
drummer snores louder than a bear growls and the house your staying at has a
room-mate who is fucking some dude 12 ft away from where you are sleeping on
the hardwood floor. Between the snores and ass slaps I manage to get a few
hours of sleep. When we all get up in the morning the girl sex'n it up at 5 Am
earlier, runs out of the room to puke. This is not an everyday occurrence while
at home, but on tour, this shit is fair game. I can't wait to tell my siblings
children these stories.
SL: Reflecting upon your time together as a band, what have
been some of the high and low point in your career. Are you a stronger unit
now, than when you first started?
P) We are just beginning at this point. So far it has
only been highs, there is no time to hit the low parts of our career, and we
have to make the best out of any situation.
SL: Thanks for answering my questions, but one final
question, you got anything you like to say to your fans?
P) Thanks to all of you who have purchased our music
and attended our shows in Denver and around the United States. Your support
means a lot to us. If you downloaded our album for free, thank you as well,
make sure you come out to our show the next time we are in town.
