Metal Army caught up with experimental Black Metal Industrialists INVERTIA by email recently for an interview. Collaborators Dave and Tim discussed the making of their new album, the meaning of the band name, how the group works together, the current USBM scene and much more.
MA: Tell us about the making of your new album?
We recorded it at Tim’s studio, it took about a year to write & record it. It was easy. First we did the click track, then we did the guitar, then another guitar.
MA: What does “Invertia” mean?
The everyday struggle, putting up with it, people’s bullshit, subtext when they talk & stupid fucking opinions. More or less.
MA: What is “Oppressive Industrial Black Metal”, and what about mixing these two sub-genres together made you think it would work so well?
When Dave first heard GODFLESH he didn’t know what industrial was but he knew that was the type of music that he wanted to make. Tim was heavily influenced by early 80′s synth bands like HUMAN LEAGUE & DEVO, then later NINE INCH NAILS and MINISTRY, that’s where he was coming from. It makes sense that we both naturally arrived at Industrial Black Metal when we first began collaborating. After we finished, a friend called it oppressive so we used that.
MA: Your press notes refer to Dave as ‘Analog’ and Tim as ‘Digital’. What do these two designations actually mean and how do you typically write together?
When you listen to it, all of the analog sounds that you hear (AKA guitars & vocals) that’s Dave, and all of the keyboards, drums & samples are Tim. The writing process is fairly equal as we talk about what the song needs, what works & doesn’t work & how it should be arranged etc. Dave typically writes the lyrics once the song is completely recorded.
MA: Who or what are some of the bands’ top influences?
TONS of influences but here’s a few names: KILLING JOKE, MYSTICUM, later DODHEIMSGARD, ANAAL NATHRAKH, DARKTHRONE, THE RESIDENTS, BLACK SABBATH. GEORGE CARLIN & WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS influenced the lyrics. Also, The new Sonic Youth album is pretty good.
MA: I see that your album is available on Bandcamp for streaming and purchase. Do you think websites like Bandcamp hurt or help an independent artist share his music?
Share or Sell? It definitely helps an artist to share their music, selling music is a completely different story. That said, we love the exposure, we didn’t get into this for the money, its a total loss!
MA: Speaking mainly about the current USBM scene, why do you think there are so many unique and experimental bands right now?
The core of it, the Norwegian & Swedish bands, is over. So now, like any other genre, it’s going to progress. There’s true black metal, so why wouldn’t their also be untrue black metal? That’s what happens with music, it evolves and blends and a hybrid forms from it, and every once in a while something completely new comes from it, and a new genre is formed. That’s when a band will become influential & becomes like a family tree. That’s not us, but it happens. It’s evolution.
MA: Any plans for the band to play live or tour again?
Metal Army caught up with MIKE CLARK of WAKING THE DEAD at the New England Metal And Hardcore Fest XV. Mike, of course is famous for his twenty-five year stint in SUICIDAL TENDENCIES as the chief songwriter of classic albums How Will I Laugh Tomorrow, Lights Camera Revolution, Art of Rebellion and Suicidal For Life, and many others. Mike is now leading his own band as a front man, and singer for the first time, as well as playing lead guitar too. We hung out in the bands van and chatted about Mike stepping out on his own, starting over, being out on the road, writing and recording his next album, and what the future holds for WAKING THE DEAD.
LAINA DAWES has written possibly the most important book about metal ever with her recent tome, What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman’s Life And Liberation in Heavy Metal, (Bazillion Points).Although informed by her personal experience, Dawes uses examples from many other important figures in breaking boundaries for women of color in heavy music, but also music history, sociology, and psychology to highlight injustices and explore how changes can come about. Dawes was in New York City for the book’s release fete in her honor, when she caught up with Metal Army’s Lynn Jordan, whose own career touched upon as one of the subjects of the book.
MA: The book touches on several issues, but what is the main thing you want folks to take away from it?
LD: I’ve gotten the response, “that is my story” from a number of people. It was important to document the similar experiences that a lot of black women into the extreme music scene had encountered. I think a lot of people felt that they had no one in their lives whom they could express either how excited they were to be involved in whatever musical scene they were in, or admit how negative experiences affected them. Because of that I hope that this book provides a voice for those who do not have the ability to have conversations surrounding these issues in their everyday lives.
MA: You’ve collected so much information from so many people and sources. Would you write a “WAYDH II” or do you think that this book took the topic as deep as it could go?
LD: I think that a WAYDH II would be centered on what I mentioned above – more of a non-North American perspective. I think that there would have to be some work done, in order to ensure that the same issues that were discussed in the first book are not duplicated in the second, or if they are, what are the differences? In terms of race and racism, there certainly would be, but it is something that would really need to be thought out. I think I would also love to provide more suggestions about handling yourself in the music industry – more suggestions from industry folk, and more perspectives from men.
MA: You write that women in Metal in general as marginalized as much as possible and how attempts of addressing that are mostly shallow and exploitative. Considering the depths you plumbed with WAYDH, would you ever consider writing another book just about women in Metal to help reverse that trend?
LD: Good question! The key is, is that society has to change. Some of the current issues, like magazines who post scantily-clad women metal performers are doing it, not only because they are misogynist, but because there is a demand for it. Some men want to see women in that light, and some women have no issue with representing themselves like that. The metal community is reflective of the attitudes that exist in the larger society. Does that go against what metal represents to us lifers? A community of people that want to feel and think differently from the larger society? Yes, but realistically we cannot help but bring the outside ‘in.’ The music is the most important thing, but we cannot help ourselves in bringing in our own personal baggage into the community.
Laina Dawes
MA: SKIN of SKUNK ANANSIE wrote the forward for the book. Can you divulge the names of other ladies that you would have liked to have done it if SKIN declined?
LD: No other women came to mind! I was focused Skin because she meant so much to me as a black woman and as a fan of heavy music. In hindsight, SUZANNE THOMAS, an LA-based guitarist and singer would have been really cool. She was in a band called PMS – the first black and female metal band and she has a lot of stories to tell. Not being able to interview her properly for this book is a big regret of mine.
MA: I have to say, that I was so happy that you mentioned BESSIE SMITH, who I am distantly related to (she was reportedly my great-grandmother’s cousin and they knew each other from childhood). The story about her facing down the Klan was powerful stuff and made me proud! Did reading the stories of these hardened, fearless women make you want to delve even deeper into American Blues music, or not so much?
LD: There is still so much for me to learn about African-American blues music and culture. I referenced Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Davis in WAYDH and that’s where I found that story about Bessie Smith. Obviously that story and of course, Smith resonated with me and represented what I see in some of the contemporary women performers: Strong, forthright and unafraid to show their emotions onstage. One of the issues with this book is I wished I could have delved in more deeply, but I was really enthralled with the lyricism, in which these women first referenced issues that even to this day, are seen as controversial to put into words. sex, lust, addictions and in some cases lesbianism or alternative sexuality.
MA: I don’t recall that you interviewed any White male Metal musicians or at least any from a prominent band. Was that by choice, or did they decline due to the subject matter (or not respond at all)?
LD: Oh no! I interviewed JASON NETHERTON from MISERY INDEX. I absolutely love his band, but more importantly, I wanted to talk to him as he grew up in DC and his lyricism, which is pretty socially progressive. They are a political band and I thought that he might have some interesting to say. I did want to keep the voices in the book as ‘black’ as possible as it was important to let their opinions be heard, but a couple of my melanin-challenged brothers, like Scott Alisgou who runs Clawhammer PR, were just as important to give a different perspective.
Forgiveness is also a path to freedom: Laina and Phil Anselmo at this years’ Maryland Deathfest.
MA: Who are your favorite bands right now, and what drew you to them?
LD: Right now? I’m loving the new DARKTHRONE album, THE UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE. It’s such a great nod to trad metal, which I grew up on. I’m also digging INTER ARMA, the new CATHEDRAL album, CAR BOMB, NAILS, ANCIIENTS, and VÖHL.
MA: You give much respect to JOYCE KENNEDY of MOTHER’S FINEST, NONA HENDRYX and TINA TURNER. Did they decline to be involved, not respond, or did you purposely not approach them because you wanted to focus on the more current group of Black Female Metal musicians?
LD: No, I actually reached out to both Joyce and Nona and didn’t get interviews. Tina Turner? I decided not to pursue that, as I was pretty sure she would not want to talk about the early years. But the music that she and Ike Turner created – the early stuff, is pretty hard!
MA: Bazillion Points, which publishes Metal/Hard Rock focused books, proves that Ian Christe is fearless as a music fan and supporter. What were his thoughts about the book when you approached him with it, and what is his feelings about it since it’s been published?
LD: Luckily Ian was and is, supportive. From the beginning he thought it was a great idea and if it wasn’t for me knowing that despite all the early and pretty awful drafts he had my back, this book wouldn’t be what it is. Not a lot of people were supportive. I think that they thought I was nuts.
MA: Non-Blacks have the tendency to think that a book such as this alienates or upsets people rather than bring them together. Do you think that non-Black people will ever grasp the concept that doing things, such as writing a book like yours?
LD: Another fantastic question. I think that we have to get to a place where we say, ‘who gives a shit?’ I would be lying if I didn’t want this book, or the work that the Black Rock Coalition does to make an impact on the larger society, but I think it is time to stop waiting for an acceptance that might not ever come. We need to provoke change from within, encourage young black folks or people of color to just ‘be’ themselves. Do what they want and be who they want to be instead of conforming to what the majority thinks they should be. I’m admittedly on the fence as to black-centric TV stations. I’m pretty disgusted with BET, as they do not represent the majority of black communities in North America, but on the other hand, it is impossible to do so. We all have such different perspectives on things, it is a disservice to lump us into a monolithic entity.
Metal Army interviewed Gumby from BATTLECROSS right before they hit the stage at this years’ New England Metal and Hardcore Festival XV. He discussed the pressures of being an up and coming band, their forthcoming album on Metal Blade Records, crowd funding, working with touring drummer Kevin Talley and much more!
Metal Army caught up with Robert (Bob) Vigna, of legendary New York death metallers IMMOLATION. He chatted extensively about their new album Kingdom of Conspiracy (Nuclear Blast), his relationship with Ross Dolan, working in the studio, Par Olofssen’s artwork, and the upcoming Decibel Tour with Cannibal Corpse and more. We thank Bob for his time and applaud IMMOLATION on their twenty-five years as a death metal institution.
We chatted recently with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist JOEL STROETZEL, all about their new album, “Disarm The Descent” (Roadrunner) coming out on April 2nd. In a band full of strong personalities, Joel prefers to be the silent type, able to chill out and do his job. We talked about the making of the new album, Jesse Leach coming back into the band, recording, his influences, the importance of family, and the bands touring plans.
JOEL STROETZEL of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
Interviewer: Keith (@Keefy) Chachkes Live photos by Echoes In The Well.
Metal Army chatted with PETER TÄGTGREN about the new HYPOCRISY album End of Disclosure (Nuclear Blast). In a lengthy interview, Omar (@Ojayy666) Cordy talked to the legendary multi-instrumentalist and producer about the new album, writing and recording, his other projects, and much more.
In less than one month metalheads from all over will descend on The Palladium in Worcester, MA for The 15th Annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival. The Palladium is widely regarded as the metal capital of the northeast. Starting with the kickoff party on April 18th the weekend long festival boats a who’s who of the best heavy bands in the world such as ANTHRAX, HATEBREED, EXODUS, OPETH, EVERY TIME I DIE, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, D.R.I., THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, MUNICIPAL WASTE, SHADOWS FALL, KATATONIA, SICK OF IT ALL, TYR, TERROR, REVOCATION, THE ACACIA STRAIN, JOB FOR A COWBOY, BLACK BREATH, TRAP THEM, TRAPPED UNDER ICE, GOATWHORE and dozens more. At the center of it all is SCOTT LEE, who helped devise the festival originally and helps book it yearly, along with Mass Concerts. We chatted at length with Scott about the history of the festival from its humble beginnings, what it takes to put on the show and where it is headed in the future. You can buy tickets here.
Metal Army caught up with FLOTSAM AND JETSAM singer ERIC A.K. recently for a one to one interview. The band is out on the road supporting their self-released new album Ugly Noise, which is going to get a world wide distributed re-release from Metal Blade Recordson April 16th. Eric chatted with us about a great many topics such as touring the US for the first time in ages, recording their new album, the state of the music industry, and other topics.
ERIC A.K. took some time to chat with us on before their ripping set at the Worcester Palladium.
Metal Army caught up with HATEBREED guitarist FRANK “3 GUN” NOVINEC. Out on the road supporting the veteran metal bands new album The Divinity of Purpose (Razor & Tie), Novinec caught us up to speed on what the band has been up to. We chatted about what Billboard chart success is like, touring plans, what goes into writing a HATEBREED album, their new label and much more!
HATEBREED’s new album dropped in January.
MA: Hi Frank! How’s the tour going? You guys are in Virginia today, right?
FN: We are! It’s been a lot of fun! It’s great to to finally tour with the new record out. And we are doing the smaller markets on this tour, just because we hit all the other markets last fall with LAMB OF GOD. And we also just did our own headline run of the 10 Years of Perseverance Tour. So we wanted to go around, hit the smaller markets, really quick, and support the new record that actually came out on this tour. The response has been great!
FRANK “3 GUN” NOVINEC
MA: I know the record just dropped a few weeks back. The band has sold over 1 million records, but it has to be like a nice achievement for you to end up at the top of the Billboard charts.
FN: You don’t want base things around that, just in case you don’t get that spot, like we did. But it was a first for us, to get top 20 billboard and thee number on hard rock list. It’s pretty awesome! The fact that it is relevant, and that did hit top 20 Billboard and the #1 hard rock record for the week, it’s pretty awesome. It means this late in our career awesome people are still in to it. After 20 years, we haven’t fallen off at all, and I think it makes a big statement as far as our longevity is concerned with those numbers.
MA: How is the new deal with Razor and Tie working out so far that stand out?
FN: We are working with John and Peter again, who were with eOne, formerly Koch/eOne, who did the self titled record with. Our relationship with them is great! Razor and Tie have been great and really gotten a lot of things accomplished. Right off the bat, they are really behind us 100%. And it shows in the Billboard numbers ad stuff like that. It shows that we have done more press for this album than any other album in our history. They are excited about and we are too! And it is our first time working with with Nuclear Blast in Europe, and that has been so far too.
MA: How does the writing for a HATEBREED album typically start?
FN: Well you have the root of the song, which JAMEY (JASTA) creates. Jamey as one of the sole songwriters in the band since day one, he comes in with the heart of song. He’s got the HATEBREED formula. And it works, so we don’t try to fix it since it is not broken. So we aren’t going to change that. Finally, we decided this wasn’t going to be one of those records that down the road, we didn’t want to regret or want to change anything and say things like ‘we should of changed that’. The thing I am most proud of about this record, it’s great from beginning to end. It’s all killer and no filler.
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MA: The new album definitely sounds like a HATEBREED album, but I do hear growth in some songs like “The Language”, “Bitter Truth” and the title track. Is the band still experimenting?
FN: I think we did that on the last album. We went out about as far as we could go from our comfort zone and we accomplished that. We are like the AC/DC or the MOTÖRHEAD of our genre, it’s a very meat and potatoes sort of thing. There is nothing worse than when you go to get a record by one of your favorite bands and it doesn’t sound like that band. For me, it’s not a good thing. We are not that band. We are not a progressive band. We are not like RUSH, not taking anything away from them, because we are all fans of that too. But for HATEBREED and we know what to deliver, what people want and what the fans expect.
MA: How do you and WAYNE LOZINAK split up the guitar parts?
FN: The writing really comes from Jamey and Chris. We’re both similar. It really comes from the Gibson/Marshall tone. It worked for LED ZEPPELIN, it works for AC/DC, it worked for KISS. And those bands are more hard rock, but it works for us. We’re able to create a tone that is just brutal, just using guitars and those amps. We’re cranking Gibson’s through Marshall’s and I enjoy it because… all of my heroes played Gibson guitars through Marshall Amps, for the most part. To be able to play in a successful band and use that gear with those companies behind us, is a dream come true.
MA: You mentioned the 10 Years of Perseverance Tour, earlier. How do you keep making the set list diverse and interesting as a band?
FN: The beautiful thing about it is that we don’t have a set list. Jamey has a sheet on stage with about 50 plus songs. And he goes ‘this song is called’ and we have about two seconds to figure out how it goes and we play it. There is no set list. So every night, we play a completely different set lit. You will hear the hits… we always play “I Will Be Heard” and “Destroy Everything”, “Live For This” and “In Ashes They Shall Reap”, every night, no matter what. No when you have an hour set and our songs are two-three minutes long, you get to hear a lot of songs. But in between the hits you might hear anything. Fortunately for us we are well rehearsed and on tour enough to pull that off. It keeps us on our feet and keeps it interesting for us. We still love playing every night that way. More than anything it’s for the fans. It gives us something to talk about and especially for people traveling to multiple shows, it gives them a chance to hear different stuff. We broke out some stuff last night, that we haven’t played in a while. It’s something we do that is special and I can’t think of any other band that does that.
MA: HATEBREED is one of the headline bands this year at the NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FEST 15…. what does playing that show mean to you?
FN: To be honest with you I’m from the Mid-west and I live down South now. I’m not from the New England area, and our drummer, MATT BYRNE is from the Poughkeepsie, New York area and the other three guys are from Connecticut. But we are really close with SCOTT LEE, who runs the fest has been booking HATEBREED for a long time. It’s great to see how the fest has grown for a long time. Just form the early days of being just the New England Metalfest and where it is now. Before I was in HATEBREED I was playing in TERROR, and they had some great shows there too. We are a New England band, and we’ve had some great shows there. We love The Palladium! We headlined there two years ago and it was great! And it does always feel like a hometown show to us, every time we play there. We’re looking forward to it being a packed house, as always!
MA: What else do you have going on for plans for the rest of this year?
FN: We have booked the second leg of this tour. It’s us, EVERYTIME I DIE, TERROR, THIS IS HELL and JOB FOR A COWBOY. I think it’s a two week run that takes us to Metalfest. We have booked a festival in Ohio called the jamboree fest. In between now and that tour we;’re going to the UK and St. Petersberg Russia. A lot of touring in and out of Europe, South America and everywhere else. We are dropping another video for our second single for “Honor Never Dies”, and who knows maybe we’ll squeeze out another one before the end of the year. It’s the Divinity of Purpose, full-throttle for us with the new record, video and tours. If you don’t catch us on these dates, if you are reading this or listening to this, we’ll be back in your area soon. People can expect to see us on the road all the time, as always.
MA: Frank, thanks for spending some time with us today.
