This issues contains one of by favourite interviews thus far with the magazine. Namely my "chat" with Chat Pile bassist Stin. Elsewhere Earthtone9 frontman Karl Middleton pops in and sludge masters Inter Arma discuss their plans for 2024 and their new record.
All in all not a bad one. Stay safe.
D. Gilmore Out of Step UK
In 2022 American alternative rock hero's Chat Pile released one of my favourite albums of the year. Their debut album "God's Country" was a fantastic journey into the bands psyche. Whilst we await a follow up, bassist Stin took some time out of recording to give me an update on the new record and upcoming UK tour.
Are there any plans for the follow-up for 2022's God's Country? How far are you into the album process?
STIN: Yes, we’ve been writing and recording LP 2 since this past Thanksgiving and I’d say we’re about 85% finished with it. Our writing process is pretty slow since we jam out ideas together until they turn into actual songs. Doing things this way can be a little tedious, but it’s really the only way we know how to get things done. The yet-tobe-named album will be out later this fall through the Flenser barring any major catastrophe.
I was lucky enough to catch your set at last years Arctangent Festival. Shortly after I heard someone describe the band fondly as " Korn for art students" what do you think about that assessment?
STIN: More or less, this is a correct assessment. I could talk all day about this subject so I’ll try my best to keep this as brief as I can! Korn is an incredible band whose artistic merits are marred by some poor aesthetic choices and the role they played in shaping the pop culture landscape of the early 2000s for the worse (as a HUGE fan I would argue that their “flaws” are a major part of what make them great, but that’s an entirely separate conversation). But stripped of this context, early Korn is the literal next step in the creative lineage of bands like Godflesh, Big Black and the Jesus Lizard - all of whom are major influences on us. Chat Pile tries to marry the best parts of bands like Korn with the more “high brow” underground, extreme music we like as well. We also love indie rock and classic rock and all that gets thrown into the mix. What’s really funny to me is that no one compared us to Korn ever until we started mentioning them in interviews all the time and then all of a sudden the noise rock dorks who had been touting us as the saviors of Killdozer music started crying about how much we sound like Korn. I’m extremely proud to have made the biggest libertarian Albini dweebs on Earth essentially admit that Korn is a good band.
The band will be back over this side of the pond for your UK tour later this year. Do you enjoy coming over to England? How do UK crowds differ from the ones at home?
STIN: We loved our first trip to the UK. We sold out all our headline gigs and the people who turned out were extremely lovely and passionate. The demeanour of the crowds weren’t all that different than the crowds back home, other than maybe being a little drunker than average. Funny story, most of us had never been to England, so we wanted to arrive a couple days early so we could check out London. Not knowing anything about the city, I booked our hotel right in the middle of the touristy area near Big Ben etc. We were surrounded by all these high end retail shops and corny tourist stuff and there were huge crowds everywhere. We’re going to try and stay somewhere a little hipper this time ha ha. We never imagined people would ever like our band or that we’d play anywhere outside of Oklahoma City, so getting to play in front of big crowds in another country is something we do not take for granted whatsoever - we truly can’t wait to come back.
You will be joined on the tour by "Meth." And "Modern Technology" how familiar are you with the bands?
STIN: meth. are pretty good pals of ours actually! Our first ever multi-city tour was with them and Nerver several years ago. They’re such chill, funny guys who make the most intense, furnace-blast music. Their new album, SHAME, just came out and it’s really incredible. We were overjoyed when they came up as a possible support for the UK shows. We weren’t as familiar with Modern Technology, but we’ve since become fans - I can’t wait to see them live, I’m sure it’s going to absolutely crush.
What are the chances of changing the lyrics to "Rainbow Meat" for the tour to "Send my body the Greggs"? (UK equivalent of Arbys)
STIN: It’s always a possibility, but the syllables don’t quite match up. I have faith in Raygun to make the right decision.
Masters of the slow build, Richmond's own Inter Arma are set to level the competition later this year with the release of their latest record. In the meantime the lads found the time to discuss their upcoming slot at Manchester's Damnation Festival and the reason behind that infamous Prince cover.
I understand the new albums out soon, could you tell me a little about the concept for the record? What can fans expect?
The only thing we set out to do was to try and write as concise a record as possible, trim all the fat, so to speak. As far as what to expect, there are some classic Inter Arma sounds going on as well as some new ideas and themes that have never really been explored by the band before.
Your latest single “New Heaven” has been received extremely well by fans. Would you say the single is a good representation of the album as a whole?
Honestly, that’s the only song on the record that sounds like that so no, it’s not a good representation of the rest of the record, hahahahahaha.
Back in 2020 you covered many artists for your “Garbler Days Revisited” record. I particularly enjoyed “Purple Rain”! How did a heavy metal band end up covering Prince!?
That was never supposed to be released but once Relapse heard it they were pretty insistent. That said, I don’t see anything wrong with a metal band covering a song from another genre of music. We’ve done lots of cover songs (too many) and most of them were written and performed by nonmetal artists. A good song is a good song!
I love the art you use on your records how do you go about choosing one image to represent an album? Do you feel it is an important part of the process?
It’s an incredibly important part of the process and I think it plays a crucial role in how people perceive your record. There are lots of great records with bad covers and vice versa. I think if the cover is cool and thought provoking then you’re immediately going to be listening to the record with a much more positive, open mind set. As far as how we choose them or find them? It always happens it different ways. It just so happened that this time around we found out that a friend of ours, Louie “Batshit” Palu, is a world class photographer and was gracious enough to let us use one of his beautiful photos.
Given that the band is well into your career at this point, how has your approach to recording changed since the early days?
Not very much at all. We lay everything down track by track, do some overdubs and call it a day. Our main man Mikey Allred has been behind the console for everything we’re done since Sky Burial and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
The band is scheduled to appear at this years Damnation Festival. I understand you’ve played in the past. Do you have any memories from that time you could share?
Absolutely!! We shared a dressing room with Blood Red Throne and those guys were fucking maniacs. Usually everyone thinks we’re the party animals so it was nice to meet someone on our level insanity. Their singer playing Let It Be on piano and singing it in a low Barry White meets death metal vocal style is something I still remember clearly. He fucking killed it!
Manchester’s Damnation is becoming well known for artists performing full album sets. If you were do do such a set which of your records would you like to perform?
I guess since New Heaven is the new record that’d be the one I’d wanna play but I’d play any of them that they asked me to. Let’s go!
Other than Damnation, do you have any other UK shows planned for this year?
We DO have more UK shows lined up this year but I’m not at liberty to talk about them just yet. SOON!! Thank you so much for the interview, hope everyone digs New Heaven and we’ll see you on the road soon!
For those in the know Karl Middleton is a legend. Most well known as the frontman of Earthtone9, a legendary band on these shores that have just announced a new record and a string of shows to mark the occasion. This includes a return to Bristol’s Arctangent Festival this August. Not wanting to wait till then I caught up with Karl to talk music, the past and the future.
It wasn’t all that long ago the band announced its “Hibernation”. When was the decision made to come back?
Well the band has reached a point where we weren’t able to function, so putting it on ice was the only thing that could be done.
timing-wise the arctangent offer was the tipping point to let people know that we’re thawing out and seeing where that leads – it felt like unfinished business. we were on deck to play in 2020 and 2021, I was beyond disappointed when we had to pull out of the 2022 festival. it felt like a line in the sand for the end of covid times and I was gutted that we couldn’t get it together to play.
Speaking of Arctangent, you ll be playing with along with some great bands like Electric Wizard and Bossk. Will you be checking out any other bands on the day?
Hell yes! the line ups at ATG and 2000 trees are off the chart. I like to wander around and be surprised by what i stumble across. I’m definitely going to watch Ken Mode and Caspian, and our brothers in Bossk. I'll be there for the wizard, have no doubt. Vower too, there’s a supreme amount of talent in that band
Do you have plans for any more shows after the festival?
We want 2024 to be an active year but there are a bunch of variables and some elements are still in the planning phase – we’re looking to play more shows for sure
I’m going back in time a bit here I know but I understand you played on the “This is Menace” record with so many other awesome musicians. That record was huge for me! Could you tell me a bit about how that came about and any memories you have from that era?
Mark and Jason decided to do a heavy band and came up with the concept of having a different vocalist for each song, ET9 had done a couple of tours with Pitchshifter, and they asked me to sing a song on the first album. I did pretty much all of the live shows and sometimes sang Colin’s song as well as mine
We played Pukkelpop (in Belgium) in 2007 or 2008 and it was a major life highlight. we played a great show, then got to watch neurosis from the side of the stage and hang out with them after the show. Pitchshifter and Neurosis had toured together in the early 1990’s and mark new the band well.
You seem to have a great relationship with the guys from Pitchshifter, how did that friendship come about?
Mark and John were and still are very supportive towards upcoming bands. we were based in Nottingham in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, and this was Pitchshifter’s hometown. they came to a couple of our shows and offer us our first significant European tour. PItchshifter and Mark have given us opportunities that are still, to this day, having a positive ripple effect on et9 and my life after all these years.
The bands Facebook page is one of the most wholesome band pages I’ve visited. do you feel its important to keep that avenue of communication open between yourself and your fans?
We want our socials to be more than a billboard. i find it a real downer when bands only post about what they’re selling. We’re interested in books, movies, comics, the arts, creativity, ecology and spirituality and share things that light us up. the in-realtime-two-way traffic thing is (sometimes but not always) one of the cool things about social media.
Many of the people that follow us have been with us for 25 years or more, and we couldn’t really exist without their support and commitment. they enabled us to crowdfund ‘for cause and consequence’ and ‘iv’. they told us that they were interested in vinyl reissues and actually bought them, they tell us about cool bands and books that enrich our lives. we think of it as an online community not just a mechanism for transactional artist to fan information.
Your record “Off Kilter” is 25 years old now. Where does the time go! Are there any plans to celebrate that milestone?
I know right! it’s wild. I was 24 when we recorded that record and 25 when it came out. it’s literally half a lifetime ago. maybe –we’ve got a bunch of stuff in play at the moment but at this point nothing specific relating to off kilter enhancement
lastly and perhaps most importantly, are there any plans for new music any time soon?
Some of us have continued to create, it’s always a question of what feels and sounds like Earthtone to us, and that’s not a fixed thing. there’s always music bubbling away. it’s all about the timing.
Jamie Jasta approved deathcore group Goonlord are rapidly taking over the YouTube algorithm with their crushing single “Wasted”. The band show all the signs of being huge in the scene both at home and across the pond. I sat down with lead singer Wes to discuss the bands seemingly inevitable rise through the heavy metal ranks.
Firstly, great name! How did that come about?
Thank you very much! The name actually came about between both our guitarist, Jono, and myself [Wesley] when we first wanted to start this project. We had tossed and turned between different names such as, “Grizzly” and “Hammered” but nothing stuck the way that GoonLord did. Jono and I have been best buds for some time now, and have played in bands together for years now. He always called everybody goons, and then we just slapped Lord at the end. The Lord comes from this guy we saw on YouTube who called himself, “The BongLord” and we spent a lot of time laughing at his videos. Shoutout to him!
-I understand the band is from Florida, is there much of a young deathcore/metal scene at the moment?
South Florida definitely has the hands on for the heavy scene. Deathcore bands, and traditional Death-Metal bands alike, are absolutely thriving. It’s something that my bandmates, and I, discuss from time to time how lucky we feel to be in such a talented state with new bands popping up every week. We’ve learned that when one band breaks up, that’s just 5 dudes that are about to start 5 more bands, which ultimately benefits the scene as a whole. Never any bad blood, for the most part, so it ends up working out.
-You have just released the video for your latest single “Wasted” to some great reviews. What’s the feeling in the band right now? It must be great to get such positive comments on your tracks. We are so thrilled with the response we’ve gotten! With all of our socials we’ve gotten so many great comments from everybody online. All of our friends have been so supportive when they post our video onto their profiles. This is our third video we’ve released as a band, and so far, has had the most commentators. We got word from one of our friends that Jamey Jasta, from Hatebreed, had our song on his Patreon page and had a lot of really great things to say about it. We were all amazed that he took the time to do that and we’re super appreciative that he
What does a full length record from Goonlord sound like? Would you say “Wasted” and your other releases are a good indication of where you ll go record wise?
A full length from GoonLord is just one big groovy mesh of heavy and trash can throwing. We all take a lot of different influences from different groups like Whitechapel, Fear Factory, The Acacia Strain, Cannibal Corpse, Static-X. A bit of all different versions of heavy is what can be expected. We want each song to have their own sound and it’s own influence. Each will sound like a GoonLord song but will all be completely unique from one another. Wasted is absolutely the direction we’re looking to take. Many of the lyrics discuss being in a bad spot in life whether it be finances, relationships, or anything else that we all stress about in life as humans from day to day. However, like many sitcoms, the show starts out with a big problem, but by the end of it, things turn around for the better, and everybody learns a valuable lesson from it.
The Infernal Sea - Hellfenlic
Right now in 2024 the UK black metal scene is thriving and is arguably more healthy now than ever before. At the forefront of this new wave of darkness lie The Infernal Sea. Along with groups like Ninkharag and The Suns Journey through the Night TIS are leaders within the maelstrom and this new record goes along way to cement their place at the top of this blackened pile.
On "Hellfenlic" TIS have improved immensely since their last record (2020 Negotium Crucis" which was a great record in of itself.) The band not only have the black metal atmospherics of their Nordic forefathers but riffs and solos to keep up with some of the best of the genre. TIS also have the rare quality of a black metal band in that they are able to actually write and compose decent heavy metal rather than relying solely on the theatre and visual components that so many others do.
In short TIS have created another blast of toxic evil that stays with you long after it has finished and is as good as any other release in the rapidly growing UK black metal scene.
Job for A Cowboy - Moonhealer
Picking up where they left off in an ever changing musical landscape some ten after their last record was never going to be an easy task. It is, however one that job for a cowboy have taken in their stride.
The bands sixth studio album "Moon Healer" is an accomplished and progressive record. A record that keeps at the high level of 2014's "Sun Eater". So much so in fact that If you were to tell me both records were written at the same time I would believe you, so similar in sound and even artwork are they.
The production throughout "Moon Healer" is crisp and clear and it is perhaps this that leads me to my one gripe with the record. The bass, now whilst I enjoy the rarity of hearing it so high up in the mix it leads to the rather odd impression that the bassist has Alzheimer's. He plays very technically but seems to be listening to a different click track entirety from the rest of the band.
Knit picking aside I enjoyed hearing from a band that I had all but forgotten. It is refreshing to hear an album from a band that have come a long way from their deathcore roots and embraced their individually to great effect. Well done indeed.
Yersin – The Scythe is Remorseless
Like a mixed race gangbang Yersin do an admirable job of combining elements from several genres into one collective, and rather sticky vessel. There are clear influences from hardcore, death metal, crossover-thrash and a healthy dose of crust punk and D-beat all within this record.
Coming some four years after their debut (2020 Guilt) the band have matured into a well oiled machine. Tracks like the albums midpoint "Red Mist" are a great thrashy Whirlwind with the D-beat rhythm section that brings such crushing heaviness to the bands sound.
The final track "Doom" tones the aggression down a notch but this leaves room for some awesome vocal nuance and atmospheric guitar work all building to a beautiful climax.
Clocking in at just under twenty five minutes the record bursts through the proverbial door, downs a pint, shags your Mrs and exits through the back door without stopping for breath.
Be sure to catch the band opening for the sludge lords Mastiff in the UK this March.
Cult Of Sobek - Petsuchos
I never knew that I needed a Crocodile inspired doom bands debut EP to land on my desk, but as I am now on the sixth or seventh play through apparently I did.
The reptilian group have managed to Conjure up images of being stalked through desolate swamps by unseen predators. The music grows and swells like a particularly unpleasant growth just under the skin then slowly lowers its head beneath the murky waters, once again concealed.
At only three tracks the group nonetheless get their message across, one that could easily soundtrack an indie horror flick. I look forward to hearing what comes next.
It would seem there's something of an amphibious theme to this issues reviews!
Froglord have long since established themselves as underground doom heroes. On this latest EP the band continues to move forward and deepen their musical palette. This release is probably the heaviest the band have sounded but with some wonderful atmospherics and samples added to the mix. This really pushes the bands sound and continues their excellent evolution.
Froglord - Live by the Fuzz or Die by the Slime
