Andy: How are you all doing today? First things first, want to take a second and introduce yourselves, and let us know who plays what?
EW: Hey Andy, feelin` like a million bucks here. The weather is perfect, the riffs are heavy, good to talk to you. Elijah plays bass and pinball, Neil plays himself and sings, Jamie pounds skins and plays drums, Funds plays international guitar, and I play domestic guitar.
Andy: So you guys are from Seattle, right? How are things out there these days in terms of music? What bands should we be watching out for? Are all the Seattle bands that are worth a fuck banding together and conspiring to create the new "grunge" style movement out there?
EW: I think the new "grunge" movement is all the old "grunge" bands reuniting. If you mean current bands signing to smaller labels, playing the Comet Tavern, still practicing in shitholes, still writing gnarly songs, then yeah that`s happening too. More importantly, watch out for Alice In Chains and Soundgarden playing together soon. I`m calling it now.
Andy: You released an EP last year, and it was a damn fine one. It caught my ears (and eyes, killer artwork for the cover) right away, what were some of the inspirations from that initial batch of songs?
EW: Thanks, glad you like it. Influences included Bathory, Celtic Frost, Razor, Red Lobster. Doing things, turning up loud.
Andy: Now you`ve got a brand new album, Heavy Breathing, coming out on Southern Lord, how did you end up getting hooked up with them?
EW: Yeah, Southern Lord is doing the record. Greg is from up here so he came to check us out after we sent him a record, and we ended up hanging out all night talking about old U.S. hardcore and other rad shit. Eventually Funds lost a bet over an SSD jukebox situation. "Sign your life, I mean your name, on the contract." Southern Lord has been cool.
Andy: Did the overwhelmingly positive response to the EP put more pressure on you as far as recording a solid full length as the follow up?
EW: We didn`t really start to hear anything from that EP until after the songs for Heavy Breathing were written so it didn`t matter. The little bits and pieces we`d hear about the EP were generally cool and all, but it didn`t change our approach or anything. We wrote the songs we were going to write and did what we wanted to do, and the new stuff naturally came out a little faster, a little heavier, a little weirder (for us) compared to the EP.
Andy: The album sounds great. Where was the album recorded, and with who? Can you tell us a bit about those sessions?
EW:Thanks, we`re into it. We put in 11 days recording and mixing with Kurt Ballou at God City Studios in Salem, Mass. Alan Douches at West West Side took the reels from there and did a great job with the mastering. The whole experience was killer! It`s a shame we live so far away from the studio as Kurt obviously has a great ear for the kind of stuff we`re into. Salem seemed an appropriate place to record considering all the unholy witcherous content on the record. A swarm of bats circled overhead for the better portion of our time tracking there.
Andy: Okay, let`s get into the nitty gritty. What are your influences? I hear a lot of Discharge, Disfear, Dismember, Entombed, Celtic Frost, Bathory, and Venom. How much do you consider those bands an influence? Are there any big influences on your music that you`d say aren`t as readily apparent?
EW: Those you listed get a lot of our attention, that`s true. We`ve definitely taken some cues from those bands, from fairly significant to very minor. The first two snare hits on the "Unreal Estate" record are a big influence. Obviously a bunch of Swedish bands and earlier metal bands are influences as well, in addition to healthy doses of U.S. hardcore, Japanese rippers, old blues shit, "grunge" bands, power pop, garage jams, radio rock... we seem to have a wider collective palate than some.
Andy: Lyrically, you guys have some cool themes and catchy, albeit blasphemous, phrases strewn into your songs. Who writes the lyrics, and what are you trying to achieve lyrically? Are you just trying to write fun, cool metal tunes coming from a similar tradition, or is there an underlying message or commentary on religion going on?
EW: Neil`s the wordsmith, check him out.
NM: I started with reading everything from the old testament and the koran, to Lovecraft and anthropological studies of pre-Judiac middle eastern religions, William Burroughs, serial killer books, historical inquiries into the witch plagues in the old and new worlds, Satanism and human sacrifice, and a shit ton of horror flicks to get a better idea of the scope and variety that "evil" represents. Some of the lyrics had been written for the better part of a year, others I wrote the day before recording. My personal religious beliefs are just that and have no business in the songs. I just want to spin dark and evil sinister tales.
Andy: I see you guys have a tour lined up with Converge, you must be stoked about that, they slay live. Are you guys also going to slay live? Is there extra pressure to go out and slay, knowing that you`re going to be followed up by a band like Converge?
EW: The "Slaying A Life" tour. Converge is great, I`ve seen them a bunch of times and they always bring it. We`re playing first on most of the shows and have every intention of setting the bar fucking high for the rest of the bands. I`m just glad there will be some time in between our set and when Converge tears the place down.
Andy: Do you have any other plans for touring?
EW: No specific plans yet. Ideas are in the works, but nothing is set outside of the 6 weeks in May/June. The future seems to depend a little on Heavy Breathing and if anyone likes it. I find promoters are more easily convinced to book shows for you when they have an ounce of interest in your recorded output, so we`ll see. We`re waiting to see how this tour goes before committing to anything crazy, but we`ll definitely be doing more stuff before the year is over. I have my own hopes and expectations and am absolutely sure it`ll be rad, but we`ll wait until things are more set to start talking about that stuff.
Andy: What would you say that the future holds for Black Breath? Do you guys have a game plan laid out, and if so, can you clue us in on it?
EW: Game plan? Our first LP is just coming out so the future is pretty open. So far the plan is to shred 6 weeks of shows, beat up losers, mean mug Converge, high five them after they kill it, headbang to Autopsy and 120 other bands in Baltimore, and after that we`ll crank out some more records on Southern Lord and Hot Mass. After we get our papers in order we`ll make some trips overseas.
Andy: Who is your favourite cartoon character of all time?
EW: Elijah`s your man on this.
EN: Shit man, that`s tough. I really like Snake Eyes from GI Joe... Snydly Whiplash, that guy`s cool. Fuckin` Hong Kong Fooey. Molly Moocow, Grampy, that`s pretty good.
Andy: If you could travel back in time and see one concert that happened before you were born, which one would it be, and why?
EW: I`d want to say something like Monterey Pop Festival in `67, but I`d rather be at a in D.C. on April 4th, 1981 seeing Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SOA, Void, Government Issue, Youth Brigade, Red C, and a few others. Unreal.
Andy: If you could also take that time machine and change one major historical event, what would you do?
EW: I would put myself at that show, or in Moscow for the Monsters of Rock 1991, just so I could have seen Pantera playing "Domination" live with a million other people and I could quit watching that video on repeat.
Andy: What`s your favourite song on Bathory`s Hammerheart album?
EW: I keep going back and forth, torn between "Baptised in Fire and Ice" and "Father to Son." The riff at about 1:40 in "Baptised"... get the fuck out. Then again, you get a similar one in the intro to "Father." When everything kicks in and then goes to the palm muted version of the same riff? God damn.
Andy: That`s going to be it for today, if there`s anything else you`d like to say to the readers of Stonerrock.com, now would be the time to do it.
EW: Shred on. Seattle comes to you soon.
Check out Black Breath at http://www.myspace.com/blackbreath
