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On a rotating headlining slot with
Skeletonwitch and Toxic Holocaust, Goatwhore are maybe not as well known
in the UK as their touring mates but this current trek is all about
changing that. I had a chance to sit down with frontman Ben Stout before
their recent show in Sheffield for a chat about the music industry,
religion, and all the complications that come with both and a lot more.
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far?
BS: Really good, thanks. We’re rotating every night with the other two
bands – Toxic Holocaust and Skeletonwitch – so the line-up changes
every night which is cool. Some nights we play first, and then some
nights, like tonight we play last. And it’s cool because all three
bands are not like really big bands so we’re always in smaller, more
compact places which I like.
MM:
What have you guys got planned for when the tour’s over?
BS: We get back home on 20th December and then we do a tour in
the States starting 7th January with Devil Driver,
Suffocation and Thy Will Be Done for 5 weeks and then after that, I’m
not too sure.
MM:
Summer festivals?
BS: We don’t have anything set for festivals yet but the agent that
we’re dealing with out here is working on some stuff for maybe the
summer.
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MM:
How’s the response been to the new album ‘Carving Out the Eyes of
God’ since it was released a few months ago?
BS: It’s been really good, man. It’s been a bit more than we expected
but we didn’t really go in with any set expectations for this record.
When we did this record it was more about us doing what we like to do
and building off our influences and things like that. We didn’t really
care what the majority thought, we did it with reference to things that
we liked and grew up on. We’ve been getting really good feedback from
everyone and I guess overall, people seem to really dig it. And I think
when you set your expectations too high, you set yourself up for a
complete failure depending on what else is going on, especially within
the industry itself. You get to the point where when |
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records – this is our fourth – and you don’t want to sound like
everyone else and claim that this is your best record ever, rather this
is more like this is what we’re doing now
and this is where we’re at right
now and you either dig it or you don’t. I mean, if we were just
right for magazines and things like that then we’d lose our internal
integrity.
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MM:
This is your second album for Metal Blade, how do you think things have
changed for you as a band since signing with them?
BS: I’m not a personal fan of a lot of labels. They all have their
shady moves and stuff like that and you have to go really deep into the
structure of it to realise how things work. I take care of a lot of band
business myself and I see the bullshit that goes on. You have to go in
smart. You see some of these younger bands go in and sign any old deal
and then 4 years down the line or whatever they’ll talk about how the
label screwed them. Now does it mean that the label screwed you or is it
that you didn’t go in smart and not try and sort out a deal that benefited
yourself or benefited both parties? In a business structure, both ends
benefit whereas in the music industry it’s usually one end that
benefits. When I go to a label it’s about who can put our record out
in more places than the label I was on last. Going to Metal Blade it was
clear that they had a lot more distribution than our last label and they
were able to get it out in more places, especially overseas, whereas
with Rotten Records it was much harder getting records out over here
because they didn’t have the distribution. Overall it’s not that
bad. We did pretty much fund our own situation out here though without
much support from the label – we paid for our own flights and stuff
like that. And we realise that we have to build ourselves out here. This
is only our second time in Europe and our first time in the UK and we
may have to pay a couple of more times to come over so we can build that
reputation up so people will want to bring us over. When we first
started touring the States we made so little on guarantees and we kind
of ate the dirt so much with that so we toured more and then we started
getting better guarantees and covering costs and things like that. We
try and do a lot of things on our own and sometimes that difficult
because money doesn’t come from nowhere, you know? You’ve got to
work hard for it. When I’m at home I work a job as well to build up
money for the band.
MM:
Is it sometimes hard getting time off from the job to go and tour?
BS: I’ve actually been pretty lucky. The jobs I’ve had have been
really cool. When I’m at home, I’ll work a hell of a lot. If I’m
home for 2 weeks, then I’ll work solidly for the 2 weeks without a day
off, do 40+ hours and build up my standing there. And when I’m home
for a long period of time, I’ll still work a lot and go out of my way
for them because they allow me time to leave to go on the road and then
come back to the job so yeah, I’ve been really lucky with that.
MM:
The album title obviously makes reference to the anti-religious theme
that has been a constant for the band but what made you go with such a
direct title rather than something a little more ambiguous?
BS: I think the title is blunter because the music on this record is
blunter. It’s more in touch with our roots – stuff like Celtic
Frost, Discharge and earlier metal like Judas Priest. The song title
came up first and everyone really liked it and when it came time to
decide on an album title I suggested calling it ‘Carving out the Eyes
of God’ and everybody was like “that’s perfect, that’s just what
we want”. And I think it brings more attention to the record too. I
don’t know if people are offended by it, I really don’t care to be
honest, and even though the title is blunt, the whole concept of the
song is much deeper. I’m really intrigued by the structure of the
world and how in all areas of it, they follow religion so densely. And
it’s been such a cause of so much disaster between mankind throughout
the years and still to this day, man can’t see it. It’s like we’re
so blinded by it, we still follow it so densely after seeing all the
bullshit and the destruction its caused. And one religion will fight
against another religion because of its beliefs and it becomes
politicized which makes things worse and I just have such a deep hatred
for it.
MM:
What do you remember as the starting point for your views on religion
and when you started to question things a lot more?
BS: I was pretty young, actually. I grew up Protestant so I went through
the whole Bible-class thing and I think you need a good knowledge of
something before you start tearing it apart. And as you grow older, you
learn a small amount in history class about the world but that’s only
so much and you start investigating yourself. Some people get to a point
where they’re taught something but they only take in what they’re
taught and they don’t go outside of that perimeter. And then there’s
the people who do go outside the perimeter and see what happens and you
start finding out the facts of history that you were never taught at
school or even in college. That’s when you start digging deeper and
you realise things that you were told are actually bullshit. And if
that’s what you believe then that’s fine but just don’t force it
on people or judge other people because of it, you know? That’s what I
have a problem with. Just because I don’t believe in it, that
doesn’t make me a wicked person. Everyone around me from my family to
my friends, I treat them well. If I meet a person and they’re
religious then that’s fine, I’m not going to judge them or argue
with them, it’s what they’ve decided but it’s just not for me.
MM:
Very true, it’s fine when it’s not shoved down people’s throats
but when it crosses that line into converting people it really causes
problems...
BS: Oh yeah, definitely. When it goes from a personal thing to a social
thing and they try to drag everyone into it, that’s when the wars
start because they’re so intent on everyone believing. It’s like
when Rome conquered so much by making everyone believe in that
particular idea structure. Hopefully mankind is now more intelligent
because of how much time has passed but sometimes I question it. I
question the ability of mankind to evolve intellectually when I see
these things still intact and nothing’s been done to change that.
MM:
It seems to be almost a crutch for some people...
BS: Oh yeah, people need something when times are tough, for sure. And if
they don’t feel like they have anyone around then they go to something
like that and I understand that. I mean when that’s happened to me, I
haven’t gone to that, I’ve just looked to myself and a few people
around me. If I’m having a tough time I don’t like to burden people
around me. I tend to keep it to myself and work on it myself but I
understand that not everyone’s like that.
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MM:
What do you think when the media throw the whole ‘Satanist’ tag
around at people like yourself without really understanding the
difference between that and just disagreeing with religion?
BS: We’re going to get that anyway and it really doesn’t matter
because you can’t control it. You just have to roll with it and hope
that some people look at you a little differently and actually see where
you’re coming from with what you’re doing. We’re doing this
because we love music and having a good time and some people just read
too much into it. We do have a serious element which takes place in the
studio but when we get out on the road, we do have a good time because
we busted our ass in the studio beforehand.
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MM:
Do you think coming from the American South where Christianity seems so
dominant was a big factor in what you do now?
BS: It’s definitely huge in the South. I mean, like I say, I grew up
Protestant which is a bit more of an open view. It wasn’t like my Dad
found a Slayer record and wanted to destroy it or anything like that. My
Dad was really supportive actually and has always been pretty open. I
think that when they got married my Dad just flowed with my Mum’s
religious structure. She knows what I do and she’s happy because I’m
doing what I wanted to do. I think them being so open definitely played
a role. But then a kid who is locked in a lot would come out and attack
things just as much so I guess you never know. We played a show in the
early days in San Antonio, Texas and we had bible-punchers outside
picketing and recently Toxic Holocaust and Skeletonwitch were on tour
with Black Dahlia Murder in Nashville, Tennessee and they had people
picketing because of a song Toxic Holocaust had called ‘Nuke The
Cross’ but these people just see the title and focus on nothing else.
And kids are going to be rebellious anyway, that’s never going to
stop. Everybody does something rebellious because it’s natural.
MM:
Speaking of the South, you guys are from Louisiana and I wanted to ask
what the area was like now, 4 years on from Katrina?
BS: Some areas were worse hit than others and it takes some time for
things to be rebuilt. And a lot of people left so if those people
don’t come back then it’s going to take longer for certain areas to
be rebuilt. It’s going to take a long time for some people to feel
comfortable coming back.
MM:
You mentioned Celtic Frost earlier, who were the other big bands for you
when you were starting out?
BS: A lot of the early stuff. Stuff like Exodus, Sodom, Wermacht, Venom,
Hellhammer, Bathory, Motorhead, Discharge, The Exploited, the list just
goes on and on. And now isn’t that much different from when I grew up
in that the audience splits depending on the types of music, like you
had the Thrash crowd, the Death Metal crowd, the Punk crowd, the
Crossover crowd, etc. When I was growing up I went to all the shows
because I liked a lot of different stuff, I’d go to the DRI show but
then also to the Kreator show and the Motorhead show or I’d show up at
a punk show with long hair. To me, it didn’t matter because it was all
extreme music. You had people that would attach themselves to a certain
band because of maybe the way they looked or whatever but I liked a lot
of different stuff. And then you had bands like DRI and Slayer that
would draw in the punk kids and the
metal kids.
MM:
Have you had much chance to check out the sets from the other bands on
this tour?
BS: Well I work the merchandise stand so I’ve been able to see it every
night and everybody’s performance has been great no matter what slot
they were in. The crowd response has been great too, especially in the
UK where we’ve not been before and I was actually questioning whether
or not we should headline because we hadn’t been there before. But
there’s a decent amount of people that know our stuff but just as many
who don’t and to play to them is great because they come up to you and
they’re like “wow, I’ve never heard of your band but you were
amazing” which is really cool. And that’s why we’re here – to
build a foundation here so we get to come over more often.
MM:
As it’s your first time, how are you finding the UK as a place to come
and tour?
BS: It’s really not bad at all and it’s pretty easy. The first time
we were in Europe we were on a nightliner with 3 other bands but here
we’re in 2 vans and we stay in hostels every night which is great. We
had some long drives like Plymouth to Glasgow the other night was really
long but we tour in a van in the States all the time and some of those
drives are just fucking insane, especially in the West. Once you get to
that side you can have 8 or 9-hour drives every day for like, 9 or 10
days. Our driver actually apologised for the long drive but we were cool
with it because we’re used to it and in the States we’re used to
sleeping the van too. We might get 1 hotel room in the space of two
months...
MM:
A lot of American bands always seem really happy when they come here
that the next show is only maybe a 1 or 2-hour drive away...
BS: Yeah man! They sent us an e-mail with the tour schedule and I noticed
only one or two 8-hour drives and I was like ‘awesome, this shit’s
easy!’ I was preparing myself for much worse than that!
MM:
I’ve just noticed on the door that the show finishes at 10.30 tonight.
Do you prefer the earlier curfews here as opposed to the US where you
may not be going on until midnight or something like that?
BS: It actually varies a lot in the US. The shows we’re doing with
Devil Driver will probably have a similar curfew because they’re
all-ages shows with all-ages curfews. Even when we headline, it always
depends on the town what time you finish. I will say this though; you do
get taken care of more here than in the States. In the States, you’re
lucky to get a case of water and a little bit of food. Whereas here, we
look in the dressing rooms and there’s water, there’s Jagermeister,
there’s beer, there’s juice but in the US you have to fight for any
extra shit. Even if you’re headlining, you get slighted with a lot of
stuff. It’s nice that in Europe and the UK they know that even if a
band isn’t that big, they’re still worth something and should be
taken care of.
MM:
Cool, well thank you very much for your time and good luck for tonight.
BS: No problem, thank you very much.
Interview by: Adam G
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