Interviews

Interview: 36 Crazyfists

Did you realise 36 Crazyfists have been tearing the metalcore scene a new arsehole since way back in 1994? In that time they’ve uprooted from Alaska to Oregon following the untimely death of their original bassist, lost faith with the mighty Roadrunner record label, and now made new friends at Ferret Music on which new album ‘The Tide And It’s Takers’ is selling by the bucketload. Luke Dabbs caught up with frontman Brock Lindow at the band’s recent Cambridge gig.

Is there a theme behind the title ‘The Tide and its Takers’?

No. Haha! All the songs involve something of a similar theme - the ongoing struggle of young adults. Of trying to keep a positive headspace in a place that’s not really that positive. Growing up in a world at war and all the things that young people are being faced with now. How nothing stays forever, you know? Sometimes the worst things in your life… like when I was in my early 20s, the worst thing in my life was that I couldn’t pay the rent. And it was so stressful, it was horrible you know? From that you got through it, you know, and you will get through it. It will not kill you, it will not be the be all and end all. It sucks right now, but it will pass and you’ll look back on it and say “that was a really difficult time in my life, but I got through it.”

That’s on a really small scale, basically nothing lasts forever, good and bad. Things come and go in our lives and we’ll have struggles, we’ll have victories, we’ll have love and we’ll have despair, and all these cool things and non-cool things, and basically that’s what the record’s about.

Songs like ‘Only A Year Or So’ are very personal. Is it hard to write so openly?

A couple years ago I met a guy that was an American soldier in Iraq and he was really into the band and he was emailing me and saying that the music got him through difficult times. I had this idea, and I said “hey man, would you mind sharing some letters between you and your wife”, cos’ I knew a bit about his family just through the emails. It was pretty personal and I wasn’t sure I should be delving into his personal life like that, you know, but he was really cool about it and he sent me like seven letters. And these are like the heaviest letters I’ve ever read in my life, like one of them says “I’m not sure but I think I killed 12 people today”. And I’m reading this stuff going “this is fucking crazy.” I got a friend of mine to read the wife’s letter, then I read his letter back to her. So that song is really about separation of husband and wife.

I was thinking of the Thrice song ‘The Whaler’…

Someone else said that too. I mean thank god it’s not about me and my wife, because that’s really cheesy! I mean I miss my wife like crazy but this is on a whole different level. We played at Fort Bragg on the Devildriver tour, and I met the guy and said “Do you want to hear the song?”, cos’ he’d never heard the song, and so we went and played him the song. And I looked over at him, and he was tearing up, crying… and then I started crying… and his buddies were like giving him a hug, and it was this crazy, overwhelming thing… something you couldn’t write up or dream, like one of those monumental things that I’ll go to my grave with.

This is your first album with Ferret – were the circumstances of recording the album really different?

It was the best environment we ever had, for sure. It’s not like I think Roadrunner put on these constraints, or whatever, but you know as the years went on they’d say “You guys got any singles?” and we’re like “fuck singles, we’re not a radio band.” That’s the way I started feeling, and I got sort of jaded with them. This is the US side I’m talking about, the UK side of Roadrunner did so much for us, and they’re dear friends, so it was difficult to leave them. But I’ve known the guys at Ferret for over 10 years – Carl who owns it is in a band called Nora who we toured with in the late 90s, he actually sang on the ‘[Bitterness The] Star’ record so we’ve been very close with them. I wanted to be there right after the ‘[A] Snowcapped Romance’ record actually, because as you may or may not know the ‘Rest Inside The Flames’ record wasn’t even put out because things were just so shitty for us over there. But I’ve never felt so free; right off the bat Ferret said “Whatever you guys do we’re 110% behind it, we don’t even care what it sounds like. We just love you guys.” And we were like “Cool!” and we got in there to do everything this band could do. It was a really free feeling.

It seems like there’s a greater musical diversity on the album. Did you listen to more influences or did you have more room to be yourselves?

We just get in the same room we’ve been getting in for years and whatever happens, happens. We just do whatever we want, I just remember… I was so stoked, because in the beginning it was so heavy. The first 3 or 4 songs… were straight up metal breakdowns, I was like “Fuck yeah we’ll make a real heavy record!”

We play so much live stuff that the records are really kind of irrelevant. Hopefully people pick em up, but I’m not listening to the records everyday, I’m playing it. So I want a record that will really make people move, you know? I think we have a good balance of still being us but still getting heavier on each record. Some people think ‘Bitterness The Star’ was the heaviest record, but for me… it’s shit! Haha, I mean compared to the newer stuff, personally. I think that first record was a combination of songs from 1996 to 2001. It’s so unfocused, and very late 90s “nu-metal” sounding. As we got older we honed in on what we wanted to do, and I’m more proud of those records.

How different is UK to playing in the US?

We’re way bigger over here than we are in the States. We’re playing small shows right now which is my favourite thing. The people that have been following us since day one have been so loyal to us, and the promo over here has been so good. The press kind of looked after us, whereas in the states it’s been a really slow grind.

Do you prefer stadiums or small shows?

I love small shows, I just like the craziness when people can get on stage and jump off y’know. We played the Main Stage at Download and the crowd was fifty feet away from us, it was ridiculous. I mean it’s still an honour to play those things because that’s what you dream about when you’re a little kid but I do love the small show.

You tour loads, do you get bored? What do you do?

We’re not on-the-road writers. I guess we watch a lot of movies, read occasionally, plan on working out everyday but never do it. It’s cool but I wait all day long for an hour to play, then it’s over and I get back on. We toured in the same bus for 7 years over here, but it had the same movies every time. We’ve seen ‘Point Break’ 9,000 times! This new bus has like a hard drive of movies so we’re stoked about having all this new stuff to watch. I like comedy, I like horror, I like porno…

Lastly, are there any bands in Alaska you’d recommend?

There’s a band called Fallen Hero from Kenai, they’re heavy as shit. Their singer sounds like the dude from Job For A Cowboy but he looks like Harry Potter! (laughs). Lost Concept are cool too, they’re like a Killswitch Engage-type band. There’s a band called The Medium from Portland, Oregon, which is like a mixture of U2 and Bad Brains, which is a really weird mixture! But we play a lot of shows with them, and they’re good friends of ours, so we’d like to throw their name out. We’re always trying to spread awareness of our favourite place, Alaska, and eventually people will catch on and realise there’s a lot of cool bands up there.

Band Link = 36 Crazyfists

Many thanks to Andy @ Ferret for helping set this interview up.