I've
been a fan of New Zealand Riffsters – BEASTWARS – ever since they
released their incredible debut album back in 2011. It showed the
Sludge/Stoner Metal world that a great new band has risen with huge
gigantic riffs and intelligent lyrics to match.
In
2013, they shot further into the Sludge/Stoner Metal ascendency with
their 2nd album – Blood Becomes Fire. I rate that album
as my fave album of 2013 when I was The Sludgelord. BEASTWARS
have a fearsome and an electrifying reputation in the live arena
which has seen them perform gigs with Mastdon, High On Fire, Red Fang and The
Sword amongst others.
The
band will be releasing their 3rd album – The Death Of
All Things – on April 22nd 2016. I'm pleased to report
that BEASTWARS may have released their finest album to date. As the
guys have opted for a more progressive feel with hard-hitting riffs
and lyrics to match. Matt's vocals are more focused and pissed off
than ever before.
I
was given the chance to discuss with Clayton Anderson (Guitars) about
the past, present and future of BEASTWARS and this is what
went down....
Hi
Clayton. Thanks for doing this interview. How are things with you
today.
Great,
thanks. We just got back from playing a couple of shows in Aussie
(Sydney and Melbourne), which went down really well.
So
lets get straight down to business. Your new album – The Death Of
All Things. A brilliant album if I do say so myself. What can people
expect from the album:
Thanks
man! If you’re familiar with our last two albums you can expect the
usual Beastwars riffage but I suppose some things that might stand
out are some of the songs are longer and have feel changes in them -
so what you hear at the end of the song is totally different to how
it started.
There
is maybe more melody in the vocals and guitars - instead of
multi-track rhythm guitars pummelling you - we have guitars doing
soaring melodies while James’ bass is still providing that
identifiable slab of sludge, rhythmic backbone. We wanted to create
more space on this album, so it’s not all a continuous guitar and
vocal assault - on some of our tracks there are parts where it’s
just drums, bass and vocals while the guitar is noticeably silent or
just feeding back.
We
tried things that we probably wouldn’t have on the first two
albums, well, definitely the first. One song, which Nato and Matt
wrote, is just Nato playing an acoustic guitar with Matt singing, not
roaring but singing. That’s something we definitely wouldn’t have
been game enough to do on the previous albums.
The
album has a different sound compared to your first two albums. Was
that the plan todo
something different with this album. It has more of a progressive
feel and Matt's vocals are
more focused:
With
the vocals, Matt wanted people to hear his lyrics and all their
intensity. Apart from having a unique roaring voice, he has actually
got a really diverse range. We tracked the album in our home town,
Wellington. The previous two albums were recorded in Dunedin.
This
time we tracked with James Goldsmith at his Blue Barn studio. It has
this beautiful big room, like a barn (hence the name) with a wooden
beamed high ceiling. James got a fantastic sound out of Nato’s
drums, which were tracked first, and when we listened to them back,
it was then we knew that we were going to get something different but
great.
The
other major contribution to this record’s sound is that it was
mixed and mastered by different people than the first two albums.
Both Andrew Schneider and Brad Boatright did an amazing job and added
unique touches that, in some songs, we wouldn’t have thought of.
The
album feels slightly more political as well especially on songs such
as Devils Of Last Night,
Witches and Black Days. What made you go down this route with the new
record. It seems
your mega-pissed off at the world:
We’ve
always had this underlying aggression and pissed-offness at the state
of the world, which comes out in our music. It’s pretty obvious the
world is going to hell in a hand basket thanks to the world’s
politicians, religious leaders and the banksters, who I loath and
wish to see hanging from Wall Street’s lamp posts some day. But the
way things are going it doesn’t look like things are going to get
any better.. maybe when, as a society, we can get our collective
heads out of our cellphones and stop worrying about what the
Kardashians are wearing or who Kanye is dissing, things might take a
change for the better.
Did
you do anything differently recording this album compared to your
other albums. Was it an
easier or harder album to write and record for:
I’d
say harder due to a few things. First, we wanted to make something
that sounded different than the last two albums so it took a while
and a bit of experimentation to work through stuff. Also, we weren’t
getting together jamming as much as we use to. Nato was spending a
bit of time up in Auckland because of his work and we all had other
commitments at different times.
It
was only two years between the release of our self-titled album and
our second, Blood Becomes Fire. It took us over two years to get back
into the studio to record The Death Of All Things. During a lot of
that time the band’s focus was on establishing ourselves in
Australia, so we were touring there a lot and getting new fans
familiar with the first two albums.
I've
read that this is the last album in the trilogy started off with your
self-titled album and could
be the last album you guys will be recording. Is this true. I know
with Nathan moving to
London soon will make things harder for BeastWars to perform and
record. Is this the end
for BeastWars as we know it:
The
Beast will never die! I suppose you could say this is the last album
of our trilogy. We always set out to do three albums that had unified
themes - and with that goes the like of having Nick Keller do the
artwork etc. We wanted to make three albums that we would be proud of
and stood up to our own expectations, which thankfully, they have.
Nato
is shifting to London, which means we won’t be touring as much, and
writing new material may be put on the back burner to start off with.
But, to look on the bright side, Nato is the band’s manager and
having him over in London might open up other doors of possibility.
Before
Nathan moves over to the UK. Will you be touring this record heavily
at home or abroad:
Yes
- in New Zealand and Australia.. so far. But, as I said in my
previous answer, with Nato shifting to London, other possibilities
might eventuate.
I
consider The Death Of All Things as your finest record to date. It's
more personal and takes
more risks than the first two albums. And you know I love your first
two records. Do you
feel this is your best album yet:
Yes,
and, pretty much because of the reasons you’ve outlined in your
question - it’s personal and it takes more risks. We could’ve
played it safe and provided another album full of sludgy dense riffs
but we’ve chosen to stick our necks out - with the possibility of
them getting the chop! Who knows, some old school fans might not like
it because it’s a bit different. Although, there are songs on our
previous two albums that I think have elements of where we ended up
with this album. Tracks like The Sleeper on Blood Becomes Fire and
Iron Wolf on our self-titled first album, hark to the kind of
experimentation with tracks on The Death Of All Things.
What
inspired you when writing the album as you have included some bleak
lyrics at times:
A
lot of what’s happening now in the world and how it seems to be a
repeat of follies from the past. We never seem to learn.
Your
releasing the album yourselves like you did with your previous
albums. I know a lot of people
are looking forward to the vinyl release. You know that's going to
sell out straight away.
Does that make you proud that you have a dedicated fan-base wanting
to buy the album
on vinyl straight away that it sells out:
It
would be great if the vinyl sells out straight away but you never
know, so I don’t want jinx things by presuming it will!.. but if it
does, we’ll be buzzing. A lot of effort has gone into this,
especially because we are our own record label, which means a lot of
extra work (mainly for Nato). We have a special place in our hearts
for vinyl - it’s more than music, it’s like buying a piece of art
- so to see so many people have that same appreciation for something
you’ve made is one of the biggest buzzes anyone can ever have.
After
the success of the last record, did you have any offers from record
labels to release your
new album or previous albums to a wider market. Or do you strictly
want to be solely independent:
We
have, but to cut a long story short, it was better for us to do it
ourselves. We have all artistic and business control, and in the end,
we only have ourselves to blame if the record doesn’t do as well as
we would like.
One
of my fave songs on the album is not even the heaviest – The Devil
Took Her. Such a beautifully
written song and haunting lyrics. That song felt like it could have
been used from
a classic New Zealand movie. Why did you include that song on the
album as it's perhaps
your most personal song:
I
probably won’t be able to give you the best answer as I didn’t
write or play on it. It was a guitar piece that Nato had come up with
- we initially had ideas of having these guitar interludes in between
songs but it was blowing the time out on the album. Matt wrote the
lyrics after reflecting on a disastrous evening with disastrous
results, which really affected him for months after.. but that’s
all I can really say as they are his lyrics.
If
this is the final album from BeastWars. Looking back over your
musical career, would you
change anything about the musical journey you've been on so far. Good or Bad.
We
don’t know if this will be the last and we aren’t announcing any
break-up or retirement but things are up in the air at the moment
because of Nato shifting to London. I can’t speak for the rest of
the guys but it’s a shame we haven’t got to Europe or the US but
things just haven’t worked in our favour yet for that to happen.
There’s a variety of reasons for this, which I won’t bore you
with, lets just say we’re not in our twenties with no
responsibilities. We have boring - not very rock n roll - reasons
like families, day jobs and mortgages.
Before
you go, do you have anything to say to your fans.
Thanks
for digging our music - we hope you enjoy the album as much as we
enjoyed making it.. and.. Obey The Riff!
All
the best with the new album. It's your best work yet. Best of luck
with your future endeavors. Hopefully we will hear more of your great
music in the years to come.
Thanks!
Words
by Steve Howe and Clayton Anderson
Thanks
to Richard at Sheltererd Life PR for arranging this interview. Thanks
to Clayton for taking the time out to talking to us. The Death Of All
Things will be released on CD/DD/Vinyl from BEASTWARS on April 22nd
2016.
Links:
