Interview: Goatwhore: An outlet for frustration - STALKER MAGAZINE inside out of rock´n´roll

Goatwhore: An outlet for frustration

GOATWHORE are back again, they released a new album and are touring Europe in May; plenty of reasons to sound out the band about everything concerning the album and some other things as well. The result can be found below.

Hi guys. "Blood for the Master," Your new album is out now. How long have you been working on the cd? You seem to have a good 3 year rhythm...
We spent about 6 months writing the album before we went into the studio. We tour so often that it is not really conducive to writing when we are on the road. We took about 6 months off to stay at home and work on the album in New Orleans. We then spent 5 weeks in the studio.

Which changes and new ideas did you put on "Blood of the Master"? What about the songs ´In Deathless tradition´ or ´Death to the Architects of Heaven´, which are technically quite freaky tracks?
We basically just expanded upon some of the elements touched on the last album. There are some more interesting guitar and bass parts on some of these songs, which add a new dynamic to the music. The guitar, bass, and guitar leads all kind of supplement each other on some of this new material. We wanted to keep things interesting while remaining true to our sound.

You have once again collaborated with Erik Rutan in terms of production: why that? Never change a winning team? Or did you have other reasons?
Going with Rutan was the natural choice. This was the third album with him, and each one has gotten better and more in line with the sound that we want. He knows how we work and we know how he works, and it is a good collaboration. His opinions and input are valuable to us in the studio and he has a great ear. It’s a pleasure to be in his studio.

What can you tell us about the artwork? Because of the skull, it is very weird, but cool ....
Our friend Jordan Barlow, a very skilled and talented New Orleans tattoo artist, did the artwork for us. Ben thought up the concept and conveyed it to Jordan, who took it and made something really special with it! He has a unique style which we knew would work out well…

Something theoretical: Would you agree that declining living standards, increasing social unrest and rising unemployment is a motivation for a new wave of young bands to play angry music, like heavy metal, death metal, black metal?
Well, metal has always been pretty ‘angry’…depending on one’s socioeconomic level and location, yes, I’m sure that could have an effect on one’s music. People are generally products of their environments – If you live in a shithole and have no money, but enough to afford musical equipment and can get a band together – then yea, I’m sure that playing metal is a good outlet for the frustrations of one’s life situation. On the same token, if you truly are destitute and in an unstable situation, you will most likely have to sell off your gear, look for work, etc…in which case there is no more band situation…

What are the touring plans for GOATWHORE? Have you found a couple of festivals to play in this summer?
We are currently out on the road in the US. We will be coming to Europe for 4 weeks in May with 3 Inches of Blood. I don’t think we will be making any festival stops, unfortunately. We will be playing quite a few shows in Germany though…I think 5 or so. Then we go to Australia in June, and will be touring the US again in August.

www.goatwhore.net
Author: Markus Seibel / medicine-mag.com, photos: Band
Date: 2012-05-06

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