You guys released your full length album, you have signed with Profound Lore Records and your latest album has been listed on many websites as one of the Top Albums of 2012. All this happened in a short period of time. How do you guys feel about this? Is it a little scary?No, not really. I mean, it is definitely kind of surprising I guess, but we sort of take it into stride. [It is] not something we would have ever expected but, it is a great opportunity to have people interested in our music (that our music has affected a lot of people in neat ways) and to be out touring and stuff. So yeah… not too scary.
How did you feel when reading your band’s name on these Top Albums of the Year lists?
Kind of overwhelming, I guess. When we started Pallbearer there was zero thought of that whatsoever. We really didn’t have any intent or idea… you know… that there would be even more than a hand-full of people interested in the band. We were almost doing this as an outlet for some difficulties we were going through at the time and it blossomed into something more complex than that. But, I mean, you know, like I said [before], it wasn’t something that we really thought about in advance. Seeing that it had a profound effect on a lot of people, something that a lot of music critics kept in mind throughout the year and was stuck with them is really cool.
Do you feel that 2013 will be the year you will have to work on getting your name permanently in the scene?
I guess yes and no. We are definitely taking more opportunities to get even more out there this year. You may or may not be aware that we had a little bit of a personnel change [drummer] mid-2012 and that gave us the ability to tour more often. So, we are kind of using that change to: 1. To be able to tour more; 2. I think we have a little bit more of a broad spectrum of musical range to draw from, we are working on new material for future releases.
I mean, it certainly would be a shame to be forgotten. We are not necessarily actively pushing to make sure people remember us. Hopefully that will happen on its own. If the music has lasting value people won’t forget it. Hopefully that’s the case, you know?
You will be playing at the Roadburn festival in Holland… that will be your first international appearance won’t it?
Actually, we will be touring Europe leading up to Roadburn and actually, we are returning to Europe again on June to tour around Hellfest. We are playing Hellfest and also a second European tour to cover some of the territory that we are unable to cover in the first tour. But yeah, that will be our first tour in Europe.
Are you guys excited?
Yeah! That was one thing that when we were in th
e midst of working on [Sorrow and Extinction]… a little bit of a dream we had would be to be able to play somewhere else than the US.Pallbearer has also worked with ScionAV recently. Will this association continue with the band or through your label?
Both actually. We are planning to work with Scion again in the future. I think that what they are doing is a really good thing for artists. Despite what a lot of “nay-sayers” have to say about Scion, the idea of patronage for artist it’s a long standing tradition that has been around for hundreds of years and they are one of the few companies nowadays that are willing to invest some money on more underground artists.
But yeah… the relationship started because of our label. Daniel, the head of Scion AV, is interested in us (the band). We got a bit of support from them to tour last summer and at some point, down the line, it is pretty likely that we will probably work with them again. I can’t say in what capacity right now…
On tour: how do you guys recharge?
Oh man, how do we recharge? Well, for me, I actually do most of the driving. It is kind of relaxing. And also, we usually stay pretty “caffeinated” a lot of the time. For the other guys… they sleep a lot so, I guess that’s how they recharge.
When thinking about doom, for some reason I always think about forests, mountains and nature in general. What do you prefer: Beach, mountain, desert, forest…?
Oh man, it’s hard to say! I’m definitely more familiar with the forest I guess. Arkansas is a very heavily forested state. It has beautiful hiking trails, there are some mountains areas. But yeah, I’m definitely more familiar with the forest. It is a very serene and mystical environment.
As we travel, even on this tour, we’ve made some stops at the mountain areas to explore that a little bit when we had the opportunity. All of us are really interested in nature. Our music doesn’t necessarily always deal with that directly but we definitely try to be in tuned with the environment and try to connect with primal aspects of nature.
When listening to your music I didn’t feel the same as when I listen to other more typical doom bands. Your music is so refreshing and different. What contributes for that?
Well, there are a few things. One of our goals is that we’ve got to transport the listener to like, another realm. Like I was saying… it is not directly tied with nature but it has a little bit to do with astral projection and another “place”.
But also, in terms of the music output, I guess our general consensus is: there are too many bands that are focused on riffing. They have a really awesome heavy riff and they just stick with it you know, for the whole song. Not a lot
songwriting focus … there is not really anything memorable other than the riff. We try to put a little bit more emphasis on the songwriting craft than I think a lot of bands do. That’s just my opinion. I could be completely off base about other bands’ methodology and writing.I don’t find myself very compelled about a lot of other doom metal bands. They seem to be a little bit more focused on the trippy aspect (getting high, headbang). I don’t know. We definitely enjoy both of those things but it is not very interesting to listen to that endlessly. I think that there should be more focus on songwriting and we are trying to do our part on contributing on that aspect.
You mentioned in one interviews that your latest album “has to do with the struggle of the journey towards the end”. Do you think that if people realized in a more mature way, that one day all of us will die, they would carry out a more “sincere and meaningful” life? Because at least in my opinion, people don’t usually face the fact that they will one day die. It almost seems that most people can’t even believe it will happen to them.
Yeah! Oh, absolutely! I think that being reticent about your mortality is really important because you should be living your life to the fullest always. Your life here is going to be a journey; you should make the most of it.
You are getting from point A to point B in one way or another. Why not have it interesting?People get caught up in the “everyday life” without thinking about the big picture. I think people should focus on both: one day at a time and also the journey.
Do you see yourselves doing this for years and years to come?
Well, we will do it until it doesn’t make any more sense to do it anymore. I can’t really say. We all have a lot of interests in a lot of different kinds of music so, there is a possibility that we will continue to do this for a long time or there might be a time that we’ll decide to do something else. So, I don’t know. I can’t really say.
Any plans for future releases?
We are working on material for a second album right now and also kind of in the midst of working on some stuff for some smaller one of releases. Before we left for tour we started tracking drums for a vinyl single and we have a few other songs that already know, in advance, that they are not really part of the album so, they will find their way out one way or another. Probably some limited vinyl releases or something like that… We are definitely interested in getting everything that needs to be released, released.
Any messages to the SOM readers?
Thanks for “listening” to me, ramble about my stupid thoughts about Pallbearer and doom metal (laughs). I appreciate your time!
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Interview done by Deesse_de_la_nuit
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