With the release of the band’s sixth album, Dissociation, the Dillinger Escape Plan has given the world its swan song. Adopting the philosophy that it’s better to turn out the light on your own terms—as it shines its brightest—rather than suffer the trauma of burning out, the Dillinger Escape Plan has announced that Dissociation will be its final release.
Rendered in flourishes of musical schizophrenia that jut between the band’s manic heavy metal, melodic rock, and even electronic elements, Dissociation is beholden to absolutely nothing in the way of sonic boundaries, yet is somehow as cohesive a statement as the band has ever released. It’s a triumphant final work that displays what’s possible when a volatile group matures without sacrificing its original intent.
Guiding the Dillinger Escape Plan’s chaos is founder, creative architect, and guitarist, Ben Weinman. A dexterous and adventurous player and songwriter, Weinman has looked after Dillinger’s garden of sonic insanity through lineup changes, record label fallout, and the general turbulence that plagues artists who create unapologetically outside the easily digested norm. We spoke with Weinman about his guitar and composition philosophies, his unexpected musical roots, and the process of giving life to an album that bears the weight of finality.
Had the band already agreed this album would be the last when you hit the studio to track it?
It was discussed during the early stages of songwriting, but finishing the songs and completing the lyrics was done with that knowledge.
Was there something specific you wanted to say with Dissociation—a final statement for this band?
It’s really hard for us to be objective this close to it. It’s always something that comes with the clarity of time, but that’s a hard question to answer. We’ve never done concept records where we go in with an idea about how we’re going to do things or some specific narrative, but I’d say the main difference this time around is that we didn’t let people sway us during the process.
This statement is entirely ours and we wanted to do what we wanted to do this time, and we didn’t allow anyone else’s agenda to impact us. For example, Greg [Puciato, vocals] wasn’t feeling it immediately, so we pushed the album release date back and gave him more time to spend with the music before tracking vocals, which is atypical because we’re usually on a schedule with the label and what not. Greg didn’t finish his vocals until two months after the rest of the album was completely finished.
We didn’t want to have any regrets and we didn’t adhere to anyone else’s guidelines, even to the extent that people would tell us we’re doing things wrong and our battle cry became “there’s more than one way to skin a cat!” I think that phrase came out of my mouth a thousand times throughout the recording process—both in reference to musical and management decisions.
Another example is that we wanted to mix our album with our longtime friend Kurt Ballou of Converge and he was only available during a specific time, and we thought the record would be ready by then, but it wasn’t and the vocals weren’t done, so we just mixed it without vocals. Everyone around the project was like “you can’t do that!” and we just went with it, and the result didn’t suffer for it, in our opinion.
FACTOID: Dillinger Escape Plan wanted Kurt Ballou to mix Dissociation, their sixth and possibly last album. Because the vocals hadn’t been recorded when Ballou was available, he mixed the album without them.
It sounds extremely cohesive and that speaks to how carefully the band put it together.
I will say that, while it’s hard to believe because of how united we all are now and how proud we all are of this album now, the only people that had faith in it during the majority of the process of making this album were Billy [Rymer, drums] and I. Everybody expressed things like “this isn’t Dillinger” or “this isn’t good enough” or “this is too weird for us” and every now and again, Billy and I—who generally complete much of the musical side of things in this band before any other people get ahold of it and do their thing—would have to separate ourselves and get away from the team, and get back into it and confirm that where we were headed was right.
We constantly had to say “trust the process” and ask others to trust us. There was a lot of negativity, and people were living in different states and it was a mess. I constantly had to say to myself and everyone else, “I may not be good at almost anything else in this world, but I know how to fucking make a Dillinger Escape Plan record because for 20 years that’s the only thing I’ve confirmed that I can do—so shut up and trust the process!” And then, as everyone started taking it in and adding their parts to it and gluing it all together, it suddenly became everyone’s best performance. Everybody feels that way now.
There are no regrets. I think it’s particularly Greg’s best performance and the most honest he’s ever been on any album, which is ironic because he wasn’t confident in it at first. I think he’s matured to the point where he’s being truly reactive to the music and not thinking about what’s supposed to be happening during something or what I would want over a part. He reacted to the songs and added something really special because of that. And we had to trust Greg’s process, too! That was another side of it, giving him the space he needed.
DEP’s principal songwriter and guitarist Ben Weinman jumps from his Mesa/Boogie Mark V and takes aim with his trusty ESP LTD H1001-M … while still managing to look cool for the camera. Photo by Ken Settle
You’ve said that blues-rock guys like Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan had a heavy influence on you as a young player. I’ve always been curious where that influence comes into your playing now, having forged a distinctive voice so removed from that group of players.
At that time, Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan were considered the virtuosos, and SRV played extremely difficult licks, but with a lot of soul. That always stayed in my mind—that you can’t sacrifice soul and feeling for technique and cleverness. I think that’s one of the things that separates us from other more technical bands: We always wrote music we could feel,and over the years we’ve thrown out plenty of stuff that was complex or technically interesting because it didn’t feel like it had any emotion to it, and I think that’s the big thing I took from those blues guys.
King Crimson has also always been a huge deal for myself and Kevin [Antreassian, guitar], too. Hearing that stuff was a total game changer. John McLaughlin was a very big deal for me, too.
What did McLaughlin bring to the table that changed your approach?
He had eclectic influences that had a big impact on me and were inspirational to me. He wasn’t afraid to bring in Middle Eastern and Asian influences, and he always reached deep. He wasn’t technically perfect—his playing was more about emotion, even though he got more technically proficient and precise later in the years when he was working with Miles Davis. But he was always just going for it and more concerned with the music itself than hitting every note and avoiding clams. I like guys like that because I never wanted to sit there with a metronome and play everything perfectly.
Is there anybody in recent years that’s had an impact on how you approach the guitar? Do you feel like you’re still growing as a guitarist at this point?
I think I’m growing as a musician, absolutely. It’s not just about guitar for me anymore—it’s production and songwriting and the big picture. Guitar playing is an outlet, and not to say I don’t care about playing guitar anymore, but I think your peak is typically when you’re a kid and you just want to sit and play all the time. But life gets more important as you get less life to live and that’s just the reality.
I realized by being a touring musician that you need to live in order to write honest music. The guys I came across over the years who just sat in the basement shredding never wrote anything important or challenging in my eyes. They can clock in at a high bpm, but the music that comes from those kinds of players is never going to change the world.
As a dexterous, athletic player, how did you go about developing and maintaining that explosive style?
The big thing was just writing music that called for that kind of playing. I was just a blues-based, punk-hardcore, noisy kind of player. Then I got into electronic music, and King Crimson, and fusion, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, and a lot of challenging stuff at the same time. My background in metal had already kind of run its course by the time this band started and I just wanted to create something within my own underground scene that was as punk as the first bands that turned me on.
I wasn’t there for Black Flag or Bad Brains—I came in at the end of that era—but the stories I heard about those bands were just stories. It wasn’t happening anymore and it wasn’t extreme anymore; it was just new bands mimicking those classic bands. The metal bands at the time that were coming out just sounded like the old bands, too, but there wasn’t anything truly extreme anymore. Metal had hit the radio in an ugly way. Slipknot and Korn were massive when we started and I wanted to create music that would make people turn their heads in the same way as when those first three-chord punk bands were just wrecking shit with a message, but the way we had to do it was to push different kinds of boundaries. So I started writing stuff that felt punk and aggressive, but was absolutely non-conforming to what was happening at the time, even in our small subgenre. It had to be challenging and I had to write things that I couldn’t necessarily play to accomplish that goal.
Ben Weinman’s Gear
GuitarsESP LTD BW-1 Ben Weinman Signature Model
ESP LTD H1001-M
Amps
Mesa/Boogie Mark V
Laney 4x12 (straight front)
Randall Isolation Cab with Celestion Vintage 30
Effects
Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz
Dunlop DB-01 Dimebag Cry Baby From Hell Wah
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
T-Rex Tap Tone Delay
TC Electronic PolyTune
Strings and Picks
Ernie Ball Slinky strings (.010–.046)
Dunlop Tortex large triangle .88 mm picks
How did you develop the ability to play the difficult things you do while putting on the intense, volatile shows Dillinger is so well known for?
I think 20 years of playing in this band has been the best practice! When we first started, I didn’t hit any notes—it was just noise. It was a total mess and I didn’t recreate the songs very well—it was all about the pure, unadulterated free expression of it without any responsibility for what would happen after the moment. I would break shit and not care about what was going to happen. That moment was the most important.
Then people started to actually like the band, which was a big surprise and not the intention because we thought it was just going to be a creative outlet to blow off steam on the weekends. As people started to know the music, it was like, “Fuck, I have to actually play these tunes now.” And I started focusing more on pulling things off live.
With the more angular fusion licks and dissonant riffs that are somewhat of a calling card for you, how do you avoid repeating yourself?
I just had to accept that that’s Dillinger and that’s my vocabulary and my thing, and learn not to try to be the best at everything, but know that I’m good at what I do and just be the best at what I do. The variation comes in by allowing disparate influences to emerge within the already existing vocabulary, whether it’s piano stuff or something that’s more traditionally Latin than the stuff most people expect from Latin music—just played at 200 bpm on a China cymbal through our unique sonic filter.
For instance, the song “Fugue” off the new album is electronic-based, and that IDM/intelligent dance music electronic stuff has always been a huge influence on Dillinger since day one. It was just a little less obvious back then. But I think it’s more about being adventurous within the vocabulary, and doing things like having Bowie keyboardist Mike Garson come in and play what was almost classical piano on a track on Option Paralysis. While we’d had many different styles on our stuff at that point, we’d never had anything even remotely classical. But it’s about adding new elements. I’m not sure there’s a science to it beyond that.
Happy accidents and being playful is a huge part of what I do. Creativity is just retaining that childish nature to be able to throw things on the floor and see something in it. We lose it as we get older and I make sure that I maintain that level of playfulness when we make music—like hearing interesting things in our mistakes and then making them intentional. The song “Surrogate” has a part that I recorded wrong. It cut off and sounded like a chicken, so then I started intentionally writing the riff to be more akin to the accident. That’s where it all comes from—being playful and open.
“When we first started, I didn’t hit any notes—it was just noise,” says Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman. “I’m purely ear-trained as a player.” Photo by Chris Kies
There have always been little runs in Dillinger’s music that hint at you having serious jazz chops. I’ve always been curious: Is that something you’ve cultivated?
I never learned how to do it all the way. I had some basic blues lessons when I was young, but I’m purely ear-trained as a player. Most of the stuff I rely on, I heard in other music and learned how to do it. My natural tendency is to follow modes via ear. Later on, I started to learn that I do a lot of major scales and whole-tone scales, and chromatics a lot, and I knew that I liked that stuff from the fusion guitar I love, but I never studied it or knew what I was doing. But a lot of my answers to these kinds of questions come from articles in which someone else analyzed my riffs and explained them, and it’s like “Oh, so that’s what it’s called!”
Based on how cavalier the band is about throwing meter around, it would be easy to assume that Dillinger writes with time signatures in mind. Is that the case?
It’s all feel. There’s stuff on this album that you can’t fit into a time signature. There are certain people within the production world that want to lock you to a grid and there’s a lot of material on this album that cannot be locked that way.
I think it has something to do with my ADD as a kid. Rhythms and craziness are like meditation for me because repetition allows my mind to wander. The crazier something gets, the better it is for my mind. In transcendental meditation, you’re supposed to say your mantra at random so that you can’t start daydreaming or drifting too far while you’re doing it—it keeps you focused to do it at random. All of the chaotic things that go into Dillinger’s music keep me focused. I’m not worried about my day, I’m not worried about anything, I’m just in that moment.
So the band doesn’t track to a click?
Sometimes Billy does, but he’s really good at playing around it. If you put a click against these songs, it wouldn’t be on grid at all. The click would start and end in the right spots, but it would ebb and flow a lot in between. I think that’s the difference between a world-class drummer that has a great pocket and swing, and someone that’s just athletic.
The ultra-dissonant, penetrating dyads you often use rhythmically have become part of your signature as a guitarist, and something that has found its way into the vocabulary of countless extreme metal bands over the years. How did you discover those?
I heard some of the weirder old punk bands pull those chords. When I was coming up there were metal-influenced punk guys in the Jersey scene that were a little more proficient at their instruments. Bands like Deadguy and some of the bands on the Amphetamine Reptile label at the time that would be considered the early version of math-rock used that shape a lot, and that’s where it entered my vocabulary.
I’ve noticed that onstage you still seem to favor your old ESP LTD H1001-M over your signature model. Any particular reason for that?
Honestly, it’s just because it’s a little lighter and my back and neck have taken such a beating over the years and I’ve taken so many hits. The other thing is, the older one is already in rough enough shape that I can beat the fuck out of it. I don’t want to worry all the time about the signature models because I care about them so much. I’ve broken a few of them over the years and it bums me out when I do, so I don’t use the signature model for the entire set.
YouTube It
DEP perform Dissociation’s opening track and first single, “Limerent Death,” last summer at the Hi Hat in L.A.
The signature model has the scale length and neck style of the more metal LTD because I wanted the scale of a metal guitar to do the upper register stuff, but I wanted the diversity of sounds you can get out of a semi-hollow. Also, a semi-hollow body removes a lot of the weight and that compensates a little for the EverTune bridge I use, which is a very heavy, big piece of steel. I’ve found that this combination of scale length, semi-hollow construction, and bridge mass makes a sound I really love.
Your stage rig seems pretty consistent. Did you experiment with gear in the studio for this record?
We did a lot of experimentation and we used a mountain of amp heads in the studio we worked out of. There would be pedals scattered everywhere. For the core tracks, we used an ’80s Mesa/Boogie half-back 2x12 cab that was actually wired like a 1x12, and on the bottom we used a closed-back speaker I found at a pawnshop. We used a ton of heads and cabs linked up with a Bradshaw switching system, so we could swap things easily on the fly and have all the options we wanted.
There were times when I’d use four or five different heads on a single song, so I could never really recreate live what’s going on on the album. We used a lot of Dave Friedman’s amps, a Splawn Quick Rod, a Soldano, an old-school Peavey 5150, a Bogner Ecstasy, and of course, the Mesa Mark V that I use. My signature sound for the history of this band has traditionally been a Mesa TriAxis in the left channel, which I replaced with the Mesa Mark V for the past two albums, and a 5150 for the right channel. The 5150 has so much attack, and that percussive attack that’s a huge part of my sound comes from that.
One thing that strikes me about Dissociation is how seamless the transitions are between passages. Is there an overarching philosophy you take to structure?
Nope. However, I will say feeling is the most important thing with transitions, and it’s the most important thing to a song that those transitions feel good. Sometimes it’s jarring intentionally, but every single thing that happens in a Dillinger song has a purpose.
Ever since prehistoric humans began chanting, clapping, banging on logs, and blowing into bone flutes, music has been an outlet. Regardless of era, origin, skill level, or instruments used, rhythms and melodies have always been a means of expressing joy and sorrow, a way to supplicate. Primitive or modern, the aural arts have served to rally, unify, and commiserate.
But heavy music from the last few decades stands in stark contrast to that truism—or at least adds some intriguing twists to it. More than any other type of music, metal and punk (and the many sometimes-silly-sounding subgenres) aim to defy, provoke, and instigate.
There are no clear lines cleanly demarking which bands and movements embody the seismic shift from rock ’n’ roll to a new kind of heavy. Indeed, then as today, the trailblazing bands had their feet in two worlds—how could they not? Regardless, it’s safe to say the origins of punk and metal go back more than 40 years to the mid or late ’60s. And from the Stooges to Sabbath, MC5 to Maiden, Deep Purple to the Damned, Bad Religion to Bathory, and NOFX to Neurosis, headbangers and fist-pumpers have always made their mark on public consciousness by exploring the dark side of the human experience more graphically and unapologetically than any other, whether from a belligerently theatrical viewpoint or an indignant polemicist one.
Given this, it’s of course a bit ironic when razored-up punks and leather-clad metalheads become mainstream stars, their sneering faces sold posthumously on millions of t-shirts and their tunes used to sell product for corporate conglomerates. Some might argue these are small signs of progress or hope, while others see it as sad evidence of art co-opted, misunderstood, and sold out. Even more ironic, many times these travesties may not even be something the artists themselves (or their estate holders) can control. But we won’t get into a rant about publishing rights here.
As musicians, we draw inspiration and insights from these proud misfits no matter what capitalism and fickle listeners do with the rest. Still, all too often the heavies we hear from in conversations about our beloved instrument are … how shall we put it? The usual suspects. No disrespect to the guitar gods of yore—we’ve spoken to them plenty of times ourselves, and we will continue to do so—but not here. Not today.
Heavy music is about confrontation, fearlessness, defiance. And though there’s just as much imitation, banality, and corporatized bullshit in brutal, high-octane music as there is in any other genre right now, there’s also a ton of ragingly fresh and stimulating hard rock, metal, hardcore, et al coming out today. The blitzkrieg pace of change in today’s technology (and the seemingly inverse relationship with our attention spans) will probably never turn the heavy-music innovators of today into the icons of tomorrow in the same way that Ozzy Osbourne became a household name, but that can be said of pretty much everything these days. (Plus, isn’t that a good thing?)
Following in the same spirit that has always guided masters of punk and metal, we decided to sit down with some of the most innovative, unfettered—and, in the wider guitar universe, unknown—guitarists playing heavy music today. Given the breadth of subgenres, we purposely sought out players from different headspaces, though all are masters of guitar who push boundaries in ways both obvious and not. We asked them about the state of metal, hardcore, etc. today. We got the lowdown on what albums inspire them. We got them to go on record about what ills plague this deliciously dark corner of rock. We found out who they look up to, and we got them to offer up uncensored advice on how to stab stagnation and cliché in the gullet. And if you don’t like what they have to say, you can … well, these guys will tell you what you can do….
DEP daredevil guitarist Ben Weinman. Photo by Ira Chernova.
The Dillinger Escape Plan’s Ben Weinman
Mathcore icons the Dillinger Escape Plan formed from the ashes of a more straight-ahead hardcore trio that recorded a six-tune EP and signed a deal in 1997. From the beginning, DEP’s mastermind guitarist Ben Weinman has brewed a heady mix of dissonant mayhem, brain-busting time changes, and on-a-dime tempo shifts that have won them attention from many quarters, including Faith No More’s Mike Patton—who invited them to support Mr. Bungle on the road. Current vocalist Greg Puciato joined in 2000 and cemented the quintet’s fate. His relentlessly brutal vocals and ballistic stage persona fit perfectly with Weinman’s attention-getting fretboard and stage antics, which include launching himself from atop 4x12 cabs, and hanging upside-down from venue rafters—all while not missing a beat between stomping riffs and tapped clean arpeggios.
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014: Metal and hardcore are more exciting now than they’ve been since the mid ’90s. It feels like formulaic, over-produced, soulless “metal” is being seen for what it is, and an exciting resurgence of underground hardcore and metal is emerging. The underground grindcore and hardcore scenes are starting to resemble something similar in ethic to what I remember when I was coming up with Dillinger: Bands are creating music and playing shows knowing there’s no way in hell they’re ever going to be on commercial radio or played in an Apple commercial.
Best Album of the Last Year:… Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stone Age is definitely a good one. I’m a little biased on that one though, because my side project, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, and Queens share John Theodore as a drummer and I’m super proud of the work he is doing with them.
Best Metal or Hardcore Album of All Time: That answer could change for me on any given week. Entombed’s Wolverine Blues is pretty flawless. Another great one is Beneath the Remains by Sepultura—that was both a metal and a hardcore record, in my opinion. For straight-up hardcore, you can’t go wrong with Damaged by Black Flag. The True till Death 7" by Chain of Strength has a special place in my heart, as well.
Ben Weinman's Gear
Guitars
ESP BW-1 FM/ET Ben Weinman signature models
Amps
Mesa/Boogie Mark V
Orange 4x12 cabs
Effects
Way Huge Swollen Pickle
TC Electronic Flashback
Jim Dunlop Dimebag Signature Cry Baby wah
Strings and Picks
Ernie Ball Slinky sets (.010–.046)
Dunlop .88 mm Tortex picks
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist: Steve Brodsky from Cave In—that dude still rips. His new project Mutoid Man is awesome.
Metal or Hardcore Cliché That Must Die: Every metalcore, mathcore, metalcore, whatevercore band uses the same exact guitar simulation tone and drum samples. Meshuggah is great, but you are not Meshuggah—stop!
Metal or Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die: Starting a riff with just bass and then dropping the bomb when the whole band comes in and we all explode!
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal and Hardcore These Days Should…: Not make bands! If you want to be a pop band, then just be a pop band. Why scream? Why write breakdowns? Just go be in One Direction, dickhead. Metal and hardcore are about making music that—if you played it loud in your car while driving around school—98 percent of your classmates would look at you like you were possessed.
Baroness guitarist/vocalist John Baizley. Photo by Jimmy Hubbard.
Baroness’ John Baizley
Alt-metal band Baroness formed in Savannah, Georgia, in 2003, and its debut EP followed the next year. Two EPs later, vocalist/guitarist John Baizley’s quartet signed with Relapse in 2005 on the strength of their eclectic blend of melodic, old-school metal vibes mixed with post-punk, indie-rock, and occasional psych-rock elements. Their last release, 2012’s Yellow & Green—which saw Baizley and company branching even further into art-rock territory—had been out less than a month when, in August of that year, the band’s tour bus took a 30-foot plunge off a viaduct in England. Baizley went through intense physical therapy to recover from a broken arm and leg, and bassist Matt Maggioni and drummer Allen Bickle—who suffered fractured vertebrae—left the band in March of 2013. Baroness resumed touring in April.
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014: We’re in a bit of a recession. The first 10 years of the millennium were fertile for intelligent, thought-provoking music from bands like Mastodon, Botch, and Converge. But then the copycat bands got bigger and found a way to blend that with a more commercial sound and make money off it. Also, everybody is a well-trained guitar player—everybody can play circles around me. But what impressed me when I was young were bands that didn’t focus on schooling or theory. I liked the bands that experimented and just ripped up stuff. People have tons of chops, but no songwriting ability.
It’s all about how fast you can play, how far you can tweak your time signatures. When you’ve got that mindset, the rabbit hole you can fall down is very deep and very difficult to get out of. I don’t want to watch dudes masturbate. I want music to convey emotions. Watching somebody shred is kind of awesome for a minute, but then it’s tedious and boring. I’ve seen enough of that with young bands. It’s out of control. Nuance is dying in our genre, but not in others. That’s why I pay attention to the larger music world when I’m looking for something new to inspire me to write.
Best Album of the Last Year: I don’t know that I could say, “Here’s the best album of the past year,” but [Australian extreme metal band] Portal’s Vexovoid was totally amazing and intense and unique—beyond insane. It had this beautiful bark and was disgusting all at the same time. I also liked [English psych-doom band] Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats’ Mind Control.
Best Metal or Hardcore Album of All Time: I’ll just say my most-often-listened-to metal record of all time—Neurosis’ Through Silver in Blood.
John Baizley's Gear
Guitars
G&L ASAT Special
G&L Legacy HB
Custom God City Instruments 6-string
Framus Mayfield
Custom First Act
Rockbridge acoustics
Amps
Two Budda Superdrive 45 combos
Fender 1965 Twin Reverb reissue
Effects
Loop-Master switcher
Retro-Sonic Compressor
Fulltone OCD
Tym Guitars Big Mudd Ramhead
Ernie Ball passive volume pedal
Maxon AD-999 analog delay
DigiTech Whammy
Strymon Mobius and TimeLine
Mu-Tron Phasor II
Strings and Picks
D’Addario strings (.010–.049, .012–.052 for low tunings)
Dunlop Tortex .60 mm picks
Planet Waves American Stage cables
Shure KSM 313 and KSM 32 mics
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist: Oh man, that’s so tough! But I’ll go on record and say Kurt Ballou from Converge. He’s a total master of the instrument.
Metal or Hardcore Cliché That Must Die: This tendency towards idiocy in lyrics. Metal has become watered down. Simple tricks, simple lyrics, no focus on originality. The bands in power positions, the bands who sway peoples’ opinions on a mass scale, aren’t speaking intelligently enough. When metal was a much newer thing, the big metal bands of the ’70s and ’80s felt that the burden was on them to do something unique. Bands that were selling bundles of tickets and bundles of records had albums with content and structure and, dare I say it, thought-provoking lyrics. That has gone by the wayside in the upper echelons of metal, and it needs to come back.
Metal or Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die: Innovation. That’s why metal has stayed a viable music form for so long, whereas other guitar-based styles have come and gone. We need to continue to treat what we do as a legitimate art form, because it is. There’s room for metal—especially on the underground side of things—to pose questions, to challenge things, to fly in the face of the status quo, to be anti-pop, but also be listenable and powerful and emotive.
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal and Hardcore These Days Should …: If you don’t get it, it’s not for you. Heavy metal did not happen because it wanted to be music for everyone. It is not meant to be easy to digest. It is meant to offer a challenge to those who want the challenge. My advice for people who are on the cusp or are seeking to be re-inspired is to go out and support local music. That’s where it’s happening in the most hungry and heartfelt way. Somewhere in your town there’s a club that young bands play at. Go see a show.
Propagandhi guitarist Chris Hannah. Photo by Brandon Mizar. punkworldviews.com
Propagandhi’s Chris Hannah
Formed as a more straight-ahead punk outfit in Manitoba, Canada, in 1986, Propagandhi is very much what its name implies: Outspoken on sociological issues of equality and fairness. After opening for NOFX in ’92, singer/guitarist Chris Hannah and his bandmates were signed to Fat Wreck Chords label. In ’97, they formed their own imprint, G7 Welcoming Committee Records, and their sound took a turn toward heavier, more complex rhythms and guitar work in the new millennium. Their breakneck rhythms, deliciously raw chugging, and blistering leads (dig the pull-off fusillades on “Status Update” and the tapped whammy-bar freakout on “Cognitive Suicide” from 2012’s Failed States) burst any notions that hardcore equates to “not being able to solo.”
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014: It’s the same as it’s always been—the lamest, most compromised, most boring music rises to the mainstream top while the most interesting, most challenging exists in the margins and under the radar. Guitarists need to go back to the greats in their prime and imagine what it was like to make a record like Black Sabbath’s Sabotage, AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion, Bad Brains’ Rock for Light, or MDC’s Millions of Dead Cops—back before anyone else had made anything remotely resembling those. Tune into the spirit. This will help you avoid being laughed at 10 years from now when a video of your “crabcore” band surfaces on YouTube.
Best Album of the Last Year: Voivod’s Target Earth had the hardest expectations to live up to and did an admirable job. [Ed. note: Target Earth is the first Voivod album that doesn’t feature original guitarist Denis “Piggy” D’Amour, who died of colon cancer in 2005]. How do you fill Piggy’s shoes? Daniel Mongrain somehow did. As far as hardcore goes, the most interesting band on my radar right now is War on Women from Baltimore. Their upcoming record is going to turn heads.
Best Metal or Hardcore Album of All Time: That’s impossible to answer. Raven’s All for One? That perfected the power-metal that bands like Accept had only hinted at previously. Metallica’s Ride the Lightning set a new standard for the emerging thrash metal movement. Without Venom’s Welcome to Hell, nothing—NOTHING—would have been the same in metal. Not Slayer, not Metallica, not Bathory—nothing. They broke the whole thing open with reckless abandon. And Cro-Mags’ The Age of Quarrel took pure metal progressions to the streets of NYC and made something really special.
Chris Hannah's Gear
Guitars
Gibson SG Standard
Amps
Fractal Audio Axe-FX II
Mesa/Boogie Fifty/Fifty power amp
Mesa/Boogie 2x12 cab
Effects
None
Strings and Picks
Jim Dunlop .88 mm Tortex picks
.011–.052 strings (no specific brand)
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist: Either Dave Carlo from Razor, or Joe Rico and Rob Urbinati from Sacrifice. Listen to (Sacrifice’s) The Ones I Condemn and tell me those riffs don’t make you want someone to break into your house in the middle of the night just so you can kill them with a hammer! [Laughs.]
Metal or Hardcore Cliché That Must Die: I guess I could do without the misogynistic pabulum that still passes for lyrics in this day and age.
Metal or Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die: I’d like to see the tradition of art in opposition to illegitimate authority expand within metal and hardcore. The worst, most pathetic music has always been that which defers or bows to the prevailing political and social order. Leave the patriotic robot bullshit to the country and pop dingbats. Pussy Riot, for example, are about a thousand times more badass than the majority of bands on the metal and hardcore scene these days.
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal and Hardcore These Days Should …: Go on their merry way, doing their best to advance and encourage the art and music that speaks to them and celebrates the Great Mystery of the cosmos—just as the best metal and hardcore music does.
Deafheaven guitarist Kerry McCoy. Photo by Nick DiNatale.
Deafheaven’s Kerry McCoy
San Francisco’s Deafheaven formed when guitarist Kerry McCoy joined forces with vocalist George Clarke in 2010 and, just for the hell of it, recorded a four-song demo for $500. Though McCoy didn’t own an electric guitar or amp and had to use borrowed gear, the EP eventually caught the attention of Jacob Bannon, frontman for veteran metalcore band Converge. McCoy and Clarke soon signed with Bannon’s Deathwish Inc. label and released Roads to Judah in 2011. Their sophomore effort, 2013’s Sunbather, is a magnum opus whose nuanced, more enlightened black-metal shrieks are so seamlessly melded with blastbeats and shoegaze and ambient post-rock elements that it received worldwide critical acclaim, including being voted the year’s best metal album by Rolling Stone, Spin, Pitchfork, and Stereogum.
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014: I think metal—or at least the subgenres of it that I listen to—is in a fascinating place right now. We’re lucky to be living in a time where so many people are willing to push the envelope.
Best Album of the Last Year: This is a really tough one. I loved Rhye’s Woman, My Bloody Valentine’s MBV, Weekend’s Jinx, Russian Circles’ Memorial, Drake’s Nothing Was the Same, Kanye West’s Yeezus…. Last year was a great year for music!
Best Metal or Hardcore Album of All Time: How do you pick just one—and of all time?
Kerry McCoy's Gear
Guitars
Gibson Les Paul
Amps
Peavey 6505
4x12 cab
Effects
Effects
Ernie Ball volume pedal
Boss TU-2 tuner
Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai
Delta Labs SC1 chorus
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb
DigiTech JamMan
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist: I’ve always thought that—even as celebrated as he is—Mike Sullivan of Russian Circles doesn’t get nearly enough love for being the genius that he is.
Metal or Hardcore Cliché That Must Die: I don’t know how cliché this is, but I was recently shown this band of teenagers doing a nu-metal/deathcore mashup. I’d say the sooner that stops, the better. It is hilarious for the first minute or so, though.
Metal or Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die: This question is better suited for my diehard girlfriend. I’m gonna say drinking, tailgating, and heavy-metal-parking-lot-ing before going to a show.
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal and Hardcore These Days Should …: Not listen to it. Some things aren’t for everyone.
Gorguts' guitarists Luc Lemay (left) and Kevin Hufnagel (right). Lemay photo by Eric Geoffroy.
Gorguts’ Luc Lemay and Kevin Hufnagel
Formed by vocalist/guitarist Luc Lemay in 1989, Quebec technical death metal outfit Gorguts has had its share of ups and downs—so many, in fact, that it would be depressing if not for the inspiring denouement: From ’90 to ’93, the band’s incredibly complex rhythms and raging solos were distributed by esteemed metal label Roadrunner Records. But then they were dropped, went through multiple hiatuses, and had several lineup changes—including the untimely deaths of two members. When Lemay finally reassembled Gorguts with the help of guitarist Kevin Hufnagel and released 2013’s Colored Sands (12 years after the band’s previous studio effort), the album received laudatory praise from around the globe for its mind-boggling brutality, virtuosity, and compositional diversity—including Lemay’s classical string-quartet piece, “The Battle of Chamdo.”
—Gorguts’ Luc Lemay
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014:
Luc Lemay: I think the scene is super creative and very much alive. It’s tough to keep up with all the releases, but the quality of composition, production, and musicianship is great. I’m very happy to belong to this era of metal.
Kevin Hufnagel: It’s the most exciting it’s been since the early ’90s. Bands like Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, and Portal are prime examples of artists pushing metal into some totally refreshing and creative realms again.
Best Album of the Last Year:
Lemay: There are a few records I really liked—Steven Wilson’s The Raven That Refused to Sing, Ulcerate’s Vermis, Katatonia’s Dethroned & Uncrowned, Cult of Luna’s Vertikal, Carcass’ Surgical Steel….
Hufnagel: Kayo Dot’s Hubardo.
Luc Lemay’s Gear
Guitars
1990s Ibanez S-series 7-string with Bare Knuckle Aftermath humbucker
Two custom Marc Chicoine 6-strings
Amps
Matrix Amplification GT1000FX
Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet
Effects
Line 6 POD HD500
Strings and Picks
DR strings (.013–.056)
Jim Dunlop .88 mm Tortex picks
Kevin Hufnagel’s Gear
Guitars
Gibson SG
Amps
Peavey 5150
Effects
Sanford & Sonny Bluebeard Fuzz/Distortion
Boss DD-7 digital delay
Strings and Picks
DR Strings Tite-Fit JZ-12 strings (.012–.052)
Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks
Best Metal or Hardcore Album of All Time:
Lemay: I’ll say Scream Bloody Gore by Death, because that record made me decide to play death metal.
Hufnagel: Voivod’s Dimension Hatross.
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist:
Lemay: Christian Bouche (aka Hasjarl) from Deathspell Omega for his creativity, style of playing, and style of writing—just pure evil.
Hufnagel: Currently, I’d say Vindsval from Blut Aus Nord. I love his totally unorthodox approach and balance of melodic and dissonant playing.
Metal or Hardcore Cliché That Must Die:
Lemay: Talking to the crowd with a death-metal voice that’s as guttural as possible so no one can understand. I mean, I get that it’s a show, but I don’t like this type of interaction with the crowd. Once the song starts, everything is possible—it’s all about composition—but when the time to introduce a song comes … real voice, please.
Hufnagel: Breakdowns.
Metal or Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die:
Lemay: I hate the fact that metal is often snubbed in other musical circles, and that metal musicians—or any kind of extreme music artists—are seen as no-talent players.
Hufnagel: Guitar Solos.
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal and Hardcore These Days Should ….:
Lemay: Open their mind to this type of art! Metal is one of the boldest and most creative forms of music. Of course it has its clichés, but if you pass by that stuff, a whole world of expression and creativity will open up to you.
Hufnagel: Dig a little deeper into the underground, where most of the best music is being made—or just go listen to something else.
Funeral For a Friend guitarists Gavin Burrough and Kris Coombs-Roberts. Photos by Tom Barnes.
Funeral for a Friend’s Gavin Burrough and Kris Coombs-Roberts
Hailing from Wales, U.K., Funeral for a Friend garnered attention as a post-hardcore outfit in the early 2000s with its blend of screamo vocals, indie-rock sound palettes, and metal stylings—melodic leads, palm-muted arpeggiations, and breakdowns. Their 2003 major-label debut, Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation, earned them a spot opening for Iron Maiden and was influential on subsequent British post-hardcore bands such as Asking Alexandria. Their latest release, Conduit, debuted at No. 34 on the U.K. charts in early 2013.
Thoughts on the State of Metal/Hardcore in 2014:
Gavin Burrough: There are some great bands out there at the moment—Comeback Kid’s and Shai Hulud’s recent records are top notch. There’s also a plethora of British bands who are pushing the boundaries of hardcore. Goodtime Boys, Landscapes … things are looking strong for the future!
Best Album of the Last Year:
Burrough: Pearl Jam’s Lightning Bolt.
Coombs-Roberts: There are too many to choose from, but some bands people should check out instead are Castles, Goodtime Boys, Landscapes, and Bleed from Within.
Best Metal/Hardcore Album of All Time:
Burrough: Drowningman’s Rock and Roll Killing Machine.
Coombs-Roberts: Pantera’s Far Beyond Driven.
Gavin Burrough’s Gear
Guitars
Framus Panthera
Framus Diablo
Amps
Peavey 6505
Peavey 4x12 cabs
Effects
Morpheus DropTune
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Boss DD-6 digital delay
TC Electronic PolyTune
Strings and Picks
Jim Dunlop strings (.054, .042, .032, .019, .014, .011)
Jim Dunlop 1 mm picks
Kris Coombs-Roberts’ Gear
Guitars
PRS Singlecut
PRS S2 Mira
Amps
Peavey 6505+
Peavey 6505 4x12 cab
Effects
Boss TU-2 tuner
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Strings and Picks
Jim Dunlop strings (.011–.056)
Jim Dunlop heavy picks
Line 6 wireless
Most Underrated Metal or Hardcore Guitarist:
Burrough: Me.
Coombs-Roberts: Yeah, Gav.
Metal/Hardcore Cliché That Must Die:
Coombs-Roberts: Leather trousers and spiked wristbands. Need I say more?
Burrough: Awww—just let people carry on with whatever idiosyncrasies they fancy. To each their own!
Metal/Hardcore Tradition That Must Not Die:
Burrough: That would have to be the mosh. If your head doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall off the day after you’ve been to a show, then you should be ashamed of yourself!
Coombs-Roberts: Community. Within our music scene there’s no divide between the bands and the people who come to shows, who buy shirts and albums. Bands hang out and talk to the people who support them and get to say thanks for it. Bands help each other out and help promote each other by talking about each other in interviews and taking each other on tour.
People Who Don’t “Get” Metal/Hardcore These Days Should …:
Burrough: Carry on being themselves. Music’s a matter of taste. We can’t all like the same things—what a boring place the world would be if we did! I don’t even “get” metal and hardcore in its entirety, I just like bands within the genre. There’s a lot of rubbish to wade through. Just like any type of music, there are bands that are carving their own niche and then there are the imitators.
Coombs-Roberts: Get on with their lives and enjoy the things that make them happy. You can’t make someone like what they don’t, so what’s the point in trying?