Gig Reviews
The Smile
K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, DEN - 13/3
Album Reviews
Evile
Previous Nextauthor GR date 10/02/10
British thrashers Evile, as I'm sure most of you will be aware, have had a tough time over the last few months. Releasing their highly anticipated second album "Infected Nations" in September last year, bassist and all-round nice bloke Mike Alexander tragically passed away whilst on tour in Sweden. Since then messages of condolence and support have flooded in from around the globe and the band held two memorial shows, along with a very metal raffle, to raise money for Mike's family and celebrate his life. Not wanting to waste what they and Mike had worked so hard at, the band decided to carry on and recently announced the addition of new bassist Joel Graham. With the UK leg of the 'Infecting Nations' tour in full swing, I caught up with vocalist/guitarist Matt Drake and new boy Joel before their performance in London. With this being my first interview for Rockfreaks.net, it was great to chat to a band I've seen live many times over the past few years - hope you enjoy!
Matt: Nottingham was quite surprising, it was a week night and Nottingham's usually quite quiet, whenever we've been there before there's not many people but I've enjoyed that the most so far I think. It's been really really good. But London's always the metal hub, it's always the most the most mental but as long as I don't get mic'd in the face I'm not bothered (laughs). But yeah, I can't wait.
RF.net: Haven't had to lay down any rules then?
Matt: No, none of that at all. Everyone's just got together and watched a film or had a chat.
Joel: Potentially it could be a disaster, all you'd need is two conflicting people, y'know? But it's been great, the guys in Warbringer are great, the guys in The Fading are great. Yeah, perfect.
RF.net: They say you shouldn't meet your heroes...
Matt: In some ways Dave Mustaine is someone you should meet because he's fucking brilliant. He was really nice, he was hilarious, really good. Exodus were good as well, really nice and helpful. But as far as Kreator and Overkill go... we've met Bobby Blitz [Overkill vocalist] before and he was ridiculously polite and nice to us; "Oh hello"..."Hi Bobby" (laughs). But I can't wait to finally get to America, we've been waiting so long to get there it's about time we actually got over.
RF.net: So just Anthrax, Slayer then Metallica and you'll have played with them all!
Matt: Yeah just those last few...and Girls Aloud!
RF.net: Have you had a good reaction from the fans so far?
Joel: Great, yeah. Everyone has been really, really cool and supportive.
Matt: Everyone has been supportive and welcoming to Joel which is really good. The only kind of person who wouldn't be supportive of the situation must be the most miserable bastard on the planet because it's not like we've done it by choice, it's not like we've fired him [Mike] and got Joel instead. I can't imagine the kind of person who would say to Joel "Oh it's the not the same since Mike". I guess after a bit of time has passed, when the sensitivity has died down people might start coming out with shit like that...but everyone's been ace. Apart from one fuck who sent me an email and I want to punch out if I ever see him...
RF.net: I guess with the internet people say things they would never face-to-face.
Matt: Yeah, people forget and say things they shouldn't.
Joel: It's easy to hide behind a computer screen isn't it? I mean, I'd understand if anybody did that, if their favourite band has changed... but some things in life change. I can take it on the chin.
RF.net: Yeah, my memory of that night is a bit...hazy.
Matt: I think a lot of people's is (laughs). It was perfect.
RF.net: Do you end up having favourites tracks from the album?
Matt: I do, yeah. Mine is Metamorphosis, which I think is by far the best thing we've ever done, it's just an actual song that has a start, middle and finish and it flows so well. I think it's a good album, it's not "Enter The Grave" part 2, which is what we planned as we did not want to do the same album again - we never want to do the same album again, it's always going to be different. I think we came blasting out to show people we can think about what we do and do something that's not your typical "retro thrash".
RF.net: Have you been quite aware, then, of the whole 'thrash revival' thing?
Matt: Very aware.
RF.net: So before you'd even written any songs, did you say 'we're going to try to sound different to last time'?
Matt: Oh yes. We knew we were going to - we'd get bored shitless if we wrote the same album again and again. There'd be no point in doing it because we're not challenging ourselves, not challenging the people listening to it. We knew it'd split people when we were recording it. Ol reckoned he just knew the people who would be disappointed because they wanted "Enter The Grave" part 2 and the people that would listen to it and go "ahh this is different, they're trying new things, I see where they're going with it, they're trying this time". Perhaps some people that were not going to like it but it's grown on them a while and they go "I get this now"...that's happened a lot, it's grown on a lot of people. One guy came to me and said "I've got your new album and it's shit, really really shit" but two weeks later he came back and said "all I've done is listen to your album, it's amazing" and it had completely grown on him. A lot of people didn't know what to make of it at first but then went "yeah".
RF.net: I saw the video of you guys going the Dimebag tribute, on which you did some 'proper' singing. Is that something that you might try on the next album or in the future?
Matt: I don't know. If we did, it would have to be very carefully done because we'd just come across as cheesy bastards otherwise. That's why the "Cemetery Gates" thing is a perfect example of a band using their talents wisely. That song could've gone so wrong and come across as a complete cheese-fest but it was completely heartfelt and worked on so many levels. You cannot say it's a bad song because he 'sang like a poof' or anything, he sang perfect on that track. If we could maybe strike that balance - and I'm not sure we could as I don't think I'm that good - but I doubt it. I'd like to but I doubt it'd work. Not yet anyway, maybe 50 years down the line but for now I don't think it's quite us.
RF.net: Were you a fan of the guys beforehand?
Joel: Yeah, we come from roughly the same area so I've always been aware of what they've been up to, even prior to them getting signed, I'd caught a couple of shows. So I've always had a interest in them and I'm also a big fan of the band, so everything they did I've stood on the sides and watched it develop. As Matt was explaining about "Infected Nations" there, I was of the same feeling: When I heard "Enter The Grave" I thought they'd made a good album but personally not something I'd rush out and buy. But when I heard "infected Nations" I thought these guys have really jumped from here to here in such a short space of time and that really impressed me. The risk taking they do as well, that really appeals to me.
Matt: Do you mean that?
Joel: Yeah, you guys could have been comfortable where you were and just rely on that.
RF.net: I guess you were aware of offering something different to the myriad of thrash bands out there?
Matt: Yes. I think "Infected Nations" was a brave move as "Enter The Gave" is what we're known for and "Infected Nations" is nothing like "Enter The Grave".
RF.net: I particularly like the lyrics from "Genocide" and what you did with that.
Matt: That came about quite weird. Ol always wanted - I don't know why - to do a song called genocide. I said to him I don't want to write about genocide, I don't want to do it.
RF.net: Kinda clichéd for a metal band...
Matt: Yeah and it's a horrible subject. Why would you want to? There's nothing you can say about it that hasn't already been said by history and you can't go out and stop it with a song. It was just...difficult, so I thought, "OK I'll humour you, I'll have a go" and started doing some research. As I was looking into it, it was just so horrible I knew I didn't want to write about it, so decided I'll write down what I think about it. The more I read about it the more it felt like I was sinking in this horrible depth of information, so I wrote how it felt for me to be reading about all these things - that's how it came about. "Time No More" is a personal one, that's about me having ridiculously low confidence levels. "Metamorphosis", now - with what has happened over the last few months - rings very true to me as that's about a band changing and now we've completely changed so it's more relevant than ever. I want to learn how to do more vague, double meanings, more metaphorical lyrics as I really love that kind of stuff, and actual writing - not just war/death/kill/blood/sharks/yeah/woo! I want to do something you can actually think about and might come to you later on down the line - like, for years I didn't know "Master of Puppets" was about drugs, I never knew that until I thought about it. I want to make it interesting and worth reading. "'Nations" was a bit depressing though and I don't want to do anything like that again - "the country's in trouble, it's going shit" was the point of it really and I want to do other, more imaginative things.
Matt: I wish we could have played more, we had such a short time to put it together but we picked probably the most pleasing songs. No the easiest but the ones that will get a good reaction. I would have loved to play "Genocide" or "Metamorphosis" but we didn't have the time to put them together as a band, for all of us to get back into them so went for the ones we could remember easier. It's a good set though, they're all fun to play live, none that make me go "oh no not this one", apart from maybe...no I'll not go into that (laughs). I can't wait for further down the line to do the ones that mean more to us, personally. Probably sort that out for festivals.
RF.net: You're playing Wacken this year aren't you? I'll be there.
Matt: Yeah, I can't wait. I think we're on the W.E.T. stage
RF.net: That's the tent.
Matt: Quite a big fucking tent though!
Joel: At least a five man-er (laughs).
Matt: We've always wanted to do Wacken, it's about time. It's all happeing this year, all at once. It's a whirlwind - as Warbringer would say, we're 'living in a whirlwind'.