Alaska’s 36 CRAZYFISTS will release their deeply personal new album Lanterns on September 29 through Spinefarm Records / Caroline Australia. It is their second release for the label and the follow up to 2015’s Time and Trauma. We talk to vocalist Brock Lindow about the new songs and more.
Steve: Hi Brock how things with you guys?
Brock: Yeah everything’s good man! We’ve been on the road for about three weeks out with our buddies Devildriver, everything is good. We are just gearing up for the release of the record, having a lot of fun together. We have a day off in the great state of Tennessee, we just got done having some wings playing a little bowling and having a few beers.
Steve: Awesome well I wont keep you!
Brock: Your all good man, fire away!
Steve: I’ve had the privilege of listening to “Lanterns in it’s entirety and yet again you guys have bought your A game to the table. How does it feel to be back out there up on stage doing your thing?
Brock: Yeah it feels good man. It’s a grind sometimes but I’m having a lot of fun with the boys just kind of getting her going so we are happy to be back out and excited for our people to hear the new album.
Steve: Cool and what is your favourite track off the album so far or do you love the whole thing?
Brock: Ah shoot man I’m pretty excited about the whole thing but there are a couple of tracks that I gravitate towards more then the others. I really like the track “Old Gold”, I’m stoked I think it’s solid, it has a good balance of everything we can do. So nice and heavy, nice and mellow, nice and melodic, nice and angry, it’s kind of got everything.
Steve:: I guess that’s what you guys are renowned for is bringing a bit of everything, it’s not just straight forward aggression, it’s a real mixed bag and that’s what gives you your sound/
Brock: Yeah we kind of tip toed and slid into a few different things so nothing too different there. Yet another chapter in the existence of the band, we are happy to still be doing it for sure.
Steve: Sure and given that you had a little bit of a break were you doing anything musically or were you just enjoying your time off?
Brock: Yeah you know I’m a dad so I’ve got a little eight year old girl so I was doing a lot with her, she is heavily into athletics so a lot of going this way and that way with sports. I’ve got a radio show here called “The Beer Show” and we interview craft brewers and dive into that world a little bit but other than that man nothing to much.
Steve: Great stuff. So I want to know what is the Alaskan metal scene is like, it’s somewhere that is not really available to the wide world. I’m curious besides you guys, I don’t really know of any other Alaskan metal band?
Brock: Yeah there are some great bands, some are really good friends of ours. The local music scene is supported nicely, it’s cool, it’s not massive or anything. There’s a lot of great bands and great guys supporting each other.
Steve:: Do you have any favourites or is that a tight knit community as such?
Brock: Oh yeah there is a great band called City In Ashes or there is another great band up there called Old Hounds. The indie bands seem to have gotten a lot bigger or that style of music so I think it has a pretty diverse music scene and I think it’s better then people would expect or think that it is. Oh and I forgot to mention our friends Ther, another top band!
Steve: Great! So going into the studio for “Lanterns”, did you have any kind of direction you wanted to take it? Did you have any preconceived ideas ?
Brock: Not really, I guess lyrically my life was messy at the time of writing this album so I had some issues in my personal life that obviously I thought it was a good outlet to discuss them on the songs, so we did that and I’m happy to say I’m definitely not in the same spot I was two years ago. Basically I think I’m a lot more stable, looking back on this album it’s definitely a time frame where maybe I wasn’t doing as well as I am today. It is what it is, it’s all part of this journey of life and life is a little strange every now and then and it get a little dark every now and then but the moral of the story is it could always be worse, you’ve got to be grateful for what you have and count your blessings and that’s what I’m taking away from it at this point as we are almost ready to release it.
Steve:: So in hindsight your glad to be where you are currently?
Brock: Yeah most definitely. Not trying to go backwards, try to go forwards.
Steve: Sure understood and that’s always a great thing to happen obviously, to move forward and learn from it hopefully.
Brock: Exactly that’s the hope, to stay away from the things that didn’t turn out so good the first time.
Steve: That’s it! So if you were given your dream collaboration tomorrow, what would it be and why?
Brock: I’d probably have to say Layne Staley from Alice In Chains, he is one of the reasons I got in the band and he is my favourite melodic singer. I’m a big Alice In Chains fan, I’d probably say Layne.
Steve: It’s the same here, I still miss his voice now.
Brock: Yeah big time man, big time. I listen to it weekly so yeah.
Steve: Do you have a favourite Alice In Chains album or is that hard to nail down?
Brock: Phew! Facelift and Dirt were pretty special, I’m not sure which one I like more. I think Facelift was first and that’s how I found out about them, then Dirt came out and it was very special so I probably listen to Dirt a little more at this point. Even the new stuff I’ve seen Alice In Chains a few times, never unfortunately with Layne. I’ve seen them with William Duvall, he does a great job, you close your eyes on some of the songs and it sounds just like Layne.
Steve: I was going to say the same thing, you close your eyes and he is there?
Brock: Yeah they are lucky to have him. I definitely still support that band and I think they are staying true to what it was, unfortunately they can’t have the real guy anymore but But I think William is doing a great job for sure.
Steve: 100 percent! So I’ll ask the question you get asked probably a billion times a day, I know you were here in 2005 with Atreyu then you came back for Soundwave so are you looking to come to Australia at some point?
Brock: Absolutely!! We were super mad we didn’t get to go on the last album so 2011 was the last Soundwave we did so it’s such a cool place. We’ve got some really killer fans down there, this time around I was like we have to go back to Australia! And I’m happy to announce I haven’t seen any dates yet but I’m pretty sure February 2018 we will be back down under, I’m looking forward to it very much.
Steve: Awesome I’m looking forward to it and there is a great craft beer scene here so get amongst it!
Brock: Good, well let’s drink ’em! (Laughs).
Steve: Sounds like a plan! So this is a bit of an old question but I’m always keen to get an answer, how do you think 36 Crazyfists’s sound has evolved over the years? You guys are a bit more mature, a bit wiser hopefully (laughs).
Brock: Beards are greyer!
Steve: That’s the one! So going from “Bitterness The Star”, your starting point to the world, how do you think it has changed over the years?
Brock: You know sonically I don’t know the exact differences or the evolution of it all but I do know that at this point it’s gone far beyond the music. It’s become such a brotherhood, such a family and I think that part has evolved in the sense of the band and the enjoyment we get every night playing together so we are laughing and smiling and connecting with our people and in turn that’s a maturity in it’s self as opposed to the early days where we would just get shit faced and go on stage. We try and make sure we are doing our best to connect with our people, give them the best show we can. There is a lot of songs these days so trying to have the right balance of old and new or what people might really want to hear. The sound obviously I hope we got better at our craft as the years go on, I think we aren’t one of those bands that has gotten super popular so we are still hungry and trying to climb up the ladder a little bit but it’s not that big of a focus either. We are really grateful for what we have, we love talking to our fans at night and hearing how much our music has meant to them so it’s all evolved but mostly I think it’s grown into a family that has gone far beyond the music itself.
Steve: Yeah and you bought up a valid point that you are still hungry and I think if band’s can remain hungry then you’re still able to release great music and to me as a listener and fan that’s important.
Brock: Yeah I’d like to be not as hungry but that’s the way it is so we will just go the only route we know. And your right, that’s not to say the more successful bands are less hungry. I just know for us personally we are trying to connect with more people and trying to make the best songs possible and have a band that is still relevant and that’s an important thing in our subconscious. We are not up there trying to dictate our path by doing certain sounds because it’s popular, we are just trying to keep that fire you know? I think that’s hard, somehow I believe we still have it and I’m thankful for it because like you say, when you don’t have it you’ll have a mediocre kind of thing. We are trying not to do that, we are trying to get better at what we do all the time.
Steve:: Hone your craft as they say.
Brock: Yeah exactly, you know sharpen the blades.
Steve: And go out and kill. Well it’s been really great speaking with you today and I really appreciate your time and hopefully we can catch up for a beer in February.
Brock: Cool man, I appreciate the positive words and look forward to getting back down there.
