Chris Damien Doll is the singer and guitarist for one of Norway’s best rock bands: Suicide Bombers. We checked in with Chris to talk about the upcoming album All For The Candy, The bands history, and the state of rock n roll in the modern era.
Rob: Good evening Chris, Thanks for talking with The Rockpit. How’s things going?
Chris: Good evening Rob! Right on time I see, All good here. Busy, but good.
Rob: First off, I just have to congratulate you on the new album, it’s absolutely KILLER! I’d go so far as to say it’s far and away your best album.
Chris: Thanks so much. The Rockpit was the first review we read and we were blown away by the 10/10 rating. Thank you! You know… We know we have a great record on our hands this time too, But as an artist you live with it for so long that you’re kind of blind regardless. I mean…. We all know it’s good, But personally I lose track of where I’d rank one against another, if that makes sense.
Rob: Totally, I think I read an interview with Tobias from Ghost where he said something similar. It’s gotta be hard to live with it for awhile when you’re excited about it, Is there any nerves in advance about how each album will be received?
Chris: I wouldn’t go as far as to say “nerves” that sounds a little strong, But there is definitely a little excitement and curiosity as to what people think. Especially fans and those in the press who have followed us for long.
Rob: I can only speak as a writer but on my end there’s always a bit of hesitation when I send things out into the world, I think in any medium of art there’s always a fair degree of perfectionism and you’re your own worst critic.
Chris: Absolutely… and we spend a lot of time working on this beforehand. Plus, We’re four guys with a little different tastes sometimes and we do stuff like pick all the possible singles in order before we record an album, So there is a fair bit of analysing and all that on our part too.
That’s sometimes the funniest with reading reviews, as some writers will agree more with one of us than the others and back and forth like that.
Rob: How does a band go about choosing singles? I’m sure each guy has different picks, Are some more obvious choices that you guys agree on?
Chris: It just happens, Kinda… I mean… I’m a big fan of choosing the singles BEFORE anything is recorded more properly than demos. I want us all to know which songs will (or possibly will) have videos, So we know that. Not that we slack on the recording of the other songs either, But you might wanna do something a little bit different here and there if you know it’s a video. Once stuff is recorded people quickly lose track of the song… As in a potential “hit” and often start focusing more on how happy they are with their own performance of said song on the recording. So I think once we get towards the end of the rehearsal period I will usually pitch the singles to the band, We discuss it and take it from there. Most of the time I will be right, But it’s not always that it swings my way with each choice either. We’re a band and make decisions together, This time was a little different as we had 10 songs – 10 very good songs – Ready for the record a long time before and we were rehearsing those. I think a few of us weren’t really feeling it as far as an album and I told the guys something like “listen. We got 10 great songs here, But put together they are not a great SUiCiDE BOMBERS record.” I got 3 songs nearly finished and at least 2 of them are potential hits. If you let me have a little more time I will finish those and we can skip three of the others.
There was a little discussion as to which ones to skip of course, But when I came in with “Tonight Belongs To Us” “Videodrome 2049” and “Dynamite Playboys” no one was complaining.
Rob: I’d say it all paid off in the end because this album is incredible! When you released Dynamite Playboys it really blew me away, that song is no pun intended.. Absolutely explosive! I’ve basically been waiting ever since for this album and it doesn’t disappoint!
Chris: Thanks! It’s the fastest song we’ve done so far and one we all liked from the get go.
Rob: When I interview someone for the first time I like to get some background history for them as a musician, Who in your upbringing influenced your taste in music and what bands or musicians made you want to be a musician?
Chris: Friends and older guys in school, mostly. It was the time of back patches and band t-shirts and I loved all that. I became friends with some older guys too and we bonded over music. One of them is still my best friend today. My mum was also into music, Although with her it was more Beatles and other stuff. I listened to a lot of stuff trying to find the music for me… AHA broke in 1985 and that was a big deal in Norway as no one from here had had international success. They were on the news all the time, so I became very aware of youth culture already then. But the first band I really dug that is still with me today was KISS, I loved everything about them. The kid who had the patches was 2 years older than me and ended up playing bass in Trashcan Darlings with me later, He’s still a good friend of mine and will come to the All For The Candy release party. Then I discovered W.A.S.P, which seemed more of my generation than KISS… Although I came late to the party, but – As others have said – Those bands were like untouchable gods, You know. So it was actually when I saw Ratt’s “You’re In Love” video on TV – As I had never heard of them – That I said to myself…. I’m gonna be the singer or guitarist in a band like that. If they can do it, So can I, And I mean no disrespect to Ratt with that as I really love them and they are great musicians and a great band. It’s just that I discovered them at the right time.
Rob: Good choices! How old were you when you started playing guitar?
Chris: 10 years old.
Rob: I’m curious if punk is a big thing where you’re from? Sleaze metal to me has that element to it, even though there’s a lot of 80’s hard rock sound to the genre I feel sleaze on average stands apart as heavier and with a punk influence in the sound. Or in the case of your band is that just a naturally occurring side of your sound?
Chris: I’m really into punk. I discovered the Sex Pistols after my initial stint with KISS and L.A. Metal and had many years listening to a lot of punk bands. I am a little bored with most of it these days, But still love the more rock’n’roll punk bands. I have also played in several punk bands both as a guitarist and singer, I think I am the only one in our band who has, BUT… With all that I don’t REALLY hear it in our music. No offense to anyone else that does, But to me we are Hard Rock. I know how to play punk and I do that very well, So I also know what I don’t want to do in this band and that’s to play punk hahaha. We don’t have any parts where we bang on the chords. With SUiCiDE BOMBERS it’s either riffs or it’s the one-note-to-break-your-face power chords of bands like W.A.S.P. We do have an attitude of course and play with energy and immediacy, But so did early Crue, W.A.S.P, Vain and all the best bands of the past too.
Rob: I feel that hard rock has been going through a renaissance for a while now, While it’s not hitting the mainstream as much at least here in America, It’s easily the most exciting time I’ve seen with this style of music since the early 90s. I’m even seeing kids starting to follow it. Do you see a pretty varied in age crowd at your shows?
Chris: I think it’s really exciting and so many of the bands that are out there today are great. It’s like that Peacemaker dude said “So many bands today are as good or better than the bands that inspired them” and I feel that too. I think it’s just a matter of exposing the music to the kids as no major label can afford to sign anything that isn’t pop at the moment. You know… when I watched these “kids react to” videos that were all the rage a while back, It struck me that those kids found Motley Crue exciting for exactly the same reasons I did. They just hadn’t been exposed to it like I was. I think generally the audience for this type of music is younger in Europe than in the states. At least that’s what I hear. So we get a varied crowd, But the majority are probably a little older here too.
Rob: I basically preach to anyone who will listen that the modern bands are every bit as good as the ones I cut my teeth on back in the day, You all just don’t have the platform that those bands did with things like MTV and mainstream exposure. The talent by far is there. For me personally, when I heard “Riot In Everyone “ by Crashdiet it blew me away, Thanks to that song I have found so much great music, including your band, That makes me as excited as I was when I found bands like Mötley Crüe and Skid Row back in the day. I challenge anyone to throw modern bands in a playlist with the classics and they’ll be surprised at how well the new and the old mix together.
Chris: I agree… Or even just make a playlist of the best of the new bands and you’ll have more than you need for the best party ever. The challenge is of course the platform as you say.
Rob: How did forming Suicide Bombers come about and how long were you guys together before releasing the first record?
Chris: I was in a band called Trashcan Darlings who played major chord based Glamour Punk. We did 13 tours of Europe and released a few albums and were doing quite well on the underground. When we broke up I knew I wanted to do something different and that different was Hard Rock. So from there I started dreaming up concepts, Writing songs and looking for people who could play that style of playing. At first it was just me and the remaining Trashcan boys, But they quit one by one and I got a new band together. Since TD already had a name I kinda wanted to launch the new band with a debut album, I felt I was beyond playing songs live for 2 years and then releasing a record. TD broke up in 2008 and I guess I had the first line up of SB in late 2009. We changed guitarists again in 2010 and then released our first record in 2012. Since then we have changed one member for each record unfortunately, Until we landed this line up with our previous album Murder Couture. So this is actually the very first time we have done two consecutive albums with the same line up.
Rob: As much as I like the other albums, Murder couture was definitely a better album in my opinion and this one is a whole other level. I think a large part of that is that you definitely have the best line up to date, The musical chemistry you guys have is seamless. You and Stevie really compliment each other well as guitarists.
Chris: Thank you! I think so too and so does most of the fans and press. All the guys who have been in this band were the right guys at the right time, But it was also the right time for the band to move on without them when they quit or were fired. We wouldn’t have been a band today with that first line up and both the mood and excitement in the band is better now than it’s ever been.
Rob: I know streaming is a hot topic between fans and bands, it’s no longer album sales that corporations go by to gauge success and who they should invest in, it’s streaming numbers. The way they pay artists is truly aweful. How do you feel about streaming and how it affects you getting your music out there as an artist?
Chris: I saw a great video on that called something like “streaming and why it will never work” and it pretty much explained the whole thing a lot better than I can. I stream music myself on my phone when I am out and about. At home I play LPs and CDs only. Streaming is convenient and quick and gives you access to a lot of music, But it’s the fans that buy the CDs and LPs that make us able to release our 5th album now. The pocket change one gets from streaming couldn’t pay for any of that. Naturally being a little old school I am opposed to being robbed blind in broad daylight, So in the past we always waitied a long time before we put our stuff on streaming, thinking people would buy more hard copies if they couldn’t stream it. But with the last record we did it all on the same day and that actually helped the physical sales too. The idea of streaming is great, But financially it’s like having a major lable deal without any of the perks that used to come with a major lable deal.
Rob: One thing I don’t understand about the industry these days is that they aren’t targeting the fanbase that will actually buy the albums. I do both, Streaming is an extremely useful platform for finding new music and points you in the direction of music you like, So I use it and then I go buy the record. Lots of music die hards do the same and yet the labels target audiences who only stream on average, it seems counterproductive to me. But then again, I think the age of the importance of a music label is past. What do you think on your side of things? Do you feel labels have much importance these days?
Chris: No, I don’t… There are probably some good lables still out there, but with most of it I just see bands giving away their money to people who don’t sell more records for them than they would do on their own.
Rob: I was told you guys recorded All For The Candy remotely, It seems a lot of bands record that way these days as opposed to having to spend a lot of money on studio time. Have all of your albums been recorded this way or have you recorded in the studio with your band in the past?
Chris: The first album was all done in the same studio. I think some of the guitar solos were done remotely, But everything else was in the same studio we mixed it. The second album was all recorded in Slim’s studio, Except for the guitarist doing his stuff remotely, But from the third record I also started recording remotely. The good thing with that is that you can record more often and for shorter stints at a time, Which is especially useful with some of the higher vocal performances. You can also spend more time on your takes and get them just right. Of course you also have to be your own producer, Which is a challenge, But the real challenge is the mixing. In the past you would spend all that time getting the sound right before you recorded a note. Every sound was built on top of the foundation that was already there and when you recorded you had the feel of the album already there. With remote recording you have to spend a lot more time afterwards getting the sound right.
Rob: Does recording remotely give you more freedom to achieve your vision than studio time? I imagine it takes some of the pressure off of the band as a whole.
Chris: Not really… I mean, It could. But we are a band who rehearse our songs well and know exactly what we are gonna be putting on tape. So the vision is already set and the drums are already recorded, So it’s more a matter of that we can spend the time we need to get the stuff we are putting on tape exactly right. We experiment with some overlays sometimes, But we would do that in the studio too. We also change it around, even with remote recording. This time we decided that backing vocals remotely was too much hassle. We needed to produce them while we were all there, So me, Slim, and Stevie met up and did the backing vocals together, producing each other and getting them exactly right from the get go rather than to send remote recordings back and forth.
Rob: Stevie told me that usually you write the songs and they contribute to them after you show them the demos, Do they change much from what you started out with? And what do you feel the other guys bring to the songs that really enhances what you already wrote?
Chris: Slim also writes songs. He’s has 2 songs on each of the 2 last records and 1 on the one before that. Both me and Slim record detailed demos at home with drum patterns and all the parts worked out, It’s just easier than to bring all those ideas to rehearsals and the band works well like that. There usually aren’t that many structural changes to the songs. Most of it is more the way people play it. I mean when you get a drummer like Lyle Starr and a guitarist like Stevie Teaze to add their gloss to mine or Slim’s songs they really shine, But sometimes there are changes. Stevie added a whole set of riffs to the verses of Slim’s “You Better Believe It” which were really cool. I changed the chorus around for that one too. And there are other times like that too. But on this record there is also a tune that me and Stevie wrote together… or almost. It’s the song “Take It Off”. We were both working on riffs and song ideas and the verses we had had the same chords with a different rhythm. Since I already had a melody and some lyrics we went with my verse. It didn’t stop there though cause the pre we had envisioned – keep in mind we did this remotely by ourselves and never thought we’d end up writing it together – where just the same except that Stevie had that last chord that was cool. I already had a vocal melody for that as well, But I did not have a chorus and Stevie had these great chords and the high riff and I made the vox melody for that. It was all by accident. I wrote the middle eight and the lyrics and we did half the rhythm beneath the guitar solo each. It turned out to be a really cool tune. Other times Lyle will play a drum part at rehearsals and say “I wish we had a song with this rhythm” and BAM me or Slim are inspired to write that song. So, we’re not a jam band who writes songs together at rehearsals, But there is absolutely collaborations here and there. I kinda believe in Bob Rock when he says “the best songs are written, not jammed.” Who can argue with Bob. We also learn stuff and make changes for every record that helps of course.
Rob: When I interviewed Stevie last October he said you guys were going to play three songs from the album at a show that was a few days away, Have the new songs gone over really well live?
Chris: Oh…. We have played 9 of the 10 songs from this record live already. The one we haven’t done live yet is “Where Time Always Goes” as we feel we need a huge stage and a piano player to do that justice. All the songs have gone over great live and for the last couple of concerts we did 3. We are a band who really like to promote our last record. I always think that is cool if you’re a fan of a band and they still release great records that the album-tour set is built around that album, That way you know you don’t want to miss a tour cause the set is gonna be totally different the next time. For the this tour we have managed to squeeze 6 songs from the new record in the set and we have 1 on stand by…. we of course do all the hits from the others as well, but it’s starting to get a little difficult to choose. All the songs have gone over really well and the fact that we have played them all live already made it easier to choose.
Rob: Speaking of “Where Time Always Goes” that song is something really different from you guys while not straying in a totally different direction. How did that song come about for you, it’s a very powerful track.
Chris: Thank you! As a songwriter it’s probably the one I am most proud of on this album. That doesn’t mean that it’ll be everyone’s fave, But you know… From a writers standpoint. I had more or less everything through to the second chorus written before we did the first record. I remember playing it to the band at the time and they dug it, But none of us felt it should go on our first album as it’s not the kinda song you want to play in the size of places we knew we’d be playing at the time. So I just had it lying around. I knew I didn’t want to do a power ballad or a mere ballad. I mean… I like a lot of slower songs from other bands, But that’s not what SUiCiDE BOMBERS do. So there had to be something more. So I started viewing it more as an epic semi-ballad…. You know, a song that starts off as a ballad but doesn’t end that way and have a lot of different parts that go seamlessly hand in hand and fit together but never look back. It’s a song that starts in one place and ends at a completely different one. There’s that huge heavy metal solo part and then a break down for a major chord outro with orchestration from my friend Geir from Dimmu Borgir and then we touch back at the calmness of the intro at the end. The lyrics are really personal, Although they are probably so cryptic they don’t sound like that. But to me it’s all about the sphere that the band and myself exist in and all that goes on there. I touch on some really personal stuff in there as well but I’m not gonna soil other people’s imagination by talking too much about it. It was a difficult song to write… Both lyrics and music, and I am really ok with people who don’t get it, But to me it’s our epic masterpiece and I hope it hits those it can hit.
Rob: Not taking anything away from how great the rest of the songs are and their songwriting is, But in my opinion this song is the most forward thinking track on the album. It shows a lot of diversity and range. When reviewing an album it’s always nice to have something like that to dissect as I’m really into paying attention to all the things going on musically in a song. I really can’t compliment you enough on the complexity of that song.
Chris: That’s a great compliment! You know… it’s the 5th record and we’re not the kind of band who will change our style completely for every album, As some bands do. We like to develop within the framework we have created for ourselves, But we also need to grow. We have pushed ourselves with every record…. there are songs on all of them I can pick out and say they are distinct for that record and not something we could have done before then. I mean, we have done epic songs in the past too…. “We Don’t Negotiate With Terrorists” from Murder Couture… Even being as hard and in your face as it is, Is an epic piece for a rock song. I also thought that having the band we do now, It was the right time to really push this song. Lyle is a drummer with a lot of different moods and who can keep it all together, Stevie can solo for days and me and Slim can both play and write so why not utilize all our qualities and deliver something a little different from what all the other bands we are lumped in with deliver at the moment. But…. You know…. It’s not all about structure or complexity of songs either. Sometimes the progress is in what you do on the songs that are there. I mean, Stevie really… I mean REALLY pushed himself for the guitar solos on this record, I pushed the vocals further than I ever did and we were all like that.
Rob: Are there any announcements you’d like to make? I know you guys have an album release show coming up.
Chris: The album will be out on Feb 2nd on CD, 180 gram vinyl and digital. The title track will be out on YouTube and all streaming platforms on Jan 26th and we’ll be playing live from there on. Check it out and if you like what you hear, buy it from tigernet.no or get a CD (for USA and cheaper shipping) from https://frontlineentertainment.bigcartel.com/. Also make sure you follow us… That shit is a lot more important than people think. You can find us on Suicide bombers official on Instagram and suicidebombersmusic on YouTube and Facebook. And hit follow on your favorite streaming platform too. Who knows… If enough people do this we might come play where you live and have sex with all of your friends.
Rob: Hahaha I think that’s the best ending to an interview yet, I definitely hope you play Vegas one day so I can see you guys live. Thank you very much for your time Chris, it’s been a blast.
Chris: Thanks Rob! Both for the interview and review!