Ahead of Electric Eye Heavy Fest happening on 5 October 2024, I got to sit down with some of the bands and chat about what has been happening, and what fans can expect to see at their sets. I spoke to Marco from local Perth death metal band, Crypt Crawler.
Steph: Hey Marco! Thank you so much for doing this interview with me. I really appreciate it. I know how busy you are and about to literally fly out today for your tour.
Marco: Hey Steph, yeah, no worries.
Steph: Please tell me the origin story for Crypt Crawler. How did you guys come together to become this awesome death metal band?
Marco: I think it was late 2017, I was in a hardcore band at the time, and I remember talking to a friend saying, ‘I really wish I could be in a death metal band, like that’s the sort of music I’d rather be playing’. And then I saw an ad pop up by Jordan, our original guitarist. He put an ad up looking for a death metal band and members to form together. I looked at his profile and thought oh, wow, we have got a few mutual friends. I said to my other friend at the time, I don’t know how I would find anyone that would be around the same age group as me to want to start a death metal band. I just remember seeing Jordan’s profile. I was like, oh, this guy, he’s around my age. He loves the same stuff that I do. So, I hit him up and just sort of went from there. I had some songs written at the time. We didn’t end up using those songs, but it was a nice basis to start from. We pretty much got to know each other, realized that we both love Death, like the actual band Death, a considerable amount and yeah it just started from there. We sat in a room together just writing songs and we pretty much wrote To The Grave together. Then we found the rest of the members and it went from there really. We had a couple of member changes since then but yeah, that’s the origin story of Crypt Crawler.
Steph: What is the writing process now? Is it still just you guys sitting in a room, or has it grown and expanded?
Marco: As of this album, it’s definitely expanded. But prior to that, we used to just stay in the jam room together. It used to be one or two, even three of us … Sometimes Zach would come in as well and write. But this album, we literally sat in a room, all five of us together, for the majority of the album, and did it all in the jam room. Just coming up with riffs and pieces, and Lewis would have his drum beats already on it. Previously we would have demo drums and then we would send Lewis a nearly pre-completed song, and he would go and redo his drums for it. But now it’s a lot more collaborative, this time around, which has been really good. The songs have definitely elevated because of that, along with everyone’s ideas and influences that are being injected into these tracks. It has definitely made them a lot better than what they were before.
Steph: That’s awesome, and definitely pays off with your newly released album, The Immortal Realm. When an album like that is released, how do you celebrate?
Marco: We actually did jam last Friday, which was the release day of the album, which was really cool. We got in the room together. We all congratulated each other, and we were stoked that the album had come out. Prior to that, we actually hadn’t really caught up since our August tour over east and the reason for that is Lewis lives down in Margaret River for work. We have all got our jobs and just busy in that way. But yeah, leading up to that release it was very
Stressful, especially for me. I do a lot of the managing of the band and putting all the pre-orders together, doing everything ourselves. It was a really hectic time, but it was very, very worth it,
especially seeing the amount of pre-orders that we did have. And it was also an amazing feeling as well, feeling like we had some sort of payoff in the end, it was really awesome.
Steph: Do you have a favourite song or a favourite track on The Immortal Realm?
Marco: I’ve said this a few times now. I think Gateway of Souls is my favourite song off the album, which is the final track. I love that song in particular because of how melodic it is. I love the arrangement of the song, the whole songwriting altogether of it as a whole, the guitar solo in that song. There are a lot of things about that song which I really love. It is also the third part of a trilogy of songs from our previous records as well. Soul Harvester being the first part, One Shadow Now Flesh being the second part and now Gateway of Souls is the third part. So, it means a lot to me, like I’ve got a continued storyline that goes through those songs. Other than Gateway I would probably have to go with Higher Society especially because we’ve got James Murphy on that track, that was a really awesome tick for me.
Steph: That’s awesome! I know that you are currently about to board a plane and tour The Immortal Realm around Australia. How do you go about preparing for a tour like this, especially following an album release?
Marco: Well, let’s say I should have taken today off work but I didn’t. So, I have just gotten home from work and I’m struggling to rush and pack everything. I have been getting ready throughout this week, getting all the merch sorted for the tour. Last week we jammed and made sure we spent a considerable amount of time fine tuning to ensure all the songs are 100% tight and ready to go. Pretty much I have just really been getting into the zone. Leaving work today was definitely a really awesome feeling for me. It is like, okay, now it’s time for tour! So the heads in the zone and ready to go. And especially seeing a gig last night at Lynott’s Lounge – that didn’t help my sleep for last night and getting ready that wise, but it was actually such a sick show and it’s definitely gotten me in the mood to play some death metal and go on tour.
Steph: That sounds so busy! What do you do to relax with so much going on, managing the band, working, as well getting ready for a tour and releasing an album. How do you relax amongst all of that?
Marco: If I do get a spare moment, I love watching horror movies, or any movie in general, but watching horror movies is definitely a big relaxation thing for me. Or even just sitting down just listening to Metallica That’s actually one of the biggest releases for me. Metallica is my favourite band. I love them to death. I would just sit and just listen to their music, even some of the live stuff, just put on a live concert. I’m happy.
Steph: So with the album release now out of the way and the tour happening, what’s next after that for Crypt Crawler?
Marco: I think that we just pretty much want to get our name out there as much as we can. We’ll keep touring, we’ll keep promoting the album. I’m sure we’ll try and find more content to release. I know I’ve got plans in future for some little merchandise exclusivity sort of things that I want to put out. I know that there’s always things in the pipeline. I’ve always got ideas coming and going, and yeah, just plenty of things that I want to do with this band, especially being a bit of a geek myself. There are always things that I am like oh I really want to do that with Crypt Crawler. Because of this I can finally funnel that through and do our own merchandise. Things like that. I just want to keep pushing to try and hit the international stage if time permits and work and money permits. And if the opportunity permits!
Steph: I can’t wait to see what Crypt Crawler has in store, and thank you so much for your time. I’m aware that you’re about to go jump on a plane so I won’t keep you, I really appreciate you speaking to me. Have a nice safe flight and an enjoyable tour!
You can follow Crypt Crawler: @CryptCrawlerMetal | Facebook | Spotify | Website
Check out Crypt Crawler at Electric Eye Heavy Fest on 5 October! Tickets available here.
Follow Electric Eye Heavy Fest: @Electric.Eye.HeavyFest | Facebook
