4/17/02
36 Crazyfists have exploded out of Alaska much like Slipknot exploded out of Iowa.
You can only go so far in Alaska, and that's when the band decided to pack up and move to
Portland to deliver their unique blend of metal to the masses. Soon after, Roadrunner
Records pounced on them.
Brock has one of the most unique voices out there giving the band a signature sound
unlike any other. The energy of their live show clearly escalates. See for yourself. Brock had a
wound on his forehead and a black eye when we sat down with him to discuss the release of the album,
Anchorage, Alaska, and life on the road for their first ever nationwide tour.
Noize Pollution: Roadrunner seems to find bands in the most remote places, where no others
would look don't they?
Brock: Sure, yeah man, I don't know the whole geography behind it,
but yeah they do find a lot of good bands. If you are a good band with good songs,
you'll be discovered.
NP: In Anchorage, how does one play shows and promote yourself?
Brock: Like everywhere else, you know, you post up the flyers,
there's actually not a lot of places to play up there. The scene up there is really
small and there is one bar that caters to local and heavy music and really supports
it. All kinds of venues up there close down left and right all the time, so it's
hard to establish yourself there. Other than that, it's just mostly word of mouth
mostly like everywhere else.
NP: Did you ever try submitting tapes & CD's to any of the
record labels while you were up there?
Brock: No, we never thought about it or getting in with the labels.
Where we are from, that just doesn't happen and we didn't know anything about it.
So basically when we moved to Oregon, it was to play to more people. That's how
we became friends with the band Skinlab and they told us they would help us out
with a demo and get it to the right people. We were like "Oh, all right." So
that's how it happened and we never even thought about it while we were up
there.
NP: So that was the main reason you relocated to Portland, OR?
Brock: Yeah, we wanted to continue playing and there is about 200
to 300 kids in Anchorage that come to every show but you're not going to turn
anyone else new onto it. There's only that many kids coming to the shows. So
we wanted to play to more people.
NP: So 36 Crazyfists is an actual title of a Jackie Chan movie?
Brock: Yeah
NP: Is that your favorite?
Brock: It was and then the Rush Hour's came out and I
like Chris Tucker a lot too, but as far as the Kung Fu aspect yeah definitely.
NP: So is that a very early release?
Brock: Yeah it was Jackie Chan's second one, he's like 18 years
old in it. It was like '72 or something like that.
NP: So do you think the name of the band best describes your music?
Brock: Umm (pauses)
NP: You do have bruises all over your face!
Brock: (laughs) Yeah there ya go. Well we like the violence and
the Kung Fu. I don't know if our music is that violent but sure I guess you can
say that. It's aggressive and it has energy. \
NP: "Bitterness the Star" came out April 2nd. How's that
going for you so far?
Brock: It's going good, you got it?
NP: (laughs) Hey we're giving the interview here man.
(both laugh) But yes, we're all hooked up. So have you been waiting 8 years for that?
Brock: Not necessarily, I mean we are very grateful and so
thankful that we got to this level. We never thought in our wildest dreams
that we would but we put out independent albums and you know and we didn't
wait eight years for it.
NP: So if you wouldn't have moved to Portland, do you ever
think you'd be here or had gotten noticed?
Brock: Probably not. I mean, I don't think there is that
many Record Executives flying up there to check out bands in Alaska. And
that's what I'm trying to do and help open those doors. Because there is
a lot of amazing bands up there that are very original.
NP: What are some of them?
Brock: There's this band called "Delmag." They are kind of like a
Thursday thing but a little more emo-radioish and there is a band
called "Freedom 49" and "Search Engine." Those three bands are great
bands. Actually I mention their name everywhere I go so hopefully
one day, someone will go up there and check them out. None of the
bands up there are nothing like us or anything else. It's different
varieties but its all pretty damn original.
NP: Probably because they aren't exposed to our media that we
have here playing the same thing over and over.
Brock: Yeah, Anchorage radio is pretty good now and it's getting
more commercialized, but before that, it was all college radio
stations. I mean we have a rock station there but it plays your
typical AC/DC, Metallica, etc.. but it's caught on now. I mean,
everyone has MTV up there. It's very modernized, it's not like
we are behind the times. Anchorage has 450,000 people living
there so it's a real city. But there are no bands that ever
come up there and the kids there are so hungry for it and the
music but that's just a money thing. It's hard to get everyone's
gear up there and it's a long way up there.
NP: So what's the first single going to be?
Brock: Well it's either "Turns to Ashes" or "Slitwristtheory."
They are the two songs that are up for a video and a single. It was "Slitwristtheory"
but after today's meeting it looks like it's going to be "Turns to Ashes." So I'm
not positive.
NP: It's still up in the air?
Brock: It's still undecided at the moment.
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NP: We read somewhere that every song on the album is about
you yelling at yourself for a mistake you made trying to better yourself. Pretty
intense to be reminding yourself of the mistakes you made every night on stage!
Brock: Yeah basically, every song has to do with that. Every song is
something that I think every male or female for that matter can relate too.
I'm not pushing the envelope where it's like "Oh shit, he did that!" Nothing
that crazy but, stuff I've done over the last 26 years of my life. That's what
I use music for and that's the lyrical content I focus on. I just try to
reflect on my negatives and bad attitudes and try to turn it into something
positive. I don't mean changing the world kind of stuff. Every song on this
record, is something that I don't plan on never repeating without going into
too much detail but things like bad money management, which I'm terrible with,
relationships to death to religion. Just basic stuff.
NP: How long have you been writing?
Brock: I was in my first band in 9th grade.
NP: Your vocal style is definitely one of a kind. How do you do it?
Is it forced or natural?
Brock: I guess it's just more unique to other people cause
they talk about it a lot. But it's something that I don't plan on. I think the
whole "Goat boy" tag that everybody's putting on it is funny. I think that I
discovered that I had it and then I kind of just homed in on it and made it
more and more. Then someone asked me if I could sing without it and I was
like honestly I think I could but I just don't know anymore.
NP: It's not like you can just turn it on and off.
Brock: I can, I can make it more natural but�...
NP: Well if you ever do a collaboration with somebody, and you come
on and do a little part or chorus, everyone will instantly know it's you, so that's a plus.
Brock: Right, right, well I'm actually glad that I'm somewhat
different than everyone else out there. That's definitely what I'm trying to be.
I'm not trying to be like everyone else.
NP: Did you ever take vocal lessons?
Brock: No, I wish I did. I should. (laughs) The reasons I
never did was because there is no heavy music where I'm from so I never even looked into
it. There were a lot of classical vocal teachers and they could have helped me sing
better but I wasn't looking to do that.
NP: Our favorite tunes off "Bitterness the Star" is "Turns to
Ashes" and "Bury me where I fall." What are some of these songs about?
Brock: "Turns to Ashes" is about second-guessing yourself. Not really
being that person and trying to deal with it and adapt. Basically I thought I would be
a professional hockey player when I was a kid. I've been skating since I was 3 or 4.
I wanted to be rich and I'm not either of those. So it's about that. "Bury me where
I fall" is about waking up and looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning,
which many times I can't. So that's what that songs about. My best friend Steev
from Skinlab is on it and it's a good song for me personally because he's one
of my favorite singers.
NP: Was it important to put Steev Esquivel (Skinlab) on the record?
Brock: Yeah definitely because without him, we wouldn't even be
doing this interview. I honesty believe that. We wouldn't be anywhere we are without
him. Steev got us through the door with Roadrunner so we owe them a lot.
NP: You first met up with them while in Portland.
Brock: Yeah, they took us out and we got a chance to open for them.
And then he came up to us that night and he was like, I'm going to get you signed and
we were like, yeah right. And three days later our A&R; guy called us and we couldn't
believe it. The rest is history.
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photos by T-Bone
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NP: Now that you are a signed national act, are there any plans
to revisit Anchorage and play an appreciation show?
Brock: Yeah, as soon as this tour is over on the 27th, we go up
the first of June. It just got set up today and we are playing four shows back home
and we can't wait.
NP: Are you taking anybody with you?
Brock: No, but Chimaira and Diecast want to come with us. I want them
to come with us, I want any and every band to play up there and make it
a mandatory stop for every tour. The kids would love it, they don't get
that up there and the walls would fall down, cause the kids would be so
excited. Can't wait to play for the hometown crowd.
NP: So how is your first US mainland tour going so far? Any surprises?
Brock: Wonderful. This tour is kind of hard for us, well it's a
heavy-metal tour and we are not metal. So the smaller towns, the kids are there
for their metal and we come on and we might as well wear dresses or something.
NP: No, no, are you insane?
Brock: I'm not saying that, the music is still heavy enough and this
is a metal tour and the smaller towns want their metal. But the bigger
cities like Chicago and St. Louis it's been awesome. If we make 2 fans
a night, that's good for us, basically we are unknown to the country,
our record just came out you know, we've never been out here, so we
are loving all of it. Our main objective is to meet every kid possible
every night. We work hard at that. It's important to us to make that
contact for any kid who wants to come talk to us, we'll give them
our time. We are all about that, we love that stuff. That's kind
of our goal on this trip.
NP: We think that it's great when we see people in bands
mingling in the crowds and giving a fan their money's worth.
Brock: That is so important. Absolutely. I would never want
anybody to think that they couldn't come up and talk to me because I'm in a band.
NP: So Mark of Chimaira is doing your sound at all the
shows. How the hell did that happen?
Brock: Yeah Mark's doing that. Thank god! I mean he's learning
himself and it's good because our band has a lot of ups and downs
dynamically like loud and soft and Jeff, Chimaira's sound guy, was
saying that it's good practice for listening. Before, this one guy
had us at loud all the time and it didn't sound good at all. So we
are benefiting from him and he's benefiting himself as well. He's
doing an awesome job and Jeff is right next to him helping him out,
so it's all good.
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NP: What can we expect next?
Brock: A video, we are going to do the video and then we'll
tour all summer. There is a bunch of tours we may do but
there is nothing solid yet. We heard a few options today
and it all sounded great to us. We might go out with Snapcase,
Thursday, Get up Kids, you know, more of our kind of crowd.
NP: So the video will be for�..?
Brock: "Turns to Ashes."
NP: A few days ago, I e-mailed all our street teamers that listed 36 Crazyfists in their top ten
and I had them send me a question they would like to ask you. I have
a few fan questions for you. This question is from
Josh from Kalamazoo, MI asks: Were you inspired by anything other than music?
And who are your major inspirations?
Brock: I guess I'm inspired by waking up and breathing everyday,
I'm happy about that, but my influences would be guys who I grew
up with back home that nobody knows, but let's see, Metallica.
Ian Astbury of the Cult is one of my favorite singers.
Kristen from Norcross, GA asks: Why did you choose Eddie Wohl to produce
your album and what do you expect to get out of this tour?
Brock: We picked Eddie because the demo he submitted from some
of the things that he did, we liked. As for the tour,
we just want to spread the word and enjoy ourselves while we are on the road.
Interview by: T-Bone & Suzy
To view past Interviews and Favorites click
HERE.
Official website:
www.36crazyfists.com
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