04-12-2009Live reviews - All Shall Perish
Pits, Pits and more Pits - Sweaty Metal Fun
Tonight was my first time into Manchester's newest venue Moho the location charged with taking the fated 'Music Box's' entire remaining roster of gigs. First impressions and it's chaotic, hitting up the gig early to interview tonight's main act 'All Shall Perish' revealed a mass of people, equipment and rock and roll paraphernalia. It was because Moho has two room's and they put on local acts in the second room when the main stage acts are changing gear over, a very novel idea and considering it does run well.
First band of the night I check out are Preston's own Eliah's Last Day who I have seen many time before and never been left unimpressed. Apparently their harbouring new members and they do the job warming up the room, there's a few people making moves and noises but in general everyone stands back and takes in the strong and powerful metalcore sounds that are pumped out. Being first act and local support doesn't entitle them to the biggest of sets and they leave as quickly as they came, yet again doing enough to warrant their inclusion on a bill with such quality bands. It's then I head off to the room to check out the first local bands, partly because I cannot remember and partly not to offend anyone too personally all I can say is I didn't catch the name of the first act but they were atrocious, typical chug chug and an awful attempt at inward vocals, cue quick exit for a pint and cigarette.
Then Martyr Defiled came up, in honour of the fact that there drummer was playing Def Leppard style after breaking a hand the previous night but without the benefit of a custom kit for a one handed sticksman it does go way ward, they make a valiant attempt but I'll leave my review for the next time when they are on full form.
Azriel are next up to the main stage, the disappointment of the first band in the stage and the swelling crowds meant I stayed where I was to get a decent standpoint of the Scottish stalwarts who opened with the now infamous backing track of the 'Lux Aterna' before jumping straight into the mighty 'Versus' and then proceeded to work their way in the professional and hugely entertaining style through the likes of Iscariot, Hold On, Sea Sick and finishing on the ever popular and now timeless 'Hollow Man' ensured the large contingent of the audience who had come for Azriel or were already fans left knowing they had yet again seen another solid performance. Just when this band will make the next step up is a question on everyone's lips.
I make a swift manoeuvre into the room to check out last local act and RS favourite's Empires Fade bringing the closure of the second room. A chat with vocalist Alex before had alerted me to the inclusion of almost a wholly new line-up since last time I caught up with them although it served as a help rather than a hindrance and they seemed a band who are beginning to fulfil the potential that has been evident for a long time now. With the right members hopefully in place the band will be working their way over the next couple of months you should definitely make the effort to check them out if they play a local venue.
And so it's over to tonight's main attraction. Having followed All Shall Perish since the 'Hate.Malice.Revenge' Cd I had for one reason or another never caught the band live before and it was most definitely a showcase worth the wait. Going into a tirade of blistering technicality the band all lined up and thrashed their way through the opening numbers causing the oddly shaped pit area to go wild in a mass of mangled bodies, swirling hair and pumping fists.' A Life Meant More' and 'Never Again' both take the temperature of the room to new levels and the now solid line-up is rampant in its delivery. The call of 'I wan't you to circle pit the fuck outta this one' procured the darkly invigorating 'Eradication' and people are literally being thrown everywhere, whether they liked it or not!
'Black Gold Reign' the attack on the oil industry rip's through and it's at this point you feel that if a riff could literally melt your face as the expression goes then everyone in this room would look like T2. 'Awaken the Dreamers' showcases the new album in its proficient best and then the band close up on 'Herding The Brainwashed' and 'Wage Slaves' the band have cemented their placement for me as one of death metal's powerhouses and a force that can only gain in momentum. The ability they have and the fact that they have a vocalist so adept at the most demonic and hateful screams and an inward pig squeal that is perhaps the only one I have ever heard executed to a songs benefit give a total package and it is great to see it replicated live as well as on the CD.
06-12-2008Interview - All Shall Perish
I'm Paul, if you'd just like to introduce yourself
Mike: You should probably explain what's going on here
Tour Manager: Okay, I have to talk for him because he can't talk to strangers
Is there any particular reason for that or...
He's a little bit shy. It's hard for him because he's such a tiny person...he's very sensitive...he has a big penis though trust me
Okay, so how's the tour going so far?
Tour Manger: Awful
Mike:Awful
Have you got to use your big penis yet, is that the reason why?
Before going on tape Mike and his manager have been having an engrossing conversation filling me in on the details of Mike's -Apparently Massive- Penis
I have gotten to use it, (to his female cohort) I hope I didn't hurt you too bad dear. It wasn't too rough on you right? The tears kinda healing up, not stinging too much from the salty sweat that's got in there?...The tour has actually been quite delicious thus far
How many dates are you into it now?
We're almost done, what is it?...
35 days long
Jesus Christ, 35 days are you serious! Yeh it's been about 35 days
And I take it from sitting in the back stage area for five minutes, you find the UK is a little but different to touring back home or Europe in general?
It's actually a lot closer than you think. No-one has any idea what's going on, you do speak English, that's nice, that's also a plus, it does help out but you guys do eat black pudding also. I don't get when anybody thought that was a good idea.
After 8 beers and a hangover and a few shots of Vodka, it always seems like a good idea in the morning. It's the same as a kebab, you've had a kebab right?
Oh yeh, a kebab, it's like an Arab taco, I like the Arab tacos.
How does it feel to be on tour with a UK touring support like Azriel as opposed to having another band from America come over with you?
It's fun, I actually like both of the bands we're touring with which is a huge first. Unfortunately I can't give any of the names of the bands I have hated touring with, I really wish I could but I have a feeling my manager or somebody would hear about it.
That wouldn't be too good for you!
Yeh and only my mum has the privilege of bitching me out with me just listening
Cool, so going onto the new album or the latest album, I think one thing I've found from it and again with a lot of the other albums, the lyrics are largely pessimistic and I kinda get a sense of a “you and us”. Who are the you and us?
Well unfortunately I have no hand in writing lyrics. Our drummer and our singer are the one's who write every single one of the lyrics. But I do know the lyrics were supposed to be some kind of uplifting thing instead of being straight pessimistic...it supposed to actually inspire people in acting in certain acts of oppression and stuff like that but yeh it does paint a very negative picture of the world but the negative pictures are meant to inspire people into good things instead of bad things.
Well one band I have related to is Shai Halud, who paint a really dark picture but there's always a glimmer of hope at the end!
I wish I was like Shai Halud, I really like their lyrics a lot. Very, very negative
So with the new album, you've changed guitarists along the way, was that something that had to happen?
Absolutely something that had to happen! Unfortunately I have to keep giving you the blabber mouth explanation...Chris is a really good guy. noting the mock sarcasm We still get along with him a lot!
Still sending each other Christmas cards?
Of course! We still hang out, I still like talking to him. He washes dishes in a pizza place in Las Vegas now, or so I've heard.
So he's made a nice step up then?
Oh yeh, he's doing great things. He's in a band called Smash Face with the guitar player from Sworn Enemy...very good band. I think it's something like SmashFace.com.Myspace.however you want to do it.
Myspace.com slash Slash Face
So yeh, whatever. It's pretty sweet, apparently if you get in their way, they'll smash your fucking face in, because that's what they say in the song about a thousand times. It's quite good, it's to be taken very seriously...and if you look at their page he's got a giant picture of one of his guitars up there, it's just a picture of a guitar and it just says Shrek core...
It's like a whole different genre?...
Oh no, Chris Storey is music, it's honest, it's Bible truth. Just like everything in the Bible, if you read the Bible and don't believe it blindly, you're fucking up.
One thing I did notice is that when Chris joined after Hates Mile Revenge??? and The Price of Existence, the technicality did go up an absolute shit load and then your new guitarist has stepped in and has been able to pull it off...do you think it's going to change the writing and sound of the next album in the ways the albums have changed between the first two or three?
The predominant writing force in the band has always stayed the same, it's usually me, Matt and Ben. We have been original members the entire way. The only things that have changed along the way is that we have switched guitar players twice now. The new guy can do everything that Chris can do, he can actually do a lot more than Chris can do (sorry Chris) But anyone who watches us and has seen us play will be able to tell the difference, it's just going to bring a lot more
And in terms of writing, have you guys sat down and started penning something new?
Not at all...we don't have a whole lot of time when we're out here because apparently all we have time for whilst we're here is to bitch about the stuff that appear in our backstage room such as our fresh Mozzarella...and our balsamic vinegar. We have to have certain things otherwise all hell breaks loose...I shit in the sink of everywhere I go because I just don't like the food, I just can't stand it!
What's the worst thing, apart from the black pudding, you've had on tour then?
The tour manager, she's the worst thing...no just kidding...the worst thing we've had on tour? As far as food? I didn't actually have black pudding this time. What was the worst thing we ate? Those funky little sandwiches we had in Germany, they were just butter, it was just butter and bread
That's like the cheap man's option when you've ran out of all your money and you've only got the tiniest little bit left
It's kinda like a close cousin of what we make in America. Have you ever seen this powered orange drink mix call Tang? It's supposed to be a replacement for orange juice, they give it to astronauts when they're in space or whatever but it's just orange shit and what we do is...well I've done this before anyway, maybe I'm painting myself to be a really ghetto bastard or whatever but you sprinkle some of the stuff onto a piece of bread and you make a “Tangwich”. It's pretty shitty...
I know you said you didn't write much of the lyrics but I know your band has a lot to do with politics and stuff like that. Is there anything you can mention in that kind of sense?
Where the band is at
Yeh or where you situate yourself?...
We all disagree on politics, especially the drummer and I, which is why I don't write any of the lyrics and he does because the rest of the band kinda agree with him more on stuff like that. The biggest thing is I think the band as a whole are a little bit troubled by the way corporations and businesses are running their operations these days. I myself don't see it as badly as they do but at the same time they see it as a really huge problem. That's pretty much what the song Black Oil Reign is about, it's pretty much about oil companies taking over the world doing whatever the fuck they please.
Does that give you guys more of a sense of happiness? That you don't have to join the daily grind and you can come and tour the world?
It does. This is definitely a much more fun job than say sitting around at Best Buy. I don't know what you guys have over here but we have a store that pretty much sells, I don't want to say everything, it's like Wall Mart, like Asda, yeh like working at one of those places. That's like the absolute bottom of the barrel but a lot of people do work like that and a lot of people if they don't, their other options are be in a band, be in the military, or do that and luckily we don't have to do that. Matt and I, we've both been to college. I majored in Math and he majored in recording so this isn't our only option.
What would you be if you weren't doing this then?
If I wasn't doing this I'd probably have a really boring job. I'm a math tutor at home, that's really boring but I guess what I'd be doing if I was trying to make a load of money because I've got a chemistry background, I don't know whether you've seen the film or the show Breaking Bad. It's a really popular show in America right now and it's about a high school Chemistry teacher who has to make a lot of money for his family because he's dying, he decides to make Meth amphetamine, that's what I'd be doing, I'd be making tonnes of Meth amphetamine???
Like Mickey Rourke in Spun?
No he's doing it all wrong
And am I right in thinking it's you that often take hiatuses from the tour because you've got a family?
That's not me. I used to because I was trying to finish up school but that's off the table now for me. The guitar player Ben is the one who takes a lot of time off. He does come on a lot of tours but there's a few he has to miss
It nice that you guys are all comfortable with that. I'm sure there'd be a lot of bands that'd be like you've got to come with us or will get someone who can come every time. Is that because of the bond you have?
Yeh we never want to kick anybody out, we never want to have any problems with anybody, we don't want any bullshit, sometimes it just has to happen.
What's the best country you've been to so far?
Tour Manager: Germany
I didn't say that, Germany is actually one of the shittest places...that was a joke sorry!
Are you getting a different kind of response in different places?
We get a huge difference in response every single time. Theres some places that stay pretty solid, they love us a lot, the UK seem to like us quite a bit. Germany, we've played there almost half the tour every single time we come and our label is from Germany and then we have other places that are really strong like Austria. Then you get places that are different every time you go, France is different every single time we go there.
You guys were one of the first bands to play in some of the Eastern Europe block?
In Siberia we were
How did that come about?
That erm I don't actually know mark form amad, our booking agent got a hold of somebody there and they said well normally we do the Moscow thing but do you also want to go to Siberia which we didn't know till wed bin all the way back that Max Cavelra from Soulfly had actually been kidnapped at some point during that tour I don't know if that's exactly true but if it is, That's fucked!
How did the kids over there take to a metal band like yourselves
The kids were awesome, I don't even know how to put this and it comes across.. badly.. they definitely like their rules, our singer showed up without his passport and without a Russian visa, they threw his ass in a room and put him on the first flight back to berlin. So I had to sing for most of the tour.
Out of your albums your personal favourite
The price of Existence
The best possible metal band at the moment
As far as new bands, Born Of Osiris and After the Burial who are both coming on tour with us.
