Interview: Filth Is Eternal
We can kick out the riffs all day. We got the jams, but we wanted to grow a little bit more.
Impossible World is the brilliant and mesmerising new album from Seattle’s Filth Is Eternal and it sees the band explore new aspects of their sound, including a fine line in melody intertwined throughout the whole album. Ahead of the release of Impossible World, Gavin Brown caught up with Filth Is Eternal guitarist Brian McClelland and vocalist Lis DiAngelo to hear all about it and the return of the band as well as Seattle, grunge, MTV and live shows.
E&D: Your new album Impossible World is coming out very soon. What have been the biggest influences on the sound of the new record?
Brian: With the new record, we have been moving from our d-beat and hardcore sound a little bit into a more rock and roll, grunge territory. We’ve been big fans of some of the newgaze bands that have come out, so we’re moving towards a little bit more of a songwriting direction in some aspects. I’m sure you can tell we’ve embraced more melody on this one, which has been really fun. We still have a couple heaters. We bring some of the leads and some of the aggression, our most intense d-beat and hardcore work, but this is a little bit more song focused.
E&D: Is that something you have wanted to do for a while?
Brian: Sort of, one thing that we talk about a lot in the band is that we’ve been yelling at people for years, but we love just writing songs and trying to grow and develop and make something a little bit more melodic over time. We can kick out the riffs all day. We got the jams, but we wanted to grow a little bit more.
E&D: You have a few guests featured on the album. Can you tell us about them and what they brought to the songs that they feature on?
Brian: We had Johnny Whitney from Blood Brothers and Evil Island. He features on a song that we have called ‘Total War’. Gina Gleason, who plays guitar and does vocals in Baroness, did vocals on a song called ‘Desire’ that we have on the record. Joe Trohman guitars for Fall Out Boy. He contributed a solo on the song, ‘So Below’. It was amazing to be able to work with some of those guys. They’re some of our favourite musicians, and it was just awesome to find spots where they fit, and it was great that they were interested. It was kind of a surprise to me, honestly, and I was ecstatic about how it turned out.
E&D: Did you always want to have a more hopeful vibe on this record?
Brian: Yeah, that’s something that we talk about a lot, I’m sure you can tell we have somewhat of a dark aesthetic. Sometimes we get asked about being generally nihilistic, and we do have a nice, dark look and feel. We come from heavy music, extreme music, but the way that we talk about Impossible World for instance, is when the world feels impossible, you got to make the impossible happen. So there’s always a duality between, if we have a dark presentation about some of the material, it usually has a really positive message on the inside, where it’s two sides of the same coin. We like to put some of this stuff out. This is therapy for us, to deal with heavy feelings or intense topics, but we hope that that’s a cathartic thing that people get to engage in, so you can get that out of the way and get on with your life.
E&D: Was the MTV-esque video for album track ‘Stay Melted’ a fun thing to do?
Brian: Yeah. Definitely. We talked a lot about, what is the vibe aesthetically and sonically, and a lot of our favourite new music. It seems like there was a period where people were saying, What is the state of guitar rock in the 2020s?, but it seems like now, more than ever, people are writing songs. They’re digging into that rock and roll vibe and as we were putting together our influences for the record, we were just drawn to a lot more do it on your own and make it happen. So when we came to making those videos, we worked with our friends in the community, great creators and video artists. We worked with Sebastian Dermot, who’s the video director at Vera project that we work with up here in Seattle, and he has an amazing eye for making cool stuff come together like that. So we’ve worked with him previously, and it was awesome. He’s the one that kind of came up with the Filth TV and we just embraced it. We love the VHS look, the layered and get it done, kind of feel.
E&D: What were some of your favourite MTV shows and music videos?
Brian: Oh yeah, that’s a good one. 120 Minutes. Headbangers Ball was always solid. We went back and watched some of the Beavis And Butthead episodes with videos by Crowbar things like that. Those have always been influential, as far as, when we were growing up, that’s how you found heavy music. We got to play with Unsane, which is one of my favourite noise rock bands, and I discovered them from their ‘Scrape’ video. That’s a classic! If you get into skate culture, you know that video. A lot of those 90s videos, where it’s just people like making art. Sometimes it’s a nice, high budget, sometimes it’s what you do on your own. But sometimes that’s what breaks a band and shows you a new sound you hadn’t heard.
E&D: You covered ‘Violet’ by Hole in 2024 Was it cool to do that song and give it the Filth Is Eternal treatment?
Brian: Oh yeah, definitely. That’s one that we had toyed with for years in projects up in Seattle, occasionally with our different community, we would do cover events, just cover a handful of songs here and there. We had done ‘Violet’ once before, and so it was nice to revisit. It felt like it was a very fresh take on it in the moment, it’s still a very important message by a very important group. I think Courtney gets some undue amounts of shit, and I think that it’s worth acknowledging that their contribution to music is still very valid. Sonically. It was great to do that song that was the first song where we were trying out this new pedal. We built this pedal EQ plus for our new record, and that ‘Violet’ cover was actually the first time that we used this. So this is all over that cover, and you can hear it on our new record. That was a way that we developed that sound going into the new album. So it was a really fun transitional track to do.
E&D: You worked with Seattle legend Tad Doyle on your album Love Is A Lie, Filth Is Eternal. How was that experience working with him on your music?
Brian: We’ve worked with Tad on and off in the past, and he’s incredible. He’s a Seattle legend. When I first moved to Seattle, someone gave me a copy of Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears, the Tad story, and it was like, that is true rock and roll. He’s a grunge legend that is maybe not as well known as some of the other bands, but just as influential around here. He’s contributed so much to the scene, he’s been recording bands for years and been contributing even with his own solo material, Thomas Andrew Doyle, he does these incredible soundscapes that are just crushing. His band, Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, was extremely influential locally and around the country for the doom scene. Tad’s a brilliant dude. He’s always got his mind on something expansive. So there’s the sound that’s happening today, and he’s already a couple steps ahead of it.
E&D: Will you work again with him in the future?
Brian: Oh, absolutely, we love Tad. He’s one of our best dudes. We’ve been fans of him for years, and we try and always connect whenever we can.
E&D: Being based in Seattle, grunge must be a massive influence on your music and yourselves as musicians?
Brian: I mean, definitely. I’m from New Mexico originally. Lis is from California, but I think we ended up here for a couple reasons. The climate is one thing. It’s nice to be in a place where there’s greenery, and I think that kind of influences the sound a little bit. You have that classic grunge culture in the city, but what it really is, is independent rock and roll. It’s just bands that are doing their own thing. Labels come up here and there, but it’s a strong community of people that are driven and make their own sound, and that sort of gets labeled as grunge, but it’s just because there’s so many really cool creatives making heavy punk or doom, sludge, stoner, just underground rock, community music. I think it really gets unified under the grunge label, not to sell that short, but that culture as a whole is what drew us here.
E&D: What are your all time favourite grunge albums?
Brian: Oh man, my all time favourite grunge? I’d say definitely Infrared Riding Hood by Tad is up there. Nevermind by Nirvana is a classic. We talk about Dirt by Alice In Chains a lot. There’s a ton. I’m a big fan of Smashing Pumpkins as well, the Siamese Dream era is some of my favourites for guitar technique. There’s just a ton of hits from that era, you know, I kind of lump it in, like I said Unsane, I would put in there. I would say Visqueen by Unsane, or Scattered, Smothered & Covered is the classic, just for a little bit more aggression. I think there’s a ton of great bands that fit the rock and roll vibe of it, but those would be some of my picks personally,
E&D: Who are some underrated Seattle bands that you think we should check out?
Brian: There’s a really killer band that we have coming up called Monsterwatch. They’re a great band that is carrying the torch for rock and roll. I think Zookraught is another incredible band up here that is bringing the anglo rock and roll, queer punk aesthetic. There’s tons of artists up here that I would say are carrying the torch. Impulse Noise is one of my favourite bands in Seattle. Killer grind band. We also have friends in a new project called Paralysis Expletive which are bringing some of the heaviest sounds in the city. So tons of great people,
E&D: Do you still feel that you have the spirit of your early days as Fucked & Bound is still part of how you are as a band?
Brian: Yeah, we don’t talk about the name as much, just because but we’ve always carried on the spirit of it. I think that the spirit has just been about doing something independently and just doing it as much as you can. We started that project initially and didn’t think that it was going to go super far. We kind of made it to do a couple of seven inches. But as it progressed, it’s like we’re here today. There was a way to be creative, and there was a community to be a part of, and there was a spirit that really embraced that. So it was nice that there was demand, that people kept wanting to hear that sound. So we kind of grew it and developed it into the new Filth Is Eternal.
E&D: Are you looking forward to hitting the road and playing the songs from Impossible World live?
Brian: Yeah, absolutely. We’re booking up our year for live performances. We have a tour coming for the West Coast in April that we’re wrapping up. We’ll be announcing shortly. I’m excited. These are some of my favourite songs, and we’ve already got a setlist full of them, as well as a couple of hits from across all the records. One of the things that’s nice is that we can play a set pretty easily and cover all of the records and touch on all the material, but we’re excited to play all of this new stuff live. Some of our favourite songs are on the new record. ‘Stay Melted’ ‘Long Way’, fantastic tracks. We have a song called ‘Skorpio’ that I’m really excited to play live, that’s kind of a new dynamic for us, and then playing some of the heaters. We’re playing the song ‘So Below’ live which is great. Can’t wait to get those out there!
E&D: Will you be making it back over to the UK?
Brian: We’d love to. We’re talking about it now. We have our European booking agent, Ricky at Swamp, working on some plans for later this year. So if you want to see us, reach out and let them know. where you want to see us. We’re putting that all together now.
E&D: Do you have good memories of playing in the UK when you played with Finch?
Brian: Absolutely, that was my first time, and it was a blast. It was incredible. I think we were out for about three weeks overall, so we got to tour all around and see the whole island. It was a great experience, as far as new culture and seeing bands of all kinds and playing incredible venues, We got to play the O2 in London, which was maybe the biggest show of of my career so far. Everyone was extremely hospitable. It was just fantastic to plug in and and see everyone and be a part of it. So we’re looking forward to coming back.
E&D: What have been some of your favourite shows and tours that you’ve done in the past?
Brian: We toured last year with Baroness. We did a run across the States with them. Also Portrayal Of Guilt was on too, that was incredible. As far as just watching Baroness every night, they were there some of the highest tier musicians that we’ve ever had the honor to play with. Portrayal Of Guilt on that tour is extremely heavy love, their vibe is atmospheric and just crushing for being a three piece. They cover so much sonic ground. Before that, we were out with Darkest Hour. The Darkest Hour guys are incredible. They really pushed us to develop some of our guitar style, and were just a joy to be around. Incredibly supportive. We’re happy to shred with all kinds of bands. I think that’s one thing that that we excel at as we have enough different kinds of sound from underground music that’s a little bit more accessible with rock and roll, that we can plug in with tons of types of bands. We’re just honoured to be a part of the whole process.
Lis: I think I just really cherished playing with Blood Brothers and Botch. These are legendary bands and the minute they hit the stage, it’s like you’re transcended to a different place and the world building that they’ve done and managed to do, it’s just legacy beyond legacy. So getting to experience those shows, I think will stick with me and resonate with me the rest of my life.
Brian: Yeah, we’re grateful we got invited to play with Suicidal Tendencies. That was incredible, man. This is one of my favourite shows that we’ve been a part of as well. Great crew, just legendary tracks, awesome to see those bands live, and just be invited to be a part of their world.
E&D: Who would you love to tour with in the future?
Lis: Viagra Boys.
Brian: Oh, man. Viagra Boys, that’s a good one. We like that. We like Amyl & The Sniffers a lot.
Lis: There’s just a lot of bands that I think are just really bringing it. They’re unapologetically themselves, and I think that that’s so sick, and it’s beautiful, and the music is great, and energy is palpable. Those bands are just sick. That would be so much fun.
Brian: I love Angel Dust lately, really killer band. I love everything that their guitar player Jim does. Spiritual Cramp is another band that we’re big fans of, love their newest record, RUDE, that gets a lot of spins out here.
E&D: Going back to the album, have you been pleased with the feedback it’s had so far for the new material that you’ve brought out?
Brian: Yeah, definitely. It’s always fun to share with everyone. We get questions sometimes about hardcore versus rock and roll and I think it’s just cool that people are checking it out. It’s interesting to show our take on it, and I’m super proud of these songs. These are some of my favourite tracks that we’ve ever put out, favourite new techniques that we’ve used to write with and keep things interesting. Some of our favourite new sounds. We were lucky enough to work with Taylor Young at The Pit in LA and he is on the forefront of heavy music, and I think that he totally got the sound. So I’m really excited to share that with everyone, and I think that people are getting it. They’re getting where we’re coming from. Taylor really got where we were trying to go, and as we wanted to develop that sound and push it forward, so I think people are hearing where we’re going.
E&D: What else have you got planned for the rest of the year aside from touring and playing live, have you had any thoughts about potential new music?
Brian: We’re getting set up to play live, but we’re also working on new songs. We’ve got our lineup now, and we’ve got probably six songs to demo coming up. So we’re talking about maybe something for the fall, but that’s all very tentative right now. Currently I’m working on some Super Deluxe packaging for the Impossible World release. I’m building a screen printed guitar with all of our artwork from the record and from our world. That’ll be in an art show at Vera Project coming up. I’m going to be showing some visual art from around our world and doing that in the background and developing our new merch and everything like that. I’m screen printing all the merch, so we’re building out designs and getting the visual world going.
E&D: What have been some of the other highlights from your time in the band so far, and what do you still want to achieve in the future?
Brian: We’ve been lucky to play with all these incredible bands. I want to get out and see more of the world. I’d love to go to Japan. We’re trying to get into mainland Europe and tour around as much as we can. Like I said, we’re working on some new songs, and I’m looking forward to doing a little bit more collaborative work, I’m happy to have more guests on and keep growing the team and go as far as we can with it. I’m really excited about that. We’ve put out two pedals for our record releases, and that helps us push forward sonically. I’m looking forward to developing a little bit more on that side as well. So, lots of great stuff. We’re just happy to be able to keep making art.
Lis: Outside of everything in general, I’m just really excited to hit the road of everything that’s going on this year. I’m just really happy to be back playing shows and supporting this record. I just feel so strongly about it, and I think once we get in front of people, they’re going to be really excited.
