Interview: A Wilhelm Scream
We have the time of our lives on stage every night, and we appreciate still being able to do this after all these years.
Melodic hardcore punk heroes A Wilhelm Scream have just brought out their high energy latest album Cheap Heat and Gavin Brown caught up with the band’s lead guitarist Ben Murray to hear all about the record and how it’s been received, touring festivals and life in A Wilhelm Scream.
E&D: Your new album Cheap Heat has just come out. How excited are you to be getting this album out for the people?
Ben: We’re beyond excited that the new album is finally out for everyone to hear! The response has been overwhelmingly awesome so far, so we couldn’t be more stoked. It’s always a wild journey taking a few years to write a record, and unleashing it to the fans is a real thrill. We’re just appreciative that everyone has been enjoying it so much so far.
E&D: Was the creation of the album a smooth process?
Ben: It was! Every album feels like climbing a huge mountain at points, but it always ends up working out in a really beautiful way. Because Nick, Nuno, and Trevor live in New Bedford, Brian lives in Canada, and I live in California, we decided to book a handful of ‘retreat/boot camp’ type sessions in different locations. We went out to Joshua Tree in the desert twice, for two weeks at a time to write and demo the songs that ended up on this record. We also did a few similar sessions in New Bedford at Trevor’s studio. It was a good way of consolidating hundreds of hours into weeks as opposed to across months and years.
E&D: Can you tell us the story about the cover of Cheap Heat and did you want it to have a classic metal style to it?
Ben: Our intentions in the art/theme for this record were to make it look like the poster for a 90’s thriller movie. We all love movies in the band, and especially darker seedier suspense/thriller/crime dramas from the 80’s and 90’s. Even with the lyrics, it all added up to this kind of cinematic storyteller approach to the songs, and we thought that the art matched the intensity of the riffs and vibe of the record nicely.
E&D: What topics do the songs on the album deal with?
Ben: A handful of themes, but largely centering around the array of personality disorders that are so pervasive everywhere you look in our bleak world these days. Narcissists, grifters, manipulators, con artists, etc. We wanted to take a less personal approach (although our personal lives and stories always end up enmeshed in some of the lyrics in one way or another), and make it a more biting, sarcastic, and in your face record on all fronts. Telling stories of certain types of characters that exist now, and have always existed, exploring the darker side of the human condition.
E&D: It has been 4 years since your last album, what has changed for A Wilhelm Scream in that time?
Ben: We’ve done a lot of touring since Lose Your Delusion was released, around the world a handful of times. I joined the band about 3 1/2 years ago, so that’s one of the bigger changes in terms of the lineup/writing process since the last record. But otherwise, it’s been more of the same. Touring around the world as a band of best friends, having the time of our lives! We toured heavy on the last album, but still made time the past few years in between all the tours to get these songs together and record Cheap Heat. We’re all feeling a really exciting energy, and are stoked to tour the rest of the year in support of this record.
E&D: How has the new material been received so far?
Ben: It’s been incredible! People came up to us every night on our tour last month to tell us how much they love the album and the intensity of the songs. We’re so pleased and stoked that our fans are enjoying it so much. We’ve only played two of the songs live so far in our setlist, but we’re going to keep throwing more into our set as the year goes on.
E&D: What has been the biggest influences on the sound and outlook of Cheap Heat?
Ben: Definitely the world of movies referenced earlier, but outside of that, we had a set intention to make this one really fire on all cylinders. From the riffs to the tempos to the lyrics, we wanted to go guns blazing, and really kick people right in the ass. I think we accomplished that, a very direct approach, all killer no filler. There was a fire in our bellies during the writing and recording of this one, where we just wanted to keep pushing the aggression in one form or another. Even though there is tons of melody on this record, and a lot of really beautiful parts, they still have this edge of speed and movement that I think is really cool, and it all blends well together.
E&D: How has your recent tour with Death By Stereo and Doomsday been going and what have been some of the highlights of the run?
Ben: The West Coast tour was amazing! Lots of sold out shows and really good times with those guys. Both bands are absolutely incredible, and inspiring to be around on and off stage. All the shows were so amazing, but San Francisco, Portland, and Salt Lake City stand out as highlights in my mind right now. We can’t wait to return to the West Coast at some point in the near future.
E&D: How does it feel to be back on the road and playing live?
Ben: It’s the best, it’s where we live and breathe! It feels like home to us to be out on the road rockin’ every night. After a little bit of time off last year to finish up the record, it feels awesome to be back in full force with a year full of rad tours and plans.
E&D: How has the material from Cheap Heat gone down live?
Ben: It’s been so rad so far! People have been anticipating the new songs and when we start the intro of ‘Midnight Ghost’ for example, we can see people get so stoked that they’re about to hear that new track, and that warms our hearts. While we still have a blast playing all the material from our past catalog, nothing quite compares to the feeling of playing something new you’ve just finished working on, and feeling that love from the crowd. The new songs are feeling so smooth at this point too now after the past tour, cant wait to keep ripping them!
E&D: Are you looking forward to coming over to Europe to tour with Less Than Jake soon?
Ben: Yes! Europe is always the best summer ever, and we can’t wait to shred over there again soon, especially to play these new tracks for the European fans for the first time. Kebabs, festivals, awesome bands and friends, should be one for the books!
E&D: You’re also touring in Australia and Japan, you must be looking to that?
Ben: Those tours were amazing! Being able to headline all over the world and have people pack out these rooms every night is just wild and we don’t take it for granted. Australia has always treated us with so much love, that was such a righteous tour, and we hadn’t been back to Japan for ten years, so those 5 shows were out of control! So, so fun and special, we love our Japanese fans so much.
E&D: Do you feel blessed to still be able to tour all over the world?
Ben: 100%. It’s never lost on us. We’ll do this until the wheels fall off, and we couldn’t’ be more grateful that our fans allow us to live our dreams.
E&D: What other shows and tours have you got coming up that you can tell us about?
Ben: We’re about to take off next week for a tour of the Midwest, some Canada dates, and then East Coast shows with our good pals in the Flatliners! After that we play Camp Punksylvania in PA, and then off to Europe in the summer!
E&D: Are you also playing any festivals in the summer?
Ben: Definitely! We’re playing Brakrock, Tells Bells, Punk Rock Holiday, and a bunch of other super rad ones out in Europe this summer. We always have such as blast at these festivals. Guaranteed good times.
E&D: If you could pick the bill for your own festival, who would you choose to play?
Ben: Oh wow that’s a tough one – I can’t answer for the full band, but I would say for myself I would definitely put Bad Religion and Propagandhi on there. If you threw some Swedish death metal like The Haunted, Dark Tranquility, or In Flames on there as well, I’d really be in heaven.
E&D: What have been some of your favourite shows that A Wilhelm Scream have played over the years?
Ben: There have been so many legendary shows it’s hard to even keep track at this point! However, any shows at home in New Bedford are always really special to us, but the whole world treats us so well. There have been so many memorable amazing shows in Australia, Canada, the West Coast, Florida, all over Europe, South America, etc. The last time we played Sao Paulo was absolutely unreal, same for Melbourne, Tokyo, etc. Too many to count, but the memories live in our heads for sure!
E&D: What ah been some the craziest things to happen to you on tour?
Ben: There are hundreds of hilarious and crazy stories, but for the most part it can be summed up to twenty five + years of rocking our songs across the world, so many good times, partying with our friends and fans all over the place, getting to visit cities we’d never even dreamed about. Just absolutely wild experiences that we’ll cherish forever. We’ve encountered every type of weather and storm you can, every time of road block or delay, every cancelled flight, every unexpected hurdle, but all you can do is just power through and laugh about it all. As long as we make the show, we’re stoked!
E&D: How was the experience of celebrating twenty years of your Ruiner album at the end of last year?
Ben: That was so special and fun – we had Jon Teves and Chris Levesque play a bunch of the songs with us that weekend, and it felt like a big family reunion. It was really cool to be able to play some of those deep cuts again, and to see how many fans travelled from all over the place to see that album played in full. Really reminded us how big of an impact it had on people’s lives. We had a blast!
E&D: What have been some of the highlights over the years with A Wilhelm Scream?
Ben: Touring the world, making records, writing songs together and feeling the reward of all those hours and hard work. We have the time of our lives on stage every night, and we appreciate still being able to do this after all these years.
