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By: Ross Pike
Louisiana’s finest metallers Goatwhore recently finished a bit European tour as main support for Skeletonwitch and they will be back in the UK soon to play Temples Festival in Bristol. Ross Pike asked drummer Zack Simmons some questions while they were in the UK.
(((o))): You’re halfway through this tour with Skeletonwitch and Mortals, how has it been so far?
Zack: It’s been fucking excellent! The shows have all been fantastic and the crowd response has been insane. We’ve toured with Skeletonwitch many times so it’s just a bunch of good friends running around playing metal. I can’t complain one bit.
(((o))): Are Goatwhore a competitive band? When you go on these tours is the motivation to out do the headliners? Given the acts you’ve toured with in the past Goatwhore must be always be at your fighting weight.
Zack: I wouldn’t say we are competitive but we definitely hold ourselves to a high standard playing and performance wise. We just get up there and do what we do the best we can. We’re not really worried about what the other bands are doing.
(((o))): Is there anything you really miss when you’re on tour outside the US (aside from friends and family obviously!)?
Zack: I guess it’s just the small little conveniences we are used to in the States, like late night food options and places to buy booze and cigarettes. Personally, I miss hot sauce the most. I pack my bag full of it before leaving home.
(((o))): Constricting Rage of the Merciless is nearly a year old now. How well have the songs integrated into the set? ‘FBS’ seems to go down a storm!
Zack: It’s been pretty seamless actually. These songs have a lot of energy and are perfect for the live setting. The new stuff meshes very well with our older material as well.
(((o))): Do you find inspiration for and/or the time to write songs when you’re on the road?
Zack: Not really actually. It’s too much of a chaotic environment for us to be creative. When we’re on the road we are one hundred percent focused on the shows.
(((o))): Speaking of songwriting, Goatwhore song titles and lyrics are often wonderfully complex in their choice of words – where does that come from? Someone’s parent was an English teacher, perhaps, or are you just voracious readers?
Zack: Ben [Falgoust; vocals] definitely has an extensive vocabulary! Some of the stuff he comes up with blows my mind. It probably comes from a lot of reading and the help of a thesaurus.
(((o))): Heavy metal and especially black metal has been stridently anti-authority over the years, unafraid to take on organised religion (usually Christianity) for instance. Do you think that incidents like the Charlie Hebdo murders in France earlier this year strengthen or weaken that resolve to challenge religion?
Zack: I think it just continues to prove the hypocrisy of religion. So many wars and bullshit have been caused by it for ages and it continues to happen. We’d rather write music about our dislike for religion rather than go out on a killing spree. Much more productive that way.
(((o))): There’s a quote from Ireland in the 1970s about the outbreak of punk that goes: “New York had the bands, London had the fashion. Belfast has the reason.” Can you pinpoint what it is about Louisiana and New Orleans in particular that creates the sludgy, nihilistic heavy music that Goatwhore has in its DNA?
Zack: I think it’s something that just creeps under your skin once you’ve spent enough time here. It can be a kind of harsh environment so it makes for some pretty harsh sounding music I suppose.
(((o))): After this tour, what are Goatwhore’s future plans?
Zack: We’ll be coming back over to Bristol for Temples Festival in late May and then a full US headlining tour with Black Breath, Ringworm, and Theories. It’s gonna be heavy.
