 Californian metallers Suicide Silence have a lot going for them right now. Their debut album landed at #94 on the Billboard charts, and is now about to get it's long overdue UK and European release, and the band are hitting the road hard to support it's release, with two different tours landing in the UK in the first half of this year.
To find out more about the album, their plans for the future, and what
the UK can expect from them when they tear up these shores over the
coming months, Komodo Rock's Mike Elliott spoke with drummer Alex Lopez.
Mike Elliott: You're heading to the UK in March to tour with Behemoth. Are you looking forward to the tour?
Alex Lopez: Yes. Behemoth is one of my personal favorite bands to see
live. We are going to be sharing a bus with them for this European
tour, which is amazing. We once shared a bus with Sworn Enemy and had a
terrific time, so now we intend to continue that experience on into
Europe.
ME: What can fans expect? Fans can expect to see a very loud & energetic live show.
AL: We always put 110% into the live presentation of our music and we
make sure no one goes home in a bad mood (unless of course they want to
J).
ME: You'll be back again in May alongside Parkway Drive and Bury Your Dead?
AL: Yes we will. We’re looking forward to that very much; not only
playing with our good friends in BYD, but also performing alongside
Parkway Drive. They’re a solid band and we’re all excited to rock on
the same stage as them. This will be a tour for the younger crowd in
particular, and we’re anticipating quite a bit of fun.
ME: And in between those tours, you'll be heading across America with Nile. It's a busy time for you right now.
AL: I can safely say that Suicide Silence is as busy as we've ever
been, but not in a bad way of course. We love the fact that our agenda
is full. Touring with legendary bands is a great reason to be busy.
 ME:
Your album "The Cleansing" is already out in the US, but will finally
see it's UK release in March. Can you tell us a bit more about the
album?
AL: The Cleansing was the first full length album anyone in Suicide
Silence has ever made. We put a lot of passion into writing those
songs. I was only in the band for a month before I had to start writing
new material with for the album. The music was recorded in a live &
my drums weren’t recorded to a click track. I’m not claiming that I’m a
human metronome; I’m just saying it’s all natural and captured on the
CD just like we wrote it. Those were our intentions from the beginning.
ME: On it's US release it came in at #94 on the Billboard 200. Were you surprised at how well it sold?
AL:Nowadays everything surprises me, but I’m truly grateful for people’s ability to like my band.
ME: Are you expecting to do as well in Europe, and here in the UK?
AL: Some of the best bands in the world are spawned from UK/Europe. I’m
not too worried as I believe the Europeans truly love their metal. I
just hope that the mainland European crowds reacts similarly to the UK
specific audience as we’ve done well with our live show there in the
past.
ME: Can you tell us a little more about some of the tracks on the album?
AL: In general, we tried to incorporate many different of styles of
metal around what we considered to be catchy/groovy riffs that fans
from a variety of genres could get into. We also set out to make each
song very different, yet capture a cohesive emotion and sound
throughout.
ME: The legendary Dave McKean has done the cover art for the new album. How did that come about?
AL: I’ve been a fan of Dave McKean ever since I got the first Fear
Factory CD. I’m a visual artist myself, so I often find myself
critiquing the works of other. I knew when I saw the original sketches
of the album that it would exceed our expectations. Hats off to Dave.
There’s a reason he’s legendary.
ME: Did you have much input on the artwork, or did McKean have free reign?
AL: I believe that he read most of the lyrics and listened to the
entire album while working on the layout. It’s pretty safe to say we
let him have free reign and encouraged him to go with the feelings our
music evoked during his brainstorming sessions.
ME: Your video for "The Price of Beauty" was banned by MTV. Can you tell us more about that?
AL: It was directed my Matt Bass an amazing
director/editor/photographer. The concept was basically a combination
of his ideas and our managers ideas. Collectively they both came up
with a video concept disturbing enough to get banned by MTV. Not
exactly the original plan, but it has worked in our favor in some ways.
ME: Any plans to cut more videos from the album?
AL: We recently shot another video for “Bludgeoned to Death” that hopefully can survive the censors.
ME: It might be a bit early, but any plans underway for the followup to
AL: "The Cleansing"? A few of us are working on new material. Once our
touring schedules calms down a bit, we plan to make sense of it all and
get things underway.
The Cleansing Will Be Released In Europe On February 18th Via Centruy Media Records
ME: As a band who has influenced you the most?
AL: The Deftones and Slipknot. Both bands are very different, but if
you see me play, you'll probably be able to recognize that they’ve both
influenced me heavily in my drumming style.
ME: You've said that to a certain extent your ok with people
downloading your album. Being that most bands publicly are very anti
filesharing, what's different for you?
AL: Like everyone else, we certainly don’t like the idea of spending a
bunch of money to make a record that every can acquire for free, but we
also believe that fans of our band are always going to support us in a
live setting as long as we continue to live up to our expectations and
keep things affordable, etc. As long as the fans that download continue
to buy other merchandise from us, we don’t really mind it that much.
ME: Apart from yourselves, who do you rate as the best upcoming band out there right now?
AL: MUSE. Best 3 piece band out right now.
ME: Can you give our readers any relevant band links please?
www.myspace.com/Antagonist
www.myspace.com/windsofplague
www.myspace.com/asbloodrunsblack
A big thank you to Alex for taking the time to talk with us.
You can catch Suicide Silence when they hit the UK in February, and then again in May.
The full dates are:
Suicide Silence on tour with Behemoth
03.02.2008 (UK) Birmingham - Barfly
04.02.2008 (UK) Glasgow - Barfly
05.02.2008 (UK) Sheffield - Corporation
06.02.2008 (UK) Portsmouth - Wedgewood Rooms
07.02.2008 (UK) London - ULU
Suicide Silence on tour with Parkway Drive, Bury Your Dead
01.05.2008 (UK) Newport – TJs
02.05.2008 (UK) Nottingham - Rock City
03.05.2008 (UK) Manchester - Academy 3
04.05.2008 (UK) Glasgow – Barfly
05.05.2008 (UK) Yeovil - The Orange Box
06.05.2008 (UK) Sheffield – Corporation
07.05.2008 (UK) London – Underworld
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