INTERVIEW: Scott Ian Lewis – Carnifex
The UK may be trapped in the icy grip of this so-called meteorological “beast from the east” right now, but the arrival of San Diego’s CARNIFEX looks certain to banish it to the fiery depths. Since returning from a brief hiatus back in 2010, the death metal monoliths have continued to push themselves creatively and went on to crush any and all expectations with the release of 2016’s Slow Death. We caught up with vocalist and band talisman Scott Ian Lewis prior to their blistering show in Birmingham to discuss die-hard fans, the rise of deathcore and the importance of record labels supporting artists when it comes to writing music.
Hi Scott. Welcome back to an arctic Birmingham! Distorted Sound is thrilled that you and the rest of the band haven’t frozen solid yet. It’s date number 5 of the Slow Death European tour. How has it been so far?
Scott: Thanks for having me! The weather’s not normally this cold right?! We’ve all been stood around that heater over there all day trying to keep warm! We played London at The Dome last night and there was a queue right around the block. I think it was probably the best headlining show that we’ve ever played there. It’s been crazy so far.
CARNIFEX are renowned for having a die-hard fan base. There are only 25 tickets remaining for tonight’s show so that’s a good example of the support you have here in the UK. Do you think a lot of that love is down to the strong DIY work ethic that you guys have?
Scott: Definitely. We always try to take the time to talk to people online – and when the fans do talk to us, they know that we’re not these untouchable rock stars. We just got lucky because we’ve got this incredible support behind us. At the end of the day, we’re no different to them – we’re just fans of metal too you know? We’re just kids that went to shows, started playing together and then other people liked it. It just all worked out! It’s not like some record label just put us together or anything like that – we’re just regular metal kids and I think the fans recognise that.
How do European fans compare to the ones at shows in the US? We’d like to think that we go harder here in the UK when it comes to shows of this calibre!
Scott: I’d say the UK crowds are pretty similar to those over in the US. There’s a few countries like Belgium and Switzerland where they’re more relaxed and not as aggressive and tend to just stand and watch. But if you’re coming to a show like this, you know what to expect – I think a tour package like this draws out the kids that want to come and get heavy and get in the pit and go crazy.
The support acts joining you for this tour run are OCEANO, AVERSIONS CROWN and DISENTOMB. That’s arguably a mix of some of the strongest deathcore and death metal acts on the scene right now. Can you tell us how such a potent line-up came together?
Scott: The OCEANO guys are friends of ours and we’d been wanting to tour with both AVERSIONS CROWN and DISENTOMB for a while now. I think it’s a good balance of bands from all around the world – having Australian bands and American bands playing in Europe. It’s cool that the metal community is so open and accepting – that it doesn’t matter where you’re from. I think it’s just a great bill with a little bit of a different sound from each band.
Back in 2010, the band went on a brief hiatus before coming back, signing with label behemoths Nuclear Blast and releasing Die Without Hope. Would you say that this moment was a turning point for you guys career wise?
Scott: It absolutely was. After taking the break, we were able to get off the road for the first time in seven years – it went a long way towards getting us where we are today. We also had a member change during that time. When we switched over to Nuclear Blast, it was such a different treatment. They really look after their artists – you can say “we’re going to write for this amount of time and then tour for this amount of time” – and they are totally supportive of that. They don’t rush you or pressure you by saying “we need an album right now” or any of that. Having that extra time and creative freedom to just do what we need to do to get a good record out and having their support – plus they trust us when it comes to the artists that we want to work with. It allows us to not only take more time with the record, it motivates us too. They’re cheering us on and want us to do well so you really put everything you can into it.
The band have always been known for having that hate-fuelled sonic onslaught at the core of past releases. On Slow Death, songs like Necrotoxic and Black Candles Burning still have that eviscerating bludgeon but there’s a definite leaning towards black metal with the inclusion of brooding atmospherics and haunting keys. Was that an intentional transition?
Scott: We are all self-taught musicians – nobody went to school for music and nobody had professional music lessons. None of us have degrees in it. If you really look at all the albums as they go on, we’re literally just getting better as a band. Learning how to write songs and just figuring stuff out. The studio is very different than playing live – and you only do a record every two or so years – so getting that level of comfort-ability in the studio really takes a while. I think when you put that together with the label really supporting us and giving us the time we need – all those things just came together. In my opinion, the last two records were the best we’ve ever done because of those reasons. We’ve reached the point where we can musically articulate what we hear in our heads. When you’re twenty and have never had a lesson and you’re just trying to play SLIPKNOT songs from the radio, it’s very different! The black metal influence has always been there, we’ve just gotten way better at doing it!
You’ve undoubtedly influenced a whole host of younger and upcoming bands who fall under the deathcore/death metal spectrum, but who are your main musical influences?
Scott: It varies to be honest. For Shawn it’s SLIPKNOT and BLEEDING THROUGH. For Jordan, it’s more like IN FLAMES and EMPEROR – a little more melodic. For me, it’s a lot of black metal and some of the more goth stuff – MARILYN MANSON was a huge influence on me – along with NINE INCH NAILS and ROB ZOMBIE. All that late 90’s stuff – I was 12 or 13 and it was around that time that I was watching MTV every single day. Those bands stay with you. I think that’s why we try to incorporate more of the electronics with NINE INCH NAILS always being one of my favourite bands.
Was there a specific album that made you think “Okay, that’s it – I need to become a musician”?
Scott: The Downward Spiral – NINE INCH NAILS. I still listen to it regularly now and love it. I remember hearing Pretty Hate Machine first, but then when Closer came out and I heard it in full – that double album. It just had everything you could possibly want in an album when you’re 14 and a fan of that band! I saw them about a year and a half ago on tour in the US – it was a two-hour plus set and it was just fantastic.
As a genre, deathcore is frequently maligned and looked down upon. It also tends to rile up certain factions – you see it a lot on social media. Have you guys experienced or been affected by this yourselves?
Scott: Back in 2005 when we first started it was like the MySpace heyday. So of course, we were just regarded as this shitty MySpace band! We get still trashed now though to be honest. I remember when Slow Death came out, Decibel gave us a 2/10. The thing that made me laugh was that they didn’t even talk about the record – they just talked about how horrible deathcore was. It was like, okay, I can see you obviously don’t know how to do an album review. The joke is on them – it’s the best-selling record we’ve ever put out and we’re bigger than we’ve ever been. Thanks for that 2! I guarantee we’ve sold more records than your magazine has sold copies.
Last year, Virgin Trains used CARNIFEX’s music in one of their TV advertisements. The online backlash from fans was considerable as people were under the impression that it was used without the band’s permission. Plus, the song was used in a negative fashion to portray “the nightmare journey”. What were your thoughts on that whole situation?
Scott: When you sign a record deal when you’re twenty and an idiot, you have no real idea of what you’re actually signing. And part of said deal was a publishing agreement. What that means in the music industry, is that they can do whatever they want to with your music. Cue companies that are already extremely rich who then make money out of our music and we get nothing. That’s the music industry. Fuck the artists and get the money. And that’s exactly what happened in this situation. They (Virgin) didn’t have any reason to talk to us – they paid the company that has the publishing rights and that was it. If they’d just contacted us to start with, we would have given them our new song, we could have promoted it and let the fans know. It would have been great exposure for us – it could have been cool. But the music industry is not about that – it’s “make the money and fuck the artists”.
Every few years, deathcore seems to come back harder, faster and stronger with a new wave of emerging acts. What are your thoughts on the scene right now?
Scott: Right now, I think it’s better than it’s ever been. We did a US tour with DESPISED ICON earlier in the year and it was honestly the best headline tour we’ve ever done. People want to laugh deathcore off like it’s a joke, but we’re putting up better numbers than a lot of bands out there. Keep laughing – it makes no difference to us!
What can we expect from the set tonight? Will you be playing a selection of songs from across the entire CARNIFEX discography?
Scott: I think we’re playing songs from every album. The only challenge we’ve got tonight is that it’s a little bit cramped site wise so we’ve had to scale back the production slightly. We’re still going to give the best show we can though and we’ll be playing for a full hour. It should be absolutely fantastic.
Have you had the chance to check out the support acts each night prior to your headlining set?
Scott: I watched DISENTOMB last night which was awesome, and I’ve seen OCEANO play a number of times prior to this tour. I haven’t had the chance to catch AVERSIONS CROWN yet, but the tour just started so I will do.
The Slow Death tour rolls on to Manchester tomorrow and then concludes in Hamburg on March 21st. What’s next for CARNIFEX?
Scott: We have eleven days off and then we have the Chaos And Carnage Tour in the States with OCEANO, WINDS OF PLAGUE, ARCHSPIRE, SPITE, BURIED ABOVE GROUND, SHADOW OF INTENT and WIDOWMAKER. It runs for five weeks. We’ve started writing new material too – we’re about five songs in and the plan is to be ready by summer next year. Festival wise, we’re doing Summer Breeze and Brutal Assault this summer then I think we’ll be playing some UK shows as well – these will probably be announced in the next month or two.
Like CARNIFEX on Facebook
