Skeletonwitch – Evan Linger
Posted on October 14, 2009 at 6:44 pm by admin
We’ve had Skeletonwitch on the site a few times, and they certainly taught some people a few things about life on the road the last time we talked! This time I got to talk to their newest member, bass player Evan Linger about the bands new album, “Breathing the Fire”!
Way Too Loud!: What was the writing process like for “Breathing the Fire”?
Evan Linger: Nate, our big red-haired guitar player writes about 95% of the stuff, and he does a lot of the pre-production on a 4-track, so he writes it on there with a drum machine so he can get an outline of the drumming. Then he sends it out to everybody and they add the elements that they want. He’s the cook, but we throw in some extra ingredients. I kind of had full reign as long as I didn’t suck too bad to write the basslines that I wanted, and Scott to throw in solos, and “Mullet Chad” (drummer Derrick Nau) to throw in drum fills, and Chance sets the mood and does what he wants in terms of lyrics. That’s what it was from when the first song was written until the end, with Nate being the mastermind and other people throwing in things like runs or tails to parts and solos here and there.
WTL: How did the title come about? Does the fire theme go hand-in-hand with the cold theme from “Beyond the Permafrost”?
Evan: I think it does! We’ve actually had a lot of conversations in the van about it when we were trying to decide on a title. I wouldn’t say that as a strict thing, I don’t think the next album is going to be “Crushing the Rocks” (Laughs), or anything like that. I would say it goes hand-in-hand a little bit in that I think the new record is a bit more aggressive as far as material and song writing. I think that “Breathing the Fire” – the fire that was below that ice is now coming to fruition and melting faces so to speak.
WTL: Did the large amount of touring Skeletonwitch did have an effect on the album?
Evan: I’ve been touring with the band for almost a year now. They’ve done a 2-year album cycle and I’ve done half that. I think so though. As far as song writing goes we toured with different bands that have different sounds, and I think that Skeletonwitch itself culminates a lot of different sounds, and while everybody is into their own thing we generally like the same things. Everything that’s been done between the albums definitely forged what the new album is.
WTL: Can you put into words how you think “Breathing the Fire” sounds? So many bands say their newest album is always the heaviest, fastest thing they’ve ever done.
Evan: I’d say first and foremost it’s still Skeletonwitch. You’re not going to put it on and say “What the hell is this?” It still has the same general feeling as any Skeletonwitch song beforehand. Most bands say their new album is the most aggressive and most brutal album they’ve ever done, but I think if I could separate myself from the band for a moment, because I am kind of a newer member, it is more aggressive as far as lyrical content goes, and there’s not as many “pretty” spots on the record, but when there are, they’re real “diamonds in the rough” so to speak. There’s more aggressive parts and the prettier parts got prettier even though there’s fewer of them. I guess people are going to have to listen to it and figure that out! Every time I listen to it I have a different opinion on little bits in songs every time it’s on the record player after recording it.
It might be cliche to say, but “Breathing the Fire” is more aggressive than “Beyond the Permafrost”, but it’s still Skeletonwitch!
WTL: What was it like working with Jack Endino?
Evan: He was amazing! He was very hands on. He doesn’t have any cronies or anything to switch things for him and he’s always in the studio. He works his fucking ass off! We’d work 12 hour days usually. We’d start at noon and go to midnight, and so would he, or we’d start at 2:00 in the afternoon and he’d go until 2:00 in the morning.
He’d say “Do you guys wanna try this?” and we’d say “No. It sounds good the way it is.”, and he’d say “Ok, that’s my opinion. You can do whatever you want.”, but he made everything real easy and pleasant and he was fun. I think everybody had a good time with it, and he did his job really well. He has a lot of expertise in recording bands. I think it turned out really well.
WTL: The studio, the producer and recording location all have a connection to grunge. Did that have any effect on the album at all?
Evan: I don’t know so much about the area because we didn’t go there and say “We’re going to record a grunge album” or anything like that. I think it has more to do with Jack Endino a little bit. He’s not looking for a super-slick production, I think I read somewhere that he started doing $5-an-hour recordings in the 80’s in Seattle, and he was at the forefront of the grunge movement recording bands. I think that he may have affected the sound on the record where its more raw, and you’re not going to hear drums that sound like a drum machine or slick fancy guitars. It was just drums the way they were played and amps and hair and beer, and that’s the way it turned out! Maybe it was a little grunge-ey, although its not a “grunge” record per se. Obviously!
WTL: Who did the album art?
Evan: Andrei Bouzikov. He’s done art for Municipal Waste and Cannabis Corpse. I think he’s also done a bunch of punk flyers. The same way we liked recording our album, he has an organic sort of thing. He doesn’t Photoshop, he actually does paintings. He was real fast in getting it done, and he was also really responsive. If he gave us something and we asked him to change it a little bit, he would change it a little bit. He was great! I think everybody in the band is really stoked on how the cover art turned out.
WTL: Do you know much about the lyrical content, since you said it was more aggressive?
Evan: I guess it seems that way because I’m going by the feeling of songs. I don’t really want to speak for anyone, but I think it does sound a bit more “evil”.
WTL: Do you receive a lot of support from friends and family?
Evan: Yeah, quite a bit! Everybody has friends and family, and even girlfriends and stuff that are really supportive, and it allows us to do this and live a lifestyle like this. I know everyone has someone at home, whether its a group of friends or parents or a roommate, and without them we’d have to find other places to live. Some of us also have jobs that kind of let us come and go, and everyone has friends. Most of the band is from Athens, Ohio. That’s where Scott and Nate met going to college, and the friends from the local scene there are really supportive of the band?
WTL: Do you have a day job right now?
Evan: Yeah, I work for a non-profit environmental group…
WTL: How do your parents feel about the music you play?
Evan: First off I have to say that Nates parents are super-supportive! We actually practice in Nates basement, and his mom has cooked a million meals and listened to a million Skeletonwitch songs get played, so she’s been really supportive.
Me personally, my parents are supportive. Shit, my mom payed for guitar lessons when I was just some dumb 12-year-old kid trying to play some dumb songs. She’s been supportive and bought me my first guitar. She doesn’t think I’m too much of a dirtbag for sleeping in a van, getting drunk and playing heavy metal. I think everybody in the band has parents who are really supportive.
WTL: Is it hard to maintain certain relationships and certain friendships?
Evan: We are gone a lot and we tour a lot. I’d say if you have true friends they’re not going to shit on you just because you’re gone all the time. I guess I haven’t had any personal experiences. I’ve never had any friends that’ve said “You’re a fucking asshole because you’re gone all the time!” Everyone has good friends and so do I, and they understand that I need to be gone sometimes.
WTL: What roles would you say the band members play beyond their instruments?
Evan: Members of Skeletonwitch definitely have defined roles when it comes to the band. Nate [Garnette, guitars] drives almost every single mile, so he’s the fucking workhorse behind that thing. “Mullet Chad” [drummer Derrick Nau] does a lot of the artwork for the t-shirts. Chance [Garnette, vocals] deals with the merch. Scotty is definitely “Magnum PR” as well call him, since he’s Mr. PR on the phone all the time, and he basically doubles as a tour manager on the road. If We all in need of some beer and we’re all afraid to talk to some tour manager from a huge band we’re playing with, Scott will definitely man and go ask for beer.
WTL: Since Nate and Chance wear spiked gauntlets, does anyone throw on anything else as part of their battle dress?
Evan: To answer this more generally, I think that Skeletonwitch is not about making a statement about anything particular, it’s about having a fucking good time and putting on a show. I think that fog machines, long hair, skulls, spikes its all part of a real good heavy metal time. It all just fits into us trying to have a good time when people pay money and come to our shows.
WTL: How did you feel about Rob Flynn from Machine Head saying that he really dug “Beyond the Permafrost”?
Evan: That’s definitely awesome to know that someone of that caliber and in bands that were influential in thrash said something that awesome. It’s always great to hear that someone liked it, like when we did that “Blackest of the Black” tour with Danzig, I guess Glenn Danzig hand-picks bands to play that tour, so it’s not just booking say “this band will be good for the tour”, or “this band will help draw for the tour”, but he actually facilitates what bands will be on it. It’s a cool thing when you put in work, sleep n a van and play a bunch of shows and stuff like that, it feels good when someone you think is a huge rock star at one point, someone who you thought was larger than fucking life, and they say something about your band. It’s awesome!
WTL: Are you good friends with Moonspell?
Evan: Yeah, when we were on the “Blackest of the Black” tour with Danzig, and those dudes are awesome! I don’t know how much contact has remained anymore besides saying goofy shit to them on the internet. We drank a ton of beers with them and made a bunch of jokes.
WTL: What’s it like touring with The Black Dahlia Murder?
Evan: It’s awesome because they’re awesome dudes! I think this is the 6th or 7th show and they’ve been really fun to hang out and party with and we like to hang out and party, and that’s the extent of it so far.
WTL: So this is your first time touring with them?
Evan: Yea. Skeletonwitch has played with them in the past, but this is the first tour we’ve done with them. When we’re done with Children of Bodom we’re going to go out with The Black Dahlia Murder for another month with Toxic Holocaust and Trap Them, which are all bands that we’ve toured with in the past.
WTL: What’s it like being on the road with Children of Bodom? Are they a little bit like a dream band?
WTL: Where in the world would you like to tour?
Evan: As far as placed I’d just like to go, I think if we toured Japan that’d be great to play some heavy metal shows. We’re going to announce some European dates soon with Goatwhore and Toxic Holocaust. The band did a European tour before I was in the band, so to be able to see Europe, Japan and maybe even Australia and New Zealand. Children of Bodom is actually playing Hawaii on this tour, and that would be awesome! There’s definitely a lot of places I’d like to go.
WTL: Who would you like to tour with if you had no rules?
Evan: I’d say the top band as far as bands that are still around that still plays and that we have a cotton hairs chance of touring with would be Immortal. I would absolutely love to tour with Immortal because I’m a huge fan. That my number one!
WTL: Who would you like to tour with who you think is both feasible, but not obvious?
Evan: The Black Dahlia Murder just did that Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour, and that had a bunch of bands on it that were in a different realm of heavy metal with bigger bands like Marilyn Mason and Slayer that you normally wouldn’t think of Skeletonwitch touring with, but it would be amazing to do a tour of that size with bands like that due to the fact that you can play to kids that are maybe into heavy music, but haven’t been exposed to bands like us.
WTL: Have you ever lied about your band name or what it means?
Evan: Lied about my band name?!
WTL: Yeah, bands get asked about that way too often. Scott and Nate have got some stories about doing that…
Evan: I don’t think it means anything other than rock ‘n roll good times, Skeletonwitch! Evil shit!
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