3 Inches of Blood – Cam Pipes, Shane Clark
Posted on November 09, 2009 at 12:00 am by Luke
Firsts are always embraced at WayTooLoud.com, and this happens to be the first time we’ve managed to talk to two different members of Vancouver’s epic metal outfit, 3 Inches of Blood, in two separate cities. For myself, I had a chance to talk with guitarist Shane Clark during their recent stop by Ottawa’s Mavericks’ Bar near the downtown area, then a few days later Rob was able to converse with vocalist Cam Pipes when they hit up London, Ontario’s Call The Office. So sit back and enjoy as we merge the two conversations together for your easy reading pleasure.
WayTooLoud!: You’ve mentioned UFO as a band that you love listening to, what is it that you love about UFO and how have they influenced you?
Shane Clark: I love UFO because, one big reason is Michael Schenker the guitar player, to me is like one of the greatest phrasing and musical soloist, just as a guitar player. UFO were known as a metal band, but back then really just hard rock and shit was really heavy, today it’s not really considered heavy in any way, but I just love how UFO rocks, they’re kind of that first wave of metal music. Just rad songs, same way you’d like AC-DC.
WTL!: Along the same line, what influence you into music?
Cam Pipes: I guess when I was fourteen or fifteen a buddy of mine had a guitar and I didn’t know anybody who had a guitar, it was an electric one and he would just start playing as I would listen to it! I’d listened to metal and what not for a long time, when I finally heard my buddy playing guitar I thought “we should start a band!”. That was what first made me think that I want to play in a band. I’d played piano but I hated that so I wanted to do something else.
Shane: Originally my father was a bluegrass musician, so I grew up with music around the house and I always enjoyed watching him and his buddies play guitar and stuff. Then I slowly discovered rock music through my sister, then a family friend introduced me to metal music, he was older, I was eleven, he was sixteen, he had an electric guitar, his name was Roger, he blew my mind ‘cuz he had a half-stack and a guitar and he was playing Van Halen, that was my biggest influence to start playing. Then it just snowballed from there, I learned how to play guitar from that guy, I just discovered music. Sorry if that’s a long winded-ass answer!
WTL!: No, not at all!
Shane: Music to me is like food, it’s something I learned from my dad, having a well-rounded diet of all kinds of music, you can inspire me from any genre! It’s art, you’re not supposed to have any rules to it!
WTL!: How is it that the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Power Metal shape you as a musician and the band as a whole?
Cam: From the beginning the band was pretty much like Iron Maiden worship, it just kind of progressed from there. We’ve been getting away from being blatantly influenced by Iron Maiden. The new wave of British heavy metal stuff is still very much a big influence!
WTL!: “Here Waits Thy Doom” recently came out, did you have any objectives in mind when writing and recording the album?
Cam: Not really, just kind of started writing; whatever sounded good we just worked on and arraigned. We didn’t have a particular concept that we went for, we just went in and wrote some songs!
Shane: It was a little more stream of consciousness writing, we didn’t really think about it too hard, one thing we didn’t want to do is repeat ourselves, offer something new, for our own sanity and also it’s redundant to produce the same, for us anyways. The same sounding shit all the time. It’s very much 3 Inches of Blood but we tried new things, it’s a very raw recording too, not very digitally enhanced.
WTL!: What brought about the move to a photograph instead of a comic like look for the album cover?
Cam: Just to try something different, we’d never done it before, we wanted to see if we could get a photographer to interpret the album title in their own way. We gave them a little bit of direction in the sense of what kind of photographed album covers influenced us; the first Black Sabbath album, stuff like that.
Shane: We’ve done a couple paintings on the last few records, now it’s like with the thrash resurge that’s happening, everyone’s got a stereotypical metal thing and we wanted to work with the artists that weren’t available, so instead of settling for something, we decided to do something way different. We really liked the vibe of the first Black Sabbath record, a really creepy photo, so we just looked at a bunch of photos and decided to create [the artwork] ourselves.
Cam: We couldn’t agree on artists as well so we decided to go to a photographer and see how it goes!
WTL!: Is there a story behind the artwork?
Shane: That kind of sums it up. It’s just a loose image that has an open end, an open ended image, it can have any explanation, people can think of their own. That was the intention.
WTL!: How’d you hook up with Jack Endino for production?
Cam: He did some demos on our last record, we had a few songs down and wanted to put them on demos. We worked well with him so we wanted to work with him again! We liked the “High on Fire” album that he did as well as the Toxic Holocaust album. He was close and we had a good working relationship with him already so we thought we’d try him again.
Shane: We hooked up with him a few years back, he engineered the demos we did for “Fire Up The Blades”, so we met him and saw how he worked so when the time came to do the new album… he’s not really into click tracks and sample drum sounds, kinda the same way Steve Albini or Billy Anderson would do it, just microphones on the band and getting really good performances! We liked that idea because the last album we did was sort of the opposite so we wanted to try something new.
WTL!: You guys have had a different producer for every record, how come you change so often?
Shane: I didn’t record the first, “Advance and Vanquish”, but they worked with a dude, it was really good, but for the second, when we worked with Joey [Jordison] it was just a good opportunity, we got to work with a guy who was really into the band. That’s sort of the vibe we’re going for, someone who understands what we’re doing. I can see us working with Jack again for another one, we really liked the way that turned out!
Cam: We like to mix stuff up so that’s the way it goes! I have reservations about repeating myself or us repeating ourselves so we just go and try something different.
WTL!: “Call of the Hammer” was the first track to be released from “Here Waits Thy Doom”, why’d you choose that song?
Cam: “Battles in Brotherhood” is kind of the one they pushed first. I guess online though “Call of the Hammer” was first. No particular reason, our label suggested it.
Shane: We wanted to sort of throw people a little bit ‘cuz that song in particular is a blazer, it doesn’t have some of Cam’s signature high screams in it. We wanted to give the fans a taste of some of the ass-kicking elements of the album and maybe carry us to the traditional 3 Inches of Blood type songs from the album.
WTL!: Make them want more!
Shane: Yeah! Get some curiosity going, and we enjoy that song too!
Cam: The [label] asked us “what do you want to do a video for?”, they wanted to put a song on a sampler in Europe for festivals and what not. They came up to us and said “we like these three, what do you guys think?”. We liked the idea of doing a video for “Battles in Brotherhood” and using “Call of the Hammer” for the sampler. They just put “Call of the Hammer” out on the internet first for that reason.
WTL!: Do you have a personal favorite track on the album, something that you enjoy more than the others?
Shane: I look at the album as a whole, but I did an acoustic piece on the album that leads into the last song, just something that I’m really finally happy to get recorded ‘cuz I’ve had that idea since I was a teenager! I love playing acoustic guitar and I’d always write stuff all the time, and that one I just had forever, so that’s like the thirty-three year old version of that song, it was a fun thing to do!
Cam: Not yet, I don’t really have a personal favorite on any record. Some songs I like playing live more then others! On the new one no track has really stood out as a live favorite yet, that will take some time!
WTL!: Does that come from seeing how people in the crowd react to the songs?
Cam: A little bit! Usually it’s a mix of how the crowd responds and how much I actually enjoy playing it live! It’s usually songs that we don’t necessarily play live every night that become favorites. I’m sure it happens with a lot of bands where they play a song every night and get sick of playing it every night!
WTL!: How has the writing process changed throughout the years?
Shane: Definitely the biggest thing that’s happened was the first lineup of the band changed in 2004 and the primary songwriter left. When Justin [Hagberg - guitar] and I joined we kind of took over the writing, so between “Advance and Vanquish” and “Fire up the Blades” I think you can really hear a difference in the riffing and just the aggression on the albums.
Cam: It’s usually been guitar players writing the riffs, then I go in and write a bulk of the lyrics. We all kind of arrange stuff and fuck around with it a little bit.
Shane: The songwriting has gone into more experimenting with other vibes, the same galloping Iron Maiden type beat the band was really known for on the first couple albums. That’s about how it went.
WTL!: Does everyone pitch in with lyrics?
Shane: No, Cam does that. Actually you know Justin did contribute a little bit, he does a few vocals on the new album and I think he had a hand at writing the new album! Cam takes care of the themes and the lyrical content.
WTL!: Do you write songs with the live aspect in mind?
Shane: Yup, for sure!
Cam: You kind of have to, I guess. On this record we kind of kept that more in mind because we wanted to sound like we could pull that kind of thing off! With some of our previous records there were triggered drums and that kind of thing going on. We don’t do that live so this one is a little bit more realistic in terms of translating to a live show.
WTL!: Is there a specific theme for “Here Waits Thy Doom”?
Shane: It opens with “Battles of Brotherhood” so that’s kinda the vibe for the record, but Cam does stray from the Viking type, pirate stuff. Cam is all over the place though, he’s got songs about the apocalypse, all kinds of stuff going on, but mainly Nordic mythology type, mightiness… that’s a good question for Cam!
WTL!: What’s everybody’s role beyond their instruments?
Shane: Oh, that’s a good question!
Cam: We all contribute as much as we can in regards to who is driving to the next show.
Shane: Everyone definitely has their strong points, I’m not good with money, just with numbers, that’s not my thing, I hated math when I was in school so I leave that to the guys who are more… Cam is really good with that. I load the trailer, I like doin’ it! Justin doesn’t drive, I’m one of the main drivers, Cam’s a main driver, Steve, our touring bass player, and whoever’s tour managing us drives, but everyone has their own strengths. My strength is being a control freak, that’s why I load the trailer ‘cuz my pack is the best! (Laughs) Everyone has strong personalities. I’ll say control freak for me!
(Laughs)
Cam: We all load gear, most of us drive, we are all responsible for different things. Some guys fart more then others in the van. (Laughs) We make sure that nobody slacks off.
WTL!: I hear you guys have three unreleased covers, why’d you choose the songs you did cover, and what are your plans for these tracks?
Shane: We didn’t want to do a reclusest metal cover, an obvious one like a [Judas] Priest song, which would be awesome to play, but we wanted to do something a little deeper, introduce some taste. Blue Oyster Cult‘s “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” is an awesome song, Justin would always play it in sound checks so we just decided to do that; BTO, a Canadian band, we wanted to do one of their heavier songs that Fred Turner sings, “Fragile”, really cool; then we did a Zeke song, Zeke’s a Seattle punk band, they fuckin’ rule! We got to be friends with them from over the years, done lots of shows, so that’s us paying tribute to Zeke and one of the things I was shootin’ for was doing a song that doesn’t have a solo in it because Marky’s one of my favorite guitar players of all time and his solos are so badass that I didn’t want to pretend that I could do that! So that’s our Zeke cover.
(Laughs)
Cam: The Zeke song is something we let our fan club have exclusively, maybe somewhere down the road we will do something with it, for now we are letting our fan club members have it.
Shane: The BOC song is on our vinyl, then the BTO song is released on our digipak in the UK, and we haven’t done anything with the Zeke song yet.
WTL!: No plans yet?
Shane: Hopefully, man if there was ever a Zeke tribute record, that’d be fuckin’ awesome! But maybe if we had a chance to put it on something like a DVD or a soundtrack, that’d be cool!
WTL!: What lead to you choosing those songs specifically?
Cam: Justin used to play the BOC song during sound check, the first couple riffs usually, we just kind of learned it and thought it would be a good song. Shane suggested the BTO because it was more of a heavy song for them. They’re usually a more radio friendly kind of rock band. That song though was a bit heavier so we tried it out. The Zeke song is just something we have always liked, we also know Zeke and like them, they’re good friends of ours! It was a pretty simple song to learn, it was a last minute thing in the studio that we just kind of banged out!
WTL!: It might be too early to ask but what’s next on the agenda for 3 Inches of Blood?
Shane: We’re gonna tour out asses off on this record! We got this Canadian tour finishing up, then we’re gonna do a US run on our own in November, December, then we’re going to Europe in January. Hopefully we just keep busy after that, tour for a year and a half or so, then do another record.
WTL!: Some bands like to write even right after they finished a record, have you guys started writing already?
Shane: We’re not that proficient, just ‘cuz touring for us, it’s like impossible to write, but Justin and I both have ideas so we could throw together some stuff, but we just leave that to when we’re back home, just a little more focused. Touring, the travel, the partying instead of sitting down and writing, that gets in the way.
WTL!; Priorities!
Shane: Yeah!
WTL!: How’d you guys hook up with Century Media Records?
Cam: They kind of came to us.
Shane: After we parted ways we were free agents for a year, met with a few labels and Century Media was certainly the most enthusiastic about the band, that’s what we were really drawn too. They seemed to understand what we were up to, so the vibe with them, they’re still a full blown metal label, they have a really great presence in Europe which we haven’t experienced, and we like the people who work there, they’re good at what they do and it’s a really good business, on that end.
Cam: After we left Roadrunner we didn’t tell anybody, it wasn’t common knowledge. They heard about it and came calling and pursued us quite actively. We kind of liked how enthusiastic they were and how they said they can do more for us then our previous label could!
WTL!: How has the atmosphere changed now that you’re with Century Media?
Cam: It’s a lot more focused. They’re a smaller label but they have a lot less on their plates! It lets them pay attention to us a little bit better.
Shane: We’ve always wanted someone who works as hard as we do, so the vibe is we feel way more at home, so far, now that we got this label. It’s a positive step.
WTL!: Let’s talk about your hometown scene back in Vancouver, B.C., how has that scene helped you personally and the band?
Shane: I certainly wouldn’t have gotten the 3 Inches gig without my old bands playing throughout the years in Vancouver.
Cam: [The scene’s] pretty good, the metal scene in Vancouver wasn’t too excepting of us in the beginning! They kind of saw us as outsiders and joke metal because we would play any show we could get. Some bands stuck to their comfort zone of only playing in a certain bar with the same four or five bands, we kind of branched out and played with whoever we could just so we could get out there and play! We got fans from different scenes so I think they might have been a little bit weary or our intentions, they might not have thought that we were a real metal band! As things progressed though they became more accepting of it. I think it’s still a pretty healthy scene overall. There are some good bands and some not so good bands.
Shane: I really liked, and still do, the Vancouver metal scene, there’s always something going on, just lots of different styles of bands. I played in metal bands, one was called Punch Drunk, from Vancouver, one was called Humor Assistance Program. I really learned a lot about being in a band, how to be in a band and what not to do, and that lead to me meeting the 3 Inches dudes. There’s just some great bands! I can mention some bands from Vancouver… Bison’s one, they’re on Metal Blade [Records], there’s an awesome doom band called Hagatha, then there’s a band called Tyrants Blood, a war-metal kind of band, but there’s lots of good rock bands too, but there’s always been a cool metal scene in Vancouver.
WTL!: The bands I’ve talked to from the west coast have always said there’s a good indie, punk, metal, you-name-it scene out there!
Shane: You probably know SideSixtySeven, those dudes, they haven’t played too much, but there’s some great punk bands! The Rebel Spell, you ever hear of them? They tour quite a bit and are worth checking out too!
WTL!: How do you respond to people who refer to you as a joke/parody band?
Cam: I don’t know why they do that! Some people still do and I could see the reasons why back in the beginning. We didn’t really have the long hair and what not, today we still get it. I think some people still latch on to it because we had that kind of tag for a while, some people think it’s a not so serious thing!
WTL!: Have your friends and family been supportive of you being in a band?
Cam: Yeah, pretty much. I think my parents are more supportive now because we have been able to get a bit successful with it! They’re a little more forgiving of what I do, they don’t see it as a hobby anymore.
WTL!: It’s well documented that as a band you are very much about bringing the greatness of heavy metal to the forefront in a way that not many modern bands are willing to do. How much of this is a tribute to the bands that you grew up on?
Cam: Yeah, we wear our influences on our sleeves! This is just our way of showing what we’re into and the kind of music that we like. It’s a tribute to our influences!
Shane: It’s a huge tribute because if we were to say that we were doing something totally original, that we thought of it, we’re taking what we really loved and made us excited about music as kids and carrying on that tradition! The imagery is a lot like Dio, I remember Dio being the first metal… Dio really painted fantasy type scenarios. Iron Maiden, it’s almost like having a history lesson with those guys! It’s a tribute to just the mightiness of fantasy metal, the escapism, like a movie or a book, the lyrical content is like an escapist. We like that vibe for sure!
WTL!: What’s accounted for all the line-up changes throughout the years?
Cam: People getting tired of touring, it’s a hard life to live, they want to be at home more. In one case the guy got himself fired! For the most part they just don’t want to do it anymore.
Shane: It generally comes down to touring, I think. There’s been a couple incidents with personalities, people not getting along, but if you don’t like the road and you don’t like the people you’re touring with, you’re just gonna bow out at some point. Granted we’ve had people leave ‘cuz they didn’t like touring and they had a life at home, which is understandable ‘cuz touring you don’t really have a chance to keep up with relationships, close friends.
WTL!: It definitely takes commitment.
Shane: Yeah, man, they’re like tattoos, they’re not for everybody! Shit happens, it’s kinda like running a store, if someone’s not working out, you part ways. It all comes down to touring, we tour a lot. One guy quit, we moved on and then he wanted back and we were like “No”, and there was a weird thing with that, usually there’s not a lot of drama.
WTL!: What is the story behind the one member getting fired from the band?
Cam: He got drunk and we assume he did a bunch of unnamed substances that lead to him being blackout drunk and assaulting somebody. He got dealt with by security guards, somehow kicked off the festival grounds that we were on, somehow got back in and broke his elbow somewhere along the way! Gross unprofessionalism, other things had built up and this was the last straw!
WTL!: I know Jamie Hooper left about two years ago, but does it feel a little weird having no original member as part of the band?
Shane: Not really for me ‘cuz I joined after the band had been around after a long time, and really when Cam wasn’t in the band it was still kind of a garage band, so to me Cam is the sound of the band, so as long as he’s here I don’t feel uncomfortable, I don’t think we could be a band if he wasn’t the singer. As far as Jamie not being there, Justin handles his parts, Jamie was a very strong and big part of the band, so I could see it being weird for the fans more then for us.
Cam: We’ve gone through a lot of line up changes so it doesn’t really feel that weird anymore. It doesn’t faze me now that we have a solid core, the people who are doing this are in it for the same reasons.
Shane: A good example is Napalm Death, they don’t have any original members, so I look at them, okay, that sort of keeps it in perspective, if you want to keep a band going, then keep it going!
WTL!: Isn’t Napalm Death in their third generation now?
Shane: There’s one guy, Shane Embury, he joined on the second record and has been there the whole time. Deep Purple is another one, I remember in the ‘70’s, not like I remember the ‘70’s… I remember Deep Purple with Mark I, II, III, IV, different singers, that’s another one that puts it in perspective.
WTL!: Were there any challenges that came up in not recording for the first time without Jamie?
Cam: I approached it the same as last time. I did my vocals first and then Justin came in and did his vocals, he didn’t have as many but it was the same type of thing. I maybe had to write a little more but it was a little easier for me to arrange songs vocally.
WTL!: What lead to Justin taking over Jamie’s role?
Cam: When Jamie’s voice problem developed initially he kind of volunteered to do it live. We didn’t want to get somebody else to try to imitate Jamie’s vocals because I know that there is no way we can! His voice is pretty unique, he had done it before.
WTL!: How did you come across Ash Pearson to play drums?
Cam: He’s friends of people that we know back home, in our mutual circle of friends! We heard that he was available so we called him up, we had tried to get him before just to fill in for a tour but he wasn’t available, when we were actually looking for somebody more permanent he was available so we tried him out.
WTL!: What does Ash bring to the band?
Cam: Dedication to his instrument, that’s a big thing! It seems like he’s always practicing, hitting his practice pads and such, he’s very consistent, rarely fucks up on stage! He’s very technically innovative and he’s only going to get better. He’s still in his 20’s, he has a lot he can still do!
WTL!: It was tragic hearing about the death of Brian Hedman, what will you miss most about him?
Shane: He was just my friend, I miss him, ‘cuz he was a big part of my life for a couple years, we grew to be really close. I’ll just straight up miss my friend. Everyone’s got a Brian story because his personality was very large, sometimes he was a very imposing presence. I just miss the good times and the funny moments with Brian. At this point I celebrate his life with memory, I got to live some of those years with him, he died at a young age and he died getting to do more shit than some people sitting at old folks homes. He lived a big life and touched a lot of people, he will be missed. We had a little bit of a falling out, actually, then we got to hang out a bunch of times and score away a bunch of shit. Lucky for me we had a great hang out in Chicago not that long ago!
Cam: How fun he was to be around! He was like a 24 hour party! He could piss you off at times, he could be a stubborn guy but he always knew how to have fun and put things in perspective. If we were having one of those tough times on tour he would have insight that would make you look at things differently. Generally he was just a fun guy to be around!
WTL!: Do you or anyone else in the band have any other projects on the go, like jobs back home or other bands?
Shane: Not really ‘cuz we’re so busy. We don’t have regular jobs, but I’ll work this coffee shop usually in December, before Christmas, Christmas pickup, I’ll bag coffee beans, it’s a roaster, a great smelling job! (Laughs) I’ll maybe work for a couple weeks around Christmas if I’m around, but as far as music stuff goes, I put a little project together this summer, just for fun, I play guitar and bass on the recording and Matt Wood, our old drummer, who played for Pride Tiger, he plays drums and Justin sings on it. It’s more really dirty punk, like Disfear, Coliseum type stuff mixed with doom, doomy Neurosis stuff, the name of it is Storm Beard and it’ll probably never do anything, we’ll probably never play a show, maybe one show just for fun, see what happens!
WTL!: What have you been listening to lately?
Shane: Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Tom Waits, I’ve been discovering a lot of his albums ‘cuz he’s got this huge body of work, I’m still hearing stuff for the first time! I’ve been listening to this one PJ Harvey record, there’s this song called “Down By The Water”, great song! Big Business, like that band a lot, I like the Melvins, but Big Business has some cool records. Waylon Jennings, Jerry Reid, country stuff, Michael Hedges, a guitar player. I play metal everyday so I like to keep things fresh by not really listening to metal, there’s so much other music that I enjoy. I mean I definitely listen to Motörhead quite a few times a week! You just have to!
WTL!: What do you like about Soilent Green ‘cuz you’ve been spotted wearing their shirt?
Shane: Oh, man! I just like how Soilent Green doesn’t sound like anyone else! I think Ben [Falgoust] is an amazing vocalist, and you can just tell those guys have been playing together for so long ‘cuz the ideas they come up with are just like no one else! They’re just one of those bands that’ll tear your face off!
WTL!: What bands would you like to tour with again that you have already toured with?
Cam: Most of them! We have toured with a lot of bands that we have gotten along really well with! Behemoth is one that really stands out, we shared a bus with them one year on Ozzfest. It’s kind of rare to be in such close proximity to another band that we’re on tour with, we’re usually in a van but this time we were on a bus! We got to know those guys really well. Black Dahlia Murder is another band that we have toured with a bunch before and we’re touring with them again next year! It was fun with those guys. They’re bros going way back, this will be our third tour with them, we are going to Europe with them in January.
WTL!: Who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible and not obvious?
Shane: Motörhead, we’ve done some shows with Motörhead but I’d love to do a tour with them, just ‘cuz they’re one of my favorite bands, I think our stuff would translate to older Motörhead fans, possibly. I think that’s feasible, hopefully. I’d always liked to tour with Entombed as well, one of my favorite metal bands.
Cam: Voivod maybe! They’re a band we all like that’s still going. Voivod, Mastodon, bands like that which are good and can see it probably happening one day.
WTL!: Okay, how about the same question but minus the feasibility, you can pick any band from any era! Create your own festival is you want!
Cam: That’s really hard! There are so many bands that we all like. It’s too predictable to say Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, that’s a no-brainer, Motörhead, things like that. The legends that inspired us as we grew up! There are lots of bands out there that are still going, maybe we’ll tour with them someday, who knows!
Shane: Okay, I got one for ya! Thin Lizzy, “Alive and Dangerous” era; Rainbow, Rainbow would headline the thing, I think, we’d open; Arise; Sepultura, this would be a festival… (Laughs) Frank Zappa would play, we’ll throw Tom Waits in there, and The Who from 1970; AC-DC from ’78, when “Power Age” came out; Motörhead, I’m on a Motörhead kick today, and I’d get David Cross to be the MC, that’d be cool!
WTL!: Where in the world would you like to tour?
Cam: Everywhere! We’ve done the US and Canada as well as Europe, anywhere else really that we could play we’re down for!
Shane: Japan and Australia, we’ve heard really cool things about those places, and we have a few fans, at least two or three, but it’d be really cool to go to those places! New Zealand. South America.
WTL!: Most bands always get asked about their band name, so instead I’m going to ask if you have any good lies about your name and what it means?
Shane: Tons!
Cam: I lie about it every time! I try to come up with a different story every time because the original story is kind of boring!
Shane: I never answer the right way! I always make up a story, on this touring cycle so far the answer has been… they ask “where’d you get the name?”, and I say we have this buddy a long time ago who slammed his fingers in a drawer and logged off a couple tips of his fingers, and in the drawer was three inches of blood! Then they’re like “whoa, that’s totally metal!”.
(Laughs)
Then I made up another one: in the Canadian frontier days when they were heading west… I made up some sort of camp they put the prisoners in, and they had this sweat box they put the prisoners in, but there was also… kind of like an Iron Maiden thing… spikes on the doors… I was going all out, really elaborate! Spikes on the door and the doors will reopen once there’s three inches of blood at the bottom of the box. Justin has a good short story where he got bitten by a shark. There’s a lot out there! Sometimes I’ll just think of something stupid off the top of my head.
Official music video for “The Goatriders Horde“, from 2007’s “Fire Up The Blades”
WTL!: Is it that three inches of water being the minimum amount of water to drown in?
Cam: We have thrown that out there in regards to the minimum amount of liquid to drown. Jamie used to say that in interviews all the time! Another one we’ve done is I was on a snorkeling trip in Hawaii, I had a shell fish knife that had a three-inch blade, I got attacked by a reef shark and I stabbed it in the eye and when I pulled out the blade all three inches was covered in blood!
WTL!: I always enjoy those answers ‘cuz I know that question gets old fast!
Shane: Yeah! Sometimes… the odd time we’ll say the true story, but it’s a boring story.
WTL!: Have you ever lied about the band name itself at the border or at a restaurant at any point?
Cam: Rarely do border guards even ask us our name, usually we’ll tell them our band name and they will kind of chuckle. Say stuff like “are you kind of a Christian band or something like that?”, so we’ll agree or say something like “we’re a jazz fusion band”. (Laughs) It’s a good ice breaker. If you’re at ease they will usually lighten up and not search your shit! We aren’t shy about telling people who we are, makes border crossings a lot easier!
WTL!: Do you have any other hobbies outside of music?
Shane: Yeah, I like to make art, just for fun, me and my girlfriend, she’s the amazing artist. I like to paint and draw and I also like to scalp stuff out of iron, tire wire. I made this one thing out of… a long time ago I smashed up this guitar made out of plywood, it split in half so I sort of made a coat of arms with broken guitar shavings and carburetor parts. That’s the kind of stuff I like to do. I’ve always wanted to learn how to be a blast blower, when you see it on TV it’s like man I wanna learn how to do that! Other than that, my girlfriend and I have a truck that we like to work on, a muscle truck, I like cars and stuff, I’m not a full-blown gear head but I like old V8’s, older powerful, quarter-mile cars. I always liked the GTX, just a massive car with a massive engine.
WTL!: That’s everything, thanks a lot!
Shane: Thanks for the interview man!
Cam: Thanks!
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