Page 39 - Black Velvet Issue 91

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ext year marks the 20-year anniversary of SOiL. The band originally formed in 1997 in Chicago.
NSince then, SOiL have released six studio albums - although not all with frontman Ryan Mc-
Combs, as he departed the band in 2004, only to return in 2011. But since Ryan’s return the band are
sounding better than ever. So, while on their recent UK headline tour, we sat down with Ryan and chat-
ted about the band’s journey, his own healing, being brave and being here, there and everywhere.

ourneys for lots of bands have their mo- blowing up on me. I did everything I was sup- the band, I have just given them lyrics that were
Jments of hardship and also happiness. posed to for a while, I knocked off the drinking essentially what was going on in my head at the
Ryan McCombs tells us where SOiL see their and smoking, and after about six months of time. Every song that way becomes something
journey at the moment, as a band who have being a good boy and creeping around, I started personal, not like a particular subject that hap-
been in the industry for almost two decades. “I doing a few things I’m not supposed to do, but pens outside my head.”
don't know if it gets any easier, because we’re not at a stupid rate. The medications are work- Ryan suggests sometimes there can be too
all older, trying to do a younger man’s game. It ing and I’ve not had any issues.” much realness in his lyrics, but at the same time
gets easier in the aspect that we don’t worry He adds, “I mean, if I get tired, by the end of it’s good to be truthful. “I always try to write lyrics
about a lot of the stuff we used to worry about. the night or show, my right side goes a little lazy, in a vague enough manner so that people will
The stuff that used to drive us nuts, doesn't any- I have a bit of a hitch in my step and I can hear understand where I’m coming from. I used to
more, most of it you can’t do anything about it, my words slur a bit, but most people don't notice love Alice in Chains, they were the first band that
so don't worry about it. Some of the shit is going that much and by the time we play our bigger was ‘my band’. I grew up listening to stuff that
to be shit no matter what you do, so you just tracks, the crowd do most of the singing for me!” my dad and brother did, but Alice In Chains was
have to let it be,” he says seriously, and then Ryan has never-ending gratitude towards the first band I got into myself. Really, when I
jokes afterwards, “In that aspect it’s easier, but his girlfriend who got him through his hospital look at it, I loved it because every song I felt I
the fact that we’re a bunch of old men trying to stay and recovery at the time. “My girlfriend at could relate to.” he reminisces and says, “I
act like kids, that doesn't get easier at all!” the time, she was with me every step of the way. mean, the songs could have been about an
Every band has issues at times; he points She was the first one at the hospital, the first one empty Coke can laying on a shelf somewhere,
out that there are certainly different ways that to holler at me when it was bedtime, when it was but the way they were written was vague
people deal with it, having experienced being in time to take my meds, and keep me sane. She enough at times that everybody could relate at
different bands. “I think the best thing you can was definitely a good nurse throughout that some point in their life. Like as a kid, whether I
do is have your moment. You know if you have whole time.” Ryan says that he’s on the mend was upset about a bad bus ride home, a shit day
an issue with something, or somebody, some- and quite happy to be where he is now, adding at school, I think it was more about the emotion
times the best thing to do is just hash it out and with a laugh, “I am healing well. She can’t be on that the songs gave off. I try to be vague in that
move about your day. You know, I spent seven tour with me, but I’m doing ok and to be honest, manner, and I hope people find something in our
years in a band called Drowning Pool, and they I don't think I was quite right to begin with! I’m music that does the same thing and gives a con-
were a bunch of Texas boys. When you had a better now than I was before!” nection.”
problem in that band, you literally balled up your Since Ryan puts emotion and feeling into
fist and you went at it, then three seconds later, n ‘Amalgamation’ McCombs sings the lyric SOiL’s music, which is a brave thing to do, Black
you’re having shots with them at the bar and it’s I‘Reborn once in a while’. Ryan reflects on Velvet asks him about the bravest or most dar-
fine again. It’s a reminder that if you have an this as we talk about healing and feeling ‘re- ing thing he’s done outside of music. He begins
issue, you can’t let it swell up inside you. You born’. He starts by highlighting, “Well, ‘Amalga- by asking, “I was married once, does that
need to hash it out before it turns into something mation’ takes other song titles from throughout count?” We say yes and he carries on thinking
uglier. Sometimes, you learn to ignore it from my career, and ‘Reborn’ was a song that I did aloud. “I sound so lame, I’m not James Bond or
past experience, you just move about your day,” when I first joined Drowning Pool. I did a similar something. I think the bravest thing, and I’m so
he says. thing with ‘Reborn’ lyric-wise. But yeah, I used it going to get made fun of for this, is relationships
Newer bands these days have some trou- in ‘Amalgamation’ because I’ve had unique op- and stuff. Commitment and the big jump or fear
bles getting started. Ryan gives us his opinion portunities, coming into the scene with SOiL, of opening yourself up, and there’s that big pos-
on the music industry and why he thinks it’s so stepping back out, getting to do it with Drowning sibility that it could end badly, more so than the
hard for new bands to start up and older bands Pool, and then back to SOiL again after a break. possibility of it ending in a good way.”
to keep going. “I think the music industry has be- Not everybody gets chances like that, there’s
come quite a disgusting place these days. I was definitely parts of being reborn throughout my OiL’s self-titled EP turns 20 in January
talking to a DJ friend of mine back in the States, years. When you step away from music for a S2017. Ryan says that he’s happy the
she was talking about a band I’d never heard of while, you don’t know whether you want to go way that SOiL has turned out and there isn't
before, and I was teasing her about what she’d back into it until you get the first show or release much he would change if he did it again. “I don’t
said. Her reply was “You don’t know how hard it and you realise what you’ve been missing.” think there is anything I would change as such.
is for us.” Because every few months they get He points out that all music is still a heavy Maybe I should have listened more to others. If
given a list of new bands to push and talk about, part of healing, and there is music out there to I had carried myself in a slightly different man-
and then three months later, she’s given another help everybody. He tells Black Velvet about a ner, we might have been accepted, a little bit
list because those bands she originally talked meme he found on the internet that hit home. “I more mainstream, maybe have been more rock
about hadn’t made it for some reason or an- saw a meme one time, and I don’t remember the star-ish would have worked. I was pushed to do
other.” exact wording, but it was something along the that early on. The people at J Records, I was not
He goes on to say that it is important to sup- lines of ‘The right song can make you feel every- the rockstar they were looking for. I was just a
port small venues because they support small thing and at the same time take all the pain little too normal for them. Everything about me,
bands starting out, such as the Craufurd Arms away.’ I think that’s probably the best thing about maybe if I had changed my look a bit more, it
in Milton Keynes, SOiL’s last venue to play on music, depending on what mood I’m in, with would have changed. I don't think I would have
the UK/European tour. “It’s definitely important music there is something for it. There is a style, though, at the end of the day because I’m too
to keep coming back to smaller shows. There’s a genre, a band or artist for any mood out there.” simple minded,” he jests.
something you just get from intimate shows like That healing develops from a mix of ele- When Black Velvet hints at new material
this, it’s always there and it’s heartwarming but ments, emotion, lyrics, style, the list goes on and from SOiL, Ryan’s face lights up as if he’s really
also it’s a childhood dream to play the big he pinpoints where his writing style and inspira- excited. He tells us ‘We started tossing around
places, festivals, and some of the arena tours tion comes from. “I think I relate to more songs the idea of new material for what we wanted to
I’ve been on.” that I’ve written the more and more I go through do, as well as music ideas, about a month be-
life. I admire songwriters like those in Iron fore we left for the tour, and once the holidays
n more recent years, Ryan has had to start Maiden and Metallica, where they would take are behind us, we are going to get a game plan
Itaking care of his health due to having a certain subjects or a book they have read, his- together for it. We want a release for some point
stroke. He opens up about how it’s affected the torical moments etc., and make it relatable for next year, for the 20th anniversary, and then
band. Ryan smiles, evidently thankful for the everyone. I’ve never been able to do that. I got we’re going to do more tours for it, since the only
way the band dealt with his recovery time. “The tons of notes at home, books filled with lyrics thing we’ve done for 20 years now, is be here,
band was really awesome about it; we took our from over the years, that I’ve never touched and there, and everywhere, touring!’
time and kind of baby-stepped our way back into never saw the music to go with them. I think it’s Visit www.soiltheband.com for more info.
making sure I could do it again without my brain because when I’ve had a song thrown at me by Words By Annina Cremona
Photo By Stephanie Cabral
SOIL