Page 16 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 98

BV98 pg14-17 Like A Storm_BV98 pg16 03/08/2018 01:43 Page 3

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that each guy came with something he had felt It’s the strangest thing, but as an artist it’s the to be a professional musician there because
strongly enough about to write the song in the pinnacle, it doesn’t matter what the genre is you there aren’t enough people to go out and tour to
first place and the other two guys respected that couldn’t ask for anything better than making that and places to go. So we knew we had to look
and we would offer ideas but you would let the human connection and somebody else relating overseas.
guy keep his vision and that was how you get to what you are putting out there and what you “We left everyone we knew, our jobs, we
that truest story. are going through.” sold all our possessions and we moved to Van-
That explained, Kent is happy to talk to us couver. We knew no-one and all we had was our
in a bit more detail about the songs which he ne of our favourite songs on the album guitars and a demo that we had made in Auck-
wrote for the album, which in turn contain the Ois ‘The Bitterness’ and another which land and we hit the streets and pounded the
themes most personal to him. He tells us he came from the creative mind of the band’s pavement knocking on doors at bars. And some-
started with ‘Catacombs’. “That song, without bassist and one which opens with a call for help one would give you a shot at 1am on a Tuesday
trying to, kind of just sums up what the whole by someone asking to find a way to ‘resist’ and night which was the worst slot imaginable and
record is about. It occurred to me that you can to ‘exist’ without the bitterness. Kent hopes the there would be no-one there, but we’d play and
hold onto some past regrets or some issues and song will encourage others to let go of any neg- they’d go “Ah, they’re alright,” so we’d get to play
you can hold onto them for so long they can start ativity they have in their lives and to instead at midnight on a Wednesday and then 11pm on
to fossilise inside you and become whoever you focus and enjoy the positives. a Thursday, and we built it up to the point that
are and if you don’t let go of these things you “It was interesting with that song because it we were packing out the local clubs and word
can’t move forward. So that is what that song wrote itself really quickly,” he says. “I just fol- was spreading and then local producers started
was about, the idea of opening up those cata- lowed the lyrics across the page. Sometimes coming out of the woodwork and record labels,
combs, like you do to the door in Paris, and all you sit back and go ‘What do I want to say and so it was about that but it wasn’t writing in that
the spirits can fly out and make peace with how do I want to phrase this?’ or you come up sense because who else could relate to that?
everything.” with an odd line that you think will work well in a Everyone can relate to life being a journey and
With lyrics such as ‘this cage of suffering song, but this one wrote itself, probably in about a struggle.”
buried underneath my skin’ Kent talks a little 10 or 20 minutes! I was just following that train
more about the idea of an individual having of thought and I just felt I had to get it out. Over he band has unfortunately in recent
something going on underneath their skin, time, if you’re not careful you can become hard- Ttimes expanded its sharing of sadness
whether it be a devil or a cage of suffering, which wired to have this negative disposition and ex- and elsewhere Kent has spoken of unforgettable
no-one else can see. pect the worst in life and that’s what the song is memories they have forged from their time on
He tells Black Velvet, “The whole idea of that about and trying to hit reset on that.” the road with some of rock’s most legendary
is in all likelihood we are all harbouring some- performers who tragically are no longer with us.
thing internally and it’s not something people talk atacombs’ includes the lyric ‘I’m buried These include listening to Chester Bennington
about openly. It’s not something which is ever ‘Cin the catacombs alone’ which along- warming up for almost two hours in an adjacent
brought to the surface and if people aren’t talk- side the track ‘Solitary’ prompts another subject dressing room to theirs when they shared the
ing about something you are going through then which is becoming less taboo for people to talk stage with Linkin Park at the Nova Rocks festival
it makes you start to question yourself and you about without fear of judgement - loneliness, in Austria and watching Lemmy in full force with
start thinking, ‘Well, is there something wrong which is an especially important theme given Motorhead from the side of the stage at the
with me?’ All these pop and rap songs are all that more and more findings and research are Graspop Festival in Belgium.
about how great tonight’s going to be and how coming to light about the severity and negative Kent is happy to share with us his experi-
life is all sugary and wonderful, but I don’t feel impact this can have on an individual. ences with another legend of rock who has re-
that way and I’ve got these feelings. “When you’re inside your own head it’s a cently left us in Vinnie Paul of Pantera and
“To a certain extent I think religion is centred very lonely place,” Kent tells Black Velvet. Hellyeah fame. “He was very generous and gra-
around that because religion is a counterpunch “We’re surrounded by people, you can go and cious to us. We did a lot of the recording in
to these natural tendencies human beings have do shows and get so much positive feedback Vegas and he would invite us over for Sunday
like lust and desire and curiosity, but we are from people, but if you are carrying something barbecues at his place and he took us out on
taught to repress it and it makes you think there around inside of you and you’re not sharing it tour and we’d text and any time we wrote a new
is something wrong with you if you are thinking with someone else it can be a very lonely place. song we’d send it to him; he’d always write back
that, so we really wanted to kind of blow that And sometimes being in a room with thousands and he was really complimentary and a really
open and I think with those two songs we did. of people is the loneliest place of all because good dude. And when the guy passes away, the
So the idea of ‘The Devil Inside’ and the idea of there is no way anyone else could possibly know internet is flooded with people sharing the same
the catacombs inside of you was this is every- what you are going through. Not unless you say stories of a genuinely all-round nice guy. It really
day life. You’re going around doing your every- something about it which is very difficult to do.” makes it humbling and surreal to have been in
day business, but you’ve got this sort of turmoil Kent tells us this is something he can speak the presence of all these greats like Lemmy,
and inner conflict inside of you and we want to about from personal experience. “I think every- Chester and Vinnie and then the next day,
shine a light on that because otherwise people body has experienced it to some degree if they they’re gone and you’re like, “Holy shit!”
think that it’s just them going through that.” are honest because human beings are wired “They are inspirational to us on every level;
And Kent is correct in thinking this and now that way. You find the most arrogant guy in the just the talent and the work ethic involved. I
has the evidence to support it as since the room and when you peel the layers back in ac- mean, we heard Chester warming up for two
album has been released the band has received tual fact he is the most insecure guy. We’re all hours and then I think they only played an hour-
much positive feedback from their fans and lis- just trying to navigate our way through life and long show. It’s really inspiring and the legacy
teners who have shared their own personal ex- there is no book on how to do it. If you pursue they have all left behind where no-one has a bad
periences and stories with them and what their what you love you might not be getting the finan- story about them. They inspire you on a lot of
songs mean to them. A clearly pleased and en- cial security and if you pursue the financial se- levels to strive for greatness; they are great mu-
thusiastic Kent says, “It’s interesting to see curity, well, what if you die tomorrow and didn’t sicians and they are great people.”
which songs people speak up about. That’s get to do what you loved? Everybody’s trying to
what’s great about things like Facebook and In- figure out how to walk through life and you try to nother standout song on the album is
stagram as 10 years ago I guess a fan would process that internally, and if you don’t it can just A‘Out of Control’, which opens with the
have to write you a letter or come to a show and build up.” thought-provoking lyrics of ‘It takes one strike to
now you can have 200 of them comment under light the match, and it takes one match to light
a post about which song means something to entioning how everyone faces the pos- the flame, and it takes one flame to light the fire,
them and we just found that the more personal Msibility that you could die tomorrow and set the world on fire,’ before the song opens
and honest we got with the lyrics other people brings us nicely to another song which was born up about a world which is broken and out of con-
felt the same way. from Kent’s penmanship on the album. “I wrote trol.
“It’s a really cool feeling but it’s also such a the song ‘Until The Day I Die’ and that is about “The song is an act of defiance”, he says. “If
bizarre feeling to write about something you are persevering against adversity and facing the you feel like you are in a helpless position or
going through and then have all these com- odds and risking it all,” he tells us. “That, for me, you’re feeling downtrodden, yeah, do something
ments from people all over the world who speak without making it too obvious, was about us and about it, take ownership of it. That’s what it’s
different languages or are from all different our move away from New Zealand, which was about; those small things you can do can have
walks of life and they say ‘this song is me’ or ‘this this journey which was completely against the the most profound effect in the long run. I think
song is exactly what I’m going through right now’ odds. New Zealand is an amazing country to live the first thing to acknowledge is you’re not alone
or ‘this song is exactly what I needed right now’. in, it’s so isolated and so quiet, but it’s really hard and it’s ok to be having these thoughts or to be
LIKE A STORM