36 Crazyfists
Interview: Brock Lindow (lead vocalist) | Written by: Brendan Monteiro.
So the phone starts ringing, but its not your typical every day call. Today I’m getting a hearty chat with Alaska’s finest, 36 Crazyfist. This Anchorage metal-core band have bled and probably would slay for their music. And in the Short moment I get with Brock Lindow, he enlightens me about icy rigs, beers, the chaos that ensues on tour, and illustrates that even people who scream for a living can be scared of death.
Bm: Hello, Brock
Brock: hey.
Bm: Well lets start then. You recently changed labels from Roadrunner to Ferret records. Can you tell me what was behind the move?
Brock: We just basically wanted to go with someone that we would get more attention from. The number of records we were selling in the states just put us down at roadrunner and we were just getting lost in the mix of things. So when we had the option to get out of our contract with them it was very welcomed by us. We wanted to do it immediately. We had known the guys from Ferret for years, been friends with them and it just feels generally different already. These guys believe in the band and they’re going to push the band and push the records around the states. We had a good thing in Europe and the U.K in the past. But our main problem label wise, is we weren’t getting any promotion in our own country so we just felt Ferret would be much better for us in the states.
Bm: Your last album ‘rest inside the flames’ was released first in the U.K and was held back in the states, did that have anything to do with the move?
Brock: Yeah basically that was kind of the last straw for us. Every time we talked to them, the record was supposed to come out in April. Then it was going to come out only in the U.K first and then when we came back from the U.K tour, which was like the end of July, they were going to put it out in the states. So when we came back from that they said ‘ok were going to put it out in January, we got this Trivium record coming out and blah blah blah’. Pretty much then, we realized where we stood in Roadrunners eyes. So when the January release date came, the record had already been out for a year and we were just over it. So we said we wanted to go elsewhere. We didn’t think they would just let us go but they said we could go wherever we want and they would try help us get a better deal. I thought that was pretty stand up of them to help us and we don’t have any bad blood with them at all and it’s much better for us now.
Bm: So your actually recording the new album now, where there any bizarre or weird happenings during the recording process? (he laughs)
Brock: You know I think well we recorded in Portland Oregan, and I live in Anchorage Alaska so when I went down to Portland to start recording. I hadn’t seen a lot of friends so pretty much the entire time I was doing vocals we’d have like 5 or 6 friends stopping by every time, bringing more beer. It was kind of like a non stop party which is not usually the way it goes but it fun an we got the work done.
Bm: Sounds like the way it should be done, so is there any idea’s or philosophy’s behind the new album?
Brock: You know I think I tried to write about exactly how were all adapting to living in a war time and still trying to stay on the hopeful side of things. That’s the thing that I like to write about and just try and lighten the dark. For the most part I did what I feel good about writing. It’s the first time I’ve ever really had a lyrical content that kind of went on a grander scale, you know talking about the war and there’s a song on the record that has actual letters from a soldier who has been in Iraq for 2 years. He sent me letters that him and his wife had been sharing with each other. So in the first verse it’s her letter to him and in the second verse it’s his letter back to her and I sing the choruses. So that was pretty cool. We’ve never done anything like that. I think that turned out pretty cool.
Bm: That is pretty unique, the title of the album ‘the tide and it’s takers’, does that have anything to do with your childhood and being out on the ocean a lot? (he chuckles again)
Brock: I think that that’s always somewhere in my head, you know Alaska is never really far away from me mentally anyway so it could be somewhat. But the ‘Tide and it’s Takers’ is just basically about how nothing stay’s forever, good or bad, it all comes and goes an that’s kind of the theme of the record. We’ll go through tough times but then we’ll go through easy times. It’s just life in general. And I think It’s a cool play on the words.
Bm: That it is, so now, you’ve toured the world for the past couple of years. Are there any places you still want to tour?
Brock: We have not been to Japan yet and I would love to go to Japan. I see a lot of bands are going to Russia lately and I would definitely love to do that. You know also South Africa, Brazil, there’s plenty places, Mexico. We have hit the U.K and Europe a lot but we haven’t really toured our side of our country.
Bm: You guys have toured the U.K a lot.
Brock: I don’t really know but for whatever reason when we first came over in 2002 we just had a really nice following that never left and kept building. I want to continue to stay over there and share as much as we could over there in the U.K. I mean they’re always the best shows for us. You come over there, your pulling 50 - 60 kids a night anywhere in the states and you come over there and you’ve got a couple thousand. It’s a pretty sweet deal. We’ve always loved playing there and that will be the case forever I am sure.
Bm: Well then, what’s the scariest memory you have of any tours?
Brock: I don know hey. I cant really think of anything to scary except for when your touring in the winter, especially in the states. It’s extremely dangerous going up to Canada. I think that the scariest it’s been, driving at night time, it’s icy, it’s 10 below zero and the heater stopped working in the rig.
Bm: Shit, no heating, I would of started a fire. So any accidents on the ice then?
Brock: Well we have never rolled our van thank God, never rolled the van but we did wreck the van a couple times. One van hit, eh, we were in this gas station and we backed up into a pole. We ripped the whole side of the van.
Bm: Not a good place to be having accidents.
Brock: No! Once my guitar player was drunk and he was lying down on the seat and kicked out the side window.
Bm: That doesn’t count as an accident. Now when your touring every night how do you keep your voice, I mean especially when your belching out screams all night.
Brock: I don’t really know man, it’s just one of those things. I think the more you do it, the more traditioned you get to it. But there is no doubt that some days are better than others.
Bm: If I try sing every days it just gets worse than you can ever imagine.
Brock: Luckily I’ve been somewhat fortunate to not have many vocal problems. A couple of years ago though, before the download festival. I lost my voice completely. We played in Sheffield andI blew something out, I don’t know what happened but I remember the last download. I was pretty bummed out because I could barely even talk, let alone sing. And I’ve seen video tapes of us playing there and it just makes me cringe cos my voice sounds so horrible. But luckily I’ve been fortunate not to have to many problems.
Bm: I don’t know how you do it, I sing in the car and after a couple of songs my voice starts giving in. (he gives me a sympathetic laugh)
Brock: Like I said, just like anything, the more you do it the more you get used to it I guess.
Bm: I’ve been a car singer for a long time now and I don’t think it’s getting any better. (he brakes out laughing)
Brock: keep it up, it’ll get stronger
Bm: Ok, my singing aside, Are there any bands you dislike touring with?
Brock: That I dislike?
Bm: Yeah. (the phone crackles a bit)
Brock: That I don’t want to tour with?
Brock: You now to be honest with you. Every tour we’ve ever been on we’ve had such tremendous luck, we’ve always made friends and you know obviously some of the bands don’t along as well as others but for us we’ve made life long friends on every single tour it seems like. I cant think of anyone I would want to bad mouth, we’ve been pretty grateful and lucky to be out with the bands we have toured with
Bm: ok, so who would be the best to tour with?
Brock: Twelve Tribes, we have done a bunch of tours with them. Walls of Jericho, Killswitch. Ah probably Twelve tribes. They’re our buddies, we have stayed on a lot of tours with them and brought them up to Alaska with us twice. There just really good friends of ours and probably just the coolest guys we have.
Bm: You must have a lot of spare time to kill on tour, what sort of unruliness do you get up to waste the time?
Brock: Ah man yesterday the tour started an everyone started drinking at 2 in the afternoon. That happens a lot cos all I have to do is answer a few calls for the press and the rest of the time is just waiting so I read and watch movies, but for the most of it I just try and hang out with everybody an drink some beers. We’re in California today and its 80 degrees. I just got back from home where it was 30 below for 2 weeks straight. It was damn cold, but out here it’s nice. We got shorts on, beers in hand. I can see guys already drinking so that’s pretty much how I kill the time.
Bm: I don’t know how you can survive minus 30!
Brock: Ah man it’s something, it tests your will for sure. We actually just shot our video for our first single and we were outside pretty much all day and it was minus 30, no kidding. It was just freezing. We had a bunch of pro snow-mobilers in the video, we were up in this mountain area and it looks awesome. But we worked hard for our money on that day.
Bm: So what’s the video about then?
Brock: There’s a bunch of pro snow-mobilers that were friends with back home. The video looks like everybody in Alaska goes to shows on snow-mobiles. There’s a cabin an were playing in the cabin and everybody else is just flying around on snow-mobiles. We had a helicopter for a few hours so we got some really cool footage. It’s just a performance shoot with all our friends back home and a bunch of X-games crazy’s doing backflips on snow-mobiles. It turned out really good. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.
Bm: It’s crazy what they can do on snow-mobile’s these day’s. So moving on, who would be your biggest influence?
Brock: James Hatfield, he’s the reason, Metallica in general is the reason I ever wanted to be in a band. Since I was in 7th grade and I first heard Metallica. They’re definitely my favorite band. No other band has ever made me feel like they did back then. Obviously I’ve got tonnes of influences from bands that I love but the main one, the reason I play music I Metallica for sure.
Bm: So what new albums are you in to at the moment?
Brock: Let me see, I got the new Demon Hunter record, it’s really really good. Let’s see what else, I cant think of anything else. We been playing so much old stuff in the rig that I can’t think of anything new that I’ve been listening to. The new devil driver is bad ass, I like that.
Bm: Now is there one song that aggravates you so much you want to axe murder the C.D player? (laughter again erupts)
Brock: Of my music or someone else’s?
Bm: Any music.
Brock: Lets see, the one song I hate! (and again he starts laughing)
Brock: Boy……………….I cant even think of it. I don’t know.
Bm: For me it’s got to be the Macarena song, you know the one with the whole cheesy dance to it.
Brock: Yeah shit, I hated that song for sure. That song pissed me off!
Bm: I think it pissed a lot of people off. Next thing, I’ve noticed you come across as someone that love’s living. That you really treasure your time.
Brock: Yeah I’m thankful to be breathing for sure
Bm: So to get to the point, are you scared of death?
Brock: Yeah, I think I am in a weird way. Only because, I’m not really afraid of dying, I think I’m afraid of not finishing all the stuff I want to do. I don’t really fear death so much but whenever I jump In an airplane I really want to make it to where I’m going cos I’ve got so much more stuff I want to do and I think that is mostly it for me. So I guess in a sense I am afraid to die. I want to die when I’m an old man, when I’m 90, late 90’s
Bm: So then do you find it unnerving that doctor’s call what they do ‘practice’? (the laughter once more erupts)
Brock: I never really thought of it like that. That’s hilarious! That is a little unnerving, I don’t really like to be the little guinea pig.
Bm: So lastly, Anything you would like to say to your fans in South Africa?
Brock: just anybody who has ever supported our band in any way, we are eternally grateful for it and we are extremely excited for the festivals this summer, there’s the new record coming out on the 26th of May. So just a thank you for all the support that we’ve been getting.
Bm: Thanks for everything Brock, hope to see you guys soon. (The phone starts crackling badly again)
Bm: You still there?
Brock: Awesome Brendan, thanks for the time for talking to me, I appreciate it.
Bm: It is totally my pleasure, and from myself and decay productions a huge thank you.
