Interviews

Interview with John Jarvis of Scour

Published

6 years ago

July 9, 2018

Ron

SCOUR the Black metal kick ass band fronted by Pantera’s Phil Anselmo made a rare US performance in Baltimore MD. Before taking the stage Empire Extreme got to talk to Bassist John Jarvis about the show, among other things.

Empire: How’s it like doing this rare US Show?

JJ: yep it’s the only US show this year, we wanted to do a warm up gig so since it’s easier to fly out from this side of the country we decided to jam out around here. Do a show in Baltimore which me and Adam live here, so it works out good for us. I get to sleep in my own bed.

EE: How’s it like working with Phil, were you nervous any since he’s such a metal icon?

JJ: No luckily I have jammed with him before with my band Fulgora. We collaborated together and did some recording with us, he signed us to HouseCore Records a while back. I got all of the nerves away back then. It’s still exciting, all kinds of emotions at a Scour Show. It’s been like a dream come true.

EE: How’s it like working with your brother in the band?

JJ: We Of course have been jamming together our whole lives. When Jesse left the band, Adam was the first one to come to mind to replace him. We were lucky he was available. When Phil first started the band, he wasn’t sure if I was in the band or Adam was in the band, and he said “Which Jarvis is in the band?” ( John did a perfect impression of Phil’s voice) He was happy that he had us both in the band.

EE: Did you ever get a chance to meet Vinnie Paul?

JJ: I talked to him on the phone actually in the year 2000. My roommate his older brother was a DJ in St Louis, they would play Pantera regularly and Tool. Vinnie called in and took questions from fans. Since we knew the DJ and he knew we were huge Pantera fans, he asked us if we wanted to ask him a question. We asked him “Who would he rather bang? Monica Lewinsky or Hillary Clinton” He come back and said “ Mandy Moore” and that was his answer. I’ve done shows with him before with Hell Yeah. I wouldn’t say that I knew the guy, but it was a tragic loss to Music. Hit me hard like DimeBag.

EE: How is Scour different from other projects you have done before or Phil has been in?

JJ: For me it’s the only Black Metal type band that I’ve been in. It’s different from all my other bands. Phil is more knowledgeable about Black metal and music in general than I am. He knows his shit. It’s very different.

EE: I seen that you’ve been working with Pig Destroyer.

JJ: Yeah it’s always a blast to work with those guys. We got a new album coming out September 7th. It’s the first one with bass for Pig Destroyer. We got a lot we are doing with them.

EE: I saw you’re doing a project called China Girl that you’re doing vocals for.

JJ: Absolutely, China Girl started with a guy named Dennis Sanders he use to be in a band with Wes Borland from Limp Bizkit. Dennis was a fan of Scour and was posting reviews and stuff. One day I noticed that Chino from Deftones liked his post, he put me in touch with him and then Dennis was like do u want to start a band with me. I’m in a lot of bands and didn’t want it to sound like any of my other bands. We recorded it in LA and it’s been a blast, hopefully I can put it on stage someday.

EE: A buddy of mine sings for a cover band called Penntera and you came on stage and did a song with them recently.

JJ: Yes, I met the guitar player from Penntera, the Pennsylvania premiere Pantera cover act. I met him at Metallica’s soundcheck. We did some shows with my Sepultura cover band Clinched Fist and it was only natural to come up on stage and do a song with them.

EE: Any new Scour material being worked on?

JJ: We just recorded Drums over the weekend, for Phil’s 50th Birthday. Once that gets finalized we will work on bass and guitars. Phil says he knows where he wants to go vocally and with the lyrics. So we are getting ready for our next EP.

Scour came out and just destroyed it, the band sounded amazing, and Phil looked and sounded better than I’ve seen him in years. Phil was interactive with the crowd and seemed legitimately excited to be there. It was good to see him with passion in his veins. The Jarvis Brothers Adam on drums and John on bass, were kick ass. Those drums were just non stop and full force. The band played songs off of the 2 eps the band has out so far and added a few covers as well. Scour covered Bathory’s Massacre as well as 2 songs from Pantera with Slaughtered and Strength Beyond Strength. The show was great and even though the crowd wasn’t full, everyone who was there was enjoying Scour play and getting rowdy like a metal show should be. Scour will be back next year for Maryland’s Death Fest and I advise not to miss Scour destroy the stage once again.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Related Topics:Baltimore MD Empire Extreme featured John Jarvis Phil Anselmo Scour Soundstage

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH MERCURY OF PRIEST

Published

2 weeks ago

April 23, 2024

Ron

Empire Extreme got to sit down and talk to Mercury of Priest when the band came into PA at LoveDrafts.

The show was amazing all the bands that we seen put on a great show for the fans. Vampires Everywhere killed it once again. Last time we seen Priest we only got to see them open for Powerman5000 and got like 6 songs, this time Priest was headlining and we got to see much more which I was excited to see.

Priest played a good mix of old and new and even a few songs off the album “Dark Pulse” which is out in May. We got to see 13 songs played and even Mercury come out into the crowd a few times and when they played “Obey” even blessed some of the crowd. It was great hearing songs like “BlackListed”, “Signal in the Noise”, “History in Black” and “Vaudeville”. It was such a great night of music and a great conversation with Mercury. If you get a chance to see this band play in ur town, it’s a must

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Published

2 months ago

March 4, 2024

Ron

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Ron

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Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Published

3 months ago

February 16, 2024

Ron

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell.

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything.

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs.

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters.

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with.

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music.

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan.

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know… but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”. Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.