Slaughter to Prevail are known as one of the hardest hitting bands in deathcore today. Vocalist Alex Terrible has an original style of vocals which cuts through the sea of bands in this genre. The band has seen its ups and downs over the last few years with member changes and difficulty traveling to America due to an international travel ban. During that time the band began a restructuring phase as guitarist Jared Delgado and drummer Anton Poddyachy left the band. STP returned to the states late last year and recruited drummer Evgeny Nivikov and guitarist Rob Brown (former So This is Suffering guitarist) to join the band. Slaughter to Prevail is out on the road currently supporting Chelsea Grin as part of the Eternal Nightmare North American Tour, alongside Enterprise Earth, Traitors and Bodysnatcher. I was fortunate enough to speak with guitarist Rob Brown, to learn more about how he came to join the band and his position with Slaughter to Prevail. 

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GA: Last time we spoke you were in So This Is Suffering, Then I saw you during the Whitechapel tour where it was announced you would be a full-time member of STP. How were you approached about the gig, or was this something you inquired about?

RB: I was on tour with, So This is Suffering when the Jack Simmons, guitar player for Slaughter to Prevail friended me on Facebook. When I seen it, I thought it was a little weird and wondered why he added me. Most of the time with the metal community, you don’t see a bigger band adding someone from a smaller band to their friends to often, it is usually the other way around. I clicked accept and didn’t think to much more into it, even though we have never conversed before. During the tour I saw his name pop up in my messenger, and at first, I didn’t read his message and I just left it unread for 2 days. I finally got some down time and went through my messages and I clicked his message. In the message he said he had an opportunity for me, and I immediately was like, ‘shit I should have read this days ago.’ I messaged him back, and he told me about the upcoming STP/ Whitechapel tour and asked if I wanted to be apart of it. I told him, ‘hell yea I will do it.’ He asked for some video of my playing, so I immediately went into the back room and recorded some parts to send over to him. From there we continued talking, and that is when Alex and I started talking. 

GA: When you first were approached by the band, was there anything that surprised you when joining or you weren’t expecting when joining the band? 

RB: No not really, one thing everyone was asking me is; ‘The band is primarily from Russia isn’t that going to be weird, like how is that going to work out?’ I’ll be honest with me being a black dude, a lot of people were wondering how this was going to work out. It was fine, when we first met it was our first show together. We never practiced together before, or even had time to rehearse prior to playing. So that first show we all met up to play together, it was packed, and everyone was just sweating bullets. We all went out there and just killed it. As far as weird things with the band, no I can’t say anything honestly. There are no weird quirks, no one is a dick anyone, it’s a cool environment. The only thing we may disagree on is our gear and sound, like the sound is not right, but we are not sitting there talking shit to each other. 

GA: Now with you in the band what is the music writing dynamic like? By this I mean do you speak with Jack Simmons and how does that work.  

RB: Jack does much of the song writing for Slaughter to Prevail, I do have a say with throwing in an idea to see how it fits. I showed Alex a video of some riffs I had, but the new album is already completed. The next album there is a possibility I will have more input on. This is their band and I am here to help; I am not expecting to come in and take over. I don’t want to come in and run the band, I’d rather come in and can throw in some ideas here and there. Now with the internet it is easy to share files back and forth, it makes it easy to learn the new material. 

GA: I seen Alex threw a sample of a new Slaughter song on his IG account a few weeks ago, can you tell me anything about the new album?

RB: To me for what I have heard of the new songs, there is a little bit of a Slipknot influence. It sounds sick, it is not what many would think though. Many that try to do the nu-metal sound are only trying to do just that. They come out and say the next album is going to be nu-metal, then they just completely rip off Korn.  The new album will still sound like deathcore Slaughter to Prevail, but there are some cool nu-metal elements mixed in. It sounds cool, and I think it will make the band bigger, with the expansion of our music stylings. 

GA: Since the last time I spoke with you there has been a lot of changes with your gear and sponsors, would like to tell me more about what you are now using?

RB: I have been Legator Guitars now for two years going on three. During the Whitechapel tour the owner of Ladder Cabinets contacted me. He said that he wanted me to use his cabinets on the tour, and he brought them to our show in Ohio. I also am in with Fortin, the guys that did the Meshuggah stuff. I am using Fishman pickups, Ken (Susi) is a cool guy. I also have a tattoo sponsorship, and I am sure Alex does too. We are always trying to get tattooed as much as we can. 

GA: I also seen you are offering lessons online, how did you start learning the guitar, and what lead you to wanting to teach?

RB: With learning the guitar, I started out learning Green Day songs. I started out when I was a kid. Back then, I would say this much; there was a huge cultural barrier in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. If you were a black dude, you did not get into metal. That is stuff that you would get made fun of back then, or even vice versa because now there are an abundance of white rappers. Now it doesn’t matter but back then, playing guitar and getting into metal was an interesting journey. Even my own dad roasted me about it, saying things like: “you’re not going to take this seriously, guitar that’s weird.” As it progressed, the more seriousI became. The first thing I learned was power chords, and I thought this sounds cool. Next thing that I know, it developed into playing The Faceless. I jumped from punk rock, to classic rock, to everything in between. I kept playing and my tastes got more extreme. 

My teaching began after I played a show in San Diego, this kid approached me and asked if I would give him a guitar lesson. I was like sure, and at the time I charged cheap for lessons. I taught him by the band van, and he kept coming back. Then his friend kept coming back, and then more friends. I would fluctuate up and down, but now I have a pretty solid student base. You have things now like Skype and Instagram, everyone can find out about you and reach you now. If you are a member of a band and complain about being broke, it’s on you bro, now there is no excuse. I see to many people saying they are in a band and struggling. It’s like go learn your instrument, go teach someone, quit being lazy. It started with one kid at a show, and now has progressed into me teaching. 

GA: So, when you were learning, were you self-taught or did you have a teacher?

RB: My first teacher was Chris from All Shall Perish; I took lessons from him for three years. Then, I did a few lessons with AJ of The Human Abstract. I also have done lessons with Misha of Periphery. The one of my biggest teachers was a teacher from Texas University who taught jazz guitar. 

GA: What is next for you with Slaughter to Prevail after this tour?

RB: The new album is going to be coming out, so we will be putting out material, playthroughs and stuff like that. I know the release is for Summer so we will probably be doing a Fall tour. Sumerian Records is pretty cool, because they will show us a planned schedule of events they have for us, so I am going to say sometime in Fall we will be touring. One thing I will say about touring with Slaughter that is cool, is that being from Russia the band doesn’t get to tour as much as an American band. This however creates a novelty to come out when the band does get to tour. It gives some time for people to want to come back out to see us, instead of over saturating an area. It also helps to keep life from being stagnant for us, as we can go live our lives, then go back out on tour. 

GA: Anything you would like to add?

RB: Slaughter to Prevail, check us out. The new album is coming out this summer. Also come on out to a show on this tour, Chelsea Grin Eternal Nightmare American Tour. We are hitting the entire west coast, don’t be whack come out to a show, get out of your house. See you guys soon. 

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George Archibald

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