No Signs of Slowing, or Death for Carnifex

An interview with Scott Ian Lewis of Carnifex

Witten by George Archibald
Photos by Andrew Bastion   

Carnifex

After celebrating their 10-year anniversary as a band, and playing to hundreds of thousands of fans, Carnifex is not slowing down by any means. As one of the ‘must see’ bands on this year’s Summer Slaughter, the band is pushing forward and expanding their boundaries even more. August 5^th will be the release date for their highly anticipated 6^th album Slow Death, and with the band branching out to doing more international touring, expect to find even more fans waiting to catch a glimpse of their brutal live show. One of the forefathers of Deathcore, this California quintet is still destroying cities at each tour stop. I was very fortunate to get to speak to their vocalist, Scott Ian Lewis at the Cleveland Summer Slaughter stop, and ask him some questions about the new album and the direction of the band.

GA: California has been home to several Deathcore acts but you guys were at the forefront of the movement, what has been your inspiration to keep writing and making new music without sounding stale?

SL: Umm… what is our Inspiration… not having to go back to real life and just keep living as musicians. I think the main thing when you are a band, is you have to want to create something new, and not want it to be like something that already exists. So for us, we all have different influences, and we want those influences to be heard, and to have something to say. So the inspiration is, we still have something to say, we still have something to prove.

GA: I have noticed that you guys have adapted with the change of guitar trends, by this I noticed when you all made the jump a few years ago to using 8 string guitars, on top of using 7 strings? Will we continue to see this evolution from the band as more advances happen? I already know 9 string guitars are starting to gain popularity could we possibly see this on a future album?

SL: I would sincerely doubt it; I think we switched to 8 string guitars for a much different reason then a lot of other bands. I think when people think of low tuning, and they think of 8 strings, and the initial response to hearing the new album, which is in drop F, they get this notion that since the album is in drop F that’s where the band stays in tuning the whole time. When in reality we still have all the other strings on the guitar, we just didn’t want to eliminate that option. So while the lowest we can go is drop F, that’s not where the entire album is. We just wanted it there so we could if we wanted to utilize it.

carnifex-slow-death

GA: What can we expect on the new album Slow Death being release on August 5th?

SL: I think you are going to hear an album that has a lot of influences that other people are not playing. I think you are going to hear a lot of modes and tones that really are not being used right now. I think that when you listen to death metal for the most part it is pretty much just by the numbers. It’s been kind of rinse and repeat for most death metal bands, and as much as those classics means something, we still wanted to put our own stamp on it. That’s why we are going to have stuff on the new album that nobody is doing, because nobody else is us.

GA: What has to be your favorite thing about playing Summer Slaughter?

SL: It’s a hard tour, when you have 10 bands and you are going into rooms that aren’t that big. It’s a lot of work to get everybody on and everybody off stage, but I think it is really fun to be on tour with your friends. We toured with Revocation before, we toured with Cannibal Corpse before, we toured with Ingested before, so it’s… being out on the road with guys that we toured with before, or get it, and know how to make it work. That’s what makes it fun for me.

GA: Also having been around for over 10 years now, Carnifex has shared the stage with some really big acts? Has there been any one act that you were amazed to play with, kind of fanboying it up while you were there with them?

SL: Rob Zombie for me. We opened for him at a festival in Germany, there were 30,000 people there. It was one of the best shows we ever played. Then he came on and just put on the best show ever, it was fantastic.

GA: I have also seen that members of Carnifex have been teaming up with Spotify doing their own Playlists for several different things. Is this going to continue to happen, and can you recommend me a song or two to check out?

SL: The playlist thing stemmed from the label asking us to do it, and try to put together what we liked to listen to on our off time. I’m not sure if we will do it again, I don’t really know what the response was to it. If people were into them we will do more.

GA: What do you guys enjoy listening to when you are out on tour? Any guilty pleasure music in there?

SL: I don’t know if my go to playlist has changed much from being on tour or being home. I kind of just listen to the same stuff all the time. I still listen to metal; I was listening to Cradle of Filth last night. I kind of just always listened to everything, Nine Inch Nails, and Manson. I kind of just listen to the same stuff, I really haven’t added anything.

GA: What’s next for the band after Summer Slaughter?

SL: We will be doing Knotfest with Slipknot and Slayer. Then we are doing the Suicide Silence, and Whitechapel tour here in the states. Then we are going over to Europe with Whitechapel and doing a tour over there.

GA: I was also interested to find out that you are working on a novel? What is it going to be about and do you have a working title yet?

SL: I actually have all that stuff, but I am not releasing any of that information just yet. It’s going to be a murder mystery. To sum it up real quick, it’s about human trafficking that will involve some corrupt city officials, and a vigilante killer that is trying to rectify the wrongs. I actually finished the first draft and I am awaiting editing, then we are going to get some illustrators since the book is going to be a graphic novel. So we are going to start the process of adapting the script to the illustrated novel format. It should be out sometime next summer, but there is still a lot of work to do.

GA: Do you have anything else you would like to add?

SL: Pick the new record up, iTunes or physical wherever you can get it. The more people that buy it the more we can tour, so if you want to see us play show your support.

You heard it from Scott, the new album is out on August 5^th. Pick up a copy or purchase it on iTunes to help support the band and keep them rolling on tour to a city near you. I want to thank you Scott for taking the time out to speak with me it was a pleasure. I wish you and the band well out on the road.

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George Archibald

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