Out Of Trouble

"It seems like a lot of people were afraid to bring us over, I guess because of the reputation,” Eyehategod frontman Mike IX Williams says with a slight chuckle when asked about their impending maiden visit to Australia. “There's been some trouble we've been in the past, but I guess it was pretty easy to get us in.”

“Some trouble” may be the understatement of 2012. The uncompromising, unseasonably heavy music the New Orleans sludge metal outfit has conjured during the past 23 years has come at a high personal cost. Substance abuse and internal disputes tore at them. Then came Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed the singer's home and in the aftermath, he was convicted of narcotics charges and served time, forced to kick heroin while behind bars. The disaster also created geographical obstacles as members relocated and explored other musical endeavours, including guitarist Jimmy Bower returning to supergroup Down. “People were doing their own bands, record label problems, other sorts of trouble that we got in,” the frontman recounts.

Since then things have stabilised, the band reconvening and preparing their first full-length since 2000's Confederacy Of Ruined Lives. “It's just Eyehategod; that's all you can really say about it,” the vocalist offers. “A lot of people have said our new stuff reminds them of our second album (1993's Take As Needed For Pain), that it's in that old school vein. It's gonna be a sick record; I'm dying to get into the studio. We're not one of those bands to go super experimental or anything like that. We might have some weird parts or stuff in the songs, but we're like AC/DC. We do what we do, no matter what.”

Williams informs us that the band essentially has the entire album written. “There's a few songs that need work, and some of the vocals need to be put into the songs, but hopefully when we get back from these next set of shows; Australia, New York and all of that, we're going to go in the studio. We supposedly have time booked already in the studio. We're going to be doing some new songs in Australia; we'll do some new stuff. But I've got a feeling that people are gonna want to hear a lot of the older stuff, seeing as we've never played there. It'll be a good mix of the new stuff and a lot of the old stuff.

“We basically don't trust anyone as far as record labels go; it's really hard to trust anybody to put out our record. So it's taken us a long time to find the right people to put it out. We haven't had bad luck in a while; the bad stuff that happened to us beside the hurricane, that all happened, in the, I'd say mid-2000s. So the past seven, eight years has been really good for us. We've toured more than ever; I think we've toured more recently than we had earlier in our career. It's not so much bad luck, it's like I said, we [just] don't trust these labels and we really want to find somebody that's going to work with us and be a part of the band, as far as putting the record out.”

I pose whether Eyehategod could make a great record when the members are seemingly (relatively speaking) more content with their lot in life. “We're still a bunch of negative, miserable bastards,” he quickly and good-naturedly assures. “Nothing's changed as far as that goes; we're a bunch of depressed, miserable freaks. We have positivity in that we're just trying to be focused about our music and push it out there further. I think that whether we're on drugs, off drugs or whatever, we still are Eyehategod. We're still gonna make the same type of music, even though you can't deny that we're older now and some of us have families. Some of the old excesses are gone. We still partake in a few different things, but some of the horrible old things are cleaned up, if you know what I'm saying.”

Williams explains that they have become more adept at channelling that sheer anguish into their records and live shows, but simultaneously not letting it hinder band functionality. “Things that have happened in the band and we've been involved in, they have given us some sort of a reputation… Going through like airport security, you don't want to walk in there smelling like vodka and with blood on your clothes from the show last night. As far as I was talking about being more positive, that goes along with being a little more professional. We're still the same people, but we do have a little more of a professional attitude than we used to have. In the early days, we just didn't give a fuck about anything. We could care less if we broke up tomorrow.

“Now we've got more of a good outlook on where we want to take the band and we want to stay out of trouble. That's the main thing; we want to push the band as far as we can go. It is hard sometimes, especially when you're on-stage, you want to destroy the microphone or something and you realise, 'that's gonna come out of my pocket now'. In the old days it didn't matter, I'd pay the $300 for a microphone I broke, but now I'm like, 'I can't really be doing that anymore, I've got responsibilities'. But we're still the same band; you'll see it when you see us live. We put a thousand per cent energy into the shows.”

What is it about heavy music that still excites him after this long in the game? “It's something embedded in my soul, I guess. It's that passion for music that we all have; all of us in the band love music. We're all a bunch of fans too. We love all kinds of music; we like a lot of music that's not heavy, but also you can listen to anything you want. It's just there, you're just always burning to play music and you just want to play the most aggressive possible thing that you feel like, that's in your heart.”

Getting 20-plus years into their career and not having the same fire is obviously not an issue for Eyehategod. “No, I think if anything we're more together on a professional level now, but we're also tighter on stage. It depends on the night; it depends on what we drank the night before. It's not a problem to get up there and give a thousand per cent, you know? It's not like we're tired. I know what you mean; some bands get up there and you can just tell they're doing it for the money. That's not what we're doing; we're doing it because we love the music and we love playing these songs. So that's what it is. I don't have to dig deep to find that energy, it comes naturally.”