By Andrew Bansal
Based out of Athens, Ohio, blackened thrash metal band Skeletonwitch have been on a righteous path of progression in recent years, as they develop into better musicians with every studio album they put out, and continue hitting audiences worldwide with full force, winning new fans every time they open for a bigger act and playing an ever-growing number of headline shows of their own. Most recently, they put out their fifth studio album ‘Serpents Unleashed’ via Prosthetic Records, did a successful North American tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, and at the House of Blues inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas last Friday January 17, they embarked upon an epic journey with Scandinavian stalwarts Amon Amarth and Enslaved. After a typically impressive set by Skeletonwitch, I caught up with vocalist Chance Garnette for a chat about a variety of topics including touring, clean singing, parting slogans, and more. Enjoy this light-hearted yet insightful conversation below.
This is the first show of yet another tour for you guys. How did you feel about the set you just played?
I feel pretty good! There was some weird bass rumble from under the stage, but it was the first day. What are you going to do? It happens. Tomorrow will be better. We’ve definitely played worse (laughs). I feel good about it, and all in all, I’m happy to be here.
There’s something so unique about metal in Vegas, isn’t it? You walk into this lovely hotel, you run into this horde of people in black shirts, and then after the show you can go into the casino.
You can, but as for myself, after the show I’m just ready to get to the hotel room, flip the channels and fall asleep. At 41, I think my days of wilding are almost over. I have my nights, but tonight won’t be one of them. I’m not tired, I’m not ready to go to bed, but I’m also not ready to rage until fucking 4 AM (laughs).
I don’t think you’ve toured with either of these bands in America before, have you? Not at least for a while.
We have toured with Amon Amarth before. I think it might have been 2010 when we did a tour with them, Goatwhore and a band called Lazarus A.D. But that was a while ago. That would be four years ago at this point, may be five. I think it was 2010. I could be wrong. Remember, I’m old (laughs).
Yeah, it might have been 2009 actually, because I do remember the big North American tour you did in 2010 was with Cannibal Corpse.
You’re absolutely right, the 2010 tour was with Cannibal Corpse. But I’ve never toured with Enslaved before and those guys seem to be really fun and nice. First day of a tour can be a ‘big dick’ contest, but today has been fucking smooth as hell. Everyone’s very nice and the set went out good. We knocked out 30 minutes out real fast and the crowd seemed to love it. Everybody’s happy and I’m happy too!
Awesome, man. So, you guys tour so much, it must be physically relentless. How do you keep up your vocals every night? Do you do anything special for that?
Not really, man. There’s no special remedy or ritual I need to do. I do warm up may be about five or ten minutes before I go on. I do like to have a beer or two on stage. I don’t know if it’s a crutch or if it actually helps, but it’s something I’m used to doing so don’t fix what’s not broke. But I just don’t stay up until 4 AM pounding liquor or beer and doing things like that, because it will fuck up the vocals and you can tell the next day. I want to put on the best show I can every day.
Exactly, it’s all about the live show these days. Kids see you live, if they like you they’ll buy your merch and go check out your music.
To me it’s always been about the live show, because we’ve come from a place where the majority of people are like, “I’ve never heard of you guys but I saw you live and it kicked ass, and now I’m going to buy your records!” I think we excel better on stage than we do on record, but with the new record Serpents Unleashed, it’s the only record where we’ve been able to capture that stage energy. For the longest time, we’ve been told, “The records just don’t capture what you do live and I love what y’all do live”. But with Serpents, it’s kind of bridged that gap and has given people an insight into what to expect. Before then, I don’t think we had that with any of the other albums. So the live show has always been paramount to us.
You grew up in a city called Little Rock in the state of Arkansas. Do you think any element of that place is still in your music at all?
Well, I like going back there just because that’s where Nate and I grew up and we have grandparents and shit that we want to see. When we come through, we stop in and say hi to our grandma for as long as we can. We have a couple of uncles and cousins and shit that come out to shows, but Arkansas really doesn’t play a factor in Skeletonwitch. I was just so happy to get out of there. I don’t want to shit on the state, but I really did not like living in Arkansas. We lived in Little Rock and I’m not a city guy. When we moved to Ohio, we moved right to the country and that was really the spot for me, man. I needed to be removed from society, I needed to see trees, corn fields, tractors, big trucks. I’m just not a city person, so I don’t think Arkansas really plays a factor in Skeletonwitch at all.
Interesting, man. I read that you started out as a drummer when you were a kid. How did you gravitate towards doing vocals?
Skeletonwitch is the only band I’ve not been a drummer in. I started playing drums in Arkansas, in what they call junior high in Arkansas. I know in the North they call it middle school. When I moved to Ohio, I was like, “What the fuck is middle school? I don’t even know what that means!” But yeah, I started playing drums in 6th or 7th grade and played it all the way through 12th grade, marching band, jazz band, concert band, and all that. I’ve played drums in a lot of bands but I always felt nervous behind the kit. I guess the main reason is, if the drummer fucks up, the band sucks. If the singer fucks up, “Oh, he was drunk. It’s cool!” It’s a weird thing but it’s so true (laughs). “Oh he was so drunk, it was great!” The drummer’s drunk, they fucking sucked, which is true as hell. I felt way more .. oh by the way, this dude is grabbing this girl’s ass right behind us. Just wanted to say that to everyone (laughs). He definitely middle-finger dived in on top of the pants, but I did see it. But yeah man, being a drummer was way more stressful for me than being a frontman. Plus I get to interact more with people. That’s what I want to do. I feel better up front than I do behind the kit, bottom line.
So, here’s one thing I’ve always wanted to ask you. Have you ever felt like wanting to do clean singing? Not in this band, but I’m asking in general.
Well, I don’t want to be any band other than Skeletonwitch. I want to focus all my efforts into this band, to make it what it can be. In my opinion, when you spread yourself too thin, it becomes watered down. It’s like, “Yeah, he’s in every band in the world. So what?” I really just focus on this and make it the best it can be. As far as clean singing goes, I do that in my car, I do that in the shower, and I do that at home. Will you hear a clean vocal in Skeletonwitch? You will not. You absolutely will not. But, there is another vocal styling that I’ve been working on, which will probably see the light of day on the next record but it’s not that far removed. It’s not like you would think, “Oh my god! What’s he doing? It’s weird!” But it will be a little more aggressive and in the low range. There’s not a whole lot of low vocals on Serpents Unleashed, just because I don’t think the songs required it, like Breathing The Fire did. That album had a kind of a death metal feel to it, Serpents did not. But I’ve been working on one style that’s kind of bridging the gap between the two. I guess it wouldn’t be either low or high, but it’s very harsh. So, expect something a little different but not out of the box.
Very cool, man. One final question I have for you is about the parting slogan which you deliver after every Skeletonwitch set. When did that start and how did it become a part of your set?
You know what, Nate started saying that shit way back in the day when we were just playing local shows. He wouldn’t say it on stage but we would kind of use it as a synonym for ‘Fuck Yeah’. Like, how was the show? Instead of going Fuck Yeah, he would go, ‘Eat some fucking pussy!’ It doesn’t actually mean, ‘eat it’, but it can. I mean, boys and girls alike do that. It’s funny because I just saw a review from a show in Indianapolis, and it was like, “Skeletonwitch was on point and it was good, but then male chauvinist Chance Garnette said, ‘Eat some fucking pussy’.” I was like, really? That’s chauvinist? I didn’t say force-feed someone some pussy, dude (laughs). I would never do that, and nor do I come from that spot. But it’s just more of an exclamation point at the end of a show. It’s more of a ‘Fuck yeah, thank y’all, see ya, eat some fucking pussy.’ It’s not, ‘Hold her down and eat it!’ That’s fucking ridiculous (laughs). It’s just an exclamation point, man.
Yeah it’s great man, it’s pretty unique. On that note I’ll end this interview. It was good talking to you.
You too as well, man. Thank you so much for being here and it was a good time in Las Vegas. Appreciated!
Related – Gig Review: Amon Amarth, Enslaved & Skeletonwitch Kick Off North American Tour In Las Vegas
Visit Skeletonwitch on the web:
Skeletonwitch.com
facebook.com/Skeletonwitch
twitter.com/Skeletonwitch
instagram.com/Skeletonwitch
Remaining tour dates with Amon Amarth and Enslaved:
01/20 – San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live
01/21 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
01/22 – Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
01/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage
01/25 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz
01/26 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
01/27 – Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues (*no Skeletonwitch)
01/29 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
01/30 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
01/31 – Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore
02/01 – Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
02/03 – Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
02/04 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
02/07 – Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
02/08 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
02/09 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
02/11 – Denver, CO @ Summit Theatre
02/12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Murray Theater
02/14 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency
02/15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
02/16 – San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues (* No Enslaved)