{"id":1445,"date":"2012-10-30T19:35:23","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/?p=1445"},"modified":"2012-10-30T19:35:23","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:05:23","slug":"early-graves-guitarist-chris-brock-talks-new-album-us-tour-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/Interviews\/2012\/10\/30\/early-graves-guitarist-chris-brock-talks-new-album-us-tour-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Graves Guitarist Chris Brock Talks New Album, US Tour & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bansal<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>San Francisco-based metal band Early Graves are releasing their third studio album “Red Horse” today, on October 30th 2012, via No Sleep Records. After the tragic death of their vocalist Makh Daniels in a van accident in 2010, the band recruited John Strachan from The Funeral Pyre as their new vocalist, and played a few shows in 2011 before writing this new record. To support this release, they have just completed a US touring run including a 32-date tour with Skeletonwitch & Havok, and a few headline dates. A few days ago, while they were still on tour, I caught up with guitarist Chris Brock to discuss the making of the new album, the US tour, change of vocalist, and lots more. Read the conversation below, and visit the Early Graves facebook page<\/a><\/strong> for more info.<\/p>\n

First of all, how was the tour with Skeletonwitch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was amazing to tour with Skeletonwitch. We were playing in front of\u00a0people who had never heard of us before so that was awesome and in\u00a0general the dudes in Skeletonwitch are amazing people and a great\u00a0band.<\/p>\n

Their music is a little more on the extreme metal side whereas\u00a0yours is based on thrash and hardcore elements. Sounds to me like an\u00a0interesting combination of bands. Would you say you won over some new\u00a0fans on that tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope so! I think we definitely made some new fans. We are a pretty\u00a0extreme band so hopefully people got it!<\/p>\n

On the tour, you played 32 shows in 33 days! How did you cope with\u00a0such a grueling schedule? Was that something you were used to from\u00a0past touring experiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We did more than that! We did about 54 shows in 58 days. It was\u00a0awesome to play every night but it certainly can become a Groundhogs\u00a0Day experiance where everyday starts to feel the same. We have toured\u00a0extremely heavy in the past, so it wasn’t difficult if that’s what you\u00a0mean.<\/p>\n

In your opinion, was the tour sufficiently well routed to pull off\u00a0that kind of a schedule?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah for sure. The tour did 6 shows alone in Florida so the drives\u00a0weren’t too bad. After we left the witch tour, we drove 1300 miles\u00a0from Little Rock to Brooklyn to play the CMJ MEtal Sucks\/Metal\u00a0Injection\/1000 Knives Pig Destroyer show. That drive sucked but it’s\u00a0all good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You completed that run of dates two weeks before the album\u2019s\u00a0October 30 release date. Was that an issue when it came to playing the\u00a0new material, as people wouldn\u2019t have been familiar with these songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We actually did a bunch of shows prior to that tour and a bunch from that\u00a0tour, so we have been out basically 2 months straight. We played the\u00a0new songs 1 month after completing recording and were playing 4 new\u00a0songs live. I think people dug it who hadn’t heard us and those that\u00a0had were glad to see us playing new songs for sure. The new songs are
\nheavy and fast, so its not like it was a major jump.<\/p>\n

Talking of the new album \u2018Red Horse\u2019, the first question is kind of\u00a0obvious: Do you think the change of vocalist has made a big\u00a0difference, or has John Strachan pretty much fit in to what Makh\u00a0Daniels did on previous albums?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s been a huge difference in our sound but I don’t think it was\u00a0something done with much thought in mind. John works really well with\u00a0our band. He has sang on our records before as well. I have nothing\u00a0but positive things to say about John’s voice fitting in our band. It
\nis definitely different than Makh, but it really had to be if you ask\u00a0me.<\/p>\n

I was actually in attendance at your first show with John last year\u00a0in LA. At that point, had you already decided upon him as your next\u00a0permanent vocalist, or was it more of a trial run?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah John was already IN the band. If we were going to continue, he\u00a0was the dude. We didn’t know if we were going to continue at that\u00a0point though.<\/p>\n

Because of what happened with Makh Daniels, has your grief and\u00a0frustration reflected on the music you wrote for this new album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Certainly. We were sad and pissed when writing the album. It was\u00a0really difficult to not have Makh there as a friend, so that certainly\u00a0played a factor in writing the music.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite sad to read about van robberies and accidents, and it\u00a0seems to be happening a lot to metal bands in particular. Not that I\u00a0wish for the \u2018richer\u2019 musicians to suffer the same fate, but isn\u2019t it\u00a0ironic that it happens to metal bands who\u2019re working their asses off\u00a0just to follow a passion and not for much financial gain?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t wish anything bad to happen to anyone on tour. Being on tour\u00a0is not easy no matter what the circumstances are.<\/p>\n

Coming back to \u2018Red Horse\u2019, quite a few reviews of it have been\u00a0saying that The Funeral Pyre has broken up, but the band has clarified\u00a0that it\u2019s not the case. Do you think Early Graves will go through\u00a0periods of inactivity when The Funeral Pyre makes a new album\u00a0and then tours to promote it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have no idea. I am in the Funeral Pyre as well. We are working very\u00a0hard on a new album as well!<\/p>\n

This album is your first on No Sleep Records, with whom you signed\u00a0earlier this year. I must say, it\u2019s definitely not the likeliest label\u00a0I thought you\u2019d go with. What brought you to that decision to sign\u00a0with them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

All the labels who people “think” we should sign with didn’t want to\u00a0sign us. Some had too many bands, some didn’t like what we were doing.\u00a0No Sleep liked our new songs and didn’t make us jump through 1,000,000\u00a0hoops like a fucking toy monkey in order to help us make a new album.<\/p>\n

What plans do you have after completing this fall tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We recently finished work on our first video and that should be out\u00a0soon. Check out our new album RED HORSE.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/nosleepstore.com\/product\/1010\/red-horse<\/wbr><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Andrew Bansal San Francisco-based metal band Early Graves are releasing their third studio album “Red Horse” today, on October 30th 2012, via No Sleep Records. After the tragic death of their vocalist Makh Daniels in a van accident in 2010, the band recruited John Strachan from The Funeral Pyre as their new vocalist, and … <\/p>\n

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