This interview was conducted by Philip A. Wickstrand with drummer Ryan Parrish at the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, OR on March 13, 2011.

DARKEST HOUR has been known to be one of the hardest touring bands in Metal. Countless tours across North America and Europe have honed their edge and won them fans when label backing failed. Now with a new label home, eOne Music, DARKEST HOUR can complete the missing piece and get the proper exposure for their newest full-length album, The Human Romance.

Phil: First of all, tell us about the new album, The Human Romance.

Ryan: Oh man, it's a combination I think of what DARKEST HOUR's been doing well since we started. It's melodic and thrashy, brutal, just all the elements we've done really well at. It's kind of harnessed all that energy down to one compact disc.

Phil: What was the song writing process like for this album?

Ryan: You know, we just kind of went in with no really pre-conceived notion of what we wanted to sound like, we just went in and started writing. We had eighteen songs at one point, which is the most we've ever written, so we had tons of material and then we just kind of rolled it all out, chose the best ones. But we had a lot of inspiration just with being on a new label and a fresh new start, just kind of went in there and went big, you know.

Phil: What is going to happen with those extra tracks? Are you going to do an EP with them or are you going to put them out on various compilations or bonus tracks?

Ryan: Uh… probably nothing. They just weren't good enough, you know what I mean? So we kinda scrapped 'em. There's one or two ideas still floating around, but the majority of the stuff that's not on the album is gone.

Phil: Okay. Possibly cannibalized for later riffs and such?

Ryan: Yeah, maybe. We'll gut 'em if we need to.

Phil: What was the production process like?

Ryan: Pre-production was awesome with Peter. So we just took a week and played all the songs all the way through, dissected everything to see what was good and what was bad. It was awesome and then just went from there. So it was really cool. We felt like after we did pre-production with every song that we've got the best sounding song, that we thought was the strongest arrangement and structure. So it was cool. It was grueling, but it was cool.

Phil: What are your favorite tracks off the album and why?

Ryan: Oh boy… oh boy… that's a tough one, man.

Phil: There's a song called “Oh Boy, Oh Boy, That's a Tough One”? [laughter]

Ryan: Now that is the track! It's hidden. [laughter] I would say I love “The World Engulfed in Flames,” I like “Man and Swine…” I like the single, “Savor the Kill.” I love the instrumental track - that's pretty amazing how that all came out; the acoustic section blows my balls off. I don't know, man. They all have a certain little hint of what I… what I'm trying to say is in every song, there's a part of it that's my favorite, so it's hard to really say my favorites 'cause each one has a favorite moment, but yeah, I think those would be the ones.

Phil: How's the tour been so far?

Ryan: It's been good. We hit some cold weather in the Midwest, then as we came more west it got a little warmer. But the shows have been great, the response to the new material has been really good for us. We're just really stoked to be out here playing it, so it's good.

Phil: How's your experience on eOne so far versus Victory?

Ryan: You probably know the answer to that one - we've done nine interviews, you know, you probably know. [laughter] Night and day, you know what I mean? They really care, they share our vision, they share our enthusiasm, they believe in the band, so there's just a lot more to work with, a lot better people to work with. They really care and that's something we've never had before. We have CDs to sell at shows, [laughs] which we've never had before, so it's just a whole new thing that we're not even accustomed to, so it's been great, hands down. Great.

Phil: Do you think Victory treated you more like the "tax write-off band" than anything that they would have even remotely bothered signing otherwise?

Ryan: Yeah, yeah. I think we were just funding other projects that they cared more about. You know, we were more or less just like "Hey, let's just do a record for them so we can make some money and then we'll just put this band out and won't even try and we'll take all the DARKEST HOUR money into this other band so we can promote them." You know, just cash cow kind of. I don't know. It's like beating up a little kid in the cafeteria to get his lunch money so you can buy something for this hot chick, you know what I mean?

Phil: Yeah.

Ryan: That's what we were. We were getting our ass kicked.

Phil: I kind of wonder what the hell happened to that label 'cause they started out so good and then just pbbtht! Now that BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME are gone, there is nobody I care about on that label anymore. They used to have you guys, SNAPCASE, EARTH CRISIS, all these great bands…

Ryan: DEADGUY.

Phil: Even stuff like HI-FI AND THE ROADBURNERS, which was completely out of field from what they'd normally do, but it was good. Now they just don't have anything.

Ryan: I mean, there are definitely some bands on there that are just getting the shit end of the stick, for sure. They just haven't had a chance; they sank before they swam. I don't know. Hopefully they get out of there and get to other careers.

Phil: Are THE TOSSERS still signed with them?

Ryan: I don't know.

Phil: That was like the last one decent band, but they didn't do anything with them whatsoever.

Ryan: I know CARNIFEX is still with them, but they're trying to get out. It's just a mess right now.

Phil: Okay, well enough slamming on the old label, let's talk about positive things!

Ryan: Yeah!

Phil: Recommend a band from your local scene that hasn't gotten a lot of publicity and you think is really awesome and our readers should check out.

Ryan: Oh my God… there are a few bands in the Richmond area… you know, Richmond, Virginia's kind of like a Metal place in a weird way, but then again, there's a whole other sick genre of music that's unheard of and… ah, man, that's crazy because this is a hard question, man. Plus I'm on the road all the time; I don't get out very often. But there's a lot going on, for sure. I would say this band called THE AMOEBA MEN. Kind of like this experimental Rock fusion thing - it's pretty crazy stuff. And for Metal, there's this band called COUGH, but they're kinda getting well known.

Phil: Yeah, they just signed to Relapse, didn't they?

Ryan: Yeah, they just signed to Relapse but they've been around for a little while. There's this band called PARASITIC; it's really heavy, like gross, dirty BUZZ-OVEN… not really BUZZ-OVEN, but just heavy and cool thrashy Metal, screamy like… I don't know. They're cool. PARASITIC, COUGH. This band called MIGHT COULD. Kinda like this newer ATP-ish sounding Stoner Rock kind of thing. What else? There's just so much. Those are the ones that come up off the top of my head.

Phil: Has there ever been an album that you've really loved and then somebody else managed to come along and completely ruin it for you?

Ryan: Oh, that's a great question! Yeah, that happened, that happened! I love SEPULTURA's Arise, I love it and this was in high school, so this was awhile ago, but there was this dude who was just a complete dick, a redneck, crazy rebellion guy, you know what I mean? And one day he was driving out of the parking lot, and everytime he did he had this rebel flag in the bed of his truck that was flying and he'd hit the horn and it'd go [beats out the rhythm to Dixie].

Phil: Ugh…

Ryan: Yeah, one of those guys. I mean really disgusting. I think one day he was coming out of the parking lot and I heard Dead Embryonic Cells blaring from his truck. This made me, not hate the band, but listen to that record in a whole different way. [laughs] I don't know… that's terrible to say but I'd say that'd be my experience with that. Kinda made me think about… like, what's that guy doing… why's he ruining it, listening to good music. Am I weird for liking that album now? [laughs] I don't know. It makes you reevaluate who you are, I guess. [laughter] But yeah, that was pretty serious. Made me feel weird.

Phil: I had this one job and the guys I worked with were listening to different kinds of music and I'm like, "I know, I'll introduce them to these two bands they might like" and so I burned them copies of DROPKICK MURPHYS' Blackout and VOODOO GLOW SKULLS' Symbolic. And they really liked 'em, I was like, "Yes! I've won new fans for these bands!" Now me being the music fanatic, I'd think when you burn a copy of something for somebody, if they like it, they're going to turn around and buy albums by this band.

Ryan: Yeah.

Phil: No. They didn't even so much as download more albums by those bands. But they played those two albums every single work day for six months straight.

Ryan: Six months?

Phil: Six months straight. I love those albums, but since that time I have not listened to them because I got my fill.

Ryan: Oh my God!

Phil: Yeah.

Ryan: Oh, you know, there was this one album too… THE PIXIES. I used to work at this diner and they used to play that shit every night, all night, like six hours. And now THE PIXIES just rub me the wrong way. But I loved that album, you know. Now it's like, I never want to hear it again. Ever again. [laughter]

Phil: Okay, last time I asked you this question you couldn't come up with an answer, so I force fed you one - recommend a book for our readers…

Ryan: Oh no!!! You're doing this to me again?

Phil: I ask this question in every interview. [laughs]

Ryan: All right, here you go - Mosh Potatoes. It's a cookbook. Hey man, laugh if you will, but I have been using it every day when I'm home, cooking out of that thing - it is awesome. It's incredible. Actually, Paul Burnette from DARKEST HOUR has a blueberry muffin recipe in there. But I mean, there's some good stuff in there, man, there's some god stuff. Dave Ellefson has a recipe in there, from MEGADETH, Dave Witte from MUNICIPAL WASTE, Erik Larson, ATP. There's just some good people and some good food. It's good, man - check it out.

Phil: Is there anything else you'd like to add, sir?

Ryan: Thanks for the… ninth interview? Tenth?

Phil: Somewhere between eight, nine and ten.

Ryan: It's seems like we're dating in this weird sort of way.

Phil: My girlfriend's going to be very upset. [laughter]

Ryan: My Portland girlfriend. [laughs] But I really appreciate all the years of you caring, coming out and doing these interviews. It's really awesome and I wouldn't know what I would do if I came to the Portland area and didn't hang out with Phil. I don't know what I would do, so it's just nice to have a constant in a cool town with a cool dude and I appreciate that, man.

Darkest Hour's Ryan Parrish

Interviewer: Philip A. Wickstrand

March 23, 2011

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PHOTO BY PHIL A. WICKSTRAND

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

Formed: 1995
Washington, DC  USA
Label: E1 Music
Genre: Melodic Death Metal /
Metalcore

CURRENT LINE-UP:

John Henry:  Vocals
Mike Schleibaum:  Guitars
Mike Carrigan Theobald:  Guitars
Paul Burnette:  Bass
Ryan Parrish:  Drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

The Misanthrope EP (1996)
Darkest Hour (Demo-1996)
Darkest Hour/Groundzero Split (1999)
The Prophecy Fulfilled EP (1999)
The Mark of the Judas (2000)
Where Heroes Go To Die Split (2001)
So Sedated, So Secure (2001)
Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation (2003)
Darkest Hour / Set My Path Split(2004)
Party Scars and Prison Bars:
                  A Thrashography DVD (2005)
Undoing Ruin (2005)
Archives - Best of/Comp. (2006)
Deliver Us (2007)
The Eternal Return (2009)
The Human Romance (2011)