In the corner of the backroom of Brooklyn club, Europa, sat three of the members of sludge metal group Eyehategod.  Jimmy Bower, Mike Williams and Brian Patton lounged behind a wooden font filled with celery and carrots.  When your ears perked up and listened, the conversation between the veteran musicians was irresistible.

Patton: You should do the whole thing without your shirt.

Bower: I’ll play with my shirt off; I do not give a fuck.

Williams: I’m married what does it matter?

Bower: “I did a Superjoint video with my shirt off everyone knows I have tits bigger than most girls.”  And suddenly the attention shifted to me, “Don’t worry we’ll fuck you in private later.”

Lynora: Me? Oh good. Not on the camera, that would be so inappropriate.

Bower: It’s an old joke.

Patton: Look at this, Jim, you already made this girl uncomfortable.

[We laughed and began our chat.]

Lynora: So what can you tell me about the new DVD?

Williams: MVD put it out, but we also got help from these guys in Baltimore called Digital Minds. They helped us edit it and put it together.  They filmed it and stuff.

Bower: It’s basically two shows. One show is in Baltimore in ‘09 and the next one is pretty much a year later in Cleveland-nah, a year and a half.

Patton: There are a couple of random videos in it.

Williams: There’s some stuff from Austria there.  And then there are a couple of fan made videos in there that are really cool, yea, they are really awesome.

Bower: We’re proud it cause it’s probably the most professional looking and sounding one.  We did a Japanese release that was ok, this one we’re really happy with.

Lynora: What’s your favorite thing off of the DVD?  Are there any extras or interviews or…?

Bower: The money we make on it. [laughs] The plastic drips on the chic we got duck taped up, no I’m joking.

Williams: No there’s no interviews, no backstage antics, we want to do that eventually though.

Patton: It’s just the closest thing to a real live experience, for us at least.

Williams: Except all the illegal shit.

Bower: ... They don’t let cameras in prison. That is the cheesiest thing I’ve said.

Lynora: Back in May, I read that you guys were planning on recording, and saw a new song live that was posted online.  So, are you guys recording a new album?

Bower: We are. Yea. Ok, Brian recently relocated to Baltimore, Mike lives about an hour and a half outside of New Orleans and everyone who is in the band has family, everyone has priorities.  And we always took our time; we have nobody breathing down our throat to do it, except our fans.  We’re just trying to just play shows and get back in people’s eyes and everything.  But, I guarantee it will be out this year, probably by the winter.

Patton: We’re trying to go into the studio by the Fall, in October.

Lynora: So I know you guys in the past have had trouble with labels, are you on an independent label now?

Bower: We were on Century Media.

Lynora: And you didn’t like them.

Patton: Nooo, we loved Century Media!  The problem was they just didn’t know what to do with us.

Williams: We didn’t even know what to do with us either.  I mean in the early 90’s they had like Strapping Young Lad, Iced Earth-they just didn’t know what to do with us!  Nobody had ever heard a band like us. 

Bower: Back then, the record business was still like that.  You know what I mean.

Williams: Well now, I think a lot of people can’t deny it, but we opened a lot of doors for a lot of different type of music.  I mean I’m not bragging, but we changed things up a bit and like I said they didn’t know what to do with us.  The metal bands hated us, the punks hated us cause, we didn’t really fit anywhere…

Bower: But I do have to say, they did believe in us.

Williams: They did.  It was mainly one guy that we kind of had problems with.

Patton: He happened to own it.

Williams: And we were naive too, we would bitch at stuff that we probably shouldn’t have bitched about.

Bower: In the beginning we were kind of taken advantage of with contracts and all that.  But we can’t deny that they totally believed in us.

Lynora: How do you feel about being on an independent label?

Bower: Oh that was just for Preaching the End Time Message.

Williams: We’re not on a label.  That was for one record.  Emetic still put out that record.

Bower: They do our vinyls.  They’re not necessarily our label; we just did our last album with them.

Lynora: So what are you guys going to do for this next release then?

Bower: We’re kind of shooting around, cause right now in my opinion the music business is being reinvented daily, so it’s like, what do you do?

Lynora: That’s why I feel like there is an important shift off of labels to you, you can have more independence and do it yourself-- if you want to put in all that ridiculous time and effort.

Williams: It’s a catch 22 either way.  We could put it out ourselves, but then you have the distribution to worry about.

Bower: And pay for!

Patton: You have to worry about Europe.

Bower: You have to get the distribution for all over.

Williams: Or we can have a label put it out and deal with whatever bullshit comes out with that.

Bower: We have enough problems getting [Mike] drink tickets, so…

Lynora: So as musicians, you know firsthand that you’re your own best friend and greatest promoter, what other bands have you found helpful to you and instrumental in helping you get out there and exposed?  Was there a band that really believed in you and brought you places?

Bower: Buzzoven, Pantera, White Zombie.

Lynora: White Zombie?

Bower: Yea we did four or five shows with them before they were huge. 

Williams: Chaos UK in ‘93.

Patton: Neurosis.

Williams: Corrosion of Conformity took us too.

Patton: Anybody we toured with, anyone who would take us out, we learned from and got exposure from.  It was the only way that we could get out, was with friends.

Bower: Obituary, Entombed.

Lynora: So what bands are your favorite bands that are out right now that you wish would get more press and get more of a push?

Patton: Misery Index.

Bower: [points at Misery Index sitting to our left] Yea Misery Index is really good.  There’s a band from New Orleans called Harp, who I think is really good.  I kind of the wrong person to ask, unless somebody turns me onto it I don’t have the time to look.

Patton: As you get older you get more set in your ways.

Williams: There are a lot of cool bands.  I’m still listening to older shit though.

Patton: We listen to the shit we grew up with, so.

Williams: I might hear of a good new band and I’ll listen to them twice and then I’m back to the old shit.  I’ll still like that new band but I’m not going to listen to it every day, usually.

Bower: I commend you on that question though, because that was a very unique and original question.

Lynora: Thanks! What are you looking forward to about Hellfest this year?

Williams: The Melvins are playing, Iggy and the Stooges, the Bad Brains are playing but we’re going to miss them I think, Down is playing the same day as well.

Bower: We did it once and it was really an honor and now we want to get back and really get on it.  Hellfest is a festival that we’ve seen grow.  We played at the first or second year.

Patton: That wasn’t the first year.  It has been around for a while; it used to be small though.

Williams: It used to be Furyfest and then it got bigger.

Bower: But we watched it grow, and we’re proud that they called us and asked us to be on it.

Lynora: So how does this work?  There are a hundred bands on the bill, where does everybody stay?  Is there some huge hotel full of metal bands?

Williams: The fans stay in tents at the festival, and they drove us an hour outside of the show to a hotel.

Bower: It’s something I wish that America would catch on to.

Lynora: We have Maryland Deathfest.

Bower: Yea but that’s in the middle of a city, this is more like Woodstock.  It’s in fields and people come and they bring their tent and drink.  It’s cool.

Lynora: What the different preparation that you have to do for a festival as opposed to a tour.  Do you bring your techs and equipment with you?

Williams: Well we are going on a tour after that.

Bower: We based our European tour around Hellfest.  We are doing another festival which is in Denmark, and we’re doing a couple more festivals.

Williams: We’re doing four.

Bower: But festivals are easy, because you show up and there is a ton of gear and they are like, ok what do you need, and 8,000 guys go grab it.

Williams: You bring your guitars, and that is basically it.

Bower: We don’t bring anyone anyway, it’s just us, a driver, and a merch guy.  We do all of our on tech work.  Use it or lose it.

Lynora: One last question, it’s a little tricky.  What of your songs do you really like that you wish your fans would like more, as opposed to what songs your fans like more that you are surprised that they like so much?

Bower: The blues aspect of it.  I think some fans get it, and some fans don’t.  To me being older, I learned that it’s not something that they don’t know, it’s something that you mature into.

Lynora: They just haven’t arrived yet.

Bower: And I don’t think people realize how much of a blues band we are, I don’t consider us metal or anything at all.  I don’t.  I mean of course it sounds that way.

Lynora: I mean blues is the cornerstone of metal anyway, it all pulls and stems from itself.

Bower: Well the attitude of blues, I mean take somebody like John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, they were more punk rock then fucking anybody.  Whatever punk rock means, I mean does that mean attitude? Does that mean dress?


I thanked Eyehategod for the great conversation and continued it briefly before stepping back out into the club.  I waited to see them and Misery Index.  Europa felt like a bull that night, and Eyehategod definitely took fans on a ride they won’t soon be forgetting.

Eyehategod

Interviewer: Lynora

March 9, 2011

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(Click on Photo to Enlarge)

Formed: 1988
New Orleans, Louisiana  USA
Label: Unsigned
Genre: Sludge/Doom Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Mike Williams:  Vocals
Brian Patton:  Guitars
Jimmy Bower:  Guitars
Gary Mader:  Bass
Joe LaCaze:  Drums

DISCOGRAPHY:

In the Name of Suffering (1992)
Take as Needed for Pain (1993)
Ruptured Heart Theory EP (1994)
13/Eyehategod I (Split - 1994)
13/Eyehategod II (Split - 1995)
Dopesick (1996)
Southern Discomfort-Best of/Comp.
                                                       (2000)
Confederacy of Ruined Lives (2000)
10 Years of Abuse...Best of/Comp.
                                                       (2001)
Eyehategod/Soilent Green
                                           (Split - 2002)
Eyehategod/Cripple Bastards
                                          (Split - 2004)
Live in Tokyo 2002 DVD (2004)
99 Miles of Bad Road EP (2004)
Preaching the End...Best of/Comp.
                                                     (2005)
Live DVD (2011)