Jen Interviews Brock from 36 Crazyfists who just signed to Spinefarm Records.

Like a bear native to the Alaskan tundra, 36 CRAZYFISTS have emerged from a four-year recording hibernation and have signed a worldwide deal with Spinefarm Records. The label welcomes the Alaska-originated band, which is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year, to its formidable and expanding roster, which boasts the best in hard rock and heavy metal.

 The new album, Time and Trauma, is due out in February 2015.

 “We have found a new home at Spinefarm Records and although the label is new to us, some of the staff are old friends and we couldn’t be more grateful to unleash the beast that is Time and Trauma with their help,” said frontman Brock Lindow. “20 years in and it feels like Spinefarm is a killer home to hang our hats. See you all on the road in 2015!”

 To celebrate the new label partnership, the band has shared the new song “Also Am I,” which is available as a stream. Listen to it here. https://soundcloud.com/spinefarmrecords/36-crazyfists-also-am-i/s-tl3pm

I had the pleasure on interviewing Brock about signing to Spinefarm.  Alaska’s signal must not be the best as we had some connection problems but it was great to have a chat with him.

Hi Brock, congrats on 20 years in the music industry and still going!

Thanks!

I’ve never interviewed a band from Alaska before, I was interested what your accent would be like.

Well I guess that people say that we sound like Canadian as we are connected to Canada. I love the Australian accent that is for sure.

Well I can understand you so that’s a good start. (Both laughing)

You guys are from Anchorage, are you the band that has made it in the industry from there or are there others?

I think were the first band that really got out and toured the world. There is a band from here called Portugal Man that had been to Australia a few times, they are really big in the Indie world. They are a great band. The music scene is great here, there are a lot more bands now and they get to tour in the States, I’m not sure about Europe or anything like that, definitely not Australia. We have been one of the lucky ones I guess.

Yeah, where are you based now?

I am in Anchorage, back home.

So after a 4 year break you are going to release Time and Trauma, the album has been completed for a while now, were you waiting for a record label to sign you or was there another reason that it has been a later release than planned?

I think it was a combo of a few things, basically when we got off the road, off the last tour, we wanted to take a break from the grind and then my mother got ill and end up passing away from cancer. I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks that’s okay. Life in general took more of a forefront for us than the band. We needed a break. When the dust sort of settled after that we started on the record in 2012 and worked on it throughout 2013, it was finished it early last year and then we were not really sure what will going to do after in regards to the label side of things. Then we got the demos done and started sending them around to everyone we knew in the industry and then the next thing we knew five or six different labels were offering to put the record. We had some old friends at Spinefarm and we like their ideas and passion in music and their belief in the band more than the other labels. So we signed up with Spinefarm and now the release is finally a couple of weeks away!

I love the album design, it makes me think of a heavy coat weighing me down, like how a depressed person can feel, who designed it and was that the meaning?This is where the line got static and we lost each other a bit, but I believe that Brock said it was Mike from Kill Switch Engage. I asked him  if there was a meaning.

Yeah the whole record is about losing my mum and learning from it and about the fragility of life and finding peace and closure, the whole tragic event that happened in my life. My mum was a huge fan of our band and everyone in the band really loved my mom so it was a heavy blow for all of us but of course me especially. After that happened I started writing the album and the very first line of the lyrics that I wrote was for the song Time and Trauma and that set the tone for all the songs on the record. That’s the reason that that is the title as well.

What song do you connect to most? After listening I think mine would be Vanish, but that will probably change the more I listen.

This is when we lost each other again so we missed this question.

What that song written to be the opening song? “I feel the anger is pulling me down… no escape, “ meaningful lyrics.

Once this song was written it was going to be the opening song because it has a pretty good intro but it was written in the middle of the writing process.

That song is my favourite. Oh cool thank you.

As you have been in the music industry for so long can you tell us how it is different for you now to release a record now than it was back 20 years ago?

Well I don’t know whether releasing the album is different but using social media is a huge thing with people now, you can really come your band out and connect with your fans in a different way that you could ever before. I think that is the plus side of things. People buying an album, it is definitely not the big thing like it was when I was growing up, I mean I couldn’t wait to purchase albums to see the art and all that stuff, that is all lost. Basically it’s the same idea, we are all trying to get out records and have a job through music so I guess we tried to say to our fans to purchase our record to support us. I think the biggest asset is the presale bundles that we can offer some people that might be a little more enticing rather than someone just getting a CD. In presales you can throw in a hoodie or a shirt and a signed vinyl or something like that. I think the biggest change is just the social media aspect of it, for example being able to reach out to the fans in ways that we couldn’t when we started.

Do you run all your social networking?

Yeah I do. Great, it is a good way to fans to connect with band members. Yeah we can afford to hire someone else to run it for us. (both laughing)

 I read that you own a restaurant and run a podcast on beer. How do you have the time? Can you tell us about that? Yeah I do a few radio shows here as well. It is just some extra staff that I do when I’m home. (Lost the rest of this question as well due to the phone line)

Thanks Brock for taking the time to talk to me, that is all I have for you today. It has been a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you so much for calling and taking the time to talk to me about it, I really appreciate it. No worries, thanks a lot Brock.

Thanks Jen, Bye.