Interview

Goatwhore Has Toured Almost Continuously Over The Past Year

Metal Blade Recording artist Goatwhore has stayed busy over the past year. The group toured almost non-stop. Last summer they sweated out among some of today’s top death metal acts on Summer Slaughter. In the fall Goatwhore joined Glenn Danzig for a few dates with Samhain. In the winter the band traveled to the other side of the Earth when they went to Australia. Most recently the band headlined a tour with Black Breath, Ringworm and Theories. Now the band is gearing up for another string of dates on the road including Gwar B-Q

Much of Goatwhore’s tours were without longtime member, bassist James Harvey. Trans Am (ex-Hod, War Master) has filled in for James. I caught up with Ben Falgoust to see what the future holds in store for Harvey and TA. The gauntlet-clad front man also shared his thoughts on this past tours and expressed excitement regarding the upcoming tour.

Rex_84: How was the tour with Black Breath, Ringworm and Theories?

Ben Falgoust: That tour went really well, really, really well. The shows were all really good. All of those bands did fucking amazing jobs! They’re all really great bands. When we put that tour together we wanted bands who were similar to us, but not similar in style. We came up with those bands out for the tour. Everything worked out really good. Everybody did their part and everything went well.

Rex_84: Last year you toured with Samhain. What was it like sharing the stage with Glenn Danzig?

Falgoust: That’s awesome. I never thought Samhain would do another show, to tell you the truth. It was only five or six shows. It was two that we did on the West Coast and three on the East Coast. It was pretty good, man. The only one thing that I really would have liked to see is have them in smaller places but do them a couple nights in a row. Because a lot of the venues were fairly large, which is rightfully so because a lot of people want to see him. I think the impact of it being in a smaller venue, being more intimate and doing three consecutive nights in a row and selling all three nights out, instead of having just one big venue, would have been really fucking cool. That’s just my personal opinion, but overall the shows were really cool. To get to see Samhain and see him doing it still is really awesome.

Rex_84: I heard he was pretty cool, too.

Falgoust: He’s definitely cool. He’s a good guy. I never got to talk to him much. I was busy doing things with the band outside of playing with the band. I’m running back and forth during the shows and taking care of some stuff. I’m not a singer that sits around and asks “what’s a load in?” I’ve got to do things for the band, as well, so I didn’t get to talk to him too much. Sammy [Duet] talked to him and took some pictures with him. He seemed like a really awesome dude. Sometimes I think stuff just happens when you’ve been around for so long and done so many things. You’ve been involved in the scene for so long. I think sometimes you’ve got to kill through all the rumors and get to the heart of it and find out how a person really is.

Rex_84: You also toured Australia. Was this your first time down under?

Falgoust: It was our third time. The first time we went we did some shows with Behemoth and Job For a Cowboy. After that we went back and did a small tour. This last one that we did we were out there for two-and-a-half weeks. We were doing shows with a band that’s from there called Psycroptic who actually just toured the U.S. They were really good guys. It was unique to tour with them because we played all these small cities. It was a really cool tour of Australia. It was really awesome. I had a great time going out there.

Rex_84: You’ll be on hand to celebrate Gwar’s 30th birthday at the Gwar B-Q. How do you feel about playing this show?

Falgoust: I’m pretty excited. I think it’s going to be really cool. There are a lot of awesome bands playing, too. You have the Cro-Mags and you have older bands, too, like the Descendents. There will be a lot of cool bands there. I think it will be a great experience.

Rex_84: Then you play a string of shows in the East and the Midwest. Are you excited to get back on the road?

Falgoust: Yeah, and the thing about it too is it’s kind of funny because so many people ask if we are playing their hometown. In the U.S. there are so many small markets that hardly or never gets shows. We’re going to hit a lot of those markets from Gwar B-Q to going back home. Once we get home we are going to do a hometown show at the House of Blues with Crowbar, which will be unique as well because bigger scale New Orleans bands don’t always get together to play a show. That will be a fun night as well.

Rex_84: You said these are venues that don’t get hit very often. Have you played these venues before?

Falgoust: Some of the places we have played before. In Lansing, Michigan we played Mac’s Bar before, but it’s been a while. Some of these markets are smaller and they’ll get shows every now and then, so there are places we’ve played before but it’s been four or five years. Usually when we play we’re playing like Detroit. Then people from other areas in Michigan will drive out to see the show. Sometimes when you play these places people don’t have to leave their town or they come from a small town close to that town where they are willing to drive to, instead of driving somewhere far within the state like four hours away. Going back through we are trying to hit a lot of places we did not hit on the headlining run, smaller places and areas where people weren’t able to come out to the bigger city shows. In Saint Lois we’ve played Fubar before. We’ve been there before, but it’s been a while since we’ve been there. We’re going back and hitting those kinds of places.

Rex_84: Trans Am has played in place of James Harvey for the last few months. Is James not coming back?

Falgoust: That’s still kind of in limbo and up in the air. We’re still in touch with James. He’s at home doing his fatherly duties. His little boy just turned 10-months old. He’s in the grid of it what his son. Sorting him out and everything for the future. He’s still in the band, but he’s just letting TA fill in until he can have some availability and an opportunity to do anything. We can’t really answer what the future is going to be like for him as far as that goes. Everything is just kind of up in the air right now. We still keep in touch. We still talk to him. He always wants to know what’s going on with the band before we’re even doing stuff. He wants to know what kinds of things are happening as far as touring. He wants to know if there is a possibility that he could leave for a little while and step back in. Right now TA is in the spot taking over to fill in while James does what he has to do.

Rex_84: Are you going into the studio with TA pretty soon?

Falgoust: We don’t have any plans to go into the studio at all right now. We have a couple of songs put together but when we tour we don’t get a lot of writing achieved. We haven’t had a lot of down time, so we had a few things that we put together in January and February before we headed out to Australia. Then we’ve been on the road continuously the whole time. We don’t have any idea as far as when we’re going to record. I still have to write a whole bunch of more stuff for stuff that we will go into the studio to record. That will all unfold as we get closer and start working on new material and we step into that progression.

Rex_84: “Constricting Rage of the Merciless” has been out for a year now. How has the material from this album been received by your fans at shows?

Falgoust: The response has been really good for that material. We’ve been cycling through with our set lists and playing a lot of different stuff from that record. In our set right now we’re doing “Cold Earth Consumed in Dying Flesh,” which is kind of a slow song compared to some of our other stuff, but it’s really unique to have in the set where we’ve placed it. We’re playing some different songs from “Constricting Rage” like “Externalize This Hidden Savagery. And we’re playing the usual like “Barring Teeth For Revolt.” All the response from that has been overwhelming. A lot of good feedback from it. A lot of great responses at the shows from the new material. The record’s been doing really good.

Rex_84: What’s going on with Soilent Green? Is that on hold?

Falgoust: It’s kind of in a limbo status as well. Brian [Patton] has a bunch of Eyehategod stuff. They’re touring a bunch. Tommy [Buckley] has a bunch of Crowbar stuff. They’re touring as well. I’m out with Goatwhore a lot. It’s always in the kind of state to where we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve been offered to do a few things. It’s just hard to get everyone’s schedule worked in together to make it happen. I really can’t answer about the future of Soilent Green.

Rex_84: Is there anything you would like to tell your fans coming out to your shows?

Falgoust: Yeah, come out and bring some drinks (laughs). You know, the usual, come to the show, whatever. If you haven’t heard us or heard of us, feel free to use the Internet and go investigate. That’s what it’s there for. That’s what all this modern technology is there for. I’m definitely not one of those people in a band who’s going to preach to you about downloading. Come to our shows and understand what we’re doing as a band. Sure, you can come to the show totally open not knowing what we do as a band, but I really want you to know the material so you know the songs. I want the people there to know the material in full, so they can experience the live setting, which is different from hearing it on CD or the Internet. Not only with us but every band who is doing extreme metal. Go ahead, go online and check it out. There are different ways to do it: you have Spotify, i-Tunes, Apple’s got this new music thing, you have Google Play. Whatever means you have to do, just do it and then go to the shows and support these bands in that aspect. The thing is the industry is screaming about this downloading thing, but the industry is working against itself by putting out like 40 records a week! I definitely don’t have the money to buy four records a week for a month at 10 dollars a pop. There are other things I have to pay for. I have to pick and choose, but then I can hear something online and decide if I really like those bands and then I can buy their CD and go see them in concert. Do that and go support the band at the show. Buy merch or buy a record.

Rex_84: Catch Goatwhore on the following dates:

8/15 Richmond, VA-Hadad’s Lake
8/16 Frederick, MD @ Cafe 611
8/17 Huntington, WV @ V Club
8/18 Louisville, KY @ Expo Five
8/19 Newport, KY @ Thompson House
8/21 Toledo, OH @ Frankie’s
8/22 Lansing, MI @ Mac’s
8/23 Indianapolis, IN @ 5th Quarter
8/24 St. Louis, MO @ Fubar
8/25 Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room Midnight Metal
8/28 New Orleans, LA @House of Blues
10/24, 25 San Bernardino, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater