Interview

Warrel Dane And Lenny Rutledge Talk New Sanctuary Album "The Year The Sun Died"

For those few who haven't heard the good news: the pre-Nevermore outfit Sanctuary has risen from a more than two decade slumber to announce 2014 as "The Year The Sun Died!"

With the album due out next month, buzz is hitting a fever pitch, and we've been excited to speak with the band members directly about the return of an iconic outfit that ended too soon.

After our writer Rex_84 spoke with guitarist Lenny Rutledge last month to talk about the original demise of Sanctuary, we also just got both Rutledge and vocalist Warrel Dane on the phone to further dissect the new album and see where Sanctuary is going from here.

Check out our latest interview with Sanctuary below to find out how the group approached writing new music with an outfit that hasn't been active since the '80s, what's happening with music videos and live shows, and read Warrel Dane's proclamations on the failure of world religions.

xFiruath: What prompted the return of Sanctuary and how did the band members get back together?

Lenny: We'd always talk about it a little bit when we'd see each other at parties or events or something like that. Back in 2009 somebody offered to put one of our songs in a video game called “Brutal Legend.” We started talking a little bit more about that time and we thought it would be cool to get together and do a show or jam, and obviously it had been many years at that point. We got together and started rehearsing a little bit. It was like the old magic and chemistry came back, so we decided to book some shows. Next thing you know we're talking about doing some original material again.

xFiruath: Your earlier releases were through Epic Records, but this new one will be through Century Media. Can you tell me how that relationship came to be?

Warrel: That's obviously through Nevermore, that was on Century Media for so many years and still is, so that was a natural thing to go to them. It didn't take a whole lot of work, it was an easy transition. They're very supportive and a very good team, I've known them for years so I'm comfortable with it.

xFiruath: You've released a first teaser track off the album called “Arise and Purify” and I noticed it seems to have a very old school vibe. Would you say there was a conscious decision to try to evoke that feel of a band that was primarily active in the '80s or does the rest of the album go a different direction?

Warrel: No, we were just writing music.

Lenny: We were writing what came natural to us really, we weren't trying to sound like anything past. I wouldn't say we're trying to steer away from that either, but we've grown over the years and we've matured and everything, so obviously the sound will be somewhat different, but we still want to be rooted in some of that old school stuff because that's where we come from.

xFiruath: You also just shot a music video for “Frozen.” Where did that take place and what's happening in the video?

Warrel: We did that in Germany. We were over there to play a festival and Century Media coordinated that so we were shooting the video over there. We had a really great video director. When you see the video, oh my god, it's so fucking good. I couldn't be happier with it. We approached that with no trepidation and just going into the dark and seeing what happened, and it turned out so fucking killer.

Lenny: There's this really cool thing from the ceiling, this giant room we were in, where there are these little cages, like weird bird cages with candle holders, hanging down in different levels and it's really cool.

xFiruath: On the new album, how was the recording handled? Did that all take place at one location or at different studios?

Lenny: We did it in a couple of different studios. We recorded the basic tracks at Soundhouse Studio in Seattle, it's run by Jack Endino and he's the godfather of grunge, but he wasn't really the producer or anything, Zeuss was our producer. We did a lot of the other tracking at my studio, we call it Metal Camp studio.

xFiruath: On the recording process, were there any extra tracks that won't be on the album's standard edition?

Warrel: We've got a couple left over.

Lenny: We have a cover of The Doors song “Waiting For The Sun” that isn't on the standard edition, then there's a couple of songs we didn't actually record and we'll save those for the next one.

xFiruath: I'm interested in hearing that cover and I'm wondering how you approached that. Did you try to stick closely to the original?

Warrel: With a song like that, you have to be respectful to the original. It's not a completely different version, but it's definitely way fucking heavier. I'm a Morrison junkie and I channeled him.

Lenny: We definitely turned it into a metal song, let's put it that way.

xFiruath: Other than the cover track, what's happening with the album's lyrical themes?

Warrel: Well, it's a concept record, much like Nevermore's “Dreaming Neon Black” was. When you see the liner notes you'll read the elements of the story in between each song. You have to hear it and read it and look at the artwork and see everything in between to completely get it. I don't want to explain it in really literal terms.

xFiruath: Does Sanctuary already have any tours booked to support the album?

Lenny: Right now we're doing a tour in November of the West Coast and we're looking into the possibility of the Midwest and East Coast. We'll definitely be hitting more areas, we want to try to get down to Texas. The only thing confirmed right now is the West Coast of the U.S. though. We're working on some things for Europe in 2015.

xFiruath: Besides your new album, what's happening in metal you are excited about these days?

Warrel: I was really looking forward to the new Opeth and I was not let down. I don't care what the haters say, I love it. I could not have been happier with the new Carcass. I was anticipating that so much and it turned out to be so fucking good. At the Wacken festival in Germany we were doing interviews and promotions for this new record and Carcass was playing but we didn't get to see them, that made me so sad because Carcass is one of my favorite bands, and I didn't get to see Arch Enemy either.

xFiruath: What else would you like to say before we end our chat?

Warrel: Everyone reading, start your own religion, because the one's we have now are not fucking working.