Interview

Tim Brown On Lyrical Content Of Striker's "City Of Gold": "As People Learn More And More About How They Are Being Exploited And By Whom, The Outrage Grows."

Formed in 2007, Canadian traditional metal act Striker set to stake a claim in the crowded so-called “New Wave of Traditional Metal” scene. If metal bands emerging from the Great White North are known for anything – it is how to fight, survive and win. They represent some of the most criminally underrated and classic bands found in heavy metal, especially when you count legends like Anvil, Exciter and Helix among newer acts like Cauldron and Skull Fist.

Spearheading a new influx of “true metal,” Striker has dropped its latest monumental effort “City of Gold” via Napalm Records earlier this month. It is a continuation of the power burst made on the breakthrough album “Armed to the Teeth” (2012) (see review here). With a little more punk influence added in this time around, the band have seemingly found “Cibola” and continue the march towards metal glory. Metal Underground.com sat down with the Striker’s newest axeslinger Tim Brown (Shadowblade/ex-Kobra and the Lotus), who joined in 2013, replacing Ian Sandercock.

EDITORS NOTE: On September 15th, Striker announced that it was forced to drop off the upcoming North American your with Onslaught and Artillery, which was discussed below. Read the announcement at this location.

CROMCarl: With “Armed to the Teeth,” I really felt like the band had really started to break out. With the great reactions you had for that album, was the pressure on to make “City of Gold” that much better?

Tim: With “City of Gold” we really wanted a much more modern production style. We love “Armed to the Teeth” but felt that we could improve on it, and make an album that was heavier and more aggressive while also being more melodic and just a little more unique and crazy. I think we did a good job with that, and we are all really happy with how “City of Gold” turned out. We never felt any pressure to improve on the last album. The writing and recording process is very natural to us and we make music because we love it, not because we are trying to one up anyone or anything, including any of our past efforts. Each album is unique and has something special about it, a snapshot of yourself from a certain time period.

CROMCarl: One of the things I love about the band’s style is that even though it is traditional at its base, you really add a classic touch from multiple subgenres and the albums sound so fresh and exciting from song to song. On “City of Gold,” I noticed there is an even a bigger thrash element and sometimes even a borderline punk feel, especially in the vocals.

Tim: Yea totally! This time around we had more hardcore and thrash influences. Music is just one big journey; there is an infinite amount of music to listen to, and so many amazing ideas to pick up from. Every day we keep our ears open for new music and new ways to grow musically. We found there wasn’t really a hair metal/hardcore style that’s been explored before, and during the writing process we liked that combination for some songs. Furthermore our producer, Frederick Nordstrom, has worked with lots of great modern metal/hardcore bands like Bring me the Horizon and Architects and I think the production style lent its hand towards that type of punk/hardcore sound. There are a lot of gang vocals on the album, and we like that because we always feel that people love to sing along with the gang vocals live and they are a great way to punctuate the vocals. We like to keep it interesting and I think the best way to do that is to incorporate as many ideas as you can.

CROMCarl: I think is pretty exciting when you hear three relentless assault tracks and then you throw the curve ball with “Bad Decision” – which sounds like a hard rock tune. It’s such a cool change in tempo.

Tim: We all love that song! It’s a favorite for sure. Variety is the spice of life. If we had a whole album full of the exact same song it would get boring fast, not only for the listener but for us too. Dynamics are very important to making a good album, and having different style tempos, tones, melodies, and lyrics really goes a long way to making a memorable album. We listen to all kinds of music so branching out and trying out different ideas is exciting.

CROMCarl: Does the writing approach change from album to album as the band becomes veterans in the scene?

Tim: I think the basic approach, just writing what we like, will never change. Basically it just comes down to writing what you want to hear and what you want to play. I think we have all grown as musicians and we can be a little smarter in our ability to put a song together, but our reasons for being in a band and making and playing new music will never change. With each album we want to tell a new story though, as to what story is next, who knows?

CROMCarl: Tell me about some of the lyrical themes you have used on some of the new tracks.

Tim: A lot of the lyrics deal with protecting your personal freedoms, fighting for your right to be yourself. There is a revolutionary theme that resounds throughout the album, to stand up for yourself and fight against those who hold you down and exploit you. It’s about questioning anyone who has power over you, are they just? Are they right? Are they taking advantage of you? Do you know whether they are or not? I think people’s trust worldwide has been shaken by the actions of government or big business in recent years. The Occupy movement, Arab Spring, NSA wiretapping, Wikileaks, the list goes on and on. As people learn more and more about how they are being exploited and by whom, the outrage grows. The lyrics are focused on that idea of tearing it down and rebuilding in a better way.

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CROMCarl: How much has working with guys like Michael Wagener and now Fredrik Nordstrom helped the band in terms of growth and maturity in sound and songwriting? Clearly, the sound and production has never been better than these latest two records.

Tim: Working with these guys certainly ups your game. You learn so much in the studio. Everything is under the microscope. I remember my first time in the studio; I thought I was prepared but boy was I wrong. These top level producers have worked with so many amazing musicians over the years, they know so much about music and the craft. When we approached Nordstrom we were very interested in his sound, his production technique. Every album he does sounds so god damn heavy. We really wanted that thunder on our album and it goes a long way in making the songs enjoyable. Some people think we are crazy when we go to these big name producers; theoretically you can make the same product at home these days for cheap with all the excellent modern equipment out there. But the fact is you just cannot replace the learning you get in the studio with a master of their craft. It’s like working as an apprentice, or being a student with a great professor. Sure you could learn this stuff by yourself, but you can learn so much faster and in a more complex way with someone who really knows what they are doing.

CROMCarl: Now I read in other interviews that you didn’t go out and decide to sound the way you do, you were just having fun with writing songs. How do you feel about this resurgence or “new wave” of traditional metal? A lot of critics think it’s a bit pretentious, but I always felt that there needs to be younger bands to perpetuate the classic styles for a younger generation.

Tim: Obviously we love the classics; you don’t know where you are going until you know where you’ve been. We just write music that we like, we never set out to be part of any subgenre or movement. Putting music in a box prevents it from being anything else. We get branded as a throwback band all the time but I find that label to be very limiting and I don’t think it really describes our sound. We like all the bands in the “new wave” and are friends with a bunch of them too, but we never set out to “bring the 80’s back”, or anything of that nature. As long as a band is making music that they love then all the power to them, nobody can take that away from them. It’s really important that young bands get out there, especially now a days. Most of the big metal bands out there today are getting old, they won’t be touring forever. We need new blood to keep everything new and fresh. There have been a number of subgenres in metal though that seem to be a fad one day and then fade away soon after. The traditional sound is something that has always stuck around and influenced damn near everything. It just has a timeless quality, it’s simple, it’s catchy, and it’s fun.

CROMCarl: The big tour happens this fall with Onslaught and Artillery. I cannot think of a better tour for Striker to get on then that – two of the most classic thrash acts out there – still putting out incredible material and then the young guns. How much has those two bands influenced the style of Striker and tell me how the tour came about?

Tim: Basically we got an email one day from their management and that was that. Touring is very exciting for us, getting out on the road is our number one priority. Work sucks; touring is fun, simple as that!

CROMCarl: What can fans expect from the Striker live experience?

Tim: Energy! Our job to get up on stage and make sure that everyone is having a good time. Our shows can get pretty crazy. One time in Spain, the crowd got so riled up they came up on stage and took Adam our drummer right off his seat in the middle of a song for some crowd surfing! Needless to say that was a crazy show, but that is the sort of thing you can expect. Everyone getting into it, that’s what we do. If you come to a Striker show you are guaranteed to have a good time, if not from the music then at least from the crazy shit going down around you. Also did I mention we will shred the fuck out of our tunes?

EDITORS NOTE: On September 15th, Striker announced that it was forced to drop off the upcoming North American your with Onslaught and Artillery, which was discussed below. Read the announcement at this location.