Interview

Mike IX Of Eyehategod: "I Think This Album Is One Of The Most Aggressive Albums We’ve Done."

In May, the sludge lords from Eyehategod released their first full-length in fourteen years. This period wasn’t void of activity. The band released short-play recordings such as a split with Soilent Green, “99 Miles of Bad Road” EP and “New Orleans Is the New Vietnam.” But the band hadn’t released a full-length recording since “Confederacy of Ruined Lives” dropped in 2000.

14 years is a long build towards a record and they needed to make something good. Their self-titled recording proved well worth the wait. The group couldn’t have picked a better title for the record. It is the ultimate EHG recording.

It contains what one expects from EHG—heaping loads of feedback, groove and punk-addled speed. It’s a faster, more aggressive beast. It’s also the final EHG recording featuring drummer Joey LaCaze who passed away in 2013. Possibly their fastest record, it was the perfect medium for LaCaze to showcase his skills—skills that showed him at the top of his game.

Front man Mike IX Williams was in Austin, Texas to play two shows at the Housecore Horror Film Fest. Early Sunday, he played with his industrial band Corrections House and then with Eyehategod later in the evening. We found Williams in the press room with his podcast cohort Perry P. The two had completed another podcast for the Thee Garbage Men show on Core of Destruction Radio. In the following interview, Williams discusses his involvement in various bands including spinning albums on Core of Destruction Radio. He tells us about EGH’s cryptic messages, playing with new drummer Aaron Hill and being interviewed for the NOLA series on Noisey/Vice.

Rex_84: Eyehategod has been through so much since the last album “Confederacy of Ruined Lives” and this self-tiled recording. There has been so many years between records. You lost a member, you went through a hurricane. How does this all equate to this new album? It’s a long time between writing songs.

Mike IX Williams: Some of these songs were written in the past, but a lot of them are newer. Really, all of that is subliminal to me. I don’t know how it evolved into songs, the lyrics wise and music wise. It’s not like we sit there and go “Let’s write a song thinking about the hurricane.” We don’t do shit like that. Or “Joey’s dead, let’s write a song.” We don’t do that. It just seeps into your brain. If it comes out in some way…I think this album is one of the most aggressive albums we’ve done. It’s got a lot of faster stuff. We’ve always had heavy stuff. Like I said, it’s not a purposeful thing. We don’t sit there and go, “we’re going to write a song about this.” It just comes naturally. If that image is in our head then it’s there. “New Orleans is the New Vietnam” is not on the album, it is on a 7” that we did, that we actually put out on a picture disc on A389 Records. Very limited copies of that. I don’t think there are any left, actually. That had something to do with New Orleans and the hurricane, but it’s still vague as shit. The stuff we do is really cryptic and abstract.

Rex_84: Some of your song titles are interesting like “Medicine Noose” and “Robitussin and Rejection.” Are these songs a way to battle some of your demons?

Williams: Like I said, it’s not purposeful. Maybe it is deep down in my heart and my head, subconsciously, whatever. Sometimes when we play like I’ll say “‘Medicine Nose’ is about hanging yourself off your own medicine cabinet. Tying a rope around your neck with a bunch of pills in your had.

Rex_84: That’s more literal.

Williams: Sometimes I say that. I don’t say that every time. It’s more of me saying what’s on the top of my head. It’s not super focused. It’s about feelings. It’s hard to describe your feelings. We just put them out and put a song title to it. As song as we put a song title to it people are like “that song means that.” No. I mean we have to name the song something but we don’t always understand why we name it that (laughs).

Rex_84: So a song title doesn’t always dictate the subject?

Williams: No, not at all. My lyrics are very cryptic and I like doing it that way. People will come up to me and go “that song made me feel like this.” That’s cool because that’s not what I was thinking when I wrote it. They give me another side of the story. I go “that’s cool. I never thought of it that way. I like that.” People get their own interpretation of the whole thing. “I Shot Reagan” is a great song by Suicidal Tendencies but you know what it’s about. I’m not trying to be all intellectual about it, I’m just saying that is how it is. I am an intellectual, though.

Rex_84: Yeah, I think most artists are intellectuals.

Williams: I was joking, really. I wouldn’t call myself an intellectual. It’s nice to know things (laughs).

Rex_84: Well, you are an artist and music is an art form.

Williams: Yeah, art and science…scientists are intellectuals. There are different ways of looking at it. It’s mathematical in an artistic sense, which sounds weird. I know what I’m talking about (laughs).

Rex_84: You have a video on Noisey.

Williams: We have a documentary up there. Do you mean a song video?

Rex_84: Yes.

Williams: We have a video for “Medicine Noose” video, which is all over the place. It’s on You-Tube. That’s everywhere. We just did a seven-part documentary about the New Orleans scene. We are three parts of that, I think. There might be more. I know they do one on me. There is one on Phil [Anselmo]. There is one on Jimmy [Bower]. Pepper. They did a great job. We’ve always had a good relationship with Vice. Vice Magazine, that’s who Noisey is. Vice Magazine made Noisey as their music website. We’ve always had a great relationship with Vice. We know people there who are friends of ours. They’ve always done articles on us. They even did a maze one time—find the drugs before you get killed in New Orleans maze. It’s awesome if you can find it. It’s online. It’s like a game. Find the barn before you get to the cemetery or you’ll get killed. It’s really funny. We’ve always had a good relationship with that magazine and Noisey is part of it, so I knew they would do a good job. The guys that interviewed us were really cool. The whole thing was well-done.

Rex_84: When did Aaron [Hill] come into the band?

Williams: I think about four months after our other drummer, Joey [LaCaze], passed away. I don’t know times very well. I get lost in stuff like that. Jimmy may know, but then again, he may be full of shit, too. As soon as Joey passed away, we knew we were going to continue. We knew we weren’t going to stop. That’s what he wanted. Joey wanted us to keep going. He always used to say, “y’all motherfuckers are going to get rich after I die” (laughs). We were like “What are you fucking talking about, asshole?” Morbid humor that we have.

Rex_84: Did Joey’s death push back the release date for the album?

Williams: Of course it pushed it back because he died. His drum tracks are on the record. At the time when he did die, we were in the process of re-recording the bass and the guitars. I hadn’t done the vocals yet because that was something we just hadn’t done yet. We recorded it with Billy Anderson who did Sleep and the Melvins and Neurosis. The studio was a mess, so we ended up re-recording everything. We could have deleted Joey’s drum tracks and never known. Then, two days later he could have been gone, you know? So we kept Joey’s drum tracks and thank goodness because it’s his last, and I think it’s his best performance. He was a great drummer live, but that record really shows off. Live he was one of those drummers who would change things up and do things different, but always be on point. He would always be in the pocket, as they say. It’s just great that we have those and he’s on that album. He always destroyed live and in the studio as well. A lot of people will talk about the guitars. I listen to drummers in bands. I don’t know why; that’s just how my mind works. Me and Joey were best friends. Turning around and looking at him every night hitting his beats was so awesome! It’s the same now with Aaron. Aaron was a fan of Joey’s. Aaron is from the New Orleans scene. We tried to get people from out of town. We thought we could get somebody from another band in the group. We tried out a couple of people and were like “you’ve got to live in the city to feel what we’re feeling.” Aaron was sitting right around the corner, in another practice room down the hallway. Jimmy’s like “trust me! This dude is killer! He’s young. Trust me.” I’m like “are you sure we can try out more people?” “Trust me.” I said “ok, let’s do it.” He brings it every night, man. Heavy ass, he’s got the groove, got the swing, the whole thing. He’s even got some Joe-isms like he’s got this thing rocking back and forth. It’s just funny to see him. He’s ten or so years younger than Joey.

Rex_84: What are you doing next? Right now you’re on tour.

Williams: The tour starts now. Right this minute. Monday we go to Idaho.

Rex_84: You’ve done barely any shows this month. You did some in Florida and in Colorado.

Williams: Jimmy was in Japan with Down. I did some Corrections House stuff and we had the motorboat thing. I have another band called Corrections House. Brian [Patton] played with Soilent Green at Maryland Deathfest. Gary’s [Mader-bass) got a band called Class Hole. It’s like a hardcore band—a really good band. Aaron’s in like five bands. I don’t even know. He’s in Missing Monuments, which is like garage/pop/punk. It’s really awesome. Like if you’ve ever heard of The Retards, Jay Retard, but it’s more poppy. It’s good. He’s in a band called Gasmiasma who are playing Sunday. They’re like crust punk like Discharge—three-chord shit. He plays guitar in that. Aaron does. It’s a mix-up. I’m always like “are you playing guitar tonight? No, you’re playing drums. Oh, you’re playing bass.” That’s how it is. I have this band called The Guilt Of… It’s like Corrections House but more noise bass. I play synthesizer in that. It’s all for fun. We’re musicians, this is what we do.

Rex_84: There are so many different styles and ways to express yourself.

Williams: That’s the thing…we have Arson Anthem with me and Phil and Hank [III]. It’s a hardcore band. And we’re doing this Thee Garabage Men, which is what this podcast thing is all about. We were thinking about maybe, if we get our shit together, doing a cover band and doing some old punk rock covers. We’ve been doing this podcast and it’s been so much fun. We’ve got so many fans. The fans are tripping out on it. Me and him (points to his partner) doing old shit. We talk about old shit. We’re both old as fuck! We talk about the old hardcore days in the ‘80s. We play old punk. We play new stuff, too. We play new wave. We play anything.

Perry P.: Gerry Numan, whatever.

Williams: Yeah, whatever.

Perry P: Whatever we’re in the mood for that day, it happens.

Williams: So yeah, that’s another band and everybody is just playing music. It’s what we do.