Interview

Victor Griffin On “Curious Volume”: It’s More Of A Straight Ahead Heavy Rock Album.

Pentagram could be viewed as Black Sabbath’s next of kin. The band formed in 1971 just two years after the birth of Sabbath. Sure, bands like Trouble and Saint Vitus made their mark on the doom scene, but Pentagram came first. Perhaps these other bands are considered fathers of the doom genre along with Pentagram because the doom scene didn’t really take off until the ‘80s. It was the mid-eighties when Pentagram released its self-titled debut. Two years later the band released another classic full-length recording “Day of Reckoning.”

In 2012 the documentary “Last Days Here” chronicled the band's ups and downs and put the group in the public light like never before. And now, 44 years after their formation, the band has released its ninth studio full-length “Curious Volume.” Said album revisits the doomy sound the band is known for but with a greater emphasis on hard rock. Longtime guitarist Victor Griffin spoke with me on the phone about the making of this album, the band’s influence on the doom scene, the impact of “Last Days Here” and many more topics.

Rex_84: Last night Pentagram played the Northwest Hesh Fest in Portland. How did the festival go?

Victor Griffin: Well, actually I wasn’t there. I’m not on this current run they’re doing. I think there are four West Coast shows. Matt Goldsborough is filling in for me. He was in the band in 2012. I had some things come up, some personal issues I had to take care of, so I wasn’t able to be on the road right now. So he did those shows. I should be back—we have October and November full of stuff, so I should be back then.

Rex_84: “Curious Volume” is complete. I think it hits stores today, right?

Griffin: Today is the 28th. Today was the official release date, but they moved it up to the 21st, so it was actually released a week ago. That was kind of a surprise to us. I guess they were excited to get it out there. It was actually released on the 21st.

Rex_84: How do you feel about this record?

Griffin: Pretty good. We kind of went back to a straight-ahead production. After “Last Rites,” which was more of a dynamic album with some quiet parts mixed with the heavy stuff, we just wanted to get back to straight up heavy, more roots type stuff and keep more of a basic production. Yeah man, I think it’s cool. There are a couple things on it that are a little bit different than what we’re known for as far as the doomy stuff. It’s more of a straight ahead heavy rock album. It still has the flavors of doom throughout it as well. A couple songs like “Misunderstood” and “Earth Flight” and maybe a couple others aren’t quite as doomy as people expect. I think overall it’s a pretty cool album.

Rex_84: “Devil’s Playground” is kind of a doomy tune.

Griffin: Yeah, that’s a doomy one. That one and “Dead Bury Dead,” “Close the Casket”—those are along the lines of the more doomy stuff, for sure.

Rex_84: When did you start writing the album?

Griffin: We were on the road quite a bit last year. We kept trying to find a break where we could book studio time. It was really up to the last, we were out on the road and we finally got studio time booked. At that point, we really didn’t have much material written. We basically went from hardly any material at all. There are four songs on there that Bobby [Liebling] pulled from his demo stuff. So that stuff was there. It had to be re-worked as well, but we had to work on the new stuff we had to work around November/December of last year up until around February or so. I think it was around March when we entered the studio. We worked on the material for only a couple months before we were in the studio recording.

Rex_84: What was it like when you went into the studio:

Griffin: Well we went into the studio in Baltimore at Magpie Studios. Sean Saley was the drummer at the time. We laid down all the tracks with him and then he decided he was going to leave the band at that point, so I called Pete Campbell who is a drummer I played with off and on for the past ten years or so in Place of Skulls and In-Graved. He seemed like the obvious choice. Greg [Turley] and Bobby agreed. I called him and he was definitely into it, so we went back into the studio and re-recorded all the drums. I came out to Knoxville to Lakeside Studios to record the rhythm guitar tracks down here. Once we did that and Greg got the bass lines done, we went back up to Baltimore, the same studio up there, to do the vocal tracks. So it was quite a process, moving around and recording in different places and then sort of dumping it all together. It was definitely different than what we’ve done in the past, but with the whole digital thing these days that’s really not unusual.

Rex_84: “Last Rites” was released by Metal Blade. “Curious Volume” comes by way of Peaceville Records. Why did you leave Metal Blade and what led to your signing with Peaceville?

Griffin: It’s not that we were unhappy on Metal Blade, I just think we were both expecting something different from one another. They were ok with that. We were ok with that, so it was an amicable agreement that we go ahead and part ways once we fill our contract. Of course, there was an option there. We opted out of that. Peaceville was really interested in us. We were on Peaceville back in the ‘90s when we did “Be Forewarned” and they reissued our first two albums “Relentless” and “Day of Reckoning,” so we’ve had a long relationship with Peaceville. We were always happy there and they always seemed to be happy with us, so when they wanted to bring us back onto their label, it seemed like an automatic thing for us. We are really happy to be back there.

Rex_84: How is Bobby’s health?

Griffin: He’s doing pretty good. He’s up and down from just the extent of the abuse that he has done to himself. Obviously, there are consequences to that sort of thing, regardless, especially over a long period of time. He has a few health issues now and then, but he sees doctors who make sure he’s doing ok and stuff like that. He’s on a couple prescription drugs that help him with anything he might be dealing with. Overall, he’s doing pretty good. He’s able to go on the road, which can really wear you out. He’s hanging in there.

Rex_84: The documentary “Last Days Here” really goes into his addiction problem. Have you noticed a greater awareness of Pentagram since the release of that documentary? Did it get your name out there a lot more?

Griffin: Absolutely! It’s been pretty crazy. I came back into the band in 2010 and we were doing pretty good compared to what we had done before in the ‘80s and ‘90s and so forth. Once that documentary got out and it was promoted really well and just the reviews from that put a lot of momentum into the band. Since that came out we’ve been playing a lot of the bigger festivals. We’ve been on the road not constantly but regularly. Now with the release of this new album, which has already gotten some good reviews and a lot of promotion as well, for the rest of this year and all of next year we look pretty busy. Then it’s almost a generational thing with the audience. We’ve been around for so long and then you have these younger kids coming—14/15-years-old. I meet all kinds of people that say their dads turned them on to Pentagram. We can look out in the audience and see 14/15-year-olds here and a 60 or even 70-year-old over there and they’re all singing the same lyrics. It’s pretty cool to be able to appeal to such a wide age group.

Rex_84: How do you feel about being an inspiration to so many bands in the doom scene?

Griffin: I think it’s awesome! It’s kind of strange sometimes to get mentioned like that. It’s very encouraging and we feel fortunate and grateful and thankful for all of it. There were so many years of writing, playing and struggling and not really getting anywhere. Really, a lot of times we were discouraged that we would get anywhere. There were times I left Pentagram and went off and did my own thing and looked for other opportunities. Bobby and I have been together about thirty-five years off and on. We kind of joke about it now. As old as we are now and this is happening to us. Generally, this only happens to guys in their twenties and thirties. We’ve definitely paid a lot of dues, but we feel fortunate to be here. We are very thankful that our music has been an inspiration to other bands, musicians who have been inspired who wanted to pick up where we left off and things like that. It’s really cool and great. We’re just very honored.

Rex_84: After the Northwest Hesh Fest show you play a couple of concerts to end the month of August, then you play a show on September 30 in Philly. Then you spend part of October on the road and then you hit Europe in November. Are you excited to get back on the road and play music for your fans?

Griffin: Yeah, I am excited to get back on the road. I think there is one show at the end of September and then it goes right into October. October is pretty well filled up, more or less. Same with November. There are U.S. and European dates in both of those. We’re going to get around quite a bit. For 2016 we’re already working on some dates for late winter/spring time. Then with the whole festival season over in Europe, we’ll probably be really busy next year as well supporting this new album.

Rex_84: Are the crowds different in Europe?

Griffin: I used to think they were quite a bit different, and they probably are to some extent. I think the audiences aren’t quite as reserved as they are here sometimes. As we’ve grown and as we’ve progressed with the momentum we’ve been carrying the last couple of years, it seems to have all evened out a little more to where we’re drawing really good crowds here like we are in Europe, which we have been doing for quite a while. For quite a while there was a big difference in attendance. We were doing much bigger shows in Europe than in the States, but it’s starting to even out a little now. It’s really cool, again, because we are meeting all kinds of people, either long-time fans or just got turned on to Pentagram recently. Everybody seems to be really into the band and the history of the band and obviously the music, which is the most important thing.

Rex_84: Do you have a message you would like to relay to your fans?

Griffin: Not specifically other than how much we appreciate the support from everyone and the enthusiasm you bring to our shows. It’s sort of an exchange of energy. When we have a good show it’s usually because the audience is having a good show. As long as we get it from them we are able to return that energy. It really keeps us going, even when we’re not on the road. It’s the experience of the whole thing. Being able to get the music out there and the energy from the crowd that the fans give back to us keeps us going to whatever the next tour is, the next album and that kind of thing. We feel very blessed to be where we are and we can’t really express all of our thankfulness and appreciation to all our fans.