DOOM METAL FRONT Zine #5 - 01/2011

ser to death. How much doomier can you get? Nobody’s
gonna get outta here without regarding the obvious
life after death question. Agree or not...at the
moment of knowing it’s really over...what’s it all going
to be about?“
Don’t you think that some people might be put off
by the explicit lyrical content, even if the sound’s
still typical Place Of Skulls stuff - very Blues laden,
kind of catchy and still heavy traditional
Doom?
„Oh yea, absolutely. We always get the backlash. But
I’ve never written songs just to be pleasing to the listener.
I write about what how I see the world and the
things I ponder in life. However it relates to the listener
is a bi-product of the process. Obviously I’d like our
music to please anybody who listens, but if I only write
what I think somebody else wants to hear and not
from the heart, it doesn’t do anybody or me any service.“
Let’s talk about the songs themselves. What do
you want to tell us with „The Maker“ - that mankind
has forgotten about the Lord and his creation?
„ ‚The Maker‘ is about abortion and how we’ve come
to control life and death if we so choose. We want the
right to decide the fate of a new life but want no restrictions
on the very same life we were given. I understand
the whole free choice thing from the political
side. But in our heart of hearts, is it really right? My wife
and I have six cats. It makes me sad when one of
them brings in a dead chipmunk or bird. So the
thought of snuffing out innocent human life simply for
6
reasons of inconvenience is a tough one to swallow.
I’m not speaking out of inexperience, I’m the father of
someone who wasn’t given the chance to live. So I
wrote ‚The Maker‘.“
Interview
In „Breath Of Life“ you pray to
the Lord hoping he would pass
your way again. When did you let him down and
why don’t you deserve his mercy?
„This is probably the heaviest song on the album. It
goes back to being the dog returning to my own vomit.
How could God forgive me for dragging his name back
through the mud he’d already pulled me from? It was
one of the deepest self inflicted wounds I’ve ever had,
like a stake driven into my spirit. So then came ‚Breath
Of Life‘.“
What do you want to learn from Jesus when asking
him to teach you to deny yourself and to die
to yourself, as sung in „Though He Slay Me“?
„I want to learn to have more self-discipline. Just because
my eyes and flesh crave something, doesn’t necessarily
mean I need it or that it’s good for me. Life’s
always throwing temptations at us and we often feel a
sense of entitlement to do as we please. If it feels
good, do it. But I personally need more self-discipline.
We’re ultimately responsible for our actions, but I’ve
always had a tendency to throw caution to the wind
and let the chips fall. But the results haven’t always
been good. It’s like the definition of insanity, to continue
to do the same thing over and over while expecting
different results. Jesus taught we should deny our
flesh, not of every desire, but of every sinful desire. As
humansthis is impossible almost on every level. I
foto: Chad Smith