AFI darkness prevails from the sunshine state Glenn Alderson AFI frontman Davey Havok doesn’t want to talk about the tattoos he recently, and mysteriously, blacked out. He also doesn’t want to divulge the name of his soon to be released book, a sequel to Pop Kids (his 2013 coming-of-age tale about a pop-culture obsessed, pseudovegetarian, atheist, pyromaniac, trapped within a rural northern Californian town). And he’d rather not disclose the direction of his soon to be released musical project, DREAMCAR, featuring members of No Doubt. He can, however, talk about AFI’s new album, The Blood Album, which is going to be released this month via Concord Music. After ten studio albums and 25+ years holding a microphone as the lead personality for his gloomy goth rock troupe, it makes sense that he would probably want to keep his cards close to his chest while talking about his creative outlets. One thing at a time, and right now, Havok still has blood on his hands. Talking on the phone from Hollywood, the 41 year old sounds refreshingly chipper and excited that the record is finished and ready to be released. “I’m really happy with how everything turned out,” he says. “We spent a lot of time working on it and we’re excited to share Blood with our fans.” You can tell Havok is in interview cruise control mode, but what more can you really say? The album was recorded over the course of the last year and was coproduced by guitarist Jade Puget and Matt Hyde (Deftones). The theme of blood runs throughout, not out of a twisted fascination with vampires or anything overtly cheesy like that, but it’s something Havok says was unconsciously on his mind while writing for the album. “The theme of blood just kept coming up in a lot of the lyrics I was writing so when we finally paired down the album from the 60 songs we had originally written, I brought it up again with Jade and we decided that calling it The Blood Album made sense.” The end result is a sonically diverse collection of tracks that may or may not be surprising if you’ve been following the band’s career for the last ten-plus years since they topped the Billboard charts with their 2003 major label breakout, Sing The Sorrow. Havok is still channeling his inner Morrissey with hints of Danzig always present in the background, but this album slightly veers back to the band’s punk/ hardcore roots — gang vocals, razor sharp 4/4 riffs, all cleverly disguised underneath anthemic compositions and crystal clear production. Obviously gone are the lighthearted days of “I Wanna Get A Mohawk (But Mom Won’t Let Me Get One)” off the band’s 1995 debut, Answer That And Stay Fashionable. Havok has presumably removed the black nail polish along with his tattoo sleeves, but AFI grow up and find balance in the darkness with The Blood Album the punk rock ethos is kind of still there, just hiding in plain sight. “It’s not like it happened over night though,” Havok says. “There was a very gradual progression to our success and it wasn’t until 2006 that the mainstream media even started to pay attention to us. So it’s not like how some bands will put out one album, it will get successful and then by their next album they’re playing stadiums. For us it was a much more gradual progression.” Havok might be all covered up but at Photo by Jiro Schneider the same time, he’s completely exposed on The Blood Album. 2016 was a dark year and <strong>2017</strong> doesn’t look like it’s going to be much better, but maybe it’s ok to hide in the darkness. When asked how he finds solstice in these sinister times, Havok is quick to answer, “Anything Nick Cave does. The new Neurosis album. The New Tom Ford movie, Nocturnal Animals. It’s beautiful and perfect.” AFI performs on <strong>January</strong> 24 at the Commodore Ballroom. COMEBACK KID hardcore heavyweights continue thrashing from all angles Johnny Papan On the grind for more than a decade, Comeback Kid has been a long-lived dominant force in the hardcore punk scene. Founded in Winnipeg, MB at the strike of the new millennium, their fast, heavy, aggressive and melodic sound has gained them notoriety both nationally and internationally, recently taking the quintet through South America and Europe. “We do a lot of international touring,” explains guitarist Stu Ross, who has recently acquired the job of talent booker at The Cobalt, one of Vancouver’s most notorious live music venues. Ross recalls some of the band’s craziest experiences Photo by Bryan Hall Tales from the hardcore world of military police, sweaty over capacity gigs, toys for sick kids, and the joys of new songs on home soil performing abroad. “A few years back in Bandung, Indonesia we had a show cancelled due to what local police chalked up to permit issues,” he says. “The promoter ended up moving the show onto a military police base about an hour from the city. We had to surrender our passports upon entry.” Without any idea of what to expect, the band was taken to a defunct bunker where they were greeted by a roaring crowd of more than 700 people. “The place had dirt floors, a concrete stage and a hole in the ground to piss in, but there was a regular functioning P.A. system. The show was super fun and well worth the wait.” Another show was cancelled in Tel Aviv, Israel. Last minute, the band was invited to play at a 200 capacity DIY venue instead. “The show was fucking nuts. Wall-to-wall people, hotter than hell, so much energy and excitement. It made for such a memorable experience.” In 2014, during a South African tour, shows went smoothly and CBK performed in front of hundreds of fans each night. “The craziest thing was the actual travel through the country, city to city, the townships, the countryside. We got to play with cheetahs, horseback with giraffes, and swim with sharks. So that whole trip was pretty nuts over all.” Recently, the group showed their charitable side, playing a full set of mosh-worthy tracks at the For the Children festival in Los Angeles. A charity event, attendees were required to donate toys upon entry, which would be given to children in need. “It’s a cool festival with a really great cause. We were happy and honoured to have been involved with such a special event.” Comeback Kid headlined this two-day festival, packing the Union Hall alongside some of the grittiest punk bands from around the globe. The angelic nature of the event, however, would not stop the show from becoming a heavenly combustion. A video of Comeback Kid’s set, which can be found on YouTube, shows fans thrashing from all angles, toppling over each other, jumping on stage and throwing themselves back into the thunderous sea-like pit. The band would end the night with one of their biggest hits, “Wake the Dead.” Alas, a truck would leave the venue jam-packed with toys, and rowdy audience members would exit with proudly worn battle-scars. Comeback Kid is currently writing the follow-up to their 2014 album, Die Knowing, anticipated for a Summer <strong>2017</strong> release. This month the band will spend some time in Vancouver working on the album and playing a one-off show in a more personal venue than you might expect. “It’s a great opportunity to see CBK in an intimate setting,” Ross says about their upcoming show, which will be at the Cobalt. “It’s a tighter room than we typically play in Vancouver. No barricades or security lurking near or on the stage. We’re able to play our show for you the way it’s supposed to be played.” Surely, this will be an explosive one, not for the faint of heart. Comeback Kid performs at The Cobalt on <strong>January</strong> 21. 6 MUSIC <strong>January</strong> <strong>2017</strong>
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