Interview
with Chris of High Spirits 2014
By
Bradley Smith and Fenriz
With having so many different musical
outlets already, why
did you form High Spirits? What were
your goals with the band? And how do you
think you have grown with your songwriting since the demos?
I
had no goals
whatsoever for High Spirits. In
2009 I spontaneously
wrote a song called “Torture” and everything has followed quite
naturally from
there. I think my
songwriting has grown
immensely since then. High
Spirits is
(among other things) a lesson in taking risks.
I felt quite empowered during 2010 especially. I wouldn’t have had the
focus to write
“Running Home”, “The Year of the Blizzard”, or even “Addicts” without
having
spent 2009 exploring new territory recording the High Spirits demos.
Your
New Album, You Are Here is getting ready to hit the
streets any day now. It
is an infectious
ride through some of the catchiest melodies and riffs I have heard
well, since
your last album. Anyways,
can you tell
me a bit about it? How
do you think it
shows growth for High Spirits?
Actually
it
doesn’t hit the streets for approximately another month. You’re one of the first
people to hear
it! And your
feedback is very
encouraging. This
album was tough, to be
honest. It really
took everything I had
to get it finished. I’m
not sure I could
say what growth might be evident in the songs, but I was definitely
inspired by
all of the live shows we’ve done since the debut!
You
have been doing some serious shows with High Spirits in
the recent past such as Keep It Truefestival, the Alehorn Of Power
festival,
and Speed Fest. How
was it playing with
legends like Manilla Road, and how is it different for you with High
Spirits versus
Superchrist or Danwbringer? How
do you
think your live performance has developed since the early days of High
Spirits?
Not
just myself
but all of the other guys had played in bands a lot before High
Spirits, so it
was easy to come together and focus on this material and giving it a
fitting
live show. Luckily
we had the desire and
opportunity to do some low-key touring in 2010 and 2011, which all
happened
before “Another Night”. So
when that
album came out, we had the advantage of all of that experience as well. That said, I think we are
still reaching our
peak in terms of the live performance.
Sometimes it feels like the inspiration is building with
every single
show.
(Question
by Fenriz of Darkthrone) A lot of people, including my wife,
just LOVE your songs, but why do you keep soldiering on with that drum
machine?
Are you afraid that a real drummer might get "too in the way?"
The
demos and
“Let’s Rock” 7” have a drum machine, but the albums are real drums all
the
way. Here is a pic
of my hands after the
second day of drum tracking for “You Are Here”.
I don’t play very often, so I don’t have any calluses. Very strange that you are
not the first
drummer to wonder about this! The
drummer of an excellent and well-known heavy metal band once offered
his services
to High Spirits. I
was blown away by the
offer, and also to hear that it was because he thought the drums on
“Another
Night” were a drum machine! I
no longer
have the blisters from that session but I do have the drumsticks.
You
are involved in a ton of different bands, chiefly among
them, Dawnbringer, Superchrist, Pharaoh, and High Spirits. I was wondering, with all
these different
bands, which one to you is the most personal?
Why? And
how do you feel each one
represents a different aspect of your creative impulses? Or a different way, which
aspect of your
creative impulses does each represent?
That’s
a hard
question to answer, because for me those are all part of the same
thing, part
of the same process and same effort.
I
am constantly inspired to write music and create different environments
and
structures for doing so.
You
seem to have a Minimalist approach to High
Spirits. Early on,
very understated
packaging on the demos, 7"s, the 2013 EP, the first LP and so forth. So why are you keeping the
presentation for
High Spirits so low-key? Is
it to let
the music do the talking? Or
some other
reason?
That’s
exactly
it. The goal has
always been for the
songs do the work of creating our image.
I am mostly satisfied with the results!
Our first two years were really special because we were
still inside
that bubble. Our
entire image was a logo
and a dozen songs. We’ve
introduced the
city skyline and now subway imagery since then of course, and our
profile has
increased overall, but we still keep it as simple as possible as that
seems to
work.
As
a denizen of Chicago, I wanted to get your take on the
Chicago metal scene. There
are so many
insanely great bands that came out of Chicago (Devastation, Usurper,
Sindrome, Master,
etc.). What bands
were the most
important to establishing and developing the Chicago scene? I know it's still going
on, but what do you
think is Chicago's legacy when it comes to metal?
I
have only lived
here since the year 2000, but I will tell you this:
Chicago’s legacy in metal is probably the
fans. There is a
real dedication and
goodwill amongst the metal community here, crossing many generations
and
nationalities. When
it comes to the
bands here, I think if we have one thing in common, I think that would
be a
good work ethic.
Fred
Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church just died the
other day. Are you,
like so many people
glad to see him gone? What
do you think
of people who spread hate, especially those that use the guise of
religion to
do it?
Sorry,
I don’t
have an answer for that.
I
read in another interview that you thought the USA was
more violent in general than Europe.
So
I was wondering what you thought the root cause of that might be? Do you think the USA gets
a bad rap around
the world for being too violent? And
do
you think that some of this has to do with the liberal gun laws here? Or do you think it is more
ingrained in our
culture?
Actually,
I’d be
interested what you think given your military-eye view of the world! But from where I sit, I
don’t think gun laws
have much to do with it. Prohibition,
definitely. And
it may seem overly
simplistic, but I think violence often results from people not having
the
vocabulary or critical-thinking skills to solve a problem before it
escalates
to a physical confrontation. And
I don’t
just mean in the heat of the moment, I also mean dealing with the
day-to-day
friction and frustration of life.
In this
sense I think education potentially plays a huge role in reducing
violence, and
that probably goes for anywhere in the world.
Back
to the music, what are some of your upcoming
plans? I know you
have a tour with High
Spirits coming (which conveniently doesn't come to Kansas City). What about plans with
Aktor and
Metalusafer? Isn't
a new Dawnbringer on
the way towards the end of 2014?
Yes,
that’s all
true. MetalUSAfer
is most likely a “one
and done” sort of thing. It’s
cool that
people were into it! Right
now I am
working on my vocal tracks for the Aktor album and making the final
arrangements for the High Spirits east coast USA tour coming up in
April. There’s a
lot that goes into it as you might
imagine, even when it’s only 9 shows in this case.
After we return, I will spend the summer
relaxing and recording
two Dawnbringer
albums for release later this year.
It
remains to be seen exactly how much touring High Spirits might do later
in the
year, but it is a priority for sure.
We
have commitments to return to Europe in early 2015, if not sooner. I’m looking forward to all
of it!
Being
as I have been super into High Spirits since the demo
days, I am glad that we finally got a chance to do an interview, Chris! I'll leave any Final words
regarding High
Spirits, being Fenriz's band of the week, and so forth, to you!!!