CHARLES FROM SUFFOCATION
TM - Hi this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with Charles from Suffocation. Thank you for having this interview with us today, we really appreciate it.
CE - Absolutely! Thank you for having me.
TM - How has everything been going for you?
CE - Everything's been a little bit hectic, but we will make do.
TM - What can fans expect from your new live album that you recorded in North America?
CE - The songs are songs that we put together with Frank, and we thought they would be songs that the crowd would like to hear on his last run. It's a collection of songs that we have been playing for the last few years with a couple of different older ones in there, but mainly the classics you know.
TM - Yeah definitely! How did you go about picking your setlist?
CE - Mainly Frank and Hobbs put it together, they just talked together and figured out what would be best for that setlist. They’re the dudes so it's kind of their thing to put it together.
TM - You mixed and mastered this album with Christian Donaldson. How was it working with him?
CE - He was great, and he was very patient with us! We went back and forth a couple of times. I think the result we got was definitely crushed so it's going to be a good record.
TM - The album cover was created by John Zig, is there any meaning behind it and can you tell us more about the album cover?
CE - The album cover is a design that Zig came up with, it ended up being one of the shirts that we used on the tour. I'm not really sure the meaning behind that but Zig has been working with us for years and he's a great friend of the band. He just came up with the design and it's sick!
TM - Yeah, it's a really cool design, I really like it!
CE - Yeah definitely, thank you!
TM - You are playing mass destruction metal festival soon, are you excited and what can fans expect?
CE - We are excited to get back out there, it has been a while for us. That show, as well as all the other shows we are playing, we are definitely going to try and change up the setlist. We are going to come back strong and try and give everyone an intense show.
TM - What's your favourite thing about being on the road?
CE - That's an interesting one, I just like meeting all types of people. We get to travel to a lot of different countries and different places of the world that not a lot of people get to see. It's interesting to meet different people and see different personalities and things that they do in different places and the culture and stuff. I like that a lot.
TM - Is there a moment that stands out for you a place that you have been that you have really loved?
CE - Everywhere has its perks for sure, everywhere in Europe has such crazy landscapes. They’re full of these crazy castles, old towns, roads, and stuff that we don't really have over here in America. We haven't been to Australia yet.
TM - Have you been to Japan?
CE – Yeah, we have played three shows in Japan. That was cool, it's definitely a different culture over there, it was interesting seeing all the buildings and how they do everything over there.
TM – Yeah, it's a fun place I went to the robot restaurant when I went and that was really cool.
CE - Oh totally! They have this giant Godzilla coming over the building and I was like that's nuts!
TM – Yeah, that was one of the coolest things I've ever seen I was like “oh my god! Godzilla!”
CE - Yeah, it's kind of near that famous intersection where everyone's crossing over each other.
TM – Yeah, I know right it's one of the coolest places I have ever been to in my life.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs. What band would it be, what song, and in your style or their style?
CE - I want to hear Earth Wind and Fire do a cover of our song and I want them to do "Liege of Inveracity". We would have Earth Wind and Fire do "Liege of Inveracity".
TM - In their style?
CE – Yes, in their style.
TM - That would be an interesting take, I would really like to hear that.
CE – I really like them a lot, I'm curious about that. Disco kind of has a lot of death metal elements in it.
TM - Yeah it does.
CE - There's a lot of notes and intricacies and stuff.
TM - I do like the disco era of music.
CE - yeh definitely yeah definitely we get down to disco if we can.
TM - Maybe you should do a cover of their song, and then they will do a cover of your song.
CE - Now we're talking!
TM - Then you could dress up in disco gear, that would be funny.
CE – Well, hold on, hold on, hold on, don't get carried away.
TM - What's your favourite memory of watching someone else perform live? Can you tell us a story?
CE - We have been doing a lot of these tours with Belphegor. I wasn't much into the black metal world but, it's cool to see all this blood, and corpse paint, and the fire, that's not really a good answer.
TM – It is a good answer, it’s whatever you think.
CE - I was trying to think of something crazier, like a song where someone jumped off the balcony and broke their face or something. I don't know, I like to see different types of bands all the time. I like to see all the shows, and styles, and stage presence of all the guys and all the bands. There’s always one guy that's the craziest guy like, that guy is sick, he's always a good guy at the end of the day.
TM - What was your first ever concert you went to?
CE - My first ever concert I went to was Van Halen with my father.
TM - That’s so cool!
CE - It's when they did a reunion tour, Eddie Van Halen was a big inspiration of mine growing up. It was amazing that my first concert was the guy that made me want to play the guitar, and all the big amps and the huge arena at Nassau Coliseum over by us.
TM - Was your dad also a Van Halen fan?
CE – Yeah, when I got my first guitar he showed me eruption of course, and I was mind blown and that was very intriguing at a young age and that was it I thought ‘oh my god! I have to be a musician!’ That was when I was 8, he showed me when I was 8, I definitely wanted to play it for a while. I wanted to make a life out of it not a hobby.
TM - And look at you now, you have a life out of it that's pretty cool!
CE - I'm very fortunate I made the right friends.
TM - Anything else you want to say to your fans?
CE - Thank you all for sticking around with suffocation after Frank's on his way out. We’re still going to give you guys the best of suffocation that we can, just thank you for hanging out and sticking with us through the years. I wasn't there for the whole time, but I really appreciate the support!
TM - Thank you so much for this interview and we hope to see you sometime on the road soon!