Pallbearer
TM - Hi, this is Amelia and Elizabeth from Twinmusix and we are here with Joseph from Pallbearer, thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.
JH - Thank You.
TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
JH - We have had the opportunity to rehearse and the most recent tour we have done is around our new album "Mind Burns Alive". It has been deemed the tightest and most cohesive set that we have done as a band. We are looking forward to building a setlist for the Australian tour and it is going to be locked in.
TM - What's your favourite song to play live?
JH - I have been enjoying playing our new song "signals" from our most recent record "Mind Burns Alive" but it changes every time we tour. We try and change up the setlist and there are definitely some songs from past albums I enjoy playing as well.
TM - Is there anything you want to do it in Australia ?
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JH - I love coffee and I am really excited to try some of the coffee there because I think it is some of the best in the world.
TM - How did fans respond to your new album "Mind Burns Alive"?
JH - I think it has had a great response, it is a small record but I think we connect with it and people really feel passionately about it. It is a depressing record in a lot of ways because it centres around mental illness and depression. I think that it's a topic that can connect with a lot of people especially in the past four or five years since the pandemic. I think a lot of people have found themselves in isolating situations and they are dealing with thoughts and mental patterns that they may not have found themselves otherwise because of the extreme circumstances. It has definitely been polarizing for some of our fans that wanted us to make another album like our first two records which are indeed traditional doom Realm but we wanted to explore more dynamic textures and songwriting across this record. We put the focus on the themes of the album instead of it being just pure Sonic bludgeoning.
TM - What was your writing and recording process?
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JH - The writing process started in 2019, we were working on material and some of it had been on our previous record "Forgotten Days" which was released in 2020 and then some on the songs were put on our album "Mind Burns Alive". We finally recorded the final version of it in 2023 "Mind Burns Alive" and it was partially recorded in a studio in Little Rock Arkansas at a venue called Fellowship Hall Sound. This is where we did the primary drum tracking and a decent amount of the rhythm guitars. Then we went to my personal studio and pieced together the rest of the record with the overdub additional guitar layers and vocals synthesizes and other things.
TM - How did you come up with your Album cover?
JH - It is from a series called falling through history and the artist is Bill Armstrong. It is designed in a way that is very surreal and at first glance it looks like a flame but it is actually a human in a state of falling through the black void. It is featured on the album cover so it serves a dual purpose in connection with the lyrical themes of the record and we were very lucky that we found a piece that fits so well with our album. This is not a piece that we commissioned it's a piece that we found.
TM - If you could have any band play one of your songs what band would it be, what song would it be and would it be in your style or their style?
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JH - King Crimson play "The Ghost I Used to Be" in their style.
TM - Who was the first band you saw live and can you tell us a story?
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JH - I can tell you about the first underground band I saw. I was a teenager and I lived in a very rural area and I convinced my parents to let me drive three hours to go and see a band called Living Sacrifice. It was a very interesting experience and the venue I went to see them at still exist today and there are lots of very cool hardcore shows there till this day.
TM - What's your favourite band you have seen live?
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JH - The most important to me is a band from our Arkansas called "Rwake". They have gone through many lineup changes through the years and they were retired for a while but now they are back. I watched them in my early twenties and if they hadn't ever existed I wouldn't be playing the music I am today.
TM - Is there Anything else you want to say to your fans?
JH - we can't wait to come back to Australia. The last two times we have been there have been fun and memorable shows so this event of us returning to Australia is genuinely something we have been waiting for with bated breath. We are looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing the fans.
TM - Thank you for having this interview with us today we appreciate it.
JH - Thank you.
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