Dead Rhetoric: For what it’s worth, when I hear your vocals, I think it’s one of the defining pieces for The Absence, along with the guitar heroics of course. It has that venomous quality that pushes the intensity up in the songs.
Stewart: Well, thank you. I agree, I think that was something that I was lucky enough to propagate within the music. I don’t know where, but maybe a long time ago, the challenge of being audible and enunciating words while pushing a little harder/working a little harder and stretch your mouth out a bit, without sacrificing the lung power at the same time. I did the Zen of Screaming years ago, and it helped a lot! You watch it and she shows you how to do everything. Then there’s a cd that goes through all the different tones to see where your register is. There’s like 15 exercises where she plays the piano in that key and you do your exercises. After a while, I didn’t need the dvd/cd anymore, but that played a huge part.
I always liked vocalists that I could understand. Like Tomas Lindberg – I call it ‘open mouth death metal’ – he’s opening his mouth. A guy like Chris Barnes, he shrinks his mouth real small. It looks like he is whistling to get that low register and it works. It’s a unique method of vocalizing. You get guys like David Vincent or Mikael Akerfeldt, where they are pushing this low death metal growl but they are opening their mouths and enunciating and you can understand what they are saying even though they are screaming. It always really stood out to me and I wanted to be like that. I wanted to put my own spin on that, and be able to do highs and lows. I don’t have the lowest of lows, but I feel like I have a really good mid-to-high range and I can dip down to the lows. If you scream high too much, especially with the recording – you have to do the lows and then the highs. If you go all over, it wears you out.
But yeah, it’s definitely one of the unique elements, like Jeramie’s drumming and the melodic guitars with the super-attack riffs – all downpicking and super-tight. As Joey [Concepcion] would say, it’s very treacherous riffs [laughs]. It’s all part of the package. We have created a sound and I think we do it well. I don’t think there are too many bands in the States doing it like that, so hopefully we can carry the flag a little bit.
Dead Rhetoric: That was actually something I was going to bring up – with the band being around for as long as you have, what does it feel like to be the ones carrying the torch for bands playing genuine melodic death metal?
Stewart: It’s pretty cool. I hope we are doing right by it. It seems like we are. That’s also something that is really important to us. For lack of a better term, ‘keeping it real’ or not selling out, I can speak personally, I can say that’s important to me. I’m not opposed to any bands progressing or daring to be different. There’s a big difference between trying to be progressive and trying to be dynamic and just genuinely make music for yourself. Look at a band like Katatonia. They started out as a death/doom/black metal-ish thing with screaming vocals and all that and then they just went to where they are now. And it’s cool. I prefer the later stuff personally, but I celebrate their entire catalog.
But we wanted to do the right thing for us and for our fans, and for the genre and metal in general. I’m not trying to sound cheesy or anything but it’s something that is important for us. It’s changed our lives for the better, and afforded some of us careers and opportunities, and just being able to go and travel and meet people. To be able to have a unique life experience. I owe everything to death metal, and metal in general, because it’s something that has kind of saved my life. Who knows where I would be without this? If I didn’t have music, I would murder somebody, I don’t know [laughs]. But yeah, I think it’s cool and I think there are a lot of really talented bands in America, and to be regarded as a torchbearer, it’s definitely an honor. We just want to do right by it.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you see as the major shifts that you’ve seen in metal since you started The Absence?
Stewart: The industry has changed, but some things have stayed the same – such as labels giving bands some not so good deals. We have found something special with M-Theory and Marco – he and the team are really trying to do something different. It feels right with them, so we are satisfied with that. And also with Craze Management, who are blowing our minds every day with what we are getting help with. Bands still have to tour – that was the prerequisite. If you want to make your name, and make money, you have to tour. When you come home, what job is going to let you leave for 40-50 days and come back? You might as well just stay out doing it. That’s something that we have faltered on in the past. Certain tours and opportunities didn’t present themselves all the time.
A lot of people aren’t coming out to shows like they were back in the day – people are broke and they have to pick and choose their battles. There’s a lot of tours that come out now that it’s like a mini-fest. You get shows that start on 4PM on a weekday. You are charging $45-50 at the door to see like 2-3 powerhouse bands and then maybe 2-3 bands that are coming up. The ticket price is justified but it’s still $50!
In a positive way, it’s changed in that it’s becoming a lot easier for bands to make their own money. To not have to sacrifice or bend over backwards for anyone but themselves. Not to say that being on a label is a horrible thing, by all means, that’s why people get lawyers and people negotiate. But it’s really easy and awesome – things like Big Cartel and Bandcamp. Getting on iTunes and Spotify as well – you can be an independent band and put it on the Internet and have it for sale. It’s available for everybody around the world instantly, and available to them on their phones. Everybody’s got a phone in their hands. So there’s give and take.
There’s always been good and bad, and I think that we are in perfect place at this point. We kind of got some leverage on both sides – we have had the big label experience, and a lot of good came from that. We are a national band that is available all over the world, and that would not have been possible, at least in this way, without Metal Blade. I can never thank them enough for the dreams that they made come true. “I’m signing a deal with Metal Blade, this is crazy!” “I’m going on tour with Cannibal Corpse right now, this is crazy!” A lot of really cool things came about from that. We just had to get out there. It’s something that we weren’t able to do at the time.
Dead Rhetoric: Where to do envision The Absence at this point? Are you ready to hit the ground running?
Stewart: Yeah, we are definitely ready to rock. Everybody has a lot of irons and fires, as far as side projects and jobs, but it hasn’t conflicted yet. We are at a point now where we are working out touring details now that the album is out. I see us touring a lot, I see us getting overseas, and I see us with some extra auxiliary stuff that we are holding onto until a later date. We are planning on playing our asses off and doing it well – playing a really good live show. We are going to just keep on pumping out music; we aren’t stopping here. We have already been semi-discussing music, there were some ideas the last time Joey was out here…some little licks and ideas. It’s the kind of thing where it might just be a riff with a melody over it but I heard it and was like “Oh, man! The world ain’t even ready for this!” [Laughs] But we are just going to keep doing it for as long as we can.
It’s a family affair, and it’s been running the best it’s ever run since it became Jeramie, Taylor, Joey, Mike [Leon], and myself. We are all on the same page and we are well aware. We are a little older and more mature, with some real life experiences under our belts, both good and bad, that have redefined us as people. We are ready to go in what the Bad Brains would say as a very ‘positive mental attitude.’ Not so sound cheesy, I know P.M.A. is kind of the new YOLO in a lot of circles, but it’s true. I have it tattooed on my body; it’s what the band has needed on a consistent level. I think with that, and having all guns blazing, we are ready to roll and ready to finally get this sucker under control [laughs]!