Killing With Kindness – An Interview With Call Of The Void
Call Of The Void are one of my favorite up and coming grindcore bands. The Denver powerviolence freaks have unleashed album after album of sonic hell and are starting to generate a serious following. I met up with them at Austin Terrorfest and had a chance to pick their brains about tour jokes and the Denver scene, providing an interesting glimpse into the mind of a band just starting to make it.
How the hell are you guys?
Gordon (G): Doing very good thanks!
Pat (P): Boy! Let me rephrase that, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! That’s something we established today – that means “I’m having a good time”
G: The number of “Oh boys” said represents how good a situation is.
P: It’s never just “Oh” unless it’s followed by “Oh no”
G: It’s sort of like saying “Really, really, really” It never gets negative.
P: To short to be bad! To short of a tour to be bad!
How has this whole thing been?
G: Really good! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! We started in Chicago with Iron Reagan and then we played a few dates that went really well. A lot of shows have been packed even in places that normally are shitty.
P: I guess it’s because we’re getting bigger as a band which is weird.
How does it feel to have people actually care about you?
G: I’ve been thinking about it a lot. When we first got signed it was exciting but it was our first record so we had to grind. There was this attitude though of “Things are going to turn out super good man!” The reality is – you have to work a long time and there’s a saying that you don’t get big until your thrid record. Now that we’ve done a third record it’s worked out!
P: All the hard work we’ve done has paid off!
Nate (N): Meanwhile I’m just profiting off of all of their hard work. I only joined the band a year and a half ago and I’m starting to really feel like a part of the band. It’s really cool to be a part of this now that they have laid out all of this solid groundwork. I don’t feel like I’m riding coattails but I’m here to enhance it and help it go forward.
G: And this has been the best version so far. People actually care, they aren’t just tolerating us anymore and that’s extra special. It took a lot of work and we lost members but it’s good!
Something that has been weird and exciting is how much good music has come out of Denver in the last two years – why is that?
G: It’s a really big support group. It’s a small scene but a very dynamic and supportive scene. Everybody helps each other out. There’s not a lot of competition and the people who view it as a competition get pushed out. Those people are assholes trying to squash everybody down when in reality we are all trying to do the same thing. If you go to bigger cities people try to scrabble for the top and stick to their own vicious pack and don’t share scraps. Out in Denver we try to provide a smorgasbord an everyone gets a piece. For example Ethan from Primitive Man started booking and now he helps us. Then when he took a break one of the guys from Feather And Bone stepped in. Everyone tries to add to each other. There’s advice to be said and showcases to play and people always want to help.
P: We’ve been playing for a long time with Ethan from Primitive Man. Now we are at a point when we are older by band terms, we are in our thirties and that’s a little older in this scene but it’s finally our time. People are starting to get it and we have a good scene so we can inspire other people and Denver is growing so we can start to get those people involved too. Denver is only starting to get big.
It’s surreal to see you guys and Khemmis and Dreadnought and Blood Incantation and everyone else…
G: We have waves and crashes like a lot of places. We had a big grindcore wave in the late 90s. Then there was a dip and we started then and now it’s kind of rising through experience and knowledge and it’s blossoming again. Because of how much bullshit we dealt with in the early 2000s and that cutthroat mentality people are supporting each other so we are just grabbing everyone and hugging everyone. Why do you want to be mean? What’s the point of being mean! We like to kill people with kindness.
Stay up to date with Call of the Void on the Book of Faces.
