HM Exclusive: The Famine Interview
Like most “feature style” articles in HM, an interview with the artist is the foundation for the piece. Once the article has been written, fine-tuned and edited, then quite often the interview quotes get discarded – never to be seen again. I’ve always regretted this as a writer and editor, so as often as possible I try to provide the entire, unedited interview for your perusal online here at hmmag.com
Here is the interview with The Famine’s Mark Garza and Kris McCadden.
What expectations did you have coming in and what surprises or new developments have you found with this new band?
Mark: Our expectations were low from the start, because what we did was we got together after about three or four years of not playing together and we decided that we wanted to just play music for us. We evaluated what we were good at, what would be the most fulfilling for us musically, and we went after that. It’s funny, because at every milestone that we’ve gone to – I mean, we still haven’t even brought this out live for really played it out for what people are going to see it and judge it for – so every milestone that we’ve reached at this point has been just icing on the cake. We intended to just write music to have fun with it and just keep it on the downlow, so to speak. The expectations have been out of control, really. From everything from an Embodyment reunion or whatever you want to call it to this new outrageously heavy thing. I think it’s all of that, to be honest with you, because expectations, as far as what we put on ourselves is just really just trying to please and follow after what we wanted to do musically. Anything above and beyond that is just going to be icing on the cake, absolutely.
What are the pros and cons of coming from a band with some notoriety like Embodyment?
Mark: The pro’s are obvious, because of the doors that’ll open up. The kids out there that will give us the time of day and try to give us a chance and identify with what we’re trying to do. The cons are numerous, for obvious reasons. I think the biggest thing that really worked against us was how we changed and morphed a lot over the years. I think a lot of people were not sure what to expect, so we have a lot of kids that may be really happy about The Famine; and we might have some kids that are not happy about it, because of the latter day Embodyment. But, for what we’re doing now, I think it’s one of those things that … how can I say it … We just have to look at the positive side of it and exploit every good aspect of Embodyment and do it in a tasteful way. Because, really, when we just stand back and look at it, I just see me, Andy and Chris, and Nick, for what we are now. I guess I’m blocked out of that whole thing of Embodyment, simply because I haven’t been in that band for five years or so. So, it’s not that much of a connection for me as it would be for other people; but I still have people that email me to this day and tell me, ‘Our so and so class was looking at the lyrics of ‘The Aftermath of Closure’ and we’re trying to discuss what you guys thought about.’ Just stuff that just blows me away. We never anticipated – nor to this day – ever thought that it would have that much power over a person. Or a person using “One Less Addiction” or another song at their wedding or something like that. It’s amazing. That still comes with… It’s drawbacks as well. But, actually, I think we’ve done a good a job and I think the label’s gonna do an excellent job of spreading the rumors of what we are and what we’re gonna do this time around – which is really just pretty much punish and dominate, from every aspect possible that me and Andy and Chris and Nick can do. So, that’s where we’re at now.
Describe the most important elements of your art…
Mark: Wow. Honesty, and that goes across the board. That’s musical honesty. Intellectual honesty with our kids and honesty about our faith and where we’re at. Because I think that is just what is so lacking right in music and in bands in general. You have bands tricking everything out and wearing makeup and doing everything they can to just portray something, when I think what kids want is just honest music from an honest band – be it Christian or non-Christian. I think honesty is something that is lacking so badly right now in the music scene. For us, musical honesty comes from us just being who we are. That’s just playing the most intense, aggressive, just the most intense passionate music we can possibly play – with no regard to genre, with no regard to ‘do we need to put some sing vocals in here to sell a couple thousand more records? Do we need to do this or that?’ No, we’re just honestly just playing the heaviest, most, I guess, naked music that shows what we are all about and what we would love to hear if we had the opportunity to get that from another band. Lyrically and spiritually in the same token as well. Spiritually, there is always a debate of ‘Christian band / not Christian band’ or whatever that’s all about, but with us, there’s songs on this record, Doug, that are angry. There’s songs on this record that are incredibly hopeful. There’s songs on this record that are absolutely just worshipful songs. As a Christian, every day the stuff that I go through, man, I get angry. I get angry at everything, but at the same token, I also come back to earth and I turn to God to give me the strength and a whole wide array of emotions that come along with being a Christian guy and even being in a band. There’s so many things that people I think can benefit from honesty. And I think that is just a huge part of music. It has to be there or a band, honestly, is not going to mean anything. Lyrically or musically, because you’ll be able to see right through it. You’ll see what their goals are and what their intentions are. So, I just think that is going to be a big thing that people will see. We’re not going to go up there, breathing fire and wearing makeup and going crazy, and swinging guitars around our necks and stuff. I think people are there for one reason – and that is to rock as hard as they can and to have a good time, so that is what we’re going to try to do and not … get rid of all the filler.
I have heard the album and I think it’s amazing and I really like it. I haven’t been able to read any of the liner notes or anything, so I don’t really know who wrote the lyrics, so my next question is kinda based on that, but it seems that lots of your lyrics are personal. How much of your music as a whole is written for your self and how much is written to communicate to others?
Mark: Oh, man! That is a great question, because what it really is about… I hate trying to describe it, because things mean so many personal things to one person than they do to another person, but I can guarantee you this: everything that we wrote about lyrically – and it was a joint effort between everybody in the band. I know I wrote a couple of songs with lyrics. I know Andy wrote a bunch of songs and Chris wrote a couple songs. Wow, it’s a very personal thing, but then again I’m sure, like I said before, something everyone can relate to. There’s a straight-up worship song that, it’s so heavy… It’s a song called “Ascend.” I mean, it’s basically just call on the Lord to just give you everything you’ve got for whatever situation that you need it for. It is flat-out intense. In that aspect, that’s what that song called for. It’s almost like the musical personification of someone going through an absolute struggle and needing something and not knowing what that something is. Now, on the other hand, there is a song like “Behemoth,” that was… It’s the second song on the record … that is absolutely… It’s just an anger song. It is straight-forward, in-your-face. I wanted it to come across that way, too. Because, musically, if I’m being honest musically, that song is just super intense and it’s almost angry to the point of just wanting to let it all out. So, lyrically, it probably represents the same thing. “Death Threat,” the same thing. There’s some political type overtones in some of the songs, which I’m not even going to throw myself under that bus. But it’s actually… we tried not to make our album about trolls and dragons or anything crazy. We want it to mean something. We really, really honestly do. And I think the more and more when you get to read the liner notes and you get to see the whole picture of what we’re trying to paint with the songs. Especially with “Consume, Devour, Repeart,” man. That was a song that Andrew did – lyrically wrote. And I didn’t see the liner notes, didn’t see the lyrics to that song until … it must’ve been two weeks ago, at least, and man, it floored me. There’s a second verse on there that is just super powerful. I’ve been singing the song in my head for, I don’t know, for six months since we recorded the record, but I never actually had seen the lyrics. Until I did that and saw a complete picture, it painted the whole song in a whole new light. I hope people can listen to it. It’s multi-dimensional. Not just for the music, but read into the lyrics, because there is so much there. There is so much about us. There’s so much of what we’ve been through. There’s so much about the world and what it is going through. And, you know, obviously, our faith… I think there’s a lot to see about where we are as human beings and what we do on a daily basis to get through. To trust the Lord and just rely on our friends and fellowship and this, that and the other. Man, that’s a good question.
You’ve already kind of touched on this other question, obviously, but what are your thoughts about how Christian rock is perceived by the outside world? And how do you hope to be seen as different or break any negative stereotypes people might have?
Mark: The funny thing about it is: As you know, when we first started out, there was a big demarcation line between Christian and non-Christian music. Christian songs… Christian bands had their own radio stations and had their own distribution, had their own labels… It was really… I’m not going to say it’s good or bad. It’s just the way it was. Now, this time around, what we’re noticing, too, and it starts with turning on the radio. Man, those boundaries are all over the place. Christian bands and secular bands tour together … on the same label sometimes. As far as The Famine is concerned, I think we’re going to do nothing but benefit from that, for sure, because I think a lot of people have grown past a lot of hang-ups of listening to Christian bands, because frankly, the bands have gotten way better. I think they’re way more honest and way more personable and doing it for the right reasons – not that they weren’t before, as anything develops… If you had Christian fusion Jazz, the first couple go-arounds are probably going to suck until everything starts coming together; and I think we’ve completely come together as a band, as a scene, and ultimately as a genre of music to where we’re pretty much on par with everybody else – if not way better. I mean, if you start looking at metal bands and you look at As I Lay Dying and those guys individually, and what they do verses other metal bands out there, I don’t think they can be touched. You look at Demon Hunter and how polished and great those guys are compared to other mainstream rock radio bands, whatever, I don’t think they can be touched, either. So, there’s not that gap that was there before for a long, long time. Yeah, I think we can benefit from that. I think a lot of fans from secular metal bands will give us the time of day now where they wouldn’t have back in the day. And I think that’s a wonderful thing. Some people might not think that’s great, but I think that’s an absolutely wonderful thing. It allows people to read between the lines and see what we’re about and also to understand (that) because I’m Christian does not mean that my music’s weaker – or that anything about me is weak. You know, I’m not different from any other guy. I’m just a Christian. Our band is no different from any other band, other than we have a very big plus of being able to focus, like being able to fellowship and get a lot out of life – more than what other people are able to get. They just don’t allow themselves to.
If you could guarantee that you would grow in a specific area or two just by identifying them and asking God to speed up the process, what areas in your own life would you like to grow in right now?
Mark: Oh, man. Absolutely in fellowship – fellowship with God. I think that’s just insanely important. And, if I could make myself realize how important that is on a real level… I think if people in general can do that – Christians in general realize how important fellowship with God is on a personal level. I think that it would change the world and all those idealistic things. I think it would make people prioritize correctly. I think it would make people get their lives together and trust God on the big things and the small things and the menial things and the things that… It’s just a fellowship, ya know? That I think that I need to work on. If I could ask for one thing, I think that would be the main thing: just get me closer to God at all costs. And that would be the key to my happiness, right there.
In a press release I just read about you guys, it brings up some influences, like grindcore and death metal. Your music shows that influence, yet it’s also distinctly different. In your opinion, what are some of the limitations to those genres that you see and have avoided in your own tunes?
Mark: You know, one of the things that is obvious – when some people think of death metal, they think of boneheads and people that drool or whatever. I don’t see it that way at all. Nothing has changed. You see, I’m a huge Radiohead fan. I’m a huge fan of the Silversun Pickups and other stuff that’s completely outside of metal; but I love metal. I’m passionate about it, obviously, and I feel like, we’re not ashamed of who we love – Cannibal Corpse back in the day. On The Level Of Grace or any of those other bands. I just think that all that’s coming around full circle now and you’ve got bands out there that are really, just, phenomenal; whereas some of these other bands are marginal at best, production-wise and songwriting wise and everything else. I just love it, because of what we had back in the day. I think that’s why we classify ourselves as death metal or whatever you want to call it – grindcore or whatever it is. Even though, realistically, any purist or death metal fan would go, ‘The Famine’s’ not death metal! I just think what comes out in the songs we write is … I don’t even know what to call it, then. It’s not. I guess you could call it metal. We call it American Metal, whatever. I know it’s probably not grindcore, but a lot of that just gets into real weird semantics of how low does your singer growl or how many blast beats do you have? We’ve got all that stuff, so it’s kind of bizarre, but in that aspect, that’s kind of what I think.
This tour that’s coming up, who is going to dominate on this killer tour that’s coming up? That sounds like a killer lineup.
Mark: Oh, it’s The Famine all the way. I’m not even gonna pretend. I get in trouble for running my mouth about it, but we are 100% honored to play with all those guys up there – from Demon Hunter … good friends of ours, to even Living Sacrifice, for guys that we’ve looked up to for 100 years and who really helped lay a foundation for a lot of our typical style of music. But I think that the wonderful thing about what’s going on with The Famine right now is nobody really knows. We put some demo stuff online, but until you’ve had a chance to hear what we did with Andreas in the studio, no holds barred, something to prove type of metal that we do, and believe me, we do have something to prove, and that’s just going to come across very well in the live show. I just feel like we’re going to come out with just the most vague expectations of all and I really feel like we’re going to take over as much as possible – as much as we can. And again, that’s nothing to the other bands, because I’ll tell you right now, from the openers on, everybody up there can bring their A game. I’ve seen all these bands play, with the exception of Advent, and every one of those bands is a headliner. From one end to the other. In that aspect, I think it’s gonna be a phenomenal tour. I think that everybody is just going to be on top of their game. Especially when I start thinking about the individual musicians in the band – from Lance of Living Sacrifice and guys that are just incredibly accomplished at what they do. I think it’s just going to be absolutely amazing. It’s going to be fun for us, too, just to play with all these guys. We absolutely can’t wait. But, yeah, to answer your question, The Famine, for sure.
Give us an example of how the songwriting on this albumwent down. It sounds like you had a real collaborative effort… If you could break it down to us…?
Mark: Right. What we did is we had in our rehearsal space we had five foot by six foot marker boards on all the walls. We basically wrote a riff bin, where we would just find the sickest riff that we could find, put ‘em all in there, name ‘em, like these real ridiculous, retarded names, and made it to where we would start putting these riffs together and then we had 28, 30 riffs in our riff bin. We’d find the best ones, let people hear ‘em, and they’d say, “That’s sick!” or “That’s pretty nice right there, as far as intensity-wise,” and then we just built upon that. And that was mainly with me and Andy. Me and Andy have always written the songs together. That’s why I think a lot of Andy’s guitar riffs are just bizarre. He’s real. He likes to groove, but way different than anybody else I’ve ever heard before; because what he does is he tries to write guitars to do what I do. And I do the same thing. I write drum fills and drum “riffs,” if you will, to Andy’s guitar riffs, so what comes out is usually … I don’t even know how to explain it. In “Behemoth,” I mean, I follow Andy note for note with different drums – on toms and everything else throughout the whole song, and it is super intense. Even on “Another Foot To The Shovel,” I have a tom pattern that follows Andy’s riffs. It’s kinda the ‘chicken or the egg,’ I don’t know what came first. I think the drum fills came first and Andy wrote a guitar riff to it. And then we kind of just wrote that way. Once we got everything together, we put everything in mp3 form and sent it up to Kris to check it out, because he’s living in New York right now. He came with a lot of ideas. He flew down and, man, we just went from there. We started writing. He said he liked this or didn’t like that or wondered if we could carry this out longer. And once we got everything tracked we brought Nick on board for bass and it’s been moving ever since. It basically starts with me and Andy getting on each other’s nerves in the rehearsal room and trying to sense the way things are going to be as far as a song – the tone of a certain song. Once we get that, man, the song will pretty much write itself. You know, it doesn’t take that long to write a song and it takes even less time to track a song, because we’ll do that constantly. We’ll write a song and I’ll know if we’re never gonna play the song again because of the look Andy will have on his face. I’m like, “Andy, this is a great, great, great song! You’re crazy!” And he’ll just be like, “I don’t know, man. Something about it…” And that means we’ll never play the song again. So, we wrote a ton of songs for the record and really took probably the best 11 songs we could find. We even wrote one song in the studio, “Killing For Sport,” which is just a fun song in its own right. That was kind of an aberration. More actually a challenge from Andreas. He wanted to see. I ask all the bands to do this. I want you to write a song. I’ll give you 10 minutes to do it and we’re going to record it.” And so that’s what we did and that’s where “Killing For Sport” came up. Kris has the lyrics to that anyways, which are super intense. That’s kind of the story on that.
Let’s say your prediction of dominating and slaying and destroying comes true. In the aftermath of one of these shows, let’s say the fictitious but come to real life CSI crew comes in to investigate and look over the scene, what are they going to find?
Mark: (laughs) I’d say it’d be pretty bizarre. Oh man, it’d be a nightmare. I tell ya right now, we’ve got so much on the line – we’ve got so much riding on this – we’ve got so much passion about this. We’ve got so little time to do this, that this is our chance, and we are going to go in there every night – however many nights the tour is – I think there’s , like , 40 nights, maybe, and we’re just gonna annihilate every night, man. I mean… in every way, shape, or form, we’re going to leave our souls everywhere we go and we are just gonna show kids, like I said, the honesty that we try to put other there. The album is called The Raven and the Reaping and the whole premise behind it is just… It’s so absurd, because we’re just trying to take it to a level that people just shouldn’t take it. There’s parts on there that are just absolutely insane. What I hope they would find is just a bunch of jaws on the floor. People going, ‘Oh my God! They actually played that!” We’re going to play it. We’re going to play it all. We’re going to play everything on the record that we can possibly play. I just hope there’s nothing left behind, because that’s our goal.
Awesome! I can hear Grissom coming up with the conclusion as to why all these jawbones are on the floor.
So, what’s the deeper meaning behind all the facial hair?
Mark: Oh, man! You know (laughs) Honestly, with me. I’ve got the biggest beard… Kris might have the biggest beard right now. I don’t know. Mine’s pretty long. Really, you see all these kids these days with these baby faces and flipped over hair and someone wearing eyeliner or whatever. I just want to be as gruff as possible. I wanted to have something that just showed everybody that I’m not playing in the normal game. We’re playing by different rules. We’re just doing what we’re doing. If you’re a musician, I’m cutting against the grain a little bit. Honestly, I think a better way to put it is: It’d be the same reason why Kris has all his tattoos and Nick has all his tattoos and all that. It’s just a statement that they’re making to show something that they can do; where I think Andy gets kind of conflicted about his beard sometimes and I don’t know. I love it. I think it’s just a cool thing to have and I think kids will, in general. I hope that they’re jealous of my beard, actually.
“One Foot To The Shovel” lyrics:
Mark: I did not write those lyrics. Kris did on that one, I believe. And that is probably the most personal song on the record. It has a lot to do with relationships. It has a lot to do with marriages and betrayal. Obviously, things have gone wrong. It’s just, you know, a very passionate thing that kind of speaks to a despair of a person in the situation or a person affected by the situation of a marriage falling apart, or a relationship falling apart. Being in that situation that you’re just another foot to the shovel. You’re piling it on when you do that kind of stuff. It comes with a cost and it’s devastating. And really, if you listen to the lyrics of the song, that’s the only thing I can say: it’s just totally devastating. And there’s just so much aftermath to that. I hate speaking for them when they wrote the lyrics, but I know when I read it that it’s just really sad. In all the friends that we’ve had that’ve been married, it seems a ton of ‘em have gone through divorce or are going through divorces, just because of infidelities and stuff like that. If you read the lyrics, it has a lot to say about that kind of stuff. How you’re just, I guess, just throwing your soul away. You’re selling your soul, your mate’s soul, your wife’s soul, your husband’s soul for just pennies. It’s horrible. And it’s something that I think people especially in society now, they don’t attach importance to it, about how important it is to be faithful. I think that song just comes through in a real hard way – especially for somebody that’s going through it or contemplating, unfortunately, going through a … something like that, when it comes to infidelity or anything like that. Man, it’s just tragic on many levels and devastating to everybody involved. And you can hear in the lyrics just the total devastation. I’m trying to think of a better word, but I guess there’s not; and that’s basically what the song was written about.
Right on. I appreciate your time and sharing with me. Is there anything else you wanted to add or see touched on in this story?
Mark: You know, other than the record itself, I can just say that Solid State has just been phenomenal. It was awesome doing a record with Andreas and I feel like he took a lot of ownership on this record to make sure that our vision was out there as much as possible. I don’t think we could’ve been with a better person. I think the last part of that is going to be the kids. The kids giving it a chance, listening to it. Even if they think they’re on the fence, you know, “I want this type of band, not that kind of band – just listen to what we’re doing and I think they’ll come to appreciate it – on several different levels. Not just the musical level. Other than that, I just can’t wait to see everyone on tour, obviously. I can’t wait to be with the other bands and just taking care of business.
I will plan on catching your show in San Antonio.
Mark: Wonderful, man. Hey, if not, will we see you at Cornerstone, or no?
Oh yeah! Lord willing, I’ll be there. We’ve got plans to be there and everything. On a tour like this I like to see twice, because Cornerstone is going to be amazing, but so will a club show.
Well, what’s going to be awesome about Cornerstone is that’s going to be right at the very end of the tour for us and man, playing as many dates as we’re going to be in a row, I think we’re just going to be – all of us – on fire. And ready to bust at the seams. I can’t wait.
You mentioned in the teaser article in HM a couple of issues ago how you kind of re-discovered a pure motive for making music that attracted you back into music when you joined Demon Hunter. Can you elaborate on this a little more?
Kris: It's not a secret that Embodyment and I parted ways due to creative differences. I felt at the time, and still do, that writing and playing music is such a privilege that it should be done without compromise. Demon Hunter was a well-timed and -executed band often viewed as a gimmick but the music was completely sincere and honest and that is where the fans connected. As much as the music industry is a game that must be played it is also a complete gamble with honest bands being able to come out on top.
It seems that lots of your lyrics are personal on this album. How much of your music as a whole is written for your self and how much is written to communicate to others?
Kris: I wouldn't say anything was written as line of communication. At least that wasn't an objective. A lot of the lyrics came from a conversation or something happening at the moment. We wrote most of the lyrics collectively so they are all coming from a personal, but multiple, points of view.
How was your experience going from one band to another career to another band and now to this band?
Kris: It's definitely been growing experience. I'm doing things now that I wanted to do back then just about 10 years later. At first I thought it was going to be more of a "pick up where you left off" experience but it hasn't. I think that time between things were happening that you can't necessarily see at the moment. I've never been able to put my "career" on hold while my "hobby" is being pursued or the other way around. I just see it as everything I love doing and having the ability and opportunity to them all at the same time.
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