SUICIDE SILENCE

THE CALI CRUSHERS’ CONTROVERSIAL NEW ALBUM IS COMING TO DOWNLOAD

How was the recent UK tour?

“It was great; we really appreciate how many people came out to see the new flavour of what we’re doing. It’s astounding we played to 500 people at [London’s] KOKO, and we still managed to pull in 300 people on every other night. They might be lower numbers for us but they’re modest. We’re very grateful to everyone who came out.”

Do you feel like you won over some sceptical fans? “Every night there’d be one or two kids who’d start by heckling and by the end they’re crowdsurfing. We start with Doris, which is the song that we got the most shit for, and you can see people expecting it to suck. Halfway through they’re either nodding their heads or in the pit. If people were expecting us to fail, we can’t, because we’re still Suicide Silence at our core. We’re still gonna give you the songs you love.”

And you’ll be coming face to face with even more of the sceptics at festivals this summer. Do you have a mindset for those shows? “Yes, it’s a war. When I go onstage, it’s to fight for your enjoyment. I’m onstage to move people, to give 100% of myself. That’s something that death metal and deathcore lacks. If you don’t do that, then you don’t belong there.”

Presumably you don’t regret anything you said in the aftermath of the release of the self-titled album?

“If I was trying to sell records, I’d have been a lot safer; if I was trying to sell out, I wouldn’t have stood behind my music. If was trying to please a crowd I’d regret what I said. But I’m not here to please a crowd, I’m here to be Eddie Hermida and we’re here to be Suicide Silence. It was meant to create a self-realisation, a moment where people couldn’t work out what they were feeling. The record’s only been out a few months, it hasn’t had a chance to fully bloom. Everything that is going to happen is still going to happen, and everything that has happened was exactly the way we planned it.”