Interviews

 

3 INCHES OF BLOOD

 

Words: Rod Yates

 

Consider the items people usually try and smuggle into gigs: recording devices, cameras, alcohol and so on. Every now and again, though, someone tries to push the boundaries of what’s acceptable to bring in to a show.

 

“We were in Winnipeg, Canada, and our dressing room had windows where you could look outside and see the crowd lining up, and I see this kid come up with a pig’s head on a stake!” guffaws 3 Inches Of Blood bassist Nick Cates. “It was insane! He tried to bring it inside but security ended up not letting him in with it. It was impaled on the stake right outside the show, and everyone walking past the door had to look at the pig’s head.”

 

Disturbingly, it’s not the only time someone has attended a 3 Inches Of Blood gig with a severed body part – at one show in the US, a fan held a deer’s head above his and stormed the stage awash in a dribble of blood and gore. Which begs the question, what is it about 3 Inches Of Blood that inspires this behaviour?

 

“I think it mainly has to do with the lyrics,” considers Cates. “A lot of the lyrics are fantasy based or about another world, and I think people take those lyrics and run with them and have fun. And I think it’s awesome for people to get that escape from reality through the lyrics and to have a good time at the shows.”

 

Said lyrics are one of the reasons why 3 Inches Of Blood have spent much of their career explaining that, no, they’re not a joke, and, yes, they really are interested in orcs. Their just released third album, Fire Up The Blades, is soaked in a brand of fantasy based imagery that crosses the wizardry of Tolkien with the sinister overtones of Aleister Crowley, as represented by song titles such as Night Marauders, Forest King and The Great Hall Of Feasting, the latter featuring lyrics like “As the day breaks and the battle hour approaches/Many cries will echo through the hills/Be not afraid your sacrifice is not in vain/The god’s reward for dying with your sword in hand.”

 

These days, says Cates with some relief, they’re having to defend themselves less and less against accusations that they’re a joke band – a byproduct, perhaps, of the fact that some of the world’s most credible metal musicians have lined up in support of the sextet, the latest being Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford, who raved about them recently in an LA radio interview. 

 

“We have the MP3 of that interview on our website,” smiles Cates. “That was like one of your heroes coming down and knighting you! And last October we had the extreme honour of opening up for Iron Maiden in LA, and after the show Rod Smallwood, Maiden’s manager, gathered us all in a circle and gave us this really inspirational, positive pep talk about how he really loved us and thought we were going places.”

 

Another high profile supporter is Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison, who was so impressed with 3IOB when they supported Satyricon, with whom he was playing at the time, that he offered to produce Fire Up The Blades.

 

“We did these pre-production sessions for two weeks where we just worked on songs before we recorded, and he was in there with us for 14 hours a day, just helping us be the best we could be,” says Cates. “He has so much experience and knows so much about this style of music, and he’s a super cool guy.”

 

The sound Jordison helped capture is heavier and darker than that of previous album, 2004’s Advance And Vanquish, although given that only co-vocalists Cam Pipes and Jamie Hooper remain from the line-up that recorded that album, you’d expect some musical changes.

 

“The new members all listen to more extreme kind of stuff, and are a little more seasoned as far as playing ability,” explains Cates. “You don’t know what the musical spark is going to be like between people when you write songs, but the spark is insane. Automatically we knew it was right.”

 

The spark offstage seems to be just as strong, if a recent touring experience in England is any indication.

 

“We did a three week tour of the UK in March,” explains Cates, “and I don’t remember a week of that tour. One night when we went out in Scotland I ended up sleeping outside of the house we were staying in cos I couldn’t get back in from the bar. I ended up sleeping in a little alley behind a house.” He lets out a chuckle. “Can you imagine waking up in an alley and not remembering how you got there?”

 

 

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