KYS PRESENTS FEATURE: Suicide Silence

Oi! Suicide Silence are coming back to Australia this September for a headline tour that's bound to go off its tits. As such, we had a chat with vocalist, Eddie Hermida, about his vocals, their new album, and this new tour...

When I get on the phone with the vocalist, he's just chilling at home. But as with any big touring band these days, who aren't raking in the dosh from record sales and Spotify spins, they'll be back on the road in no time. Their upcoming Australian tour comes up in just a few short months and the last time we saw the band was Soundwave 2014. Apparently, the boys in Suicide Silence have been meaning to get back to us for quite some time now. 

"This is a makeup tour, this is all supposed to be a part of that [You Can't Stop Me] record cycle. Without getting too much into the semantics of it, we owe you guys a visit Down Under. We went out for the beginning of when that record came out to support it and this was originally supposed to be the follow-up tour that got pushed back. Very simply put: we owe you guys some badassery so we’re coming to make do with our debt."

I know that many fans are very happy to collect on your debt, mate! Now, it's no secret that the band are working on a brand new album, to follow up 2014's 'You Can't Stop Me'. However, while this tour may eventually coincide with a new album announcement or cycle, we most likely won't be seeing any new content from that release on this tour, admits Hermida.

"I’ll say it like this: The record is not gonna be anywhere near done by the time we come out there. We’re taking some time off from the writing to take care of these tours. There isn’t really much to talk about: it’s just simply not done yet."

Well in any case, I was quite curious to know how this fifth record from the metal outfit is coming along. Of course, it'll be heavier than a ten-ton hammer, but how does the one man in the band who doesn't play a conventional instrument (vocals do sort of count as an instrument, especially in metal) and who now has had more time with the band and its fan base, find the writing process? Apparently, rather well as it's all been going swimmingly according to Hermida.

"It’s coming along really well! It’s hard work but at the same time, it’s all in good fun. We love what we’re doing so it’s all going smoothly. Stuff like this takes times. When you’re coming off of playing a bunch of festivals and tours and shows and you don’t stop for your own life. You need to chill out for a bit.  You gotta pick up your instruments again and get to work and let it all flow. We don’t wanna rush this process too much. For You Can’t Stop Me, a lot of the instrumentals were already written. I just had to take those and make sense of them and go from there. There were times where I’d hear a riff and say that they should turn that into something else. This record is pretty much the same. I listen to it all as a member of the band, equal to everyone else."

Well, let's hope that this is better than 'You Can't Stop Me', which was already pretty solid if I'm being honest. Because if they put the real time and effort into it, we could very well have one of the strongest Suicide Silence records thus far. Maybe. We'll have to wait and see, of course, but it seems promising if the screamer is to be believed. Now, that I think about it, the front man is a great screamer, as he's proved time and time again with All Shall Perish and now Suicide Silence. So I'm curious to know how he got into screaming and turns out, it originally started out with Robin Williams. No, really!

"I’ve always said that I got a lot of influence from character voices on TV. I was always a big fan of Robin Williams as a kid and people who were able to manipulate their voice to sound completely different. And that includes my favourite bands growing up. My favourite singer is Mike Patton from Faith No More because he can just do whatever he wants with his voice. He can mimic sounds just like any good songbird can. That to me is cool. It transcends gender and race and genetic makeup to manipulate your voice into something completely different. Screaming is no different. It comes from voice manipulation and recreating noises you like and have grown to cherish. Like when I first heard Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse, I wanted to learn how to do that and so I started to sound like that. That’s how it all comes about. I use that in this music because it’s aggressive and it calls for that."

It really bloody does! But with such an intense style of music and with such an intense vocal delivery, shit must start to wear and tear eventually, right? But as some of you may expect, it's all about how hard you go while you're up on stage, and if you decide to blow your voice out like a goddamn amateur. Hermida had some great advice to share with me for all the budding screamers out there - it's about your overall mindset, rather than how ready your vocal chords and diaphragm are. Although, that does help out.

"Look, you can do all the vocal warmups in the world but it’s about how intense you get on stage. If you aren’t feeling it then it isn’t gonna come out right, which for screaming, you need to be feeling it! It’s a little more intense. The way we prepare is less physical and more spiritual. It’s a lot more important to have an hour of your own time before you go on stage where you can prepare mentally for the destruction you're about to cause", the singer cheekily states. "It’s something you have to be emotionally ready for. It’s like going into battle. You have to put on your war paint and you have to be ready to die. That's why it’s so intense."

I’ve always had my rituals", he continues. "I’ve always taken at least an hour before going on stage to prepare myself mentally. Sometimes you do it by taking a couple shots and sometimes, you do it by having some fun with a gal before going on stage! Either way, there are different ways that a boy and a man deal with going into battle, but nowadays I’d say I have a much more centred demeanour. I’m ready to kill every time I go on stage. I’m a little bit more of an assassin now", laughs the front man.

Killing our ears is something that I can totally get behind. Killing me? Yeah, not so much. Though that would look cool on my grave. Just throwin' it out there.

Ahem.

In any state, if you missed Suicide Silence back in 2014 and have been beating yourself for it (and fair enough as there were dozens of other bands playing that year), well you can hold off on the self-flagellation and see them live this September. Don't sleep on this one.

Suicide Silence will be hitting our shores up later this year. Tickets available here, fam.