Interview by Ryan Onstad
Onstad: This interview opportunity is really cool for me because I am a big fan of the band. Originally your new album, Storm the Gates of Hell, was reportedly going to be called Hell Hath No Fury. Why the change in title?
Clark: That was actually kind of a tag line we used for some pre-release marketing. It wasn’t at any time going to be the album title as much it was just going to be a hint at the album title. We like to be clever like that.
Onstad: So with the new album, what is your favorite track and why? And can I first guess what track I think it is? I think you’re going to say “Carry Me Down” but…
Clark: I am definitely fond of that song, but I’d say “Lead Us Home.” In terms of the standard Demon Hunter formula, I think it has that but it has a step up from our previous stuff as well. I think it has a little bit of everything.
Onstad: In your opinion, in what ways is Storm the Gates of Hell different than your other albums?
Clark: The last two records are pretty diverse. I think this one goes even further in that direction displaying a few different influences in areas that we wanted to explore. I think this album really has a lot of people excited. It’s kind of schizophrenic and I like about our records. I tend to like bands that have a broad variety of sounds. So that’s what we really aimed for. From the very beginning we’ve done ballads, mixed in heavy songs, and the album just kind of flowed like that. If we keep going and do more records, we’d like to explore that even more and push a different style to a new area that we haven’t really gone before. I think it’s definitely more diverse altogether. It’s a little rawer sounding. It's diverse vocally as well – I do a few things vocally that I haven’t really done on the previous records. I sing a little higher in parts and I do some higher screams so I think it’s just overall a lot more diverse.
Onstad: Musically, it seems like the first three albums are kind of the Clark brothers really as the nucleus of the band. Do you think that your other lead guitarist, Ethan, was a little more prevalent when it came to the writing process on this disc as opposed to your other records?
Clark: In terms of the bulk of the songs, it’s all written by my brother and me so it’s the still the same formula as far as that goes. But I think that Ethan and Yogi both felt a little more comfortable this record going into the studio. With the last record, they were still pretty new in the band and so it was kind of just this trial by fire. With this record, I feel like both of them were more comfortable with their spot in the band. They felt a little more relaxed with their performances and with their addition to the songs. I think that shows with the lead guitar stuff and the drumming as well.
Onstad: Where did you guys find Yogi? I’ve really been a fan of his drumming. I just think that he can really hold his own when it comes to the metal world of drummers.
Clark: We first met Yogi when his band Holland was recording a record up here in Seattle. At the time he was kind of a closet metalhead and he jokingly threw out the idea that hey if you guys ever need a drummer give me a call. So lo and behold eventually we did. We tossed around the idea of a bunch of drummers and he kept coming back into the conversation. We gave him a shot and he has been a great drummer and great band member ever since. He’s improved since being in the band. He’s not super familiar with playing metal, this is kind of his debut so to speak, and he’s made some pretty big leaps in terms of his skill level even just between these last two records.
Onstad: Bruce from Living Sacrifice lent some screams in the song "Sixteen." I take it that Living Sacrifice was one of the many influences on your band?
Clark: Yeah, absolutely. Reborn was a big record for me and my brother right when it came out. It brought a new love for Christian metal in general. Every few years I feel like there’s a record that comes out that really takes Christian metal to the next level. For me early on it was records by Mortification and Turnicate. Then I got really into the hardcore stuff like Focus and Unashamed and all that kind of stuff. And then shortly after that when Reborn came out I felt like it really took everything to a new level.
Onstad: Having guests appear on your records is nothing new for Demon Hunter. In future releases, realistically, who do you hope to come on and lend their talents to an upcoming record?
Clark: We tossed around the idea of doing more guests on this record. We had a few in the works, but they just didn’t pan out because of time issues. But it’s something that we always like to do. I always like hearing that on other records. You hear another voice and you’re like well who’s that? I think it adds a cool dynamic and kind of gets your brain going about how it happened and how those people got together. It kind of tells a little story. Those people that we look up to musically like Max Cavalera from Sepultura would be rad or Robb Flynn from Machine Head is one of my favorite vocalists. I have a big ole list. There’s some that I wouldn’t even say because there’s no way that they would do it, but those are some of the more realistic ones.
Onstad: With your unique vocal stylings it sounds like you’re really putting your vocal chords to work through your screaming and clean vocals. What do you do to take care of your voice?
Clark: Nothing really. It’s tough to build up to that point though. Every time that we do a record or we tour I have to break my vocals back in. It’s a matter of stamina. It takes awhile to get that going especially when I’m going back and forth between the two styles. It’s mostly about stamina because most of the songs are pretty word heavy and some of the singing parts go directly into screaming and vice versa. That stuff can be a little tricky so it’s just a matter of practicing it. I usually start practicing about a month before we go out or a month before we do a record and that seems to help quite a bit but I don’t really do any exercises or anything like that.
Onstad: I assume that you grew up watching Headbanger’s Ball like I did and now every week I seem to be catching the “Fading Away” video on there and obviously the “Carry Me Down” video is going to be on there soon. So I was wondering at what point has this become surreal to you?
Clark: The whole thing has always been, especially with this band. I’ve been in a handful of bands in the past and those bands have had their share of surreal moments for sure – getting signed to a label and touring and things like that. After awhile you start losing sight of how exciting those things are. With Demon Hunter it’s always been one thing after another right from the get go. We were on Headbanger’s Ball doing the guest host thing and that was definitely crazy. That was a pretty big deal, like you said; I did watch Headbanger’s Ball growing up though I feel like it’s lost a little bit of its luster just because of the way that MTV operates these days. Just knowing that it’s the only show on TV that you’re going to be able to catch it on – it's definately cool to get that support. There have been a lot of milestones in this band; it’s been really cool.
Onstad: Is there some sort of plan that you guys have drawn out for the band?
Clark: We have a lot more in us for sure. We function in a way that allows us to operate when we want and when it makes sense to us. We do the things that we want and only agree to do what we want to do and it’s very much a comfortable thing for us. And because of that I think that we have the ability to bypass a lot of the difficult situations that a lot of bands get into when they feel like hanging up the towel since we’re not out there 10-11 months out of the year touring. It’s therapeutic for us being home and working on design doing that stuff and then picking up and doing the band when we slate the time for it. Because of that, I truly think we will be around for another 4 or 5 or 6 records.
Onstad: Cool, that’s what I like to hear. Your band is really notorious for not touring that much partially because of you and your brother’s job as graphic artists. Pardon my ignorance, but can’t you still draw and design albums and t-shirts on the laptop while on the tour bus?
Clark: [laugh] You would think that you could, but it’s just completely impossible. First of all, a laptop is for print design and it is kind of a nightmare color wise and contrast wise and things like that. There is a lot of downtime on tour, but it’s a different kind of downtime. It’s a weird, lazy … for us it’s almost like a vacation. We’ve thought we could do a little bit of work on the road, but it’s just not feasible. There are just so many resources that we use here in the office – books and scanners and all kinds of stuff that wouldn’t be real feasible to take on the road. So it definitely has to remain two different worlds.
Onstad: Demon Hunter fans are exceptionally loyal to the band. So what is one of the coolest things you’ve received from one of my fellow Hunters and has there ever been a point where a fan went too far?
Clark: We get a lot of photos of tattoos and birthday cakes and sculptures and things like that. A guy at our Portland show last year brought us a sculpture of the demon head in a realistic style and it was kind of mounted on a plaque. That was definitely a step up from some of the fan art we’ve seen. The guy was pretty talented and it was definitely pretty crazy. As far as going too far, this might kind of work for that question. There was a couple in Germany that had a car, we see a lot of cars that have giant Demon Hunter stickers or they put a big emblem on the back or on the side or whatever, and this couple from Germany had a little black Sedan that they put these stickers all over. The Demon Hunter head was on the hood and, I’m assuming it was just something lost in translation, but on the side it said "F the devil" spelled out. I don’t think they realized the weight of that word in English and they sent that over and it was pretty amazing to see that.
Onstad: [laugh] That’s pretty funny. Last year you appeared on the cover of Revolver magazine along with members from Norma Jean, Underoath, and As I Lay Dying and this month there was a write up on you guys in Revolver. How do you feel being kind of in a way a poster boy for crossover Christian artists?
Clark: It’s definitely cool; I welcome any of that kind of stuff just because it allows me to further the platform I have in the band. Interviews and being vocal outside of just the music itself allows me to talk a little deeper about the music. A lot of times in the songs I’m definitely being a little more metaphorical or telling a story that may be real personal and it doesn’t really get direct. So when I’m doing interviews and things like that it allows me to be more direct and be a little bolder with our stance and things like that. I take any opportunity I can to do that and the bigger the thing, the better as far as I’m concerned.
Onstad: Being a fellow Christian myself I know that often our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are notorious for judging and ripping apart each other for our appearances or what we do or say in public. How does your band adjust to that? Because I know there are legalistic Christians out there that see you with tattoos and piercings and what have you and want to write you off as a joke ministry. Or when you guys are seen wearing Pantera or Obituary shirts in band photos or video footage – bands known for not being God positive. How do you address those critiques and I also mention this because when you wear a Pantera shirt for instance you are supporting the band and telling your fans that you listen to them. Obviously younger fans that are into your band might see oh Demon Hunter likes Pantera I should check them out. They may pick up their albums, like say Far Beyond Driven, and listen to a track like “Becoming” where they will hear lyrics like to rise beyond Jesus. Christian fans may be taken aback by that. Secular fans may care less, but your Christian fans may feel different. How do you address and deal with this complicated issue?
Clark: I think that there’s a lot of what I feel to be gray area in terms of the legalism and the making those judgment calls just by viewing a band or people in general. We’ve learned to either… it’s kind of both sides. For the more legalistic parents and fans and things like that we do our best to explain to them our stance on that. A lot of the emails we get are that kind of email we get a heaping load of skeptical parents and we do explain our stance and our mission – what we do and why we do it. In terms of that kind of stuff, I’ve talked a lot about those bands being influential to us musically. It’s the same as supporting a restaurant or something like that. You support what they provide and not necessarily what they stand for. And what those bands provided for us was musical inspiration. Covering a Prong song like we did on our last record was paying homage to a band that influenced us musically. It gave us something that we wouldn’t have got otherwise. As far as wearing band shirts like that, unless you are able to come up and talk to us to see why, I think you would just be assuming that we were to align ourselves completely to what those bands stood for, talked about, or believed in. With those kinds of bands and those kind of t-shirts it’s all about the kind of music they brought and the influence that they gave us musically.
Onstad: Right. Well earlier when you mentioned somebody like Rob Flynn for instance... I own every Machine Head album and I’m a huge fan of theirs. On the new album there’s a track called “Halo” which is basically messages against organized religion – not exactly against God, but against organized religion. For me, I can remove myself from it because I dig the music number one, but also as a Christian I also go unfortunately it’s the people that ruin relgion sometimes and this is about a personal relationship with Christ. But not everybody understands that outside of church so for sometimes it is difficult to listen to. But a band like Tool for instance... like Maynard really works and strives to get the point across that he doesn’t like Christians you know what I mean? I have a hard time listening to just the music when I know the singer hates God that much.
Clark: Tool is one of those bands that in the past has been really hard for me to listen to and I’m not really a big fan of their newer stuff anyway. But when Undertow and Ænima came out I was a bigger fan and it became really hard to listen to that stuff. I felt like he really knew how to get under our skin and that’s what he was trying to do obviously. But I think if it irks you like that then it’s definitely something you shouldn’t listen to. If you feel convicted about it, I think it’s a different story than something that gets you pumped on the music.
Onstad: Gigantour will be hitting the road this summer. Is that something you are trying to get onboard for?
Clark: At this point we are just trying to set up our tour for this summer and that’s all that's on our radar as far as touring goes right now. Because of our touring schedule and our daily work lives, when we do tour usually we like to go out and do a headlining run because usually we’re touring on a new record and we like to pull out all the stops and be able to showcase a lot of that new record. We want to do the full show and make it as big and crazy as possible.
Onstad: So it’s really trying to center around your audience more than trying to get out to the masses.
Clark: Yeah, exactly. And I think if we toured more often we definitely would be open to hooking up with bigger bands and doing some supporting runs. But because of the way that we function and tour so infrequently, it just seems to make sense just to do it as a headlining deal.
Onstad: Is there anyone that you’ve been talking to about going on tour that you can talk about yet?
Clark: No, not that we can talk about yet, but I can say that we are getting pretty close to finalizing the line up and it will be quite soon that we will unleash that information.
Onstad: If you could form a super group of your favorite musicians both living and deceased who would be in it and why and would you be in it yourself?
Clark: Good question… super group… man…
Onstad: Did I seriously stump Ryan Clark?
Clark: Well this is just one of those things I’d have to think about for hours on end, but I’ll try to do an abbreviated version just thinking off the top of my head. Well Phil Anselmo is my favorite vocalist in terms of metal. Phil Anselmo’s voice with Bruce Fitzhugh’s spirituality [laugh]. To be completely honest how about we just get Pantera back together – you said dead or alive. So just get Pantera back together and get Phil saved and yeah pre-drug Phil days. That’s pretty much my dream team anyway.
Onstad: Cool man. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk and hopefully this summer we’ll get a chance to hang out or something. Have fun drawing and hopefully we’ll talk to you sometime soon.
Clark: Thanks man, take care.