Interview & photo by Rachel Jablonski
Their latest album, A Haunting Curse on Metal Blade Records, has led them to a hit video for “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult” on MTV2, a spot on Sounds of the Underground 2007, and the corruption of music fans around the country as their notoriety grows. But it has not come without struggle. Numerous tragedies from car accidents to Hurricane Katrina have shaken, but not shattered the band from Louisiana. So prepare yourself for a glimpse into Goatwhore as I interviewed guitarist/vocalist Sammy Duet at Sounds of the Underground 2007 in Milwaukee, WI.
Rachel: Let me tell you, it was hilariously awkward when my Mom asked, “So who are you going to interview today?” “Oh just this metal band,” I answered, but she insisted on me saying the name. “GOATWHORE, Mom, GOATWHORE,” I replied. [laugh]
Sammy: Yeah, it’s an interesting name, ya know? I mean with all these bands out there with these stupid names like I’m not going into DETAIL because I don’t really have anywhere to TALK, but I mean it makes me proud to have a name that is actually offensive in a way; almost taboo to speak of in certain areas of media or whatever. Like we played in Biloxi, Mississippi and all they could put on the marquee was “Goat.” The venue was right across from a church that just happened to get broken into that night, but let’s not get into that. But yes, I understand. It’s awesome.
Rachel: Is there a certain story behind the band name?
Sammy: Well there are a couple of stories behind it. There are rumors and stuff, but where it originally came from is back to when the original drummer and I were in the process of forming the band and we had a name that was already taken.
Rachel: Kilgore?
Sammy: Exactly. You’re a smart girl. I like you already!
Rachel: [laugh]
Sammy: But anyway we were Kilgore, but we wanted to expand because Kilgore was a little more rough than the Goatwhore stuff. We wanted to change the name and change the whole direction of the music and all that. So we were looking for a name, we didn’t want nothing weenie or nothing like that. So at the time we were reading a lot of like Aleister Crowley, occult literature, for lyrical influence of course… and personal reasons. He had this one woman – I wouldn’t say she was his wife or his girlfriend or a very nice girl anyway. But she would have sex in the rituals that he would have with many men and at the end of the ritual at the climax she would have sex with a goat. So, technically, that is the first goatwhore. That was definitely the influence for the name at first and then from the influence of a very unattractive exotic dancer if you will. That definitely put the final nail in the coffin as far as us using Goatwhore for the name of our band. That’s it; it has to be this. It’s fate.
Rachel: In your “Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult” video you dubbed out the word “Christ…”
Sammy: Yeah, “murdering the slaves of Christ.”
Rachel: Do you think that actually drew more attention to the lyric? And as you become more popular do you worry about censorship?
Sammy: Well the whole thing is that we didn’t want to chance getting the video axed from MTV2 because I mean we spent a lot of money on it and we want to corrupt as many people as we possibly can with our music. So I see MTV as a very useful tool. A lot of people call us sellouts or whatever for being on MTV; I could give a fuck less about that. A sellout to me is changing the style of your music and I’ve found we’ve gone more extreme with it. But, back to the question at hand, we didn’t want to risk the chance of getting the video banned from MTV by using a derogatory term for some people that are very religious that run MTV. So, better safe than sorry. But yeah it actually drew more attention to it that they bleeped it out of the video than if they would have just left it, which is actually kind of cool in my opinion.
Rachel: Yeah because then you have people looking it up trying to find out what word was bleeped.
Sammy: Exactly. It’s a line about murdering certain people in this world that deserve to be murdered.
Rachel: So as you become more popular, I mean because you are gaining exposure on this tour and on MTV, do think you’ll run into more and more censorship?
Sammy: I don’t really think about that much because we will continue doing what we do. We will never change for any record company or MTV2 or any tour. We’ll never tame it down. Actually, it will fume the fire to make us even go more extreme; to be so different and push the boundaries of what we can and cannot get away with.
Rachel: That’s true. The lyrics read kind of like, I don’t know, an Edgar Allen Poe poem or something. Are the lyrics written to be dark and interpretive or is there a certain concept behind them?
Sammy: When it comes to the lyrics, Ben and I both write a lot of stuff and it’s usually split up 50/50. We’ll sit down when it comes time to write the lyrics and we’ll be like you sound better singing this part and I was thinking about you singing this, you know it’s a big thing. But as far as our lyrics go as to be interpreted as anything, that’s up to the listener. I mean you KNOW what our message is, plain and simple. But as far as going deeper than that, that’s up to the listener to draw his own conclusion. I mean that’s what art is. That you can look at a painting and someone else can see the same painting and totally see something different from it. That’s how we like to keep our lyrics, very abstract. Not really to the point, but TO THE POINT. You know what Goatwhore lyrics are going to consist of, but it all depends on what’s being said and how it’s being said.
Rachel: So many artists say that kind of thing, but their lyrics still seem pointed. Yours are kept very interpretive. Do you actually have a specific thing in mind when you write?
Sammy: No, I mean actually when I write I’m not really thinking about anything except my lord and master Satan. It’s almost like a channel through me that he speaks to where I don’t even know what I’m writing about half the time, it’s just things that come into my head I guess that he’s… I’m almost like an antenna for him from Hell. [laugh] It sounds kind of funny, but I mean it’s weird it’s like when I write a lot of the lyrics, I can’t speak for Ben but I’ll speak for myself, a lot of time I’m writing when I’m first waking up in the morning when I’m still barely conscious or right when I’m dozing off to where I’m not conscious. It’s a very strange thing, it’s hard to explain. I’ll just be sitting there in a dark room totally relaxed and they just come to me in my head. I guess that’s when my master speaks to me.
Rachel: What benefits have you gained from being on the Sounds of the Underground tour this summer?
Sammy: We are corrupting a lot of minds that probably have never been exposed to this kind of music period. So that’s actually a benefit to me to go in front of these kids and just go up there and just ram it down their throats to where even if they don’t like it they won’t be able to escape it and will never forget it.
Rachel: Is the early set time a hindrance?
Sammy: It kind of bums me out because a lot of our fans expected us to play later and then they show up later and we’re done and that really bums me out. But other than that if they knew we were playing early and they’d get here that would be cool, but I mean I don’t care I’ll play whenever.
Rachel: Are you getting the response you were hoping for?
Sammy: Actually, I was expecting a very, very negative response to us on this tour. Like really bad because I mean if you look at the rest of the bands that are on this tour, with very few exceptions, we don’t really fit on this thing at all. So I was expecting the worst. But it actually has been going way better than I expected. I’m so happy. I almost doubted coming on this tour, but I’m glad we did it.
Rachel: I don’t really want to get into negatives, but you guys have been through a lot of unfortunate circumstances. I really admire how well you guys have come through all these obstacles. How do the sorts of tragedies you’ve been through affect your music?
Sammy: It’s an influence. We thrive on the negative. When things go good for us, it’s not good. We thrive on when bad things happen; we thrive on stress. That’s when this band is in full force is when things are hard because we are so used to that. I mean we came from nothing, no one wanted to touch us with a 10 foot pole, so we’re used to just going through shit all these years to getting to where we are now. And now things are starting to get easier and we’re playing bigger places and all this stuff so it’s kind of a weird transition from all the sudden playing scummy places in front of two people to playing nice places like this and having a lot of people do things for you as far as tour and stage stuff. We’ve never had that before so it’s almost like a culture shock. It’s almost strange for us to adapt to it. Like today it was a totally chaos fest and I won’t go into it because it ended up turning out good, we dealt with it and it was one of the most fun shows I’ve had on this tour because you went up there just totally stressed out and mentally pissed and just ready to kill instead of just going up there oh ok I’m gonna have a good time, I’m gonna play and there are no worries. I like to go up on stage just ready to stab someone.
Rachel: To put it all out there.
Sammy: Exactly.
Rachel: Have you been back to Louisiana since Katrina or do you live somewhere else now?
Sammy: No, we’re all still there, except for our drummer – he lives in Phoenix, Arizona. But me and Ben and Nathan still live out there, still live in our same places. Luckily, our master was looking out for us and got rid of the certain people he wanted to and kept the good people on his side all right. Cause if he’s happy, we’re happy.
Rachel: [laugh] Have you been writing any new material?
Sammy: I’ve been personally writing a lot of stuff in my spare time at home, but all of it is still kinda pending if you will. I’m very anal about that kind of stuff so it’s just ideas sitting right now that just need to be refined.
Rachel: Do you have future deals with Metal Blade?
Sammy: Yeah, we have three more albums with them.
Rachel: Cool. Do you plan on any re-releases?
Sammy: We’re working on that right now. I can’t really say anything because it’s a really strange situation with the last two records before this one. I mean we’re going to try, but I can’t really promise anything.
Rachel: What are your plans after Sounds of the Underground?
Sammy: I know we’re going on tour in August with Cannibal Corpse, Black Dahlia Murder, and The Red Chord. That’s when we’re going back out again.
Rachel: Well that’s all I have, is there anything else you want to add?
Sammy: Buy our record, come to our shows, buy our merchandise. Support Goatwhore and Satan.