Interview by Rachel Jablonski & Mike Schlabsz
Photo by Rachel Jablonski
Goatwhore's Ben Falgoust knows the importance of good dental hygiene.
We were hanging out at the bar waiting to interview Goatwhore vocalist Ben Falgoust. Ben soon approached us and said he needed to go brush his teeth, he did that a few times a day, and after that we’d be set for the interview. About 10 minutes later, Ben came back with a toothbrush and Aquafresh White & Shine toothpaste in hand. We followed him outside and began to chitchat.
Rachel: Ok, so I promise no Michael Jackson questions.
Ben: That’s awesome.
Rachel: [laugh]
Ben: I’ve done two interviews where they asked and I just told them that it was inevitable.
Rachel: So last week your latest album undertaking, Carving Out the Eyes of God, was released. The album is definitely Goatwhore at its finest. What do you intend to accomplish with this record?
Ben: The same thing always. We just like to play metal, man. We’re a metal band and we love metal. We like to play live and we like to see people enjoying the live thing; kind of like feeding off of each other. It could be ten people at a show, but if all ten people are totally stoked about it then it’s still a good show. We’re trying to accomplish the reinvention of having guitars loud on a record instead of them sitting back in a mix and all these drums and vocals taking over. No offense to Iowa, but in the Slipknot record the guitars are really pushed back and the drums and vocals are really loud. It’s like all these bands and producers seem to have lost the integrity of what metal is. What happened to the days of like Metallica Ride the Lightning, Slayer Reign in Blood where the guitars were the dominant structure in the band? And that’s what we’re doing with the new record. It doesn’t bury everything else, everything else you can hear fine, but the guitars are definitely like chainsaws and they fucking rip through. And that’s the point of metal.
Rachel: As a vocalist, that perspective is pretty unselfish.
Ben: I know it’s kind of odd because usually a vocalist is like…
Rachel: Give me the front, yeah.
Ben: But I like guitars and to me that’s what metal is. I’m confident that my vocals are going to cut through and do what they have to do. I want to see the guitars come up and do what they have to do. The rest of the guys felt the same way; we were all on the same page with the whole thing just as long as other people didn’t get buried. It worked out perfectly.
Rachel: Erik Rutan produced this new album and I have read that you were hesitant on using him again after A Haunting Curse due to guitar sound that came out of that record. What was it that you didn’t like about the guitars and how did you approach production this time around?
Ben: There was more preparedness, more professionalism on our end. By being that way it helped Rutan grab on to the recording even more. Beforehand Sammy and Zack would drop some things into the computer and send versions of it to Rutan months before. So Rutan started getting ideas of how our structure was going to go and how the song was going to sound rather than just going into the studio and track the song and Rutan’s like, “It sounds good, but is this whatcha’ll wanted to do?” So Rutan was part of the operation, he knew where things would go. You see the growth of Zack Simmons, our drummer, and Nathan Bergeron, our bass player, who A Haunting Curse was their first record with Goatwhore; you see them expand as musicians. They have improved greatly so all of those things add up and they benefit when you go into the studio. The studio is harsh to me, it’s really stressful. There are some people that like it, but I’m just not a fan. I really like the live thing, but you have to record and you have to put the stuff down. It’s like a big magnifying glass on everything you do. When it’s your time you’re in there and your thing is the loudest thing on the headphones and you’re like, “Yeah, can you turn that down a bunch, maybe take it out actually?” And they’re like, “No you have to hear what you’re doing to make sure.” And I’m like, “Nah, just take it out.”
Rachel: Do they let you take it out?
Ben: He’ll lower it a bunch, but then when he goes to play it back he raises it all up. When the band writes stuff and then I put vocals over what they do... it’s a feeling when I write the lyrics. There are a lot of death metal bands that do like the syllable thing. I like the idea of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Even though I don’t sing like those guys, I like that flow within the music where it goes along with it and it’s not its own base of just chop chop chop chop chop chop chop. It’s just more of a feeling element to it.
Rachel: Well speaking of lyrics, two years ago I interviewed your guitarist, Sammy Duet, at Sounds of the Underground in Milwaukee, WI. We were talking about Goatwhore lyrics and he said he couldn’t speak for you, but that for him, and I quote, “…when I write I’m not really thinking about anything except my lord and master Satan.” What do you think about when you write lyrics? Do you have a concept in mind?
Ben: Well me and Sammy work well together, we work on lyrics, but we do share different opinions about things. But it’s not like two magnets going against each other, we mold with our stuff. He is basically like the satanic angle of Goatwhore. I’m not bound to any kind of structure, I don’t believe in any kind of higher or lower being or whatever you want to say. I have a real big interest in the occult, the darker things in life, and stuff like that. I’ll even read stuff from religious structures because I like to be able to utilize that and make puns of their ideas. Every now and then things will rub off on me that Sammy’s into. We’ll work on songs and there are sometimes where there’s a part where Sammy’s going to sing but he doesn’t think the things he would write would fit with what I wrote for the rest of the song so he just has me write his part. Or I’ll have trouble with something and I’ll ask him for his opinion. So we work well together even though we do have different opinions about stuff. And I don’t haze him because he’s totally satanic and embraces that, that’s his choice.
Rachel: So you write more from personal experience, dark side of things?
Ben: That and just the element of things that are dark from Satanism, the occult, necronautical, different writings whether they are fictitious or real.
Rachel: Do you read a lot?
Ben: Off and on. Sometimes I don’t read for a year and then all of the sudden I’ll find something that interests me and I’ll read everything about it.
Rachel: Cool. Speaking of religion, the album title is curious due to the implications of assigning physical attributes like eyes and sight to an entity. Where did you come up with the title Carving Out the Eyes of God? What does it mean to you?
Ben: [laugh]
Mike: She thinks deep about these things. [laugh]
Ben: Yeah! Carving Out the Eyes of God is the basis of the idea that He created the world in six days and He rested on the seventh day. It was an idea that Clive Barker wrote in a short story I read where on the seventh day He didn’t rest and out of his haze and tiredness he created everything wicked and vile in the world. So therefore everything evil is as just as everything good, it’s the balance. It also shows that if there is a God or whatever that He is flawed. The whole idea in the bible where it says that man was created in the image of God; man is flawed so it would have to go back again that He is flawed. So it’s like carving out His vision because He has created something that people are always trying to lock down and put on pedestals and make things bigger than they are and make like this God and this experience when it’s like why look up to something that is flawed? Because we’re all flawed. Basically in religion now they make it where God is so loving and nothing is ever bad and everything is perfect, when it’s not. Life isn’t perfect and that’s where this whole idea comes from.
Rachel: What is it like being the front man of two signed bands, both Soilent Green and Goatwhore? How do you manage your time and do you ever have any time to yourself?
Ben: No, not really. I just have a really busy schedule.
Rachel: I just saw a press release that Soilent Green recorded the theme song for Fourth Season of the Adult Swim cartoon series Squidbillies. How did this come about?
Ben: Because I love the Squidbillies, man. Yeah, for real! Squidbillies are these little redneck squids and they get into tons of mischief and it’s pretty fucking blunt. It’s actually really good. It’s really funny because I have friends that they remind me of. [laugh] We were on tour with Dethklok and someone was doing an interview with me and asked if I like Dethklok. I was like, "I appreciate what they do and the guy is a genius with the shit he’s done, but I’m not a big fan of the cartoon. But I am a big fan of Squidbillies." The PR people for Squidbillies got a hold of the interview and contacted us and gave us some Squidbillies paraphernalia and then asked if we wanted to do a version of the theme song. So we did that and it was cool. We just took their version and did it Soilent Green style. You can go to the Adult Swim website and go to the Squidbillies page and watch the episodes. The episode that we’re on is called Lerm.
Mike: NOLA has sometimes been compared to Norwegian’s black metal scene in respect that every guy is multiple bands and side projects and you guys all seem to get along so well. Why is it that way?
Ben: Everybody likes to play music. The thing about it is each band is different in its own way. None of them are alike. Goatwhore sounds nothing like Crowbar, Crowbar sounds nothing like Soilent Green, Soilent Green sounds nothing like Eye Hate God, and you can just keep going around like that. It’s cool because even though we share members, each band has its own thing. It’s just tight knit.
Rachel: Your tour with Abigail Williams and Daath started last week on the Conquer & Curse Tour 2009. What do you expect this tour?
Ben: Being real dirty I guess. [laugh] I don’t really expect much when I go on the road anymore. I used to when I first started and then I got to a point where I just go and have a good time and play. All the bands on this tour are getting along together awesome, which is good.
Rachel: Do you have any European festivals planned this summer?
Ben: No, but I wish we did. Hopefully next year we will. I did one with Soilent Green in France, Hellfest, so that was the only thing recently. I’m hoping maybe if this record does really good something will happen and open up the door over there. We don’t go over there enough and I’d like to go there more. It’s just a matter of assistance from the label and things like that; sometimes things don’t always fall into place.
Mike: Well it’s not cheap to travel over there.
Ben: No, no. In the states we own our own van and trailer so it’s not a big deal. There’s this tour and we're asked, "Would like to do it?" And we will jump on it; we have our own van and trailer so let’s do it.
Mike: Your drummer, Zack Simmons, is pulling double duty in this tour, drumming for both Goatwhore and Daath, how is he accomplishing this?
Ben: Yeah, every other night we are back to back with Daath because we are co-headlining with Abigail Williams. But even on the nights where we aren’t the headliner we still have the same amount of set time. Zack actually likes it when he has to play with Goatwhore directly after Daath because he’s warmed up and ready to go. He’s a great kid, he’s an awesome drummer. Daath was in a bind and he got it sorted out and it has worked out well. He asked me, “Are you comfortable with this?” I was like, “Dude I play in two bands why are you even asking me? The only thing is if you feel like you can’t pull it off, then you shouldn’t do it. But if you feel like you can do it then go with it.” And he does it; he does it every fucking night.
Rachel: Is he just doing it for this tour?
Ben: Well supposedly when we hit L.A. Daath has a new drummer that is coming to that show. I’m not sure the full details, but he figures he might be doing it the whole tour so we’ll see what happens.
Rachel: That’s all we have. Is there anything else you want to talk about?
Ben: I know people download records and I’m not one of those guys in a band that complains about it, I don’t really care, it’s something that you can’t do anything about. But at least if you do download a record and if you like it, then go to the show and buy a shirt or buy the CD or somehow support the band in some way. Even if you went and gave them a dollar tip or something, whatever, just something to show that yeah I got your record online, I didn’t buy it, but I love it and I like your show. Just try to support the bands if you can. Pick up the new record! Brush your teeth!