After having reviewed last month this sonic journey full of such outstanding heaviness in groove and spaced-out psychedelic jaming that is "The black Code", I felt like an absolute necessity to interview WO FAT...
With this new album and association with Small Stone rds combined, it looks like WO FAT starts a new 2nd life which could lead them at the firmament of the worldwide Stoner scene; time finally seems to do justice to those Texas riffmasters who have always had a guideline clearly defined, cohesive and authentic.
Check out the album if not done yet, this is really one of the distinctive highlights of the year, watch out for their 1st European tour next spring too... as for now, read what Kent (guit/voc) has to say, this is extremely interesting and helpful to fully enjoy the richness of this awesome band ! Thanx so much man and indeed hope to see and meet you guys next April...
Hi Kent, thanx for taking the time to answer
my questions, it’s an honour to have WO FAT interviewed in T.O.P. ! Well, there’s a great actuality concerning
the band with « the black code », could you tell us something about
the recording process please ? Did you push further the idea that you had for the Chupacabra album with
« keeping more of a live-band feel to it » ?
Thank you! Yes, I hadn’t really thought of it
specifically like that, but I do think that “The Black Code” is a continuation
of “…Chupacabra”. I think we had a very
similar approach, but maybe tried to take some of those ideas a little further. As with the Chupacabra album, we wanted the
album to feel very live and urgent and I think, in terms of the outcome we
achieved that, but also in the execution of it, “The Black Code” is definitely
our most live album to date as far as the recording process goes. I’ve always felt that it’s important to all
play together in the studio to get the basic tracks down, even if we end up
redoing some things and adding to it later, but it’s important to do that
because you get a better vibe and groove when we’re all feeling it together –
flowing together and moving together.
With this album, there’s more of that than before and I think it’s also
rawer in some ways because we were more concerned about capturing a vibe and a
feel than we were about achieving some sort of perfection.
I record and mix our albums
myself and we produce it all ourselves together, so from a recording standpoint
it was very similar to before. We try
and stay as analog as possible and are lucky enough to have access to a great
studio with really bad ass gear. We did
get some different sounds though, partly because all three of us are always on
a quest for better, heavier, more rockin’ tones and sounds. Each of us a made some sort of upgrade
gearwise between the previous album and this one. For me on the guitar, it was some new pickups
from Lace that are absolutely killing!
They gave me some pickups to try out and I loved them and became an
endorsee for them, and they actually are a pretty important part of the guitar
sound on this record.
« The Black Code » is your 1st album
on SSR, of course I think this opens new doors in terms of exposition, tours,
distribution… was it also the case for the recording budget ? Do you feel
that this deal gives you some kind of
new fresh confidence for the future of WO FAT ?
This deal definitely
gives us a confidence in the future of Wo Fat.
We felt like this was a prime time to make the move to a label like
Small Stone. “Noche del Chupacbra”
received a really good reception and we felt like there was a bit of a buzz
going because of that and we wanted to use that momentum and step things up to
another level, which is why we wanted to get “The Black Code” finished and out
fairly quickly. Even this early on,
before physical cd’s or vinyl have even been released yet, we’re already seeing
the benefits of having the Small Stone name behind us. I think more people are taking notice of us
and the Roadburn and Desertfest invites are probably partly due to that as
well.
I knew early on when first thinking about the lyrics
that I wanted to change the vibe up a bit from what we
had done before. On “Chupacabra” we used
more swampy, classical horror imagery mixed with some old blues and hoodoo/voodoo
ideas. I
wanted something more sci fi oriented but I still wanted to stick with
some of the Lovecraft/Robert E. Howard influences as well so it’s kind of a
modern sci fi/digital take on that old school pulp horror/weird tales writing. The concept comes from thinking about how
connected we are these days and the fact that there’s digital data flying all
around us all the time that we can’t see, and so the idea is this: what if
somehow, some sort of code is discovered that unlocks things that were better
left alone. Doors to other dimensions or
realities that let in digital demons that can travel through the cloud and the
networks to reach anywhere that’s connected.
It’s not really a story as much
as a collection of loosely related short tales or poems about this
concept. It’s mostly about being
enslaved and controlled unwittingly by sinister forces through this technology
that is so pervasive and that we all use all the time and that seems so
harmless. As the concept took shape over
time, I did write lyrically with that in mind.
Musically wise,
is there anything new and/or special you wanted to achieve with the Black Code
that you didn’t or couldn’t with previous albums ?
Hmm…that’s
a tough question. I don’t know that we
were really going for anything specifically new as much as we’re trying to
really hone and perfect what we do. I
think the three of us have an attitude of never being completely satisfied – in
other words, that we’ve never quite arrived or accomplished what we’ve set out
to do and that we can always reach further and push ourselves harder
musically. I’ve mentioned this before,
but we have, what I consider to be, a very jazz oriented approach to our music. Music is about the passage of time and the
interaction of different musicians with each other in time and the spontaneous
reaction to what each other is doing.
And there are those fleeting moments when everything comes together and
the grove is super hard and heavy and it’s those moments of perfection that we
search for and strive for. It’s about more than just robotically playing
a riff. There’s an intangible element,
or a number of intangibles really, that make something just totally badass. I think with each album, while we focus on
trying to write songs that we think are heavy and killer, we are also trying
more and more to capture some of that more elusive synergistic vibe as
well. I think our approach to the songwriting was
very similar to “…Chupacabra” but with the intention of maybe getting a bit heavier
in certain ways and taking things a little further. It’s hard for me to say whether that is
noticeable to anyone else, but I think to us it certainly feels like we did
that.
Our songs,
as they have always been to a certain extent, are a balance of heavy riffing
and open jamming and I think that, because we’ve been jamming together for a
long time and growing together as musicians, we have reached a new level of
cohesiveness and communication that works really well with this kind of
approach.
Chupacabra introduced quite many percusions, not always easy to notice
though ; did the different general mood of The Black Code still favour
their introduction ?
Yeah, we did have some percussion happening on Chupacabra. In hindsight, I wish we had made it a bit
louder in the mix. On Chupacabra, on the
parts that had percussion, we were using some African and Cuban types of
percussion and we were specifically trying to cop kind of an African vibe –
along with bit of a 70’s jazz fusion
feel with a hint of Coltrane sprinkled in there. The Black Code didn’t really have anything
that called for that same type of approach, but we did do some other things
with percussion. Mostly on “Hurt at
Gone”, which has a funky New Orleans kind of groove to it and we added some
stuff to compliment that groove, like a brake drum and a huge marching bass drum. There is also a short Afro-Cuban inspired
cowbell groove on “Shard of Leng.” We
all have fairly wide ranging musical influences and I dig cool percussion and I
like integrating it into our music if it enhances what we’re doing. I don’t want it to distract and be gimmicky
or take away from the heaviness though, so it can some kind of a balancing act
figuring out what works and what’s right for the groove.
Between 2009 and 2012, you have recorded 3
albums which is very productive, do you think you could maintain this rate of
composition and production in the future or maybe the fact of touring will
« compel » you to need more time to compose and record next
album ?
Yeah, I
guess that is fairly productive.
Ideally, I would like to put out an album every year and half or so, but
it’s not always that easy to do.
Because of our families and our work commitments at home, we probably
won’t be doing a lot of extensive touring unless things really take off big for
us. But until and if that happens we
have to continue to make a living and pay our bills and probably do shorter,
very strategic tours. But considering
the fact that we take our time when it comes to the songwriting process, I
could see it taking us longer to do the next record if things continue to get
busier for us. We like to jam on new
songs for a while and let them ferment and organically settle and morph into
what they ultimately become, which sometimes takes a while. We
have one song recorded and are currently working on another that will be for a
split with Earthride that we have had in the works for a long time that will be
coming out on Totem Cat Records hopefully early 2013. As soon as we finish that we’ll probably
start thinking about the next album. I
do want to continue to ride the wave of momentum that we seem to get from each
release, so I would hate for it to take us too long to get another album out.
Did Michael contribute again in the
composition and recording process of The Black Code (like he did for a song in
the previous album) ?
Yes,
Michael did contribute a song to this album.
He wrote “Hurt at Gone”. I think
I’ve probably said this before, but it’s cool to have Michael adding his voice
to the composition side of things. He
has a different take on things from me and it helps to add some more spice to
the mix. “Hurt a Gone” has a bit of a
different feel from the other songs, but still fits in nicely on the
album. It is a mean, deep south, funky
jam with lots of slide guitar on it and we were drawing some inspiration from
bluesman Seasick Steve as well as good ole R.L. Burnside on this one, but taking
it a little further south, with a bit of a New Orleans style to it and rockin’
it out a little harder.
What did you think about the Broken Beard’s review conclusion telling that « the truth about Kyuss Lives! is that they caught wind of The Back Code and decided that continuing with the reunion was completely pointless » ?! (of course it can not be used by respect and humility but it could have been a good tagline !)
What did you think about the Broken Beard’s review conclusion telling that « the truth about Kyuss Lives! is that they caught wind of The Back Code and decided that continuing with the reunion was completely pointless » ?! (of course it can not be used by respect and humility but it could have been a good tagline !)
Man, I
read that and just laughed! That was
hilarious! I loved that whole
review. Great use of imagery and words
there. I’m flattered and humbled that he
would say that about us and I’m really glad that he dug the album so much. I saw Kyuss Lives when they came through
Dallas and it was an absolutely wicked show!
They just killed. We strive to
rock like they did. It’s a shame that
things took a bad turn legally for everybody.
Next April you’ll be playing at Roadburn, do
you expect it as a probable highlight in WO FAT’s history ? I guess this logically implies that there’s a tour in the works for
Europe at this period, I’ve heard about
1 or 2 dates in France, do you already have details about that 1st
coming in Europe ? Except this very special date, is there any country/city
that you’re particularly looking forward to play in ?
We are so
stoked about coming to Europe next spring and I hope this is one of many
highlights to come in Wo Fat’s career. This is a goal that we’ve had since we started
playing together, and Roadburn, in particular, is something that I’ve known
about for a long time and have wanted to play since I first found out about
it. We are also going to be playing
Desertfest London, which I’m really excited about as well, and we’ve got some
other things in the works as well. Like I said earlier, because of our
commitments at home, this first trip to Europe is going to be fairly short, but
we’re going to try and hit as many places as we can fit in while we’re
there. I’ve never been to Europe, so I’m
just excited to see it all. We’re going
to be touring with our Small Stone labelmates Abrahma, which, I think is going
to be a really good time. One thing I
would love to do is to get some of the other bands from Europe that I really
dig on some of the shows with us. If
everything goes well with this trip, we hope to do a longer, more extensive
tour in the not to distant future.
You work as
recording engineer in an important Studio of Dallas, is there any band(s) that
has particularly helped you to work with towards the development of WO FAT’s
sound throughout the years ?
I’ve
worked as a recording engineer for a long time and have worked on a very wide
variety of musical styles with a lot of different types of musicians which has
been really cool, and just the different perspectives I’ve gotten on music from
the many musicians I’ve recorded has helped me to constantly learn more about
recording. To me, the engineering/mixing
side of things is similar to playing music.
It’s something that you can spend your whole life doing and always
improve and continually learn new things and hear new things. And I also feel mixing a song is like a
musical performance – I get into a flow and a groove when mixing and when
that’s happening, it always turns out better.
It’s yet another dimension of the music, the recorded version, that
is. The mix is an important part in
helping to get the essence and aesthetic of the music across to the listener in
a dynamic and larger than life (if the mix is done well) way that will grab
them emotionally.
I
recently worked with a couple of my favorite Dallas-Fort Worth bands in the
studio, which was a really cool, because they’re both friends and killer bands that Wo Fat plays with a
lot. One is a band called Mothership,
who just signed to Ripple Records, and I
also did an album with a band called Stone Machine Electric. Both of these albums from these two bands are
smokin’ and I highly recommend seeking them out. I’m not sure if the Stone Machine Electric is
available yet. They’re both heavy and
very rockin’ but are each very much there own vibe, which is representative of
this really good scene for heavy, stoner, psychedelic, doomy rock that we’ve
got brewing in the Dallas area right now.
Is there any
chance to see a video released for a
song of the new album ? even if nothing is yet planed, I’m sure you already
have had various ideas about that ?
We have
talked about that, but we don’t have anything solid planned yet. We would definitely like to do that, but
right now our budget is kind of tight trying to get everything together for
going to Europe. We’ll have to see how
things go, but we would like to do that.
I’ve seen on
your FB page that new merchandising is in the works, when can we expect the new
Black Code T-shirt to be ready ? Any other new stuff planed ?
We’ve got
a couple of wicked new Black Code t shirt designs waiting and ready to
roll. I’ve been waiting until we have
cd’s to put up for sale on our website so I can put the shirts up at the same
time. I expect that to happen in the
next week or so. Certainly by November
13, which is the official release date for the cd’s.
We also
just launched a kickstarter campaign to help us raise money for our plane
tickets to Europe and as rewards for donations we’ve got some other really
bitchin’ items, some of which can only be gotten through kickstarter. We’ve got 2
different t shirt designs created specially for this by 2 bad ass
artists named Mike Lawrence and Joshua Foster.
Mike Lawrence will also be making some hand screenprinted Wo Fat posters
that are limited edition and numbered by the artist. And we got Alexander von Wieding, who you
will be familiar with as the artist that did the art for “Noche del
Chupacabra”, “The Gathering Dark” reissue and “The Black Code”, doing a one of
a kind pair of Old Skool Vans slip ons with Wo Fat artwork painted on
them. They should be pretty
amazing.
Anyway,
we’re doing this kickstarter campaign because we are funding this entire Europe
trip ourselves, and individually, we just don’t have a lot of money so it’s
difficult for us to come up with the up front cash needed for airfare, so any
and all help that anyone out there can give us will be tremendously helpful and
greatly appreciated.
Here’s a link to the kickstarter page:
MERCI beaucoup
Kent, anything to add ?
Thank you!
Those were some great questions.
We’ll hopefully see you when we are in Europe.
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