1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Hello! Im currently at home with my family spending some time together during the Christmas season.
2. Let's say in 5-6 sentences. How did you find each other, we gave you the idea to make music together and briefly your beginnings.
Shelby and I got in contact through online musicians wanted ads. We were into the same kind bands, Metallica, Pantera, lamb of god, Nile, other old school metal or death metal bands. Matt joined us through a friend of a friend situation where our buddy in the band Fatehaven, Matt Frank, introduced us to our bassist, Matt Terry.
3. As an emerging band in the extreme metal scene, what are some challenges you've faced?
In a scene as developed as the one we are breaking into (Richmond Va) it’s tough to make a new name for yourself where there are already a ton of bands. But we definitely bring a new and fresh sound to the scene, and honestly I think it’s a thing, or a combination of things, that people haven’t seen before and will really dig.
4. Have you as a band developed an aesthetic that is uniquely yours? How have you developed a sound that is all yours?
We’ve developed from old school roots, but we are still very our own sound. We’ve been compared to a lot of bands but really, we sound like us. Shelby’s drum technique is entirely his own and it really brings a special flare to the music. Experimental, as well as thrash, blasts and just heavy grooves, the man does it all and does it in a unique way. As far as riffs go, I write all our songs around “the riff”. I’m a riff guys to my core. I grew up on Hetfield, Dimebag, Jimmy Page and Mustaine. Heavy riffing was my first true love haha. Matt is absolute the groove master and brings some thick, low end feel to each track and it really is the cherry on top. It’s the glue that holds all the other pieces together. Vocally, it’s meant to be as raw and mean as possible. The incoherent growls and animal noises we hear from the deathcore world have gotten a bit cringey and annoying. We like to have an edge and some bite mixed with genuine aggressive musicality in our songs, vocals particularly in this case.
5. Your debut Full-lenght was released a couple of months ago, are there any particular themes or influences that you're exploring on these 9 tracks?
New South Hill was by no means a concept album. But all of us are from the Southland, and me in particular have strong ties to southern rock and southern metal. Everything from Skynyrd and ZZ Top to Crowbar, Pantera and COC. That’s my roots, man. That inspired a lot of the ideas lyrically for this record especially in the title track “New South Hill”.
6. When you work in the studio what kind of process do you go through? Do you come in all prepared or do you improvise?
For us, the studio is a place of execution. Not a creative space at all. Everything is worked out creatively beforehand so that we can come in with our piss hot, ours ears pinned back, ready to rock and roll once that red light is on.
7. How long did it take you all to create the entire album from start to finish?
Shelby and I wrote the music for the first album during the summer and fall of 2022. So about 3 months if I had to guess. Just the two of us in the band at the time, with a revolving door of bass players coming in and out of the mix, unfortunately. Couldn’t find anyone willing to put in the time and effort at that point. Shelby and I just kept pushing and kept writing till we liked what we heard. Then earlier this year in 2023 we ran into Matt Terry, our current bassist, and the rest is history, man. I can’t stress enough what a blessing it is to have him in our band.
8. When you sit down together and rehearse, does it go smooth or and you do full songs or do you really have to insist on certain parts all the time?
Most of the time nowadays, (since we are currently working on our second album) I’ll bring in a full song or most of a song. But I only bring in stuff that is on its 4th or 5th draft or something like that. Pretty far down the assembly line, if you will. Then if Shelby or Matt has a suggestion here or there we reevaluate that part and then make a decision to change it or not to change it. That’s how we write 90% of the time. Other times Shelby will have a “riff” he wants to use and he’ll sing some repeating melodic passage at a certain tempo and then I’ll kind massage it into something unique or potentially more interesting. Not that anything I come up with is all that interesting at all hahaha but I do my best.
9. What rules and canons do you follow when writing music? How much is this process free and artistic?
The process was always pretty wide open but I believe the more we write together, the more we start to find a process that really works for us. But we are always down to shake things up.
10. Are there particular songs that you feel best define the Shovelhead A.D. sound or perhaps ones you find most notable for whatever reason?
A couple notable ones on our first record are the title track “New South Hill” because it encompasses a lot of what we do musically all in one song. Also I think “All Gone Away” and “Buried in the Weeds” provide stark discrepancies in the what we can do creatively. Sometimes crushing and heavy and sometimes a power ballad. Never know what you’re gonna get with us. Also we’ve got some thrashers like “Crawl To Me” and “By Floods and Fire”. Those are a couple personal favorites right there haha. To cap off the list I think “No Quarter” is our most fun, straightforward rocker tune. It’s simple, fast and fun. Can’t beat that kinda stuff, man.
11. Between recording music and performing live shows, which would you say is more in your favor or do you think both have their own significant ways?
Well, that’s a tough one. Most people consume music for free and on a whim, whenever they want, everyday. So having high quality and competently produced material is important to give your fans some good tracks to actually listen to. But, holy crap, man, we are a LIVE BAND! That’s the best way to describe us. We put on a show and we rip and tear for 45 min or an hour, however long we get to play. The live show energy is what we live for, man. Studio tracks are incredibly important, but we love playing live, man. I dig those the most.
12. Could you tell us more about the metal scene in Virginia? Is this a quite good state on a metal point of view, and were there good metal bands to check out in the past?
The metal scene in Richmond is pretty dense and developed. Tough to break-in, it’s very cliquey at times. But it’s a great place to come up. Tons of great bands are from here and have their roots here (Lamb of god, Municipal Waste, GWAR) so we love being part of the history.
13. How much of a DIY scene is there still left around the world that can support you if you want to tour or release an album on your own?
They’re out there man. We hear the stories, went to the shows ourselves as fans. It’s out there. We just gotta get our tunes out there and try to get as many folks to come rage with us at as many shows as possible. The shows are all about having a good time and getting a couple beers in ya, some come join us, man! 😂
14. We have come to the last question of the interview. What are the last words for fans out there?
Yeah man I just wanna close out by saying keep supporting metal, thank you for supporting Shovelhead A.D. and that if you wanna know more, go to our website or check us out on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music. We’re a young band but we love doing what we do and we love meeting new friends and fans, so be sure to come hang with us sometime at a show. Cheers, guys 🍻
-Chuck
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