Grave Next Door dives into themes of isolation, duality, and raw emotion with their latest single, Solitary Cell. We discuss their creative process, gripping visuals, and the journey behind Sorry No Candy.
1. Your
new single “Solitary Cell” dives deep into themes of isolation and inner
turmoil. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the track and what
it means to you as a band?
Tony:
Solitary cell is about using the mind to escape life . I definitely wasn't in a
good state of mind at that time while writing this song . Escaping to my head
to get lost in the creative space helped(and as always) to deal with whatever.
Isolation? We all need to be left alone at time to time and given our mental
space
Patrick:
It’s interesting how people can perceive a song to mean something else. I see
the song as dealing with physical amd mental prison. Total dulality. For a
drummer this is the song I’m probably going to break a cymbal on, I let loose
and bash away. It’s an emotional release song.
2. The
music video for “Solitary Cell” is haunting and intense. What was the vision
behind the visuals, and how did you collaborate with Jake Sibille in bringing
this idea to life?
We had just
started played a show at the Noble Savage a venue in Hubbard Texas. When we
were loading in I asked the owner Jason Hubbard what this strange structure was
and he said it was a Calaboose jail. Calaboose means dungeon in Spanish. It’s
this little one room jail. I was told that the use of these jails were stopped
because of human rights violations because of the heat and the last few
standing ones were a part of Texas History. We had a day off in our touring
schedule so I called the city of Hubbard and they gave us permission to film.
Jake Sibille was not with us to film on this tour so it was the band’s idea.
Our drummer Patrick directed it and Tony and Brendan did a great job with the
vision of showing the anguish of not only being mentally trapped, but
physically trapped. Tony hurt his shoulder very badly as he was ramming it
against the steel door of the cell. It really was a treat for us to have been
given acesss to this little jail!
3.
“Solitary Cell” contains the paradoxical lyric, “I never want to be alone…
goddamn it feels great.” How does this duality reflect the broader themes on
your album Sorry No Candy?
Bulldog .44
is about David Berkowitz and a bigger conspiracy that people did not want to
look at. We put the listener in the killer or Killers shoes. We do the same
with Dead Sould Eyes about a killer our drummer Patrick had come into contact
with and looking into his eyes he felt pure evil, he coined the phrase “Dead
Soul Eyes” from this experience it was person who boasted about how much he
enjoyed killing a woman at the bottom of a lake when he felt her life force
leave her body.
4. Sorry
No Candy is your second full-length album. How does this album differ from your
debut, and what kind of evolution have you experienced as a band in the writing
and production process?
We were
more prepared for Sorry No Candy, we knew we wanted Tommy Stewart to engineer
and produce it because he was into the music. As we wrote and finished each
song we would send him videos of us playing the songs at every live venue. Do
that and the song becomes seasoned and it takes a life of its own. It’s a much
smoother and creative process when the person or people working with you are
familiar, like, and understand what your trying to go for with the music. We
also talked about specific sounds and tones for the drums and bass. Brendan
Reeder who played bass on the album and I Patrick Salerno who plays drums are
both big Type O Negative fans so Tommy was able to match thier sound for the
album. With Sanctified Heathen we did it at a local studio so we would do our
day jobs and schedule time at nights and weekends. With Sorry No Candy we
recorded at Black Doomba Studios in Atlanta as we came directly off tour, their
was no going home until this recording was completed. “Do not pass go, Do Not
collect $200, Go directly to the studio and make and album.” We had none of the
minutia or drama of work or relationships to get in the way! It was hyper focus
time. The evolution was us being a band for many years and now we knew and
found our sound, we didnt have that on our debut album.
5.
You’ve mentioned that the album tackles heavy themes like mortality, addiction,
and war. How do you balance such intense subject matter with the raw, gritty
nature of your music?
It’s where
our heads are at and or things we have either experienced, or thought about. I
(Patrick) have been battling kidney disease for four years and last year
deteriorated to stage five and it was put on dialysis. I went through months of
insomnia where I would sleep via exhaustion for 8 hours for every five days up.
I was going crazy! There were thoughts in my head were I honestly felt like
blowing my brains out because at least I would sleep. I even considered
checking myself into a mental institution so they could give me something to
sleep. All the sleep medication I was getting was having a reverse effect. This
created sleep deprivation psychosis and I became sick with fever. I finally
fell asleep in a bathtub after five days, with a fever and had a lucid dream
and was able to write “No Suprise”. Our guitarist my brother Tony Salerno had a
lot of dark corners in his head of demons he has battled and this comes out in
the music. When your struggling the music helps you hang on you work out the
bad with a song.
6. The
album was produced by Tommy Stewart at Black Doomba Studio. What was it like
working with Tommy, and how did his production style influence the final sound
of the record?
Tommy is a
friend, genius, and mentor with over four decades of experience in the music
industry. He’s seen and experienced it all. Working with Tommy is very easy,
he’s meticulous with his recording method, knowledgeable about recording, and
his equipment he uses. He’s extremely disciplined in his approach so there is
no wasted time, or movement so you get maximum efficiency. On the creativity
level he hears what needs to go in certain places and what sound you are going
for. He’s the underground metal band’s Rick Rubin. His production style really
influenced the sound. It gave it a balanced sound and really brought out the
musical emotion that we wanted to convey through his use of the equipment and
expertice without having an overproduced album.
7.
You’ve gained attention for your powerful live performances at major festivals
like Maryland Doom Fest and Kraken Doom Fest. How does playing live shape the
way you approach your music and songwriting?
It has
everything to do with the approach and songwriting. it’s why we do this. Dosent
matter if it’s for 10 people for 1800 (that actually happened once at a back
back gigs) the festival was the first Tennessee Metal Devastation Festival!
When we play a song you experiment night after night with it, especially the
tempo. You find the sweet spot where the heads start nodding off to the music.
If you play 10 venues and you empty the venue during one particular song then
you might want to rethink that song. Every artist knows when he’s either losing
or gaining the crowd! Now you have to be careful because what works for one
night with one crowd may not work with another. Crowds like to go on journey
but they don’t like to get bored to death. The key is to take your live sound
and duplicate that in a studio. That’s why we really want to do a live album
someday!
8. Who
are some of the bands or artists that influence the sound of Grave Next Door,
and how do those influences manifest in the music on Sorry No Candy?
Melvins,
Type O Negative, Monolord, Steely Dan, Weedeater, Saint Vitus and Black Flag.
Tony our guitarist is majorly influenced by Buzz, and the bassist Brendan and I
listen to a lot of Weedeater and Type O Negative so we had Tommy Stewart
duplicate the Type O tones on bass and drums. We used Steely Dan/ Doors/ groove
riffs on “Bulldog .44.” “Sativa Bomb” has a real early Black Flag feel to it,
the most light hearted song on the album, it’s our “Six Pack”. Judgement pulls
prom Weedeater Monlord influences, and “Blood Moon Hymn” makes me think of our
good friends Solar Monolith who are one of the heaviest bands in music right
now! Saint Vitus influences can be seen as a common thread because of the
rawness that runs through the album.
9. Your
music blends doom and stoner rock, two genres that can be pretty heavy and
introspective. How do you manage to make your songs relatable while maintaining
that dark, hypnotic vibe?
The dark
hypnotic vibe is just how we end up sounding, staying relatable is just writing
about what is inspiring you or how you feel at the moment. Expressing that
range of emotions we feel as humans. The riffs bring out a certain vibe and
energy and the drums respond in kind. Sometimes it the bass that sets the
groove and mood others the guitar.
10. With
Sorry No Candy out now, what’s next for Grave Next Door? Are you planning any
upcoming tours or additional visual releases to accompany the album?
What’s next
is the songs we have been working on for months some for years that just
weren’t ready for Sorry No Candy. We have many pages of lyrics that need to be
matched to grooves and riffs and vice versa. The next album won’t take as long
to come out as Sorry No Candy took. We are planning a spring/summer tour then
recording another album. If you are not growing you are dying. In our opinion
touring is the acid test of a band, it separates the hobbiest from the
professional. You feel pain and sorry on the road that is necessary for growth.
The comfort zone is death with no growth. You can go broke on the road, you can
break down and blow up vehicles on the road. You lose girlfriends and jobs on
the road, you go hungry, tired, and worse of all you lose band members. All of
this pain and loss is good for a band, it weeds out the weak, it makes you
smart and economical, you have to make your music really good otherwise no one
will waste their time to see you. We love the road, it’s our default. A lot of bands
will argue and say well we can’t tour because of our jobs and families. Well
that’s just rock n roll cosplay they are doing. There is no reason not to do a
least a four day run twice a year. In life you either have excuses or results.
Weekend warrior bands get in the way of bands trying to do something and go
somewhere, they clog the venues, and the release cycles. We have paid dues, are
paying dues, and will continue to pay dues. There’s no utopia, no pinnacle,
especially in this genre no ones getting rich here.
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