Interview - Joe Hoare - Orange Goblin

1/18/12

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Sam: It's been awhile between albums for you guys...
Joe: "Yeah, it's been 5 years...Yes, I guess alot of people want to know what we've doing in all that time and why we haven't put anything out"
Sam: Yeah I was wondering why there was so much space in between these 2...
Joe: "Well, once we finished 'Healing Through Fire' we put it out and you know we did a few tours off of that. Umm..when it got to the end of it, unfortunately the label sort of just folded unfortunately, for them and for us, and it kind of left us a little bit lost to be honest. So we spent a few years playing, writing new material. But in that time we also had alot of kids, I've got a couple, 3 children, and we've just had personal lives". To be honest the time just flew, we didn't realize how quickly the time had gone. And yeah, there was no real reason for it, we hadn't fallen out with anybody we just, somethmes things just sort of happen. And we were lucky enough Candlelight signed us, and they were very patient, they waited a couple of years for us to get ourselves sorted. Yeah, that's it really, I guess life just got in the way for 5 years and now we're back again, and absolutely stronger than ever.
Sam: People are saying this new one is the best album you guys have put out since 'The Big Black'
Joe: "Oh, thank you very much".
Sam: It's really old school...
Joe: "Yeah, we kinda mixed it up a bit on this one, there's alot of different styles on it. And we made people wait for 5 years, we wanted to put something out that had a bit for everyone. We really sort of concentrated on this one, we didn't drink as much when we were recording it, which was always our big thing. We used to go into the studio for 3 weeks at a time and obviously concentrate on the work, but also we'd get quite drunk inbetween that because we were just stuck in the studio for all that time. This time 'round we had just weekends doing the album. Every weekend we'd go in and record and we'd spend the rest of the week kinda just having a bit of a break from it, going back and listening and touching up on new stuff. So, yeah I think it's worked out for the better for us and it sounds great, we're really happy with it".
Sam: Yeah, there's a huge range of material on the album, do you guys have any extra tracks left over?
Joe: "No, it's weird with us, we've kind of almost like got a big box of riff that we've accumulated through the years. And the way we record songs is we just come in, I'll come in with a load of riffs. And Chris is a drummer, also you know he plays guitar, so he'll come in with a load of riffs and we literally just kind of block them together and then Ben will piece vocals over them. It's very rare that one of us will come in with a complete song and say 'right, this is how this is going to go' we've always just done it as a team if you like. So there's alot of riffs left over, but that's for actual songs, you know, we've still got to staple those together I guess. So yeah, it's like jigsaw puzzles the ways we write."
Sam: The lyrics on this one seem a little more introspective than the last...
Joe: "Yeah, I think after 'Healing Through Fire' 'cause it was a concept album, that one was about the plague. I think Ben had a bit of trouble writing every song to fit exactly the same subject. So, this one, you know you're better off asking Ben about this, but he really just wanted to relax and just write about anything that comes into his head really, so he's been reading alot of sort of science fiction books. And he's into alot of horror movies and stuff like that so alot of the lyrics focused along those things. But also he's very into Hell's Angels, there's a song on it called 'The Flithy And The Few' which is based around Sonny Barger and the Hells Angels, so there's alot of different subject matters on there. 'Acid Troll' is about taking too much acid, really. So yeah, it's really varied and I think he just had alot of fun writing the lyrics because of that.
Sam: You guys have alot of tour plans lined up? Anything for the U.S. yet?
Joe: "We haven't yet, but we're looking to come over. To be honest it would probably be next year now. We've got a load of festivals in Europe and around the U.K. and we're still looking to book more shows as well. The problem being you know...we all have to work as well, we all (?) in day jobs, just trying to fit everything in. But yeah, definitely next year, sorry for the wait, but we're certain to be back. Last time we came over to you guys last year we had such a great response, we're itching to get back really. So yeah, watch this space I guess."