Red Fang interview (David Sullivan)

For the fourth year in a row, it is confirmed that our beloved Red Fang will be visiting us here in Greece, only now they will carry along with their luggage one of the greatest records of the year, "Whales And Leeches", which is anticipated to make us dance and headbang again on their awesome heavy tunes. Just like the previous three times. These two exceptional cases were enough to arrange a second interview with them in 2013, only this time, instead of Aaron Beam, we talked with the guitarist David Sullivan.

Hey, this is Manolis from Rocking and congratulations for your new record. How did you celebrate its release?
We all dressed up in fancy tuxedos on release day.

In your new record your straighter blues influences seem to get reduced a little bit and focus more on the Melvins’ sludge and Jesus Lizard’s noise rock. Was that something that came out naturally or you intended "Whales And Leeches" to sound like that from the very beginning?
We didn't set out with a particular sound in mind. We write songs that we like to play. So I guess it was just a natural progression. I feel like we've always been able to keep things varied and not stuck in one genre or sound.

That’s the second time you work with the acclaimed producer Chris Funk. I am guessing that you don’t change a winning team but now your sound is swampier than before. Was that something that Chris wanted? Did he give you any advice during the recording process?
Chris is a great motivator and keeps us focused while recording. We get along good and somehow he keeps the sessions fun and low pressure. I personally get nervous while recording because of the permanency of it. Once you do a take you know that's how it will be listened to forever.

On the song "Dawn Rising" you have a special guest on vocals, Mike Scheidt from YOB. How did this collaboration come up?
After we wrote that song, we thought it would be cool to have Mike sing. So we asked him and he was able to come to town and do it. He wrote the lyrics too. We've been YOB fans for a long time.

This particular song is perhaps the heaviest song (and maybe my most favorite) you’ve ever written. Would you consider making a record of straight sludge full of slow paced, mammoth-like songs?
Ha! Yes, that would be fun to do. We have started playing more songs in Drop C recently. Everything sounds so heavy in that tuning.

Songs like "Blood Like Cream" have a feeling that were written to be played live. When you write music does it become an end in itself of how a song should sound live?
Yes, I guess there's a bit of that when we're writing songs, we write songs that we like to play, and how we will perform them live is definitely important.

It is already announced that you will return to Greece for the fourth time in a row. Is there anything special for us to anticipate?
We always have a good time in Greece! Everyone is so nice and it is really beautiful there.

On your previous interview here on Rocking, you’ve stated that it’s easier for someone to learn a new band with a good and funny video clip than reading some lines somewhere sometime. Now that Red Fang are world-widely popular would you consider changing the way you make videos or now videos constitute an integral part of your image?
Videos have been important for us. I don't know if we'd be quite as well known if it wasn't for the videos. The videos are a place we can show our sense of humor, whereas the songs are more serious and dark. We'll definitely be doing more videos, we've already started working on the next one with the same director, Rob 'Whitey' McConnaughy.

Is it possible for heavy rock to evolve and present something truly new or is it now a stagnant genre that its only purpose is to make people have a really good time?
I think there's still room for evolving in heavy music. It's not exactly what we are trying to do however, we're just trying to write songs that we like and hopefully others will like what we are doing.

A lot of people place Red Fang under the genre 'stoner rock'. Is this a characterization that you accept?
I don't mind being called stoner rock, but that's only a part of what we do. We're not trying to fit into any particular genre.

Last but not least, who is the best air-guitarist in the band?
Haha! Our drummer, John Sherman, is a fantastic air guitarist.