Casualties Of Circumstance With RAYMOND ESTES From ...AND WE ALL DIE

At the end of the day, music and the creative arts is all about
expression and having fun. In the modern age of entertainment that
sense of enjoyment has slowly eroded due to the complexities of the
current global climate and the incessant wish to not offend anybody
which has resulted in a terser, more rigid sprinkling of bands and
musicians that seem void of life because of their over-complicated
approach.
And what better way to enjoy your craft and have fun than play
around with someone else's music? Which is exactly what …And We All
Die did with their recent four-track release Static Age.
Essentially just two Misfits songs reimagined - Static Age and TV
Casualty - the EP sees both songs performed in vastly different
fashions, with neither bearing much more in common with the
original than by virtue of the song title.
Not that the two classic songs have been bastardised beyond
recognition - some bands you just don't mess with - but both
versions have been afforded the respect they deserve while
maintaining just enough of …And We All Die's musical DNA to make
the songs their own while still paying homage to the original
recordings.
The release is a heavy blend of hardcore, post-punk, noise-rock and
industrial influences, centred around covers of the two Misfits’
tracks alongside two industrial-infused reworkings of the songs
featuring Metal Blade synthwave artist Gost.
HEAVY recently caught up with the man behind the music, Raymond
Estes, to find out more, starting with how the EP has been
received.
"It's been great," he enthused. "So far it's been the best
reception we've had for any release. It's hard to say why that is,
maybe Spotify is actually working for us this time (laughs), but we
can't really complain. Really, the project is me, but it's
everybody who contributes and the drummer Walter and guitarist
Guillermo are excited about the volume of people that are checking
out the tracks and the amount of streams we've been getting. Who
knew?"
We press Estes on the choice of songs to cover, specifically why
choose the Misfits as a band to start with, and also why those
particular two songs.
"I love the Misfits," he shrugged, "and have for a long time. I
like horror punk and all that Danzig has done, but for …And We All
Die we don't really do horror songs. We do more conceptual songs or
songs about the human condition and as a hardcore guy I thought
what would be more interesting to do than take songs that are dark
and have these more science fiction themes based on the perils of
technology and make those fresh. That is more exciting to me than
singing about ghouls or zombies."
In the full interview, Estes explained the thought process behind
covering the same song twice, with the second version being more
industrial and featuring contributions from Ghost and William
Faith. He mentioned that the band was conscious of not going too
far with their covers, as they were aware of the special meaning
these songs hold for many people. The early reception of the EP has
been positive, with the industrial versions receiving the better
response.
We talked about deconstructing the songs and then recreating them
in their image and any difficulties they faced. The conversation
turned to future new music, with a rock album, collection of covers
from The Cure, other projects and more. Estes discussed why …And We
All Die is currently a studio project only and how he plans to
potentially expand that into a touring outfit down the track plus a
host of other things.


Become a supporter of this podcast:
https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heavy-music-interviews--2687660/support.