With their upcoming release, “Post Mortem”, Black Tide brings a fresh “wave” of heavy metal music. By fresh, we simply mean that the metal tunes have a strong focal point, where the listener can hear a consistent rhythm throughout the song along with the screaming vocals and heavy instrumentals. We sometimes get lost within the loud sounds of metal music, but Black Tide has devised a way to keep us adrift in the dark waters.
The Florida quartet, consisting of vocalist and lead guitarist, Gabriel Garcia, bassist, Zakk Sandler, drummer, Steven Spence and guitarist, Austin Diaz, dropped their debut album, “Light From Above”, in 2008 and are set to release their sophomore album, “Post Mortem”, on August 23rd via DGC/Interscope Records. The band has already put out four tracks off the upcoming album, which include “That Fire”, “Walking Dead Man”, “Honest Eyes” and “Bury Me”. With just a taste off the new album, we can already sense the diversity within its songs. Positively contaminated with aggressive metal elements, the tunes share that heavy connection, but the catchy melodies interlaced within the metal keep them distinct from one another.
We had the opportunity to chat with Steven Spence about the group’s newest album. The conversation was as honest as can be. Spence was not using the interview to just pitch “Post Mortem” and give the band one self-compliment after another. Instead, the musician spoke sincerely about “Post Mortem”, mostly drawing upon how much meaning the albums holds. Yes, he would probably give his own album a glowing review, but our exchange with Spence really let’s you know the musical core of Black Tide with the promotional bullshit pushed aside.
August 23rd seems too far away. So kill some time, dig through our interview below and unravel the traits of a band that knows how to persist in the music industry with their integrity intact.
Congrats on your upcoming album! Can you tell me why you guys chose the name Post Mortem?
We weren’t sure what we were going to decide to call it for the longest time. We were thinking about making it self-titled and call it Black Tide, but we felt that we have so much to say on this album that that really didn’t do it justice. When Black Tide was first out, Gabriel was thirteen and we were recording a record. When we started touring, we were all really young. We really didn’t know much. We were learning so much that it was a learning experience. I feel like with this record, we’re still learning, but we are a completely different band as far as what we know and what our mindset is out to do, so like the old Black Tide. This is Post Mortem, after death. This is a new Black Tide.
Can you tell me about the album’s cover art?
We wanted to make sure that we portrayed the same thing as far as the Post Mortem goes with the doll being hung on there and then just the symbolism that’s in there. There’s actually something hidden on the front cover from the first album, but people don’t really know what it is yet. I don’t think they will be able to find it unless clearly I told them. It’s hidden in there, so it’s kind of going to be fun for people to look for that thing.
How do you think this album is different both instrumentally and lyrically from your debut album, Light From Above?
I think production value wise, we took it to a new level, especially lyric wise. Our first album a lot of things we were just singing cause we thought it was cool at the time. This album it’s more like we were experiencing things. We lived. We’ve been on the road for four years. We’ve been in relationships. We’ve gone through so many different things and lost people we cared about. So, we’ve been through a lot and that all comes across in these lyrics. We have a deep connection with all of this and there is meaning in it. It’s more important. I think that when passion is behind something creative, it just comes out a lot better. I think these songs just mean a lot more to us and people could feel it.
Was the recording process easier than it was for Light From Above?
Ya, you know what I would like to say. I always like working in the studio because it’s fun coming up with different things that I could do creatively and with the other guys, we could mesh off with each other, but it was a lot different as far as coming up with songs different things. We would be in a rehearsal studio and sometimes we would just literally write a song in a day and it would branch off. We’ve got a song, “Lost In The Sound” on the record and that just came out from us in our rehearsal studio like that just jamming, a complete song. It was a little bit easier because it wasn’t our first time.
Out of the four tracks released off of Post Mortem, do you have a favorite?
Hm, that’s a tough question because I feel like they are all my babies. How do you choose the favorite son? I can tell you that we got a lot more on the record that’s coming out on Post Mortem. Everyone’s going to be surprised. We’ve got the heaviest song we’ve ever written, but we also got a song that Gabriel is just singing acoustic guitar. So, it’s all over the place. We really wanted to be diverse with the record.
“Honest Eyes” is a standout so far for me. How was it creating that tune?
That’s one of my favorite tracks to do, but they are all kind of my favorite tracks too like I was saying. We were actually in Kansas, recording demos in 2009 and that’s where this song came about. Gabriel had this rift a long time ago and we were just jamming to it. It was always that rift. It didn’t have a name to it, but I was always like, “play the rift, play the rift.” That’s the opening “Honest Eyes” rift. We would just get together and jam it then we demoed it out in Kansas. It just grew into this song and when we put lyrics on it, we were like this is what we want to say and this is what we are doing. We got so much heat for the first record. We are so much more as artists. We feel like this song, “Honest Eyes” means that. We want to always do what we are out to do.
What was it like making the video for “That Fire”?
It was awesome. We were out in California and we had some friends in the video and girls. We thought it was cool to have hot girls in the music video. We worked with Paul Brown on that video. He is an awesome guy to work with, very creative and we were back and forth with him for the concept of the video. We came up with the concept a while ago. At first, I kind of wanted to do like a “Wedding Crashers” spinoff that was like one of my favorite movies. I feel like it’s everyone’s favorite movie. It kind of branched into this idea of being at a wedding. It’s about a guy having girlfriends on the side or a girl that’s so naïve. He’s like blatantly cheating right in front of her and he’s just so good in bed that she doesn’t care. That’s basically what the concept of the song is. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We like to have fun with all our songs, you know?
With this video and the “Walking Dead Man” video, I enjoy how you guys allow fans to see you actually playing in the video, rather than just showing the story of the songs. Is that intentional?
Well, ya I fee like you have to always remember what we are in this for. We are musicians. We do what we love to do and what we love to do is play music. As far as now on, my standpoint, I feel like that should always be apart of our music videos. You know what I mean? I feel like we lose some of that today, not necessarily a bad thing, but we are a rock band. That’s how we are.
Any plans on releasing more video from Post Mortem?
I think we might be doing a live video, but as far as right now, nothing is set in stone with releases or recording anything.
Are you going to release any other single before the album drops in August?
No actually. Like you said, we already have four out so we want to keep some of it for a surprise. So, August 23rd it will be out and that’s a month away. Finally!
You guys just played at Sonisphere. Is the crowd responding well to the new songs?
Ya, it was awesome. It’s such a great experience to be out there in England for Sonisphere and everyone is taking to them well. We are really fortunate about that.
Do you have a favorite new track to perform?
I love playing the song called, “Fight To The Bitter End”. It is so much fun to play live and “Honest Eyes” is a blast to play live too.
You guys release Post Mortem right around when you begin to tour on the Uproar Festival. Do you plan on playing new songs off the album?
Ya, we are going to play a lot of new songs.
What separates Black Tide from other metal albums?
It’s new. We are creative. We are different. It’s not the same old thing. We are going to give you something that the other bands aren’t going to give you. Our record goes everywhere. So you guys get to come everywhere with it. I feel like another thing I actually want to tell people is that musicians and people in the industry really need your support as fans. Even if it is not Black Tide or even if you hate Black Tide, you have to find your favorite musician and get their record and go to their shows because it depends on you to keep their careers going.
Any other Black Tide or Post Mortem news?
Other than we are going to be on the road, we are just going to be supporting it. Our record is going to be in stores really soon!
By Lonnie Nemiroff
