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Interview: Mike Williams of Arson Anthem

Mike Williams may very well be underground metal's poet laureate. He's fronted stoner, doom metal mainstay Eyehategod for twenty years. With Eyehategod, he's explored lyrical themes of addiction and isolation like few vocalists can. He's also remained a presence in the metal journalism circuit, contributing regularly to national magazines like Metal Maniacs and numerous underground zines. In 2005, he released his first book, an apocalyptic collection of poems and short vignettes aptly titled Cancer as a Social Activity: Affirmations of World's End. However, now he has now partnered with long-time friends Phillip Anselmo [Pantera, Down, Superjoint Ritual], Hank Williams III and Colin Yeo for Arson Anthem. His aggressive howl takes center stage and functions as a vocal jackhammer on the band's scathing self-titled debut EP. From his home in Louisiana, he took some time to discuss Arson Anthem, Eyehategod and his writing with ARTISTdirect.

You guys all have an understanding of real hardcore and real underground music, and it seems like it's being channeled into this brutal collective. It pummels.

I appreciate that, thank you man. The fact is, to say we're old guys, that's something I don't want to admit, but it's true. We were around back in the day. Back in the '80s, I was going to shows and seeing all these bands back then, so we were there. Not to say that these new kids can't do it, because a lot of them are great. There are some really good hardcore bands coming out now. But I think the word "hardcore" has gotten misconstrued over the ages. People think that it's just the New York-mosh-breakdown-thing. There was a whole turn of different sounds back then. Ours is more of a harsher Midwest and California hardcore vibe.

You guys have a more abrasive and dissonant sound than the New York "breakdown" driven hardcore bands.

I totally agree. We did set out with that in mind. Just listen to the bands that we like. We were just like, "Man we've got to do something like that." I've wanted to do a band like this for a long time, being in Eyehategod and all, which is a totally separate type of music.

In Eyehategod, you channel and slower, doomier vibe. It's definitely your vocals, but on this, it's like a constant punch in the face, which is perfect.

When I was younger, I was in bands like this, and I never recorded or anything. We just did shows and had fun. It's good to now finally have something come out and have people recognize it. People are starting to get it, too. I thought people wouldn't get it. A lot of people were going to look at it, and go well, "Phil is on it. So it's going to sound like Pantera or Down." But I think a lot of people are starting to get it.

Did the songs start with a riff or a lyrical idea from you?

Usually with the riffs. Phil and I would also sit down and listening to tons of hardcore—which came from losing everything in the hurricane and trying to get all my music back by burning CDs. We were listening to some of these old bands and thinking that we needed to write something like that. Phil had a few riffs from a long time ago. He came up with the riffs and started putting things together. Then he would send tapes to Colin, who was like somewhere in Colorado. And then Hank was up in Tennessee. So he would send tapes to them, and then they would add their own thing to it. Finally we got together. Hank drove down in his truck, and brought his drum kit. We knew him from a few years ago, when he was in this band called Buzzkill. They were a Nashville hardcore band a long time ago. We knew he played drums, but we didn't know he was going to be so good. So he drove down here, and he took three days to do the whole thing. They practiced of course, and then laid down the riffs and recorded it. I did my vocals on the second or third day, and we mixed it. And that was it.

Wow. That's intense.

Yes. It was like, "Let's do little touch ups here and there on the mix," and then it was mastered. That was basically it. It was real, do-it-yourself—just like I would've done it when I was 15. That's exactly how I would have done it with one of my older bands.

One of the things that I always liked personally about your vocal style was that it evokes a lot of images, and it's very visual. Where do you usually draw inspiration from?

Everywhere. Some of it is from literature and things. But most of it is from things that I see on the street. Through my eyes of course, just basically stuff like that.

Did writing for this band differ from Eyehategod for you?

No, I mean of course in the song structures and the timing with the vocals, but no because basically I got the lyrics out of the same notebooks for Eyehategod. I just write a lot, and I write it all down. I have a bunch of different notebooks, and those are the ones I use. It's not like I wrote certain things. These could have been used anywhere, but they sounded great for Arson Anthem, so I just used them here.

So you just have an ever-growing library of lyrics?

I'm always writing. I actually have my second book written. Which is like lyrics and poetry—just dark, negative poetry, like some prose and abstract short stories.

I read your book last year, and I loved it. I thought it was great.

That's cool, I'm glad you liked it. A lot of people who I do these interviews with don't know about it, so I'm glad you've heard about it.

For me, it had a Bukowski-feel, but more apocalyptic.

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