Goatwhore – Louis Benjamin Falgoust II

Goatwhore are a blackened death metal super group who hail from New Orleans in the United States. They have recently been selected to be apart of the upcoming Behemoth Australian tour next week. Metal Obsession recently has the pleasure to speak with frontman Louis Benjamin Falgoust II, to discuss the band’s first tour of Australia.

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MO: You’ll be visiting our shores very soon, what’s the vibe like in the Goatwhore camp, being your first time in Australia?

LBF: Yeah, it is our first time in Australia, and everybody in the band is pretty stoked about it.

MO: What part of the tour are you looking forward to the most?

LBF: What do you mean, ‘what part of the tour’? We’re looking forward to the whole tour! [pauses] Hang on, I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to make me decide on a city.

MO: No.

B: Pretty much the whole thing. [Australia] is completely new to us, so we’re all excited about the whole aspect of the tour.

MO: Being your first tour, for those who are not familiar with Goatwhore, can you give a brief background on the history of Goatwhore?

LBF: Goatwhore began roughly around 1994-1995, it was a band that started with drummer Zak Nolan, kinda like a necro-death-grind band and it was just Sammy Duet and Zack. Not the current Zack we have, but Zak Nolan. They did this little project together, it was called something else, and they got a bass player [Pat Bruders], and adding another guitar player [Ben Stout] and they had another guy singing [Jared Beniot].

Eventually as time went on, they ended up losing their singer and Sammy was playing guitar and singing, and he ended up being in a fight in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at this bar one night and he had his jaw broken and ended up having to have his jaw wired shut. He had a few shows coming up and I was familiar with what they were into, I was into their style, and I called him up and offered to help him out for the show.

So I helped out with those shows, for four, six months until his jaw got unwired, and they just decided to keep me in the band. It was mutual, we all had a good time, it went on that way. That lineup recorded the first record [Eclipse of Ages Into Black] and after that record, Ben Stout [guitarist] left the band and it ended up being me, Sammy Duet, Pat Bruders and Zak Nolan, and went on to do the second record [Funeral Dirge for the Rotting Sun]. After that, Zak Nolan left the band, then Zack Simmons, our current drummer, joined.

A little bit after that, Pat Bruders left the band, and in entered Nathan Bergeron. That lineup with me, Sammy, Zack Simmons and Nathan Bergeron did A Haunting Curse and Carving Out the Eyes of God. A little bit after doing Carving Out the Eyes of God, Nathan left the band and James Harvey joined. That is the current lineup to date, and the lineup that will be playing in Australia for these shows.

MO: What can Australian audiences expect from a Goatwhore show?

LBF: Hopefully they’re really into it and they like how we present ourselves live, and that they have a fucking goddamn good time and that they drink a lot. It’s hard to say, but I believe this tour will be really good for us because of the bands that we’re touring there with [Behemoth and Job For A Cowboy] and it’s like instead of showing up there opening for Lamb of God, we’re definitely more of extreme-elemented metal band, so definitely touring with a band like Behemoth which we kinda share a sound with, and then Job for a Cowboy, who are quite an extreme metal band, it’s a better kind of situation for us, and puts us in front of those audiences that might not be familiar with what we do.

We are known for our live performances rather than our records, and people who are right into us that listen to us say that we’re better as a live band. I’m not trying to dog our recordings, we’re really pleased with the way Carving Out the Eyes of God came out, but I think we just have an element that we tour so much, that we’re tuned in and being focused on a live band. I guess it’s really extreme and very impactive and there’s a lot of interaction between us and the crowds, it kinda helps it out a bit more.

MO: Are you going to wear any nails and spikes onstage?

LBF: That’s kinda questionable, because some stuff you can’t really fly with…

MO: or at least not put it in your carry-on luggage…

LBF: Yeah… it all depends, because sometimes customs can be a pain when we travel. We’ve never been to Australia before so we’re not really sure with we’ll be confronted with at customs but going to Europe, we had problems with carrying bullet belts and stuff, even though they were in the luggage that went into the underbay. But we’ll be suited up to an extent when we play, whatever we come across with and get through with.

MO: Before Goatwhore, you were a member of Soilent Green. Are they still active?

LBF: Yes. We still do stuff, but right now Goatwhore is on an extensive tour, but Soilent Green is working on some new stuff, and will probably be recording something in the late Fall [northern Fall – that’s October/November].

I still do both, I have a hectic schedule. I don’t know if the new Soilent Green record will be released this year or early next year, but there’s been talk about going into the studio in the late Fall [to record another Soilent Green record]. Keep an eye out for it, it will probably be released early 2011.

MO: For the Goatwhore live show, it’s your first time here and with four releases, has there been much discussion with what will be in the set list?

LBF: Yeah, we’re mixing it up. It will predominantly be stuff from Carving… we’ll probably get about 30 minutes, and we’ll put as much into that 30 minutes as much as we can. We group songs sometimes, so it’s not like we-play-a-song-and-then-a-break-we-play-a-song-and-there’s-a-break… sometimes we do a three-pack, and then a break, then a three-pack and then a break… it leaves some time in between so it allows us to play some more.

I’d say the majority of the set will consist of Carving… and have some elements of A Haunting Curse and the other two records. I’m not too sure how familiar everyone is with the first two records, but it might turn on people to chase down our first two records as well.

MO: What will Goatwhore be doing after the Australian tour?

LBF: After Australia we’ll be home for a week, then we will be heading to Canada for three weeks with Three Inches of Blood and Toxic Holocaust. After that, I’m not too sure. There are some things in the talk, but nothing really solid yet.

MO: That wraps up the interview, no doubt you’re looking forward to being here with Behemoth and Job For A Cowboy…

LBF: Yeah, we’re looking forward to being there just in general, definitely for the bands that we’re touring with, we’ve played with Behemoth before, we know the guys, we get along with them. We’ve toured with Job For A Cowboy before as well. But even being with both those bands in a whole new environment, that we’ve never been in, is very unique as well.

MO: I think you’ll win a lot of new fans, generally what I’ve noticed with Australian crowds is that when bands tour Australia, if they play really well, they’ll earn the respect of the crowd.

LBF: I guess you just gave me the key to make sure we’re on our game when we get there! We’ll do our best, hopefully we can do over what we usually do. We might dig deep and do some mystery performance that we didn’t know we had!

MO:Any last comments for the Australian fans?

LBF: This is the question that always stumps me the most, out of any question… If you haven’t yet heard of us, or you’ve at least heard of us but never seen us, at least give us a chance. Come out, witness it before you decide to shoot it out of the sky and talk complete shit about us. Not to mention that you should come out anyway because it’s not often when a tour is put together with these kind of bands. It would be a damn shame to miss something like that.

MO: Thank you for taking the time for this interview.

LBF: No problem, I appreciate you making the time for this interview.

Q’s: Megan Masters
A’s: Louis Benjamin Falgoust II
Date: 29/03/2010
Origin: United States of America
www.bloatedgoatrecords.com/gw/
www.myspace.com/goatwhore

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Make sure to check out Goatwhore next week on their upcoming Australian tour with Behemoth, Job For a Cowboy and The Amenta.

The Amenta will be playing at the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane shows.

Monday 12th April – Capitol Perth 18+
www.moshtix.com.au

Tuesday 13th April – Fowlers Live Adelaide All Ages
www.venuetix.com.au

Wednesday 14th April – Billboard Melbourne 18+
www.billboardthevenue.com.au

Friday 16th April – Metro Sydney All Ages
www.ticketek.com.au

Saturday 17th April – HiFi Brisbane 18+
www.thehifi.com.au

For more information, go to:  www.bloatedgoatrecords.com/gw/ – www.myspace.com/goatwhore