36 CRAZY FIST’s Brock Lindow - “It’s Been A Wonderful Ride”

March 2, 2015, 9 years ago

Kelley Simms

feature

36 CRAZY FIST’s Brock Lindow - “It’s Been A Wonderful Ride”

36 Crazy Fists (named after the seminal Jackie Chan movie), the most well-known metal band to come out of Alaska, has mostly flown under the national radar since its 1994 inception. Recently celebrating its 20th anniversary, the band has released its sixth full-length album, Time And Trauma (released February 17 through Spinefarm Records). Debuting at #80 on the Billboard top albums chart, the album has garnered the band’s highest chart position to date. 36 Crazy Fists has steadily built up a loyal fan base, and vocalist Brock Lindow believes the band is in its happy place.

“We just had our 20th anniversary, and it’s been a wonderful ride,” Lindow said. “I didn’t expect it to last this long when we first started. There’s more buzz on the band than there ever has been and it sure feels good. Since we did take some time off from the touring grind, which was pretty extensive for us all the way up to 2011, I just feel really rejuvenated. It just feels good to be this many years into the band and to be excited still.”

36 Crazy Fists has been through more hell and back than your average band could ever imagine; original bassist JD Stuart was killed in a car crash in1996; drummer Duane Monsen (member of Broke with 36CF guitarist Steve Holt) was fatally stabbed in 1994. Add several lineup changes, record label changes and deaths in the family, 36CF has had its fair share of hardships. Despite these setbacks, Lindow, Holt, Mick Whitney (bass) and Kyle Baltus (drums), have turned their tragedies into a cathartic exercise.

“In 2011, I got off the road and my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and I wasn’t interested in anything other than just coming home and being with my family and my mom,” Lindow said. “So that whole time spent with my mom and my family was really great because I had been on the road for many years prior to that. Then I didn’t realize how bad I needed the band again until that situation ended. So we started writing and starting the whole process about the fragility of life, finding peace and closure in that whole tragic time in my life. In that same process, our bass player Mick (Whitney) who just came back in the band, lost his mom as well. There was a lot of inspiration and therapy in the writing.”

The 12 tracks on Time and Trauma exemplify a maturity that the band hasn’t yet tapped into. Case in point, check out CD-closer “Marrow” for further proof. The band’s use of melodic and hooky choruses set them apart from the typical metalcore band. 36CF are usually labeled as a metalcore band, but on Time and Trauma, the band displays much more than that tagline.   

“We wanted to get back to our signature sound,” Lindow said. “I think on our last album, and even though we liked the record, it just seemed like it was more of a run-of-the-mill metalcore style album that if you put it up against a lot of other bands, it would sound similar. I feel like before, we stood out from those things and I wanted to get back to that. Writing a dark, moody rock record with some metal elements is always kind of our thing; less breakdowns and more melodic choruses; more singing as opposed to screaming. Which is sort of the way we started. Those things were in the back of our minds a bit, not making a major conscious effort to steer one way or the other.” 

The video which accompanies the first single, "Also Am I,” consists of a rowdy time in the middle of an Alaskan forest with the band’s friends; shooting guns, lighting fires and drinking beer. Sounds like it was a fun video shoot! 

“We went out to the woods here in Alaska,” Lindow said. “There’s this really crazy place called the Dr. Suess house (Google it). It’s in Willow, Alaska. We were trying to see if we could shoot a video (at the house), but we couldn’t get permission from the owners, which was unfortunate. So we just camped out kind of near it, which is a cool area. My buddy whipped the Go-Pros (video camera) out. These days you can do stuff a lot cheaper than you used to be able to. We just did a simple performance video. Just had some beers and fired shotguns all day. It turned out cool. It’s just a simple video. But I like those kind of videos a lot better than just concept videos. I don’t want to be acting in videos or anything like that.” 

All of Lindow’s life’s lessons fuels his lyrical inspiration. Lindow uses his lyrics as an emotional outlet; a way to get things off his chest. 

“My whole thing is that I just always write about things that kind of pertain to my life,” he said. “I don’t ever really get on too much of a grand scale as far as politics or organized religion. I do talk about my connection to my faith, but I don’t push it on anybody and I don’t really have a direction to even preach it toward someone. I think our songs have always been open to interpretation. If a certain song makes you feel a certain way and if you think it means something to you, that’s what I’m hoping for.”

Along with Lindow’s lyrics, Time and Trauma’s cover art fits into an overall theme, especially after everything Lindow had gone through in 2011. The cover was designed by Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D’Antonio, who runs his own graphic design company.

“I did all the lyrics and then we started thinking about who was going to do the art. So we turned to our buddy Mike D and his company Dark Icon Design. He jumped on board and started throwing some images our way by listening to the music. It was kind of a dual effort; him listening to the lyrics and coming up with what he felt represented them the best. There’s some cool imagery in there. His style is that concrete angel imagery, which is what I gravitate toward. Anytime we can associate ourselves with the boys in Killswitch Engage is a plus in our book.”

A US spring tour with Nonpoint and Five Finger Death Punch kicks off in late March.



Featured Video

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

KELEVRA - "The Distance"

Latest Reviews