36 Crazyfists interview with Brock Lindow
by Amber Hartman – Nov 2008
What’s been the response to your latest album?
Good. Positive. This was the first time we ever hit the Billboard charts. It was the biggest first week we’ve ever had sales-wise.
What does the title of your new album, “The Tide and Its Takers,” mean?
Its basically that a lot of the songs are about the cycle of life, how everything comes and goes…good and bad. It’s more or less about that.
How are the fans different in Europe vs. America?
They’re way better….for us definitely. I think initially we didn’t spend as much time touring here as we did in Europe. We spent a lot more time over there (Europe) and had a lot more promotion going on over there as well. Up until this record, we had never had an ad in an American magazine that told people we had a record coming out. Over there we were always in the magazines, so I think that’s probably the main reason things started so good for us over there. They are extremely loyal people that have never stopped coming and bringing more people with them.
What are some of your favorite places to play in Europe?
England and Germany are probably the biggest places for us. It’s always been real good in England. France is probably our least favorite place to play in Europe.
Your band is named after one of Jackie Chan’s films, are you big fans of his?
Yeah…we are, but at the time Steve named the band, I didn’t even know who Jackie Chan was. This is ’94, this was before he was a household name. Definitely a fan, been trying to get him on a record for years. He sings and he has a record out and it’s all about love songs…its hilarious. I’ve never heard it, but I’ve heard it’s pretty bad.
Who has been your favorite bad to tour with?
I don’t know. We have made so many friends over the years. We’ve done a ton of tours with Walls of Jericho and 12 Tribes, those are probably our closest friends I would say. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten off the tour and really disliked a band. Bullet For My Valentine…those guys are great….those guys rage it up.
Do you think there is any one thing the sets you apart from other bands?
Yeah…we’re from Alaska. We’re not reinventing the wheel or anything like that; we’re just trying make music that is current and relevant to us and still not try to rip anyone off. It’s unique in its own right, but we’re not pioneers of it.
What do you guys think of Alaska’s governor?
I think she was portrayed shitty in the media. I just don’t think that the media liked her at all. I do like her. I met her and she’s a nice lady and I think she’s extremely intelligent. I don’t think the media showed that at all. She’s got a lot of great ideas for alternative energy and she’s made our state a lot of money. I don’t think she was well-versed in foreign situations by any means. We watched all the debates and sometimes I cringed when she’d say things…..we don’t talk that way. She sounded like she was more from here, like the Fargo area or Minnesota. I think it was a cool thing for her….I voted for her.
Are there any bands that you’ve aspired to be like?
Yeah….Metallica was definitely one of my favorite bands growing up. Collectively, Metallica has our vote.
What has been the biggest struggle for you as a band?
We lost a bass player in a car accident, so that was probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to us. It’s just a constant struggle, but this year has been the most productive for us, touring-wise. All the tours we went on this year were killer tours, in others years, no offense to the bands, but they weren’t tours that drew a lot of people, so therefore we were probably playing to the same crowd that had seen us before, where as this a good percentage of the people at the shows had never even heard of us. That seems like a bad thing at first, but at the end of the night we have people come up to us and say, “I’ve never even heard of you guys, but you’re pretty good.” We’ve heard that a lot this year and in the end I think that’s a good thing because we’re getting to reach new ears.
Is there anything unique about your live performances?
Our drummer spits on people and flips them off. We definitely try pretty hard to connect with people, but I don’t know how unique it is.
Who does the majority of the writing for the band?
Musically, Steve writes all the guitar parts and the drums and the drummer helps with that as well. I do all the lyrics.
What do you draw inspiration for the lyrics from?
Just life, I guess. I used to write about things that were solely obtaining to my life. On the new record I branched out a little bit and wrote on a little bit more of a worldly scale. I talk about war topics and stuff like that, but definitely inspired by life.
What is next for you guys after this tour?
We will be done with touring after this tour, and then we have two months off…thank God, because we’ve been out since February. Then we go to Japan, Australia and do a headliner in Europe. Then we come back to the States in April and do our first real headlining tour.
