We sat down with Dean Lamb from Archspire for an exclusive interview about their current tour! Check out the conversation below:
Can you tell us how "The Everything’s F#*!@D Tour" with Aborted, Carcosa, and Alluvial came about What are you most excited about in this lineup?
So we've been planning this tour for over a year now, and the early stages really started with building the package. We knew we wanted a unique blend of different extreme music, which is something we learned from Despised Icon when we supported them in Europe in 2017. That tour featured Despised Icon, Malevolence, Archspire, and Vulvodynia, which is just a great combination of slam, tech death, hardcore, and deathcore.
For this run, we wanted to bring an array of newer and established bands. Aborted have been touring buddies for many years, Carcosa is an up-and-coming band from Vancouver, Canada, and Alluvial has been crushing it touring with bands like Animals as Leaders lately, so it came together really nicely.
How do you go about planning the setlist for a tour like this, especially with a lineup of such diverse and talented bands?
Well, we're still supporting an album that's nearly three years old at this point, which in music industry years is an eternity. So to keep it fresh, we're playing songs from that album that we've never played live before, which was a real challenge. Turns out this music is really hard to play, hahaha.
What can fans expect from Archspire’s performances on this tour? Any surprises or special elements you’re planning to incorporate?
We know that all the other bands are going to be bringing their absolute best, which means we have to outdo our last headliner. That means bigger production, more on-stage surprises, and really fun (and stupid) crowd interaction. We want people to come to an Archspire show expecting a party, never entirely sure of what's going to happen next. Death metal is a very extreme genre of music, so incorporating unique on-stage ideas is vital to keeping people's attention during a 4+ hour-long concert.
Also, we play Twister at our shows with the audience now, for some reason. Don't ask.
"Bleed the Future" has been well received by fans and critics alike. How has the response to the album influenced your live performances or tour preparations?
Bleed the Future really did help bring us a new wave of fans, and we're still feeling that even years after its release. We have been writing a ton of music lately for the next album, and when we're back home, we'll revise the material a ton. This tour was mostly about giving Bleed the Future one last run before we head into writing hibernation and hopefully have something new for fans in 2025.
Can you share some insights into the creative process behind "Bleed the Future"? How did you approach the songwriting and recording for this album compared to your previous works?
We spent almost two and a half years writing Bleed the Future, six months of which were during the pandemic. Honestly, our writing style hasn't changed much in the history of the band. We still write mostly everything in a room together. We have a system where if one person doesn't like a part, we work with them on making it something that they do like; and if we can't manage to salvage it, then we just scrap it entirely. That writing style is super time-consuming, but our three-day-a-week schedule seems to work pretty well - any more than that would drain you mentally, and wouldn't allow for much reflection and time at home working on parts.
We've continued that writing style, but now our jam spot is completely set up with mics, so once we have an idea, we just track it then and there. Back in the early days, we would do zero demoing of the material; we'd just memorize the parts and go into the studio. I can't imagine ever going back to that; it just doesn't allow you the granular control of such fast and complex ideas. Also, if you listen closely to our first two albums, you might be able to hear all the wrong notes. We tracked most of those albums at night because the studio time was cheaper. So if Tobi and I weren't in the studio together at the same time, we might just forget a part and take a wild guess, which often ended up in us playing conflicting stuff. Man, we were idiots!
Photo Credit: Shimon Karmel
Touring can be both exhilarating and challenging. What are some of the biggest challenges you anticipate for "The Everything’s F#*!@D Tour," and how do you plan to overcome them?
The biggest thing to worry about is whether or not the new dumb jokes on stage will bomb, but honestly, if Oli does a bit that falls flat, it just makes us laugh even harder. Also, finding new stage outfits has been a big stress point. I found these sick blazing red blade running shoes that Jared hates. Oli is wearing gold light-up high tops, and Tobi found some awesome radioactive runners. That's probably the hardest thing about touring. The next step is trying to get Jared to find funny shoes, but he's wearing these Skechers that just seem kinda regular, which isn't any fun for anybody.
Come see us on tour through the rest of the month!
Get tickets: www.archspiretickets.com
The Everything’s F#*!@D Tour
w/ Aborted, Carcosa and Alluvial
May 31st – Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall
June 1st – Calgary, AB @ The Palace Theatre
June 2nd – Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre
June 3rd – Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre
June 5th – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
June 6th – Chicago, IL @ Metro
June 7th – Detroit, MI @ The Majestic Theatre
June 8th – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
June 9th – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
June 10th – Quebec City, QC @ Théâtre Capitole
June 11th – Boston, MA @ Royale
June 12th – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
June 13th – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
June 14th – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
June 15th – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Heaven
June 16th – Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
June 17th – Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
June 18th – Orlando, FL @ The Abbey
June 20th – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
June 21st – Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory
June 22nd – Austin, TX @ Come and Take It Live
June 24th – Phoenix, AZ @ The Nile Theater
June 25th – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
June 26th – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
June 28th – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
June 29th – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
June 30th – Vancouver, BC @ The Vogue Theatre
Archspire will be playing songs off their latest album, Bleed the Future, which is available now.
Links:
www.archspire.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/Archspireband
www.twitter.com/Archspireband
www.instagram.com/archspireofficial
www.youtube.com/user/Archspiremetal
https://metaldevastationradio.com/thebeast/blog/25939/exclusive-interview-archspires-dean-lamb-talks-the-everythings-fd-tour-and-latest-release-bleed-the-future?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger
