The Black Argument has become known as one of the widest growing bands on the planet blowing everywhere they head off too to pieces completely tearing it all up. This 5 piece sensation takes up the music scene completely showing their creativeness from beginning to end especially when it comes to their latest installment "Remedies," which displays a passion and devotion to wanting to be in their music industry through thick and thin no matter how hard the struggle may become in between. An interview was conducted with vocalist Raphael and guitarist Chris who discussed their current turn around in the music world.
1. In your own words what does The Blackout Argument do differently than other bands? What elements set you apart most? What are you most proud of with the new record?
Chris: Honestly, we don’t really try to be any different or totally unique. Every riff has already been played by Black Sabbath, every mosh pit part has its origin with Metallica and every catchy melody has been created by The Beatles. So how the hell should anyone claim to be unique at all hahaha! I think it’s always a question on how convincing you present what you do and since we’re 100% backing what we’re doing with The Blackout Argument, people like it.
Most proud? Well me personally, I am most proud of the fact that we managed to make every song interesting on its own. They all got their own souls and breathe life. That’s what makes me most proud of “Remedies”.
2. What themes are predominating over the entirety of "Remedies"? There seems to be a touch of self-revelatory, the political, etc
Raphael: “Remedies is about the anger, frustration, desperation, ignorance and loss you have to deal with in life. It's about pushing forward to a better life without regrets by taking the rough with the smooth. It's also a socially critical album. It fucks me up to see smugness and ignorance wherever I go and it's my appeal for a peaceful cooperation of human beings. It's about the small things which can kill a man / woman in the daily routine.
3. As a band how has The Blackout Argument grown between “Decisions,” and "Remedies"?
Chris: Musically we’ve grown in so far, that we managed to make our songwriting a little more compact and to the point. There’s less parts and experiments, more straight forward stuff, which was our intention with “Remedies”. But the most crucial development surely is our new singer Raphael. He’s been giving the band a completely new face with his amazing vocal skills and ideas.
4. Taking into consideration current economical times, have you noticed an increase or decline in the number of kids making it out to live shows?
Chris: Nope, not really. I think this is something they cannot take away from us. Even if money runs short, prices rise and jobs are threatened, the kids will more than ever feel the urge to go to hardcore shows and go crazy! This scene is totally flexible and if shows tend to get too expensive, entrance fees and guarantees are being lowered to ensure everyone who wants to see a band still got the chance.
5. Many bands experience levels of success they can't reproduce stateside, and vice versa. How The Blackout Argument received over-seas and how do you think The Blackout Argument is perceived in America?
Chris: We get some feedback from US kids which is always really positive. They ask us to come over to tour and stuff. However you’re right when you say that European Bands have a tough standing in the USA. There are so many bands there, so most kids ask themselves “why the fuck should I check out even more bands from other countries”. It’s been like that since ages. But I have the feeling that the possibilities of the internet have created new ways of promoting European bands overseas. Especially campaigns like the release of our free online EP “Smile Like A Wolf” at www.smilelikeawolf.com last year can definitely help to make more people take notice of a band.
6. Have critics tagged you with any stigmas you would like to get rid of, perhaps by clumping you in genres you don't belong?
Chris: When we started the band we’ve been labeled “screamo” or “emo” every once in a while which I always had the feeling is not fitting. As for right now there’s still some webzines (especially from Spain, Greece and France) who regard our music as “Metalcore”. Obviously we’re NOT a metalcore band and as soon as you start measuring our music with a “metalcore” kind of scale, we totally suck. Of course. We’re nothing like Unearth, Killswitch Engage but if you only know these bands and no others you tend to compare EVERY band with them hahaha!
7. “Decisions,” is completely different compared to the remainder of the record. What was the influence writing "The Die Song"? Furthermore, what was the specific rationale for placing it mid record as opposed to the end (Where many bands tend to put songs they consider to be "against their own grain?")
Chris: Yeah, “Decisions” had a few “against the grain” songs, such as the instrumental track “The Die Song”, the spoken word performance “My life in Spoken Words” and also the acoustic song “Glassbead Game”. We wanted to give the album diversity and decided to split up these special tracks over the whole album. Basically to make it sound more interesting to listen to.
8. How did such an odd name come to be?
Chris: You mean “Decisions”? Just like “Remedies” our first album is based on a concept. It was about making decisions and living with the consequences, an idea every one of us has to cope with every day.
9. What does the title "Remedies," refer to?
Chris: The title refers to an album concept based on the curative effect of Bach Flowers. Just like these homeopathic remedies offer an answer to various emotional prisons, the tracks on the album reflect the whole spectrum of human emotion. There are songs about anger, sadness, disappointment, betrayal, motivation, insecurity, disgust and envy. Each song has a real title and a “Bach Flower title” that represents the fitting counterpart.
10. "Vampire Searching for Some Light," is (in my opinion) the most complete song on the record. Can you talk about the creation of "Vampire Searching for Some Light," as a song- where it started, etc. It taps into many different metal genres - with its unmistakable power metal elements (and who is hitting those higher notes?)
Chris: You’re kidding, aren’t you? Obviously I am not familiar enough with the details of the various metal genres but I have not taken notice of ONE single metal-element in “Vampire Searching for Some Light” J Powermetal? Crazy... but whatever you hear in it is fine with us as long as you like the track hahaha!
Alright, it’s a nice question because the creation of “Vampire Searching For Some Light” has been almost “magic”! We met at our practice place and no one had really prepared any riffs or song ideas. So Chris18 our other guitarist started playing the intro of the song, which had just come to his mind. Phil, the drummer and me just joined him after 4 beats and believe it or not: we wrote the song WHILE we were playing it! We made it all through the song without stopping once and all riffs and ideas including lead guitars and everything came up while we were playing. I never had a similar experience like this and no other Blackout Argument emerged so naturally like “Vampire Searching for Some Light”, which is one of our favorite tracks by the way.
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