The passion project of Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and Mike Vennart offer a visceral attack on the aural senses, and play their first ever Wales show this month. Joshua Williams caught up with Vennart to get the lowdown on Empire State Bastard’s debut headline tour, new music, and more.
The name Empire State Bastard indicates this may not be a band for everyone. The brainchild of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil alongside Mike Vennart – current Biffy touring guitarist, previously known for cult UK indie/prog outfit Oceansize – in the live arena the group are completed by bassist Naomi Macleod, also of Dublin band Bitch Falcon, and one of metal’s all-time legendary drummers Dave Lombardo.
The reaction to the band’s debut album Rivers Of Heresy, released in September, has been “ridiculous” according to Vennart. “Couldn’t be happier, really, it couldn’t have gone any better. It was a long time coming this one – the rollout was literally about 13 years! So you try to pretend that the reviews don’t matter, but they really do.
“And ultimately, we feel quite blessed that everybody gets it, you know? It’s really clicked, it really resonated, and that’s all you can hope for. I’m relieved that nobody thinks that we’re taking the piss or having a laugh. People know that we’re fucking legit with this.”
The social context into which the album has been released, Vennart says, is important. “If we put this out when we first started talking, about 13 years ago, it wouldn’t have that kind of authentic fucking rage. [Simon Neil and I] were both different people back then, and there was less to be fucking mortally angry about, but with the current state of play… speaking as someone [living] in Manchester, where the Tories have taken over the fucking city, I’m mad as hell. There doesn’t appear to be much chance of that slowing down in the near future. There is no hope for this country.
“The Labour Party have no policies: they don’t stand for anything since they saw Corbyn off. We’re left with just empty vacuous bullshit. I promised after Corbyn that I will just stop fucking engaging with politics, because there’s no point. There’s nothing in it for me anymore. But the worse things get, the worse things get. If you’re an artist – especially in the modern day – and not fucking addressing this stuff, then what kind of artist are you?
“It’s hard to avoid, and it’s hard to look away. But, to be honest, I feel blessed that I actually have some kind of outlet because otherwise all I’d do is be on Twitter all day going fucking mental.”
Those expecting Rivers Of Heresy’s songs to sound differently live may be disappointed, says the guitarist: from the studio to the stage, the songs “are exactly the same”, though there’s a reason for this. “The songs are so complicated, there isn’t much margin for improvisation. Dave gets to get his rocks off during [near-seven-minute album track] The Looming: he has an indeterminable amount of time in the middle of that to go as fucking crazy as possible. In fact, when we were doing the record, I kept having to say to him, ‘no, you can really open it up on that part! Go crazy, this is your moment! Just fucking go for it!’ Any drummer likes being given that permission – and Dave has the chance to open up on certain corners of the music, but myself and Naomi absolutely do not. Every single pick has to be identical.
“I think, to a large extent, the guitar and the bass is the anchor in the band, so Dave can keep the backbeat – but fucking go as wild as possible, because nobody goes wild like Dave Lombardo! He’s got such swing, such personality to his playing, that you want to hear him fucking go crazy. But that’s the thrill of him, that there’s so much power and eloquence in his musical vocabulary. You just want to hear him talk all the time.”
Vennart is full of so much love for the erstwhile Slayer sticksman, revealing that he’s saved his name to his phone as “Dave fucking Lombardo”, but what about the experience of working with him? “It’s one of the most life-affirming things that’s ever happened to me. With Biffy, there are only a few dreams left to dream – we’ve played every single festival in the world, we’ve done everything. So, I certainly did not have ‘make a fucking thrash metal album with Simon Neil and Dave Lombardo’ on my bingo card. But here we are…
“He’s more than a drummer, he’s like an orchestrator, and to actually stand beside him while he plays a fill like, say, the opening of Palms Of Hands or Stutter, where the fucking power just {emanates} from him… an absolute livewire, but just a really, really gentle sweet fella. But fuck, he is an absolute monster behind that drumkit man. And it never gets old!”
As for playing Cardiff on tour, Vennart has some good memories of Wales’ capital. “My old band Oceansize used to play Cardiff all the time, but it was the one stop where you could guarantee there would be nobody there… until we put out a record, and then suddenly people started paying attention. I remember playing Cardiff Barfly to one person, this lass sat at the front next to a pillar. At the end of the set, with all the feedback going, I put my guitar down, went over and said ‘thank you so much for staying’; she says, ‘well I had to really, I’m reviewing it!’ I have many fond memories of Cardiff – we played there last year with Biffy as well.”
There are songs being written for Empire State Bastard’s second album too: Vennart has been sending them to Simon Neil for his input, and some will make it into the tour. “We’re going to play the whole [first] record plus three other tunes, and a B-side called The Blues that is one minute long, which I really fucking love. Ultimately, this is still a band in its infancy, and this is our first proper tour – this is us planting the fucking flag in the ground.”
For a band in its infancy though, ESB have had some absolutely special moments already – such as at Download Festival this year. “Some of the best times of my personal life have been standing within spitting distance of Simon Neil. He’s always made shit happen in one respect or another. Donington [Park, where the festival takes place] was especially poignant, as my mother used to take me there when I was a kid to see Iron Maiden, so to play with this new band, with that weight of expectation, as we only had a couple of songs out… but the tent was full and Dave Lombardo was absolutely on fucking fire. Simon and Naomi too.
“We just rose to it, and when we walked off stage, we were a little bit shellshocked. It took us 10 or 15 minutes to regain our bearings because it was such a visceral, loud, and overwhelming performance. This shit is real! Having to dig into every single note, having to keep up with Dave Lombardo, and knowing that every single dig of the plectrum counts. Those are the moments I love. This is a band where you can’t phone it in, you can’t have a couple of beers before the gig… it’s fucking all or nothing, it really is.”
Empire State Bastard, Y Plas, Cardiff University Students Union, Thurs 9 Nov.
Tickets: £27.50. Info: here
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS
