Ed: How the hell are you guys?
Lord by Fire: Well, thanks.
Ed: Okay, in typical fashion, let’s begin with introductions. Who is Lord by Fire?
Lord by Fire: Keith – bass/vocals, Joey – drums, Shawn – guitar, Luke - guitar
Ed: Why did you guys get together in the first place?
Luke: I had this idea for a heavy band in the summer of 2003. Shawn and I had been good friends for like 12 years, and I wanted him to be part of it because he wasn’t doing anything musically at the time. I knew this kind of band would be right up his alley. Shawn approached our mutual friends Keith (my band mate in My War) and Joey with the idea and they were into it. I think we got together for a practice a few days later. We fleshed out “Ride with Thunder and Love” and “Radula” in a few hours.
Ed: What has been the main driving factor behind your music?
Keith: To make something new that people can get into without hearing some of the same old things going on in heavy music right now.
Ed: Where did the title Lord by Fire come from?
Shawn: Unfortunately, weed.
Joey: …and a Bible.
Ed: Upon repeatedly listening to the album, I detect a lot of musical influences. To save myself from looking like a douchebag by guessing, why don’t you guys tell me what the direct ones are.
Luke: For me, it is mainly Eyehategod and Black Sabbath. There are a few others, but those are my main two.
Keith: Well of course we listen to a lot of old metal from the godfathers themselves, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, to some of the modern metal and psyche rock bands out there today. I like a lot of styles of music, but I feel that Lord by Fire seems to follow our metal sides for inspiration.
Ed: The use of cello in this arena of music isn’t an everyday occurrence. Was that something you guys wanted to do for a long time or was it a spur-of-the-moment-in-the-studio kind of thing?
Keith: The idea to use the cello to open and close the CD was more of a last minute type thing. I think it is one of my favorite things about the record… how it ends in the same way it started out.
Luke: Early on, we wanted to do something different with the band. Our friend Eric seemed like the solution to that. Unfortunately, Eric’s work/school schedule didn’t allow him to become a full-on part of the band. We gave him a practice tape of the songs and he wrote a cello part for “Radula.” The idea for the outro cello for “Children of Ghede” was a “spur-of-the-moment” idea. We felt it closed out the album quite nicely.
Shawn: Eric Moore is a bad S.O.B.
Ed: What bands, old and/or new, do you think need more worship and/or praise?
Keith: I wish some dick wads would pay more attention to some of the smaller bands out there now that could take off in the world of heavy music (like Kylesa and Baroness) and stop hyping up metalcore band after metalcore band. Old bands like Sabbath and bands still around today like Neurosis I feel should get a lot of praise for doing what they do and for having done it for so long.
Luke: I’m just going to list my pals Valkyrie. Check out their mp3 available on this site.
Shawn: Being completely serious, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Melvins.
Ed: I know some of you guys are in other bands (feel free to plug them here). Is it hard to balance the two? Does this help or hinder the song writing process for either band?
Luke: Keith and I have been playing in a hardcore band called My War (not to be confused with the band of the same name from the UK) for some time now. Shawn is now playing in a country band called The Mason Dixon Disaster and Joey is drumming with a sludgy band called Cough right now. It really hasn’t been a problem balancing all of our other bands. Each band has set days for practice so there aren’t any conflicts in that regard. I don’t think the writing process has been affected for anyone, especially since our other bands are much different than Lord by Fire.
Ed: When not churning out whiskey drinking rock-n-roll sludge© (as coined by John “Phantos” from Conifer), what do you guys do for a living? For fun? As a hobby? For the fuck of it?
Keith: Hmm? Well I work for a lot of stuck up white men that like to wear bow-ties and smoke and drink scotch for a living right now. I am back in school for a while as well. I guess we all love hanging out and going on down to the watering hole for some good old drinking. (Well not Luke, he goes for the girls) I do some art photography as well.
Luke: I’m a draftsman for an environmental firm, making drawings/figures/maps. That pays my bills. For fun I play ice hockey, snowboard, and of course play music.
Shawn: Eat food, use curse words, and threaten my superiors at Lowe’s.
Joey: Lay tile.
Ed: Know any good jokes?
Shawn:
Q – What’s 18 inches long and can make any woman scream?
A – Crib death.
Ed: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. You’ve made one hell of an album and I’m looking forward to what you guys have in store for us.
Lord by Fire: Thanks!
