I sat down with Nick Nowell, lead singer of The Famine, a month ago to talk about their new album, The Architects of Guilt. The weekend prior, an assassination attempt on Gabrielle Giffords had occurred, and it dominated most of our pre-interview conversation and also bled into the interview itself.

It was somewhat fitting as The Famine’s new album is, in large, a statement of disgust of America’s current political climate. The album is out today, and I can’t recommend it enough. It’s heavy, passionate and intelligent — everything a good metal record should be.

This is the first of four parts that we’ll be posting throughout the week. Yeah, it was a long interview.
 
The new album is called The Architects of Guilt. Where did that name come from?

Part of our nature is that we try to make sense of things that are sometimes really not meant to be made sense of. It deals with a variety of subjects, and while it’s not really a concept record, there is a theme to it. And I knew that I wanted to use the word guilt in the title because that’s a big part of the album; assigning it, accepting it, every aspect of it. The title sums up the album, which is about the extent to which we’re all culpable, and each song is a little vignette into different aspects of what that means.

So it’s not a concept album, but there are recurring themes?

Yeah, I’m not gonna tease my hair out and write graphic novels that take place on one of Saturn’s moons. My voice isn’t high enough. [laughs]

Well, what are some of those themes? Guilt, obviously, is one of them.

I’m gonna show my nerdiness for a second. The Dadaist movement of the ‘20s and ‘30s would refute this, but I think art isn’t really art unless it’s created in a social context. To me, art should be an exorcism — Pablo Picasso said that — and it should have meaning. There should be a purpose.

This album was created and hopefully should be consumed while considering the societal context in that it was written. I write about the things I see; my observances, my musings, my opinions. But also I wouldn’t want to make an album that has the potential to reach this many people that was full of songs about how my ex broke my heart. I’ll let the Kajagoogoos of the world do that — and I say that as a huge Kajagoogoo fan.

Or The Starting Line.

Don’t you ever say that name to me. I guess Andrew W.K. is the only guy who can make a heavy record that’s about partying and having a good time — to me, that’s not what metal is about. Imagine if we went on stage and said, “Hey! We’re The Famine! And we’re here to let everyone know that you should just feel good and hug your neighbor and have a good time.” I feel that way; sure, you should do that, but if that’s the message of your album, I think people are going go, “Umm… well, I really dug the guitar solos.”

I think I have, with this album, a fantastic opportunity that not too many people get: to voice a little bit of my dissent. My political views don’t represent the four of us. My views on religion, my views on the culture wars, my views on the state of our nation or our military aren’t indicative of the opinion of every member in the band, but I think the line that runs through this album is a white line on the pavement upon which we all do agree.

I think there’s an element of disgust that runs through the record about racism and propagating ignorance and hate. Right now, there’s somebody doing something awful in the name of something you support. Those people should be actively sought out and should be shamed. There’s no shame in our society anymore. It’s OK to say socialism and fascism are the same thing and to put crosshairs…

You mean surveyor’s symbols.

[laughs] Listen, this album touches on that briefly, we’re full of excuses and revisionist history and never taking blame. Sarah Palin didn’t shoot that Congresswoman, and I don’t think that Jared Loughner gave too much of a crap about Sarah Palin. But I think a sensible person should be able to come to the conclusion that that poster certainly didn’t help.

Somebody probably should have said, “Hey, y’know? This poster is really irresponsible.”

Absolutely. And what point are we culpable? The AM talk show hosts say, “No no, those are absolutely surveyor’s symbols.” That’s a lie, they’re not. And saying they are crosshairs doesn’t mean it’s Palin’s fault.

It means she had a lapse in judgment.

To say the least. It doesn’t mean she’s a bad or evil person, but I think that making excuses for something that was clearly not right is. And that’s what this album is about. I’m not trying to capitalize on a tragedy…

This album was written and recorded months ago…

Exactly. I showed you the lyrics to the song The Fraudulent two days after what happened in Arizona, and I said this is what the album is about. And I don’t want to get on Twitter and Facebook and start to beat that horse and have people think we’re Propagandhi — although that would be awesome — because I don’t want to capitalize on a tragedy. That’s the last thing I would ever want. But I’m using this as an example because it’s socially relevant.

People make excuses so we don’t have to be disgusted with ourselves or be disgusted with someone we admire. Right now, a priest who molested a child is being quietly moved to another area of the country by his church because they don’t want the trouble. That’s been going on for years, and it’s sick that it’s happening from something that should be a really good and holy and uplifting thing.

Right now, teenagers are getting killed in the name of us spreading democracy and freedom.  They have little idea what they’re doing, and they’re scared crapless. That’s what this album is about. I don’t hate the Catholic Church, but I hate some of the things they do. And I use hate purposely. I absolutely don’t hate the military.

3 Responses to “Interview: The Famine’s Nick Nowell Has Some Hate to Spread”

1. 

   On 02/15/11 5:24 PM, mad martigan said:

   fuckin right.
   best interview i’ve read in awhile.

3. 

   On 02/15/11 6:27 PM, Knapik said:

   Nice job, the album destroys

5. 

   On 02/16/11 4:25 PM, Buzzgrinder.com » Old and Jaded: Not the Nelly Furtado Song (Although That One’s Good, Too) said:

   [...] already checked out the interview I did with Nick from The Famine, please go ahead and do so. Parts one and two are already up. Parts three and four will be in the next couple of days. We talked at [...]

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