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.

This is the fourth of four parts that we’ve been posting throughout the week. Yeah, it was a long interview.

15 years ago, if you wanted to listen to a band like The Famine, you couldn’t just hop online and find them. You had to search for the kind of stuff. Do you think with kids now there is a dissociation or a detachment from bands? At least for me, there’s something visceral about holding an album in your hands. You know, having something tangible.

I think we might be the last generation that will really do that. Why would a kid run around and get yelled at by a guy in gym shorts when he can sit at home and play X-Box or surf the internet? Kids don’t seek out bands anymore — bands find them.

And why would kid who has been listening to Taylor Swift on the radio with the processed vocals and drums listen to something like Cattle Decapitation — which is awesome but very inaccessible — when they can listen to Killswitch Engage where they will recognize melody and verse/chorus structure. Why listen to A when B is sleeker and better packaged? But then you got C, D and E, which dilutes it even further.

You guys went on tour with Underoath, Solid State’s biggest selling band. How was that?

The guys from Underoath are all super nice and were kind enough to take us out, but at times we thought, “What are we doing here?” It was the biggest crowd of disinterested 14-year-old girls texting their boyfriends about how fat we were.

So what would be your ideal tour then? What’s the lineup?

Michael Bublé, us, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Finch.

Finch broke up.

Well, then, it’d be Cannibal Corpse for sure. Touring with them would be one of the few remaining things besides wrestling an alligator or killing a man just to watch him die on my bucket list. We all love those guys, and they’ve shown that playing the heaviest music can still be viable. Black Dahlia Murder, I think, is the 2000s answer and they’re also death metal historians and consummate musicians.

I think those guys get flak for being as popular as they are.

I think they are the Rancid to Cannibal Corpse’s Op Ivy. They are the reason a lot of kids are into Cannibal Corpse. So good that they sell records! Every record they sell gives me hope. So those two with Cannibal Corpse headlining and Black Dahlia as main support with us playing second.

Opener? Maybe something kind of oddball like Advent or To Speak of Wolves. The genres might hop around a bit, but they are really nice guys. And if you’re going to spend all this time on the road with someone, you’d want it to be with someone you can hang out with watch Rambo on a projection screen. It’d be awesome to tour with Megadeth, but Dave Mustaine is kind of an asshole.

Do you guys have any tour plans already lined up?

To be honest, a lot of bands don’t really want to tour because touring kind of sucks. I mean, it’s a really fun experience, but you’re away from your lives and your loved ones and your wives and kids and girlfriends. You’re out of your comfort zone. Andy and Mark both have kids, and Jonny just graduated from college…

With an English degree, so he’s unemployed.

Yeah, so he’s about to move back in with his parents. But with show attendance being down, a lot of the bigger bands are getting together and hedging their bets. We’re putting feelers out there, but there isn’t anything concrete.

It’s funny you mention that, because that’s a point I brought up in one of my columns. I talked about wanting to go see Piebald and mewithoutYou but having to pay Say Anything prices.

Exactly. I would have never seen The Dwarves if Dropkick Murphys didn’t take them out. Now you go to a show, and you’ve heard of every band but only want to see one or two of them. We want to go on tour, but we have to make sure it’s financially viable. I’ve got a steady job, so I can’t leave that just to prance around on stage for no money. If I was 18, that might be more realistic, but I have different priorities now.

What experiences have you had being on Solid State as a non-Christian band?

We didn’t have to sign a faith contract when we got brought on. They have never told us to play churches or do interviews with certain magazines. So if the label isn’t putting these expectations on us, why would the listener? Why does it matter? Bands should be judged on their merit.

I don’t think that I have enough bravado to call ourselves torchbearers, but I hope people appreciate what we’re doing in the context of how we’re doing it. If you believe in something — especially in music — take action. If you’re into a band, support them. If you’re into a cause, support it. I think people have gotten too lazy and complacent. Our religion and political ideas are almost pre-determined by our ministers or politicians. Dare to live in that dangerous gray zone where you question the status quo from time to time.

And I hope people dig the record. I hope they appreciate it for what it is and not for what they wish it would be.

3 Responses to “Interview: The Famine Wants to Tour With Michael Bublé”

1. 

   On 02/18/11 6:11 PM, uhiuhi said:

   I have never listened to this band.
   Not sure if I’ll get around to it.
   But great interview.
   I like his take on things.

3. 

   On 02/20/11 3:30 PM, Dylan said:

   really great interview and would love to see more like it, admittedly, I’m not as interested in The Famine after the vocal change it was still more than interesting

5. 

   On 02/21/11 9:18 PM, Dustin said:

   I left the church years ago and most “Christian” music along with it… this interview kills me that there is still the “Christians in a non-Christian band” issue… who the fuck cares anymore?

   I’m currently putting together a Christian band of all atheists…and one Jew

   other than that… I know I wouldn’t like the music, but he’s got a pretty solid outlook on things…probably a cool guy to chat with…

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