In today world of metal, metalcore bands have become a dime-a-dozen. The genre has gotten to the point where most new bands use the same generic formula again and again, and in the end, they all end up sounding the same, and for the most part, unmemorable. The same cannot be the said for Southern California's Winds of Plague.
Forming in 2002, Winds of Plague released their first record, A Cold Day In Hell, in 2005. After spending months on the road with the likes of Bleeding Through, The Taste of Blood and Too Pure to Die, the band went back into the studio and churned out Decimate The Weak, which was released earlier this year on Century Media. Combining elements of both hardcore and black metal, the album has elevated Winds of Plague to a level above other bands of the genre.
After touring as part of the Thrash and Burn tour earlier this year, Winds of Plague were hand picked by Glen Danzig as part of his Blackest of the Black Tour, with Skeletonwitch, Moonspell, Dimmu Borgir and of course, Danzig. When the tour hit San Francisco earlier this month, I had the opportunity to sit down with vocalist John Cooke for a few minutes before the show. Here is what transpired…
Raymond Ahner: So, how has the tour been going?
John Cooke: Wow… It's been something…To say the least, it's been going great.
RA: Has the band getting a good response from the crowds?
JC: Yeah. It always starts out the same, the crowd is a little cold at first but by the end the response is pretty good.
RA: Any particular shows or cities from the tour that really stand out?
JC: Chicago was really awesome, Montreal was awesome as well.
RA: When was the last time you played in San Francisco?
JC: We played here back in August at The Grand Ballroom on the Thrash and Burn Tour with Darkest Hour.
RA: Can you give me a brief history of the band, how did you guys all get together?
JC: The core of us all met at our all-boys catholic high school and started this dumb little band. Andrew, our bass player, started out as our merch guy on our first tour and eventually moved in to play bass, and we have just kind of taken it from there. My brother Chris, who played keyboards, moved to Japan so then we grabbed Krista to replace him. Then this drummer thing just recently happened so now we have Art on drums. And that's pretty much been it.
RA: And Krista was in Abigail Williams before joining the band?
JC: Yeah, Abigail Williams.
RA: And who does most of the songwriting in the band?
JC: The two guitar players, Nick Eash and Nick Piunno.
RA: Who have been some of your influences over the years? What did you listen to growing up?
JC: Everything from Metallica, God Forbid, and Chimaira and all that kind of stuff. I think we are influenced from everything from classic rock all the way up to bands like Dimmu Borgir.
RA: What about Punk Rock? Are you into any hardcore bands?
JC: Yeah, totally…
RA: Like who??
AG: (Bass player Andrew Glover interrupts) Want me to field this one?
JC: Yeah, go right ahead…
AG: American Nightmare, Trash Talk and Life Long Tragedy who are both from the Bay Area, Bane is probably one of my top three all time favorite bands
JC: Blood for Blood, and even Hatebreed, but I guess that’s pushing more into the metal a little bit. I really like them though because they have pushed the bounds of both metal and hardcore…they have successfully crossed over.
RA: Winds of Plague seemed to get lumped into the metalcore category, which has become so generic these days, but to me you seem to offer a bit more than the typical metalcore sound. Do you feel that the band just gets put into the same category as all the other metalcore bands out there?
JC: Yeah, of course. We actually get lumped in to just about everything. We just try to do what we do though, regardless of what people want to call it.
RA: How has the response been to Decimate the Weak?
JC: A lot better than I though it was going to be. The record has done really well, and people seem to be enjoying it. We really didn't know what to expect, and I didn't think it would do quite as well as it's been doing, but we are just happy that it has.
RA: How has it been working out with your label, Century Media?
JC: It's been great. We feel very secure with them behind us. It's nice to have a bigger label be so down to earth and still push for us really hard. They are a good fit for us.
RA: What do you guys have in the works?
JC: Well we just had a European tour fall through, so now we are just diving in and writing the new record. Once we get that knocked out, we are just going to continue touring.
RA: Speaking of touring, I had read that you guys said that if you could tour with anyone it would be Dimmu Borgir. Now that you have toured with them on The Blackest of the Black Tour, who else would you want to tour with?
AG: Hatebreed, definitely.
RA: Well that should about do it. Have a great show tonight, and best of luck to you in the future.
JC: That was short and painless, thank you.
Artist:
www.myspace.com/windsofplague
Downloads:
Winds of Plague – “The Impaler” – [mp3]
Winds of Plague – “One Body Too Many” – [mp3]
