Blight House Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

We’ve been doing this for a year or so. We just wanted to do something really disgusting, frantic, and abusive. Our members are a bunch of fucking assholes, so it’s a miracle we have anything to show for it.

2.Recently you have released a new ep, can you tell us a little bit more about your musical sound?

A lot of the sound comes from the fact that we’re not especially dedicated to musicianship. So maybe you’re hearing weird keys or timings or something, but it’s not because we thought a lot about it; it’s because we almost never practice and really don’t give a shit. If we make a “mistake,” we don’t fix it—we just do it 4 more times and call it a song.

But, maybe for that reason, you hear a lot of genre crossing in the music, which I think makes for legitimately interesting music. You know, slam breaks with black metal trem picking on top and a lot of switching between vocal styles, from low gurgles to high shrieks to full voiced barking.

As for recording, we first tried to do it the “real” way. You know, use sample replacer on the drums, do a million guitar takes, and whatever. But it didn’t sound as terrifying as the original basement demos. So we stripped it back down to something more authentic and ultimately more terrifying.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The usual stuff: gore, violence, fetishism, occultism, misanthropy.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Blight House'?

We were basically done recording, but we still didn’t have a name. We were going to go with the usual gore/death/grind type of name—you know, Latin words for medical procedures or something. But when we reflected on the sound—which is really a bricolage of genre elements—we figured we should go with something that wouldn’t pigeon hole us. So, we came up with Blight House because it sounded like it could be just about any kind of heavy band.

But it also has local resonances. We’re from Rhode Island, the Ocean State, where corny images of lighthouses are everywhere. But this is also the home of the industrial revolution. Most people just come and see the beaches and the mansions of the robber barons, they don’t see the depressing urban blight left by the demise of manufacturing here. The atmosphere for most residents isn’t cute lighthouses or gilded ballrooms, and that other atmosphere is part of what we represent.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage perfromance?

We’re usually too busy playing with our regular bands to go out as Blight House. Plus, a lot of the metal shows here are run by these “promoters” running pay-to-play ticket-selling scams. You know, where, like, Septic Flesh comes to town and there are 10 shitty local openers who are only there because they promised to sell dozens of $30 tickets. Fuck that.

But we’re also just too fucking irresponsible to deal with regular venues. Probably the best show was this one time when most of us were sober enough to get most of the way through a few songs. That was pretty epic for us. 

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

No. Not until Blight House can be more of a priority for its members and we can reasonably promise to do a set longer than 10 minutes that doesn’t end with puke and blood everywhere.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

Yes and no. We only just recently put our first album online, and we didn’t bother to contact labels about it. Really, it was just for us but it seemed stupid to have recordings and not put them out there. If we get a good response to this first batch of songs, we might try to connect with a label next time around

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?

It’s tough to say. At this point, the album has been out for only a few weeks. But we’ve been surprised at how many downloads we’re getting without any effort to promote. I think there’s just a big audience of extreme metal fans who are very in touch with the underground, and that’s been in our favor in these first weeks.

9.Are the band members involved with any other musical projects?

Yeah, like I said, it’s a side project for everyone involved. I’m not sure everyone would like his main gig connected to Blight House, so I won’t list all the names, but some are Flaregun Suicide, Witch Wizard, and Feculent Scalpel. But most of us are current or former members of Tovarish, an industrial/doom/dark ambient outfit that’s been around for a number of years [http://tovarish.bandcamp.com]. In a lot of ways, Blight House is simply sped-up Tovarish.

10.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

We’re already recording new material and experimenting with a slightly improved quality of production, even deciding what the riffs actually are before getting to the studio. As with the first EP, it’s tough to reconcile the vibe we’re trying to create with mainstream production values. So we’re still working to find an acceptable middle ground.

If we can keep our shit together and it looks like people want to hear more, we’ll put out a full length. In the interim, we’re going to try to get on some comps. If anything new comes out, we’ll put it up on our Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/blighthouse] or Bandcamp [http://blighthouse.bandcamp.com].

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We listen to a lot of noise stuff in addition to metal. Lately I’m listening to things like Xiphoid Dementia, Vomit Arsonist, and Gnawed.

In terms of inspiration, generally what you’d expect but not a lot of recent stuff: Death, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Mortician, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Cattle Decapitation, Brutal Truth, Dark Throne. It sort of depends on what aspect of the music, which instrument or element you’re talking about. So, the leads are all about loving Voivod with that really effect-laden, atonal sound that sometimes doesn’t even seem like a guitar any more. Or, like, inspiration from Tit Wrench for lyrics that are as offensive and mean spirited as they are prurient and juvenile.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

I think a lot of them are represented in the music. Clearly, we watch tons of horror movies and wrestling. We’re also obviously into philosophy, drugs, talking shit about other people, and fucking.

13.Before we wrap up this interview do you have any final words or thoughts?

Just thanks to you for contacting us and helping to promote our music and the scene in general. Someday you can say you were into Blight House before it was cool.