An interview with SHANNON LUCAS
Interviewed at the Comcast Theater in CT at the 2009 ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL
Interviewed by Brandon Lee
Forward and Live Photos by Lena Lamoray
THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER is known for their heavy melodic death metal and comical stage antics. They don’t take themselves too seriously and do their best to make sure everyone has a great time. In 2001 they released their first demo and are about to release their fourth full length studio album, DEFLORATE in September on METAL BLADE.
Brandon: I understand that you are going on tour with Slipknot.
SHANNON LUCAS: Yeah, we have five days after this tour, and we do almost a two week run with Slipknot.
Brandon: Well, you are currently on tour with Slayer so how does that compare to Slipknot?
SHANNON LUCAS: They are both huge bands, I would think on their own, Slipknot would draw more people. I think the Slipknot crowd is a bit more impressionable. I think they are just ready for new stuff, new bands.
Brandon: So, explain your name…
SHANNON LUCAS: It was a famous unsolved murder, and it had a catchy ring to it, and it wasn’t taken.
Brandon: What is with Statutory Ape?
SHANNON LUCAS: [“Statutory APE” ] is just a play on words. The ape ended up being our mascot. He comes on every tour.
Brandon: What I like about you guys is that out of most extreme metal bands, you seem to not be shy about showcasing your light-hearted humor. I understand that you guys threw a karaoke party for the other bands to do cheesy songs. How did that go?
SHANNON LUCAS: Actually, it went over really well. Most of the second stage bands will throw a party at least once on this tour for everyone to have a good time. We wanted to make ours something different and a little more fun. Like, people up there making fools of themselves. I thought it went over really, really well. At the end of the day, I don’t know if any of us want to listen to more metal. Sometimes you want to chill out, and have fun.
Brandon: So, what do you listen to on your way home from a show?
SHANNON LUCAS: Ummmm. I listen to pretty much anything but metal. I just want to take a step back. I don’t want to hear metal at the end of the day.
Brandon: Tell me about your new record.
SHANNON LUCAS: It comes out September 15th on Metal Blade Records, it is entitled “Deflorate” and we have a new guitar player, Ryan Knight
Brandon: How does he differ from your last guitarist?
SHANNON LUCAS: He is definitely more of a shredder! We are definitely going to have better leads for sure.
Brandon: One thing Lena [Lamoray] loves to hear about is strange things being thrown at you while you’re on stage. What was the strangest thing to ever be chucked at you?
SHANNON LUCAS: Well, for the release party for “Nocturnal,” we did a hotdog-eating contest on stage. I am pretty sure a couple hotdogs ended up getting thrown at me.
Brandon: …A hotdog-eating contest?
SHANNON LUCAS: If you bought merch that day, then you could be drawn to be one of five random people to come up and do this hotdog –eating contest, and the winner either gets $75 worth of free merch, or a mystery box.
Brandon: What was in the mystery box?
SHANNON LUCAS: More hotdogs!
Brandon: [Laughs] I will say it again, I love your band because you can maintain brutality and not take yourselves too seriously.
SHANNON LUCAS: We are all here to have fun. Metal isn’t meant to be taken that seriously, so people need to ease up sometimes, and stop trying to be super hard and stop trying to scare the world.