Like A Storm’s Chris Brooks on New Album and Why Heavy Music Speaks to Him – Interview
Story by Anne Erickson
Chris Brooks from Like A Storm speaks with Anne Erickson about the band’s new album and more in this in-depth interview
New Zealand hard rockers Like A Storm are back with a new album, “Catacombs,” the band’s heaviest and darkest album to date. The band is known for its explosive live shows, and this album really serves to capture the energy of the band, which brings together brothers Chris (lead vocals, guitar) and Matt (vocals, lead guitar) and Kent (bass, vocals) Brooks, as well as drummer Zach Wood.
“Catacombs” drops on Friday, and ahead of the release, Chris spoke with Anne Erickson of Audio Ink Radio about the new album, his love for heavy music and more. Read on for the full interview, and find more rock and metal interviews via the Audio Ink Radio podcast on iTunes.
Anne Erickson: Congrats on the new album, “Catacombs.” I feel like this is the heaviest Like A Storm album I’ve heard yet.
Chris Brooks: Absolutely! On this one, we really wanted to capture that live energy. We were definitely really inspired by all the touring we have done over the past few years—that energy of playing live every single night.
Is there anything else that inspired you guys to go into such a heavy direction? Perhaps some music you’ve been listening to lately, or anything else?
That’s a good question. For us, as we grow musically, the heavy music is so appealing to play and write. With this album, there are two layers of things going on: the primal layer with those riffs and that drum beat that hits you, and the space above that where the other emotions come through. Other sonic landscape, I thinhas been a natural progression for us. As for if we’re inspired by bands, we’re inspired by a ton of bands, especially bands we’ve toured with, like Gojira and Alter Bridge.
The album’s first single, “The Devil Inside,” is doing really well on rock radio. What’s that song about?
That song, in a way, is a great starting point for the album. It’s about these things inside you that you don’t want to confront and don’t want to face, and then you realize those things are controlling you. That song was lyrically inspired by a 4 a.m. or 6 a.m. writing session. I was writing a lot of those lyrics, and that’s when you have no distractions and there’s no other noise going on, and you’re confronted with that voice inside. You can’t escape it.
You have a tour coming up with Shinedown and Godsmack. What a great bill!
It’s an incredible tour! We’re such huge fans of Godsmack and Shinedown. I think the tour with those two bands, touring amphitheaters in the summer in the U.S., that it’s such a fun time and such a fun way to tour the U.S. Everyone at those kinds of shows is having a great time, out there under the sun, listening to rock music. Everything about this tour is incredibly exciting.
Are there any really heavy bands out there you’d love to tour with?
I think when we got to open for Ozzy, it was incredible to play with people on that legendary status. For me, it would be Metallica and AC/DC and all those bands that have just been around so many decades and have a huge catalog of songs and are a huge influence in culture and music.
What do you think of the modern state of rock music? People say rock is dead all the time, but I find passionate rock and metal fans everywhere.
For me, I never really liked heavy music because it was the popular form of music. I always loved it because it spoke to me and hit me. These bands were taking risks. I connected with it more than I did any other genre. For me, I like the fact that people like us are different. I like the fact it’s not the mainstream culture. I would much rather be that than just the same as everybody else, liking what everybody else likes. I like something different. I l think rock music has a connection between fans and the artists more than other genre, and it’s special, and I think that bond is now stronger than ever.
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