At the end of the day, music and the creative arts is all about expression and having fun. In the modern age of entertainment that sense of enjoyment has slowly eroded due to the complexities of the current global climate and the incessant wish to not offend anybody which has resulted in a terser, more rigid sprinkling of bands and musicians that seem void of life because of their over-complicated approach.
And what better way to enjoy your craft and have fun than play around with someone else's music? Which is exactly what …And We All Die did with their recent four-track release Static Age.
Essentially just two Misfits songs reimagined - Static Age and TV Casualty - the EP sees both songs performed in vastly different fashions, with neither bearing much more in common with the original than by virtue of the song title.
Not that the two classic songs have been bastardised beyond recognition - some bands you just don't mess with - but both versions have been afforded the respect they deserve while maintaining just enough of …And We All Die's musical DNA to make the songs their own while still paying homage to the original recordings.
The release is a heavy blend of hardcore, post-punk, noise-rock and industrial influences, centred around covers of the two Misfits’ tracks alongside two industrial-infused reworkings of the songs featuring Metal Blade synthwave artist Gost.
HEAVY recently caught up with the man behind the music, Raymond Estes, to find out more, starting with how the EP has been received.
"It's been great," he enthused. "So far it's been the best reception we've had for any release. It's hard to say why that is, maybe Spotify is actually working for us this time (laughs), but we can't really complain. Really, the project is me, but it's everybody who contributes and the drummer Walter and guitarist Guillermo are excited about the volume of people that are checking out the tracks and the amount of streams we've been getting. Who knew?"
We press Estes on the choice of songs to cover, specifically why choose the Misfits as a band to start with, and also why those particular two songs.
"I love the Misfits," he shrugged, "and have for a long time. I like horror punk and all that Danzig has done, but for …And We All Die we don't really do horror songs. We do more conceptual songs or songs about the human condition and as a hardcore guy I thought what would be more interesting to do than take songs that are dark and have these more science fiction themes based on the perils of technology and make those fresh. That is more exciting to me than singing about ghouls or zombies."
In the full interview, Estes explained the thought process behind covering the same song twice, with the second version being more industrial and featuring contributions from Ghost and William Faith. He mentioned that the band was conscious of not going too far with their covers, as they were aware of the special meaning these songs hold for many people. The early reception of the EP has been positive, with the industrial versions receiving the better response.
We talked about deconstructing the songs and then recreating them in their image and any difficulties they faced. The conversation turned to future new music, with a rock album, collection of covers from The Cure, other projects and more. Estes discussed why …And We All Die is currently a studio project only and how he plans to potentially expand that into a touring outfit down the track plus a host of other things.