Una semana antes de la presentación de Metal Church en Hell and Heaven Open Air 2023, festival de música celebrado durante el primer fin de semana de noviembre en Toluca, México, Valente Salazar de Metalópolis Podcast habló con Kurdt Vanderhoof, guitarrista y líder de la icónica banda de heavy/thrash. Aquí la exclusiva internacional en inglés
Interview by Valente Salazar
Additional text: Eric Novelo
A week before Metal Church’s presentation at Hell and Heaven Open Air 2023, a music festival held during the first weekend of November in Toluca, Mexico, Valente Salazar from Metalópolis Podcast spoke to Kurdt Vanderhoof, guitarist, and leader of the iconic heavy/thrash band.
Little did Kurdt know that the festival was a total organizational mess, and that Metal Church would be ultimately unable to perform. Not only them, but other 29 bands were cancelled, some even minutes before getting into stage. Breach of contracts, lack of equipment, economic debts, and plain lies are some of the reasons why many bands were cut off from the lineup.
Despite the bitter moment that Metal Church and their fans experienced, we wanted to share our talk with Kurdt, since his answers are timeless and give some insights of the band’s present.
Interview
V: Hi Kurdt! First of all, welcome to Metalópolis, we appreciate your time so much. How are you?
K: Thanks very much! Doing pretty good.
V: Metal Church is coming to Mexico to play in Hell & Heaven Open Air on Sunday November 5, but before we talk about that, for the people who don’t know yet the sound of Metal Church, how would you describe it?
K: We are an old school metal band. A bit thrashy at times, but still somewhat melodic.
V: I want to ask about the beginnings of Metal Church, one band with a lot of history and thirteen full-length releases. Back in time, what was your inspiration to start a band, what are your musical influences and why did you choose the guitar?
K: My first inspiration (like most musicians my age) was seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. My biggest influences are the early 70’s bands like Rush, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin etc. I started out as a drummer when I was about 5, then at about 12 years old I switched to bass, and at 15 I switched to guitar.
V: Metal Church is a band formed in San Francisco, California, a place with a lot of metal bands and an important history on the Heavy Metal world. Do you think that there’s something special about San Francisco?
K: San Francisco has always been a very progressive town. So, it was a good place to create outside the conventional framework of popular music.
V: Metal Church is a Heavy Metal band with Power and Thrash Metal influences. Was it difficult to find the sound of the band?
K: No, it developed very naturally, and we were just honest about our musical direction and tastes.
V: What is the motivation that keeps you creating Heavy Metal music? With the passing of time, so many bands disappear or just don’t make anything special, but Metal Church keeps on the right way creating amazing albums like Congregation Of Annihilation (2023) and Damned If You Do (2018).
K: I don’t really know why, but I would have to say it’s just something you do and you can’t analyze it too much.
V: Talking about Congregation Of Annihilation (2023), can you share with us a little of the composition process and what means to you the release of the album this year?
K: It was pretty simple really. I had an album’s worth of material that I had written with Mike (Howe) in mind. But when he passed, I wasn’t sure if the band was going to continue. When we started working with Marc (Lopes) it was just one song at a time. He wrote the lyrics for this record, and it was nice to have a new influence in the band.
V: Speaking of the passing of time, what is your perception about the music industry? Especially in this new era when almost everything is based on the digital world.
K: Well, at least now the digital world, as far as recording is concerned, has gotten to the point that it sounds good. But I think that artists rely far too much on it. Also, I don’t like the fact that most metal albums all sound the same.
V: Metal Church returns to México at Hell & Heaven Open Air, what are your expectations about the festival, the crowd and about México in general?
K: It’s hard to say but we are very much looking forward to it. We have always had a great time playing in Mexico.
V: And on the other side, what can the crowd expect about the presentation of Metal Church?
K: We will be bringing back a lot of the early stuff and some deep tracks, plus a few new songs.
V: When you share stage with other bands, do you like to see other performances or prefer to rest and stay ready when it’s time for Metal Church to hit the stage?
K: Depends on the band. If it’s a band that I’m a fan of, then I always try to catch a bit of their set. But mostly we just concentrate on preparing for our show.
V: Do you like any «Modern Metal» bands? If so, can you tell us which?
K: Not really, I’m a very old school guy. I don’t like screamo stuff and I like a good singer with a good melody.
V: One last question, we like to ask our guest to share a message to all the people that are starting a Heavy Metal band, that begins with one instrument, that want to make their path in this beautiful but hard musical world. Can you share some advice for them?
K: That’s a very difficult question to answer because the music business is sooo different nowadays. But I can tell you this…play music because you love music, don’t do it to become a rock star or get rich.
V: Thank you very much again Kurdt for your time and your disposition. Any last words that you want to share?
K: See you all soon!
A couple of days after their scheduled gig at Hell and Heaven Open Air, the band apologized to the Mexican fans for their absence at the festival. They stated:
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were not able to perform at the Hell & Heaven Festival. Our deepest apologies to our fans in Mexico”.
In the comments of their Facebook post, they shared a Change.org petition for the disappearance of the music festival (one that had already been signed by thousands of fans, musicians, and crew). Hopefully, we can attend a Metal Church show in Mexico, with the right conditions and promoter. Let’s hope for the best!
Click here to read the interview in Spanish.
