Florida’s Shai Hulud on Billy Joel and Kids in the Hall
If it weren’t for comedy show The Kids in the Hall’s inimitable theme song performed by Canadian outfit Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet there would be no such thing as American metalcore.
Yes twangy instrumental Can-rock is responsible for the metallic sub-genre that blended the overt onslaught of thrash with hardcore’s severe bombastic edge. Don’t believe it? How about this one: Billy Joel is just as influential on the current scene.
Crazy? You bet it is. Thank explosive quartet Shai Hulud for such insane notions. Since 1995 the Poughkeepsie N.Y. outfit’s fiery guitar pyrotechnics overt extremity and embittered passion has been as influential on the state of heavy music as luminaries such as Sick of it All Megadeth and a host of others. Yet as mainstay guitarist Matt Fox relates the band is a direct descendent of those aforementioned non-metal acts.
“I’ve always liked surf stuff but there’s something about (Shadowy Men)” he asserts. “The quality and the content was so much cooler than classic bands of that era. In the early ’90s there was a glut of spacey-surf rock (but the bands) were all style over substance while Shadowy Men… was all substance and no style. When it comes down to it enduring music is what matters.”
At that after facing innumerable lineup changes recording issues label shifts and tour traps durability is no strange feat for Shai Hulud. In fact as he speaks three days prior to the band’s Canadian tour Fox reveals he has been scrounging for a trailer to carry the gear having lost the last one due to unfortunate circumstances and being in no financial position to purchase one.
Still despite the battles Shai Hulud must surmount just to play even after a decade and a half Fox says the group is as ardent as ever.
“It’s those times you come up with a killer riff that you forget about 15 years of woes” he says. “As corny as it sounds music affects certain people deeply. That’s the case with Shai Hulud so it’s worth the shit you have to constantly climb out of. When you write something that hits you in the right way it’s special — it never leaves gets old or dull. Then think about taking that on tour and actually getting to see the faces it affects as well. How could you not stay committed?”
To that extent Fox notes that this tour finds the band road-testing material it has been working on for the followup to 2008 Metal Blade Records debut Misanthropy Pure . Divulging the new music’s influence he hopes the currently untitled work will expand beyond its predecessor’s blatant rage and into more challenging territory.
“ Misanthropy Pure had a goal to be our most insanely pissed-off and full-on raging record ever. The album before it sounded well like putting perfume on a pig. The sound quality wasn’t there so people didn’t sense its aggression” he says. “Because of that Misanthropy Pure was an answer. Having accomplished that the goal with this one is to create more dynamic. That one was in-your-face from top to bottom so there’ll be heavy fast ragers but we’ll incorporate a lot of different styles…. Exploring the furthest reaches of them while stepping outside of the box.”
No kidding. When Fox can directly correlate the beastliness of Misanthropy Pure with the accessible pop of Billy Joel (no we didn’t forget that little tidbit) “stepping outside of the box” seems like a bit of an understatement. In his uniquely eloquent manner however Fox clarifies that issue with convincing ease.
“As aggressive as that album was I’ve always loved Billy Joel. He’s got this song called ‘Downeaster Alexa.’ The vocal melody is just chilling and every time I pick up a guitar — not that I was trying to rip that off — but I wanted to create something that gave me the feeling of that song” he says. “If you can come up with something that has that feeling hopefully in turn the feeling you thought was so special will translate to someone else from your music. And isn’t that what artists have been doing for hundreds of decades?”
