Interview by Kris Peters
If you used only the sheer brutality of their music as a guide, it would be easy and highly probable to imagine Werewolves to be a serious metal band. Their music is soul-destroying and intense, pummelling your senses from every angle before regrouping to smash you in places you didn't even know existed.
No shit.
But when you listen to or read an interview with any of the three members - or even read the quotes in their press releases - then it becomes blatantly obvious that there is a plethora of riches simmering just below the surface that generally manifest themselves by way of humour or self-depreciation.
Because Werewolves are not a by-the-numbers, regulated behemoth, They are a formidable force of nature with a laconic, Australian sense of humour who actually give little fucks to what is happening around them as long as they get to immortalise the problem in verse.
Ten years ago a fresh and ambitious death metal outfit featuring three well-known musicians of the Australian heavy scene - Sam Bean (The Berzerker), Matt Wilcock (The Berzerker, Akercocke) and Dave Haley (Psycroptic, Ruins, Blood Duster) - boldly declared their intent to release one each year for the next decade.
Fast-forward to today and Werewolves are about to successfully hit the halfway point with their fifth entry Die For Us, which will be released over several platforms starting with Bandcamp on July 12 then everywhere else from July 19.
HEAVY caught up with vocalist/bass player Sam Bean last night to find out just how brutal album number five is going to be.
"This one's a little bit different," he measured when we asked how he was feeling about Die For Us. "It's a self-release this one, so there's been a lot of moving parts. Whereas with the other ones, we'd just roll up to each album release basically in a carriage with horses and the red carpet treatment (smiles), this time around there was a lot of moving, spinning plates that we were having to keep spinning. Normally, we'd already be on our victory lap even before the album is released. Now we're very much just staring at that date and crossing the fingers that all goes well. We're quite a bit more nervous this time around that everything happens as it should.
As for the response for the album, we don't worry about that. We never worry about that. We've got a pretty heinous slab of death metal that we know is absolutely stupendous, and that the title track - the very first thing that anyone will hear when listening to the album - is just gonna knock both their socks off and then some. We're not worried about that. We're worried about the boring bullshit out back of house (laughs)."
In the full interview, Sam talks more about the musical side of Die For Us, the brutality of their music and how the band gets that tough exterior, having Rok from Sadistik Exekution guest on one of the tracks, keeping up with their promise of one album a year for ten years, the pros and cons of releasing an album yourself, the term Caveman Death Metal that has been thrust upon them, maintaining the rage and more.
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