36 Crazysfists are back! The Alaskan metal band have just released a new album Time and Trauma. We were lucky enough to chat to front man Brock Lindow about the new album, his love of craft beer and the possibility of an Australian tour.

Scenezine –

Brock, how has 2015 been for yourself and 36 Crazyfists so far?

Brock Lindow–

No complaints. Glad to finally have the record out. We just got home from Europe starting the tour cycle off over there. Now we are home for a couple of days then we will be out for 3 months straight through US and Canada. It’s a working year for us. We are really excited about it and grateful for all of the press and fans response on the album so far.

Scenezine–

What’s it like being on a brand new label?

Brock Lindow–

When we decided to sign with Spinefarm I wanted someone basically to sell me something different. I wanted a group of people who would swing for the fences with us. We felt like the guys at Spinefarm were passionate about the band and had real belief in what we do. We have lived in sort of a suitcase over the years jumping around to different places. But I have never felt so at home at Spinefarm. In the past record labels have felt like the enemy but I don’t feel like that now. It’s a lot better.

Scenezine–

It’s been quite a few years since your last album Collisions and Castaways. Have some of the songs from the new album been written quite a while ago?

Brock Lindow–

Yes some of the actual music is a couple of years old. But I finished all of the vocals in April of last year. So lyrically and the finished product no it hasn’t been that long but some of the bare bones of the music started back in 2012.

Scenezine–

“Also Am I” is the first video from the album. Was that an easy choice? Can you tell us a bit about the video shoot itself?

Brock Lindow–

I don’t know if that was an easy choice. Collectively we thought that it kind of showed all of the facets of the band. The aggressive side, melodic side all of the things that our band is about. I wasn’t sure if that should be the first one but the response was so good that I was glad and think we made the right choice. Shooting the video was done just down the road from my house up here in Alaska with my friends. We used some go pros and a couple of other nicer cameras. Drank some beers and shot some guns. We went out into the woods and shot a performance video nothing to flashy. But for the little money spent it turned out awesome.

Scenezine–

For this new album lyrically has it changed much at all? Is this more personal?

Brock Lindow–

Well absolutely the entire album is about the passing of my mum. So a lot of the songs are about the coping mechanism that one learns from learning about the fragility of life. It’ such a tragic event that happened in my life and I was grateful to my band for delivering me some music to help me get it off my chest. It was really good seeing how you can come from such a tragic thing and find a positive through music as an outlet.

Scenezine–

Did you listen to any different genres or styles when writing because of that?

Brock Lindow–

I don’t listen to a tremendous amount of heavy music all of the time. I listen to all kinds of music like singer-songwriter kind of stuff.

Scenezine–

The track “Marrow’ from the album is an amazing ballad style track. Can you tell us a bit about that track and let us in on who the female vocalist is?

Brock Lindow–

The female vocalist is my friend Stephanie Plante she is in a band called Thera. They are an Alaskan band that I really love, she is a great singer and I wanted a female voice on that. I didn’t really think much about the song when we did it. I mean I liked it but now I talk about that song in almost every interview. It’s a great surprise I didn’t realise so many people would gravitate towards it. The song is about how much I personally needed my wife through that period of time and how much she helped me and what a huge fan of her I am. It’s about how important loved ones are in our lives when things get rough.

Scenezine–

Has it made it hard for you guys coming from Alaska? Does it have much of a music scene?

Brock Lindow–

We got a wonderful scene here with plenty of killer bands. But no ones really scouting them out unfortunately. We are so far removed from the rest of the country that most people think we are from Canada. If some record companies came out here and checked out the bands I think they’d be pleasantly surprised.

Scenezine–

What do you like to do in your down time? Are you a big sports fan?

Brock Lindow–

I play hockey with my boys in a beer league. I have a radio show called the beer show once a week where we interview local brewers and brewers from around the world. We talk about the love of craft beer and the science of brewing. Also I am a dad. I’ve got a 5 year old daughter and I’m a family man. I like being with my family.

Scenezine–

Are you excited to get out on the road and play the new songs live?

Brock Lindow–

Yeah, absolutely. We’ve been playing around 5 songs live already and it’s really cool when people like the new songs. Now that the record is out we will be playing even more and it’ll be good to see everybody singing along.

Scenezine–

Have songs like “Bloodwork” and “At The End Of August” became staples during live sets? Or are you sick of playing them?

Brock Lindow–

(laughs) Well you do get sick of playing certain songs but those 2 always seem to make the setlist. On the European tour we just did we even brought back “circle the drain” and that song hadn’t been played in like 10 years. It’s cool to have the discography now that we do. The challenge is balancing the old and new together. Making sure you play songs fans wanna hear as well as songs you wanna play. It’s a tougher job now to make sure everybody is happy.

Scenezine–

Are you guys going to look at getting onto big festivals? Or are you happy doing your own thing?

Brock Lindow–

We are not doing any festivals until next summer when we will be back over in Europe. After the current tour then we are headed to South Africa. Then we are hoping to get the invite to Soundwave to come to Australia.

Scenezine–

Do you have any stand out memories from past visits to Australia?

Brock Lindow–

Man I love it. Last time I was there we did Soundwave 2010 and my wife and daughter came out. We rented a house in Byron Bay and styed there for another 2 weeks. We cruised around over there and got introduced to the biggest spider in the world. I love Australia it’s a wonderful place and I can’t wait to came back.

Scenezine–

Being a beer connoisseur what did you think of our Australian beers?

Brock Lindow–

It’s good man. We grew up in Alaska drinking fosters. When I first went to Australia I was told you guys don’t drink that shit (laughs) I then got introduced to Coopers and VB. There’s lots of good beers over there for sure. I cant wait to come back with my new beer knowledge I’d be interested to check out the Australian craft beers.

Scenezine–

Can you leave us with a last message for your Australian fans?

Brock Lindow–

I just wanna say how grateful we are to our Australian fans. Thank you for your patience and supporting the band. We can’t wait to come back to Australia and get the party started.