THE MAKING OF DAATH, PART 4: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST SEAN Z.
If you do a shot every time Daath vocalist Sean Z. uses the phrase “more real” during the course of this interview, you will definitely be good and drunk by its conclusion. But it’s hard to blame him for recycling those words again and again: While a former member of the band’s pre-occupation with mysticism cast a pall over the group’s lyrical content in the past, their new, self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here), does away with all that in favor of dealing with issues that listeners can actually relate to. And it’s all the stronger for it.
For a dude with such a ferocious vocal attack and intense stage presence, I found Sean Z. to actually be incredibly laid back, easy going, and just plain fun to hang out with. After the jump, read our chat about his lyric writing process, why Daath is actually the band’s first album, hallucinogenics as a creative tool, plane crashes, and more real shit.
They’re working in a very off-the-cuff kind of manner, it seems, where the basic skeleton is there, but the songs are constantly changing and evolving. How has that affected your preparation to do the vocals?
You know, I basically just had to kind of be really scattered brained about it. It’s funny; it’s like we’re all working in the computer world outside of the computer world. Our brains are categorizing like that, and you don’t realize how quickly you move. I don’t know. I’d say that I’m not finished with vocals. You know? [laughs] There’s still a lot of work to do, but I’ll be glad when they’re done. For instance, they’ve done three songs, so those are the three that I’m really trying to knock out. I’m sort of in the same kind of boat. I have a skeletal structure for every song, and I kind of learn and go with it, but none of [those skeletons] have been really fitting to the songs. [laughs] That’s kind of what I’m up against here in the next month, I’d say.
Do you enjoy working that way?
It’s not that I don’t enjoy it; it’s just a new method for me. I’m always willing to try anything. These guys have proven time and time again that they can definitely get the job done, so I’m not really worried about it. I saw what happened from the last album, where we were and how crazy it became. Where we’re at now, we’re so close to being at that point already. I’m actually ready. I’m psyched.
Are there any lyrical ideas in place?
Of course! Again, I have most of the song structures done. The three songs that they’ve recorded are the ones that I already have done. Those are the ones that were the most solid at the beginning and the end. We actually had a chance to play through them a couple of times, which is kind of crazy.
And do you see lyrical differences in the way you’re approaching this album, as opposed to the last one?
Oh yeah. I’m talking about real shit. I can’t give it away, but it’s about fucking real shit, like taking drugs, smoking pot, dying in a plane crash, whatever it may be. [laughs] It’s real shit that hopefully everybody can latch onto, as opposed to a smaller genre of people who grasped onto the last [record’s] idea. It’s kind of cool to have a little bit more freedom.
What is your actual approach? Once you’ve received the finished instrumental version of the song, how do you sit down and construct lyrics?
Well, we’ve basically have gone through… how I normally would do it, in past bands, is that I would play for months and scream bullshit into a mic. With this [record], they have recordings of songs that they give me, and I basically go in there and freestyle. I scream a bunch of bullshit and sometimes shit comes out as keepers. Actually, on three or four of the songs, the scat that I spewed out has actually stuck. I basically take that skeletal structure, and then I say, “Okay, here’s a pattern over this part, let me see if these words that I’ve been thinking will go there,” and just go from there. I try and build chorus before the verse, because once you have the chorus, you kind of know where you’re going from there.
Oh, that’s interesting. That would never have occurred to me, actually.
It kind of gives you a general idea, but sometimes I go verse to chorus. Like with one of the songs… the temporary name is “Europe,” just because it was written in Europe [The final name for this song ended up being “Exit Plan.” – Ed.]… That one kind of came out; I had some inspiration from the Air India plane crash that had just happened. There were people that survived. So when I went to go do the scat for that song, the words just fucking came out, and some of that shit stuck. Now it’s just a matter of going back over it and trying to make the lyrics digestible and understandable.
So in advance of that freestyling, do you ever have subjects or themes that you know you’d like to write about, or is that just way too cheesy of an approach?
Not at all. I do it like that, but the thing is I don’t really get sold on anything anymore. I used to, but the thing is about that is then you start to brand yourself — “Okay, well, this song has to be about this, so now I’ve got to sit here and make this song about this.” Whereas now I kind of just let the words flow out. I’m not going to lie; I’ve probably dropped six hits of acid over the past three months. Miracle ideas! [laughs] I did it just because I did it for the last album with mushrooms, and “Sharpen the Blades” came out. One morning I was just like, “Whoa!”, and had taken too many, and “Sharpen the Blades” came out. It’s weird how sometimes that works. I went back into that round for a little bit. I didn’t really get too far into it, but I did enough to where I was able to inspire some creative freedom… although the government says that LSD does not inspire creative freedom. I say bullshit!
Well, we all know that the government always tells the truth about everything.
Bullshit! [laughs] It give us some crazy ideas, and some great lyrics came out. I think it’s more real than me trying to fit the song to a specific subject orwhatever you were trying to fit it into before. So whatever. Maybe now somebody could say, “Hey, that relates to my life” as opposed to, “I have no idea what the fuck that means.”
Is there any point in which other members of the band and/or the producers become involved in the lyrical process?
I’d say that they’re always involved. I mean, I think they all kind of want something that we haven’t really done before, which is kind of what I’m doing now — something more real. A lot of the guys are like, “Hey, if it’s more real, I’m down with anything.” The other side I’m kind of like… how can I put this? I kind of like people to look at it and give me criticism, because I think that that always helps me build better songs. Although, some of these songs may come out on the first try. Some of these songs take like five or six tries of me being like, “Hey, what do you think guys?” Some dudes are like, “Eh, I don’t like that,” or “That’s kind of good.” Well, I’ll work on changing it. What’s the consensus? Generally if everyone thinks it’s bad, then it’s probably bad and I’m totally cool with changing it. I just want it to be awesome.
Without using the words “heavier” or “better,” how does this album strike you so far?
Oh dude, it’s totally heavier and it’s totally better. [laughs] I think it’s more real. It’s definitely heavier, for sure. I know not to use that word, but it’s definitely heavier because it’s more real. We’ve all been through some shit. We’ve all been in this band together now for a minute. I think we’re writing more as a band because we have been together for quite some time — coming up one three years this year in October. I didn’t officially join until ’08 in the middle somewhere, but I went on that tour with them in late ’07. So this is definitely kind of like this band’s second album I would say. And maybe even the first, even though we said that about the last one. This could be the true first album.
I don’t know. It’ll be good to see what comes out. The writing approach has kind of been ass-backwards, but I think it just makes for a more creative album. We’ve had a lot more time than some bands get to write their album, so we’re going to take that time to really make it fucking killer. I think it will definitely be great. You should listen to it.
-AR
THE MAKING OF DAATH
Part 1: Studio Report
Part 2: Interview with Co-Producer/Co-Engineer/Mixer Mark Lewis
Part 3: Interview with Keyboardist Eric Guenther
