BIG CHOCOLATE = THE GUTTURAL SLAMMING JUSTIN BIEBER (PLUS THE DEBUT OF A NEW DISFIGURING THE GODDESS SONG!)

After the jump, you’ll find Sergeant D.’s interview with Cam Argon, a.k.a. “Big Chocolate,” the wunderkind who is currently the vocalist for at least three different projects, including Disfiguring the Goddess. But first, please enjoy this exclusive debut of a new track, “Circle of Nine,” which will appear on DTG’s new album, tentatively scheduled for release sometime in March. We hope you dig it as much as we do…

And now, Sergeant D’s interview with Cam!

I love 17 year-old boys. There’s just something about their fresh-faced enthusiasm, boyish smiles, and smooth, hairless bodies that I find intoxicating. I usually lose interest in them once they grow into young adults and the weight of the world begins to take a toll on their body and spirit, but I am still madly in love with 20 year-old vocalist and producer BIG CHOCOLATE (aka Cameron Argon), better known as the Justin Bieber of death metal. Like the Biebz, he made his mark with a series of YouTube videos, but has since released a few dozen studio tracks and done guest spots with bands like Suffocation, Abominable Putridity and Burning The Masses. Cam is, in my opinion, the best death metal vocalist on the planet, but what I really appreciate is that he has the guts to step outside the genre. I’ll never get tired of his death metal songs, but as somebody who also doesn’t care much about genre boundaries, it’s pretty cool to see him doing dubstep, electro and krautrock songs on the side.

Since I first interviewed him a while back on Metal Inquisition, he’s started working with Century Media A&R boss / generally great guy Steve Joh and is about to hit the road with Dance Gavin Dance. Please take a moment to engage every touchpoint of Cameron’s ever-growing digital brand- he is relevant on popular social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and even the laughstock known as Myspace (for the pathetic handful of poor people and immigrants who still use it).

You may know Cameron from bands such as this collaboration with I Declare War and Disfiguring The Goddess

For those who aren’t familiar with you, please introduce yourself. What are you working on these days?

I’m Cameron Argon. I go by the off-putting name of Big Chocolate for all my musical/whatever endeavors. I produce music and I make a video every day of my life. Lately, just producing non-stop and getting as much done as I possibly can.

You are 19 or 20 now, I think? My understanding is that you’ve decided to do music full-time and put off college. That had to be a tough decision, since you’re not some braindead loser with no future like a lot of people in metal bands. Can you talk a little more about that choice? If you don’t mind me asking, what did your parents think?

20 now. Yeah it was. Took a long time to think it over and had many talks with my parents/friends and whatnot. Well, last year, I took a semester off to do that Suffocation tour in Europe doing vocals for a band called Burning The Masses (for whom which I also recorded vocals for on their recently released album). I’ve always been very dedicated to music but never looked at it as something I could successfully do for my whole life alone. I wanted to take some time off to experience what it would be like to be a part of a band (record an album in a studio and go on a tour). During that time off, I got pretty involved in seriously producing other forms of music other than metal and whatever else I was experimenting with at the time. I got some opportunities doing some remixing for bands (Ion Dissonance, Suicide Silence and a few more). I really enjoyed doing that kind of work because I felt like I was doing something different and I was able to produce it by myself in my room. Then Mitch and I started Commissioner which is where I really got turned onto making electronic music on a more notable sense. My parents are real supportive, my Mom actually was the one that said that I should just go for it and take more time off. Love that lady.

Last I heard, you were going to hit the road DJing with Dance Gavin Dance. How did that come about, and are you a fan of DGD’s music? Are you afraid that Jonny will get you into Oxy and ruin your life?

Yep! My first actual ‘tour’ as Big Chocolate so I’m pretty hyped on it. Basically, over summer I told Steve Joh that I wanted to not go to school and do music/tour as Big Chocolate. He sorta got the whole thing on the table. I’m not a fan on that genre of music, never got into it, but I’ve met some of those dudes and really like them personally. Haha! NO, not worried at all.

REWIND SELECTAH DIG THESE FUNKY CHUNES

I don’t think I’ve seen a DJ tour with a band before, but I think it’s a really good idea. When I saw Attack Attack a few months back, the kids were going crazy for the dubstep tracks they played in between songs. What’s your gameplan for getting the party started? Will it include the phrase “k hole“?

Yeah, It’s a real new approach. I have a feeling that it will be getting more usual as it seems that EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is really on the rise. The thing is that I’m not just a ‘Dj’. Dj’s are typically people spinning at clubs playing other peoples tracks and what not. I’ll be playing mostly songs that I have remixed or produced myself. My game plan is pretty much just to go nuts, have tons of fun on stage and maybe do a few dumb stunts with props. I’m not sure what music I’ll throw into my mixes. I’ll probably be playing lots of diverse stuff since the audience isn’t a strict  EDM audience. I’m hoping to get away with playing my more metal remix type material. I make vlogs everyday of my life (youtube.com/cameveryday). I’ll try and incorporate filming the audience with hopefully some super awesome video games I’ll come up with. I have no idea what that phrase means… Just googled it… Still clueless.

You’ve done a bunch of singles lately, including some Suicide Silence remixes. Can you talk about how those came together, and what the reaction’s been so far to those tracks?

Yes I have. Steve Joh asked if I’d be interested in remixing some tracks. I said  yes. I wasn’t 100% sure on what I was doing when doing those mixes. I was basically just trying to recreate the track into a new style. I used a lot of elements of breakbeat, IDM, and harder styles of dance music without really having a strong background in dance music. The result was something fairly new. I know bands like Berzerker have been incorporating electronic elements into their music for years, but not like this. The reaction has been extremely mixed, but overall it’s gone through very well. I feel like I’ve created a more solid hybrid of heavy metal and electronics that doesn’t fall into the lines of cybergrind/crunkcore/crabcore attempts. I don’t really care what it is, what’s it labeled, or who’s into it. I like it and it’s fun to make.

Nothing says “Warped Tour” like a dubstep Christmas song from a guy who’s also in a deathcore band

You also released a Christmas song, which seems to be a requirement these days for any band who wants to get within smelling distance of Warped Tour (ADTR, Fight Fair, etc). Does that make you an official scene kid?

HAHAH! Yeah, The Christmas song is hilarious. I got a matching red Christmas sweater to go with it. I’m pretty sure it makes me officially ‘a dumb idiot’ in a good way. Christmas songs have always been dumb, tacky and a cliché. I wanted to do that knowing that and embracing that.

Cam does a brilliant Frank Mullen impression

On that note, you initially came out as part of the brutal death metal/deathcore/slam metal scene, but you’ve since branched out into all kinds of music. You are obviously a talented motherfucker who seems to be able to excel at whatever kind of music you want, but do you ever wonder if you’re spreading yourself too thin? Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt there are all that many people out there who are into both slam and dubstep (although I am), and it seems risky to go in so many directions that don’t necessarily work together?? Not trying to give you a hard time at all, just wondering what your thoughts are since you’re a smart guy and I’m sure you’ve considered this before.

Thanks! I’m spreading my spectrum pretty far right now. Brutal Death Metal and Electro / Drum and Bass don’t really have the same demographic. I’m trying to develop a pretty insane work ethic for music. I feel as if I stay really focused and pretty much only make music every day, all day I can get it so I don’t neglect parts of music that I really enjoy making. I can produce/record all day but tracking vocals for long amounts of time gets old for me. I like writing/recording death metal instrumentals more than I like recording/placing the vocals. I’ve had the new Disfiguring The Goddess full length written/recorded since September, but I’ve been lacking hard on getting the vocals recorded. I also look at is as I’m more developed/known for my metal so I’m trying to hit this EDM stuff really hard so I can basically ‘step my game up‘ for it.

Commisioner = Big Chocolate + Mitch of Sceneicide Silence. Mitch does the parts that sound like a girl screaming, Cam does the other parts.

You’ve also worked with a bunch of different bands (Malodorous, Abominable Putridity, Disfiguring The Goddess, BTM, and zillions more I can’t remember at the moment). Do you like jumping around between bands to keep things interesting, is it hard for you to find people who are on the same page with you musically, or what?

Depends. I like working hard on projects and making sure things get done. When other people in the project are not like that, I start to have problems with the project itself. This has impacted every project I’ve ever had with other people other than the stuff I do with Mitch Lucker in Commissioner. Other than that, I love working with people. Working with Mitch on Commissioner has been probably one of my favorite projects that involve other people. He really helps with the writing and creative process without interfering with my ‘drive’. He contributes most of the ideas that you’ll hear in the music. Along with all the vocal placement and lyrics. We work together pretty seamless.

One of Cam’s many old bands, Disfiguring The Goddess. I think he was 16 or 17 when they did this??

I really liked the Perforate Carcass demo– I thought it was a great combination of slam, non-gay deathcore, and progressive elements like the piano breaks. Can you talk a little about that band/project?

Perforate Carcass was basically my transition from playing guitar in bands to what I do today. I wasn’t a ‘vocalist’ then. I was simply writing/recording music on my computer. I was writing whatever I wanted, relying only on my own creativeness and skill to execute it. It was kinda after that when I started using those methods to everything I did. Which in the end killed my musicianship and turned me into a full blown recording artist. Which I don’t really mind. I quite enjoy what I doing today. I was also like 16 when I was doing Perforate Carcass and took most of the song names and lyrics from The Legacy Of Kain video games.

Could you slam like this when YOU were 17?? Didn’t think so.

It seems like you’ve moved away from death metal a little bit, but I still love the slam songs you did a couple years back. People say it’s not easy to write slam, but I disagree– it’s hard to write GOOD slam, which I think you are great at. What’s your approach to writing death metal/slam songs? Did you play/program everything in those tracks?

Thanks! My current approach is trying to do simple-ish sounding things different. My biggest aid to that has been time signature changes vs tempo changes to make variety in my songs. Triplet based structuring has really given me that extra ‘beat‘ to throw in to make the slam/pattern have that little SPICE TO MY SOUP! Yes. I play and program everything. People forget/don’t know I play guitar. The new DTG record will hopefully clear that up.

This video where he scares his little sister never gets old– she gets startled at about :35, then Cam’s parents come in and scold him. His dad’s slacks are brutal as fuck.

Finally, Steve Joh tells me that you initially got on his radar after reading the interview I did with you for Metal Inquisition a while back. What do you think is fair compensation for discovering you? If it’s cool with you, I’d like the Wu Tang shirt you wore in one of your old videos, autographed “TO SERGEANT D, KEEP IT FUKKIN BRUTAL.”

Yes that’s true. I’ll always credit Steve Joh for the reason why I’m doing anything that I’m doing right now, no doubt, but that would not have happened had you not done that interview. Sergeant D, you and I are FATE (prompt reader to cry at this moment that just went down). Oh that’d be awesome. I’ll have to go look for that shirt. I haven’t worn it in AGES. If for some reason I can’t (god forbid), we’ll have to take some other drastic measures for a reward to SERGEANT MO EFFIN‘ D.

Thanks dude! Anything you want to add??

NO, Thank you. Yeah, I invite everyone to watch my day everyday on the internet. I’ve almost been doing this for a year. youtube.com/cameveryday

-Sergeant D.

Sergeant D. makes people with no sense of humor mad every day at Stuff You Will Hate.