Interview with David Patrick of Common War
If you aren't familiar with Common War, they play a dark, blackened metallic kind of hardcore that reminds me of a mix between Converge, Disfear and Ringworm. Tight, in other words. I recently caught up with David (voice). Check the interview out below, and cop the new EP here!
The barn-storming new EP "Speak Of The Devil" came out late last year and it's both more abrasive and "melodic" (to me) than "Possess Yourself". Other than a new label, were there any other differences writing and recording this time around?
Possess Yourself was my first release with Common War, and when I joined, a lot of the music was already written. The band was amid a transition from a different style of music and those songs reflect a change that they had been anticipating for some time. My lyrics were a little more experimental in terms of subject matter back then. Speak of the Devil is much more focused and calculated. We feel as if we’re truly honing in on our sound these days, and I think these newer songs certainly reflect that.
Thematically it's rather dark, focusing on the greed of man. Was that a generalisation of the way the world is, or did you set out with a specific story to tell (or re-tell)?
Potentially both. Greed, fear, and the ignorance of humans are consistently topics in the lyrics I write, but there is a story that this release (and the next) loosely follows. I’d rather not explain the whole story, as that takes away from the enjoyment of discovering lyrics, but I will say that each track on Speak of the Devil is voiced from the same perspective.
If you had to introduce extraterrestrials to music with only five records, what do you choose?
This is a tough one! I’d probably go with a pretty wide array and try to keep it (moderately) peaceful as to not to agitate them.
In no particular order:
- Willy and The Poor Boys - Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
- White Album - Beatles
- Colors - Between the Buried and Me
- The Diary of Alicia Keys - Alicia Keys
Whether it's a band, artist, person or writer, who or what are your biggest influences?
I like to think that I have a fairly eclectic collection of influences because I never know what’s going to inspire me on the spot. It could be music, a podcast, etc.
Some bands I’m in love with right now are Mizmor, Body Void, Gulch, Full of Hell, and Wristmeetrazor.
As for podcasts, I regularly listen to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Science Vs, Deathwish.fm, and Song Exploder
What's in store for Common War in 2020?
We just released a video for the song “Buried at Sea”. JP (Gericke, Guitar/Pen or Poison Films) filmed and edited the video himself and we are very proud of the finished product. As for performing, in the wake of recent world events touring is a little complicated, but we will be out on the road this summer and fall (TBA). Aside from that we’re writing more music and looking forward to compiling our next release(TBA).