TMaFLH Update: Foul Spirits

A little more than a year ago, we got in touch with a Kent, Ohio quartet called Foul Spirits who delivered some slimy sludge-death with an EP called Live in Fear.  Now the boys have finished recording their full-length album, called Volatile Versatile, and if you’re interested in the kind of redlined destruction offered by bands like Gaza and Black Sheep Wall, you should totally dig the frenzied string-mangling that Foul Spirits serve up.  We asked the guys how life has progressed since their last outing, and found out what adding a fifth member and recording the new album has meant for the band.  Check out the album and read their update below.

How has life changed for band members over the past year?

We are all older, but grumpier and angry as ever. We’ve experienced loss, and we’ve experienced life. And we’re trying to use the hard earnings the right way for sane minds and be stronger for it. As a group we have become more in tune with our writing and recording processes, and we are always hoping to further push our sound.  We have a new bassist, Austin, who is just learning the songs and getting attuned to how we play and write.  Hopefully we can debut our full 5-piece lineup in the next month or so.

Played any good shows recently?

Our favorite annual show is in our hometown of Kent, the Blackout Cookout which is hosted by the Outpost Concert Club.  There is amazing BBQ, great bands, and a few hundred friends; definitely something we look forward to every year.  We also got to open for our friends in Necrophagia this past February which was an honor and a blast for us.

Did you have any specifically different ways to approach the songs or playing style on the new recordings?  What went into this round of songs?

As opposed to the first recording (last year’s Live in Fear. EP), [when] Wally and Jeff weren’t around for the songwriting, this time around both of their influences really showed up in the songs. With the addition of Wally on drums during the writing process, Chris (guitars, main songwriter) was able to exorcise his more extreme grind/death metal ideas and push the band further in that direction.  All of us tried to avoid repetition, really focusing on honing OUR sound (whatever that is).  We also focused even more on the recording quality and tracking, we were very picky and tried to make everything sound the best it could.

Listening to any non-metal music that’s turning you on right now?

Chris: Sage Francis, Beastmilk

Jeff: Monster Magnet, Last Patrol

Wally: local bros/sis’ SexyPigDivas

Gabe: Gregory Isakhov, Jenny Lewis, Empires

What are Foul Spirits’s New Year’s Resolutions for 2015?

Tour a little less, hangout more. Take time to stop and smell the roses. Then write, write, and write to finish our new EP in time to track everything this summer.