One frustrating aspect about life as a new(-ish) band is trying to find a word or words for a band name not already in use. And once you lock onto an awesome and suitable moniker, there’s the hope that what you’ve decided upon isn’t going to cost an arm and a leg in legal and settlement fees. People rightly lament the Earth’s population stripping the planet’s resources. Another very real problem is the English language being exhausted by the number of bands in existence. Sometimes the invention of a new word gleans great reward (the most successful case in point: Metallica), though most times this course of action fails (i.e. the growing number of black and death metal bands replacing ‘u’ with ‘v’ is obnoxious and screams laziness).
When you hear the name Doubtfire chances are the first place your mind doesn’t go is the word’s actual (and if we’re being honest, arcane) definition: “The fire (destruction) that is ignited by doubt concerning good. As the actual (first) temptation for Eve was to doubt what God had told them.” Most of us more than likely think of the late Robin Williams’ 1993 celluloid time-waster, Mrs. Doubtfire. Today and onward, let your mind zero in on this Richmond, VA trio and their avant-garde twist that acts as the crossing guard at the intersection of Daughters, Gorguts, Krallice and the Locust.
On August 1st, their debut EP, Spewtrid will be released into the wild and below is a preview of one its four tracks, “Bronze Bull.” Featuring members of Dumb Waiter, Hellbear and Night Idea, Doubtfire’s chameleonic combination of bleak and esoteric subgenres comes after a solid four or five years of wood shedding. Feeling that foisting their growing pains onto the public would do everyone a disservice, Spewtrid comes after intensive practice sessions, trial and error sonic architecture and limited releases, as touched upon when we asked the band to introduce themselves:
“The urge to make heavy music sound and feel sonically different is what started guitarist Nick Crider (Dumb Waiter) and drummer Matt Wild (Hellbear) as Doubtfire in late 2014. Joey Anderson (Night Idea) joined on bass quickly after attending the first house show. The trio worked to hone the array of melodic imperfections, contrasting styles and sparse vocals to create their first demo, Demon Stration recorded by Evan Bayteman and released in March of 2015. The following year they recruited John Hawkins (Navi, Opin) on modular synthesizers creating a unique energetic environment that supported the bands raw performance appearing on their Live EP, recorded by James Seretis and released in June of 2017. After John left to work on other projects, the trio continued to evolve the sound and direction of their music into a more avant-garde perspective of thrash, black metal, doom and hardcore. In November of 2019, the trio teamed up with audio engineer, Dave Watkins and recorded Spewtrid, a culmination of carefully planned writing and chaotic improvisation both from the trio and engineer to create four tracks of heavy uplifting uncertainty.”
Spewtrid was recorded by Dave Watkins (Dumb Waiter, School Dance) in Richmond, Virginia. Mastered by Colin Marston (Atheist, Behold the Arctopus, Gorguts, Liturgy, Zs). The EP will be available digitally and on cassette August 1st, 2020. Preorder, here.
