Alex Koehler - Chelsea Grin (12/02/2013)
Ahead of their debut Australian appearances at Soundwave 2013, we chat with Alex Koehler of Chelsea Grin.
Hey, Alex. How are you?
I'm good. You?
I'm good. You must be pretty excited to be coming down for Soundwave?
Yeah, I'm incredibly stoked.
Who are you most looking forward to playing alongside?
Personally I think it's really cool that Linkin Park is a part of it, they are a band I've listened to since I was in elementary school and I'm really looking forward to seeing them every show to see how a real professional veteran band does things.
What was your reaction like when you found out that not only were you coming to Australia for the first time but going to be playing on Soundwave?
It's just ridiculous, man. Australia is a country we've always wanted to tour and obviously we'd all heard of Soundwave so we were all really stoked when we found out we were gonna be a part of it. We hope to make a big impact when we get down there.
What can we expect from a live show?
With our live show we try to put on a really aggressive, in your face show and try to entertain everyone. I usually tell the crowd to jump quite a bit so hopefully that works out well in Australia.
You're doing a couple of sideshows with Of Mice & Men and While She Sleeps, have you toured with either of those bands before?
Yeah we did Warped Tour with Of Mice and they are great but we've never met the While She Sleeps dude but I'll sure it'll be a blast.
So how did Chelsea Grin form?
We grew up in the MySpace days and I started to go to shows in the 7th grade and I just loved that. I'd always be on My Space checking out bands and I finally reached the point where I really wanted to form a band and my friends and I got together and we put out an EP when I was 17 which was about 4 years ago and we've just grown from there. We really appreciate all the support we get.
Where did the name Chelsea Grin come from?
When we first started we had a really terrible name so when we started writing we decided we had to change our name and that new Batman movie was coming out at the time, The Dark Knight, and the Joker had a chelsea grin and I'm a huge Batman fan and I also loved the movie Green Street Hooligans and that had a chelsea grin reference so we all loved the name even though it has this brutal back story and brutal meaning but when you hear the term you don't think like that.
That's very true. You guys are quite heavy, is that the style of music you're into?
When we were younger we were into the really, really heavy stuff but now we're getting a bit older we've decided to experiment with cleans and melodies and stuff.
On your latest EP Evolve you did incorporate cleans and more melodies which seemed to upset a lot of your fans, how do you deal with that as a band?
As a band we can't just write the same album over and over again and it seems some fans don't really understand that because otherwise it'll get boring. When we first put out Evolve we heard a lot of good things but also a lot of bad things but it seems now those who didn't like it to start with are starting to love it based on the tweets I get. I think people need to learn to adjust with the bands they like.
I 100% agree with that. Is their plans to release a new album this year?
Yeah we're already writing. The plan is to record in maybe the Summer. We don't want any pressure though, we wanna make this our best album by far and it's been good because every other release we've had a deadline but not for this one so it's definitely gonna be something we're 100% proud of.
Cool, sounds good. What's the inspirations behind your lyrics?
Well with our early stuff I was always trying to tell a story. I was very interested by biblical propaganda but with our new stuff and Evolve I was and am basing it all on personal experience so I'm hoping our fans will hear that and they can relate and know I've been in the same situations as them.
What bands inspired you to get into music while you were growing up?
Everything, really. I had such a huge metal library when I was younger but the first ones I listened to where Slipknot, Arch Enemy, early Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage as well as local hardcore bands who I loved.
Are there any new bands you're loving?
Yeah, Betraying The Martyrs from Paris who we're bringing on our headliner right after Soundwave, I think they're great and LetLive are one of my favourite bands at the moment, they've been around a while but they are just starting to make it now.
Just on your touring, have you had any crazy moments involving fans?
I think the craziest fan experience we've ever had was when we toured South America, those kids are crazy! They'd be waiting for us at the airport and somehow find what hotel we were staying at and camp out there and go to every show. It was crazy. You never feel like more of a celebrity until you do shows like that.
How did you deal with that? Did you appreciate it or did it feel like you were being stalked a bit?
I didn't expect it so it was a big shock but in the end I appreciated it because I know that I've inspired these kids with the music we do. It was great.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
The best would be being able to share the music we put our heart and soul into with people and to be able to tour the country and the world and the con is definitely being away from your family. Two of our members have kids so that can get hard but I'd say the pros greatly outweigh the cons.
One last question for you, when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
It's kinda weird, coz at the end of tours when we're really exhausted and can't wait to be home and then when we get home we don't know to do with ourselves. My sleeping schedule gets completely screwed. Like I won't be able to sleep until 5am then I won't wake up until mid afternoon and I'm trying to find shit to do all day (laughs)
(laughs) I see what you mean. We'll wrap it up there anyway, mate. Thanks very much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Matt Barton
Hey, Alex. How are you?
I'm good. You?
I'm good. You must be pretty excited to be coming down for Soundwave?
Yeah, I'm incredibly stoked.
Who are you most looking forward to playing alongside?
Personally I think it's really cool that Linkin Park is a part of it, they are a band I've listened to since I was in elementary school and I'm really looking forward to seeing them every show to see how a real professional veteran band does things.
What was your reaction like when you found out that not only were you coming to Australia for the first time but going to be playing on Soundwave?
It's just ridiculous, man. Australia is a country we've always wanted to tour and obviously we'd all heard of Soundwave so we were all really stoked when we found out we were gonna be a part of it. We hope to make a big impact when we get down there.
What can we expect from a live show?
With our live show we try to put on a really aggressive, in your face show and try to entertain everyone. I usually tell the crowd to jump quite a bit so hopefully that works out well in Australia.
You're doing a couple of sideshows with Of Mice & Men and While She Sleeps, have you toured with either of those bands before?
Yeah we did Warped Tour with Of Mice and they are great but we've never met the While She Sleeps dude but I'll sure it'll be a blast.
So how did Chelsea Grin form?
We grew up in the MySpace days and I started to go to shows in the 7th grade and I just loved that. I'd always be on My Space checking out bands and I finally reached the point where I really wanted to form a band and my friends and I got together and we put out an EP when I was 17 which was about 4 years ago and we've just grown from there. We really appreciate all the support we get.
Where did the name Chelsea Grin come from?
When we first started we had a really terrible name so when we started writing we decided we had to change our name and that new Batman movie was coming out at the time, The Dark Knight, and the Joker had a chelsea grin and I'm a huge Batman fan and I also loved the movie Green Street Hooligans and that had a chelsea grin reference so we all loved the name even though it has this brutal back story and brutal meaning but when you hear the term you don't think like that.
That's very true. You guys are quite heavy, is that the style of music you're into?
When we were younger we were into the really, really heavy stuff but now we're getting a bit older we've decided to experiment with cleans and melodies and stuff.
On your latest EP Evolve you did incorporate cleans and more melodies which seemed to upset a lot of your fans, how do you deal with that as a band?
As a band we can't just write the same album over and over again and it seems some fans don't really understand that because otherwise it'll get boring. When we first put out Evolve we heard a lot of good things but also a lot of bad things but it seems now those who didn't like it to start with are starting to love it based on the tweets I get. I think people need to learn to adjust with the bands they like.
I 100% agree with that. Is their plans to release a new album this year?
Yeah we're already writing. The plan is to record in maybe the Summer. We don't want any pressure though, we wanna make this our best album by far and it's been good because every other release we've had a deadline but not for this one so it's definitely gonna be something we're 100% proud of.
Cool, sounds good. What's the inspirations behind your lyrics?
Well with our early stuff I was always trying to tell a story. I was very interested by biblical propaganda but with our new stuff and Evolve I was and am basing it all on personal experience so I'm hoping our fans will hear that and they can relate and know I've been in the same situations as them.
What bands inspired you to get into music while you were growing up?
Everything, really. I had such a huge metal library when I was younger but the first ones I listened to where Slipknot, Arch Enemy, early Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage as well as local hardcore bands who I loved.
Are there any new bands you're loving?
Yeah, Betraying The Martyrs from Paris who we're bringing on our headliner right after Soundwave, I think they're great and LetLive are one of my favourite bands at the moment, they've been around a while but they are just starting to make it now.
Just on your touring, have you had any crazy moments involving fans?
I think the craziest fan experience we've ever had was when we toured South America, those kids are crazy! They'd be waiting for us at the airport and somehow find what hotel we were staying at and camp out there and go to every show. It was crazy. You never feel like more of a celebrity until you do shows like that.
How did you deal with that? Did you appreciate it or did it feel like you were being stalked a bit?
I didn't expect it so it was a big shock but in the end I appreciated it because I know that I've inspired these kids with the music we do. It was great.
What would you say is the best and worst thing about being in a band?
The best would be being able to share the music we put our heart and soul into with people and to be able to tour the country and the world and the con is definitely being away from your family. Two of our members have kids so that can get hard but I'd say the pros greatly outweigh the cons.
One last question for you, when you get some time off what do you like to get up to?
It's kinda weird, coz at the end of tours when we're really exhausted and can't wait to be home and then when we get home we don't know to do with ourselves. My sleeping schedule gets completely screwed. Like I won't be able to sleep until 5am then I won't wake up until mid afternoon and I'm trying to find shit to do all day (laughs)
(laughs) I see what you mean. We'll wrap it up there anyway, mate. Thanks very much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Matt Barton