BAND OF THE WEEK: War//Plague
If you have to pick just one crust punk band for 2022, let it be this one.
I think the best compliment that can be made to War//Plague is that they are the ideal band for both ends of the spectrum when it comes to the crust punk scene - if, on one hand, they are as genuinely punk-as-fuck as they come, spitting out their very own brand of DIY, socio/political rage-fueled, incendiary crust for almost fifteen years now, and are the ideal band for any hardened veteran to keep the flame burning, on the other hand, they are also the perfect name you can throw at that annoying friend who’s just not that much into punk for some reason. Strictly musically speaking, of course - if you happen to have a “friend” who’s not into this sort of band because they’re a fucking fascist, try throwing a lit Molotov cocktail at their face instead of a record, ‘kay?
Anyhoo, that’s right, War//Plague have always flirted with a metallic, thrashy approach, and new album ‘Manifest Ruination’, released on October 30th (the vinyl version, with the CD version coming next month) via Phobia Records and Organize and Arise, goes even further into that metallisation of sorts. Not only is the sound pleasantly crisp and organic, unlike many a production hack job you find in some DIY crust that, despite how appropriate it might feel conceptually, doesn’t always serve the music itself, but most of the compositions offer passages that hint of death metal or even some tremolo picking that will surely inspire reviewers to throw the word “blackened” at it, not to mention the fantastic vocal performance of the two guitar-wielding Andys (Lutz and Lefton, respectively on lead and backing vocals). Make no mistake - this is still very much a crust punk record, and it still feels super raw and confrontational, but these very important details, most of them already on display on the true blast that is opener ‘Vacillation’, show a band that is aware of the many forms that rage, protest and ferocity can take within the enormous spectrum of heavy music, and they’re not afraid of borrowing elements from anywhere to achieve what they want from their songs - which, considering their members’ past (and present) in other bands, comes as no huge surprise. I mean, minimalism is all well and fine, but check out the enormity of that ten-second intro to this little ditty here:
Right? And that intensity does not let up for the whole 34 minutes these ten songs take to finish their beating on you. If you follow our podcast, you might remember we had Andy Lefton as a guest on it a few weeks ago, and during that chat we briefly talked about this album, which already heightened the lofty anticipation long time fans had for what it could be. But damn these guys if they didn’t surpass even those. Dynamic, varied, with a massive, filthy closer in ‘Necrosis’ that just urges you to play the whole damn thing again, ‘Manifest Ruination’ is a hell of a record that does justice to the band’s well populated back catalogue, and helps to firmly plant War//Plague at the forefront of the current global crust punk panorama. And given everything that happened there in the last few years, it seems very appropriate that a band from the fantastic Minneapolis scene is making this sort of noise.
Because somehow Andy wasn’t sick of talking to The Devil’s Mouth yet, we enlisted him plus his guitar/vocals cohort Andy Lutz for a little battle of the Andys, in this exclusive interview you can read below. Enjoy!
So yeah, ‘Manifest Ruination’ is obviously and unsurprisingly awesome! What went into the making of this record? Coming off these severely fucked up years (even more so than usual), did any of that rage/frustration go into the music, not to mention any practical or logistical issues you might have faced too?
Andy Lutz (guitar/vocals): Thank you, glad you like the record! We started writing the album right before the pandemic hit but we used that time to really focus and continue writing. The civil unrest that followed after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police had a big impact on our community. Seeing the police station burn down was surreal. There's a lot of fascism, racism and nationalism happening all over the country and we tried to channel our outrage, emotion and frustration into this record.
Andy Lefton (guitar/backing vocals): Thank you for the kind words! The album has been received with open arms at a magnitude we would’ve never imagined, and it’s appreciated! As for the writing process, it was very much influenced by the state of our world, both locally and globally. Living in Minneapolis during the pandemic and at the forefront of socio/political uprisings, it’s been historic for all of us. Playing music that’s rooted in protest, rage and awareness has been both cathartic and educational.
How do you approach each new record? Do you guys talk about what you’d like to do before, letting yourselves be inspired by everything happening around you, do you set any kind of goals… or do you just plug in, crank it up and start playing?
Lefton: It really begins by just spit balling ideas. When the creative juices start flowing, we’ll have a chat on what approach we want to take. There’s no set goal, just write and see what works. After all these years, it’s been a simple formula for us, just bring something to the table, if it works let’s build on it, if not, let’s see what we can do to make it work. Personally, I’ve got a library of riffs and will either record an idea on my phone or plug into Reaper and demo a quick riff, so then when the time comes, I can go through these ideas and share with the guys what might work. However, there are many times that we have simply plugged in, and someone will be riffing around that’ll catch our attention, then we build off that. But overall, our goal is always to learn and see if we can grow our sound while retaining our roots.
Lutz: We usually start talking about a new record over a few beers and bring a few riffs to the table. I don't think there's ever a real agenda, like we don't aim to outdo ourselves or anything. Maybe we'll want to play with some heavier riffage or maybe something with urgency. But it's all kind of natural. We may point out things we like or don't like and try to evolve on ideas, but generally we jam and start playing with structure. Once lyrics start coming in a theme starts to form and we go from there.
It’s kinda crazy that you’re about to be 15 years old as a band. We talked about this a bit when we did the podcast with Andy (Lefton), but what does it feel like to look back on what you’ve accomplished already?
Lutz: It is pretty crazy. We've all been friends for so long and played in other bands for decades. It feels like just yesterday we started this band, but I'm proud of all we've accomplished. Listening to those early records and then seeing where we are today is something else. I think we've just scratched the surface too!
Lefton: If you told me back in 2008 that WAR//PLAGUE would still be going strong in 2022 I would’ve left the room confused. But here we are, and it is such an amazing feeling knowing that we are still a tight knit family doing what we love and have no plans to stop. We all grew up in the Minneapolis punk community and each of us have a back story, some dating 30 years involved in punk. There are times we reflect and think about what we’ve experienced and seen throughout the ages, knowing we’ve defied any taboos or conflicts, is humbling.
I love how the album sounds, the production is absolutely spot on. Sometimes with crust punk, as it also happens with some black metal (I guess it’s the rawness at the core of the genre that they have in common), there’s the tendency to “under-produce” just to sound genuine. You avoid such pitfalls and you get the balance just right between grit and power. Is this a hard thing to manage, or does it come naturally?
Lefton: In all honesty, we come from a background of horrible production. Not just with WAR//PLAGUE, but with any previous project we’ve all been involved with. Back in the day, you couldn’t really get away from demo quality recordings since there wasn’t any real budget and sounding “raw” or whatever was simply the norm. However, overtime we just wanted to sound better, invest in better gear and try to justify what we really wanted out of the music we played. We detest sterile production and overly-produced sound, so we found a good level where we can really focus on the WAR//PLAGUE sound and still retain some of the grit that we want. It’s also a blend of musicianship. Playing a thousand miles per hour is great, but as we’ve progressed, we’ve learned to play in layers and that’s something worth investing in during the recording process.
Lutz: We've all been in bands that have put out raw sounding records, but it's what was available to us at the time. I'd even say some of our early records were a little raw, like the demo we recorded at the Misery house. I think that still holds up and you can hear what the band was striving to be. But even when we were younger, it was all about trying to put out the best sounding record possible. With a few years under our belts, I think we've learned how to dial in tone and work cohesively together as a band. Our engineer Adam is also amazing to work with. I think this is the 4th record we've worked on together and he really understands our sound.
Do you have any touring plans on the horizon? These songs forcefully demand you guys ripping it up on stage before a sweaty audience!
Lutz: We just wrapped up a pretty busy summer playing some amazing shows, even playing for the first time in Vancouver, BC. It was awesome and I'd love to go back sometime. We've been talking and have started putting a few plans together for next summer. Winter is brutal here and it's when we do some of our best writing. But we will be hittin' the road again in the near future!
Lefton: As of right now, some vague plans but we’ll get details ironed out once 2023 arrives. This year was crazy for us, so we’ll get our bearings straight and see where things go.
And of course, I couldn’t let you go without asking you for a F.O.T.K. update. Anything brewing that we can know about, Mr. Lefton?
Lefton: As of now, we’re getting close to the finish line on our full length album. We’ve got some bits and pieces to sort out like, finishing vocals, getting a proper mix, etc. So we hope to have that wrapped up by the end of 2022 and have the final product sent off to Phobia Records to be pressed.
Find War//Plague on Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp and warplague.com.