He Is Legend
He Is Legend return! It has been a while but the wait will be worth it for fans of North Carolina outfit He Is Legend. It sounds like the band is on a good path with a brand new album Heavy Fruit doing well and with another in the works on top of playing Soundwave 2015. Across The Ocean talks to front man Schuylar Croom who is really stoked about playing Soundwave and to be amongst good company.
With Soundwave just around the corner are you excited to be heading down under to this amazing festival?
Super excited man! We are very, very stoked to be coming back. I believe we were last there in either 2007 or 2008 with Amity Affliction and I Killed The Prom Queen. It was a blast and a super good time.
Does it get any better than playing Soundwave and touring Australia?
Yeah, I can’t believe it and it is amazing to be on the bill with half of those bands. I’m just awestruck over that. The fact we get to come back over and hang with some people. I remember Adelaide being very beautiful and can’t wait to get back there.
Are there any bands on the bill that have got you excited?
Every band and every headliner are bands are grew up with. I don’t know the set times yet and who I will be able to see. I was really in to Marilyn Manson back in high school and I still love him very much to this day, his music rules. I like Slipknot, Smashing Pumpkins and Faith No More who all bands I grew up loving. It is an amazing list and I can’t believe we’re a part of it. There’s no question about it, we’ll be right there front row head banging, singing!
Is there much time off between shows on this tour?
We’re going to try as many shows as possible, hopefully some Sidewaves will be there. We’re just there to rock and we would rather be seeing some of the bad ass shows at Soundwave. All I know is that we’re going! We don’t know the itinerary yet or who’s playing when, set times or anything but we are ready to rock.
With heaps of material to get through does that pose as a bit of a challenge fitting it all in the set?
Within the last six months we have played a lot of shows whether that has been headlining shows playing an hour to an hour and a half or opening for a band playing thirty or forty five minutes to a festival slot where you might only play twenty to twenty five minutes. We can scale them down, we get in there and thrash around real quick trying to do as many songs as we can. I think everyone will get to hear something that they want to hear. Obviously we’re going to blast a lot more Heavy Fruit because it’s this album cycle. At a festival you have to pull out all stops!
2014 was huge with the album coming out, do you think 2015 will be even bigger?
Yeah, I know it is going to be bigger and once you start getting on the right wave length of positivity then it’s hard not to manifest your own destiny. Since the minute we know that Heavy Fruit was going and we had the right components in the band to hit the ground running that everything we predicted or said that we were going to do has happened. I think that is the most important thing for a band at any point in time is not to worry or wonder at the first thing but just do it. Get up and just risk it!
When you talk about positivity is this the best period for the band right now?
I do believe that, we have had some miserable times and hardships throughout. That is always going to be there. When you have the right people on your team it’s like when Harmony Korine starts filming a movie the number rule is no arseholes. You can’t have negative people in your camp or otherwise it is just going to hurt the end process or the final product. The process is doomed if there is negativity. There is a place for it but rationality comes with everyday life and what you do when you’re on the road with most of your day is a good damn miserable existence to quote Robbie Robertson. It is all worth it, the kids, to play, the time that you’re actually on stage to live that when the twenty three hours of the rest of the day is just waiting for that. It’s mindful to stay positive like we’re supposed to with anything that could go wrong. Living in the present and riding that wave of positivity has really helped us out. We’re going to continue to do that.
Was it the most satisfying experience when you finished Heavy Fruit?
Absolutely, when you know, you know! When it comes down to it you just feel it just like day and night. Just like when there is discord or something isn’t going to work for whatever reason it is. I can’t even tell he how dope some of these songs are. Being one of the most important times in our lives and we get to come to your sunny shores at a time when it can be miserable for bands over here. Not only the physicality of weather conditions usually in this point in time in America the physical and mental turmoil can really get to you in the winter time. You find those things and then we said we want to go to Soundwave and it all fell in to place. It proves that you just push those trees out of the way to look at the forest.
The cherry on top must be knowing how excited some fans are that your band is playing Soundwave?
We’re really stoked and it is so humbling, I think we were caught off guard by the response the first time we came over. We had a bigger fan base than we actually realised. It is nice to know that people are stoked because we are on top of our game and playing better than ever. I’m really hoping those kids come back to see some familiar faces and make some new fans. We do what we do best and just go for it live.
Has there been thought about the next album?
We’re definitely thinking about the next album. The band has made its way through a lot of shit over the last five years. This year has been right and nice, it’s the right movement for us and that’s one thing we’re focusing on going forward is that we need to push and plan this next album while we are riding this wave. With having new life in the band, a permanent guitarist, a permanent drummer and everything feels right the classic next step when you’re not touring is to get in the studio. As long as we’re working through the band there’s only two options. You can only have so much time off to rest then the remaining time is either producing music or performing music.
Did the hiatus help to rejuvenate the band?
I wonder if that is a true statement or not, I do think about that a lot and I feel like more times than not that fans are more prone to forget and not care. It might of been a special case where our fans who are interesting people had our backs the whole time. That has given us a burst of energy because I wonder if we didn’t have a hiatus whether we had gone on too long. That was a big worry when we were putting out Heavy Fruit whether kids still give a shit any more or not. Clearly not only do they give a shit but they have been patiently waiting. I think we came back at the right time and everything is going really well. I can’t really answer the question because I wonder the same thing. I don’t if we would have been doing better by now or this is the best we’ve been in a long time. I guess time will tell but right now it feels like we are unstoppable.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
