Dallas Coyle - God Forbid - Interview - 2009

“If we don’t become a career band I’ll tell everyone [in the band] to fuck off and good luck,” states God Forbid guitarist/singer Dallas Coyle with unwavering boldness. “Literally, I can go and start my own band, start a few steps back from where [God Forbid is] now and be more successful. But at the same time I want to stick it out.”

The recent first-time father is indirectly explaining that being everyone’s favourite main support band and being the party band isn’t enough to keep his band on the road, or even him in his band; which sits at odds with the enthusiasm with which the New Jersey 29 year old enthusiastically describes their new album, and admits that of any of their output, this is the most likely to connect with the heavy metal cognoscenti and push God Forbid to through the glass ceiling that seems to have kept them at a demoralisingly overlooked for so long.

“I feel like our band hasn’t gotten to the level of some other bands because our attitude hasn’t always been the best. If dudes know that I’m willing to move onto other things if I have to, it’ll make them work harder.”

It may sound like quite a shot to call – to incentivize your band by saying you’ll leave if things don’t pick up - but with another mouth to feed, Dallas’ priorities have rightly gone from ‘be in metal band’ to ‘feed my family’; but with a new album that seems to have already reinvigorated the band, and an eager fanbase it seems that he won’t have to.

God Forbid released their debut, Reject The Sickness, exactly ten years ago. Earthsblood, their fifth album follows the well-received dystopian concept album, IV: Constitution Of Treason. The album was a massive metal record of grand gestures, bold statements and some ambitiously progressive elements with an unwavering brutality. Despite being so much more, the band had involuntarily been re-filed from the NWOAHM (New Wave Of American Heavy Metal) into the succeeding metalcore pigeon hole. Earth’s Blood find the band digging up their roots and carrying them into the future for some no-fucking-about straight-up heavy metal.

“That’s exactly what we wanted to do,” confirms the guitarist. “We wanted to go back to that 2004/Gone Forever era. IV: Constitution Of Treason was really conceptual and sweeping but we wanted Earth’s Blood it to be a bit more song-for-song.”

But don’t expect some knuckle-drugging metalcore predictabelia, the usual ambitious and cerebral edge is carefully woven into the fabric of each song with seven-string guitars and an intricately built sonic density. When writing, Dallas and his brother - guitarist Doc Coyle – were determined to simplify the song structures while retaining that sense of aural weight.

“I wouldn’t say it’s dumbing-down but it’s easier to listen to,” he explains. “As opposed to Constitution… where there’s so much going on that a listener might feel intimidated by it.”

So there’s no grand concept, metaphors or running themes?

“There’s are some themes.” He says. “We wanted the record to be really hopeful, but the music turned out really dark, and the title – Earth’s Blood – is all about oil and the blood of the earth and how people destroy each other to get ahead. It’s definitely a thematically deep record but there’s no big concept. The only concept is kick-ass.”

How does the positivity interplay with the darkness of the music?

“You know when you watch one of those really heavy-going and tragic movies that are really depressing? They usually have an ending that makes you feel happy that your life isn’t as shitty as the people in the movie. It’s that kind of dichotomy: we wrote a lot of dark matter and minor key stuff but it’s like, life could really be a lot worse than it is.

After the release of Consitution… Hammer was in Dublin with God Forbid – completed by frontman Byron Davis, guitarist Doc Coyle, bassist John Outcalt and drummer Corey Pierce - who joked that they were tired of being asked to stand in shitty industrial ruins and junkies’ alleyways for photo shoots while bands like Avenged Sevenfold were snapped in strip clubs. “Fuck this conscious shit!” Doc snapped at the time. “We’re gonna make a party metal album so we can bring on the girls!” So you didn’t go for that in the end then…?

“We wouldn’t be comfortable with doing that really,” he smiles. “I don’t like party music so the two tracks I wrote on the album are definitely a lot darker than the others. There’s one song, Walk Alone that goes back to that 80s vibe, a lot of the real metal heads like that song the best.”

Some bands get better at writing songs the more they do it, others simply run out of interesting melodies – too many bands to mention are relying on stylistic elements such as breakdowns and verse-like riffs with no progression, but God Forbid believe that this album showcases the best songwriting of any of their predecessors. 

“We’ve been writing as the same five guys for the last five releases, and I think we’ve finally written a record that we all feel we can get behind every track. On previous records I’ll listen to certain tracks and think, ‘that’s ok’ but it doesn’t get me like, ‘man I want to play this live’. When we wrote War Of Attrition [from the new album] we knew we wanted to play it live immediately!”

So while Dallas’ career anxiety has a voice, the album has legs. And it’s hardly surprising that while 21-year-olds in hype bands trek around the world getting battered and putting their willies in anything with a high voice, older bands who never managed sustain themselves off merch/record/ticket sales get more ‘fuck it’ as the years roll by. Many a musician has reached 30 and decided that ‘the good life’ isn’t living in a van with four other dudes for weeks on end.

“I told the band that I would have to quit the band if I didn’t make enough money by the end of this year,” he says frankly. “It’s like what haven’t we done? What is there left to do to push us to the next level? Maybe nothing, but I’m going to stick it out. Especially with all the opportunities that we’re getting this year. There’s really no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do this.”

Even at nearly 30, Dallas isn’t the oldest member of the band. A leopard doesn’t change his spots, but it seems that Dallas’ ideas of departure have inspired these big cats to give their coats a wash:

“Byron’s done a lot of stepping up recently,” he admits. “He’s losing weight and he’s been working on his clean singing. We’ve been playing Under This Flag - which we’ve never played live – he’s been singing the end part and doing a really good job. We’ve been trying to get him more comfortable with his [clean] singing. We’re trying to play on those the songs that he really feels live and it’s making a big difference. He’s starting to see the potential of the band.

As Dallas says, it’s the little things. It’s not even that they’re making small changes, it what the small changes imply: that the guys are feeling excited, energised and driven. 

“They really make a difference in our band because we’ve been around each other so long,” he continues. “We all know how funny Corey is, but at the same time we’ve been around him so long that the things that make people laugh make us roll our eyes.

It’s so easy to see a band as a homogenous collective of peas from the same pod, and big personalities are as synonymous with friction as peas and… pods.

“In our band there’s five guys making decisions, and at times that can be excruciating. When we’re on the road we have the same objective: to get out there and play a great show and sell some merch. But some days, some guys don’t get it. I’m not really willing to live on the road with someone who doesn’t get it. If you’re there to party the whole time, then become a fucking roadie!

“Sure, egos come into it, but it’s not like dudes think they’re hot shit. I’m a jovial guy, but I can also be painful to be around,” he explains. “My thing is that we get these opportunities and guys in the band are like, ‘We should have got these opportunities ages ago’. I want people to be happy with the things they’re given. If you don’t appreciate what you’re experiencing at that moment you aren’t going to make the most out of it. 

“For me, it’s like don’t try and drink a full bottle of whiskey every fucking day that we’re playing. Don’t go out there and try and be the party band. Yes we’ve gone out there and made some good relationships but in the end it hasn’t made us a band that’s a career band, and that’s what I want.”

But God Forbid have found themselves all reinvigorated, energised and united under the flag of their new album; not least because its reception is already opening doors. Again.

“We’re getting those opportunities again. We’re getting a second chance to become bigger. Some bands don’t even get a first chance let alone a second. I’m not going to wait to see if third times a charm. I’m not prepared to scruff it out with guys who are close to 40. I’m 29 and I don’t want to be on the road in a van loading my own shit at 34.”

So this is it. Make or break time for God Forbid. Luckily it appears that the guys have sealed some fissures and are holding water tight. It only remains to see if the Earth’s Blood bleeds through to crossover success. But as Dallas says with determined affirmation: “If we can get the little things straight we really can take the band to the next level.”