Being an ambient metal band opening for thrash and experimental outfits can pose certain challenges. But when Chicago instrumental voyagers, Pelican, were booked to play a San Francisco club with Swedish prog-metal masters Opeth, they thought they were home free. There they were in one of the most liberal cities in the country opening for one of the most open-minded metal groups in the world. Then they plugged in.
“We started playing, and right away some people started yelling, ‘fags’ at us,” Pelican guitarist Laurent Lebec told MTVnews.com’s Metal File. “Then someone else shouted, ‘You guys look like Weezer.’ I couldn’t believe it. These guys were coming to see Opeth, this really progressive band, yet they were still locked in such rudimentary middle-school kind of nonsense attitudes.”
Such uncouth metalheads might react more positively to Pelican’s new album, City of Echoes. Unlike 2005’s sprawling The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw, the new record is full of songs like “Bliss in Concrete” and “Spaceship Broken-Parts Needed,” which are heavier and more concise than past sonic excursions.
“We definitely wanted to write shorter songs that got to the point a little quicker dynamically and pleased us as a live band as opposed to what we were before this record, which was a band that toured rarely and indulged itself in the studio,” Lebec said. “When we were touring for our last album, we could only play five songs because they were all so long, and that can be tiring for an audience.”
Pelican were also inspired to shift musical gears by the recent influx of instrumental bands influenced by Neurosis, Isis and post-rock outfits like Explosions in the Sky. What was once inspiring and unconventional has grown a little stale and Pelican didn’t want to get stuck meandering in the haze.
“We’ve all grown up in punk and death-metal scenes,” Lebec explained. “We’ve been in grind bands, thrash bands, you name it. And our drummer [Larry Herweg] plays in Lair of the Minotaur, which is a total Swedish metal band. So doing songs that were more to the point and maybe a little heavier didn’t seem like that huge of a stretch.”
For the complete interview with Pelican and the rest of this week’s headbanging news, check out this week’s edition of MTVnews.com’s Metal File.
And if you’re interested in more about Pelican, here’s some live footage and an interview:
Pelican Live In Seattle-Live Eye Tv
May 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
yeah, great post.
May 18th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
interesting music, reminds me a little of the instrumental parts of neurosis songs, pretty cool
February 6th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Actually, their later material reminds me of Mission of Burma (much as the band won’t admit that Burma was an influence) in that the songs are heavy yet very melodic and beautiful. I’ve welled up in tears a few times hearing songs like “Sirius,” Red Ran Amber” (and its lighter counterpart, “Ran Amber” off the Mono/Pelican split 12″), “Far From Fields” and “A Delicate Sense of Balance.” Sometimes the songs remind me of certain events in my life. Seeing them in St. Louis, MO on March 2nd and I can’t wait! (By the way, guys, if you’re reading this, please return to Kansas City/Lawrence again!)