INTERVIEW - MUCKRAKER

https://www.facebook.com/MuckRakerMetal/
https://muckraker1.bandcamp.com/
https://www.reverbnation.com/muckrakermetal

1: Hello, here is Lukasz from Polish Gloria Metalus blog. How's going? Considering Muckraker band is not well known in Poland, could you please tell us story of the band? How did it all start?

Will from MuckRaker: The band has been around for six years or so with various lineup changes. I formerly in a band called BOILER which was signed to Mayhem Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records). Atlantic dropped Mayhem's funding and the label folded. Eventually, I decided to relocate to Atlanta. It wasn't my intention to form a band here, but I missed metal too much.

2: You define your music as blue collar stoner metal. I suppose it is referring to middle class, but I would like to understand better what is difference between common and blue collar stoner? Any unique idea behind this?

W: I write about historical and current events. Yes, it is about the middle class. But it is also about the working poor. The oligarchy has taken over in America. The media is owned by the corporations, as is virtually everything else in American life. I fight that. There are too many people who buy into the idea that nothing can be done to effect change. They go along the get along. They accept low wages and defend their corporate overlords. That is not this band.

3:  Listening to Karmageddon, I have a feeling that you had very good time recording this album and in general you keep a distance to the world around? Am I right?

W: Yes!!! We had a very good time recording this album. Especially me. Every day started at around 10:00AM, and that's when I started drinking beer and vodka. It was wonderful! Then, at around noon, we would order a pizza from a place called Grandma's. Then, I would drink even more because I had food in my stomach.

4: Is there any special message in your lyrics you would like to pass on to the listeners? What topics do you cover in your lyrics?

W: We cover religion, the downfall of democracy, the rise of oligarchy, and the Iron Heel on the neck of the working class. But we try to do it in a way that is tongue-in-cheek or the telling of a story. 85% of the media that we ingest here in the United States is owned by five corporations. Fascism, by definition, is the merger of corporate and state power.  And most Americans fail to realize that we are indeed becoming a Fascist state.

5: I'm aware turkey is playing important role in US history, but what was a reason to place it on the album's cover?

W: Dude, no offense...but it's a vulture. It is sort of a visual reference to our song Red Vulture.

6: What are your musical inspirations?

W: Bernie Sanders, Black Sabbath, Gandhi, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Clutch, Sheer Terror, Celtic Frost, Martin Luther King, The Sword, and COC.

7: How did your cooperation with Eternal Sound Records start? Why this company?

W: I got a message one day on Facebook from a woman named Nicole. She said that she really liked our band and I messaged her back, thanking her. She proceeded to ask me if we would like to sign with her label, based in Germany. I asked her how she found us. Nicole said that she Googled “stoner metal” and saw the picture of our album, Karmageddon. She told me that she liked the cover and started listening to the songs that we had on YouTube and fell in love with them. She shared those songs with her partner at Eternal Sound Records and they both decided that they were in love with MuckRaker. A couple of weeks later, I was sent a contract for distribution and promotion of the album, Karmageddon, throughout Europe. I signed it with no regrets.

8: What do you do for living? Are there any bands or other art related projects you are involved in?

W: Well, I am a warehouseman. I lift heavy shit all day. No, other than my day job I do MuckRaker full-time.

9: Any other bands from Atlanta's area, you can recommend to?

W: There is a band called State of Unrest who fuse pre-hardcore and ska. Tach is a band we will be playing with soon who show great promise. Honestly, there are many cool bands here, but there are few who do the kind of Clutch-style music that MuckRaker does.

10: Any plans for European tour or you are touring around the States only?

W: If you are willing to finance a European tour for MuckRaker, let me know. We would very much love to do that!

11: Last word belongs to you :)

W: Unicorns, Agnosticized, Razor Blades, Trolls, Data, I report, you decide.

Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak with you.