“Surprisingly, there’s always been a really solid music scene here. Especially with me growing up, I started going to shows in the seventh grade. There’s a really big underground community that is very into aggressive music. It’s surprising to most people when I say that, but ever since I’ve been in the music scene here it’s always been very strong and very appreciative.”
Forming in 2007, the band’s lineup went through many changes in the early years but Koehler stresses that the current lineup is stable and highly effective. “This lineup definitely has been way more productive than any other lineup we’ve had. You can tell each member has an extreme dedication to what we’re doing. There’s not one or two people that are just along for the ride and the popularity. Every member of this band really has a passion for the music and really wants to strive to be the best we can.”
The six-piece have a well-developed chemistry and are basically all on the same page, but songwriting could still be a cluttered and convoluted procedure if everyone was voicing their opinion at once. “It’s definitely been a struggle trying to find what makes us work best, but I think we’ve found that. Each member of the band will write their own stuff by themselves and get a basic blueprint of the song down. Eventually, once we have all this different material that’s already written, that’s when we come together and piece together different parts and add our own style to certain songs and combine forces. We’re not just starting from scratch, six people sitting in a room arguing how a certain part should go,” says Koehler.
Chelsea Grin’s last LP My Damnation was released in 2011 and Koehler reveals ambitious intentions for the follow-up record, which they’re being careful not to rush into. “This is the first time this band has had to take our time with a record. Whereas our previous records we’ve had deadlines, this album we’re just easing into it, trying to make this next record our best record by far.”
The band’s 2012 EP Evolve marked a shift in sound, introducing symphonic arrangements and anthemic melody to their palette. Koehler says that they had some trepidation prior to unveiling the changes to the public, but the positive feedback for Evolve has motivated them to continue stretching the parameters of their sound. “Evolve was a step in a new direction for the band so we’re just going to push those boundaries even farther. We’re going to experiment more with clean singing, experiment more with melody, as well as all the extra synth we’ve added to Evolve, that’s going to be a big part of the new album.”
However, he assures that the new album won’t forgo the bashing deathcore that originally distinguished their sound and gathered them a huge following. “For any old school Chelsea Grin fans, we’re still definitely going to be relentlessly heavy. We’re still going to be metal, we’re just striving to experiment a little bit with this album.”
Being welcomed into a heavy music clique can have the negative effect of placing a band’s fortunes at the mercy of specific audience expectations. Koehler sees no purpose in simply retreading the same musical turf on each album. “It’d be pointless to get to one level and just try to stay there the whole time and never try to push yourself. It’d be pointless to sit there and write the same record over and over again. If kids want to hear older stuff then they can just listen to that record. It’s still us. We want to make every record different and just broaden our musical horizons.”
Chelsea Grin are coming to Australia for the Soundwave Festival and Koehler admits he relishes the inter-band camaraderie facilitated by traveling festivals. “Tours like this are pretty much the equivalent of summer camp. It’s perfect because you don’t have to just hang out with your band the whole time. You can reach out to other people and also learn how they do stuff in different kinds of music styles. The thing that musicians have in common is that we’re all here for the same thing. We’re all playing music, it doesn’t matter if you sound like this and we sound like this, let’s get along and have a drink and party.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
