Himsa

Hail Horror

[3]Nobody seems to remember if it was Pablo Picasso or Igor Stravinsky who said, “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal,” but that’s okay, because time has yet to determine on which side of that famous axiom Seattle metalcore marvels Himsa will find themselves. Either way, Hail Horror contains some of the best At The Gates riffs since Nasum’s Shift; and in an era where it seems all of America’s leading metalcore outfits, from Darkest Hour to As I Lay Dying, are doing their best ATG impressions in the hopes of channeling the defunct Swedish masters’ omnipotent life-force into something more easily digestible, that’s a hard act to pull off. But even if Himsa are a bit too obvious in their influences for originality’s sake, we’re still thankful when we think of all the other trendy shit they could’ve tried to emulate.
(PROSTHETIC)

IN-STORE SESSION With Himsa vocalist Johnny Pettibone

What are you doing, man? You sound winded or something.

I just got tattooed, actually, so my adrenaline is rushing. I got the Bela Lugosi Dracula on the back of my leg. I’m doing, like, a horror leg theme. I’ve already got the Mummy, and I’m doing the Werewolf next.



Does your leg have anything to do with why the new Himsa album is called Hail Horror?

No, it has nothing to do with horror movies. It’s more about reality’s horrors–like, what the world’s going through right now, and what everyone goes through in life. I actually had a real tragic death in my family about a year ago, and that hit me hard. But that turmoil makes us who we are and make us stronger. So the record title and the song titles aren’t supposed to be taken negatively. With Hail Horror, it’s just about taking the negative energy that surrounds me and using it to my advantage.



There’s a song on the album called “Sleezevil.” Where did that term come from?

[Guitarist] Kirby [Johnson] actually came up with that one. When we’re working on songs, he’s the master of coming up with random song titles so we don’t have to refer to them as “Song 1” or “Song 2” or something like that. When we have a basic song, we just look to him, like, “Okay, give us a name.” And that one just stuck. That night, I wrote the line, “The sleaze will hide behind evil’s device,” and put it in the song. The whole thing is about the religious overtones in so much of the rebellious music I grew up with. I mean, people can be what they want and do what they want, but if you’re your own person, why base your music around a following or a faith? The way I grew up, in punk and hardcore, [religion] was always frowned upon as just another crutch. Being a straight-edge kid, I’ve never had crutches, so it just seems like blind faith to me. The song has a double meaning, though: It’s also about singers that don’t help their bands load gear.



I know a few of those dudes.

Oh, there’re a lot of guys out there like that. Some of them are even friends of ours, and I always give them shit, like, “You’re an asshole, dude–you can’t pick something up?” [Laughs] I mean, I help [drummer] Chad [Davis] set up his drums or do whatever I can to make it better on the guys, and when I’m not with the band, I work at a club where I load gear every day of my life. When I see singers–especially in new bands–just get up onstage, do their thing, and then get all the attention while the other guys are kinda shunned, it pisses me off.



You guys recently finished doing Danzig’s Blackest Of The Black Tour. Did you hang out with Glenn at all?

Here and there. Every time he came around, I just acted like a 15-year-old kid, because I’m such a huge fan of everything he’s done. I would just get retarded. And he was cool as hell, too. We’d only really see him for moments at a time–like at soundcheck or at dinner, but he’d always ask if we were having a good time. His entire crew was totally nice, too-we actually became pretty close with his techs.



Did you feel like you had to keep your devilock under your hat so you wouldn’t look like a total fanboy?

Well, I normally wear a hat or a beanie everyday just so it won’t be in my face, because it’s quite long. But when we played, of course I took the hat off. Me and [Misfits guitarist] Doyle actually had like a devilock competition for, like, a second, but his is much longer than mine. But dude, he has a secret: He puts black electrical tape around it to keep it in place. [Laughs] For me, that tour was the biggest thing that has ever happened to me, music-wise, throughout the years.



So it’s all downhill from here, then.

Yeah, pretty much. I can die a happy man now.

–J. Bennett