Catching Up with Alex Erian from Obey the Brave

When I was a kid, my parents were pretty cool about the loud music coming from my room. I got into metal and hardcore at a young age, and my Mom and Dad pretty much ignored the screaming and breakdowns for the most part. They didn't like it, but it didn't bug them. That is, until the day I brought home a copy of The Ills of Modern Man by a Montreal band called Despised Icon. I specifically remember my Mother poking her head into my bedroom with a twisted, pained expression on her face and asking "What….the hell is that?"

From that day on, Despised was my go to band when I wanted to be left alone.

So of course, I was bummed out last year when they called it quits, and I waited patiently for one of their two brutal vocalists to turn up in another project. Three weeks ago, I got my wish when Alex Erian announced the birth of Obey the Brave, a project that had apparently been gestating for a while, but just recently went public (Check out the band's awesome video for the single "Live & Learn" on the Facebook page!)

I remember running into Alex a couple times as a youngster at shows and he was always friendly and quick to chat with fans or sign a few CD's, so of course I was honored when he agreed to give the Clock the distinction of publishing his first official interview as a member of Obey the Brave. After one cancellation and some ridiculously frustrating issues calling outside the U.S. (If you work for a student org, do not even bother asking the school for help on this issue) I finally purchased an international Skype account on my credit card and gave Alex a call at his Montreal home.

I thank Alex for his patience and for just being a rad dude in general, and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for some big announcements from Obey the Brave in the near future, and be sure to catch them at the Metal and Hardcore Fest at the Worcester Palladium in April!

BK: Alex, it's so good to get in touch with you dude, I went through hell to do this thing.

AR: Oh man, I'm sorry it's so complicated, where you at?

I'm in Central NH, just a few hours away, so it's kind of ridiculous. I had to download a Skype account just to talk to you.

Oh my God,  well thanks for taking the time.

OK, so for starters, I'm really stoked for Obey the Brave, I was a huge Despised fan, and I'm really excited to see you front and center this time. Is it weird being the only frontman now?

I don't know man, I miss Steve. I had a really good time singing with that dude. He and I are still boys, we actually just watched the SuperBowl together, although I fell asleep towards the end. As far as being the only singer, it's something new, something different; a new challenge. I've been having a good time so far and I'm really excited with how things are coming about.

Obey the Brave, I mean, I've only heard "Live & Learn," but it seems to be a little bit of a departure from what you're known for. It seems to be a little more hardcore than metal. Was that intentional, maybe dropping the metal a little bit this time?

I'll never drop metal. Long story short, I discovered metal in 1992, somebody showed me Cowboys From Hell by Pantera, I picked up a pair of drumsticks, quit all sports and started being a metalhead. So slowly, I got into Pantera and Sepultura and all those bands, and as the 90's progressed I got into heavier shit like Suffocation and Dying Fetus. I always drop those two names. Those two names are very responsible for a lot of my upbringing in terms of metal and death metal in general. So I would say my roots are in metal and death metal, but let's backtrack and say, maybe at the end of the 90's or around 2000, I started getting into bands like Biohazard, Madball, Bane, just to name a few. Those bands influenced me more on the hardcore side of things. Despised Icon was a blend of both scenes, although leaning more towards the death metal, and my previous bands were more death metal oriented as well. So when the time came to start a new band, I figured ‘Hey, let's not do another death metal band, let's not do another deathcore band.' You know, I've been there, done that so let's try something new and I'm really stoked on this decision. It is weird to play songs without any blast beats or growls, but it's definitely refreshing.

That's a good word for it, even just hearing "Live & Learn." The hardcore gang vocals and everything, it just sounds so fresh.

I mean, we had a whole bunch of gang vocals in Despised Icon. It's just something I wanted to include in the new band.

I've got this theory about you and your career that I like to bat around with my friends. I grew up in a border town, closer to Montreal than to any American cities, so that was where I went to a lot of shows. So I've seen you perform a bunch of times over the years. It seemed like you Despised, and with yourself, you guys were always a step ahead of the curve, like when Ills of Modern Man came out, it was just after that that the whole deathcore thing happened, right down to the way you dress. It seems like everybody went out and got a flat brim after that record. Does that bum you out at all?