Ellen Rhodes
November 4, 2021| Dan Hillier |FEATURES
“We wanted something that sounded completely vile” – Introducing Swamp Coffin
With a moniker such as Swamp Coffin, you can imagine what rancid pursuits await.
Comprised of “three Northern idiots who make horrible, loud as fuck sludge metal” – according to frontman Jon Rhodes – the Rotherham band aren’t one to hide behind flowery proses, delicate metaphors or anything of the kind. A three-headed swamp monster of an utter unit, one that belches NOLA-focused riffs marred with a grim doom aftertaste, Swamp Coffin was birthed as a two piece in the sewers of the North in 2016 as nothing more than a fun, if not vile hobby. It wasn’t until 2019 that the band climbed out of the septic tanks of the city with their debut EP Flatcap Bastard Features. A few years and one lineup shift later, the band are set to lurch menacingly further into the light with their upcoming debut Noose Almighty, a positively putrid offering that drips with menace, purpose and a buckets of filth.
Releasing November 26th, Noose Almighty see’s the band – now composed of Rhodes, drummer David Wistow and bassist Martyn White – further refining their sound without comprising their organic and raw take on doom tainted sludge. A record of pure unfiltered bile that sounds somewhat akin to someone submerging Eyehategod, Mastiff, Crowbar and Calligram in a vat of toxic waste, across the six tracks that construct the record Swamp Coffin spew a home-brewed concoction of musical waste that’s rich, dextrous and wholly unrelenting in it’s savagery. Yet, despite this all, emotion is the key element within Noose Almighty. It’s an album documenting times of heartbreak, remorse, pain and general disenchantment with our cold way of living, a record anchored in very real, painstakingly detailed trauma. Throughout all of this though, the crux of Swamp Coffin still remains steadfast; it’s a record created by three musicians who started a band for a shared love of the craft and a shared desire to have fun doing it.
With the record releasing November 26th via APF, we got in touch with Rhodes to discuss the album and Swamp Coffin as a whole.
Musically, what are your primary inspirations?
Jon: “90’s NOLA sludge is definitely an important influence but there’s a bunch of UK bands that without listening to as a teenager Swamp Coffin simply wouldn’t exist. Discovering bands like Labrat, Iron Monkey, Mistress, Raging Speedhorn, Charger and Carcass when I was at college is pretty much why I wanted to play in bands in the first place and why I wanted to get back in to it as a grownup who should know better. Martyn is on a similar wavelength musically to me whereas Dave likes his punk and hip-hop as much as he likes Black Sabbath which keeps his drumming and our song writing really interesting.”
You’re releasing your new record Noose Almighty next month, how are you collectively feeling about the release?
Jon: “In a word, excited. With the pandemic throwing a spanner in the works it’s taken us longer to get to this point than we’d have liked but we’re ready to unleash the album and get it in to people’s ears. We’re incredibly proud of the album, we’ve definitely levelled up since the previous record in terms of song writing and production so we’re chuffed that early feedback has been really positive.”
To be put simply, Noose Almighty sounds absolutely putrid. What’s your process on creating a sound so filthy?
Jon “That’s the perfect compliment to me as we wanted something that sounded completely vile. Owen Claxton, who recorded the album, knows that we want a raw, organic sound but even he turned to us at one point in the studio and said “This sounds fucking gross”. I use cheap guitars, super low tuning and tons of fuzz. Martyn’s bass is no nonsense and Dave’s drumming is better than it’s ever been and it all just seems to work together in the nastiest way. Owen is our secret sauce though. He just gets the best out of us to make these songs sound absolutely huge and adds just enough spit and polish on top so the whole album punches you in the face.”
Noose Almighty was only recorded in three days, was it a rushed experience or did you have time to experiment further?
Jon: “We took a similar approach to Noose Almighty as we did with Flatcap Bastard Features in that we rehearsed all the songs within an inch of their life for two or three months before recording started. By the time we got to the studio we knew the songs inside out so we could record more efficiently but more importantly gave us time for our usual experimentation and to mess about with harmonies, layers, feedback, samples- all the good stuff. I’ll try some ideas in the studio that we haven’t been able to try in our practice room, Owen will throw some suggestions in and it makes the experience way more fun for us. For Noose Almighty there were a couple of vocal sections, in particular the ending part to the title track, where I hadn’t even written any lyrics and just stood infront of the microphone and saw what came out. It was a buzz to leave something so important up to chance but I had faith that we’d strike gold.”
Despite the record being deep rooted in NOLA orientated sludge, Noose Almighty feels very emotional at times. Could you expand on the lyrical themes of the record?
Jon: “The last record was written and recorded following the sudden death of my brother-in-law and then a fire at our home 9 months later that meant we were out of our home for half a year. A lot of that emotion, feelings of grief, of loss were front and centre on that EP. ‘Jägerbombs Away’ and ‘Barbarian Windsor’ from the new album were written at the same time so some of those feelings have definitely spilled over to this record. Songs like ‘Your Problem’ have really helped me come to terms with a lot of what I was going through then. The new record covers themes depression, grief, betrayal amongst others. The title track is about suicide, particularly in blokes of my age. It breaks my heart to hear almost weekly about colleagues, friends, other musicians losing the fight with their mental health. I just felt like I needed to say something.”
Was recording Noose Almighty a cathartic experience, and how did you go about articulating such themes through sludge?
Jon: “Definitely. Swamp Coffin is hugely cathartic for me and being able to spill my guts emotionally through my lyrics is a big part of it. I’m in a much better place now because of it. Being able to play this stuff live means I get to vent fairly regularly. There’s nothing more therapeutic than shouting at a bunch of people at a gig over this sort of music.”
Despite all of this, there’s a certain level of fun to Swamp Coffin. It could be said that doom and sludge are genres that often take themselves too seriously and are commonly perceived as being very stoic and aloof. What’s your thoughts on this?
Jon: “It’s definitely an easy trap for a lot of metal bands to fall in to but the whole “arms folded, serious expression” thing just doesn’t work for us as people. We’ve no issue with bands that want to look mad in their press pictures but the three of us are pretty easy going, we take the piss out of each other, we have barbeques at each other’s houses and go camping together so our online presence will always reflect that. We’re not scared to have a laugh and a joke at our own expense. Musically it’s all business though, like, it’s all fun and games until you press play.”
Finally, what do you want people to take away from Noose Almighty?
Jon: “If even one person can relate to what we’re saying with this album then it’s mission accomplished. I want folk to be able to listen to the album and think “That bloke has been through some shit” and use our music to deal with their own problems. And if they don’t want to get deep with it and just have a nasty record they can blast in the car and scream along to in traffic then that’s fine by us too.”
