After releasing only one studio album Creatures, gothic/industrial influenced metalcore band Motionless In White have taken the world by storm with international tours, music festival appearances and a huge following of dedicated fans.

The band are getting ready to release their sophomore album Infamous worldwide on later this year. Marilyn Manson protégé and Motionless In White frontman Chris “Motionless” Cerulli took some time out on his birthday to chat with Tone Deaf.

With illegal download pirating online, Cerulli was pretty devastated about the album leak about a month before the album’s release. “Fans have been expressing their excitement and we appreciate those who are happy to wait with us for the release date. It’s a conflicting feeling because I want to be annoyed that it was leaked but then at the same time I’m happy that people want to listen to our record” – stoked that people are giving the new album attention in its early days.

In late September, the lyric video to ‘Devil’s Night’ was released to give fans a taste of the forthcoming record. “It was just a song that stood out to everybody, a song with a great message and meaning” with a smooth transition from ‘Creatures’.

“We didn’t want to release a song that was really different right straight off the bat, just one that reflects our approach to the band and our fans whilst retaining that heavy nature.” They later released a second track from the record ‘If It’s Sead, We’ll Kill It’ with some deep lyrical themes.

As this track was released, Cerulli discussed the meaning of it on his Tumblr blog for his fans. His post delved into his hope that individuals be motivated with self-inspiration and be led by the correct role models.

The name of the track refers to killing ‘zombie’ as a metaphor as they seek to feed or consume the lives of others. He also accepts the responsibility of being a respectable figure that people look up to.

“Like I said in that blog section, people take a lot from what I have to say, because they can relate to it or feel the same way.” This urged him to write more personal themes on on the new album.

Of the previous release he admits, “That was a lot of fictional stuff, and although I liked it, I just feel like people really connect with personal lyrics a lot more and that’s definitely what I took as an approach for this whole record.”

“People take a lot from what I have to say, because they can relate to it or feel the same way.”

One of the tracks on Infamous is a sequel to an older tune‘Puppets (The First Snow)’. Soilwork’s Björn Strid features on ‘Puppets II (The Rain)’. With the nature of the melodic death metal band from Sweden, it seemed unusual for this guest appearance on a Motionless in White record. “I’ve just been into Soilwork for so long; they’re definitely a huge influence on my writing for the band.”

Cerulli used this album to showcase an interesting influence on his music as he also had vocalist Brandan Schieppati from Bleeding Through feature on ‘If it’s dead, we’ll kill it’. The musician  was anxious to contact Strid for ‘Puppets II’ but then admits “surprisingly enough, he was totally cool with working with me and I still can’t really believe that it happened at this point even now when I listen to it. I kind of wonder what the fans of his band would think of it.”

The vocalist is not so amused with some of the public’s perception of who his personal musical influences are.

“People just peg us for what bands we may sound like with whichever song that they’re listening to.” This bothers Cerulli who doesn’t connect with some of the influences that he has been labelled for from ‘Creatures’.

“I go onto websites and see related artists to Motionless in White which include bands like fuckin’ A Day To Remember and Of Mice & Men. I don’t have a problem with these bands but at the same time I never (ever) wanted to be, or thought that we would be called ‘related artists’ to this kind of band.”

Chris corrects these labels with his real influences including Soilwork, Bleeding Through, AFI, Slipknot, and Cradle Of Filth among others.

“I just want to go back and experience it again because I just loved Australia altogether. I loved the atmosphere and the vibe I experienced everywhere.”

“All these bands are nowhere near the bands we are being related to (he laughs) so sometimes I just think to myself ‘what the fuck, why is this happening?” Therefore, featuring some of his legitimate musical influences on ‘Infamous’ was important to him.

The physical appearance onstage for Cerulli may be a little unusual from the average front man. He is pleased with the term gothic or industrial to describe his presentation.

“That’s definitely what we’re going for, it fits our overall vibe as a band and that’s what we’re interested in. I’d much rather people call me gothic or industrial then calling us vampires or something ridiculous.”

The singer is satisfied with the shock horror public perception of himself and the band. If you haven’t seen him, this would be a combination of Marilyn Manson and Cradle Of Filth with a drop of Wednesday 13 and Misfits thrown in there as well.

With lord of gothic culture Marilyn Manson as an obvious influence of Cerulli’s, he was fortunate enough to play a few shows with him during Soundwave 2012. “Playing at the Sydney leg of the Soundwave festival was one of the best shows of my entire career.” The band didn’t really feel the passion at the Manson sidewaves as his fans may not have been too familiar with Motionless in White but he describes the festival shows as incredible.

“Walking on stage in another country on the other side of the world and seeing so many people singing the words to the songs and having such a great time was just unreal.”

Motionless In White recently completed a tour with Australia’s very own Buried In Verona and Chris reckons they’re a great band. There is good news too as he can’t wait to return to Australia.

“I just want to go back and experience it again because I just loved Australia altogether. I loved the atmosphere and the vibe I experienced everywhere.”  Cerulli  is hoping the band will be back in the Autumn months of 2013 – whilst devastated he can’t do the Soundwave festival two years in a row.

The second studio album Infamous by Motionless In White will be released on November 13 this year and will be therein be available for purchase. Make Cerulli s proud and wait until it comes out.

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