The road travelled by Mike IX Williams has been one full of difficult bends, weaving through punk rock, writing, hurricanes, addiction and endless sincere self expression.
As the vocalist of Louisiana group Eyehategod he has screamed whiskey laced breath into their microphone for 26 years. After five studio albums, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, an array of other band projects, and the tragic death last year of drummer Joey LaCaze, the band will be playing long awaited shows around Australia this summer.
When you picture New Orleans music you may not automatically think of sludge metal, but its sound is as distinctively New Orleans as jazz, and Williams has lived through it all.
“We used to listen to the first Clash record in my bedroom and pretend we could play it.” Says Williams with just a touch of a soft southern drawl. “I can remember when I was probably 14 years old and I got my first real band called Teenage Waste. It was a total punk rock band and the first time I went to rehearsal I just screamed and played the guitar and it was very cathartic to do that. To scream over this punk rock, hardcore music, write a few songs and get a few shows was just the kind of thing you did. I realised it was what I wanted to do”.
Williams puts every inch of his heart and sweating brow into each soulful scream. Dirty as the bottom of the southern American bayous and aggressive as a man done wrong, his voice takes you on a journey to a place many fear to tread.
“I don’t know where it comes from, you’d have to ask my psychiatrist, probably from some sort of mental problems I’m sure,”“I don’t know where it comes from, you’d have to ask my psychiatrist, probably from some sort of mental problems I’m sure,” Williams says with a sincerity and an openness to understand what makes himself tick. “I mean I had a rough childhood when I was a kid, so maybe it comes from there. Whatever brought me to the music is obviously where the anger comes from”.
Williams is also a published author and spoken word artist, however when writing for Eyehategod it becomes more of a collaborative process. “It’s all a bit vague. We don’t tell narratives in our songs. We don’t narrate a situation, we just put out words and ideas…. I just really like the way certain words look sometimes”.
Luck has played a big part in Williams’ life so far. After losing three family members in North Carolina including both parents at a young age, Williams travelled south not knowing what lay ahead.
“My brother became my legal guardian and brought me down here to New Orleans. Which was actually great because if he’d left me there with an aunt or an uncle or something I’d just be another stupid redneck up there. It was a small place and there wasn’t much going on. When I got here I discovered all this music and other great stuff”.
Tragedy again struck when Hurricane Katrina absorbed the city and quickly spat its residents out, displacing them all over southern America. Williams was among them – he escaped the destruction and violence with his girlfriend and found himself trapped between four walls of a jail cell. After a call by a hotel staff member he was targeted by local law enforcement for being an outsider in a nearby town. He was searched and arrested on drug possession.
The time he spent there changed him. He kicked opiates and in doing so inspired guitarist and Down/Crowbar drummer Jimmy Bower to do the same.
Williams reflected on a less complicated time. A time when he had the sound of punk rock in one ear and the sound of skateboard wheels slamming on cement in the other.
“We were street skaters,” he says relaxed. “We’d just do crazy shit in the street and parking lots, like drop off balconies and just be aggressive. The kind of things kids do. We always listened to Black Flag, The Cure, Adolescents, D.C hardcore bands, Minor Threat and stuff from New York as well. Those were exciting times”.
With new projects in the making such as his latest group Corrections House, which features members of Neurosis, Yakuza and Nachtmystium, Williams is looking forward to 2015. A new year that starts with the band’s tour of Australia, a much anticipated tour for fans who missed out in 2014 when the entire tour was cancelled due to reasons outside the band’s control.
“I’m just glad to be coming back after what happened last time.” says Williams a little more agitated than usual, his smooth voice becoming more coarse as he remembers the ordeal. “This guy tried to blame us, I know that much, but I think our fans know it wasn’t our fault, I mean how could it be? We were at the airport waiting to fly but we had no tickets to get on”.
“He booked us to tour, didn’t get us any tickets, and then asked us to buy the tickets out of our own pocket. I don’t have that kind of money. It’s gonna be real fun to be back, I love Australia… actually I’m really looking forward to Perth, I’ve never been there before”.
Eyehategod Australian Tour Dates
Thursday January 29 – Rosemount Hotel, Perth with Leeches and Cursed Earth
Tickets from lifeisnoise.com, oztix.com.au and the venue.
Friday January 30 – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne with I Exist and The Ruiner
Tickets from lifeisnoise.com, oztix.com.au and the venue.
Saturday January 31 – Manning Bar, Sydney with I Exist and Lo!
Tickets from lifeisnoise.com, oztix.com.au and the venue
Sunday February 1 – Crowbar, Brisbane with I Exist and The Matador
Tickets from lifeisnoise.com, oztix.com.au and the venue.
